Page 94 of Miguel

As I drove through the busy city, my phone rang.

“Sup?” I answered.

“Miguel, we’ve got a big fucking problem.”

Loco’s voice, dripped in anger, gave me pause and had a feeling of unease sliding down my back. “What?” I demanded, pushing down a bit on the accelerator.

“The fucking gringos that got arrested?”

“What about them?” My gut clenched with worry.

“I don’t know who the fuck’s pockets they’re in or who the fuck they know, but some of them got out.”

My head spun. “What the fuck do you mean they got out?”

“I mean they were let free from prison, idiota. ¡¿Me entiendes?! The gringos are fucking free! Motherfuck!” He started shouting, cursing, breaking things on the other end of the line, but my mind was already too far gone to care about that shit.

Just today I’d told the prospect there was no need to follow Lorena and Zeke around anymore. She was at the school waiting for me.

Alone.

“Fuck!” I pushed down on the gas, going way over the speed limit through the maze of cities to get to my kid and my woman. When I arrived at the school, screeching my SUV to a halt, I jumped out, leaving the vehicle running and Loco on the line.

The school was closed.

And Lorena and Zeke were nowhere in fucking sight.

“Fuck!”

I hopped back into the car and slammed my fists against my steering wheel. “¡Hijos de la gran puta!”

“What?!” Loco demanded. “Tell me what the fuck happened.”

“Lorena and Zeke are gone.”

They wouldn’t have left. Not without waiting for me.

Not unless they were taken.

Loco let out a stream of curses. “Do you think–?”

“Yeah. Those motherfuckers have my family.”

I sat in the silence for a single moment, my mind racing, trying to come up with a plan. I looked up, seeing passersby staring at me cautiously and down on the sidewalk…

I squinted.

“The fuck–”

I hopped out of the truck and ran towards where a small crowd had gathered around a small figure wailing his lungs out.

I recognized those wails.

They’d haunted me for days when he’d first been dropped off at my doorstep.

“Zeke?!”

The crowd seemed to part for me, revealing Zeke sitting on the middle of the sidewalk, tears and snot running down his face.

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