Once again, someone had come to see me at the prison. This time, I was escorted to the visitors room. I sat in a chair and looked through the glass. On the opposite side, Frank and Zoe stared back. I could see from the tension in Frank's body and Zoe's nervous fidgeting, that this was not just a social visit.
"Report" I barked.
Frank put his head down and ran his hand back over his neck.
"Is it Ma`ma , Papi are they alright"? I ask.
Frank shook his head yes but refused to make eye contract with me. Zoe pried the phone from his hands.
"Uncle Carlos," she said in a shaky voice. "Julie is missing."
"What do you mean missing?" , I said suppressing my emotions.
"She ran away a few weeks ago, after winter formal she never came home" Zoe answered.
"What the hell are you telling me, Zoe? Julie is a good girl she does not run away !", I said unable to keep the edge from my voice.
"Julie was dropped off at the dance. A half hour into it, she walked out the door and got into a car with someone. No one knew anything was wrong until it was time for her to be picked up and she was nowhere to be found. The school thought she had left with a parent", Zoe informed me.
Frank took the phone from Zoe.
"We have been in contact with the police, but she is a runaway, there are so many, it is not much they can do. I am using all the Rangeman resources I can, but"….
"But what ?", I roared. My composure was slipping, and I was not doing a good job of hiding it.
"Most of the personnel working for Rangeman now have more military Intel than street. You were the one who reached out and kept your ear to the street", Frank explained.
"How do you know she left on her own and someone is not keeping her?", I snapped.
Frank looked at me and then at Zoe she took the phone again and started to talk.
"Uncle Carlos, why have you been sending her letters back unopened ?", she asked in a cautious tone.
" What does that have to do with anything?",I said, her question catching me off guard.
"She misses you, Julie has not been herself since you have been here. That happy, hyper little girl has disappeared. She dropped off the soccer and track team, and her grades are not great. I tried to talk to her, but all she wants is you. She has been hoping you would write her back", Zoe said with tears in her eyes.
"I was not trying to hurt her, I just did not want her worrying about me. She is a teenage girl in her first year of high school. She should be off with her friends at the mall, playing with makeup, going to slumber parties, not wasting her time writing letters to jailhouse daddy. I thought if they got sent back, she would think they just never made it. Eventually, she would stop writing and lean on her mother and stepfather", I said.
"Rachael's Pregnant with twins. Between the doctors appointments, and planning for the babies and her other two kids, she has not made much time for Julie. The relationship with her stepfather has not been great either lately. He is not happy with the change in Julie, or her attachment to you. He told her to snap out of it and to stop stressing Rachael out. He acts like she is just being a spoiled jealous brat, but she is hurting, and does not know how to handle it". Zoe said with sadness dripping from her voice.
"Thanks for trying to be there for her Zoe, let me talk to Frank", I said.
"Did you check with her friends", I inquired?
.
"Yes, but they all say that lately Julie has been running in a new circle, they don't know much about".
"What about her social media, did you check that ?" , I said.
"Rachel does not allow her to have social media, so there was nothing to check", Frank answered.
"Every teenager is on social media! Get a hold of Hector and have him do a search. Then get him to hack her laptop, cell phone, tablet and Rachael's family desktop." When he gets the Intel send him here to report to me, understand Frank." , I ordered.
"He stared at me blankly for a moment, and then nodded."
"Tell Zoe to Call Stephanie, and let her know Julie is missing. If by some chance she managed to make it all the way to Seattle. Tell Steph she should hold on to her. If Rachael and her hubby don't have time to deal with Julie, Babe will, she loves her."
The mention of her name was enough to cool my temper slightly, and I apologized to Frank.
"Look, man, this is stressful, and I am worried, I 'm not trying to take it out on you. Thanks for coming to tell me and doing everything you can."
When I was taken back to my cell, I decided to do something I had not done since I had been locked down, use my rec time and go to the prison gym. My lean muscular body was kept in tip top shape with calisthenics I normally did in my today I felt the need to burn off this nervous energy. The thought of my little girl out there on the streets alone had me on fire.
I paced my small cell until the guard called rec time, and opened my door. Surprise registered on his face when I stepped out and got in line to go to the gym. The gym was nothing special, a few sets of free weights, a couple of speed bags, 5 bench presses, sit up boards, and a heavy bag. By habit, I scoped out the room, only one way in and out, four guards. Two sat on a wood bench talking and keeping watch, one by the door not paying attention, most likely on the take, and one more doing the same. There was a group of guys on the press, overly buff and showing off. I noticed a skinny kid on the speed bag, he was thugged out, and nervousness poured off him like sweat. He rolled his sleeves to reveal a tattoo of a gold crown with black L and K inside. I kept my attention on him while I hit the heavy bag. Out of the corner of my, I noticed one of the big guys from the bench press was creeping up behind the kid on the speed bag. He pulled something from his, and before he had the chance to shank him, I had taken him off his feet with a sweeper kick. I was back on my feet looking down at him.
"Not nice to pick on people so much smaller than you" I warned in a low threatening tone.
Big dude got up, nodded, and put the shank back in his kid's eyes were full of shock.
"Thanks, man", he stammered.
I walked back over to the heavy bag trying to work out my frustration. So many emotions were swirling around in my head, mostly I felt helpless. I looked back at the skinny kid and the tattoo on his arm. Then I made up my mind, for the second time in my life I was going to go there again to rescue someone that I loved.
