Free Cyrus by Mj Fields

was the average, but the
first two placements were each a little over two years.
    I printed out fifteen years of placement
information and shoved it in a large envelope. She had no arrest
record, and her school reports were nearly perfect.
    I called Jase and asked that he have the
club watched, I was pretty sure Tara was smart enough to not go
back there but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t find her and drag her
back. I called George in IT and had him figure out how to look into
the videos online, “I want them shut down.”
    I promised her I would help her stay safe,
and I was going to.
    I jotted down a few of the addresses, hoping
she would be somewhere familiar, somewhere safe. I grabbed the keys
to my bike and headed out.
    I shut the door behind me and locked it, the
shop didn’t open for another couple hours.
    “Where the fuck is she?!” I turned to see
Tony standing there all sorts of strung out.
    “That’s none of your fucking business. Now
take your cracked out ass away from my building,” I was pissed but
real happy he didn’t know, and I wasn’t gonna tell him either.
    “People are gonna be looking for her. She
signed a contract, we got money upfront for the video she needs to
get a hold of me.”
    “She doesn’t owe you shit. I’m pretty sure
she didn’t see a fucking dime. Again-- turn your ass around and get
the hell out of my face.”
    As luck would have it the pussy did, and he
got behind the wheel of the car and drove, the piece of shit drove.
I called Nicholas’s cell phone and gave him the plate number. He
was gonna take care of it.
    I was Bronx bound to try to find her. She
was out there, probably scared, probably angry and hurt by me, and
she didn’t have anyone. No parents, siblings, grandparents--- no
one except the families who she had been shuffled through for
fifteen years.
    Tom and Rosie White lived in a ground floor
large apartment in the Bronx. When she answered the door she looked
at me like she was trying to place me, “I’m a friend of Tara
Gardner’s, I was wondering if she was here?”
    She smiled, “No, actually we haven’t heard
from Tara since she left over a year ago, how is she?”
    I scanned the living room that had a
mishmash of furniture and four kids under the age of four playing
with building blocks and two kids in a pen. It was like a kid farm,
“I’m sure she’s fine, just wanted to catch up with her. Do you have
any idea where she might be, anyone she might visit, places she
likes to hang out?”
    “I’m sorry but…” she looked behind her when
one of the penned kids started to cry. “I didn’t catch your
name.”
    She was uncomfortable and I could tell, “My
name is Cyrus ma’am. Tara is a friend who may be in trouble. She
seemed to have gotten mixed up with some bad people and I just
wanted to gather any information…”
    “Tara? Tara Gardner, she isn’t trouble. She
never was here. She was a very sweet girl, smart too.”
    “Then why…” I stopped myself.
    “She was here until she graduated, it’s what
happens in the system. We do all we can. When you find her, will
you please let us know she’s alright.”
    ~
    Nicholas DeAngelo called and told me they
were holding Tony for driving under the influence, they could keep
him for twenty four hours, that’s it. I had George working on
figuring out who the hell owned the video and fix that shit for
her. George also had a man lined up to follow that fuck Tony if I
hadn’t found her yet.
    I rolled in at past midnight, I couldn’t
bang on doors anymore I’d already hit four places around the city.
Each the same, homes full of kids, none seemed shady, or any shit
like that but I just didn’t get it. I threw my shit on the counter
and grabbed a beer out of the fridge.
    When I walked into the living room, I saw my
sister in law asleep on the couch. She jumped up startled and
hugged me real tight.
    “Carly what are you doing here?” after a
minute I patted her back. “Okay you can let go