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Jake reached out his hand and spoke slowly, “Look, let’s start again. I’m Jake. You’re Miguel, Rylee’s friend, right?”
Miguel first seemed flummoxed by the move but soon kicked in and firmly shook Jake’s extended hand, “Si, Señor.”
Every sensible instinct Jake possessed had been against Rylee’s proposal. His conscience screamed no way, the kid was another responsibility he didn’t need, hell if the truth were known – didn’t want. But the entreaty on her face earlier had been his undoing.
He’d admit one thing; the kid was a looker. Big brown innocent eyes and a clear complexion that puberty hadn’t yet destroyed with blemishes so usual in a boy starting into his teens.
“Rylee said you stayed in Miami for a while with a friend. We’re you there long?”
A furtive expression appeared, and Miguel shrunk even further into the chair. “No, Señor.”
Deciding he needed to be blunt with the kid, he reverted to his old street ways and added, “Listen kid, I know you’re in trouble. Rylee has asked me to help. But I need you to tell me why I should.”
Miguel looked toward the bathroom, his features fearful and yet sad at the same time. “Rylee found me, and I don’t know why she hasn’t told the Captain, but she hasn’t. She says you might help me get home to my mother and my baby sister and brother. It’s important, Mr. Jake. They need me. I can look after the babies so mi mamá can work.”
“Why did you leave if they needed you?”
Disgust appeared briefly before the boy looked down and sagged with reluctance. But he answered. “My friend, he works for loco drug people. They used us to carry parcels all over the city, day and night. It was a terrible way to make money.”
“You delivered to the users?”
“Yes, and to bars and offices and well… wherever they made us go. The men would drop us off, and we had to take the parcels to the doors and get the cash or envelopes.”
And take all the risks. Jake knew how these two-bit dealers worked, getting young kids to make the deliveries to disgusting slums while they stood back out of danger… scumbags.
He’d seen this happen many times with Katrina, and it sickened him to think this kid had any part in that world.
“How long were you in Miami?”
“A month… maybe. I sent my money home. But my family, they need me now, to watch the babies so mi mamá can get a real job. I promised her I’d come back. I need to help them. Señor, please don’t turn me in.”
“Hey, guy, don’t panic. We’ll get you home to your family.” Jake had always known he’d give in, why he ever thought he could hold out was a mystery. Hell, if he’d admit it, one look from Rylee’s blue-green beseeching jewels and he’d already been a goner. Add the imploring gaze from Miguel’s golden brown pleaders, and he was doubly screwed.
