Somewhere In Mexico

Chapter 6

The cops were at Beacon high school that morning, to have further probings with the teachers and students about the missing kids. They were directed to the office of the principal where they were offered seats.

"Good day ma'am. I am agent Thomas and with me is my partner, officer Jones. We're present from the NYPD 19th precinct. How're you doing today?" the agent spoke with a smile on his face. The principal was already aware of who they were and why they were at her school. Their ID card said it all. She adjusted the glasses she had on and set aside the files that were open in front of her before she went ahead to address the gentlemen in her office.

"Good morning sirs. You're welcome. I'm principal Daniels. It's an honor to have you in my office today. I know you're here because of the missing children from our school. I'm glad you're making so much effort in finding them. Thank you so much", she said, crossing her fingers in front of her.

"Thank you very much ma'am and besides, we're doing our work. We would love to have a little chit-chat with some students from the classes of the missing kids, if you don't mind. We won't take so much of their time", agent Thomas went on.

"Yeah sure, I'll be with you in a short while", she replied. She reached for the telephone sitting at the right end of her desk and dialed into it. It rang for a while and a receiver was soon at the other end.

"Please can I have Miss Clark in my office this minute?" And the line went dead.

Miss Clark was the instructor of grade 12 and if at all anything had gone down with Marcus at school, she would be in the best position to know.

They all sat patiently and waited for the arrival of Miss Clark. Seconds went by and there was a light tap on the door. It was Miss Clark. She was ordered in and offered a seat right next to the principal.

"Hello ma'am. I'm agent Thomas and this is my partner, officer Jones. We're from the NYPD 19th precinct and I suppose you're Marcus's form instructor, right?" Agent Thomas repeated to Miss Clark.

She nodded her head but didn't say a word.

"We would like to ask you a few questions about Marcus. We were told that he got entangled with some drug peddlers and from our findings, before his abduction, Marcus hardly kept friends so whatever involvements he had with these people could likely be from within this school. Is there anything you'd like to tell us? Maybe you noticed something strange about him or anyone he was so close to in school?" It was officer Jones this time around. He had taken out his pen and note to document the necessary information.

Miss Clark adjusted a bit on her seat and cleared her throat before speaking,

"Actually, Marcus was a great student. And he was like the brightest kid in grade 12. His disappearance has been a great loss to us, the teachers and everyone else who knew him. I pray he returns safe and sound".

The officers kept nodding their heads as she spoke and echoed 'amen' to her prayers.

"I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't notice anything strange about Marcus's behavior. Just a few weeks before his disappearance, Marcus's grades dropped drastically. He stopped being the zealous student I knew. And were you told he got a tattoo? Yes, he did", she went on to answer her own question, "He'd rather spend his whole day trying to impress the girls in his class, which was so much unlike him. And there's this kid he started hanging around. Eric", Miss Clark paused for a while as though she had just remembered something.

Officer Jones had been busy putting down important points but stopped when Miss Clark had mentioned Eric. He exchanged glances with agent Thomas and then fixed his gaze at Miss Clark, waiting for her to go on with what she was saying but it seemed like she was done.

Agent Thomas cleared his throat and made a spin on his seat before speaking,

"And this Eric kid, is he in the same grade as Marcus?"

"Yes, he is", Miss Clark retorted sharply and went silent. It seemed like she wasn't ready to give out any more information than she already did.

"Can we meet this Eric? We promise to make it snappy and in no time, he'll be back in class with other students, okay?"

Miss Clark stood up and walked out of the office to invite Eric.

Eric walked into the room, trying to appear as calm as ever but the sweat on his face sold him out. It was very obvious that he was nervous.

"Eric, right?" Jones asked with a smile on his face, "Listen young boy, no one's gonna hurt you, okay? I understand that you're nervous right now but we just want you to calm down and answer the few questions we have for you".

Eric opened his mouth to speak but said nothing. He just nodded, trying to avoid locking eyes with any of the officers.

"We were told that you and Marcus were pretty close, yeah? How close were you with Marcus? Can you tell us the kind of relationship you both shared?" Jones asked, returning to his note.

"Well", Eric stuttered, "Marcus and I were friends. He usually helped me out with my studies and all. But that was it", Eric spoke slowly, trying not to give out more information than he had been asked.

"Hmm…. Friends", Thomas repeated, tapping the principal's desk lightly with his index finger.

This sent chills down Eric's spine but he didn't make a move.

"Did Marcus mention anything about some sort of business deal to you? Or did he tell you he was in any kind of trouble? Just anything at all that could help us out here", officer Jones went on.

Eric knew this was the point where he could get implicated, so he wasn't in a rush to give a reply. He took a while to make up a story that everyone would believe.

"Marcus never mentioned anything about being in any business. And ever since he started putting up some strange attitude, I tried my best to stay away from him", he replied, staring at the ground as though he was searching for something.

Nothing about Eric seemed right to Thomas. This kid isn't telling us something, he thought.

Eric was asked back to his class and afterwards, the officers left the school.

* * *

This was the point where they had to return home to their parents, Emma thought. They couldn't go any further, not on an empty stomach. They seemed to be lost and contacting their parents was the only thing they could do at the moment but how was that going to be possible since their cellphones were down. Emma walked up to a young woman who was walking her little baby in a cart. She greeted her in the most subtle tone she could muster. The woman turned around to see the innocent kids standing right behind her.

"Good afternoon, dear. How may I help you? Are you okay?" She said and took a step closer to them. She had taken pity on them.

"We're lost and we haven't been able to contact our parents 'cause our cellphones are out of battery. Please could you help us out here?", Emma continued.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that", she said, taking out her phone from the little purse she had with her, "let me have their number".

"Yeah ok. +18….." Emma started but she paused, realizing she didn't have her parents' numbers offhand, "Fuck!" She cursed under her breath.

"What's wrong darling?" the young woman paused, on hearing Emma swear.

"We don't have our parents' numbers by heart. This is so fucked up. I don't even know what we're gonna do now". She ran her hand through her scattered hair and looked away.

"Then let's call the cops. At least you'll be safe with them till they're able to contact your parents. You can't be out here by yourselves. Anything could happen, okay?" she said and dialed the cops. In no time, they were both picked up and taken to the station.

* * *

Burdett was making lunch for Carla. She had withdrawn into herself since her children went missing and Burdett had been handling all the chores around. His phone rang right next to where Carla was sitting. She reached out for it and didn't bother checking out the caller before she picked up.

"This is the New York cops and we're calling to inform you that your kids, Emma and Aiden have been found", the caller echoed.

Carla was speechless as tears trickled down her face. Burdett had rushed out of the kitchen on hearing his phone ring. He made his way to the living room where he met Carla in tears. He made for the cellphone in her hand and spoke into the dialer,

"Hello, Mr Kinney on the line. How may I help you?"

"This is the cops and we're calling to inform you that your kids, Emma and Aiden have been found. Midtown precinct south, 357 W 35th Street", the caller said and went off.

Burdett and Carla made their way to the station at once where they met their kids in tears. Emma, on seeing her parents, went on her knees and started pleading with them.

"Mom, Dad, I'm very sorry for everything. We were just trying to rescue Marcus", she cried.

At this moment, Carla realized that Marcus wasn't present with them. She drew back from Emma and looked around with searching eyes.

* * *

Marcus had been injected with multiple doses of tranquilizer. This was to ensure he didn't wake up till they got to Arizona. They had wrapped him up in a post mortem bag stuffed up with clothes and kept him in the trunk of a cargo van.

Alejandro was on the wheels while Sergio sat right next to him. They had dressed up as couriers and this did the trick. It helped them get past each checkpoint without suspicion. And of course, they had also gotten themselves fake ID cards. They had been on the road for over 22 hours and still had about 15 more hours to go.

"We have to hasten up. This kid needs to be in Mexico before Friday night. Nosotros no podemos arriesgarlo….. We can't risk it", Sergio said, exhaling loudly. He was exhausted from being on the road for over a day. Alejandro kept his eyes on the road and didn't say a word.

Sergio went on,

"He hablado con hugo y salvador…. I've spoken with Hugo and Salvador. And they'll be waiting to receive him once he crosses over".

"Poor kid", Alejandro finally said, "well, he'll be lucky to work with Él Ligeró. Redemption". He exhaled deeply and smiled.

Marcus was about to begin a new life where he was to be recruited as a Falcon for one of the top drug rings in Mexico, Cártel de Deuce.

* * *

Cártel de Deuce was headed by a man, Santiago Peña Mateo known by all as Él Ligeró.

Mateo, born into a poor family with an abusive father in the drug trade, had been subjected to domestic violence alongside his mother and older siblings. His parents, Isabel and Pedro Santiago were farmers who owned 3 plots of land on which they cultivated the food they ate and of course, marijuana. They lived in their hometown, Zitácuaro, Michoacán in the western-central of Mexico.

When he was just thirteen, Mateo had been kicked out of the family home after he had stabbed his father in the eye with a broken bottle and was forced to make his own way in life. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do, Mateo started sleeping on the streets of Zitácuaro. At night, he would sneak into his father's farm and harvest a substantial amount of marijuana to sell in the day. This way, he was able to feed at least twice a day.

He always had a particular man who came by to patronize him everyday and with time, the man grew so fond of him and decided to take him in as a son. He had earned the name, Él Ligeró which means 'Light', because of his speed in doing things.

At fifteen, Mateo had started working on the commercial farm of his Godfather, where marijuana and other narcotics were produced in bountiful quantities. He had adjusted so much to the system that it was so easy for him to shoot his colleagues in the head at the slightest provocation. Things went on this way and the older he grew, the more promotions he attained until he finally got to work with his Godfather as one of his Lieutenants. This was something he was able to achieve at the age of twenty-one and this was beginning to arouse hatred in his co-workers for him.

None of this really mattered to Mateo because at this point, he had started cultivating his own farm in the town of Pajacuarán, a few kilometers from Zitácuaro and was waiting for the right time before he would break out from his Godfather's organization.

Mateo had started embezzling some funds from the organization and when reports were sent out to the Godfather, he had summoned Mateo to question him about it but Mateo denied everything, making claims that the people who had made up such tales about him were only jealous of his achievements. The Godfather had put some people on Mateo's trail and when he discovered this, he knew it was time for him to leave the organization and start life on his own.

He had woken up early on a Saturday morning before everyone else and left with his valuable belongings. And that was all that was heard of Mateo.

Fourteen years went by and the name Él Ligeró started ringing through the depth and breadth of Mexico. When news reached the Godfather that an opposition cartel had risen to displace him, he had sent out some undercover agents to investigate the face behind the name.

It came as a great shock to the Godfather that his rival organization was headed by the same person he had taken in as a son. He knew he should have just killed Mateo when he had the chance but it was already too late.

Mateo, married to four women, had thirteen children from all four of them. He was ruthless in his dealings and didn't spare anyone who tried to outsmart him in his own game. His organization was gradually rising to the top and the name was heard beyond Mexico. He had attained such power at a very young age.

Él Ligeró's first arrest was at the age of forty-five. He had been arraigned before court, found guilty and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He was kept in the most secure prison facility in Mexico and as rumor would have it, his escape had been planned by one of the prison wardens. The truth about his disappearance was yet to be uncovered.

After his first escape, Él Ligeró had gone into hiding from where he kept on with his operations. A series of kidnaps and killings were recorded and all investigations made, showed that they were all sponsored by his organization. He more or less became the most dreaded soul in Mexico.

This is the story of the man Marcus was about to work for.