Chapter Text
“Hey, Alejandro.” Soap spoke up. They were all at the ranch since the 141 had been staying for Christmas. “I didn’t know you and Rudy grew up together.”
“Yes you did.” Alejandro laughed, moving over to the other, who was looking at a picture of Rodolfo and Alejandro as kids. “I told you and Ghost when you first arrived.”
“Oh. Rodolfo had… sort of made it sound like you met in the military, later.” Soap shook his head. “I suppose the timeline is off, since you’re both only 32. I should have put the pieces together.”
Alejandro shrugged and then sighed, looking over the picture as well. “I know why, hermano. He doesn’t like talking about our childhood like I do.”
“Why not?” Soap frowned and looked at Alejandro.
Alejandro was silent for a moment and then sighed. “Come to the kitchen. I think Rudy put leftovers on the counter for us.”
Rodolfo had gone out to get some emergency groceries and had dragged Ghost with him. Alejandro would have gone, but Soap and Gaz had both been uncomfortable at the idea of being left alone at the ranch. Also, Alejandro had expressed worry he’d come back to a demolished house.
Soap hesitated. “Will you tell me why?”
“I will. Over food.” Alejandro nodded. “Come. Come.” He gestured for Soap to follow him and then he went to the kitchen. Rodolfo had left explicit instructions for Alejandro to make sure Gaz ate as well, so he called for the other.
Price was asleep on the couch so he didn’t disrupt him. Gaz came into the kitchen a moment later and Alejandro handed him the container that had his food in it. “Alejandro is telling me a story.” Soap explained.
Gaz perked up, curious. “Can I hear?”
“Sure.” Alejandro nodded. “Sit.” He told them both and got his own food. He sat with them and ate a few bites before explaining. “Rodolfo and I have both had rocky childhoods. And… while I’ve moved on. He hasn’t. He says he has, but our highest major hadn’t even known we were childhood friends until I was telling her a story.”
Soap frowned. “What do you mean rocky?”
Alejandro hesitated and then took a deep breath. “It’s a long story, and mind you, Rodolfo knows it better than me,” he started.
-
Rodolfo kicked at the dirt under the swing. He should go home so he could get changed out of his uniform and rest, but… Alejandro had said he’d meet up with him. They’d only really been friends for a few months but… Rodolfo liked him. He wanted to spend time with him.
Neither didn’t really have friends, so they were on even footing. Rodolfo was glad for that, he didn’t like the idea of someone only becoming friends with him out of pity.
However… Alejandro was really late. He was kind of starting to accept that he may have been stood up. It was okay, he could handle that. He’d already been semi-worried this was some kind of bet on Alejandro’s part.
Rodolfo was the quiet weird kid. He got that. Yeah, it kind of sucked that it appeared he’d been made a joke again but… What could he do about it?
His shoulders dropped and he continued to kick at the dirt, grasping onto the chains, lightly. It was nice while it lasted…
He stopped when he heard his name, looking up. He immediately felt bad for so easily doubting Alejandro when saw said boy was now running across the park to him. “Rodolfo!” He called. “I’m sorry!”
Rodolfo smiled and stood, waving. “It’s alright!” He called. “You came!”
“I did!” Alejandro finally slowed, still a small distance from Rodolfo.
Rodolfo immediately felt so much happier, since Alejandro hadn’t ditched him. He’d came! He waited for Alejandro to get to him, beaming a little. Ahhh, he’d came!
Rodolfo tilted his head when he saw a van pull up at the start of the trail, which led from the parking lot to the small playground. Alejandro hadn’t seemed to notice it pull up, and Rodolfo doubted it was important.
Or, he did, until he saw someone in a mask jump out and run at Alejandro. Rodolfo didn’t even hesitate, screaming, “Alejandro!” He took off towards Alejandro immediately.
Alejandro tilted his head, but it was almost too late, because then the person had caught up to him, wrapping an arm around Alejandro’s shoulders and covering his mouth before dragging him back.
Rodolfo screamed Alejandro’s name again, racing over as fast as he could. Alejandro had started to panic and kick and as soon as Rodolfo was there, he tried to help fight against the person, clawing at their arms.
They barely even budged and so Rodolfo wrapped his arms around Alejandro’s waist, deadweighting and making them let go of him.
Both fell to the ground with a soft thud and Rodolfo started to drag himself and Alejandro to their feet. They didn’t even get the chance to try to get away, though, because Rodolfo’s hair was grabbed and he was yanked back.
A fist slammed into the middle of his face and he stumbled back, holding his nose, which was bleeding, and then he was hitting the ground, tripping over a root.
“Rodolfo!” Alejandro yelled and Rodolfo shook off the pain as he saw his friend had been grabbed again.
Rodolfo dragged himself back to his feet, racing after them. He managed to catch up right as they made it to the door and Rodolfo again tried to grab onto Alejandro, but instead he grabbed onto the person.
He went with it, though, yanking on him and trying to throw his weight back so the person would fall out of the van. They shoved at him and Alejandro kicked their knee in before trying to jump out of the van.
They grabbed his shirt and then Rodolfo was hit, again. This second time made his vision fuzzy, but he was desperate. He grabbed Alejandro’s hand when it reached to him, struggling to pull him out of the van.
The person put their hand square on Rodolfo’s chest and then Alejandro was being yanked back and Rodolfo was being shoved down. Rodolfo watched in horror as the person slammed the door of the van shut and he tried to lunge forward, banging on the side of the van as it started to take off.
And then it was gone and Rodolfo was staring at the empty spot where the van had just been.
-
The first thing Rodolfo had done was gone to the police, which had immediately contacted Alejandro’s father. Alejandro’s father, Rodolfo had found out, was actually fairly wealthy.
Which, was suspected to be the reason they had taken him. This had been confirmed when they’d received a ransom call a few hours after his father had been called.
Rodolfo watched Marcus Vargas pace, sitting on a chair at the police station. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t immediately giving into the demands and getting Alejandro back. Instead, he appeared to almost be weighing the pros and cons. “That’s your son.” Rodolfo stated, confused.
“You don’t understand this situation, boy.” Marcus turned to him. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“No! It’s not! They said they’ll give Alejandro back if you give them the money! So give them the money!” Rodolfo cried, standing and wincing. After he’d found the police, the medical examiner had looked over him since he refused to go to the hospital and his ankle had been twisted and his nose had been broken.
Also, hitting the ground had apparently potentially bruised a rib, but that was dumb since he hadn’t felt like he’d hit it that hard.
Marcus shook his head. “It’s complicated! You don’t understand this, you’re a child!”
“That’s your son!” Rodolfo repeated, gesturing. “You need to get him back!”
“How long did they give us?” Marcus appeared to ignore Rodolfo, turning to the police officer.
Officer Alvarez, Rodolfo went to school with his daughter, Maria, winced. “3 days.”
Marcus sighed and Rodolfo watched him clench his jaw. Alejandro didn’t look that much like him, at all, but it was undeniable they were related. Alejandro clenched his jaw the same way. “I can’t get that amount of money in three days.”
Rodolfo made an indignant noise. “You’re not even going to try?!”
Marcus suddenly rounded on him, bending down to get in Rodolfo’s face. “You are a child. You don’t understand these things. So shut up and go home.”
Rodolfo stared up at Marcus, defiantly. “Fine.” If they weren’t going to look for Alejandro, he would. No, he hadn’t known Alejandro for that long, but… Alejandro didn’t deserve to be left to die like that.
Rodolfo snarled his lip at Marcus and then watched Marcus go around him and leave. He tried to figure out where to start. He doubted, if Marcus wasn’t looking, that the police would, either.
Rodolfo was going to be entirely alone in this. Fuck, he wasn’t even sure where to start. As it was, the only thing he had was a van. He turned to Officer Alvarez and hesitated. “Can I hear the call again?”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, kid.” Officer Alvarez shook his head. “You should go home.”
“Please?” Rodolfo frowned. “I… He was my friend. Please?”
Officer Alvarez looked at him and then sighed. “You said your name was Rodolfo, right? Rodolfo Parra?”
Rodolfo perked up. “It is!”
“You’re my daughter’s lab partner at school.” Officer Alvarez nodded. “Fine. Fine.” He went to his computer and Rodolfo relaxed, thanking him.
Rodolfo watched him mess on the computer and then he was giving Rodolfo a CD after putting it in an envelope. Rodolfo frowned and looked at the CD, holding it in his hands. “A CD?”
“It has the audio on it. I really shouldn’t do that, but… Well, Maria has been having some troubles making friends and she said you’ve been kind to her.” Officer Alvarez. “Now don’t come back.”
“Thank you.” Rodolfo relaxed, immediately. “Thank you so much!” He immediately turned around and left, running right home.
He ignored Liliana when she said “hey, Loser” as he came in the door, just rushing up to his room and locking the door. He threw the backpack he’d been wearing the entire evening onto the bed and looked around for his portable CD player, immediately putting the CD in it and hitting play.
“Rodolfo!” He tried to ignore Liliana’s voice coming from outside his door and just put his ear close to the CD player. He heard a soft clearing of a throat come from the CD and listened carefully, frustrated at the deadspace. All he could hear was construction work and a dog barking. He remembered the beginning of the call had been really long.
“Rodolfo!” She yelled again and Rodolfo made a frustrated sound.
He paused the CD and went to the door, yanking it open. “What?!”
“Jesus fucking christ, Mom is gonna kill you when she sees you. You’re a mess.” Liliana looked over him, leaning against his door.
Rodolfo just glared at her. “What do you want?”
“You’re always so nice to me.” Liliana snorted. “Where the fuck were you? Don’t worry, neither mom or dad noticed, but…”
Rodolfo hesitated and then sighed. He trusted Liliana. So, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into his room, closing the door behind her. “I was at the police precinct.”
“What?? Why??” Liliana’s eyes widened. They were lined in thick smudged eyeliner. Their mom said Liliana was in a rebellious stage but… Rodolfo didn’t think so. Regardless, she’d bleached and put a purple streak in her black curly hair and she regularly wore shirts that showed off the belly button ring she’d gotten at a party a few months before.
Rodolfo wished she’d stop going to them, since she was only 14 and he didn’t think anyone at them had any good intentions with a 14 year old. However, he couldn’t say that, since she would just retort with “you’re 14, dumbass” and ignore him.
Rodolfo shook his head. “A… A friend, Alejandro, and I went to the park and some guys jumped out of a van and grabbed him.”
“Do you think they’re with the cartel??” Liliana immediately asked, her voice lowering.
Rodolfo shook his head. “No, no. They didn’t have the skull masks they wear, they had… balaclavas, I think. Or, ski masks.”
Liliana paused. “So… why did you rush home?”
“They’re not going to look for Alejandro!” Rodolfo told her. “So, I’m going to look for him.”
Liliana frowned. “Wait. Alejandro Vargas?”
“Yeah…” Rodolfo nodded. “Why?”
“Well, no fucking wonder. His dad hates him! Several people have seen Marcus Vargas yelling at him in the parking lot of school. He’s… pretty cruel to him.” Liliana shook her head. “Did they ask for a ransom?”
“I was just about to look over that!” Rodolfo told her, holding up the CD case. “Look, you can’t tell Mom and Dad about this.”
Liliana bit the inside of her cheek, Rodolfo could tell by the way it sucked in slightly. “Fine. But… I get to help.”
Rodolfo hesitated. It was a price he was willing to pay. He sat with her and hit play on the CD player.
-
Alejandro looked up when Rodolfo called his name. Soap and Gaz were both staring at him, deeply engrossed in the story. “I’ll tell you boys the rest, later.”
Soap groaned. “Fucker.” He muttered. “Fine.”
Gaz nodded in agreement and then all three got up to go help Rodolfo bring the groceries in.