by T. K. Chapin
“Jax.” Rick’s voice interrupted me, coming from behind.
I peered up at him as he sat down on the steps beside me. Rick and I had grown into a close friendship since everything had happened. Whether it was taking turns answering calls from people back home to relay the information, or lack thereof, or just crying into the wee hours of the night as the days turned to weeks. We had been through it all together.
“Hey, Rick.”
He let out a defeated sigh as he brought his hands together in front of him, wringing them as he struggled to speak.
“Just get it out,” I said, patting him on the back.
He looked over at me. “We gotta get back to reality at some point.”
His words were a dagger to my heart.
I shook my head. “I can’t do that. She’s out there. I can feel it. We’re this close.” I went to hold up my fingers to show an inch measurement between my index and my middle, but Rick did it first.
Holding his fingers up, he said, “You’ve been saying that same thing for weeks.”
“So, what? You’re just going to give up?” Disappointed, I stood up and folded up my newspaper to leave.
“I miss my wife. I haven’t seen her in over a month. I can’t stay here forever, as much as I would like to help bring Chelsea home.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked into the eyes of my brother in Christ. Though I hated hearing it, I knew I couldn’t keep him here. Nodding, I sighed and said, “I understand, brother.”
Sticking out a hand, we shook and then I pulled him in for a hug. Patting him on the back, I felt the ball of sadness in my chest grow. I would be alone now.
“I’d better get going.”
Turning around, I left Rick at the church steps and got into the truck that Pastor Jose had given us to use. Looking at him once more, I put the truck in reverse and left.
Chapter 31 - Jax
I WENT TO THE ONE PLACE I loathed to visit—the park. Shutting off the truck engine, I stared at the patch of grass where my world had unraveled. Memories of that day flooded my mind like an icy cold serum entering my bloodstream. Faint images of kids playing in the jumpy houses flashed through my thoughts. Then Chelsea, her smile and those final words she had said to me.
“To die is to gain.”
Those words haunted me ever since she had been abducted and more than forty-eight hours had passed with nothing new known. Law enforcement told us to expect the worst, as it’s rare they’re ever found alive after the first two days pass. I couldn’t accept that reality until someone showed me proof. Pushing aside those words, I focused on the last part of what she said.
“You have to believe.”
My phone rang, breaking into my thoughts.
Pulling my cellphone out from my pocket, I checked the caller ID.
It was Chelsea’s father, again. He had threatened a lawsuit against me, against Winston and WIN bodyguard agency. Last I had heard, the lawsuit was in progress, but he’d agreed not to come down to Mexico as long as I was still searching. I didn’t blame him for hating me. I hated me too. What had happened fell on my shoulders alone. He and I agreed on that. He hadn’t called for over two weeks, as soon as the lawsuit was filed.
“You’re alive,” he responded, his tone laced with sarcasm.
“Yes, sir.”
He wasted no time driving the dagger into my heart with his words.
“I trusted you to protect my little girl.” Sobbing broke through his voice.
My heart broke at his broken and cracking voice on the phone. I remained silent and listened, but tears filled my eyes.
“I just want my baby girl back at home. I want things to just go back to the way they were before all of this happened. I found my wife this morning weeping in her bed as she clung to her teddy bear. Do you know how much pain that causes me to see my wife hurting and there’s not a single thing I can do?”
My crumbling heart was but a weak pulse. “Sir, I know. Don’t worry. I’m going to find her.”
“Don’t tell me that! You and I both know she’s probably already dead!” A chilling air filled the next few moments.
I swallowed hard, the reality of her possibly being dead trying to push through into acceptance.
“I’m not giving up,” I said.
“You don’t care, Jax. Why do you keep acting like you do?”
“Sir, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
“What?”
“Your daughter and I … we became close before she was taken. We had developed feelings for each other.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. Then he said, “I’m glad you understand some of this pain. Look, Jax, I’m trusting you to find her. Find her and end this nightmare for the both of us.”
We hung up. Lowering my cellphone from my ear, I set it down on the truck’s bench seat and grabbed onto the steering wheel. Squeezing as tightly as I could, I tried to fight against the utter hopelessness filling my chest. There were no leads in the paper that morning, Rick was leaving, and I’d just had a painful phone call with Chelsea’s dad.
I felt alone in my pain.
Wiping my eyes, I lifted my gaze from the steering wheel and surveyed the park again.
Then I saw through the west side of the park that local bar I had seen earlier in my trip. Nobody is around to care if you have one drink. Just one won’t hurt.
Getting out of the truck, I walked straight through the park and over to the bar.
Chapter 32 - Jax
WALKING INTO THE BAR, I was taken back to a different time in my life. An old familiar friend that smelled of stale smoke and bad decisions. Making my way up to the bar, I felt as if I were an underage kid who had just gotten in with a fake ID. I knew I shouldn’t be there. I knew it was wrong.
Pushing aside all reasonable thought, I found a seat on a stool.
“What will it be?” the bartender asked in Spanish, laying a napkin down in front of me.
“Rum and coke.”
He mixed the drink behind the bar as I thought about walking away. A layer of sweat formed on my brow as I could feel my heart climb up into my throat. My nerves were on the edge as I saw the bartender pour the rum into the glass. A moment later, he set the cold glass down on the napkin and walked away, heading down the bar to greet another customer.
Bringing the glass up to my lips, I breathed in the smell through my nose. Don’t do it. The still and quiet thought echoed through my thoughts. You’ve come too far. Resist.
I set the drink down on the napkin.
Standing up, I paid for my untouched drink and left.
Walking down the sidewalk, I stared at the cracks as my mind spun round and round like a top. I had let my circumstance dictate my actions. I didn’t take a single sip of that glass, but I might as well have. It was bad enough that I’d walked in there.
I began to pray as I continued walking.
My steps carried me in no particular direction for an hour or so while I talked to God. I asked Him to meet me where I was. At the corner of Hopelessness Ave. and Broken Boulevard, my Lord met me and ministered to my heart.
Hearing the sound of a basketball bouncing, I lifted my eyes.
I had walked to the basketball courts. It was the same court we had played at all those weeks ago.
Walking up to the chain-link fence, I peered in. There, on the court, many of the same kids we had spoken to were playing. I hadn’t seen them since that horrible day in the park.
My fingers linking with the chain-link fence, I watched on as the kids ran up and down the court. Seeing Martin in the midst of them, I couldn’t help but notice he was wearing the Air Jordans. I smiled. Then I thought of Chelsea. She would’ve been thrilled to see they were holding up for the kid, knowing we had made a difference when we came down here.
Martin looked up at me suddenly, and then he stopped and walked over to the fence.
Chapter 33 - Jax
MARTIN TOLD ME ALL ABOUT how he
had improved his grades in school and how his parents had even started taking him to a church near their house. I did my best to encourage him, but I was afraid moment-by-moment that he would end up asking about Chelsea.
“Can I ask you something, Jax?”
I nodded, knowing he was on his way to asking about her.
“How do I find peace?”
Raising my eyebrows, I was surprised. He hadn’t asked about Chelsea. Instead, he was seeking after answers for his walk with Christ. I was encouraged by the young man’s pursuit of knowledge in God. Sadly, I didn’t know the answer, not right now. I had anything but peace within me. I couldn’t leave the kid hanging though.
I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly to give myself a little more time to think. “The Scriptures say we are to make all our requests made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
He squinted in the sunlight as he looked to be processing the information. “So, pray a lot?”
I nodded, realizing my trip to the basketball court was no coincidence but a divine appointment. “Yeah, keep giving it to God.”
“Okay.”
Glancing to the shade of the mustard tree and the bleachers, I noticed an absence. “Where’s Ezekiel?”
“He doesn’t come to the courts anymore. Not since his grandma died a couple of weeks back. He went to live with his aunt.”
My stomach flipped knowing that he had lost his grandmother. I would’ve known if I weren’t so focused on Chelsea and myself. My heart broke in the moment as I thought about him hurting and I wasn’t there for him. “Where’s his aunt live?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d better get back to this game though.”
“Yeah, no problem. Good seeing you.”
He jogged back to the court and I ran back to the park and my truck. I had to find out where Ezekiel was now and see him. His grandmother was everything to that boy, and now he didn’t even have her.
Chapter 34 - Jax
THE PEOPLE WHO NOW LIVED IN Ezekiel’s grandmother’s house gave me an address to his Aunt Elizabeth’s house. When I plugged it into the GPS on my phone and saw it was in the neighborhood Pastor Jose had told us to avoid, my heart split wide open. I prayed all the way over there that he was okay. It was through seeing Martin and hearing about Ezekiel that I was pulled out of my overwrought concern over Chelsea for the first time since she’d gone missing. I still wanted to find her, but first I needed to make sure this little boy was safe.
Arriving at a trailer park, I pulled in and proceeded cautiously. Locals eyeballed me as I crept down the road in search of her trailer. They all held looks in their eyes like they wanted to kill me.
Finally, I arrived at the correct trailer. It was a washed-out baby blue trailer with paint chips up and down the sides. A small yard, not more than five feet by five feet, had just a sliver or two of grass growing in it. There were no cars in the driveway, but I wasn’t about to turn around and leave now. I’d at least knock.
I parked and got out. Entering through the gate, I climbed a rickety set of wooden stairs up to the door and gave the pasty white surface a couple of good knocks. Gazing back toward my truck, I noticed a neighbor of his aunt approaching the bed of my truck.
He noticed me watching.
“You American?” the man asked, tipping his chin as he came up the driveway toward me.
“Sure am,” I replied as I turned to make sure he caught sight of my pistol hanging off my hip.
He stopped, taking a step back.
“You lookin’ for Elizabeth?”
“Yeah. You know her?”
“Sure. She ain’t home though. She works, Amigo.”
The door opened behind me.
I turned around.
It was Ezekiel, but he was holding the door cautiously as he looked at me.
Lowering to my knee, I said, “Hey, bud. It’s been a while.”
He was silent. Then he leaned to one side of his wheelchair and looked at the man by my truck. I could tell he knew him and it wasn’t for his kindness.
“What is it?” I asked. Glancing over to the driveway, I saw the man walking down the road. “Why don’t you like that guy? Did he hurt you?”
He shook his head as I looked at him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He turned his wheelchair around and let the door swing open. I stepped through the doorway and surveyed the inside of his and his aunt’s trailer. Low-hanging roof, no air-conditioning, and the smell of stale cigarettes and booze filled the air inside. This was no place for a kid to live.
I followed Ezekiel into the kitchen off to the left of the front door. He opened up the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice.
“Let me help you,” I said, coming up alongside him. “Where are the cups?”
Setting the carton down on the counter forcefully, he went over to a lower cupboard and pulled out a cup then poured himself a glass of orange juice.
It was apparent that Ezekiel wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me after so long. Maybe even a little agitated, but he let me in, so I knew there was some part of him that wanted me to be there, some part of him that knew I was a good guy. “You’re upset with me.”
Taking a drink, he set the cup down. “You’ve been here over a month and never came to see me even once.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
Hearing footsteps enter the trailer, I turned my head to see who had arrived.
I recognized the man immediately but couldn’t place him.
The man dropped the bag of groceries in his hands and sprinted out of the trailer. Just then, I realized who it was—Antonio’s cousin.
Chapter 35 - Jax
ADRENALINE FILLED MY VEINS AS I attempted to catch him running down the road in the trailer park. I almost caught up to him just as he turned off into a trailer. He jumped a fence and hurried up the steps between two large men and into the trailer, the door banging shut as he made it in. The gentlemen stared me down as I slowed down and approached the fence.
Grabbing onto the top of the chain-link fence, I leaned over. “Get him out here now!”
“Ey, Americano, who do you think you are?” One of the men asked, raising an eyebrow which caused the whole top part of his bald head to wrinkle.
My heart warmed as I thought of Chelsea and my eyes stung with unshed tears. I was so close to finding her. I couldn’t let this moment pass me by. Pulling my pistol out and leveling out my breathing, I pointed it at the bald man’s head and said, “Get him outside now!”
Glaring, the bald man stood up and proceeded up the steps to the door. Opening it, he said a few lines in Spanish. My heart pounded, eyes dilated, and sweat formed on my forehead as I thought of those AK47s I saw at the church that could make a sudden reappearance.
The guy came stumbling outside and fell down the steps. Picking himself up from the dirt, he came over to me and the fence.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I pointed my gun at him and asked, “Where is she?”
Shaking his head, he said nothing as he spat at my feet.
Reaching out, I grabbed his shirt and twisted, pulling him in. Shoving the barrel of my gun into his ribcage, I yelled, “Tell me or I’ll kill you! I swear it!”
“I don’t know, man! They took her to Chiko’s down on Eldorado Street. I never saw her again after that!”
“What is Chiko’s?”
“Umm …” He swallowed hard, avoiding all eye contact and whispered, “A brothel.”
My jaw clenched and I shoved him backward to the ground. “You’re not a very tough guy when you don’t have your men to point guns at me, are you?”
“I don’t want any trouble.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you and your thugs abducted an innocent young woman.” Pointing my pistol at him, I had his head in my sights. Revenge is mine … The Spirit of truth brought the Scripture to the tip of my mind. The Holy Spirit pushed
back my fleshly desire to kill. I dropped the gun to my side.
“You can thank God for your not dying today.”
Returning the pistol to my holster, I turned around and headed back toward Ezekiel’s trailer.
These guys were dangerous, and Ezekiel wasn’t safe with his aunt. They’d come after him just like they had with Chelsea. Action had to be taken.
Chapter 36 - Jax
ARRIVING BACK AT EZEKIEL’S aunt’s trailer, I saw a Buick now parked right next to my truck. My gaze turned to the open door of the trailer and I could hear a woman screaming inside. My insides turned hot with anger as I hurried in. As I passed through the doorway, I witnessed Ezekiel’s aunt smack him across the face. My heart unhinged.
Tears streamed down Ezekiel’s reddened cheeks.
“¿Quién eres tú?” she asked, which means ‘Who are you?’ in Spanish. Her tone was condescending in nature and matched her furrowed, painted-on eyebrows.
“He’s American, Liz. He speaks English,” Ezekiel said.
She crossed over to me and got within an inch of my face. “Then you’ll understand when I tell you to get out of my house!”
“You can’t treat him like that! He’s just a kid.”
Laughing, she said, “You don’t understand what a pain he is. You don’t get what taking care of a crippled kid is like, day in and day out, forever.”
My heart flinched at her hate-filled words. How could a human being say that about another person? It baffled me that the cold-hearted woman could speak such words about such a sweet boy. Something had to be done.
“Let me take him.” I’d fight the world to protect him from the evils that existed in this trailer. I refused to lose him like I had Chelsea.