STAKE OUT

STAKE OUT Part 1

Yes! I thought. Tonight's my lucky night.

My target, walking with two other girls, all of three wearing entirely too much black makeup, appeared to be the same height and frame, along with the same general facial structure, as Julie.

I'd found her!

Last week, after the disillusioned teen had called her parents to tell them not to worry about her, I'd traced the call she'd placed to Texas, specifically, to one of the few remaining payphone in the state. A payphone approximately two miles away from my current position.

Rising from my semi-concealed position across the street, I thought briefly about my hunt for Julie. Although I'd only been attempting to locate the young runaway for about a week, I'd caught a lucky break when someone matching her description had been seen in the area as recently as yesterday.

Now I had visual confirmation.

Fortunately for me, my search, and current stakeout, runaways in the city of El Vista tended to congregate in a specific part of town - a dangerous part - this part. From what I could gather, teenage runaways tended to hang out with their own kind out a false sense of security. That is, they hung out together until some predator snatched them away, never to be heard from again.

Luckily, I'd located Julie before that happened to her.

Dressed as a "street person" in an effort to keep other curious pedestrians away from me and to blend into my surroundings, I stood from my crouched position between two dumpsters, partly obscured by wooden pallets and other trash.

Crossing the street, I called out to the runaway as she joked with her fellow juveniles, oblivious to my presence. "Julie! Julie Patterson!"

All three of the teenagers turned towards me, but only Julie's face showed recognition in the name I used, the other two girls only turned to see who had shouted at them.

"Gross." One runaway stated, repulsed by my disguise.

"Right?" The other replied.

"You know me?" Julie asked apprehensively as I approached.

One of the other girls grabbed Julie's arm and pulled her away from me as I answered. "Yes. Yes, Julie. Your parents..."

Exiting the same rundown building Julie and her friends emerged from, two young men interrupted me as I attempted to explain who I was to the runaways. "Leave them alone, freak!"

Damn it.

So much for my luck holding out.

"Julie, let's go!" The runaway with Julie's arm in her grasp commanded as the pair of young men continued to close the distance to me.

I stopped in the middle of the street. On my right, Julie and her friends began cautiously moving away. On my left, two local toughs, I could now see they were well older than teenagers, strode aggressively towards me.

"Sarah." One of the men shouted. "You girls get out of here. We'll hand this loser. I'll find you babes later."

The three girls escaped down the street as I calculated my next course of action. I could easily catch up with the girls, but not before the two men would catch up with me. In that scenario, I pictured my back towards the pair of street thugs, not a good position to be in. On the other hand, if I dealt with the two men, even if I fought them off quickly, the girls might still get away.

As I calculated the odds of success in my head, the two men decided for me.

"Let's roll this punk."