Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 21:09:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Snwdemon Subject: 'Saving Alex' Chapter 2 (M/b, no sex) WARNING: This story is technically a novella, and while it does contain some erotic and sexual scenes including some sexual scenes involving men and minor boys, it is not my intent that this story be considered erotic. However, I chose to include this subject in order to portray the ruthlessness of some of the characters. If this offends you, then I recommend you not read further. Any similarity to individuals, living or dead, is entirely accidental. Certain buildings, places, and historical sites have been included in this story in order to set the place or mood of a particular scene. No persons, places, and businesses are in any way affiliated to myself, or to this story. The story is copyrighted under the pseudonym, Snwdemon. A copy has been placed in the Nifty archives for your enjoyment. Feel free to post it to appropriate newsgroups or send it to your friends. The story cannot be used to derive monetary gain. It cannot be placed in archives that require payment for access, or printed and distributed in any form that requires payment. THE NIFTY ARCHIVE: The Nifty Archive needs your support. If you enjoy reading this story, please remember it is available only because of the Nifty Archive. Instructions are provided on the Nifty home page for how to provide support. FINAL WARNING: If you are under the age of 18, if this material is illegal in your place of residence, or if man-boy relationships aren't your thing, then exit now and save yourself from a life of sin! Author's Note: Hello again all. Well as you know from the author's notes in my other stories, I have been quite ill recently. However, I am finally getting over it. The one good thing about being sick is that you end up spending countless hours in bed. I chose to put that time to good use, and wrote several chapters of my current stories including this one. I have wrestled with myself over this story because the opening chapter lays out the general plot, but is open enough to allow the story to go in almost any direction. After thinking long and hard about the various directions I could take, I kept coming back to my original inspiration for this story. It is intended to be a suspense/thriller type of story as well as a love story. While I am still unsure about whether I should include some sexual scenes, I am leaning towards letting a relationship develop between the two main characters. Even if I choose not to include sexual scenes, what's a story without sex? Therefore, while it may not be described in graphic detail, it will still be vivid enough for someone's imagination. Which, in my opinion, is how every great love story is written. It is also going to be my first attempt at writing in this genre, so I hope I get it right. God Bless everybody. Damion. 'Saving Alex' by Snwdemon My thanks to "BenBear, RJ, and Miguel Sanchez" for proofing this chapter. Recap: "I do not know everything Bill, but this has something to do with my wife's family back in Columbia. Alex is her brother, which is something I didn't know either until just now. He is Allejandro Cruz, and Luna told me I had to keep him safe. So I can only guess he was the intended target for this, or they both were...I just don't know. I need to know everything you can get me about this MS-13 gang." I told him, and I could feel the anger building inside me like a raging inferno. "Be careful Pat, or you may end up in the middle of a gang war with them." He cautioned me as he watched for my response. He knew the look on my face, and knew my rage was building. He also knew that whomever I chose to vent that rage would regret it. "They got more than a war when they assaulted my family, they got a blood feud. They don't know the kind of war I am going to bring on them, and God help them when I come. Just get me that information please. I'm going to take Alex and my son home now, and then I'm going to see Luna. I want 24/7 protection on her to ensure her safety." I told him in a deadly serious tone of voice. "I will make it happen. You know that we cannot openly support you in this, but you just tell me what you need and I will get it alright." Bill told me, and I fully understood his meaning. If any of this got into the news, the agency will play dumb and deny any involvement. However, I was not just a Criminal Profiler, but also one of their best Covert Operatives. Bill just looked into my eyes, and he could see the inferno behind them. Whoever had done this to my family would now pay, probably with their lives. However, they were not through yet because the other shoe was about to fall. End Chapter 1 Chapter 2: June 14, 1999 (2 hours later) I finally managed to get away from the throng that had gathered on my street. The traffic was a nightmare, and I crawled along. I cannot tell you if it was a gut instinct, the traffic, or just pure luck, but I turned off a couple of blocks before M street, and made my way down the ally behind the store. I got out of the car, and was I hit with the immediate sense of wrongness that permeated the air when we arrived at the store. I waved at Alex to be quiet, and I retrieved my service weapon from my briefcase. Alex stayed in the car with Patrico, while I quietly made my way to the back door going into the kitchen. I could hear them yelling at Papa as I stopped beside the door. I carefully and quietly opened the screen door. Next, I paused and listened, and I got a rough idea where everyone was positioned. Then, I eased open the back door to almost a foot open before the door hinge squeaked. When that happened, I rushed forward, throwing the door open. There were four young thugs who I presumed were gang members. The two closest to me were beating up Papa, while the third was standing next to where Mama was tied up. The last gang member was keeping watch out the front, and I presume again, waiting for me to arrive. I came inside in a shooter's crouch, and fired off two shots that dropped the two gang members nearest me, and damn near blew half of the guy's head off as he held a gun to Papa's head. The other two members split up, with the younger of the two squaring off with me. His gun never cleared his waistband, while the last gang member fled. I shot him in the leg just as he reached the door. Then, I came up behind him, kicked him hard in the groin, and shot him in his kneecap to immobilize him after taking his weapon. "Mama...Papa, are you ok?" I asked them as I came through the door back into the kitchen. Papa had untied Mama, but other than him being roughed up a bit, splattered with blood, brain matter, and gore, they were both fine. "Tell me what happened," I said to them as I waved Alex to hurry inside with my son. He carried Patrico carefully as he got out and ran by me in to the kitchen. He came to a sudden stop, and stood frozen, unable to move. "Muchacho, what's the matter?" Papa asked him, and that got my attention. I closed the door and locked it, and then came up behind Alex. He was trembling so much that I could see it, and I was afraid that he was going to drop my son for a moment. Then, I saw his face, which was ghostly pale as he stared wide eyed at the dead bodies, tissue and gore, with their blood pooling around them. When I came around him and took my son, I saw that he had wet his pants, and that his breathing was quickening. I knew that he was going into shock, and that the sight of the bodies had pushed him over the edge because everything was happening so fast and he could not deal with it. "Mama, come take Patrico, please. I need to take care of Alex," I told her gently, and she came over and took my son from me. I turned him around until his back was towards the carnage. His eyes focused on me for a moment finally, and he let out a soft whimper as he embraced me. Hugging him to me, I could still feel his slender body shaking almost violently from his shock. I then had Papa cover his head with a dish towel, so he could no longer see the blood around him, and told them to lock up, and come upstairs, before carrying Alex out of the room. Mama followed me with Patrico, and put him in the playpen upstairs. Papa came up and asked me about the young thug in the front who was injured, and I told him that I would take care of him after I was done with Alex. I also told him to call the police, and handed him my wallet too. I told him to also call my supervisor, and then he needed to take my gun and go watch the punk downstairs. My words to him were "shoot the bastard if he hiccups!" While I sat Alex on the old couch, and untangled his arms from my neck before speaking to him. "Allejandro, look at me. That's right, it's Uncle Patrico, and I am worried about you. Don't speak, just nod your head. I know things are bad, but try not to think about what you saw. Try to push the images out of your head for now. Now can you tell me if what you just saw and heard downstairs scared you Alex?" If I could get him to respond, or better yet, to cry, then I would relax because it would mean that he was processing what he just witnessed. I asked him this as I knelt in front of him, and held his hands in mine. It was then that Mama noticed the wet front of his shorts and it worried her more, but I waved her back. He was showing all of the classic symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress. The symptoms were very different than they were with adults, mainly because a child has not yet fully developed their ability to reason yet. Therefore, their symptoms were more acute, and their reactions more primitive than adults. What is considered normal to a person like me, who has been inoculated to this kind of violence, is simply terrifying to him so his brain just shuts down. Therefore, I knew that I first had to get though to him, and then reassure him that he was safe from harm. "Come on Alex, its me, Uncle Patricio ok. I am married to your sister Luna, and I work for the FBI remember?" I said calmly with a smile on my face, and I watched his small shoulders relax just a bit. "Now, can you answer my question by nodding yes or no for me? Did the things you saw and heard downstairs scare you mejo?" I asked again in even a more gentle tone of voice. Slowly, Alex nodded his head before lowering his eyes. Good, I was making some progress. "No Alex, you need to look at me mejo," I said as I gently lifted his chin until our eyes met again. "Good mejo, now again, nod yes or no, and tell me if this is the first time you have ever seen a person hurt badly, or dead?" Again, he just nodded his head slightly while his shaking increased. "No mejo, do not think about it, just try thinking about what you felt only. Were you scared or sad?" I told him in a soft, comforting whisper like voice as I kept his eyes locked onto my own. "It's all over mejo, you are safe." I was holding his small wrist with my hand, and also monitoring his pulse at the same time. After I repeated these words a few of times, he began to relax more as he continued to look at me with unfocused eyes. His breathing had slowed from the short rapid pace that it had been, and his heart rate was almost normal again. "It was pretty scary down there, wasn't it beautiful?" He nodded again, only the nod was more noticeable this time. I was watching for any response, and his eyes focused for a moment on mine when I called him beautiful. I saw the very slight tremble that showed in his bottom lip for just a moment too, just before his eyes became glassy as they slowly filled. "I know it was beautiful, but you are safe now. I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise. It's ok to cry if you want to, but I want you to remember that it's over, and you are safe, ok?" I said, and it got through this time. He blinked a couple of times, and a tear slid down his face before his bottom lip began to really tremble as he looked at me. "It's ok. Come here my beautiful muchacho," I said to him as I held open my arms to him. Alex quickly embraced me as he buried his face into my chest and began to sob softly. I sat back on my heels, and began to sooth him while rocking back and forth, as he cried. I held him for almost twenty minutes even after his tears had stopped. When my supervisor came upstairs, I quietly motioned for him to not disturb me. He quickly blocked the Metro police from intruding on us, and herded them back downstairs. Finally, Alex started coming around, and he relaxed in my arms. "You ok now mejo?" I asked him softly when he lifted his head up from my shoulder and looked at me. His small body was still trembling a little, but nothing close to how bad he was shaking when I brought him upstairs. Patrico had started crying, so Mama had taken him into her bedroom to feed him, leaving Alex and me alone. "I^ÅI think I^Åum^ÅI had an accident," he said in a soft quivering voice as his eyes filled again. I quickly kissed him on his eyes in hopes of stopping his tears. "It's ok my beautiful muchacho, you were very scared, and that is what happens when a person is scared like you were. Don't worry about it, to be honest, I almost messed myself when the door squeaked, so don't feel bad. Come on; let's go get you changed so nobody but us will know ok?" I told him reassuringly, and he nodded, but he did not let go of me. I managed to stand up, even though my left leg was numb and tingling from sitting too long on it. I took him back to his room, and sat him down on his bed before standing up. "I will be right back, ok Alex. I am going to get a wash cloth and towel from the bathroom to clean you up ok?" I asked him and he nodded as he picked up a stuffed weenie dog from his bed and hugged it. I went to the bathroom just down the hall from his room, and got a warm, wet, wash cloth and a dry towel before returning to his room, closing the door, and locking it. I came over and sat down next to him on the bed. "Alright, let's get you changed. Then you can lay down in here until I finish talking to the police downstairs. When I'm done, I will come get you, then we can go see your sister, and then we can go away from this place for awhile. I was thinking that maybe we should take our camping trip now, instead of later. How does that sound to you mejo?" I asked him, and it brought him back completely. He smiled at me and nodded while his smile grew into a big, wide, boyish grin. "You mean it Uncle Patrico? We can go away today?" He asked me with a little more excitement in his face. "Yes mejo, now let's get you cleaned up so I can take care of business downstairs. Then we can go." I told him before kissing his forehead. "I am very proud of you right now my beautiful muchacho. You were very brave today." Alex just nodded his head before standing up in front of me. I pulled him close, and proceeded to strip off his clothes until he stood completely naked in front of me. I took the wash cloth and wiped down his entire body starting with his face first. Then I dried him thoroughly with the towel before helping him dress in clean clothes. Once we finished, I told him to pack enough clothes for a full week including two pairs of jeans, and two pairs of shorts, five underwear, socks, and t-shirts, and last of all, two long sleeved shirts. I left him to do this, and went downstairs to meet with the police and my supervisor. Bill broke away from two of the crime scene technicians and came over to me when I came into the room. "How is he doing Pat?" He asked me referring to Alex. I assumed that Mama or Papa had updated him about Alex's condition. "He is all right, but still a little scared. I was worried that he was going into shock after he came into the kitchen and nearly stumbled over one of the bodies. Don't ask me how, but this was the first time he had ever seen this kind of violence, and it scared the hell out of him Bill." I told him as he guided me over to a corner away from the other people in the room. "Look, don't ask questions, but I've taken care of everything here. You arrived after this went down ok. I've got your service weapon in my briefcase, and I assume that you have more if you need them right?" He said quietly to me and I nodded to him while thinking of the mini arsenal in the trunk of my car. Something was up, and I needed to know what before I made my next move. Using the coded sign language that was taught to all operatives, I silently asked him what was going on. "Unconfirmed report says that your in-laws are informants for the DEA. Word on the street is that someone knows this and is seeking revenge, which could explain today." "Alright, then let's treat this like shadow understand. Do you know who the intended target was?" I asked him, and he just pointed to the ceiling letting me know that my hunch was correct that Alex was the intended target. "Fine, he will stay with me, and everything else will be the same as shadow. I will be in touch," I said to him referring to the last operation we worked on together. He knew that I was going underground as of that moment, and that I would contact him through another undercover operative who just happened to be in the Metro police department. However, his next words cut through me as if he stabbed me. "Hold on Pat. I thought you should hear if from me first. I am sorry, but Luna didn't make it." He said, and then he had to grab and hold me up as my legs gave out. It took a few minutes for me to regain control of myself, but that was only after I had punched a hole in the wall as my grief became rage. "What happened?" I asked him through clenched teeth as I massaged my hand. "The doctor said it was from the head trauma. She had a brain hemorrhage, and she died on the table as they were trying to save her. She didn't suffer Pat, and she wasn't in pain." He told me sincerely with tears in his eyes, and I knew he meant it. Although he was my supervisor now, he was one of my closest friends, and was my best man when I married Luna. I knew that Alex was still in danger, and that he would find out soon enough, but I wanted to tell him. I steeled myself for this, and knew that I would grieve later when this was over, but for now, I needed to concentrate on saving the remnants of my family. "Where are my parents?" I asked him as I swallowed my grief. "Out front, she is taking it pretty hard though. You father-in-law said that they will take care of the arrangements. They know what is going on, and we will have them under protection around the clock. I think you should consider leaving Alex with them." He said, although he already knew what my answer would be. We had done this same thing in a different case involving the mafia. We put the informant and his family under round the clock protection, and it cost us not only the informant and his young son, but also two good field agents as well. The only consolation was that we were able to save his wife and daughter, and hid them in witness protection. However, I knew that I could protect Alex because I would not be hampered by all of the bureaucratic red tape and the law. "I need to talk to them for a moment privately, and make sure that nobody goes upstairs." I told him and he acknowledged my requests while guiding me to the doorway leading out to the front of the store. Although he was my supervisor, as of now, I was in charge of this operation. I found Mama and Papa close to the register, and they both embraced me when I came up to them. Nothing was said, and we just cried together for a few minutes for our loss. Finally, I wiped my face, and kissed Mama and Papa before speaking. I reached into my pocket, took out my keys, and unhooked a small key from the key ring. I gave it to Papa before speaking. "I know Bill explained everything to you. Alex is in danger, and he was the intended target for this retribution. I want you to know that I do not blame you in any way for Luna's death. She was my wife, and your daughter, and we are family...nothing has changed. I will get those responsible for this, I promise you. Alex will stay with me because I can protect him that way. Mama; you and Papa have to take care of Patrico now. Just in case something happens to me Papa, that key is to my safe deposit box at Riggs Bank. It has all of my important papers in it, including my will. Take care of Luna for me, I love both of you." I told them with fresh tears in my eyes. Then I kissed Mama's palms, and they both hugged me while promising to do as I asked. "Are you going to tell Allejandro?" Papa asked me. I nodded indicating that I would. "Look mejo, Allejandro is my nephew, and Luna's half brother. She really was my daughter, but Allejandro is my brother's son. My brother is Santos Cruz, and he is in charge of the Medellion cartel. When he found out about Luna, he flipped out and killed her mother. I left Columbia to escape the cartel long ago, and when I heard what had happened, I had Luna brought here where she met you. Alex was taken from his school without my brother's knowledge, and brought here too where I was granted temporary custody of him. The DEA, and ATF tried to lure him here to come get Alex, but there was a spy, and it ended up in a big shootout and two agents lost their lives along with three high ranking members of the cartel. My brother went into hiding after that, but I know that he would never try and hurt Alex. I know my brother, and he loves Alex, that is why he has protected him so much from the cartel's influence. I am now worried that he has been killed, and someone else is doing this to secure their power in the cartel. If this is true, then we are all in grave danger." Papa said while mama nodded her agreement that he spoke the truth. I decided to come clean with them, and let them know that whoever had ordered this had chosen the wrong person to piss off. "Mama and Papa, you have to trust me, I can protect Alex, and whoever did this will pay with his life. I cannot explain further but I ask you to trust me. All I can say is this; do you think the FBI would train a simple profiler to shoot like I can?" I told them both quietly, and Papa thought for a moment as he recalled how easily I killed the three gang members, including the one holding a gun to Papa's head. Papa shook his head no in answer to my question as mama just looked at him, and then me. "Right, so trust me. I will fix this so that nothing like this happens again. When I am finished, the cartel will regret that their decision to come after my family. Listen to Bill, and take care of your grandson, and I will take care of Allejandro. I won't be able to contact you once we leave here, so I will bring him down to say goodbye before we leave. I will be back in a little while with Alex." I told them and they nodded before hugging me again. I left them and returned to where Bill was. "I will talk to you later, but the rules have changed. Speak to no one except shadow team from this point forward because there may be ears close by. Also, where did they take that kid I shot in the leg?" I told him quietly after I pulled him into a corner. "Alright, we operate dark from now on. That kid was taken to GW, you really messed up his leg you know. They will probably have to amputate it." He said to me, I just gave him a vicious half smile. "He might be missing more than his leg by morning. I need to talk to Alex, then I will send for Mama and Papa so he can say goodbye." I told him before heading back up the stairs again. Alex was finished packing his gym bag, and sitting on his bed reading when I came back in. Once again, I closed the door, before sitting down beside him. He immediately knew something was wrong when he saw my face. However, somehow he already knew what was wrong because he had seen Luna before they took her away. "It's my sister isn't it? She's in heaven now isn't she?" He said softly as tears slipped down his face. Fresh tears flowed down my face as I just nodded my head and hugged him. We cried together for almost fifteen minutes, and then I told him that something was wrong in Columbia, and that his father may be involved too. After he cried for another ten minutes, he finally asked me if we could leave. "Yes, we can. Now, I need you to keep a secret, can you promise me that?" I asked him in a conspiratorial whisper. He nodded his head and leaned closer to me. "I need you to promise me that no matter what you hear after today, that you will trust me to protect all of our family, including your father if necessary. I also want you to trust me, and not believe everything you hear about some things, and what some people say about me and our family. They will say these things to get you to distrust me, and to do something stupid so they can find and hurt us. I know that is asking you to do a lot, but you are going to have to trust me for now. You are my partner now, and we have to protect Mama, Papa, and little Patrico while we try to find out what happened in Columbia, ok?" I asked him with a serious face. He studied my face for any hint of deception before placing his trust, and welfare into my hands. "So Daddy is in trouble too...maybe in heaven with Luna right?" He asked me, and I nodded yes to him. He asked me worriedly; "you won't ever leave me will you?" "Not if I can prevent it, I promise. See, this is another secret that I just discovered today. Since Luna is your sister, and I am her husband, then I can easily adopt you and make you my son if you want that later." I told him with conviction. "Really?" He said with hope in his eyes, and I nodded my head. "Ok, I promise to trust you Uncle Patrico. I love you." "I love you too, my beautiful muchacho," I said to him after kissing his forehead. "Let's go say goodbye to Mama and Papa, ok mejo?" He just nodded his head and I picked up his heavy bag. I noticed a couple of books stuffed inside along with his stuffed dog. I took him out to the living room, and sat him on the couch before asking Bill to send Mama and Papa up. They came up after a few minutes, and we had a tearful goodbye. Papa told him to be brave, and to listen to me, and he promised he would. Finally, Mama said a prayer, and told me to go with God, and we left. After I loaded his bag into the small back seat, I went to the trunk and retrieved my shotgun and Uzi machine pistol, and put them behind my seat. Then I went over to Bill, got my 9mm semi-automatic handgun from him, and say goodbye before climbing into the car and backing out of the ally. The first place I went was to my house, but again I approached it from behind through the ally. After watching for a few minutes, I had Alex get out and follow me into the house. However, instead of going upstairs to my bedroom, I headed downstairs to the basement instead. I didn't know when I would be called for a mission, so I always kept two bags packed in the basement. One was packed with clothes, and other necessities, and the other with more guns, ammo, and gear that I would need for a mission. The last thing I did was to grab the Coleman tent, and sleeping bags. I also took the camping equipment which consisted of Army style equipment that included two field kit sets consisting of a small metal frying pan, bowl, cup combo, and two canteens. I stuffed two lightweight jackets for us to use, and we both headed upstairs and into the garage. We loaded everything into the Mercedes SUV, and then I went and retrieved my weapons from the back seat of the car. Then before we left, I went into my office, and took out a lockbox and opened it. I retrieved my various ID's and passports, credit cards, and a small machine that I plugged into my computer. I had Alex stand by the door as I took three different photos of him with the digital camera, and I made him three phony passports and IDs to match mine showing he was my son. My plan was to drive to Harper's Ferry after I had a chat with the punk at GW, and then ditch the SUV there. Once we got into the mountains, I would re-pack everything and we would simply disappear. However, as we left the house, I saw the car follow us. I drove through the streets of DC towards George Washington Hospital Center while keeping an eye on our tail. As I stopped at a red light, I saw the car that was following us stop about forty feet behind us, even though there was no cars between us. "Get down now!" I yelled to Alex, and he quickly complied. I slammed the gear shift into reverse, and stomped the accelerator just as the driver of the car to the right of me fired a shotgun blast intended for Alex. It blew out the passenger window of the car that was on the left side of me, which also happened to be full of gang members. With the thug in the car to the left of me, either dead or severely wounded, I changed gears and pulled up to where I was just moments before. Alex was now huddling on the floor with his hands over his ears as I shot the driver in the center of his forehead before taking off. The car that had been trailing us was now in pursuit. I quickly turned onto Constitution Ave. and took it to New York Ave. Once I was on New York, I sped up to 80 leaving my pursuer behind as he got blocked by traffic. When I reached the tunnel, I passed through it quickly and stopped at the entrance on the other side. I grabbed the pump action shotgun, and the Uzi, before running back into the tunnel. I knelt down on one knee, took aim with the shotgun, and waited. When the pursuing car came around the sharp curve, I pumped two rounds into the windshield on the driver's side, and three into grill and left front tire. The tire blew sending the car careening into the wall before spinning it around 360 degrees and crashing into the opposite wall. When the wreckage came to a stop, I ran over to it to check for survivors. Of the two occupants inside, the driver was dead, but the passenger was alive, but pinned and injured. I could see that his right arm was broken, and I grabbed it. "Who sent you?" I asked him as he asked me to help him. I twisted his wrist, and he screamed in pain. "I said who sent you?" "Miaorga sent us." He told me when I let his arm go. "Just help me, please." "I doubt that you will die, but I want you to give your boss Miaorga a message. Tell him that he fucked with the wrong person, and that I'm coming for him." I said to him, and the bastard laughed. "You're the one who's fucked. Miaorga wants that kid, dead or alive." He said with a laugh before screaming again as I twisted his wrist again. "Yeah^Åright. Just give him the message." I told him as I let go and stepped back. "Ok^Åwho do I say it's from smartass." He growled at me as he cradled his broken arm. "Tell him Dark Angel is coming^Åbecause I am going to kill his wife, then his kids, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, parents, and friends before I kill him. Whoever gets in my way will die, do you understand?" I told him as I grabbed him by his throat and squeezed. He nodded his head wildly as he spluttered and struggled to breathe, and then I let go. I ran back to the SUV, and took off. Alex was still huddled in a tight little ball on the floor as I drove until I reached the on ramp to the beltway. I followed it south to the 210 highway and exited. I took that to Berry Rd, then Berry Rd to Rt. 5. Once I was on Rt. 5, I pulled over into a Shell station with a carwash. I drove around to the back of the carwash and parked by one of the vacuums. "Its ok mejo, we are safe now. Come on Alex, its ok. I kept my promise." I said to him gently as I gently tugged his hands away from his ears. He was shaking badly again, but not in shock. After a moment, he cracked open his eyes and looked at me. "We are safe mejo. Now come up here and sit down please." I told him, and he slowly uncurled himself and timidly made his way back into his seat. As soon as he looked around at the dark and empty parking lot, he relaxed a little before quickly embracing me. He let out a little strangled sob into my chest as I held him. "I was so scared that they were going to hurt us." He said after a few minutes. After he lifted his head and began wiping his eyes. I gave him my handkerchief, and kissed him on his head and forehead. "I know you were honey, and I'm sorry ok. I wasn't paying attention, and I promise that it won't happen again. I've changed our plans a little, I need some information first before we can go on, so I am going to a place where we will be safe for a few days, ok?" I explained to him as he wiped his face. "So we aren't going camping right now?" He asked me in his soft musical voice. "Well, I didn't say that, but I decided to compromise a bit until I can get organized. I also think that you need a few days to rest too," I said with a gentle smile. "Ok Uncle Patrico, um, I have to pee again." He said a bit sheepishly as he shook off his fright and trusted me. "So do I and we also need to think about food too. We can get a burger tonight, and tomorrow we can go shopping for supplies." I told him as I backed up and drove around to the front of the mini-mart. We got out, and went inside where we both used the bathroom. I had him wash his face, and comb his hair before we went back out into the store. I asked him if he wanted some chips or a drink, and we walked around for a few minutes grabbing some things. He got a bag of chips, and a Sunkist, while I got Dorito's and coffee. I also bought an atlas of the US, and paid to fill up on gas too. When we got back on the road, I stopped at McDonald's and got us some Big Mac's and fries along with drinks before driving south on Rt. 5 until it intersected with Rt.4/Pennsylvania Ave. We were now 80 miles south of DC when I turned into the Navy Recreation Center in Solomon's Island, Maryland. I showed the gate guard my Federal ID, and the government sticker on my car got us waved through. I drove around for almost a minute before he recognized the surroundings. "Hey, it's a campground. I thought you said we weren't going camping though." He said questioningly to me. "No, I said kinda sorta. See, we aren't going camping in a tent, but we are going to be staying here in this thing." I said as I parked beside an RV Trailer. "Neat. Is this yours?" He asked me as he looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes of his. "No mejo, it's not mine. It belongs to my friend Bill, the man who you saw earlier today at home. We are going to borrow it for a few days while we hide out until I get the information I need, then we are going to the mountains ok." I told him as I got out, and went to the door. I reached under the step, retrieved the spare keys, and let ourselves in. I turned on the lights as Alex carried in our dinner from McDonald's and placed it on the small booth type dining table. I went out and brought our bags in except the camping gear while Alex explored the trailer. He was in the back when I came back in. "Uncle Patricio, this is so kewl. It even has a bed, and a bathtub, but I think you will get stuck in it though," he said excitedly. Next, he was opening the closets and drawers, and he even opened the roof vents as I turned on the gas, water, and fired up the AC's to cool it off. I ran them full blast while we ate, then I turned them down to low. However, the events of the day quickly caught up to him as the last of his boyish energy ran out. He was fast asleep after he inhaled his Big Mac and fries. He hardly stirred as I gently picked him up, carried him to the back, and laid him on the bed. He moaned softly a couple of times as I undressed him to his underwear, and covered him up. I went back to the table and called Bill on my cell phone. "Hey Bill, it's me," I said when he answered sleepily. "Pat, what time is it, and where are you?" He asked me with a yawn. "Its almost midnight, and I'm in the wildebeest right now. Had an incident after we left, and I was afraid that our little friend couldn't take much more. So, I decided to hole up here for a few days to let him rest before we move on. I hope you don't mind the change of plans." I told him, and he knew exactly where I was because that was his youngest son's name for the Wilderness RV trailer. "No, it's a good idea. I know how to reach you if I need to now." He said. "Hey, do me a favor, will you. I need all the information you can get on someone in the cartel named Miaorga. I will pick it up in the usual place." I told him meaning that he was to email it to a yahoo email address. "I've heard of him, and none of it's good either. So he's the one behind this you think?" He asked. "I don't know yet, I just know that he sent the goons today. According to the one I let live, he wants Alex dead or alive, but the way he said it makes me think they want him alive. They had a clear shot at him after we left, yet they waited until after I had Alex duck down before they fired. If you want someone dead, then that wouldn't have happened." I told him as I rubbed the spot right about my eyes. "I agree, word on the street says the same thing. They want him alive for some reason. Look, get some rest, and I will be in touch later." He told me. "Sure, sleep well my friend." I told him and ended the call. I thought about things for another twenty minutes before I decided to turn in. I locked up everything, and turned out the lights except a small one over the small stove just in case Alex woke up in the night. I undressed, and got into the full sized bed next to Alex. As soon as I lay down, he scooted next to me and flung his arm and leg over me. I kissed him on his head as he slept, and turned out the light before sleeping myself. End of Chapter 2. Please send all responses to snwdemon@toast.net or to snwdemon@yahoo.com Also include the word NOSPAM in the subject line to insure delivery of message.