Who Will Catch My Fall II Part 9

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of abusive acts, both physical and sexual in nature, involving MINOR boys. I wish to explain that this story is not true! Further, it is not intended to promote illegal acts against minors, but to educate people as to what a minor child has to do in order to survive in a severely abusive environment that they are trapped. One of the most famous examples of this was Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped at age 7 and severely abused for 7 years. He was subjected to physical, sexual, and mental abuse. I have had the privilege of working with a number of boys like him, and I consider all of them to be extremely brave. Many people still believe that children who stay with an abuser/captor do so because they want to. This is utterly untrue, and is proven through numerous interviews, behavioral, and psychological studies conducted with these victims. A young child does not have the same ability to cope with stressful situations as an adult would because they have not had the privilege of time and experience that an adult has. In addition, their brains are growing and developing still so that a young child truly lacks the emotional and physical ability as well as the intricate thought process that adults have. Therefore, they rely more on their basic instincts, and learn quickly what they need to do in order to survive. Thus, when they are removed from that abusive situation, they have an extremely hard time adjusting to their new environment because they are not familiar with trust, caring, and compassion. These are the emotions that the child has to learn once they are put into a new non-abusive environment. People assume that these emotions are natural. Many do not realize that much of our human emotional capacities are learned.

The following story is a work of fiction; it also incorporated actual events that I learned from various victims I counseled over the years in the first part of the story. However, this new part in this story is still a complete work of fiction because I have created, and embellished the facts and individual characters of this story that I took from Part One. In addition, this story is not intended to be erotic or sexual in nature, but because I have given this story's e-publishing rights to Nifty Archives, I am required to include this legal disclaimer. Therefore, I do not encourage others to perform any kind of abusive or sexual act with minors as described in this story. If the subject of Man/boy sex, child abuse, and/or rape of minors offends you, or this material is illegal to possess such material of this nature in your place of residence, or if you are under the legal age to possess such material, do not read further! Finally, I would like to thank Nifty for e-publishing this story because without their archive, I would not have the large fan base now.

By downloading this story: "You implicitly declare and affirm under penalties of perjury that you are not a minor or in the company of a minor, and are entitled to have access to material intended for mature, responsible members of society capable of making decisions about the content of documents they wish to read." The story is copyrighted under my pseudonym, Snwdemon, and pen name Damion Perez. A copy has been placed in these archives for your enjoyment. The story cannot be used to derive monetary gain. However, if you want to place a copy of this story in your free access archives or free access website, then I give my permission for you to do so. If your website requires payment for access and you wish to place a copy of my story on your site, then please email me for my permission. The story cannot be placed in any archives or website that require payment for access, or be printed and distributed in any form that requires payment either directly or indirectly without my written consent first. Any similarity to individuals, living, or dead, is completely accidental. Reference is also made in context to some locations, businesses, characters, and people to define the story line. No other implication about the true sexuality or actions of the people, businesses, or places mentioned is intended.

Author's Note: Hello again, I just wanted to include this note answer a couple of questions from fans. In the last few chapters, some have noticed that I have mentioned a few characters from other stories on Nifty, and that I am using a few characters in this story also. I am speaking about my using Miguel Sanchez, Jay Sanchez, Ronnie Sanchez, and their adopted sons Eduardo and Reuben. Since Miguel has been gracious enough to assist me in writing this story by proofing, editing, and suggesting storylines, then I am thanking him by using a few of his greatest character creations from some of his best known stories. I am also mentioning several characters from one of the net's aspiring and missed authors along with being one of Nifty Alums. I have spent months trying to track down Gary Q and as many know from Nifty, he has penned the classic story Patient John Doe. Since I could not locate him to obtain his permission to use his characters in my story by linking this story to his story, I had to change my plans since it seems that he has just disappeared from the net entirely. Therefore, since I cannot use his characters without his permission, I have decided to mention several of his characters from his story in sort of a tribute. I have read all of his stories, and all I can say is that Gary could have been a great novelist because he is a heck of a good writer. I do not know where or what happened to him, but since I do have connections to the criminal justice system here in the US, I suspect that his sudden disappearance may be connected somehow. Anyway, all I can say for sure is that the gay literature has lost a very good aspiring author. I already have received permission from Miguel to use some characters from his stories, and I just want to say thank you to him for all of his help. God bless my friends and take care.

"It has been a very upsetting day, so I believe I will retire for the night. Take messages for all callers and tell them I will return their call in the morning. Also, have the boy Raheem sent to my room...that will be all for tonight." He said in a dismissive tone before turning away from him. He sat back in his chair and thought about things he would handle in the morning while he sipped his drink. After ten minutes had passed, the scotch was now working, and he let his mind wander to the young Palestinian boy Raheem as he mixed his final drink for the night. The kiddie porn outfit in

Peru

had paid two million for the boy, and Merle knew that they would get triple that amount from the films that they will make with the boy. Now the boy was almost ready for delivery, but he still had to be tested to insure that the behavior modification had worked, and he would break the boy in as well. Even though Richard had maimed him after Eli's death, the daily shots of testosterone allowed him to continue the flesh of young virgin boys. He smiled, as he thought about the beautiful 8 yr-old boy as he took another drink, and felt the warmth from the scotch spread through him. Soon, instead of this warm feeling, he would experience the heat of the boy as he deflowered him. He chuckled with that thought as he took his drink, and headed for his room where Raheem waited.

When he entered the room, closing and locking the door behind him, he saw the young boy sitting on the padded bench at the foot of his large bed. He went over and set his drink on the French made, 16^th century night table before removing his clothes leaving him nude. Then he went over, took Raheem's hand, and led him over to the bed. Raheem was wearing a thin `A' style cotton undershirt along with a pair of thin, loose cotton shorts, and he was beginning to breathe faster through his clenched teeth. He knew what was about to happen to him, but he was powerless to resist due to the behavior modification process he had undergone for the last two months, as Merle sat on the bed before positioning Raheem in front of him between his legs. Then Merle began to caress Raheem's flawless, silky smooth, olive colored skin before sliding his hand into the leg opening and squeezing Raheem's tiny balls in a vise like grip making him yelp in pain. Yet, Raheem did not attempt to resist, or to stop him as tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.

His tears and cries of pain only excited Merle even more as he repeatedly squeezed and twisted Raheem's virgin genitals and tiny nipples, and his own 7" hard cock was now standing straight up with his flaccid empty sac looking like a shriveled old prune. After several minutes of torturing the young boy's immature genitals and tiny brown nipples, Merle was no longer able to control himself. He violently ripped the t-shirt and shorts off Raheem after slapping him hard enough to bloody his nose and mouth, and threw him onto the bed on his stomach before mounting him. Down the hall, Scott Davis heard the boy's screams as Merle violently took his innocence and virginity from him, and tears slid down Scott's face as he walked away. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop Merle right now, and he had spent the last week preparing Raheem by slowly stretching the boy's sphincter with variously sized dildos. He also explained to him carefully the techniques for relaxing his sphincter so that the least amount of damage to his tiny anus would be caused when Merle deflowered him, and he had made sure to use plenty of the pain relieving lube as he prepped Raheem before delivering him to Merle's room. Still, Raheem's painful cries tore at Scott's heart and soul, and he silently swore that he would make Merle pay for all of the pain he had caused to dozens of innocent boys like Raheem and himself.

It was the summer of 1978, and disco was the in thing with the Village People leading the pack along with all of the YMCA's across

America

. Carlos had grown up on the streets of northern L.A., and he had managed to avoid the gangs and drug dealers that preyed on the young poor kids. However, it was another kind of predator of poor inner city kids, who had saved his life that year also. Everything had started out innocent enough that summer, and he remembered that it was so hot that year. He hung out at the local YMCA like many of the kids in the neighborhood because once a week they were allowed to go to the community pool. Carlos did not know how to swim though, and even though they were poor, his alcoholic mother had signed him up for lessons through the Y in April of that year since they were free. It did not take him long to learn, and his instructor, who coached the community swim team, told her that Carlos was a natural swimmer with talent, and encouraged her to let him join the team.

She let the man know that she did not have the time, money, or transportation Carlos would need if he were to join the swim team that practiced three times per week with meets on Saturdays. However, the man gave her a better paying job as well as assuring her that he would provide the transportation to the practices and meets for him, and cover the costs too. Not realizing that this man had a darker motive for his generosity, his mother agreed, and allowed him to join the team. Carlos was thrilled of course, but on his first day of practice, the man had molested him for the first time when he took him into his office at the community center to fit his Speedo swimsuit the team wore. While he was very shy when the man had him strip naked, and then had him sit in his lap before fondling and masturbating him until Carlos told him that it tickled and had to pee before the man stopped. However, he also realized that this man had given his mom a good job, and she was able to buy them things now that she could not afford before. Most of all, she wasn't drinking as much and didn't have to work as long either, so Carlos didn't say anything about the molestation to her.

That was how it had all begun, and for the first few times, it just involved the coach fondling him to an erection until he felt like he had to pee, but then it quickly progressed to masturbation where Carlos unwillingly experienced his first orgasm. When he said he had to pee the man did not stop, but instead the man held his skinny arms pinned behind his back while continuing to masturbate him, bruising his immature sex until Carlos cried out as his young body shook in painful ecstasy from his first dry orgasm. The man comforted him as he cried from the intense, painful pleasure and shame because his hot urine had spurted all over him and the man during his orgasm, and he experienced three more orgasms after the next two practices and the weekly meet.

The very next week, he was forcefully introduced to oral sex and anal stimulation when the man shed his own clothes and ordered Carlos to suck him. When Carlos refused, the man slapped him very hard, knocking him to the floor, and then pinned him down before shoving his hard manhood into Carlos's mouth making him gag and choke. After a few moments, Carlos quickly realized that when the man pulled almost all of the way out of his mouth, that he could take a couple of breaths before his airway was completely blocked by the man's large penis. Next, the man turned around into a 69 position and began sucking Carlos's already bruised immature sex after forcing his legs wide open. This was also very painful because the man would scrape his teeth along Carlos's small rigid boyhood as he pulled up until just the sensitive tip remained inside his mouth. Then he forced his thick dry fingers into Carlos's rectum and began to press and roughly rub his tiny prostate, which sent pain and pleasure through out his small body. Carlos experienced several extremely painful but also pleasure filled orgasms as the man tortured his young genitals, and over stimulated his prepubescent prostate before he shoved his hard maleness all the way down Carlos's throat and climaxing. Carlos felt the first hot jet of salty semen go down his throat before everything went black as he passed out from lack of oxygen.

When he regained consciousness several minutes later, his small penis was raw, bleeding, and swollen, while his butt was bruised and sore along with his throat feeling like it was on fire. For the next week, because he skipped the next two practices and the meet, Carlos stayed in the bed mostly, and even considered telling his mother what the man did to him because it hurt deep inside his bottom whenever he walked or sat down, and it was pure agony when he peed. However, he decided not to tell because while the man had hurt him, he also realized that he had liked some of the intense feelings that had coursed through his body besides just the pain. Most of all, none of what had happened really mattered to him because he also realized that he loved this man, and he was willing to let him do anything to him even if it hurt as long as the man continued to tell him how special he was to him. He never knew who his father was, that left an empty void inside him while all of the praise, and attention his coach showered on him along with the intense, and quite often-painful feelings from the abuse filled that empty void.

Carlos had wanted a close relationship with a man for as long as he could remember, because he wanted to have a Dad like other boys he knew, so he let this man to continue to hurt and molest him until he eventually raped him. For Carlos, the sexual molestation, and even when the man raped him still would not have matter that much to him because of his misguided love for the man. It was the rejection after the rape that hurt him the most because he loved him so much by then, but the man had only laughed at Carlos before telling him that he only said that he liked him so that he could fuck him. Then, he was hurt even more by the rejection of his own mother when she packed up and left him all alone, which had changed his life completely.

The coach was a rich, influential white man, and his mother worked as a maid at one of his hotels, but the man fired her after Carlos told her about how he had raped him after staggering home with his butt bleeding through his underwear. She believed and stood up for him and it cost her the job the man had given her when she confronted him about what he had done, and threatened to go to the police. Then, because of his influence, nobody else would hire her because of him, which forced her to return to the low paying, backbreaking labor of working in the fields. When that happened, she had started drinking heavily again, and she became heavy handed when she was drunk with Carlos, his younger brother, and his sister. However, instead of blaming those responsible for what had happened to their family and going to the police, his mother blamed him for everything, and she took it out on him with a belt.

Therefore, he started staying away from the house when she was there, and only coming home in the morning to take care of his brother and sister right before she went to work, but he would leave again once she got home before she got drunk again. This went on for almost a month, until one day at the end of September. He came home that evening after school to find his clothes stuffed into a plastic bag and $100 in an envelope with a note saying that he had ruined her life, and that he was old enough to be on his own. The house was empty, and his mother, younger brother, and sister were gone. He learned years later that she had returned to her parents' home in

Mexico

, and he eventually accepted the fact that she had abandoned him although it took years for him to come to terms with the misplaced guilt he felt. She had blamed him for ruining her life because she was a very self centered and shallow person. She always deluded herself by blaming everyone and everything that was wrong in her life when she as to blame for all of her misfortune. For many years, Carlos shouldered that misplaced blame and guilt even though she was the one to blame for abandoning him when he needed her the most.

Being only 11, homeless and terrified at the time, Carlos did the only thing he knew to do...he went to the `Y,' got a room there, and then cried the rest of that day and that night. He stayed there at the `Y' until what little money he had started to run out, and afraid of losing the only place he now had to live, he ventured out onto the streets in The Flats to look for work. It was then that he met the predator who would save him, a man who was a chicken hawk named

Jam.

The man's real name was Reggie, but he went by the street name of

Jam.

He also became Carlos's pimp, but pimps who handled only young boys and teens were called Chicken hawks. However, unlike how young girls are made to walk the streets, the young boys, and teens up to sixteen rarely had to do that. That is because everything was handled by their Hawks, and if someone wanted a `date' with a boy, he would tell the Hawk what type of chicken he wanted and what he wanted to do with the chicken, and the hawk would provide him with a chicken boy that fit the order and how much it would cost. If a young boy was seen walking the streets looking to turn tricks, it was because he had been cut loose by his Hawk for some reason such as stealing to support his drug habit, or because he was a new runaway kid and had not found a Hawk yet.

Because everything went through the Hawks, turning tricks was actually safer for the boys than it was for girls. Most of the Hawks also took better care of their boys than the pimps did their girls, because dirty, bruised, or scarred boys were less desired by the tricks. For tricks looking for a chicken boy, they preferred and expected clean, well groomed, and well mannered boys because if anyone saw them together, then they could pass the boy off as a friend or relative's kid. The tricks did not want just sex with the boy, they wanted to spend time with them, and sometimes sex happened several times over a 6 to 24 hour period. These men paid not just for sex, but for their time as well, and chicken boys were treated like princes with these tricks. The only men who just wanted sex only for maybe an hour or less were the real twisted perverts who enjoyed inflicting pain, or liked to do things such as fisting, whipping, and S&M and most hawks and the boys themselves avoided these men. The hawks that dealt with this kind of tricks usually ran his business like a low class pimp with his boys working the streets like common hookers. He did not expect much for the tricks, nor did he care of the tricks got rough or hurt his boys. Because of this treatment, his boys usually ended up on drugs, or they joined gangs to escape him, or the boys ended up dead or dying from the abuse or disease.

For the rest of the Hawks and the `tricks' they picked for his boys, they did not allow the tricks to harm the boys in any way. That is because these Hawks knew that the tricks wanted and mostly desired young boys for their soft, smooth, hairless, and unblemished skin along with their youthful boyish beauty. They would pay the most for boys with all those attributes, so the Hawks protected those assets in their boys since it made them the most money. Mainly, each Hawk got a reputation on the streets for what he would allow his boys to do, and what he would allow the tricks do to his boys. Reggie was known to be the most caring Hawk among the chicken boys as well as being the most ruthless with anyone who harmed one of his boys. Since he refused to allow the tricks to engage in any kind of kinky sex with his boys, and because of how he treated his boys, Reggie always had the youngest, most adorable, and highest priced Chicken boys in West Hollywood. He was always close by whenever one of his boys were with someone questionable, and for any trick that did go too far and hurt one of his boys, Jam made sure that man would never hurt another child again because he cared that much for each one of his boys.

Reggie screened each of his prospective clients, and he turned down many more men than the ones he did allow to `date' one of his boys. Still, there were a few twisted men who managed to score one of Jam's boys, and then went too far so Jam had to exact a little retribution for his boy. Depending on what was done to his boy, Reggie either broke the trick's hand(s) or leg(s) for beating and assaulting his boy, or cutting off an ear or other body part for some of the more brutal assaults. The only time he took a trick's life was after a business executive had put one of Jam's boy's in intensive care for a week before he died from his injuries from the severe beating and rape, and Reggie made sure that man died a slow, painful, and a very well publicized death that exposed him for the extreme sadistic pedophile he was. After his death, several boys in his neighborhood along with his own son came forward and reported being physically and sexually abused by the man so no cop tried to even find his killer, and closed the case as an unknown, random homicide.

Reggie still suffered because one of his boy's had died, and because he loved all of his boys, it was months before he allowed another one of his boy's to go out on another date with a trick. Another thing was that his boys usually remained in high demand well into their late teens because he did care, and tried to protect them as best as he could. Once his boys were well into puberty, he would stop them from turning tricks and hire them out to the pornographers and even legitimate modeling agencies who were always in need for hot, young but legal (16 and over for pornographers) teen boys for their thriving businesses, and he would always get top dollar for them. The modeling agencies also were always looking for young photogenic boys for the many different advertising campaigns they did for clients, and scarred boys were not wanted. He didn't just abandon his boys once it was decided that they were becoming too old to trick because they mattered to him just as he mattered to them. None of his boys would tell you that he forced or tricked them into prostitution because Reggie could never do that to a boy. He was from the streets, and he knew how dangerous and uncaring the streets were, and how vulnerable these boys were to those dangers. He knew the streets and the business because he came from those streets and had managed to make a difference in the only way he knew. He turned tricks himself for several years until he was 18, and he hated how most Hawks used boys like him because there were plenty of other men who were willing to use these kids. He did not become a Hawk to make money because he did it to save these broken, discard, and forgotten boys since he had been one of them.

Most of all, Reggie took in these shattered, poor or runaway boys, and helped them rebuild their lives because even though his boys turned tricks, he made sure that they went to school and graduated, made sure they ate healthy, exercised, and took care of themselves by rebuilding their self esteem and self respect. He was their mentor, and he made sure that each of his runaway boys got the justice that had been denied and caused them to take their chances on the streets alone in the first place. Many of the boys went through counseling and had their abuser and/or parents prosecuted for their crimes. Reggie was different from other Hawks and pimps because he did not use every runaway or poor ghetto boy to become a chicken boy and turn tricks. That is because he would not allow a shattered abused boy to engage in the very acts for money that had caused him to run away in the first place. Therefore, Reggie made sure that those boys were taken off the streets, got counseling, and placed in good foster homes where they eventually were adopted. For the poor ghetto boys, he would not allow them to turn tricks to support a parent who would not work, or was an alcoholic, or drug addict. He would not allow those boys to trick in order to support their own addictions though, but he understood how those boys needed to work to help their families.

So on that first day when the small, skinny, terrified, and shattered 11 year old boy that Carlos was at the time ventured out into the streets, Jam overheard him asking around for work, and he offered him $100 to go on a `date' with a friend of his he claimed. He told Carlos that his friend liked boys, and the man would give him $200 if he did what the man wanted, and he could keep half of the money. Reggie asked him if he knew what was up, and if he had ever done something like it before, and Carlos said he did know. However, when Reggie tried to probe deeper, Carlos just shut down, and told him that he'd do it. Carlos knew that he meant letting the man have sex with him, and since he already knew what sex was like, he agreed because a hundred bucks was what he had started out with over two weeks ago. Reggie could see how desperate Carlos was, so he agreed and told him that the date was a very kind and decent guy, and that he would not hurt Carlos. He went on the date, and his "trick" was a really decent guy just as Jam had promised him.

The man was very gentle with Carlos when he learned that he had not done this before willingly, and the guy called Jam and said that Carlos was going to spend the day and night with him. They talked, and he took Carlos out to see a movie before taking him to dinner, and then back to his suite at the hotel he was staying at. That night, he basically taught Carlos everything he should do so that he would not get hurt having sex, and while it did hurt a little bit at first, Carlos still enjoyed everything they did that night very much because he discovered that pain was not part of sex unless someone deliberately did something to cause it. In the morning, he got the money along with a parting blowjob, and Carlos had actually cried when the man took him back to Reggie. The man comforted him, and kissed him several times when Carlos told him he loved him before the man thanked him and let him out of the car. Jam spoke with the guy for a few minutes, then they shook hands, and Reggie came over to where Carlos was sitting on the curb still sniffling and wiping his eyes. He could see how easy caring came to Carlos as he sat down next to him and gave his cut of the money. Then he talked about Carlos working for him, and that was how Carlos began his career as a Chicken boy until he was 18 and went to prison.

At first, he hung out with his new friends until it was time to go on a date, but soon he had over $1000 in cash hidden in his room at the Y after 10 days. He was afraid of being robbed once he had that much money, and he turned to his Hawk because Reggie genuinely liked him, which would eventually become true love between them. Reggie taught him the ropes about how to read a customer in order to know how much he could get from them for doing different things that cost extra from the agreed upon price like a blowjob all the way up to anal sex or spending the entire night with the trick. Reggie made sure that Carlos understood what he was going to be doing, and that he knew and understood everything about how to protect himself from rough sex, and taught him how to fight and defend himself. Some tricks would also want to take pictures of their boy in a variety of poses, but for any pictures of Reggie's boys, the minimum price was $2,500 and up depending on the boy and the kind of pictures. In addition, Reggie would always let Carlos and the rest of his boys keep half of whatever they made since they were the ones out there working, and taking all of the risks. He helped Carlos to open a savings account with the bank, and even taught him how to fight so he could protect himself from some of the nastier perverts who trolled the streets for rent boys. However, if a trick ever hurt Carlos, or tried to skip out without paying, Jam was always there to protect him and fix things. Carlos soon realized that Reggie protected all of his boys this way, but that he was extra protective of him only.

He learned quickly that "Jam" stood for what Reggie did to men who hurt his boys, or tried to skip out without paying. He was a ruthless pimp that would slice a man's throat, or put a hole in his heart without batting an eye. However, it was because of what happened to him when he was 13 that changed his relationship with Reggie forever. It changed because after it happened, Reggie sent him away to get the right help to heal inside. He did heal and it also changed Carlos inside, but his love for Reggie was even stronger then, and it brought him back to the streets even though he did not have to go back. Reggie already knew though and when Carlos came back, he refused to let him to turn tricks anymore, and got him back into school and into modeling. Because of that, Carlos was forever grateful, and loyal to the point of taking the fall for a capital murder charge for Reggie when he was 18 after graduating from high school. He knew that Reggie would get life without parole, or the death penalty for capital murder, for protecting him from a rival Chicken gang belonging to another Hawk who had cornered him that summer. The Hawk had a beef with Jam, and he knew Carlos was special to Jam, so that is why he had his boys attack Carlos.

They had beaten the shit out of him, and taken the $2000 he had made from a legitimate modeling job, but he somehow managed to crawl back to Reggie, and told him what happened. They had broken his arm, leg, and several ribs causing one of his lungs to collapse by the time Reggie got him to the hospital. Reggie took care of the bills, and then nursed him back to health. Several weeks later, he took Carlos and drove him around until he saw the Hawk and his boys that had jumped him. After Carlos pointed him out, Reggie walked right up to the rival hawk, and put a bullet in his brain while the younger boys scattered. Then to the three oldest boys, who had jumped Carlos, he gave them 48 hours to bring him $4000 or he would kill all of them too. The oldest, a 20 year old man, he figured that he would take over as their gang's hawk, told Jam to fuck off, and Jam stuck a 6" knife right through his dick and into his guts before cutting his throat, ending his five minute career as a Hawk as well as his life. Two days later, Reggie got his money from the other two boys, but then he was also arrested for the murder of the rival hawk.

However, the cops could not put the gun (which was never found) into his hand, nor could they find any of the other boys who witnessed it other than Carlos because most of them were now working for Reggie. The two older boys were just thankful they were still alive after everything went down, but Reggie still asked them to come help him manage some of the younger boys, and they gladly accepted. So they were not about to say anything against Reggie, and the Hawk that was killed was a very nasty brute with all of his boys, so they played dumb and kept quiet. Then Carlos confessed to killing the rival Hawk, and several of the younger boys verified his confession. He knew that he would not get the maximum for whatever they decided to charge him with since it was his first time being in serious trouble. Therefore, he and the other boys had said the gun belonged to the Rival Hawk, and that Carlos had shot the man accidentally in self-defense. He told the police that the guy had pulled the gun when he confronted him about being attacked and robbed by his gang, and that they had fought after he knocked the gun away. The guy went for the gun, but he beat him to it, and shot him accidentally when the gun went off as he picked it up. The cops did not believe him because the word on the street was that Jam had done it in retribution. However, the DA accepted Carlos's confession and offered him a deal, and he took it. The deal was for him to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter with him doing six years total, with one to three years in the state penitentiary, and the rest out on parole. Carlos agreed, and only served 18 months in prison before being released on parole for good behavior and overcrowding, which he then completed his sentence on probation without him getting into any more trouble.

He also did not have any trouble in prison as many first time guys there have because he was gay along with being a former chicken, so he found the meanest, most respected convict in the cellblock to be his boyfriend so nobody messed with him. Carlos used his time there to pick up a number of skills he could use on the streets, such as lock picking, boosting cars, cooking meth, and how to disable or bypass almost any alarm. When he got out of prison though, he went to college instead of using his new skills and got his degree in business, and then he learned how to repair cars, and do body work instead of stealing them. Reggie was waiting for him when he got out, and he had kept all of Carlos's money for him, but instead of keeping it in the savings account, Reggie had invested it into rollover CD's, mutual funds, and Treasury bonds. Thanks to him, the $15,000 he had in savings when he went into prison was now almost $70,000 today. Carlos now almost had the amount of money he needed to open his own garage and auto body repair shop along with his own towing service too. He planned to open it in The Flats, and use it to help the older teen chicken boys to get off the streets instead of becoming gang bangers or drug runners.

Carlos knew that for present day teen boys, once that boy hit 16 that they ended up walking the streets to find tricks, while their chances of reaching 21 dropped to less than 25 percent because of the spread of AIDS, and because their risk of being severely injured or killed by a trick skyrocketed. However, he was still way short of his goal of $100,000, but he was too old to trick anymore, and being an escort for some rich women or doing porn was not his thing. He had a few minor modeling jobs lined up, and worked full time as a mechanic, but it would still take him years to save up the money he needed. Then his cousin Luis had offered him a lot of money if he would drive for them on this job. He knew that what they told him was most likely a lie, but he figured that it would be an easy job for Luis to grab the kids, and that he would not be involved with the kidnapping except for driving them to the private airstrip, so he figured it was an easy score to make $10,000. He certainly never expected that on this day he would be running for his life with a 12 and a half-year-old boy that he had helped kidnap. Nor did he know that on this day that he would find his soul mate who would turn his world completely upside down.

Carlos shook himself out of his reverie, and he realized what he would do now with Sky. He knew that Sky was the same as him when he was the same age, and that he was also at his most vulnerable too. He knew that his decisions and actions now would affect Sky for the rest of his life, and that just deepened his resolve. Carlos realized that Sky was one of the forgotten, invisible boys in the world who eventually showed up on some statistical chart, but never had a name or face...just as he had been. Sky was the same as he was when he was 11; he was a reject, an outcast, a boy who just did not matter to anyone...he was one of the forgotten ones. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not look at Sky without seeing himself, nor could he ever forget the pain he had endured either. Sky was searching for someone to love him so that he would matter, and have a reason to exist in this world. If Carlos rejected him, then Sky would continue his search, only the next person Sky found would most likely hurt him just as he had been hurt. Carlos took the clothes out from the dryer, folded them, and returned to their room with the resolve not to submit Sky to the same painful rejection that he had experienced, or to allow him to become a victim as he had become. No matter what the consequences would be, he knew that this was the only chance Sky had to avoid becoming just another victim and statistic. Sky had chosen him for whatever reason, and Carlos promised himself not to allow what had happened to him to happen to Sky also.

Then he left their room with Sky's soiled gym clothes and bloodstained underwear in his arms, and then he littered them around the decoy room. He ripped some of clothes before scattering them between the beds, and around the room, so that it appeared that there had been a struggle. Where he placed each item of clothing made it appear that he had forcibly stripped Sky, and he placed the now torn bloody undershirt on the floor by the TV. Then he ripped Sky's bloodstained underwear before placing them by the bathroom door before turning on the shower and closing the door. The final touches to the room was the expensive satellite phone that he put in plain sight and messed up one bed so that it looked slept in along with a dirty sock tied to each post of the headboard. He did that so that it appeared that he had restrained Sky after stripping him, and then raping him. Finally, Carlos gave the entire staged room another once over before leaving the room with the curtain closed except for a slight gap that would allow someone to see partially inside the room. He then went downstairs and picked the locks on every vacant room where he pulled the curtains closed so that they all looked the same, and then did the same with the vacant rooms upstairs as well. When he returned to their own room, he put the freshly washed and folded clothes for them on the table next to Sky. He thought Sky was still asleep as he undressed in silence, and pulled the covers down to get into the bed next to him. However, he was surprised as Sky rolled over and looked at him with tears still in his brilliant blue eyes.

"What's wrong with me Carlos...why are you afraid to love me? You said that I'm not a mistake, if that is true, then what is so wrong with me that nobody wants to love me?" He asked him as he sat up on one elbow while wiping his eyes with the back of his other hand and sniffling. Carlos stood there naked facing Sky, and he let his eyes explore Sky's beautiful, young, naked body. Then he saw Sky's eyes widened as he felt his huge cock begin to grow thick and hard until it reached its full eight inches, while Sky's own small cocklet quickly became erect again. However, Sky just scooted over some to make room for him, and he finally relented and got into the bed facing him.

"Sex isn't the same as love Sky, and you can really be hurt bad if you confuse sex with love. This is not some kind of game because you could be physically hurt very easily or possibly hurt permanently even. You could be hurt so severely that you would have to wear a plastic bag attached to your side for you to poop in for the rest of your life. You see my dick, and how big and thick it is? Now tell me how I am supposed to do this without hurting you, without tearing your ass wide open Sky?" Carlos said seriously to him, but he did not bother to pull the covers up over them.

"I want you to tell me why you want me to fuck you so badly, and risk being hurt permanently."

"I...I don't want you to do that...I just want you to love me. I thought you wanted to do it, but you are afraid of hurting me. I thought sex was a part of love, and that you were afraid to love me or something. I mean...why would you have sex with someone if you didn't love them right? I don't know...I'm just a stupid kid...I've never done anything like this before with anyone." He told him while his face flushed with shame.

"You are not stupid Sky; you are just young and inexperienced is all. That's why the law says a young kid like you can't give his consent to have sex. It isn't because you are stupid, it's because you are so young that you have not been on your own enough to learn these things. It's called being naive or innocent, but in no way does it mean you are stupid." Carlos told him honestly.

"So how am I supposed to learn these things if nobody will tell me? I can't ask my Dad cause he's never around, and I don't have any friends I could talk to about these things. I just have Sean, and he's just as dumb as me about these things, you know. We can only try things with each other that we hear about, but we don't even know if we are doing it right cause we don't have anyone cause we don't matter." Sky told him in a sad voice while his face still burned with shame.

"So what did you do with him?" He asked and Sky's face became almost blood red with shame.

"Just things you know. We taught each other how to kiss; I mean a real kiss, not like the ones we get from our mom. He also put it in my butt once because I wanted to know what it felt like cause we found a dirty magazine that showed two guys doing it, and we have sucked each other, that was in the magazine too, but nothing comes out so I don't know if we are even doing that right." Sky told him in a quiet, shame-filled voice.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about Sky, most brothers do those things with each other. It is normal for a boy to experiment with sex with other boys at your age, and who else can you trust not to blab everything other than your brother." Carlos told him, it made sense to Sky, and relieved his shame and guilt over what they had done also. Then Carlos asked him, "So, did you like it when he put it in your butt?"

"Yeah, I guess so. We were only 11 when we did that, and I hardly felt it, but he said that it really hurts though until you get used to it. I liked it better when he used his fingers though." He admitted guiltily as he continued to blush, but now he did not look away.

"So now you want me to do those things because I'm much bigger than your brother is right?" Carlos asked him.

"I don't know about you putting it in my butt because I don't think it would fit, and will probably hurt a lot. I mean it's huge, but if you want to do it with your fingers and the other stuff, then it is ok." He said quietly, and once again, he looked away as his face burned with shame.

"What makes you think that I won't decide to rape you once we begin to fool around?" Carlos asked him before pressing him more.

"I don't know," he answered meekly as he looked back at him. "I just know that you won't hurt me is all. It just feels right to me, ok."

"What do you mean that it feels right? I haven't done anything to you yet." Carlos asked him with a confused expression, and Sky looked away again with embarrassment before answering him.

"It just does. We are identical twins...Sean and me, you know," he said to him before looking at him again for a long moment before deciding to reveal the secret that he and Sean shared. "Sometimes we can feel things about others and stuff. I mean that it's not like we can read other people's minds, or see the future, and talk to ghosts and stuff like that `cause we can't. Somehow, we just know when something is going to be bad, or when it is good. It is the same with people too, we can tell if they are a bad person or if they are good, but it does not happen all of the time though. It mostly happens when we are scared, or when we are really confused, excited, and when we really try to make it happen. When that happens, we sorta just follow what the feeling tells us is all, and it has always been right. We also kinda know what the other is feeling or thinking too, I mean I do not know what Sean is thinking exactly right now, it does not work like that, but I sorta know what he is thinking in general, you know. Mama said that we are linked together since we are identical twins, and that we learned to talk to each other long before we learned to talk to her. I knew before you told me that Sean was safe...he was just real scared, and he is really worried about me was all. I only asked you to see if you would lie to me, but you did not lie. If you had lied to me, then I would have known that you were taking off my pants to hurt me, not to help me. I sorta knew that you were ok after the other guy started tying me up, but I knew that he was really bad too, and that he really wanted to hurt me."

"That is so amazing Sky," Carlos said to him, and he was quiet for a long time before he made his own confession to Sky. "You were right, because Luis did try to hurt you, but I stopped him like I told you before. After he knocked you out with the chloroform, he was going to rape you, and I shot him. That is why your underwear was all bloody because he fell on top of you after I shot him. The reason I stopped him was that I did not take this job to hurt a kid, and I only realized that Rico and Luis had lied to me when they brought the others into the van right before we drove to your school to grab you and your brother when the two of you went to your bus as school let out. Then, they saw your brother and you go out there onto the soccer field, and when you guys started walking laps around the track while the rest of the class was doing something at the far end, they decided to grab you right then as you and your brother came close. That is when they told me that some rich guy had told them to kidnap you because your dad was an important cop." Carlos explained to him.

"I tried to talk them out of doing this, but Rico told me that he worked for this man, and since he had hired us, that now I worked for him too. He also told me that he had helped kidnap the Mayor's son too, and that you and your brother would be taken to where that kid was being held. I found a paper in the glove box that gave Rico instructions of where to take you guys after we grabbed you if he couldn't make it to the airport. Rico and Luis had told us that their employer did not care if we all raped both of you because he operated a kiddie porn ring, just as long as we did not hurt you too much so he could film it the next time they raped you guys. They were all talking about it, and choosing which one of you they would rape first. I could not let them do that, so when they got out to grab both of you, I saw the guard as I circled around the lot. I told him what they were going to do and for him to call the cops. I did not know that there were undercover cops there to protect you and your brother, and when all the shooting started, I was going to leave. However, Luis opened the door and threw you inside, and I saw the cop kill Rico as he was trying to drag your brother to the van. I took off while Luis tied you up because I knew I was screwed as soon as he got you in the van."

"When he finished tying you up and had knocked you out, he got in front with me until we were almost to the Oregon state line. A bullet from the guard had grazed him, but it did not bleed much, and we talked about what had happened to Rico and the others. Luis just said that I would still get my money and half of the others when we delivered you to El Cajon, but that we had to drive there because of how things got screwed up. I figured I had some time to work out a plan for you to escape, but then Luis said it was safe now and that he was going to have some fun with you. You were still out cold when he got into the back, and he had already pulled down your pants and was playing with your pecker when I shot him. I did not want to kill him, but I had to do it in order to protect you. I turned off into the woods, and got you dressed again, and cleaned up most of the blood so that you would not be as scared when you woke up, but I forgot to remove the gag and blindfold because Luis was still alive. He was still breathing, but the bullet must have hit his heart or an artery because he was bleeding so much. So I wrapped one of the blankets we brought around him, and took him to the hospital even though I knew he was going to die, but I didn't want his body in the van when you woke up because you really would have freaked out."

"You stopped him because he was going to rape me...he was going to hurt me. You knew I could not fight back because I was asleep...that I could not stop him. So you shot him even though he was your cousin. You did all of that...just to protect me?" He asked him quietly, then Carlos nodded, and then Sky kissed him on the lips before his young face broke out in a wide grin. "Thanks Carlos...for saving me. See, I knew I was right about you."

"I am glad you feel this way, but even if you didn't, I still would have stopped him from hurting you, Muchacho. Luis was my cousin, but I hardly knew him, and I only met him because we were in the same cellblock in prison. Being my cousin did not mean that much to me, and since he was a hardcore gang banger, I did not associate much with him until he offered me this job, and about the only thing we had in common was our sexual preference because he is gay too. Anyway, what is done is done. You know, I have heard stories about how identical twins can do some pretty far out things. I did not know that you and your brother were identical twins though because I did not see him up close. Does he look exactly like you, or does he just look similar to you? You know, like how some twins who look almost the same, but one is a few inches taller, the color of their hair is slightly different, or their faces are not exactly alike." Carlos asked him.

"We look exactly the same as each other except for the color of our eyes. That is the only differences between us are our eyes, Sean's are green, and mine are blue. We are identical in every other way though. I am about a quarter of a pound heavier, but he is a quarter of an inch taller than I am, but we are both 4' 5" and weigh about 55 lbs. We also have asthma because our lungs were not developed enough when we were born early. Mama said that our asthma is because we have COPD, and we are both allergic to penicillin too. We both like our hair long like this, and even our birthmarks look the same, and it's in the same place on our butts too." He told him while rolling over and pointing at the darker, arrowhead shaped mark on the top of his left buttock. Then he flipped over facing Carlos again, only now he was even closer to him. "It's weird, huh?"

"Not really, like you said, the two of you are identical twins." He told him. "Still, how do I make you feel that this is something good?"

"I just know that it is a good feeling is all, ok, and I have never felt this good inside before in my whole life. All I can think about now is you touching me everywhere...of you loving me." He said nervously as he gazed at Carlos's massive cock again before looking back up at him. "I have always thought I was weird because I like other boys...older boys really, and I want them to do the same things to me that all my friends said they want to do with girls. Sean and I are twins, but I think he likes girls like that and I don't. He still understands though, and he does not think that I am weird for feeling this way either. We didn't know that it meant I am gay until you told me just now, and I have always thought it was wrong, but it's not wrong that I'm gay because you are too." He told him before his soft, high-pitched voice grew thick while his blue eyes watered. "You see, when I'm with you, I don't feel like I'm a mistake because of how I feel inside anymore. That is why I know this is a good feeling about you because you are good inside. Maybe it is because our Dad hates me, but I don't care anymore because I know that you can love me."

"Thank you Sky, but you should care because he is your father, and I don't think he hates you either. He probably just doesn't understand you, and he is too stubborn to admit it." Carlos said before kissing him on his nose after Sky nodded to him. They just stared at each other in silence for a long moment, and then Sky got a mischievous smile on his face as he looked down at Carlos's dick again.

"So, can I touch him?" He asked while his eyes sparkled with excitement, and all Carlos could do was laugh. "He's so big, and he's even bigger than the naked men I saw in a dirty magazine too. So, can I...please?"

"No, because first you need to listen to me," Carlos told him as he stopped Sky's small hand an inch away from his hard, swollen dick.

"This is important Sky because I was just as willing and trusting as you are now when I was your age, and that is how I got raped. I did not know anything except that the man who eventually raped me, he made me feel special...like he really cared about me. So I let him molest me, I encouraged him even though he would hurt me, and still, I told him how much I loved him. Then he told me that since I wanted it so bad, that he would give it to me, so he raped me, and that hurt me so much that I could barely walk afterwards. My ass bled for days, and it felt as if he had ripped my guts apart inside, but I still loved him and I wanted him to keep doing it even though it had hurt so much. However, after that one time, he turned mean, he called me a trashy slut, and he laughed before telling me how stupid I was. He said that he never loved me, that he only paid attention to me so he could fuck my virgin ass. He didn't want anything to do with me even though I told him that he could fuck me again, but he refused. He said that he got what he wanted, and that he had no use for a stupid faggot spic. He said that I was a cockroach and nothing more, that I was to be used, and then discarded with the rest of the trash. I realized that he was telling me the truth because never did he tell me that he loved me, not once. I was the only one who said that I loved him because everything he did say that was nice was because he wanted to fuck me, not because he cared, and the truth crushed me. Then, when I went home and told my mother, she blamed me and just up and left one day. I lost everything dear to me because of what that man did, I lost my home, my family, and my self respect...it left me shattered and alone when I was only 11." Carlos told him, Sky could hear the pain in his voice, and he moved his hand up and tenderly wiped away the tear that had trickled down the side of Carlos's face.

"It took me a very long time to get over the pain that man caused me inside, it took years before the pain and guilt he caused me to end and that is why I need to know that this isn't some game for you. This has to be real for you, because if you are not sure about giving me your heart, not your body, then I cannot do this Sky, understand?" Sky just nodded quietly, and then he looked down at Carlos's neck and thought without seeing anything. He was quiet for a long time as he confronted and struggled with his emotions inside him while his tears began to flow freely. Then, he finally looked up and his sapphire blue eyes met Carlos's gaze again.

"I know that I'm just a dumb kid Carlos, and I don't even know if I can say this right." He said in his high-pitched voice as his vision blurred from his tears, and Carlos could see it as his eyes filled with his pain.

"All my life, I always felt that I was a mistake, that I was wrong even to be alive. Sean has always been able to do it right, and I always do it wrong. Even when he does do something wrong, it is still ok with everyone else while they just ignore me. The only time anyone even notices me is when I do something wrong. It is so bad that now I do things to get into trouble on purpose so that somebody will just notice me...so that somebody will even notice that I am alive. Even at school, the teachers always remember Sean, but they cannot even remember my name. My Algebra teacher still calls me Scott when I raise my hand, and the kids all laugh when she does that, but if someone asks her who my twin brother is, she will say Sean even though he has a different teacher for Algebra. It's not as if my name is something hard to remember, but she could at least remember that it is Sky and not Scott after being in her class for six months. We are identical twins, but nobody, not even the kids who say they are our friends can remember that my eyes are blue instead of green like Sean's are. It is like that for me everywhere, as if I am invisible or something because nobody cares about me. Nobody cares because I don't matter to anyone. For everyone else, only Sean matters, and I don't because I'm just the fucking mistake." He said bitterly while his tears blurred his vision, and his breathing became more stressed and congested.

"Sean doesn't even have to try a lot of times though because everyone sees him, like he can go up to anyone at school and become friends with them. The only friends I have are the kids who want to be friends with Sean, but they do not fit in with the other kids who are his friends. So its like they become my friend just so they can be a part of Sean's friends since we are twins. Even then, they don't want to do nothing with me unless Sean is with me, then they want to do things like play a game or something because Sean is playing. I try so hard to do everything right just like Sean, but it still ends up being wrong because I don't matter to anyone, and nobody cares. Sean only gets B's and C's most of the time while I get all A's all of the time, but they put his name on the honor roll in the newspaper and gave him the awards for good grades and stuff. He told them that it was a mistake, that I was the one who got all A's, and it should be me getting the award, but all they did was laugh as if he had told a joke. Then they gave him the award and made him sit down, and when we went to school the next day, all of the kids laughed and teased me saying that even my own brother felt sorry that I was so stupid that he tried to give his award to me." He said sadly.

"It was not so bad in school when we were little because Sean and I were always together all the time. Since we started middle school though, I am all alone now because we do not even have any classes together except for Gym. Only now, it is worse because everybody compares me to Sean. Why can't I be as smart as he is even though I am the smart one, or why is my handwriting so bad and not good like Sean's. I am left handed and Sean is right handed, but the teachers get mad at me when I write with my left hand, and make me use my right hand. That is why my handwriting is always so sloppy, and when I show them, they let me use my left hand, but the next day it happens all over again because they already forgot. My English teacher even told me that since we are identical twins that I should write with the same hand as Sean. I asked her why, or why couldn't Sean be the one who is using the wrong hand. She said that I am the twin to Sean so I should be more like him because my eyes are different from his, but she is wrong because I was born first, so Sean is my twin and his eyes are the wrong color. I always try to tell them that I am just me...Sky, and not Sean, but all they want is for me to be just like him. Sean knows how bad it is for me, and how much I hurt inside because of everything they do, but if he says anything, it just makes it worse for me." He told him in between wheezes, but Carlos did not try to stop him even though he knew he was in the midst of another asthma attack. He let him continue because he knew that Sky had to release the pain that was eating away at his soul, and if he did not, then Sky would become just an empty husk going through the motions of living as he had been doing since he got out of prison.

"It's just as bad for him too now because he can't do anything wrong, even on purpose. He cut school once, and that is something I have never done, but what did the principal do? Nothing; he said that Sean was just being a kid testing the limits around him, and then he told Sean not to do it again as if it was no big deal. Even when he gets in trouble, they think it is me, and tell Mom that I was bad no matter what Sean says to them. He got into a fight at school and got a black eye, but I got suspended for three days for fighting even though I was in my English class at the time. Even Mom realized they had it wrong, but the principal refused to let me come back until after the suspension was over so she kept both of us home. If he did not have a black eye, then she would have believed them again that it was me and not Sean. Now, if I am even late to one of my classes, the principal calls my Mom and tells her that she is not being strict enough with me, and that a good spanking would be good for me. Even Mom got mad at him for saying that, and she asked Sean and me if any of the teachers hit me. We told her they didn't, but the very next week, when I told my Algebra teacher that I was not Scott and maybe she should write a note or something since she never remembers, she slapped me so hard that she left a bruise of her hand on my face. When Mom saw the bruise on my face, she went to the school super pissed, and the principal said I deserved it for being disrespectful. For once Mom freaked and she cursed at the principal, and she told my teacher that if she ever touched me again that she would break both of her arms. Then Mom filed a huge lawsuit the next day against the school for child abuse and racial discrimination."

"All of the sudden, my teacher can remember my name now, but that's only because she almost got fired for hitting me. They suspended her for a month without pay, and the school board settled the lawsuit with Mom with the promise that the teacher would be reassigned. However, she was back teaching my class after a month, and everything went back the way it was again. Only now, she makes me sit all the way in the back and just ignores me. Even when she does ask us what the answer is and I am the only one who raises my hand, she acts as if I am not even there and doesn't see me. If I say something, she yells at me and tells me to shut up, and she won't even call my name when she takes roll now. It is all the stuff like that, and how everyone treats me except for Sean, which just makes me wish I had never been born because I am always hurting inside, and it just gets worse every day. No matter what I do, it just keeps getting worse cause everyone will still make me feel like I am a mistake...I'm a mistake because I don't matter to nobody." Sky told him as he cried more until he was struggling for each breath he took. Carlos got his inhaler, sat down on the bed, and pulled Sky into his arms embracing him as he held the inhaler to Sky's mouth and pressed it. After a few moments, Sky's labored breathing began to ease some, and then Carlos gave him another shot from the inhaler. Carlos could now see that Sky's entire life had been one of rejection just as his own had been. Finally, after a full ten minutes passed, Sky turned towards Carlos and rested his head against Carlos's solid chest.

"I was so scared when Luis took me today, but then I met you, and today has become the best day of my life. Now, for the first time in my whole life I do not feel like I am a mistake, and I do not hurt inside right now because I am with you. You want to know what I'm thinking and how I feel inside, while back home nobody cares about me because they are too busy trying to find out what my brother is thinking and feeling. Even our Mom does it Carlos. I know she cares and loves me, but she does it too. It is why I have always believed that I was a mistake, because I am always hurting inside, and nobody cares or even notices except for Sean because he can feel it too. When we were four, we were jumping on the bed and I fell and broke my arm. It took Mom a week before she noticed that my arm had turned purple, and that I was holding it so nothing would touch it. She wanted to know why I did not say anything, and both Sean and I told her that we had been telling her every day that I hurt my arm but that she ignored me. Then she promised not to ignore me like that anymore, and she did not ignore me for a whole day before everything went back the way it was. Even when I ran away from home last summer, nobody cared. It was Sean who finally called the police, and told them I was gone, because nobody else even noticed, not even our Mom. He told the police that I had been gone for three days and that my clothes and backpack were gone too, but nobody else even noticed that they had not seen me in three days. They asked Mom why she didn't notice I was missing, and she told them that she thought I was staying over at my friend's house, but Sean told her that I don't have any friends because it's true. Sean does not even have to get hurt though for someone to notice because if he stumbles or bumps into something, then everyone is swarming around him asking if he is ok. That's because he matters to them, and I don't, but that's not true with you because he is not here, and I still matter to you." He told him with a sniffle as he clung to Carlos. As he listened, everything he heard just assured him even more that his decision was the right one. After a long quiet moment, Sky lifted his head and looked up at him before continuing.

"You know, I have been waiting my whole life just for someone to say those words to me...that I matter to them, and you did. So I cannot be a mistake anymore when I'm with you because I matter to you. That is why I know I can love you because I am someone who matters to you. I know that people think that because I'm just a little kid that I do not know or understand what love is, but I do. Love is when someone cares more about the person who matters the most to him than he cares about himself. I can say that to you and be totally honest because that is how I feel inside. I love you Carlos, with all my heart, and if you ever leave me, then I will just be a mistake again. I never want to feel that way ever again...so just love me, ok, and never leave me ...please?"

"I didn't know that your life was as shitty as mine was Sky. I did not matter to anyone either when I was your age also. I did not even matter to my mother because she packed up my little brother and sister, and left me homeless on the streets when she moved away. She went back home to her parents house in

Mexico

when I was 11, and I had no food, and just a few clothes in a plastic bag. She left a note with my clothes along with a hundred bucks telling me I was on my own. She blamed me for her problems even though her problems were because she was an alcoholic. Still, she left me there on the streets when I was just barely 11, and she knew that I would probably die, but she did not care because I didn't matter to her. I was so scared those first two weeks alone, and I really thought I was going to die until I met the man who saved me. He liked me at first because I was so young with no hope for tomorrow, and so desperate for money that I would do anything. However, within a couple of days, he realized that he could love me if he allowed himself to, and that I would love him because I already did love him. I wasn't like the other boys Reggie had working for him, because I wasn't running away from someone or something in order to be free and have a better life. Instead, he saw that I was searching just for a reason to be alive, so that I would have some hope just so I would want to wake up tomorrow." Carlos told him as his own eyes misted up.

"I had no hopes, no dreams, and only one single desire, and that was for someone to love me so that I mattered, and he did that. I mattered to him because he loved me, and even though everyone else thought it was wrong, I loved him too. To most people Reggie was just a thug, and a ruthless pimp named Jam who preyed on young boys, but to me, he is the most caring and decent man I have ever met. I still think that this is a bad idea Sky because we are both running for our lives, and I should not be doing this with you either. However, I know what it is like to be a mistake and not matter to anyone, and I will never let you go back to being that way again Sky, I promise. Your pain will end here tonight because you cannot be a mistake if one person cares about you, and I do care because you matter the most to me. I do not know how it is possible because this is only supposed to happen in the movies, but I do love you Skylar Eaglefeather O'Malley, I promise to love you with all of my heart. Somehow, we will figure a way out of this mess together, and I will be here for you as long as you need me. I've got some money that we can use to get away as a last resort if we can't fix things so you can go home, but even if we can fix things, I'm staying with you because you matter the most to me." He told him, and Sky's eyes filled again as he heard this while his lower lip began to tremble as his only wish in life came true.

"I do? You really mean it, I really matter the most to you, and you're not just saying it; you really love me?" He asked him while realizing that his never ending pain inside had stopped as Carlos said `yes', and then Sky practically tackled him, hugging and kissing him as his happy tears spilled down his face. "I love you too, Carlos...I really do. This really is the best day of my entire life now."

"Everything will be ok because you are my beautiful Muchacho, so just relax," he whispered into Sky's ear when he heard his soft whimpers and sobs while his small body shook in his arms.

"We will figure this out, and I won't ever leave you if I can help it." He said as he lay on his back and just held him tenderly. Many minutes passed before Sky relaxed again after letting out all of his loneliness and pain of being rejected all his life. When he finally lifted his head up off Carlos's shoulder, he sniffled a few times as Carlos gently wiped away his tears from his puffy red eyes. "You ok now, Muchacho?"

"Yeah, I really am ok now...I don't hurt inside anymore because you love me," he told him softly before kissing Carlos on the lips. Carlos was surprised at first when he felt Sky's small pink tongue on his lips, but he just opened his mouth, and they gently explored each other's mouths. When they finally broke the kiss, they were both breathless, and Sky's blue eyes twinkled with his excitement and desire once again. "Now can I please touch him?" He asked with a toothy smile as he rolled off Carlos until he was lying beside him once again. Then Carlos smiled back and nodded as Sky's small hand wrapped around his hard 8" cock.

Ray Thompson was nervous as he approached Peter Evans home cautiously in Beacon Hill. He had heard about the attempt on Roberts's sons, and the armed kidnapping of O'Malley's son Skylar on the news. He had been in Vancouver,

Canada

on business when the news broke, and he immediately called Pete to find out what the hell was going on. Pete had spoken with Lou, who told him of the impending arrests, but that they were safe since Roberts did not suspect them. Still, Ray felt something was up because he knew Merle would not sit back and allow Roberts to arrest is people without doing something to cover his own ass. So that meant that Lou, Pete, as well as him and the boys, and their families were in danger. Therefore, he had finished his meetings early and chartered a flight back to Seattle, and had arrived just after Midnight at 12:30 AM. However, he could not get anyone to answer at his home where his wife was supposed to be, nor could he get anyone at Pete's home in Beacon Hill or the house in New Castle either. He had driven home, but parked two blocks away and approached his house from the alley. He could clearly see that the back door had been kicked in, and he quickly retreated to his car before phoning in an anonymous call of a house being broken into to 911 from a payphone. He had found the same scene at Pete's home nearby, only he could see Pete's wife lying in a pool of blood in the foyer with a bullet wound in her forehead. Now, he was going by the house in New Castle where Patricio and Arturo were living along with Mrs. Pena who was their caretaker. Again, he parked a few blocks away and approached the house from behind through the woods. However, as soon as the house came into view, he could see shadows from the window shades showing that at least two people were moving through the house. As he squatted down behind the wooden privacy fence in the back, he heard Mrs. Pena scream, but it was quickly cut off by a muffled gunshot, and he again retreated the way he came back to his car.

Once in his car, He called Lou at his home, but received a busy signal. Therefore, he dialed Lou's cell phone, and received his voice mail as he drove towards the governmental center downtown. However, when he saw the sign for I-5 North, he turned onto the on-ramp of the freeway. He realized now that Merle was covering his ass, and had ordered that everyone not arrested by Roberts be eliminated. He prayed that Arturo and Patricio had done what he had told them in case something like this happened and that his wife Eleanor had gotten his message earlier today and took the kids to her mother in Redmond. Therefore, his only hope for the survival of the boys, his family, and himself was to find John Roberts and hope that he could make some kind of deal in exchange for protection. He did not know John's number, but he did know Chief Smith's cell phone number, and he dialed it, then he heard it begin ringing.

"Lee! Thank God that I reached you. I do not have time to explain, but I need to see you and John Roberts right now. It's a matter of life or death Lee," Ray said frantically into the phone.

"Good, take exit B for the Tall Timbers community, then go to the Shell station, proceed one block past it, and turn right into the parking lot. We will meet you there, do not respond because this is an unsecured line, or say nothing else because there are ears everywhere." Lee said and ended the call. Visibly relieved, Ray took the next exit because he knew where Lee wanted him to go, and just from his answer, he believed that Lee and John were already aware of what was happening. However, he had already passed the exit for the Tall Timbers community, and he began backtracking to St. Michael's Catholic Church. It took him several minutes before he arrived, and turned into the parking lot. John and Lee got out of his van as Ray parked beside them, but as he opened his door, he was immediately surrounded by four police officers with their weapons pointed at him.

"Show me your hands," one of them said and he complied with them. They had him step out of his vehicle, and patted him down before backing off as John and Lee approached him.

"No, it's a rental because I chartered a flight back to a small airport in Redmond once I heard the news of the arrests this afternoon. Look, I am asking for protection because Merle Foxworth is covering his ass. I could not reach Pete or Lou, and when I went to my house, someone had broken in through the back. I then went by Pete's house in Beacon Hill, and I saw Nicole dead in the foyer." Ray said with fear and panic in his face and eyes.

"Let's go inside Ray, and I advise you to not say anything more at the moment." John told him as he took Ray by his elbow and guided him towards the main doors of the church, but as he led him, Lee read him his rights. Once inside, John led him into Tom's office where Lou and Jonas were waiting for them.

"Wait a minute, what are you doing here Lou, and with Jonas?" Ray asks them with sudden suspicion.

"We already know that you and Evans have been working for Merle Foxworth, and that you helped them in kidnapping Lou's son David in order to force him into cooperating with Merle to undermine my investigation. Lou and Jonas have been cooperating with us for quite awhile so that we can turn the tables on Merle Foxworth and rescue David, so we were not surprised when you called." Lee told him.

"You knew, and you did nothing to stop him from murdering Nicole, and God knows who else? What about Eleanor, or Ann, and the kids, not to mention David?" Ray demanded to know from Lee.

"How dare you, you fucking piece of shit! All was well and good when you helped that sadistic bastard take my son, and now you are worried about your family and Pete's since Merle has decided to cut and run?" Lou snarled at him as he stepped up and grabbed him by his hair, and yanked his head down forcing him to look at the picture of David being held down and raped.

"Look at what he did to my son. Look at it! Look at what that bastard did to your godson, and you allowed him to do this to him. I will damn you to hell; you let him rape David, and now you want me to allow them to help you, to protect you now that you perverted ass is on the line? The legal system was not designed to protect scumbags like you. I will see to it that you will burn for what you did to my son."

"Lou; stop it, and let him go, now. Please, I know how you feel, I know the pain inside you, but you will calm down, or I will have you escorted out of the room." John told him gently, but firmly. Lou finally let go of Ray's hair and turned away from him in disgust, then he walked to the far side of the room, and they all heard his strangled cries as he carefully put away the picture while he faced the wall. Then John turned towards Ray and said with anger, "You see what damage you have done here? Lou was supposed to be your best friend; you and Eleanor are David's Godparents. Yet, you allowed this man to take and destroy the innocence of your best friend's only child to protect your own ass? Why should I even listen to you instead of finding the darkest hole to put you in for the rest of your life, huh Ray?"

"I didn't know that Pete and Merle were planning to kidnap David, honestly. I would have stopped them if I had known, but I did not know until after they had already taken David. Merle only told me once he had David out of the state, and then he made me come with him to force Lou's cooperation. He did that to make it appear that I was involved, but I had nothing to do with David's kidnapping, I swear on my children's lives. I never agreed to any of this, and I told him that if he hurt David in any way that I would come straight to you. I love David as if he was my own son, and I should have come forward when he took David, but I could not without destroying my family if my secret came out. If Lou is working for you then you know what that secret is." Ray said in remorse as he sat down and put his face in his hands.

"He had David raped? How could Pete allow Merle to do that to him? He is just an innocent little boy...Pete swore that David would not be hurt in any way...they promised they would not hurt him."

"You are telling us that you actually believed that bullshit Ray?" Jonas asked him with contempt. "You knew what kind of a bottom feeder Merle was when you went to him so you could get your dick inside a little boy's ass. So don't try feeding us that bullshit that you didn't know."

"I'm not talking about Merle, Jonas; I was talking about Pete Evans. I should have never listened to him, I truly believed that Pete could never do that to David...it is my fault. Oh my God, it is all my fault that they hurt David. Lou...I am so sorry, I will never forgive myself for letting David be hurt. I knew that Merle was a sadistic liar when he took David, and I let them deceive me because I was only worried about hiding my shame. Now I know why he had David moved to that clinic. Pete said that David was sick with a cold is why they moved him, and I believed them, but it was because Merle had him raped...may God forgive me for allowing this to happen." He said with choking sobs as the truth of what he had done came crashing down on him. After a few moments, he looked up at John and said.

"Look, I don't want any kind of deal, and I will plead guilty to any charges including kidnapping and everything they did to David. All I am asking is that you protect the kids, Eleanor, and Ann because they are innocent here. You have to rescue David before those lying fucks kill him, and they will kill the boys, Patricio and Arturo too. I will do anything you want me to do, I will admit my guilt on live TV, and I will help you any way I can, but you have to save David and the boys from Merle. If he is covering his ass, then arrest me publicly, and let me wear a target, but you have to protect them from him because they are the true innocent victims here."

"No," John told him, and Ray stared at him in surprise. "I will not do that, and I will not allow you to shame your wife, your daughters, David, or your victims either. You have forever damaged Lou, Ann, and David by going along with Pete and Merle. I cannot tell you how much damage you have done to David because you let them destroy his innocence, and everything that he believed to be right and good has been shattered forever. If you help me now so that I can save David and the brothers Merle gave you and Pete for sex slaves then you will not be arrested or charged. Instead, I will grant you immunity for your cooperation and testimony against Merle Foxworth, and everyone else that you know to be working for him. You will also not contest the terms of the divorce that Eleanor will file, and she gets everything you own including full custody of Patricio and his brother Arturo. I know that you brought them for sex slaves, but the adoption papers are still legal and valid under the law. However, I am not about to allow you to inflict more harm on them, so you will voluntarily give Eleanor full custody of the two boys understood. After the trials are done for Merle and his accomplices, then you will plead guilty to 1^st degree sexual assault of a child, sexual battery of a child, conspiracy to kidnap a child, and felony child endangerment in a sealed plea hearing." John explained to him.

"This plea deal will give you the minimum sentence in a low security prison. It will also have your sentences run concurrently so you will be out on parole in less than three years, and this is not negotiable. Once you have been paroled, if your children, including the boys, if they choose to allow you to see them, then you may have supervised visitation only as Eleanor decides. You are not to have any unsupervised contact with them, nor will you be allowed any unsupervised contact with any minor child for the rest of your miserable fucking life. One more thing is that you will register as a child sex offender too. You either accept these terms, or you get up, leave this room, and take your chances that Merle will let you live. Eleanor and your children are safe, and so are Pete's kids, but we could not locate Nicole before whomever Merle sent here to do his dirty work got to her, nor could we locate Pete. I need to know if there are any other high-ranking officials that I need to know about who also work for Merle. I want the names of every judge, politician, teacher, or cop that you know who are on Merle's payroll. I also want to know where you are keeping Arturo and Patricio because we could not locate them in the New Castle house, and Mrs. Pena refused to cooperate even after we served the search warrant to her, but she was surprised when we could not locate them anywhere in the house. She told us that they were in their rooms when we showed up, and that there was no other way out that they could have escaped from the house, but they were nowhere to be found."

"It's a deal, but you have got it wrong. I did not adopt Patrico and Arturo to be my sex slaves, I did it to save them from Merle, Pete, and Jack, and I have never touched them or any other child. I am not proud of what I have done, and I appreciate what you are doing to protect my family from my shame." Ray told him without hesitation. Then he asked them, "what about David? If Merle is moving to eliminate us, then I know that he will kill David. I know exactly where they are keeping him, and I know who is currently with him too. As for the boys, they are at the house, but are most likely hiding in the safe room that is a small room hidden behind their closets. There is a hidden pinhole camera inside each closet, that will allow them to see us, and they will unlock and open the hidden door only for me. I know you will not believe it, but I love those boys, and that is why I had this safe room built for them just in case something like this ever happened. I knew that Mrs. Pena was Merle's employee, and that I could not trust her. Pete left his wife when Merle gave him his first boy slave, and on paper, he lives at the house with the boys, but he spends 99% of his time at his apartment with four other programmed boy slaves that he shares with Jack Murdock. When Pete took mine and his family, the boys, and Mrs. Pena with him to Hawaii last summer, I had the safe room built, and I told the boys once they were home about it." Ray told them as he sat down at the conference table.

"At first, it was about my secret attraction to young boys, and I let enough little things slip that Pete found out. However, instead of denouncing me, he took me to the apartment that him and Jack share, and confided that they also were attracted to boys. He revealed his collection of kiddie porn tapes, and told me about some trips that he and Jack took to get a boy for a few nights. Then, he said that if I were to assist him, Jack, and Merle Foxworth, then we would not have to fly abroad to get a boy, and that's when he brought in his first slave Merle had given him. I could not resist and agreed when I saw the boy because he was beautiful, and I watched as the boy performed oral sex on them. They told me that all I had to do was to make sure that you could not connect Merle to this investigation. Then Merle sent two programmed boys for sex to Pete's house, but Pete sent them back two days later when he realized I was horrified by what had been done to them, and I refused to touch them. I have always loved boys for their beauty, their exuberance, and zest for life, but I had no desire for the zombies Merle sent to us because they were like robots instead of real boys." Ray told them, and he paused for a few moments before asking for a drink of water. After Lee brought him a paper cup full of water, Ray downed it with a few gulps before continuing.

"Those boys reacted to nothing, and no matter what anyone did to them, they just laid there with a blank-eyed stare leaking tears, but they never made a sound unless someone like Pete would cause them severe pain. He gets off by hurting them because he is a sexual sadist like Merle, yet the boys never resisted in any way because they had been programmed. I found out later that Merle had them executed and disposed of their bodies, he told us that it was necessary to protect us, and because they were worthless to him since they were used goods. Pete realized that I was having doubts once I realized what Merle was doing to these kids, and he convinced Merle to send a boy who had not been brainwashed for me. Merle agreed, and even let me choose the boys myself, and Pete and I went on a business trip to South America last spring. It was mainly for the purpose of meeting and picking out the boys, and once I met Patricio and Arturo who had been recently orphaned, it was love at first sight for me. They were so beautiful when we met them in

Guatemala

, and totally innocent too because Merle had not put them through the programming process. They were just two beautiful, heartbroken boys who had lost their parents in an auto accident, and I asked if they would like to come live with me and be my sons."

"Then Pete talked to Merle, and that is when he allowed us to take Arturo and Patricio without brainwashing them, but I knew that Merle would kill them and me if anything happened. However, I have never done anything sexual with them, and I have not allowed Pete to abuse them either. He has not touched them because he thought that I would just comply with their demands, but I did not and got photos of him and Jack Murdock abusing two of the brainwashed boys. I used those pictures to make him keep his hands off Arturo and Patricio, but he thinks it is because I want them for myself only. He has other boys in an apartment that he and Jack Murdock lease together near the university. After they tire of them, they send them back to Merle and get new boys while Merle either sells them to pornographers, or to the cartels to be drug mules, or simply has them murdered and dumped someplace. I try to give my boys as much freedom as possible, and they come and go as they please when I am with them, and you can verify that they have not been molested by having them examined by a doctor, and given polygraph tests. Merle was going to send them to a kiddie pornographer in

Mexico

, but when I asked for them, he had them sent here straight from the orphanage in

Guatemala

. He even sent me the legal adoption paperwork and had Jack approve it, so the boys could stay indefinitely with me. However, I knew that Merle would take and dispose of them if he ever found out that I never wanted them as sex slaves, and on several occasions, I have had to allow Mrs. Pena discover us asleep together in the nude." He explained.

"Last week, I let her walk in on Patricio and me in the master bedroom when she arrived at 4:30 AM. I had set the alarm for an hour earlier, woke up Patricio, and had him get naked before getting into my bed. I then took KY and rubbed it all over both of us, and then let him fall back to sleep on top of me, and that is how she found us an hour later. To the boys, it is just a game to deceive her, but they know that it could have deadly consequences for them also. When I last spoke to Merle, he asked me if Patricio's ass was still as tight as it looked because Mrs. Pena thought his pucker still looked too tight, and that I needed to be using a large tube of KY every week on him and Arturo to loosen them up. I wanted to hang up on him, but that would have only put the boys in danger, so I held my tongue. The boys know what is going on, and while I know that Merle will kill all of us whenever he pleases, the boys are my sons legally under the law, and that is why I wanted them. It took just that one time of seeing those robots Merle is creating to make me realize that my attraction is for watching boys be boys, and not for sex. I realized what a fool I have been for thinking that my attraction to boys was for sex. It's not though because my attraction to boys was because I wanted a son, and I could never hurt them by doing anything sexual with them." Ray told John and lee, and they could see the honesty in his face and eyes.

"Since I have adopted Patricio and Arturo, I have deleted and destroyed every one of the kiddie porn pictures I had downloaded from the net, and I have given back the magazines and tapes to Pete because I have no interest or desires for boys. I just love to watch boys, real boys just being themselves. I believe they are just as beautiful and as sexy as girls are, but touching or molesting them destroys their beauty of innocence. I know that you think I am a pedophile, and I have broken the law, but I am being honest with you about the boys. I do not care what you do to me, but Patricio and Arturo are innocents, and that orphanage was a hellhole. I will do whatever you want if you will keep your promise that Eleanor will get the boys, and that they will be allowed to stay here. They are in danger right now though, because I went by the house tonight before I call you, and there were at least two people ransacking the house, and I heard Mrs. Pena scream right before I heard a gunshot. I was thinking that Pete would be there, but I don't know who was inside, so I beat feet out of there and called you Lee." Ray told him, and John could see his sincerity in his face and eyes. "Please John; you've got to help me rescue the boys, please?"

"Damn it! That bastard must have someone else on his payroll that is not associated with Richard, but who?" John swore more to himself than to the others.

"I told you that Merle has a huge network of players throughout the government. Richard and I were just one of the pies the slippery bastard has got his fingers in," Jonas told them.

"You want to help Ray? Then you help John save my son we go get the boys. If you know where they are keeping David, and who those bastards were in that damn picture, then tell me," Lou asked Ray as he turned around and faced him, and Ray could see the pain and anguish on his friend's face. "You said that he was moved to some clinic because he was sick. What clinic, and where is that clinic located at Ray? John has credible information that David is being held in an old prospecting town owned by a movie studio near El Cajon, California."

"He was there Lou, but not anymore. David was moved the day after the failed bombing to kill the preacher's kid Lucky. The bombing was not a part of Richard or Merle's operations, and it was done as payment to someone for the information about your secret meetings you had once you knew the taskforce had been compromised. There were three men guarding David when he was at El Cajon, but Del Jackson is with him now in San Francisco. There is a very small and very private rehab facility in the Wintergreen section of San Francisco, it is owned by Merle that caters to the most wealthy and most corrupt clients of his. That is where David was at yesterday morning, but Merle knows that the El Cajon site is being watched, and he has one of his programmed puppets there posing as David at El Cajon along with the three men who were guarding David. Del Jackson is now with David as his guardian and David must be being treated for the injuries those sick bastards caused when they raped him." Ray told Lou and John. "Can I see that photo again Lou, please?"

"Why, so you can admire your handiwork some more?" Lee asked him in a disgusted voice.

"No Lou, I had nothing to do with them taking David, honest, I just want to see if I can identify the men who raped him is all. I know you will not believe me, but that picture hurts me as much as it hurts you. I will never forgive myself for allowing my shame to hurt David like this because I love him as if he were my own son. I should have stopped them, but I am weak and a coward. I deserve everything you will do to me, and much worse because I betrayed David and the damage I caused him will never be healed." Ray said tearfully as he hung his head in shame once more. Lou looked over to John, who only nodded his head to him before Lou took out the picture and placed it on the table in front of Ray. Ray looked at it for a few moments before pointing at the man who was actually raping David.

"That man there, his name is Samuel Reese from the 44^th precinct, and this man is Matt Lyons from County Corrections, and this guy I believe is Edwin Campbell from the family and orphans court division, but I am not positive because I've never met him before. I just know that Sam and Matt always hung out with him is all." Ray told them, Lee, John, and Lou were all surprised by the identities of those men who raped David because they were Metro cops supposedly on medical leave, and by the fact that Merle knew that the El Cajon location was being watched.

"Del Jackson...isn't he that Metro cop that was shot during that armored car heist a few years ago?" John asked Lee.

"Yes, he was medically retired because he lost a lung, but you say he is now working for Merle Foxworth? Also, you said that Merle knows about our meetings, and he knows that we knew where David was being held until a few days ago?" Lee asked him and Ray could only nod his head. Then Lee said, "What about Lou and Jonas, does Merle know about them working with us?" He asked, but Ray shook his head no, then Lee said, "Jesus Christ, we've got a mole somewhere. We have to move now to rescue David before this mole reveals that Lou has turned."

"What else does he know, and do you know who is providing him the information?" John asked him.

"I don't know who it is, but he knows that you somehow found out about David's kidnapping, but I am almost positive that he doesn't know that Lou and Jonas have turned on him yet. I spoke with Merle yesterday morning before I left for my meeting, and he suspected that something was up, but I told him that neither Pete nor I knew of anything going on." Ray told him.

"What about the attempt on Lucky, do you know why he ordered the hit?" John asked him.

"When I spoke with him after the bombing, I asked why he was targeting Tom and his son since they do not know anything about his operations here. All he said was that an old friend was calling in a favor and that it was supposed to send your investigation off in the wrong direction to keep you distracted. He also said that Tom was the intended target, and that Lucky's death was to divert your security team's attention away from Tom. The original plan was for both of them to die as innocent bystanders who got caught in the middle of a drive-by shooting, but it had to be changed because of the protective detail surrounding him. That is why it was changed to two bombings designed to make you think that Richard had done it. It was not only Lucky who was supposed to die that day, because Tom was supposed to die in another blast right after the one that was supposed to kill Lucky. The first bomb was supposed to draw the security people away from Tom, and that would leave him vulnerable so that the second bomb blast would kill him, but for some reason, the second bomb did not go off as planned. That is all I know about it, I swear." Ray told him.

"What about today? Did you know about the armed assault and kidnapping of Jerry's twin sons?" John asked him, and Ray blanched for a moment before nodding his head.

"I don't believe that Merle even knew that they were Jerry's sons because neither Pete nor I knew until the press conference, but I did know that they were on the list Merle gave me of all the children who were being groomed for clients. The pornographer who paid to get the boys wanted to see how his investment was coming along. Pete and I met with him in September, and I drove him to their school that day. It was still mild, and one of the people who worked for Merle had the boys' gym class outside. He split them in two groups, and the group with Sky and Sean were told to remove their shirts, then they played a game of soccer. We watched them play, and the twins were so perfect for boys. I mean they were absolutely beautiful, so graceful when they moved along with being so drop dead gorgeous too. When they went back inside, we took the man back to the airport, and he was very pleased about the boys. He asked us how long before Merle picked them up but neither Pete nor I knew anything about it, so we told him to contact Merle for that information. We had no clue that they were Jerry's twin sons, and we did not know that you were providing personal protection to them either. Since they were twins, Merle's people knew that their disappearance could not be explained as them being runaways. Therefore, the plan was to stage an armed kidnapping and send their mother some bogus ransom demands to be met. Then it would be staged so it would appear that something went wrong, and the boys died, all the while pointing the blame towards a gang of Meth and Crack addicts from a local reservation. Merle had two puppets ready to be killed, and eventually their skeletal remains would have been identified as those of the twins so she would have someone to bury while the twins would be in their new lives as kiddie porn stars in

Mexico

." Ray told him with remorse and shame.

"Ok, that's enough," John told him, and then he went to the door and asked one of the officers to come in. "Ray, if you give me your word, then I will not cuff you."

"There is no need for that; I will cooperate fully with you. I took the deal, and I owe it to Lou to help you recover David before they can hurt him any more." Ray told him as he stood, and then he faced Lou. "I am sorry for allowing David to be hurt Lou, and maybe one day you will be able to forgive me for what they did to him. I was collecting all of the information I could about the men Merle used to kidnap David after Patricio told me what happened. They were supposed to go to school that morning, but they were all drugged by Mrs. Pena at breakfast, and that is when Merle's guys came and took him. Pete and Merle promised me that he would not be hurt, but they betrayed me...just as I betrayed you and David. I am so sorry Lou; may God forgive me for even allowing them to take David in the first place and maybe David can forgive me for what I've done one day."

"I doubt it Ray; I know that I will not forgive you. We trusted you; Eleanor and you were David's Godparents. We chose you to be our only child's Godparents Ray. Do you know what an honor and privilege that is, or what it even means? It meant that if anything ever happened to us, that Eleanor and you would become his parents, and raise him as your son for us. You claim to love him as your own son; then I am glad that you never had a son because God only knows what you would have done to him." Lou said to him with tear-reddened eyes before turning his back on him and weeping again. Ray just hung his head in shame, but accepted the rejection as he went over to John.

"Take him into Tom's apartment for now. I think you two should be able to find everything for a pot of coffee in the kitchenette there also." John instructed the officer, and then he said to Lou and Jonas. "Jonas, you go with him until I need you because whoever is our mole does not know about you yet, you too Lou, and for your son's sake, be quiet. Ray, I want you to stay in there until I am through, and you better keep quiet also." He told him and Ray nodded in agreement before going into Tom's apartment with the uniformed officer and closing the door.

"Lee, call Jerry and have him get Tom, Juan, Al, and Gary, then bring them here. Tell them all to meet us here as soon as possible because I think I might know who our mole is."

"Thank you all for coming, and I apologize for interrupting your sleep." Lee told everyone once everyone was seated. Bishop Mark Carlisle had come to John once Tom arrived and spoke with him, and he had a large urn of coffee along with assorted doughnuts brought into Tom's office for everyone. "I also want to thank Bishop Carlisle for the coffee and doughnuts, but if we keep having short nights like this, then we will need the coffee administered to us intravenously." Everyone laughed at that for a few moments, but quickly settled down. Then John got up, and took Lee's place while he sat down. Father Mark went and sat at Tom's desk, and began going over his sermons while the rest of them conducted their meeting on the other side of the room, but John knew that someone in the room was listening very intently to their meeting.

"I called this emergency meeting because we have discovered some new information. It seems that someone has been leaking information to Merle Foxworth about our recent activities. I called all of you together because the information that was leaked was only privy to the seven of us. I know that I did not leak the information, and I have already verified Lee was not responsible for those leaks, so that leaves the five of you." John told them all while pointing and accusatory finger at each of them. "I will know who was responsible for those leaks before we leave here, understood. I am not saying that any of you intentionally leaked that information, but one of you is responsible for that leak."

"Why do you suspect one of us John, because there have been a number of meetings that included others besides the five of us." Jerry said to him while the others agreed with him.

"The reason is because of the information that was leaked, and it was that information which I believe was the reason behind the attempt on Lucky's life. I do not like accusing any of you, but someone leaked the information that we had discovered that the taskforce had been compromised, and that the boys were in immediate danger including Lucky. That is why the attempt on Lucky was a bombing because whoever was behind it knew about the undercover security detail put in place to protect him. The only people who knew about the undercover security details we put in place to protect the boys at that point are all of us here. I am giving the benefit of the doubt to Sara and Jeanne, but if I have to, I will question them also." John told them all.

"I understand now John, and I believe that everyone else understands as well. Now, how do you want to handle the questioning of us, and where are you going to do it?" Al Orndorf asked him.

"We are going to do it right here," John told them. He could see the surprised and suspicious expressions on their faces. "I am going to apply simple logic to the problem, and we will see where it leads us, okay?"

"I know your logic John, and there is nothing simple about it, but I know that it is effective though," Jerry told him with a half grin.

"Honest enough Jerry," John told him while returning the smile. "Let's start with you; leading up to the attempt on Lucky, besides myself, who did you discuss the case with?" John asked him.

"Just up to the bombing only or any time that followed?" Jerry asked, and John understood what he was saying to him, which was that he noticed Lou and Jonas's absence.

"Up until the time you and I left the hospital after the bombing only," John told him, and Jerry assumed an expression of being deep in thought when he nodded his head to acknowledge him.

"Hmm, the only people I discussed the case with is everyone who is present right now, and also with Sara, Jeanne, and Junior. I can vouch for Jeanne and Junior because I know they would not discuss anything related to my job with anyone else. Jeanne wouldn't even discuss it with her parents, God rest their souls, and all Junior says to anyone is that I'm a cop no matter who asks him about anything I do." Jerry told them all, and then John nodded, and looked at Al next.

"The only person I have discussed this case with without all of you being present in my court was with Lee. I was the one who ordered the protection for the boys because I knew the danger they were in including Seth Jordan." Al told everyone and Lee agreed with him, and they got a similar response from Juan as well. John could tell by their expressions that they understood the same as Jerry understood not to reveal any details after the bombing. John then looked at Gary next.

"You were involved prior to the bombing as part of his security team, but I already know who you have spoken with Gary, so you have been ruled out. That only leaves you Tom," John said as Tom stared at him in shock, but it quickly changed to anger.

"How dare you to even suggest that I had anything to do with the attempt on my son's life? After all that we went through together, of everything I had to watch being done to him while being unable to help him. I almost walked away from the priesthood because I believed that was the reason why Child Services were preventing me from adopting him, so how can you even think I would deliberately put him in danger, or want him dead after I have fought so hard to save him." Tom told him angrily as he stood up and faced him.

"I am not saying that Tom. I am just suggesting that maybe you said something to someone inadvertently is all, maybe to someone in your congregation, and that may be how they found out about the protective detail that was assigned to him." John told him and Tom took a long moment before nodding. He turned away, took a few deep breaths, clenching his hands into fist, and then relaxing them while he stared up at the ceiling before calming down, and facing John again letting him continue. "Tom, somehow the information that Officer Michaels would be escorting Lucky instead of you was leaked to Foxworth that day, and that Lucky was planning on staying late at school in order to catch up on his missed work. Therefore, whoever leaked that information had to not only know about the security team in place to protect your son, but they also had to know his schedule, and your schedule too since the bomber knew you could not pick him up that day as you normally do. I just want you to think about anyone you talked with about Lucky and the changes concerning your schedules and the protective detail for that particular day only." John told him in a soothing tone of voice.

"I understand, but I am telling you that I did not speak to anyone concerning the change in his routine that day except for..." Tom said before his voice trailed off as his face paled a bit. Then, his face filled with rage as he turned and lunged towards Mark, but John and Lee were there to intercept him before he could reach him while Jerry simultaneously rushed over and grabbed Mark's arms before he could open the desk drawer. "Damn you...you son of a bitch; he's just an innocent child! Tell me why before I send you straight to hell, you bastard!" Tom bellowed in rage at his friend and mentor as Gary rushed to assist Jerry.

"He was going for the top left drawer," Jerry said to him, Gary pulled open the drawer, and pulled out a loaded S&W .38 revolver.

"Here Jerry, I borrowed these from Officer Philips earlier before we called you," Lee said as he tossed a pair of handcuffs to him. Jerry quickly cuffed Mark, and then patted him down before dragging him to a chair at the meeting table. John had pinned Tom to the wall, and he was speaking softly to him until he got Tom to calm down again, but he and Lee still stayed in between the two of them. Once he was seated opposite of Mark, Tom looked hard at his mentor and betrayer finally asking John as tears slid down his cheeks.

"How did you know it was Mark?" Tom asked sadly, and then he took out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. John motioned for him to wait as he went over to the door to Tom's apartment, opened it, and asked Lou and Ray to join them.

"I knew it was Bishop Mark Carlisle as soon as Ray told us that Lucky was not the intended target that day, but his injury or death was just a diversion to draw our attention away from the true target. Lucky was supposed to die in the bombing because it would have just been one less problem to deal with, but even if he didn't die, he would still be dealt with once the true target of the bombing was out of the way." John told him.

"Tom was the intended target, but when he informed Mark about your security team working undercover to provide protection for Lucky, Mark had to let Merle know that his men would not be able to get close enough to kill Tom. I know that he did not realize it, but Mark gave himself away when he already knew that Al had granted Tom's petition to adopt Lucky before they even got back, and then Tom told him everything about the Protective detail being put in place to protect Lucky. That is why the assassination was changed into a bombing, and Merle made sure that the bomb would point us towards Richard and away from him because of its apparent sophisticated design. The bomb was to be triggered with a motion detector with a ten-second delay and not a timed detonator even though there was one included in order to mislead us. However, when Tom informed Mark about the changes in their routines that day since Lucky was staying late to catch up on his schoolwork, and he would not be able to pick Lucky up as usual since it conflicted with the evening mass is what confirmed to me that he was responsible for all of this." John explained to them.

"Tom told him that Officer Michaels would be bringing Lucky home instead of him going to pick Lucky up as usual. Therefore, Mark had to inform the bomber at the last moment to move the device to Michaels' cruiser, and to reset the other one under Tom's car. The fake timer on Michaels' cruiser was set for 6 PM, but Officer Michaels and Lucky did not approach the car until almost 5 minutes after the hour, and then Michaels saw what he believed was the arming light flashing from under the car. However, a timed device would not have an arming light, but a motion detector with a ten-second delay would have such a light, and because it had to be placed on such short notice was why it was visible from under the car. The problem with a motion detector is that it has a limited range covering only 60 degrees, and an effective distance of roughly three feet, so if you approach it from behind or the side, it will not see you. That ten-second delay and Officer Michaels' body armor are the things that saved his and Lucky's life, but it was pure luck, or the grace of God that saved the bomb technician who found the second bomb." John explained to all of them.

"The same type of bomb was attached to Tom's car, but the dog alerted to Tom's car and the bomb tech reached under and disabled it from the passenger side from behind the detector. That was why the second bomb never went off because nobody approached it on the driver's side of the car, and that was the direction the motion detector was facing that day. Mark knows Tom better than anyone else does, except he is stupid about how a parent knows his or her own child. He figured that Tom would rush out of the church to the school when the bomb in Michaels' car went off, but he never imagined that Tom would run the three blocks across St. Michael's campus on foot while dressed in the vestments, to the school when he heard the blast. That is because he is not a parent, so he does not know that a parent would not think rationally in a crisis involving their child. If he had considered for a moment that Tom did in fact love Lucky as his son; then that fact alone would have told him to have the bomber place a smaller explosive device on the main door once Mass had started. The bomb would have caused some structural damage, but that could have been repaired easily, and Tom would have been killed instantly since he was the first person out of those closed doors when everyone heard the blast. However, Mark was not thinking as a parent, but as a priest, and he would not even consider doing anything to harm his child, which is this church. Tom was to be executed via a drive by shooting when he picked up Lucky that day, but since he changed his schedule, Mark had to change the plan to a bombing. The other thing that told me it was Mark who was feeding information to Merle is that he did not know about Jonas turning on Merle and Richard, which happened the night of the bombing, but only after Jerry and I left the hospital. He does not know about Jonas because the only meetings that he was actually present for were the ones that Jonas was not present." John explained to them.

"Why Mark; what have I ever done to you to make you hate me that much?" Tom asked him as he sat forward and placed his arms on the table. Then he added, "And what has Lucky ever done to you to make you want to kill him?"

"Oh, don't take it so personal because it is not. John is right about St. Michael's being my child because I have dedicated my entire life to this church. It will be 50 years at the end of next month, and a little loyalty and gratitude would be appreciated from the hierarchy. I built this place here; St. Michael's was just a small country parish when I became pastor here in 1946. I am the one who built this place into the largest Catholic Church on the west coast. It was my efforts that brought the Pope here inside these sacred walls in 1979; and it was because of me that St. Michael's has a nationally known children's choir, and its Christmas midnight mass is televised nationally every year. This is the house of the Lord, which I built with my heart and soul and what do I get in return...nothing. I got cast aside by the church because of that little yellow haired whore after one of the nuns caught us together. The Archbishop dealt with it because he understood the sacrifice it takes to build something that will last forever such as St. Michael's. He understood and knew of all my sacrifices and he approved and rewarded me for my efforts. The Archdiocese wanted a younger priest to take over here anyway, and it dealt with the problem before I stepped down. Then he rewarded me with more authority by giving me the miter of itinerate Bishop, which put me next in line for the Archbishop's seat. Then, Archbishop Galindo passed away almost two years ago, and yet, his office remains vacant because the hierarchy was playing games." Mark told him, but it still did not explain his actions. "Then, just before Christmas I received a letter from the Council of Bishops here in the US, and they informed me that I was being forced to retire due to my age, and because of the past incident, and they did not want another scandal by promoting me. They gave me that treasonous reasoning along with the explanation that someone younger would be promoted to the purple, and become the new Archbishop."

"So, that is what this is all about; because the council did not offer you the job because you are seventy-four now? Yes, it is wrong, and you should complain to Rome about it because you are a man of God until you die, but what does that have to do with me and my son?" Tom asked him as his eyes flashed angrily. "You took an oath to devote your life to the Lord, and to shun the riches of man. The actions of men should not come between you and the Lord, and to covet earthly possessions or positions of power is against the commandments. That is why the Lord has denied you, because he could see how corrupt your soul had become by your greed and vanity, but what purpose would be served by killing me, or more to the point, murdering an innocent child like Lucky?"

"Don't you dare preach to me with your silver forked tongue while you feign friendship, and then stab me in the back as soon as I turn around. I thought you were my friend who would carry on my life's work here once I left St. Michael's for the Archdiocese. However, I discovered your treachery when the Council turned me away because of my indiscretion with that little blond haired slut who seduced me, and they have decided to elevate you to the purple instead of me to be the new Archbishop for the Northwestern United States. You, who profaned the sacred vestments when you adopted that slut's queer little bastard. I should have known that he would turn out to be just like the vile creature that brought him into this world. He should be stoned, and you along with him as the Lord commands us to do with the wicked. Instead, they are going to reward you with the rank of the purple because of him instead of me who rightfully deserves it. What did you do to poison the council against me? What did you promise them, or did you allow her little blond succubus who is now yours to work his charms on their flesh, and then blackmail them afterwards?" Mark spat with venomous hatred as his true self was revealed in his hatred and madness.

"It was you, wasn't it? You are the one who was molesting him because he told me less than a month after I arrived. I knew someone was sexually abusing him because of how he was so withdrawn inside himself. He couldn't stand being physically touched by anyone for any reason, nor did he want to undress in any way around others even if it was only to remove his shoes, so I knew someone was sexually abusing him. When he finally did tell me he was being abused, he refused to name the man who was abusing him, and you have the audacity to blame him for your wickedness, and to claim that he seduced you. Lucky was only 7-years old Mark, he is a little child...the most innocent and closest to God are the little children. The children do not know what evil or wickedness is until someone teaches them those things as you did when you abused him. Now you want us to believe that he is the wicked one so you can hide your sins. I told you that Lucky was being molested by someone at St. Michael's, and you were the one who recommended that he be moved to a new foster home. You didn't want him moved to remove him away from his abuse here, you wanted him gone so he could not name you as his abuser." Tom said angrily to him because he realized that Mark had been lying to him since he arrived almost four years ago.

"Wait a second Tom," Jonas said as he came out of the apartment and stepped up to the table. He faced Mark with a deadly stare, and even in his madness, Mark still cringed away from him. "You were not speaking about sexually abusing Lucky, but of your sexual abuse of his mother, Paula Jordan. She is the one you were referring to as the blond slut that you sent away. I know because she was Bill Jefferies sister in law, and Billy is my brother. Billy and his wife Lisa raised her, and because she was getting into trouble as a teen, they sent her here. However, she became pregnant after being here less than a year, and you recommended that she be sent to the convent until she gave birth, but she ran away from that place, and was on her way home when she was killed, but her son Lucky survived. You sent her away because she was carrying your child, your son Lucky."

"Yes, he is my son, and I brought him here within these sacred walls with the hope of cleansing the evil from his soul that his whore of a mother passed on to him. I know how evil he is, the others like him are just as evil, and I have kept this place free from their evil until you arrived here Tom. I saw how that blond little demon was seducing you just as his tramp of a mother seduced me, and I tried to save you by giving the dirty little bastard to Merle who enjoys those filthy creatures like him. I knew that he was evil when he arrived, but I thought I was strong enough to cleanse the evil taint passed onto him from his mother, but I was wrong because he seduced me instead." Mark said with a crazed expression on his face.

"You raped your own son? You sick son of a bitch, how could you do that to your own flesh and blood? You abused him just as you abused and raped his mother, so did you have anything to do with her death? Lucky was a happy child with his foster family who raised him from birth, but now I understand why you had him removed from them and brought here. I have seen pictures of his mother and he looks exactly like her. You could not resist leaving him alone because of the sickness inside you. You could not have her anymore since she was dead, but you could still fulfill your perverted lust with your son without the chance of impregnating him as you impregnated his mother. I promise you that I will make sure that the whole world knows what a twisted and warped pervert you really are when I expose your wickedness, and your friendship with Merle Foxworth. I will also let it be known how you raped and impregnated his mother, and then sought out your own son so you could continue satisfying your own perverted lust with him." Tom roared at him with anger as the truth of Lucky's parentage came out.

"I see that it is too late to try reasoning with you because that little vixen had already gotten your loins stirred up since you rescued him, and you had the nerve to bring him back here to flaunt him in front of me. When I would seek him out at night, that evil little cunt would sneak into your bed, and then he would hug and kiss you in front of everyone within my church while you encouraged him. For that, both of you had to die because that was the only way to cleanse his evil from my church. The bombing was just the first chance, but you and that little pixie cocksucker of yours will not survive the next time!" He shouted back with a mad gleam in his eyes as foam and spittle flew from his mouth. Then he stood up suddenly, but he stiffened as a choking gurgle escaped from his throat while his eyes rolled up, back into his head just before he crashed forward onto the table from a massive heart attack. Everyone was on him in a flash, while Juan was calling 911 even before they laid him onto the floor, and freed his arms from the cuffs, but Tom could already tell that it was hopeless. He had witnessed death many times during his medical school years, and he knew that Mark's heart had ruptured inside his chest. Still, he worked feverishly on him to bring him back to life, but he could not and soon after the paramedics arrived, he called the time of death with tears streaming down his face. Then after he had performed the last rites upon Mark's lifeless body, he leaned close to his former friend and said, "You have escaped the chance to answer and atone for your sins in this world my friend, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul because you will not escape his judgment."

"I'm sorry Tom, I know how much you cared and respected this man." John told him once the medical examiner had claimed the body.

"No, don't be, I am just wondering how many other children he has abused over the years. I will try and help the other children he abused, and I will do my best to bring out his crimes now that he is dead nor will I cover them up to protect the church. You know, he has been lying to me since I came here, and I never saw it." Tom said sadly more to himself than to the others. Then he turned to John and Jerry, "I would appreciate it if you two will come with me to break the news to Lucky because I honestly do not know how he will take it. I don't even know if he knows that Mark was his father, and if he doesn't know, should I tell him?"

"We will be happy to be with you when you speak to him, and if you want, we can have Dr. Cruz nearby if you need him." John told him with sympathy.

"May I offer a little advice to you Tom? You know that Lucky is my nephew, and he has discovered so much about his family in such a short time. I know that he is smart and has a strong, forgiving character, but this new information may be too much for him right now. One day, he will want to know who his father is, but for now, if he doesn't know, then don't tell him." Jonas told him sincerely, and Tom understood and appreciated his advice.

"I feel the same way Jonas, and I agree with you too. Lucky is strong, but he is still a young child, just as his brothers are. This would be too much for him to deal with, and will only cause more damage, so I will not tell him if he doesn't know." Tom told him and everyone agreed with his decision.

"Jonas, I need to see you, Jerry, and Lee for a few minutes, and then the rest of you can deal with this mess and go home." John said to them, and Jerry, Lee, and Jonas went into Tom's apartment to talk while the others remained in Tom's office.

"Ray, when we get inside the house, it is a crime scene because the officers I sent informed me that Pete and Mrs. Pena are there and both are dead. Pete must have come after we executed the search warrant for the boys, and then Merle's hit men must have come after that. The boys still have not been found, so when we go in, I want you to take me to this safe room. Do not touch anything, and don't do anything stupid because I will not hesitate in shooting you. I am only doing this with the hope that we can rescue your boys before they are killed by Merle's men." John told Ray as he looked at him in the back seat.

"I won't do anything John, I promise. What about those boys Jack and Pete had, did they get killed by Merle's goons too?" Ray asked.

"No, we got them and Jack before Merle's goons could get there. Jack is being held in a secret location, and the four boys are now at Bayside being evaluated by Dr. Cruz. Whoever Merle sent, they are moving quickly, but other than Pete, Nicole, and Mrs. Pena, we seem to have moved faster than his goon squad." John told him. "To be honest with you Ray, the information you have given us has probably saved everyone's lives that you told us about including the kids."

"Thank God. I am glad that you saved the people involved, but I did it for the kids. What ever Merle is doing to those kids has to stop because it is horrible. Ever since I saw those programmed boys, I've been collecting evidence against Merle, and I was going to give it to you once I found out where he was programming these kids. I've always known that I would go to prison, or Merle would have me killed, but would be worth it if I could have gotten the location for you John." Ray told him, and John could see that he meant every word he said.

"Well, it is over now, and just so you know, I already have the locations where Merle is programming these kids. His operations are not just here in the

, but global, and even if you shut down his facility here, he has two other locations in Central and South America. However, I have just as many contacts and high powered connections as Merle, and I am not looking to shut him down here, but everywhere. He is going down, and he will not hurt another child, but first we have to get your boys, David, and Sky back safe, then I will take Merle down for good." John told him.

"It might be too late John. With the arrests today, Merle will probably flee the country and set up shop someplace else where you cannot reach him." Ray said.

"He can't," Jonas said with a chuckle. "Merle wants John's sons Simon and Ari because they are special. Simon knows the entire programming process because Billy taught him everything he knew about it. Ari is important because of Richard, Ari is Paquito Rojas's grandson, and Richard had his parents killed to force Rojas to step down as head of the cartel. However, Ari is an identical twin, and his twin brother Eli also survived the accident that killed their parents, but Merle killed Eli by raping him when he was only seven. Merle thought he was protected, but there was a videotape that showed Merle raping Eli, and Rojas saw that tape. Now Rojas has a $25 million bounty on Merle's head dead or alive as a favor to John, so if he leaves this country for any reason, he is a dead man. We will know when he learns of the bounty on him because we will be able to hear him cursing John and Rojas to hell and back."

"Jonas, you just made everything worth it, now I can die in peace knowing he won't wiggle out of this." Ray said with a sad smile. "It still cannot make up for all of the kids Merle has killed or hurt, and I am especially sorry for Ari, he must be devastated inside, and so lost without his twin."

"He was Ray, for a long time, but then he met Simon, and he saved Ari by becoming his twin. Alright, its show time guys. Ray, I will hold you to your word, and I am giving you a lot of free rope because of your cooperation and honesty so far, so don't make me regret my decision." John told him and Ray nodded before they all got out of the car. When they went into the house, it was completely trashed, and even though the two bodies were covered, Ray could see how brutal their deaths had been from the blood splattered on the walls. They quickly went upstairs to Arturo's bedroom, and while it had been ransacked, there was no blood.

"They are separate," Ray said as he moved to the closet and got down on his knees. Then he tapped on the side wall of the closet.

"Son, it's me Papa. It's ok now, you can come out." Ray said, and for a moment nothing happened. Then there was an audible thump and click right before part of the side wall in the closet pushed in and slid up revealing a 3' X 3' cubby. Inside it was Arturo, and he quickly scrambled out into Ray's arms crying. "Shh, it is ok son, you're safe now." Ray said soothingly as he hugged the little boy to him and backed out of the closet before standing up with him in his arms.

"You're safe now," he repeated as Arturo hugged him tightly and whimpered into his shoulder. "Do you know if Patricio made it into his room?" Ray asked and all Arturo did was to shake his head no.

"Ok son, now listen to me. This policeman is my friend, and he is here to protect us, and he is going to take you out of here. I want you to keep your eyes closed until he tells you that it is ok to open them, and I am going to get your brother, understand?" Ray asked and Arturo nodded before Ray kissed him several times on his face and head before handing him to one of the patrolmen. Arturo just buried his face into the big cop's shoulder as the man carried him out of the room and house. Then Ray and the others went to Patricio's room, but this room was much different because it had been sprayed with bullets. Ray repeated what he had done with Arturo, but all that happened was them hearing a soft whimpering through the wall.

"Patricio, open the door," Ray said, but the only response was the same whimpering. Ray got up and told John to stay by the panel before he almost ran back to Arturo's room and crawled into the closet. From inside the small cubby, Ray released the locking mechanism, and then hollered at John to push on the panel and then slide it up.

"I got him Ray, he's been shot! Jerry, help me get him out," John said as he pulled Patricio out as carefully as possible.

"Who did this to you laddie?" Jerry asked as him and John uncurled Patricio so they could find out where he was wounded.

"Cops...they come after the search, two came back...they killed Mrs. Pena...the cop called the other Davis before he shot me...kill Uncle Pete. They thought me dead...went after Arturo...they still looking till you come." Patricio told him in a strained whisper, and John and Jerry both looked up in surprise to see the patrolman drawing his service weapon, but it never made it out of the holster. The patrolman stiffened before falling forward onto his face with a knife protruding from the base of his skull while Jonas stood in the doorway.

"Yes, got him as Davis was coming out of the house," Betsy's voice came back. "I had to break Davis's arm though since he decided to become a little belligerent."

"Good, and thanks for the heads up Bets," Jonas told her before putting the phone back into his pocket.

"Because they are not cops, they are special agents with the IA unit at the FBI. Betsy knew them from a job Richard sent her on, so she knew that they had to be the shooters because they are not Metro Police." Jonas told them.

"So why didn't they recognize her?" John asked as he located the shoulder wound and put pressure on it. "I found it, it doesn't look too serious, but he's lost a lot of blood. Is the ambulance on the way?"

"Yes, they will be here in two minutes," Chief Smith said as he stepped into the room. "I got your message Jonas, and you are right, we didn't dispatch any officers to watch this place after the search, but we do have an Officer Davis and Officer Ecks, only they work in the property room and not on patrol."

"They didn't recognize Betsy because they have never seen her as she really looks, but as soon as she saw them, she knew that we were in danger. I just got the message just as Ray was coming out of the closet, and I saw this guy going for his weapon. I was aiming for his shoulder, but my throw seems to be off a few inches, I'm sorry." Jonas told him as he looked down at the dead man.

"Don't be," Chief Smith said as Ray came into the room and hurried to John's side.

"Oh God, I'm sorry son, help is on the way. You will be all right, I promise," Ray said tearfully as he saw the wound in Patricio's thin shoulder. All Patricio could do was nod his head a little before his uninjured hand sought out Ray's and held it tight. A couple of minutes later, the paramedics rushed into the room and took over Patricio's care, and when they had him loaded on the gurney, Patricio refused to let go of Ray.

"Please Papa, don't leave me, I am afraid," he whimpered as he started to cry, and Ray started to shake his head and tell him he couldn't go with him when John interrupted.

"He won't son, now just be still, save your strength and let the medics take care of you," John told him before looking at the paramedic. "This is his father, and he's going with him because he doesn't speak English too well. He is hurt and afraid, so Ray will stay with him to translate and keep him calm. A security team will meet you at the hospital, and once he is stable and able to be moved, they will be transported to Bayside where his father will stay with him and his brother." John told the medic in charge, and she just nodded before telling Ray to get in back as they loaded Patricio into the ambulance. Ray could only say thank you to John as he climbed into the ambulance, then the doors closed and it was rolling towards the hospital.

"I am. I didn't want to believe it when he told us, but I know he told us the truth. He may have gotten mixed up in this for the wrong reason, but Ray does love those boys, and he isn't a threat to any child. He will still be punished for his complicity with Pete and Merle, but I believe that he is not a pedophile. He is just a middle aged man who mistook his yearnings for a son as a possible sexual desire for boys. The boys we rescued from Jack's apartment all said that Ray had never touched them, and that he stopped Jack and Pete on several occasions from sexually torturing them. We are going to have the rethink what his punishment will be once this is over, but for now, I want him with Patricio and Arturo at Bayside until Patricio is recovered." John told him, and both Jerry and Chief Smith agreed with him.

"I do want to wring some answers out of that phony cop though because he can tell us who else is working for Merle." John said.

"No, that is my job John. This man is a federal operative, and he did not get his orders from Richard. He will not talk to you no matter what because he knows that you cannot touch him. I know that you may not approve of my methods, but this is now my part of the investigation, and he will answer my questions. If I have to dismantle the entire CIA, NSA, and FBI, I will get the crooked bureaucrats that the President ordered me to expose. So take care of your business, and tell Sasha that I am all right, but I am going to be busy for a while. I will call you once I have interrogated our man and let you know what he said." Jonas told him and John could see Betsy as she put the guy Davis into the back of a sedan, and she want not very gentle with him either.

"You're right; he is your jurisdiction Jonas. I will let Sasha know and you call me once you get the answers we need." John told him, and then he shook Jonas's hand before watching him leave with Betsy and the unknown agent. "Come on, let's go home."

Carlos woke up, and was immediately alert. It was something else he learned in prison because you would not live long if you were a sound sleeper. He scanned the dark room as he listened in to the morning silence without making a sound. Then he heard a dog's growl near the door to their room. He quickly covered Sky's mouth with his hand, whose eyes shot open with surprise and fear, and then he saw Carlos motioning for him to keep quiet as the dog outside barked once before yelping. Both he and Sky had heard the soft `Phut' of a silencer equipped pistol, and then a man's voice outside.

"Fucking mutt!" the man growled under his breath as another man came down the steps.

"Well? Are they up there Rick?" The man, Frank Rush, asked the other in a low voice.

"Yeah Frankie, they are in Room 218 on the other side. I saw their clothes all over the room through the window, I even saw the kid's bloody drawers on the floor, and the phone is on the dresser too. Del was right because it looks like this guy Vargas is gonna keep the little cunt for himself. It looks like he tore the kid's clothes off before spending the rest of the night with his dick inside the tight little cunt because he tied him to the bed. Del said that the picture of the little cocksucker is prettier than a girl. So that's why Vargas is holed up in this dump instead of heading to El Cajon where he should be going right now." Rick Morris said in a low voice. "Why'd you shoot the dog, Frankie?"

"That damn mutt almost ruined our little surprise visit." Frank said to him. "Vargas will be watching for us if he hears a damn dog barking like crazy, Rick."

"Nah, he won't hear a thing except that little kid's squeals and moans as he's pushing his dick inside him again, Frankie boy." Morris said to him with a snorted laugh. "He is in the shower right now still fucking that kid's tight little ass. I saw the light coming from under the door and heard the water running, so he won't hear shit."

"I checked the registration book and the only key missing for that side is his room key and none missing for this side either, but I guess the dumbass thought that he could hide from us by parking all the way down here on this side." Frank told his partner in the same low voice. "Let's get this over with before someone shows up looking for a room."

"Hey, we got some time to spare Frank, and for anybody who shows up, they will find the office closed. Throw the mutt in the dumpster, and we can take as long as we want. Oh man, Del said that Merle was so pissed last night that he was eating steel and shitting nails." Rick told him in a nonchalant tone of voice.

"I know, after that fucking disaster with one of O'Malley's kids getting away, I was expecting Foxworth to cover his ass. That idiot Evans was so fucking surprised when the guys showed up, and gave him and that broad of a maid he has a third eye. Merle's guys still managed to fuck that up too because they were to supposed to kill the two boy-cunts also. They said that one was with Pete when they showed up, and they shot him, but the little prick managed to slip away from them and out of the house somehow. Merle said his guys could not find the little cocksuckers in the house; at least they killed Evans and the woman, but they are still at the house searching for the one they wounded and the other boy. Del said that nobody has heard from them since then, and Ray showed up at the hospital with his little boy cunt they shot about an hour ago, but now they are in protective custody at the hospital. Now Artie wants us to go take care of him and those damn little cunts once we get done with this job, but it should be easy enough to get into the hospital because it is so damn big. I am still surprised that Richard went and got his ass killed over that kid who took the tapes. You know, when Richard fucks up, it is almost as bad as when Merle fucks up." Frank replied, "However, once Del got the location from the two GPS units, at least it has made this job into a cakewalk."

"Yeah, I figure that we can kill Vargas, and then we both can fuck the little cunt's tight little ass a few times before we kill him too. With Vargas fucking him all night, his cute little ass should be nice and lubricated for us. It is a shame we must waste the kid because Merle could have made a mint off him as he did with Petrinelli's boy. Once we finish here, then we can go take care of the two little cunts and Thompson, and then go collect Lou to take him back to El Cajon. Merle wants Lou to watch as he fucks his little boy David to death before killing him too. Del was not too pleased about that change in plans, but he said to go ahead and do it if it will keep Merle's mind off his dick for a few hours." Rick said with a soft, but sinister laugh before Carlos and Sky heard them go up the stairs.

Carlos rolled out of the bed as silent as a cat, and peeked out the window to make sure they had indeed left. With the walk and stairwell clear, Carlos motioned for Sky to get up. They dressed quickly, and Carlos took his 9mm semi-automatic Glock pistol before slipping out the door. It took him less than 30 seconds to find the hitters' car close to the van, and he was surprised to find out that it was an unmarked police cruiser. He quickly pulled the hood release before yanking the radio microphone out of the car. Next, he opened the hood, yanked out the coil wire and four of the spark plug wires from the V-8 interceptor engine before quietly closing the hood and going back to the room. Sky had been watching for him, he had already collected their clothes and things, and was ready to leave. After Carlos checked that the upstairs walkway was still clear, he and Sky got into the van quickly, and he started the engine, backed up, and was almost out of the parking lot when Sky saw the two men come running down the steps to the car and get in. However, Carlos paused just long enough for them to see one of the men get out and lift the hood before slamming it shut and pounding his fists down on the top of it. Carlos turned onto the main highway heading west towards the I-5 Freeway again, and while he was moving fast, he stayed only five mile over the speed limit. After a few miles, Sky began to relax a little, but he was still constantly looking behind them for their pursuers while his wheezing had now turned into a whistling sound as he struggled with each breath he took.

"Use your inhaler Muchacho, and I will keep a lookout for anyone following us." Carlos told him in a calm voice, then Sky dug out his inhaler from the pocket of the jeans Carlos had found for him, and took a shot, then another after a couple of minutes had passed. After several more minutes had passed, Sky's breathing was almost back to normal again.

"Gosh, that was so close Carlos," he said to Carlos with a mixture of fear, nervous tension, and relief along with a nervous shiver going through his small shoulders and down his spine. "You knew that the man who hired you would send those guys after us, didn't you? You also knew that they would find us too. How did you know?"

"Hey, I'm not stupid you know. I have been on my own since I was your age because my Mom abandoned me, and the streets were my school, so I know how men who hire hitters like that think. This guy hired us to kidnap you and your brother so he could force your Papa to do something he wanted. His plan can only succeed if he had taken you and your brother, but I screwed it all up. Now you Daddy is pissed off and on the warpath, so the bad guy can only save his ass if he has something to bargain with, something your Daddy would make a deal for, and that something is you. So, he has to find and kill me so he can get you to use as a bargaining chip. When I screwed up his plan, I figured that he would be gunning for me, and since he has never met me to know what I look like, then there had to be a way for him to follow Luis and Rico who did work for him. I figured it was the phone since it was not like any cell phone I have ever seen, and Luis said that he could call anywhere in the world with that phone." Carlos explained to him, but Sky was still confused for a few minutes before he put everything together, and then he smiled as his face brightened with understanding.

"So that is why you got us that room upstairs, but then you picked the lock to the room we stayed in last night because you knew that they would find us here." Sky told him with a huge grin. "The bad guys went to the room upstairs and saw my dirty clothes you put there and heard the water running that you left on last night, and we got away while they were up there looking for us. How did you know they would come by the room we were in first though, and what did you do to their car?"

"I knew they would look for the van first, then go look in the office to find out what room we were in and finally to go check if we were in the room. I knew that they would use the stairs closest to the van, and that is why I picked the room closest to the stairs so we could hear them when they showed up. When they went to the room looking for us, I took the radio handset, coil wire, and a few spark plug wires from their car because it cannot run without them, and they could not call for someone else to follow us either. The coil wire is especially important for any car, because that wire is the one that sends the sparks to the cylinders to cause them to fire. A car can run missing one or two sparkplug wires, but every car needs the coil wire in order to run." Carlos explained to him as he drove. "I learned that in school to become a mechanic after I got out of prison. With their car disabled, it should give us a couple of hours of a head start to put some distance between us and them because they cannot call the police without risking their own butts being arrested." He said, and Sky literally jumped out of his seat and hugged Carlos tightly.

"God, you are so smart Carlos," he said with a hitch in his voice. "I love you even more now because you saved me again." He said unable to hold back his tears as his nervous tension finally caught up with him. Carlos struggled a bit trying to drive while also comforting Sky. He finally got him to relax again before his tears triggered another asthma attack, then he had him sit back down in his seat once more, and had him buckle his seatbelt too. Sky was happy to be with Carlos, but he was also very scared because now he knew that people were trying to kill them. Then he asked as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we have to get rid of this van first of all because every cop and hitter on the street will be looking for it." Carlos told him. "Those hitters were some kind of cops because their car was an unmarked patrol car. I also think this van is rigged so that they can track it too, which is why I want to dump it as soon as we can. Therefore, we have to contact your father somehow to let him know that you are safe without alerting the cops or the hitters. We have to let him know that we cannot even trust the cops right now because the man after us has enough money and power to buy crooked cops to kill us. We should also tell him what those guys said about who killed those two people that they mentioned because it might help your father to identify the killers. We can also warn him that they are also looking for and going to kill those two other kids they could not find. Then, we can figure what to do next after that alright?"

"I guess so, but," Sky hesitated with a sniffle. "I wish we could just run away to someplace where the bad guys or my Dad won't ever find us."

"I do too, Sky." Carlos said quietly so Sky would know that he felt the same way. Then he said, "However, we can't just hide because sooner or later someone will find us. Whether it is the police, or the hitters, eventually we will be found. We need to contact your father somehow, and hope that he will help us because I cannot protect you from bad cops while he probably can. If it was just the hitters after us, then I can protect you by taking you home to my place because even the hitters won't come into The Flats."

"Hollywood? You mean the place where all the movie stars live?" Sky asked in disbelief.

"Not quite Sky." Carlos said with a laugh. "Beverly Hills is where all of the big movie stars live, and Hollywood is in the northern part of L.A., and Burbank is where all of the big movie companies are located. All of those places are right next to each other in northern L.A. including West Hollywood and the Flats. However, West Hollywood is known as the Sunset Strip, and that is closer to central L.A. That is where all of the clubs are located, but the farther you go on the strip away from The Hills into L.A., the clubs and bars become rougher and there is more trouble. It is also where all of the whores and chickens run looking for tricks, and The Flats are the housing projects located near the end of the strip in north central L.A. I grew up there, and even after I was on my own at your age, I lived there because I knew the streets and worked them too. There is no need for cops in The Flats because everybody has got their turf. The dealers and pushers stay in their turf while the dopers and gang bangers stay in theirs. The only people who can go anywhere in The Flats are the whores and chickens, and even they have their turf from each other but it is more complicated. The pimps and hawks have got all of West Hollywood divided up, and most of the time there is not a problem. Even the cops know to ask permission before crossing someone's turf, and the location between Central L.A. and Beverly Hills makes The Flats prime turf territory."

"What do you mean about hawks and chickens?" Sky asked him with a confused expression. "You mean like there are real farms there that grow chickens?" He asked innocently, and Carlos burst out laughing so hard that tears were in his eyes.

"No Muchacho," He said as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Hmm, how do I put this? Do you know what a whore is?" He asked and Sky blushed with embarrassment before answering.

"No...not really," he said as he looked down at his feet while blushing a deeper red with embarrassment. "I think it means a bad girl or something," he said quietly.

"You are sort of right because it does mean a certain kind of girl. Have you heard of the term prostitute before?" He asked seriously, and Sky's face lit up with understanding.

"Yeah, I know that one," he said with sheepish smile. "That's a girl who makes guys pay to have sex with her. If a girl does that then she is a prostitute, right?"

"Exactly Muchacho, very good," Carlos told him making Sky's smile even bigger. "Prostitutes are also called whores, hookers, or sluts too sometimes depending on how crude the person saying it wants to make it sound. A Pimp is the person who she works for, it is usually a man, and he protects his girls from bad men who like to hurt them or the tricks who do not want to pay. He is also the one who comes to get them out of jail if the cops arrest them. Each Pimp claims his part of town where his girls are allowed to work only and that is known as his turf. Got that so far Muchacho?"

"Yeah, I understand now," he said shyly as he looked at his feet again. "Sorry, I'm just a dumb kid, Carlos."

"No Sky, you are not dumb. Even I had to learn all of this when I was your age, and I lived right in the middle of The Flats, so it is not something to be embarrassed about. You should learn how to survive on the streets in case something happens to me so that you can protect yourself on your own. The streets are hard, and if you do not know what is up, then you will become someone's victim and be hurt or killed because the streets do not care who you are. So you have to learn this, and you will never learn if nobody bothers to tell you so that you understand right?" He told him honestly, and Sky looked at him for a moment before nodding while his smile crept back.

"Yeah," Sky answered as he relaxed again once his smile returned. "If nobody has told me, then I won't know about it. So it is sorta like going to school," he said. This time Carlos broke out in a big proud smile as he nodded to him and Sky's smile just beamed brightly.

"Now, you know what a Pimp and a whore are, so a Hawk and chicken are the same things except it is what people say when they are talking about boys, and not girls. All of the boys who turn tricks are called chickens, or sometimes they use other words like puppies or cubbies, but most still call them chicken boys. The word `trick' means a person who has paid them for sex is all, so when a chicken turns four tricks it means that four people paid to have sex with him. Most of the time the tricks are men, but there are a lot of women who also desire chickens. However, they usually prefer the mid to older teen boys."

"So if a chicken is the boy prostitute, then a hawk must be a boy's pimp because he only has boys working for him like the pimps who have the girls, right?" Sky asked, and Carlos praised his student. Then after a moment of thought, he asked, "You know all this stuff because you said you used to work on the streets, and because you have done all of these things. You know because you were a chicken boy, weren't you?"

"Yes Sky, I was a chicken boy. I told you that my mom abandoned me when I was 11, and I needed money so I could eat and have a place to stay. Nobody will hire young boys to work because it is against the law, so I only had two choices. I could try to join a gang and sell or carry drugs, or I could be a chicken boy and sell my body. When I was your age, I was just like you because I was beautiful with dark hair down to my shoulders, and delicate features. When I started working for Reggie, there were tricks lined up for miles to get a hold of me, but Reggie only picked the guys who paid the most and who would be gentle and not hurt me in any way. People make a big deal about prostitution, which means a person selling their body for money. However, if all you have got is just your body, what else can you do? Another thing is that everyone makes it sound like it is something bad, and the kids and adults who are prostitutes are bad people too, but they are not. All you hear about is how is how prostitutes all use drugs, which is not the complete truth or they say that all prostitutes have contagious diseases like Aids and stuff, which is also only part of the truth. They make it sound like the people who pay for sex are bad people, or sick in their heads, but that is not true either." He explained to Sky as he drove.

"Yes, there are some chickens and whores walking the streets because they are sick with a disease such as AIDS, or because they are hooked on drugs. However, most of the girls and boys are taken care of by their Pimp or Hawk, and the Hawks help their boys get off the streets by getting them back into school and stuff. They don't have to help at all, but most of the Hawks really do care about their boys. I have had three very good friends of mine who used to be chicken boys who got sick with AIDS after they stopped turning tricks. Today, two of them share an apartment that is owned by their Hawk, and he also set up trust funds for them so they never have to work at all. There are also some bad people out there who like hurting chickens and whores, and there are some who are sick in the head too, but most of the tricks are good people who are just horny, or lonely, or both. Most of the chickens actually have a lot of fun turning tricks because sex does feel good, and they know what to look out for so they do not get some twisted pervert as a trick. It is one of the things that a Hawk teaches his boys about, and that is how to spot the tricks who are bad or sick people. There are a lot of people who just want to hurt them because they enjoy hurting kids, or anyone who is weaker and more vulnerable than they are. The more a kid screams and begs them to stop, the hornier the pervert becomes because that is the only way he can get his rocks off is by hurting others." Carlos told him and Sky blanched a little as he absorbed everything like a sponge.

"Anyway, at the time, I was broke, and I had used the last of my money to pay for my room at the `Y'. I had not eaten anything in two days when I met

Jam.

He was a hawk, and he offered me a hundred bucks to go on a date with a man. He told me that this man liked to have sex with young boys, so I did it because I needed the money, but I also realized that this was the way I could work for the money I needed to live on too. The man was exactly as Jam had told me because he was real nice to me, and real gentle with me too since it was my first time having sex willingly, and he taught me a lot that night. I guess I got lucky too because this guy had a real little dick for a grown man, it wasn't much bigger than yours is so it didn't hurt much at all." He told Sky as he drove, and Sky burst out laughing when he said that because he pictured Carlos naked with his small pecker instead of the huge one he had. "Anyway, the man paid me $200, and took me back to Jam in the morning, and Jam let me keep the hundred he promised me. Jam is Reggie's street name, and he asked me if I wanted something to eat, and I said yes because I was starving. We talked after he bought me as much food as I could hold, and I told him what had happened with my Mom leaving me. Reggie told me that if I would work for him that he would give me a place to live, and I could keep half of everything I made. Most of all, he told me that he would protect me, and I agreed to work for him. He let me move into his home, which was unusual because he had room for me in the other apartments his boys lived in, and I learned later that I was the only boy that he allowed to live in his place. Soon, I also learned that I was the youngest chicken boy on the streets at the time, which was why I was in demand so much." He told Sky as his own eyes watered.

"However, within two weeks, Reggie and I both realized that we loved each other, and while turning tricks was ok for me because I learned how to please a man, when Reggie and I finally did it, it was special because we did not have sex; we made love to each other. Reggie taught me everything I know about the streets, and he never let anyone hurt me either. No matter how many tricks I turned, when I got home, he was always there for me because I mattered to him. When I first started out, I was still so messed up inside because of what that man and my mother did to me. I would turn the tricks Reggie picked for me, but I was numb inside, and I was so lost. I had nightmares, and even wet the bed for a while, but Reggie was always there to hold me as I cried and he was there for me until I found my way out of the darkness. He promised to never leave me, and he made me whole again just by showing that I mattered to him, and by loving me, but I learned quickly that it was not just me because that was how he was with all of his boys. Yes, Reggie loved me and I knew it and loved him for it, but it was not just me because Reggie loved all of his boys, and we all loved him. He loved all of us, but I was special to him because his love for me was different. He did not love me like he loved the other boys, he loved all of s like a parent, like a father that none of had. We all needed that kind of love because that is why we all ended up on the streets since we did not have that kind of love until we found him, but with me only, he loved me also as his lover. He loved me more because he desired me just as I desired him, but all of us mattered to him because he cared about all of us, and he did his best to protect all of us." Carlos told him in a serious and quiet voice before continuing as he drove.

"That is why his street name was Jam, because if anyone, no matter how sick, twisted, big and mean they were, if they hurt any of us, Jam would put a hole in their hearts. He tried to protect me especially because I meant so much to him so that nothing bad would happen, but something bad still happened to me when I was 13. However, he was still there for me, and he got me help so I could recover, and when I came home to him after being gone for a year, I was not a chicken boy anymore. Instead, he was my legal guardian and got me modeling jobs, and would not let me turn any more tricks. When another Hawk did hurt me when I was 18, Reggie killed him, and when the cops arrested him, I told them that I did it, and I went to prison while they let Reggie go. I took the blame not only because I loved him, but also because if Reggie went to prison, then all of the boys would suffer. It was not only because I loved Reggie that I took the blame; it was because of how important he was to the other boys. He loved and cared about all of us, and I loved all of the boys who worked for him also. They had become my family, so I took the fall so that the other boys wouldn't lose the only person that they mattered to in this world."

"He loved you," Sky said softly, "and you loved him. That's why you took the blame and went to prison, right?"

"Yeah, I loved him Sky, and I still do." Carlos told him in the same quiet voice. "He loves me still, and that's why he didn't put me out there on the street turning tricks like the other Hawks would have done when I got older; instead he found me legitimate modeling jobs. At first, when I was turning tricks, I thought that he was doing it because the people would pay the most money for me because I was so young, but it was not like that at all. He really cared about me, and he knew how badly I had been hurt inside from what had happened to me, so he would pick only the men who would be very gentle with me, but I was still torn up inside because I blamed myself for that man raping me and for my Mom abandoning me. I didn't realize it, but I hated myself because of the guilt I felt, and each time I turned a trick, it just made me hate myself that much more. Reggie could see that it was destroying me, and he sent me away from the streets to a doctor to get better. When I came back, he was waiting for me and refused to allow me to turn tricks anymore, and he got me jobs where the people would not ask me about my past. I knew that I loved him because he was like the father I had always dreamed of having but never got. I loved him for that, but I loved him as a lover also, I didn't want just a Dad, I just wanted Reggie to love me as his lover, and I knew that he did love me like that because he wanted me the same way I wanted him. He never tried to be a father to me because he was more than a father since he desired me too, and I loved him even more because of that desire."

"You still love Reggie, but how can you love me too now?" Sky asked in confusion.

"Yes I do love him and you Sky, but it is ok. See, Reggie was my first true love, and even though I am now grown up and he is a lot older than me, I will always love him just as he will always love me. Reggie is now considered an old man on the street because he is almost sixty-five and he no longer works as a Hawk because he retired Jam a few years ago. He still works the streets though, but now he just helps the kids who do not want to be there by getting them off the streets into foster homes because he is good inside. I will love him till the day he dies, but that does not mean that I cannot love you. He knows that I need someone to love the same way that he loved me. I need a boy to love, so I can show him that he matters to me, so I can teach him how to love himself as much as he loves someone else, and to teach him how to live just as Reggie taught me. You are that boy Sky, I love you, and because I also love Reggie, I know that he will love you too. Understand now, Muchacho?" Carlos asked him.

"Yeah, I do. It's ok for me to love more than one person because my love won't change for you when I do love someone else later on just as you will always love Reggie." Sky told him and Carlos smiled warmly at him while nodding his head, but Sky was also relieved knowing that he still owned Carlos's heart. "So where are we going now?"

"Portland for now, and then I will take you home if I can figure out a way to call your dad so that I won't be shot as soon as a cop sees me." Carlos told him as they followed the signs towards Portland's International Airport. Carlos had called Reggie from a pay phone the night before, and there was supposed to be a rental car waiting for them near the airport.

"I know; I still wish that things were different is all." Sky said sadly. They sat in silence as Carlos drove towards Portland while he thought about what Carlos had said about calling his dad on a phone. He had said that the bad man who was after them had probably had the phones tapped so that he could find them when they called. They had talked most of the night after he had explored Carlos's body with his small hands that culminated with his face, hands, arms, and chest being sprayed with Carlos's hot, thick, creamy-white, and sticky semen, and even a small amount went into his mouth. Just the texture and feel of it as he rubbed it between his fingers afterwards excited him, and then he grinned at Carlos before sticking his fingers in his mouth and licking his fingers and hand clean. It was like nothing he had ever tasted before, and another electric thrill went down his spine as he sucked on his fingers savoring the taste of Carlos's love juice as he called it. However, there was so much of it that Carlos still had to get a towel to clean most of it off of him. Then Carlos had done the same to him, only Sky got his first blowjob from a pro as well as someone who truly cared about him, and it was a million times better than what he and Sean had done together. Then he actually ejaculated for the first time in his life too, and he could hardly wait to tell Sean all about it. Afterwards, he snuggled in Carlos's powerful arms, and they talked about what they were going to do before he finally fell asleep happier than he had ever been in his life. As Sky thought about all of this, he began to get one of those feelings again that he had told Carlos about last night, and then it hit him. He bounced in his seat as he looked at Carlos and exclaimed, "I got it Carlos! I know how to do it. I do! I do!"

"What are you talking about Sky?" He asked while also trying to keep his mind on the road ahead of him as they entered Troutdale just outside of Portland.

"I know how to call my Dad without them finding us. It's so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before," he said with breathless excitement, and then he saw the Super Kmart in a strip mall shopping center next to the Goodwill thrift store, and he pointed at them as the plan took form in his head. It was daring, but he knew it would work if what Carlos had told him were true. "Stop there Carlos."

"Alright Muchacho," he said as he turned into the parking lot and parked between an SUV and panel truck.

"Now tell me Muchacho, how do we do call your dad?" He asked with a half smile as he marveled at Sky's youthful exuberance.

"IM is how we do it." He said with a wide smile. "But we need to get on the internet first though." He said as his smile faded as he realized the flaw in his plan.

"That should not be a problem, there should be an internet cafe somewhere in Portland, or we can go to the public library." He said and Sky's smile brightened again. Then he asked him, "What's this IM thing you said we can call with?"

"Instant Messaging is what it's called but everyone just uses the initials IM...its part of AOL. Sean and I use it all of the time to talk to each other during school and to our brother Junior, or Sean's friends when we are on the pewter. Well, I mean we talk to the kids who claim to be his friends, but now they are just as mean to him like they are always mean to me." He said as his brilliant blue eyes misted up a bit before he continued, and Carlos could hear the pain as his voice softened to almost a whisper. Carlos just reached over and tenderly caressed Sky's face, and that allowed Sky to move past those memories and continue. "Anyway, it's just like calling someone except you use the keyboard to talk to them and it is just as fast as a phone, and you can talk to all of your friends at the same time if you want."

"Great, but won't it still tell someone where you are at like a phone does?" He asked him hoping to divert his thoughts.

"No, that's the cool thing about IM, is it is anonymous because what IM does is connect you and the people you are talking to into a virtual peer to peer network using the internet. If you are not part of that connection, then you cannot detect it and all traces of the chat goes away as soon as you end it making it is anonymous. You can talk to anyone around the world for free, and nobody can trace it." Sky said finally as a toothy grin crept back onto his face, and Carlos returned it with his own smile.

"Sounds like a great plan to me, but why did you want to stop here?" He asked while looking over at Sky.

"Well, you said that everyone is looking for us, right?" Sky said, and Carlos nodded.

"My dad told me that when they are looking for someone, they send out a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) description to all of the cops, and about what kind of car they have. They do not know what you look like though, but they all know what I look like because of Sean. My dad will have my picture sent to all the cops so they will be looking for me, and they will think the man I am with is my kidnapper. So what will a cop think and do if he sees me with you, even if he isn't sure that it is me?"

"He will still stop us and check because you still match the general description," Carlos answered, but he was beginning to realize where Sky was going with this. "At least until he is convinced that you are not Sky Eaglefeather, but how can we hide who you are?"

"So any boy that sorta looked like me would draw attention from the cops, right?" He asked, and Carlos nodded again, but then with a little smile Sky said. "Well, what if I was a girl, do you think the cops would pay any attention to us then?"

"I don't mean that I have to be a real girl. I mean what if I just looked like a girl." Sky said as if he were stating the obvious to him. "If I was wearing a dress, and put a couple of barrettes in my hair with butterflies on them, or some other stupid things that girls like, then I would look like a real girl wouldn't I?" He asked him, and Carlos sat back and looked at him carefully as he realized what Sky was telling him. "You said that you are Mexican, and that I could easily pass as your daughter if I was a girl `cause I'm brown all over like you. You also said that I am a pretty boy, and if I was a girl that I would still be really pretty, remember?"

"A dress, girls panties and shoes, a nice girl's coat, with your hair in pigtails or barrettes with a bit of makeup on your eyes and some lip gloss...yeah, you would look like a real pretty girl easily, and nobody would even think that you were not my daughter. The only way a cop would know that you were not my daughter or even a girl would be if he pulled down your panties and looked at your pecker." He said while Sky blushed and unconsciously squeezed his small dick through his jeans. "Or if you get a boner like you are doing now when you are wearing the panties." He said with a snort as Sky looked up at him fiercely before looking at his growing bulge in his jeans, and then he smiled and started laughing too.

"Then you are going to have to make sure that he's too tired to get hard," Sky said challengingly to him while his blue eyes sparkled with mischief. Then he frowned after a few moments of thought.

"I'll wear the dress and stuff, and I guess even makeup and lip gloss too, but I'm not wearing any panties and nothing pink!" He said threateningly to Carlos while pointing his finger at him. Yet, just the thought of him wearing girl's clothes, even the panties, sent an excited shiver down his spine. However, he still blushed with embarrassment before saying in a soft voice as he hung his head down, "But, I will wear the panties if you want me to, just promise not to tell anyone, not even Sean ok."

"I'm not telling you to wear them to embarrass you Sky. I'm saying you have to wear them because what if you have to pee while you are dressed as a girl? If you have to pee, then you will have to use the Ladies restroom, and if someone sees you wearing boy's underwear when you pull down your underwear to pee, they will remember that. See, all girls have to sit down on the toilet when they go pee, and then they have to pull down that pans and underwear almost to their ankles so they can wipe, so you must not forget that. Girls usually wipe themselves in the front going between their legs when they pee or poop while boys just reach around to wipe when they poop, and that's why the girls have to pull their underpants all the way down. So it will make some people a little suspicious if they see you wearing boys' underwear, or if you are standing up and peeing, and you have to remember to unroll a little toilet paper and throw it in the toilet before you stand up after peeing too. So yes, I am going to insist that you wear girl's panties if you are going to wear this disguise Sky, but I promise that I will not get anything pink, and I will never tell anyone, so it will be our secret. I learned on the street that if you are going to wear a disguise, then you actually have to become the person you are trying to be in order for the disguise to work. That means that you really must dress like a girl completely including panties, but I think that you are small enough to get away with wearing just an undershirt instead of a training bra if you tell everyone that you are only ten when they ask because little girls are flat-chested like boys. Now, if you still want to do this Sky, then it means that you will have to think and act like a girl, walk and even talk like a girl in order to make others really believe that you are a girl. You understand now, so do you still believe that you can remember everything I told you and make everyone believe you are a girl?" Carlos asked him, and only after a moment of thought, Sky nodded eagerly as he smiled before another rosy blush appeared on his face from his eagerness.

"Okay, come here so I know what sizes to get you ok." Carlos told him as he returned Sky's smile with one of his own, and then he had Sky kneel in front of him and face away. However, Carlos did not realize that Sky had just discovered something new and deeply intimate about himself as he checked the sizes on Sky's shirt, jeans, shoes, and underwear before getting out and going into the large Super Kmart store as Sky covered up with the blankets and hid behind the driver's seat.

� - A short glossary of words used. For Spanish words that I have used, I have included this list so that they will make some sense to you. Many of the words are similar in meaning, but their spelling and pronunciation is slightly different depending on whether the speaker is addressing a boy or a girl.

Muchacha -- is the word for girl, which is common in Spanish to use `o' or `a' when referring to a person's gender.

Mi hijo -- depending on the country, this can mean `my brother' if the country was colonized by

Portugal

, but for countries colonized by

Spain

then this means `my son'.

Mi hija -- again this word could mean either `my sister' or `my daughter' depending on the country. It is also another example of how the two words relate to gender also.

Recefe -- Is a city on the northeast coast of

Brazil

. The name stands for "the reef."

Please send all comments to snwdemon@yahoo.com, or to storyreply@toast2.net. All responses will be read, and I will try to answer as many as possible. Thanks to everyone who has commented on this story so far. God Bless, my friends.