Broken Kings (House of Cards Series 0)

Primer Paso: Los Desaparecidos

*pic to the side is Carlitos.

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Malcolm's teacher started screaming at the bloody handed Carlitos but Mal just rose from his seat and walked out. The look in the street tough's eyes was an alarming mix of shattered heart and murderous rage. As soon as the two of them stepped out of the immediate class room, Carlitos growled out a brief explanation.

"They took her." Carltios' voice was a terrible sound, and Malcolm felt his world start to burn down around his ears. It happened sometimes, the local drug cartel hired 'free lancers' and they would grab a girl and sell her on the black market. Sometimes the girls are found dead at a dumpsight, rarely they were found by police, strung out on drugs their pimps pumped into them. And now they had Malcolm's sister.

"Who?" Malcolm demanded, his young voice hoarse with barely withheld emotion. He walked next to Carlitos out of the school, having the strange premonition that he wasn't gonig to be in these halls ever again.

"Logan and his three amigos." Carlitos spat. Malcolm shuddered under the hatred and violence promised in the street tough's voice. He knew that no matter what happened, those four men would spend the rest of their miserable lives regretting ever even thinking about going after Adrianna.

Malcolm blinked as he caught sight of Carlitos' once nice ride. The driver side had crumpled marks from where the other car had purposefully crashed into his. They'd probably used a big truck or something that would guarantee that they could drive off afterwards. There was a shot out windsheild, shattered windows and blood on the steering wheel. Now that Mal could see Carlitos better, he saw the fresh clotting where a bullet had grazed the man's head, the source of all the blood. Malcolm's chest loosened a little as he realized that it wasn't his sister's blood on Carlitos' hands, but instead was the thug's own. Head wounds bleed like a puta but it wasn't all that serious. He'd hurt like hell tomorrow though.

"Drive." Carlitos instructed, climbing into the passenger seat.

Malcolm opened his mouth to ask why, but shut up and climbed behind the wheel. It wasn't the first time he'd driven a vehicle, having often gone with Adrianna to pick Carlitos up if he'd been drinking too much or had been injured in gang business. For the first time though, while Malcolm drove, Carlitos loaded a pistol clip with bullets. Fear thrilled through Malcolm's veins as the real danger to his sister started to sink in through the shock. His stomach clenched, coating the back of his throat with the acid taste of barely reswallowed vomit. Malcolm's heart rate near tripled and he coughed slightly as his body tightened with adrenaline. And deep down a part of Malcolm really liked the feeling flooding through his system. He was angry, oh so angry. And a small scratch under the surface of that avarice was the fear. The near all consuming terror that it was already too late. He already knew they would have used his sister; her willing abstinence had been a hot topic of gossip and it would have inevitably made it's way to unfriendly ears. And even if Malcolm and Carlitos could rescue her now, Malcolm knew their society would only be cruel to Adrianna for this. She'd be taunted by some of the more mysogenistic classmates, all demanding to know if hanging onto her virginity had been worth it, and how she should have opened her legs to them long before. And sadly that was the best case scenario.

"Do you have another gun?" Malcolm demanded, the break in his voice announcing louder than words his fear that he wouldn't be able to kill a man.

Carlitos gave a harsh bark of mocking laughter. "Hijo, I need you to drive. That's it. You drive, I kill. We get her back."

"And then you take her the hell away from this place." Malcolm growled, making Carlitos shoot him a startled look. "The reasons keeping you two apart before don't exist anymore. We get her, you get her the f*ck our of this place."

Carlitos nodded. "She always wanted to visit Canada. See what it's like to live in a country with four distinct seasons." Carlitos said without smiling. Neither one mentioned how unlikely it was for them to get Adrianna back, let alone alive.

Wordless once again, Malcolm drove the route Carlitos calmly directed out. Malcolm's knuckles were pale as he gripped the wheel tightly. Every passing second was on less breath his beautiful sister could take, every click of the odometer was one more insult they could inflict on her body. And without realizing it, Malcolm left his childhood behind.

Carlitos directed him to stop outside a low, ratty looking house and warned him to keep the car on, in drive and the passenger door open. Then Malcolm suffered through the agonizing torture of waiting, unaware of what could be happening inside. He hadn't heard any yelling, gunshots or sounds of fighting. Carlitos just walked in hte front door and then it was as if the house swallowed him up and there was nothing left. Sitting in the car with only his terror and avarice as companions was haunting Malcolm's nerves and her turned on the radio, tapping the steering wheel in time to the song's beat. It was a nervous fidgeting and he didn't care if it made him look weak.

When Carlitos stroade out hte front door with a face of cold fury, Malcolm's jaw clenched over a strangled sound. She wasn't here. They'd have her in their possession for even longer now and the thought made Malcolm want to hit something or throw up. He could feel it, the time slipping away from them like grains of sand in the hour glass. Carltios directed Malcolm onward, the horrible tease that is hope holding the darkness at bay, for now.

Once again Carlitos slipped into another thug house. Malcolm started to recongize some of the grafitti and gang markers that all but gave clear road map directions to those that knew what to look for. This time Malcolm heard hte clear sound of gunshots followed by the quickly sprinting Carlitos. Malcolm was speeding away before the street tough could close his door. They escaped safely and without any pursuit but also without Adrianna.