Unexpected 9: Crime Set

Chapter 5: Racing to you

"C'mon, dawg! You know I aint done nothing!" Marv complained as Hondo held his arm guiding him to one of the interrogation rooms at HQ.

"Sergeant!"Hondo immediately snapped, angrily, "And you better get it straight! We need to ask you some questions. You are our witness now, so get comfortable, dawg!" He opened the door and guided him to the chair behind the lonely desk in the middle of the room.

While Deacon and Hondo got Marv acquainted, the other three members of 20 squad continued to work with surveillance and the information collected from the kids. Gathered in the main room, Street focused on the screen, watching clip after clip after clip of every surveillance camera in the area around the old shoe factory, while Tan went over the details of the AB case and Luca went over the information about Chen's family.

"Alright, we got something!" Hondo said joining the three officers in the room, "Kid doesn't know exactly where Rubio was heading but he couldn't have gone too far. They're going to need help."

"He mentioned something about his 'panas'. Does that ring a bell, Street?" Deacon added, staring at Jim

"I heard him say that word before. It's a slang for friends or pals. Chris once asked him who he considers friends and he answered the guys from JR Swat and the homeless kids from Long Beach, specifically a set of Mexican twin brothers."

"Do you know where to find them?" Luca asked

"Not sure. Maybe the same place we found him: Covenant!" Street answered

"Let's roll!" Hondo ordered as they all left in a heartbeat

As the darkness of the night began to take over the streets of Long Beach, the park became a solitary and scary place. The playground was empty, the chess tables vacated and only two or three homeless people occupied benches. Under the bridge, however, the party was just getting started. The growing number of people without a home made the area very attractive, including orphan kids and runaway teenagers.  

To the far end, some of the older minors had constructed a compact tunnel like tent site using old mattresses, flags, plastics, torn out clothes and other perishable materials they had dug up in local dumpsters. Even though outside it was a scary dark place, the canopy was warm and inviting, hosting over 25 minors in a place with a capacity of maybe 15 people. However, the more kids the better warmth! In times of really cold temperature, some adults would join in as well.

Among the kids in hiding were two Mexican born twin brothers. Marcelo and Mauricio were known for their creativity when it came to surviving. They knew the best dumpsters for food, the stores with the worse surveillance and the territory of local gangs. They had spent some months camping out throughout several cities in Southern California, so they were no rookies when it came to homelessness. They met Rubio by accident, as he came to them hungry and angry at the world. The weird aspect of him was that even with all the anger, he made everyone laugh. He would say constantly that it wasn't worth it for everyone to be in a bad mood.

This night he came in with two Asian kids, a teenager and a young girl, seeking their help for cover. Rubio, Chen and his sister met with the twins and 5 others, while two guarded outside. They took up part of the tent, as they rested after a quick dinner.

"Creía que ya tenías una ma y un pa, ¿que sucedió, compa?" (I thought you already had a mom and a dad, what happened man?) Mauricio asked

"Todavía no es oficial. El juez me puede meter preso cuando sea. So..." (It's not official yet. The judge can lock me up whenever he wants. So..) he answered disappointed

"Oh, ¿y por qué traes a estos chinitos? ¿Qué hicieron?" (Oh, and why did you bring these Chinese kids? What did they do?) Marcelo asked curious