Chapter 7: Chapter 7- Street Rat

“Out of the way!” yelled the thief. He took off down the street like a bat out of hell. Disgruntled pedestrians glared at the kid angrily as he darted in between them. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the two tourists he robbed were hot on his trail. 

“Get back here, you little shit!” Lucas said.

The kid stuck out his tongue and kept on running. Gia noticed that he had a big scar on the side of his face and couldn’t help wondering how he got it. Lucas’ legs were a lot longer than hers but she tried her best to keep up with him.

The boy ran through the dense mass of people with a level of ease that could only come with experience. He paid attention to the flow of traffic and effortlessly slipped through the smallest gaps in the crowd to evade his pursuers. Every time that Lucas and Gia seemed to be closing in on him, he’d find a way to slip between their fingers. 

A cart up ahead caught the thief’s eye. It was selling some vegetables that looked slightly past their expiration date. He knocked over the cart as he ran past, spreading produce and chaos all over the street. The vegetable vendor screamed insults at the vandal and rushed to pick up his products. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to grab them before opportunists in the crowd snatched up most of the fallen food.

As the man stood back up, Lucas pushed him out of the way and kept running. Gia stopped to help the dazed vendor get back on his feet. “You go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later,” Gia said.

Lucas gave her a thumbs up, never breaking his stride. The boy was far ahead of him at this point. He saw the thief make a turn and by the time Lucas reached that corner, the kid had disappeared into the crowd. Lucas scanned the area. The kid might have had a head start on him, but he couldn’t have gotten too far away. Lucas pushed through the crowd, turning around every short person in sight to see if they were the thief. He looked up just in time to see the boy dart out of the crowd and run down a nearby alleyway.

Lucas fought his way to the alley and took off after him. He might not have known the streets as well as the young thief, but he had longer legs and was quickly closing the gap between the two of them. There was a part of him that wished he could just pull out his gun and start shooting, but he would never be able to live himself if he killed a kid. Especially not after he’d seen what had happened to Isaac. He cleared those thoughts from his head and focused on the pursuit.

The path in front of the boy was blocked by a large group of people gathering to watch a street performer dance. There weren’t any gaps in this crowd for the thief to slip through and no space for him to move around them. Lucas smiled knowing that he finally had the kid cornered. His smile faded when he saw the boy climb up a building with the skill and grace of a gymnast. Within moments, the kid was on the roof of the building and getting further away. Lucas shook off his amazement. Letting the thief get away was not an option.

Lucas tried to imitate the movements that the kid had used to scale the building and fell flat on his ass. He quickly gave up on that idea and decided to just enter the building and climb up the stairs. By the time he found his way to the rooftop, the kid was three roofs away from him.

Lucas was running on fumes at this point, but he refused to quit. He lept across rooftop after rooftop, praying that the flimsy materials would cave in under his weight. Suddenly, the kid came to a stop. There was a large road between the boy and the building across the street. Unless he somehow sprouted wings, it would be impossible for him to make it to the other side. 

“End of the road, kid,” Lucas called out. “There’s nowhere to run.”

The boy looked over his shoulder and sneered. “That’s what you think, loser.” He got a running start and jumped off the roof of the building. Lucas made it to the edge of the roof just in time to see the kid land on the ground and use a roll to lessen the impact of his landing. The kid looked up at him to flash a smile and two middle fingers before taking off in a full sprint. 

Lucas took a deep breath. If that little kid could make it to the ground safely, then so could he. If he believed in himself, there was nothing he couldn't do. Things would probably work out for him. They usually did.

He stepped back to give himself more room, ran to the edge of the building, and launched himself into the air. The outlaw flew gracefully like an eagle for a few seconds before the ground started rushing up toward him. The image of shattered kneecaps briefly flashed through Lucas’ mind. He began to panic. Luckily, an unsuspecting man was walking down the street at that moment to break his fall. The poor man screamed as Lucas landed on top of him. 

Lucas was dizzy and felt a slight pain in his back, but other than that he seemed fine. “Thanks for the assist, bro. Jumping off that building was a terrible idea on my part,” Lucas chuckled. “What the hell was I thinking?” 

His human crash pad was unconscious and unable to respond. Lucas picked the man’s pockets for a few loose coins, got back on his feet, and looked around. The boy had disappeared without a trace, taking the package and Lucas’ chance for revenge with him. When Gia found Lucas a minute later, he was softly banging his head against a wall.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m guessing that you didn’t get the package back.”

Lucas stopped his self-punishment and sighed. “Nothing gets past you.”

“No need to get snippy,” Gia said. “So what’s the plan now?”

“Plan? The plan is that we’re screwed.” Lucas leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground. “Santi is gonna be pissed. Forget about joining our group. We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t kill us over this.”

Gia swallowed a lump in her throat and forced herself to smile. “It won’t come to that. We can head over to the Peace Officer station and put out an A.P.B. for that boy. He won’t get away.”

Lucas scoffed. “Who knows how long it would take your Roach buddies to track him down? If we don’t find this kid today, we’re screwed. And we have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than finding one little street rat in a city of thousands of people. This is hopeless.”

Gia gave him a look that he couldn’t decipher. “Things are never hopeless. I didn’t think you were the type of person who gave up so easily.”

“I’m not a quitter,” Lucas said. “I just know a lost cause when I see one.”

“That kid was wearing ragged clothes and seemed like he’d done this sort of thing before. I think there’s a good chance that he’s from the less affluent part of town.” Gia said, pacing back and forth. “Let’s head back toward the trash heap area and ask around. Maybe we can find someone who knows him.”

It still seemed like a long shot, but Lucas couldn’t think of a better idea. They made their way back to the poorer part of The Ghetto. After running through the town all day, Lucas was starting to get a feel for the layout and didn’t even need Santi’s map to find his way around. The map was in the lost satchel with the package, so he couldn’t have looked at it even if he’d wanted to. He and Gia asked countless people if they knew anything about a kid with a scar. The few people who didn’t act as if the duo was invisible, didn’t have any useful information to give them. Lucas geared up for an I-told-you-so. 

“You’re that kind woman from last night, aren’t you?” said a voice behind them. They turned around and found themself face to face with a smiling old man with an unkempt white beard and grimy clothes. It took a second to place him, but Gia recognized him as the beggar she’d given money to when they’d arrived in the city.

“I never forget a face,” the old man said, extending his hand. “The name’s Clyde.”

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Gia reached out and shook his hand. His grip was stronger than she’d expected it to be. “It’s good to see you again, sir. My name is Gia and this is Lucas.”

Lucas nodded. “Sup?”

“I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me,” Clyde said. “Most people just walk straight past me as if I don’t even exist. It starts to get to you after a while.”

“I didn’t do anything special. It just seemed like the right thing to do,” Gia said.

The old man shook his head vigorously. “It felt special to me. I’m getting too old to fight for fresh food scraps on Trash Day. Thanks to you I was able to buy something to eat for the first time this week. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Gia was starting to get embarrassed by all of his praise. “That’s good to hear. I’m glad I was able to help.”

“I just wish there was some way that I could pay you back,” Clyde said. “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Now that you mention it, there is something you might be able to help us with,” Gia said. “You wouldn’t happen to know where we could find a boy with a nasty scar on his right cheek, would you? He looks about 10 or 11 years old. This kid took something that belongs to us and we need to get it back.”

Clyde stroked his beard as he thought about it. After a few moments, his eyes lit up. “I think I know who you’re talking about. There’s a kid like that who usually hangs around the downtown area. He’s stolen my begging bowl a couple of times. Kids today have no respect!”

“That sounds rough, old man,” Lucas interrupted. “Do you think you could point us in his direction? We’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

“I’ve seen him stay in an old building around there a few times. I’m pretty sure that’s where he lives. I’ll show you two the way.”

“That would be great. Thank you so much!” Gia said.

Clyde gave her another weary smile. “It’s the least that I can do. I was beginning to believe that your entire generation was doomed, but you youngsters have given me hope for the future. Let’s go. It’s not far from here.” Gia and Lucas trailed behind the elderly man as he walked down the street.

“And you thought giving him money was a bad idea,” Gia whispered to Lucas.

“I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?” Lucas said.

Gia smirked. “Nope.”

The trio traveled down a few winding paths before their guide stopped in front of a two-story building that looked like someone had set it on fire at some point in the past. There was no glass in the windows and the door was covered in rust. Clyde waved Lucas and Gia off as they headed into the building. “Give that little bastard hell!”

Lucas climbed through one of the open windows on the first floor and helped Gia in after him. An unspoken look between them was all it took for them to move through the house without making a sound. The first floor of the building was completely deserted. There wasn’t a soul around. Lucas carefully stepped over some broken toys and made his way up the staircase. The stairs squeaked ever so slightly as he stepped on them. It was a small, narrow building and the staircase led up to a locked door on the second floor. 

Gia squeezed past Lucas and put her ear up against the door. She was just barely able to make out the sound of someone snoring. Someone was home. There was no way of knowing for certain who was behind the door, but the duo had already come too far to turn back now. 

Lucas kicked the door in so hard that it broke off the hinges. “Surprise, motherfucker!”

A young boy was sleeping on a blanket draped over the floor. He jolted awake at the sound of the intrusion. A large scar lined the right side of his face. This was unmistakably the culprit. He recovered from his initial shock and turned to run the second he recognized the intruders. The thief climbed halfway out the window before Gia rushed over and dragged him back inside. Lucas grabbed the kid from her and slammed him into the wall. His arm was pressed against the boy’s throat.

“Let me go asshole!” the boy choked out. “Let me go!”

“Spade, stop! You’re going too far!” Gia said. She tried to pull him back, but Lucas just shrugged her off.

“Relax, I got this,” Lucas said. “Look, kid. All you have to do is hand over the package and we’ll be out of your hair.”

“You’re too late. I don’t have it,” the kid wheezed.

Lucas loosened his grip on the kid. “What did you say?”

The young thief glared at his captors and rubbed his throat. “I don’t have your stupid package anymore. I sold it.”

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