by Matt Lincoln
As it turned out, Jake showed up first. I filled him in on what was happening and what she looked like at present. “She’s not in a good place, Jake. She should probably go straight to the hospital, but we can’t force her to. When she comes out of there, if there’s a social worker here by then, she might let us do something to help. But it’s not likely. She’s been through something bad.”
Jake shook his head and asked, “What if I stayed outside, and then you just let her walk out? Once she was out there, I could follow her to see where she’s hanging out, and then you can call the police or her family, or whoever, to get her the help that she needs.”
“Yeah, that’s an idea, but what if the trio gets to her first? She’s in no shape to fight them off, let me tell you.” I saw just how frustrating this was becoming for us. Confronting the girl would probably terrify her but tracking her would do the same. All I knew was that she needed to be protected from the trio, especially the guy that shot me and was most likely responsible for Colby Tamez’s murder.
“This is your world, LaShawn. You tell me how you want me to take this on, and I’ll do my best to make it happen.” This left us both thinking as I watched Patricia check on her in the restroom again.
“I’m going to call Cecily.” I walked over and let Patricia know that I was going to call in my contact from the MPD. It wasn’t her favorite thing I suggested, but I reassured her that we could trust Detective Musik. And having a woman officer familiar with the situation couldn’t be anything except good, I thought.
I made the call and got her voicemail on both her private and work numbers. So much for that idea. As I was turning around to head back to Jake, the restroom door opened, and Jozie walked out. She saw three rather concerned adults standing too close and watching her. I knew that we’d blown it before I could say anything.
Jozie bolted past me, headed for the door outside, and to her freedom. Jake was quick, and we both knew that he could have grabbed her before she got there, but he didn’t. He let her get away and even gave her a head start so that she’d relax and think that she’d gotten away. Then, as if on cue, he ran out the door after her. I knew that he was going to tail her and find out all that he could. And I also knew that she was safer now than she had been in a long while.
20
Jake
The streets were still dark enough for me to use all the shadows to my advantage. The girl, Jozie, had made a pretty good sprint for a few blocks, but I caught her limping now. She was getting out of breath, and for a kid her age, that wasn’t a great sign. I chalked it up to the way she had to live now. Malnourishment, dehydration, and exhaustion were all doing their part on her.
She stopped to rest at an alley entrance, but I noticed that she stayed in the lit part. I was not too far behind her, and since I was doing my job right, she never even knew that I was near. The girl was wearing a plastic-looking windbreaker type of jacket, zipped all the way up. It had been a bright red when it was new, but now, it was muddy, dirty, and poorly patched.
Her shoes were held together with zip ties instead of laces, but she was still wearing those green and yellow plaid leggings with the little pink hearts. LaShawn told me in the past that trading was a business among the homeless. It helped to keep those that didn’t want to be found that way, but it was also a means of currency. It looked to me that this Jozie was learning these ropes the hard way.
She had been knocked around recently, maybe a day before now. The bruises on her face still had a reddish hue to them and hadn’t turned to the dull purple and blue yet. It was just a guess on my part, but her arms and legs were most likely covered in injuries as well.
Jozie watched the street she’d ran down and realized that she was not being followed. In her view, anyway. She grabbed at her side, probably a stitch from the running, and walked toward the shops that were only now beginning to start their day. I threw on the ball cap that I had in my back pocket and donned a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. This was all part of my ‘disguise.’
She’d seen me at the Edler Center and may or may not have gotten a good look. But I knew from experience that something as simple as a hat or glasses could throw off the average person from recognizing another. I was going to have to step into the light of morning here pretty soon, and now, hopefully, I’d just blend in with the early morning shoppers.
Jozie avoided looking at anyone. She kept her head down and her hands in her pockets. She’d step well away from bumping into anyone, should the sidewalk be crowded. Then, at about five blocks from the Edler Center, she turned down an alleyway. I rushed to see where she went.
I positioned myself at the corner and pulled out my cell to pretend to check for something. She was on the far side of a dumpster, digging through a pile of trash and discarded boxes. Then, she crawled down into them, and I could see a few of the bags getting rearranged to cover her.
It was obvious that she was hiding from someone. Now I just had to find out who and try to get her some help. I watched her spot for a good ten or fifteen minutes as people walked past and ignored me. She wasn’t coming out of there without enticement. I scanned the back of the alley which was now getting a healthy dose of sunlight. There was a chain-link fence separating the alley and the building, and it looked to be in bad shape.
I could see two gaps just from where I was standing that would allow her, or someone else, to get through quickly and without much effort. I ran across all the possible scenarios of how to get to her safely. None of them didn’t involve her screaming her head off when she saw me coming for her.
I texted LaShawn the street and corner address in case he got off work early and could come and help. Or maybe, he could pass it on to Detective Cecily Musik. As brief as it had been, he still had more of a history with the girl than I did. That was an option that I wasn’t going to disregard.
I stayed there for another ten minutes before I knew that I was going to have to act. The sidewalks were picking up traffic, but I still had some time before I’d be too noticed and reported as a lurker or something like that. I could hear movement coming from the end of this alley, like someone running a stick along the chain link. That clink, clink sounded at a steady pace, headed this way. I moved into the alley and squatted to a sitting position. I lowered my head and played myself off as resting, but I was anxious to see what was coming.
Within a few minutes, the clink, clink sound got closer, and then it stopped. I could hear voices, and then I saw two more punk looking kids crawl through the gaps in the fence. I was far enough away and immobile enough not to be noticed yet, but my eyes were trained on the area where I knew Jozie to be.
The first kid was layered up to make himself look bigger, a sweatshirt and a few tees that could be peeled away when it got too hot. He had on a beanie and looked to have not bathed in a while. The other person was a tall, gangly girl with stringy brown hair and a flannel shirt. Her pants were way too big for her, and she kept having to hike them up or hold them with one hand.
It was the guy that had the slat of wood and had been running it along the fence to make the clinking noise. Together, they were quietly checking mounds of trash. He’d poke it with the wooden slat, and she’d hit things with her foot every so often. I got a real sick feeling that I knew what was coming next.
They neared the dumpster and garbage that Jozie was hiding in, and the girl pointed out something to the guy. She covered her mouth and moved to give the guy more room. He nodded at her a few times and then pulled back the slat to a batting stance. I watched, even though I really wanted to run over and beat the crap out of them.
The guy slammed the wooden slat into the trash heap where Jozie was hiding, and I heard her cry out in pain and alarm. There was an obscene amount of laughing and crying as she fought her way out of the pile of trash. I refrained from going to her aid because I needed to see what part these two idiots were going to play.
Jozie climbed free of the garbage and threw herself up against the cinderbl
ock wall. The other two were still laughing at her, but she wasn’t running or fighting back. Instead, she started to yell at them. “What the hell, Tate! I wasn’t doing anything! I was just sleeping!”
The other girl was almost doubled over in her joy at this. “I know! That’s why it’s so funny! You didn’t even hear us come up.”
“That’ll get you killed out here,” the guy said, but he was smiling and still chuckling over the incident. Then he reached out a hand to Jozie to help her out of her trash pile. She didn’t take it and slapped it away. She was unamused by their antics and crossed her arms in defiance.
“Oh, come on!” The girl started on her. “We were just kidding. Besides, we had to find you one way or another. Mirha is pissed that you missed that drop-off last night. Where the hell did you go?”
“None of your business!” Jozie snapped at the girl. This made the duo stop laughing altogether. Their humorous eyes and face changed in an instant. Even from here, I could see the alarming intent growing between them. Jozie must have seen it, too, because she tried to make herself smaller by grabbing herself into a hug.
“Well, it's Mirha’s business,” Tate informed her as he reached for her again. “She’s not going to pay you unless you do the work, Joz. So come on, let’s go talk to her. You can just tell her you got sick or something. She’ll give you another chance.”
“No!” Jozie pulled away and bunched herself tight against the dumpster. The other girl stepped in and grabbed Jozie by the arm. She was still holding on to her pants with her other hand.
“You have to. You told her that you’d be there, so just---” She was pulling Jozie forward. “Get out here and---” Jozie was fighting back, but Tate grabbed her other arm, and together they pulled Jozie forward, making her fall to her knees. “Damn it, Jozie! You’re going to get all of us in trouble, you little---” They hauled her up, and the girl slapped Jozie hard across the face.
I just about came undone, but I held back, wanting to see where they were going to go. And I wanted to find out who this ‘Mirha’ was that they kept mentioning. I had the idea that she was a little higher up the food chain than these two idiots. So, I watched them drag and push Jozie back through the gap in the chain-link, and then I followed close behind without them ever knowing.
They walked fast, and I could see Jozie stumbling along. She had lost her fight now, and that worried me big time. A few more blocks, and they stopped at a door in the long back alley. It was remarkably cleaner than any other spot around here. Even the door was clean and glossy.
I waited behind a corner to see what came next. I texted LaShawn once again to update my location as best as I could figure it. Tate knocked on the green door, and they lingered, propping Jozie up between them. The door opened, and damn it if it wasn’t Caris, the guy who had shot LaShawn. The big Indian guy had gotten a haircut and was wearing all black and gloves, I noticed. It was never a very good sign for a hired killer to have them on.
I watched as Jozie saw him and started to whimper. She struggled against the two idiots and broke free of Tate, but Caris was quick and grabbed her by the hair. Jozie screamed, which must have scared the other girl because she let go and stepped back, almost tripping over her oversized pants.
For the first time, I heard this Caris guy speak. He had a deep, rich accent, and he used his menacing voice to its full effect. “Get in here. All of you. Now!”
I saw the kids visibly cower but obey him. He towered over them as he practically threw Jozie in first and then moved for Tate and the girl to come inside. That was enough for me. I grabbed my Ruger from my waistband and rushed to the door.
By my reckoning, Caris should be behind the door or at least still holding on to the handle. So, I ran and threw my entire weight against it with my back. I heard some ‘oomph’ sounds and a thump or two behind me. I took a rapid glance at where I was and who was in here with me.
The extra muscle for hire had been caught unprepared, but that didn’t last long. I had busted in, hit the door, and rolled to my right to get back onto my feet. I was exposed in the open here, but I took a shot at the muscle on the right, hitting him in the thigh. That gave me a reason and the ability to duck into the shadows behind the machinery.
There were the two idiots, looking dumbfounded by all accounts. There was a massive amount of heavy machinery and what looked like lab equipment placed under the skylights in the middle of the room. I saw a small-statured person in a white lab coat with their back turned to me. There were a couple of extra muscle guys with guns standing around in front of a bunch of metal barrels. None of them looked too much a threat.
Across the room was a tall woman with dark hair on a cell, half turned from me. But she definitely observed my entrance and gave me a split-second full view of her face. She had a heart-shaped face and a very straight nose, but other than that, she was pretty average with no scars or defining features to make her stand out in a crowd.
She locked eyes with me long enough to know that she was in danger, and then she bolted into the darkness of the room. I heard her say something about ‘compromised’ before I had to turn my attention to the guys with the guns.
I tried to distance myself from the two punk kids, as they had both frozen in place and were open targets. I yelled at them to run, but neither did. I heard two shots ping off of my mechanic cover. The guy I’d hit was down on the ground but had gotten off one shot before collapsing. Caris was probably behind the door still, and that left Jozie unaccounted for.
A quick scan found her lying on the floor, having crawled under the machines to my left. At least she was safe for a few minutes. The standing muscle took aim but missed, hitting too close to the guy in the lab coat. That’s when he finally saw and took notice of what was going on around him.
He screamed and removed two tiny earbuds that had made him oblivious to the world, apparently. He turned to see what was going on, yelling in a language that I wasn’t familiar with. He looked to where the woman had been, but not seeing her seemed to panic him.
The muscle rushed to him to be his human shield, but I still had a good shot. The equipment and whatever he had been working on bothered me, though. I had no idea what it was or what effect it could have if that were smashed, hit, or in any way made unstable.
So, that left me to take care of Caris. I owed him some personal attention for what he’d done to LaShawn. Looking at the door, it moved slightly, and I guessed that he was hiding behind it. When I’d hit it, it was heavy, metal, but not reinforced. That meant that I might be able to fire through it with the rounds that I had. Then again, I could just take care of the other two and then worry about Caris.
The muscle on the floor was still yelling out in pain, causing a huge ruckus. It might bring someone in or over, and that could put them in danger. I wasn’t the only one to think that, as a hand appeared from behind the door and shot the wounded man in the head, killing him instantly.
I was ready and pulled the trigger, hitting Caris in the hand and causing him to lose his weapon. He cried out, more in shock, I think, but I wasn’t going to get another chance to surprise him now. The two idiot kids had finally had enough and ran into the shadows of the room. They probably knew of a good place to hide or another way out, as the woman had.
The small guy in the lab coat forced his human shield to move him into the darkness as well, but slowly and deliberately. Maybe he thought that if he moved slow and steady enough, I wouldn’t notice him, but that was a big, fat no on my end. I turned my Ruger on the shield guy and fired at his shin. I hoped that would shatter a few bones and take him down. It worked, and he fell, exposing the smaller man.
But since I’d had to take my attention from the door, that left Caris to retrieve his gun and fire at me. I was still under cover of the machinery, but when I turned to hit Caris, the little man tucked away in the shadows and was gone. Still, my bullet hit Caris in the chest, and then I fired again. I wasn’t going to let the DEA bail him out this time.
I placed my gun on the ground and put my arms into the air. I watched Jozie, who was still cowering under the machines. There were three dead or wounded bad guys, the girl, and me. Everyone else had escaped, for better or worse.
Cecily entered the room and scanned the situation. “Who else is in here?” I guessed that she was asking me.
“Two teenage suspects escaped to the north, a female suspect went into the south part of the building, and the fourth, a man in a lab coat, headed north as well. Locations unknown at this time.” I answered as competently as I could.
“Put your hands down.” She hurried over to the yelling, and the only living suspect in the room. She cuffed him and watched me as I reached to pick up my gun off of the floor. Something on her face darkened, and she glanced up into my eyes. “That a Ruger?”
“It is.” I had to be truthful even though I was starting to worry. I gestured over to Jozie, who probably thought that she was forgotten in this whole mess. “You have a witness and a victim here by the name of Jozie Chavira. She can identify the trio that has been forcibly injecting, and in some cases, murdering, people in this area. But she’s going to need your protection, Detective Musik. A lot of it.”
I hoped that Jozie would hear this and know that I was trying to help her. I turned back to look at Cecily. “Can I go over and help her out from under there?”
“Make it quick. I have tons of backup coming.” She went over to confirm that the other two men were dead. When she saw Caris, she gave him a long hard look. I imagined that she was trying to figure out if that was the same guy that DEA Agent Keim had taken custody of only a few days back.