9 Chapter 9: For nothing….

Two days later, Guaracy and Yara were walking around the community trying to find Paulo, he had left home to go to school and had never been seen since.

They were talking to one of Guaracy's childhood friends, João, he is a member of the faction that controlled most of the community.

"Are you sure he didn't run away from home? His parents were very strict, "said João.

"He had no problems with his parents…. and he was super excited about a new game ..." said Yara.

"I asked the guys, nobody saw him... since nobody asked for ransom... it was probably the militia or a gang from outside the community thar did it"

"He didn't die... maybe..."

"Yara, let's just stop for today, I'm going with João to the neighboring factions and tomorrow we will continue to ask about Paulo in the community..."

"I will go with you"

"It's better not to, as I don't know the guys, I'm just going to give some money in exchange for information"

"It will be okay! I know some of them..."said João.

"Okay, but please try to stay safe"

Guaracy waved and walked down the street with João, when they got a bit far away João said "You know they don't kidnap poor boys..."

"Yes, I know... let's talk to old Chico, he knows most of the mass graves" Guaracy's face had no trace of the smile he had shown to Yara.

At 11 am, the next day, Guaracy had mud up to his knee, the day before he had gone to 2 corpse spawning places, but he hadn't found Paulo's body.

Yesterday night, he received a tip, saying that in the previous days the militia had buried bodies under this bridge, the river was shallow and contained a lot of mud and garbage in that part, making it a perfect place for this type of activity.

So many corpses... the shittiest part is that the police are the ones who use this ditch... I need to find a way to report this place, anonymously of course, I'm not in the mood for them naming a new piece of this land in my name.

He stopped when he heard his cell phone ring, I forgot that I had plans with Yara.. he thought while taking off his gloves to answer the phone.

I don't know this number "Who's it?"

"Guaracy? Paulo's parents gave me your number, this is Yara's mother"

his heart almost stopped.

"What happened?..."

"Yesterday she left saying she was going to school and she hasn't come back yet... we looked everywhere, but…."

Guaracy couldn't bear to hear the rest, the cell phone was already in the mud.

*

*

It was two o'clock in the morning and Guaracy was in his 'Room / corridor', sitting on the old mattress he used to sleep in, he couldn't sleep even though he was exhausted, after spending the last 2 days trying to find Paulo and Yara.

He had already dug up ditches, talked to all the factions he knew, and now only the militia was missing.

Some of them must have lied...

Why did she go looking without me?

I just want to have a normal life...

Why do they have to take everything from me?

Guaracy ran his hand over the scar and said "I keep making the same mistake... I tolerated you all for too long..."

"I will never again let fear guide my actions" he said as he stood up.

He changed his clothes and ran out into the street.

At that time the streets of the community were always dangerous, but that was perfect for what Guaracy wanted to do, after taking a stone from the sidewalk he walked to one of the alleys. In the front street a teenager was talking to a colleague and once in a while, a child would talk to them and run back to the show area.

This was a very common scene in the region, the child was what is called 'Aviãozinho', drugs users gave the money in his hand, then he walked to the dealers and made the exchange, Guaracy wasn't targeting them, but the scout who was on one of the roofs protecting traffickers.

Guaracy got impulse and took a step on the wall to climb on the roof of the house next door, he went silently walking from flagstone to flagstone, a few minutes later Guaracy found the place where the scout was hidden.

The 'hideout' was behind a water tank covered by tiles, the scout could keep an eye on both sides of the street where his drughouse was, but he wasn't expecting that someone would sneak across the rooftops from the back street.

Guaracy had chosen this place, as it was very close to a nightclub and the loud music and the lack of professionalism would help him a lot.

Guaracy took off his shirt and wrapped it around his face, crawled on the roof until he was right behind the scout, when the scout heard a noise, Guaracy had already jumped with a stone in his hand.

Guaracy hit him in the head with all his strength and used his body weight to keep him from picking up the gun, the scout tried to scream and pick up the gun, but he couldn't resist the second blow and passed out.

Guaracy took the gun and rummaged in the scout's pockets, he found money, ammunition and drugs.

Guaracy's plans required him to have money and weapons, he didn't have either, so he had to improvise at first, obviously he hates drugs, but it could be useful for his plan.

He walked back over the roofs and was very careful so no one could see him coming down.

"That was just the first step..."

His smile contrasted with the dark streets and with his hands still stained with blood, Guaracy walked to the street behind the house where he lived and climbed on the roof of one of the houses.

If my aunt sees me with drugs, she certainly will call the police, he thought before hiding the things on the neighbor's roof and entering through the back window of the house.

After cleaning up, Guaracy returned to his corner.

I need a lot of resources though… I have to be careful with each step, there are still a lot of people who deserve to pay for what they did…

He spent the next 2 days researching and preparing his next step, he bought some tools and decided that his goal would be Cleber, he is a vice manager of one of the trap houses.

The trap houses in the community are kinds of franchises of the large factions, they operate in an specific area and are required to pay commissions to the police and the faction that dominates the region.

In the community there are many trap houses, with small groups dominating and all of them are subordinate to a faction, some busy streets can hold 5 trap houses of different groups, most of them operate with 12 people, 6 of them taking turns to serve their customers for 24 hours.

The police said they were investigating, but they haven't even come to the community yet, to look for clues about Paulo and Yara's disappearance, if I get Cleber I will have access to money and a way to talk to the militia.

The best option would be the manager, but he has a lot of protection so Cleber is perfect for that, every Friday night he gets stoned at home with a girl. Guaracy was trying to make the best plan he could while returning from the beach.

Guaracy left home on Friday when everyone had already slept and walked to Cleber's street, he was dressed in old clothes and used his hair to cover part of his face, he was holding a half empty bottle and a bag with the gun, gloves, mask and some tools.

He staggered along the street, until he entered the alley that was two houses next to his goal, the houses in this part of the community were bigger and even had a yard, he put on the mask and gloves before jumping over the wall of a nearby house, he continued jumping over walls to Cleber's house.

Outside, it was possible to listen to loud music, he looked through the window of the house and saw no movement, he used the kit he had bought, to open the back door, Guaracy took the gun and walked around the kitchen looking for the two.

One of the big reasons that made Guaracy choose Cleber was that he usually dates too young girls, this was not an uncommon thing in the community, if someone stays in front of a school he will see several 13 year old girls with much older boyfriends.

Guaracy had chosen this time because it would make it easier, if he was groggy, but it would be a lot of trouble if Cleber had passed out, Guaracy heard noises in the room, he came close and looked through the lock.

I will kill you… hold on Guaracy… you cannot alert the neighbors... and I still have questions to ask

He waited by the door, trying to choose the best time, after 2 minutes he heard Cleber say he was going to get more drinks, Guaracy went back to the kitchen and waited for Cleber to enter.

As soon as Cleber went through the door, Guaracy put the gun at the back of his head.

"Quiet... if you scream they will also hear your body falling to the ground..."

Cleber was drunk, but for some reason, he didn't panic, perhaps from his past experiences.

"I just want to ask you a few questions, you can survive if you obey me, tell her to wait in the room, that you have to work things out"

Cleber was nervous, but he did what was asked.

"Let's go to the backyard... and tie your hands on this"

Guaracy sat him up against the wall and with one hand took out his cell phone.

"Did you see any of these two people? and answer in a low tone "

"I didn't…"

"Do you have money at home? where's your cell phone?"

After hearing the responses, Guaracy gagged him and pinned Cleber's feet, the personal cell phone was in the room, but luckily the hiding place where he kept the money and the cell phone which he used to contact the other criminals was in the bathroom.

Guaracy didn't take a minute to pick up the things and come back, he found another gun, a few thousand reais and four cell phones.

"What is each cell for?"

"They are used to contact factions and the police"

"Unlock them and ask the faction if they kidnapped or disappeared with someone from the region in the last week, don't try any tricks."

"They will find this question strange"

"You will find a way... your life depends on it and you have very little time"

Guaracy put the cell phone in his hand and made sure that Cleber asked the questions he wanted, about the age and gender of the people they had kidnapped and killed in the region in the past few days, but none matched the characteristics of Yara and Paulo.

"You already had your answer... if you leave now I won't tell anyone what happened here..."

"Now it's time to make the questions for the militia..."

"They aren't stupid enogh to answer any of that..."

"OK…. makes sense..."

After gagging him again, Guaracy changed his cell phone passwords and kept them, Cleber was relieved when he saw Guaracy putting the gun away, but his expression changed a lot when he saw him coming back from the kitchen with a knife.

"Did you really think I was going to release you?... You have a child in the room…."

Guaracy drew the symbol of a neighboring faction on the wall, before jumping over the walls again and as soon as he reached the alley, he put the gloves and the mask in the bag, held the bottle and went out the other side.

I thought I would feel some guilt for doing something like this... but the only thing I feel is relief... maybe regret, for not having done it before... I saw many like him and did nothing...

He only started walking normally two streets down, Guaracy believed that it would take them a long time to find the body, as the girl probably wouldn't go after Cleber on her own.

Guaracy used one of the cell phones to schedule the sending of a message, for an hour after he got home, the message would be sent to the police, reporting a gang fight at that address.

I have no idea if they'll believe it, but maybe this and the police will take the girl's problems away, he didn't forget to put on his glove before hiding the phone in a bush.

After taking a few turns he used a vacant lot to hide his things and change clothes.

While walking home, I could use his cell phone messages, to find the right time to approach one of the militiamen, but what if it's another group of corrupt police officers… and if it's not the neighboring gang... I'll have to get one of each gang?….

"I won't be able to find the culprits..." The darkness of the alley was suffocating.

"I..."

He tried to calm himself down, but the darkness, the loneliness and the feeling of helplessness were overwhelming.

"I risked myself for nothing…"