I spent hours pounding the pavement, introducing myself to the neighbors, showing them Tyler's picture, and asking if they've seen him since he disappeared. No luck.

As I traveled the neighborhood a buzzing sound came from overhead. I looked up to see a black drone above me. I looked up and down the street but there was no one outside that I could see control if it. I ignored it and went on to the house I had stolen the bike from. The man that answered the door wondered if maybe Tyler had ridden away on it. I assured them Tyler couldn't ride a bike and carried on to the next house.

The drone seemed to be following me as I rounded the corner. It came around, yet still I couldn't see anyone controlling it. Once it landed on the roof of a home across the street from where I was. I was being watched with no way to tell who it belonged to. After knocking on several doors and asking about Tyler the drone flew over the roof and it was out of sight.

I took a break, sitting on a bench outside and joined the social media pages for our town and posted his picture with my contact information. Several people shared the post. If only the right people saw it. Someone, somewhere had to have seen him wandering about with whoever had left with him.

At one in the afternoon my stomach was rumbling with hunger. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and they had stopped serving free lunch at school by now. If only I had one dollar I could buy something off the dollar menu at some fast food place.

My phone rang. Ximena's name popped up on my caller ID. "Hello?"

"Ehlana, how you doing, girl?" Ximena said.

"Surviving, I guess. How is Mateo?"

"He's still got a pulse. Hasn't left the hospital yet. What's this I hear about a missing brother?"

"He disappeared from homebwhen I went to visit Mateo. I think someone took him."

"Don't say anymore."

"—Ok?"

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm walking to the park near my neighborhood to make sure Tyler isn't there."

"I know where that is. I'll be right—"

My phone cut off. What the heck? I tried to dial her back but I got a message that said, this call can not be completed due to insufficient balance. I navigated to the payment screen and found the balance owed on our cellular bill was over five hundred dollars. Now that I didn't have access to internet I wouldn't be able to see responses to my post about Tyler missing. I also couldn't make outgoing calls unless it was to 911.

"Great. Just great!" I walked all the way around the park looking along all the dips in the ground and around the playground.

I heard my name being called and looked up to see Ximena sitting in a car in the parking lot and waiving at me.

I hurried to the car and got in the empty passenger seat, relieved I wouldn't have to walk home.

"Did you hang up on me?" Ximena asked.

"No... my service provider..." I didn't want to admit to being broke. "There must be a mistake. My mom forgot to pay the bill."

"Mmm." She reached for a bag of Taco Bell sitting beside her, reached in, pulled out a burrito, unwrapped it, and took a bite. I stared as the tortilla touched her lips and tore. My stomach rumbled. She noticed me staring. "How rude of me. Do you want one?"

"Oh , well, I wouldn't want them to go to waste." I reached in and pulled one out, taking big mouthfuls. I finished it quickly and my stomach thanked me.

"Hon, we have stuff to talk about."

"We do?"

"We do. I had a chance to speak to the diplomat."

"What did you find out?"

"Well, he has inside intelligence regarding Colton."

"You sound like an FBI agent or something. Do you mean he knows who killed him?"

"I can't confirm or deny whether he does or doesn't know who killed your boyfriend." She took a sip of cola. "What I can explain is that you can only be given inside knowledge to this intelligence if you become one of us."

"What do you mean by one of us?"

She held out her hand  and pointed to three dots tattooed between her index finger and her thumb. "Do you know what these mean?"

Colton had this tattoo, and after I thought about it I remembered seeing it on others in Will's Construction. "I didn't know they meant anything. I thought it was a design."

"No honey. This is a common gang symbol. Each dot stands for one word in the phrase, The Crazy Life."

A new image of Will's Construction entered my mind. The fact that they all wore black hoodies with a splash of red in their wardrobes, like a red doo rag, or red shoes was now making sense. I thought it was just company colors, but now it was clear this was a way to affiliate themselves. "Will's Construction is a street gang?"

"Ehlana, what I'm about to reveal to you, you have to swear to secrecy."

My heart began to beat faster. "Ximena, I'm not sure I'm the right person to reveal your gang's secrets to." I imagined being hunted down after Ximena revealed too much information to me, an unsuspecting girl with no record, and no desire to be a part of said gang.

"We're like a refuge for former gang members. We're a hybrid gang where some of the members came from other gangs to make this one. A lot of the younger members, like your boyfriend, were new Jacks to the trade. But, the older members, the ones into the gambling, moved here to hide away and make themselves new, honorable lives away from their former hoods."

How did I never put this together when I was dating Colton? He knew I would never approve and he probably chose not to tell me. "Have they killed people?"

She glanced my way then back to the Taco Bell bag, but ignored my question.

"Your silence isn't making me feel any better," I said.

"It's disrespectful to ask what other members have served time for and none of your business."

"Ok, I get it."

"Ehlana, Will's Construction has adopted some of the twenty-six rules from Tupac's Code of Thug Life. I'm going to explain the first one to you now."

"What if you explain this rule of thug life to me and I don't want to be a part of it? Are they going to be angry I'm privy to this information?"

"Stop being a coward. Making you aware of the rules doesn't put you in danger."

I let out a long breath.

"Relax," Ximena said. "Can you relax?"

"I'm trying." I slouched in the seat.

"All new members to the trade must know, number one, you're going to get rich."

I turned my head to look in her direction. I chuckled at that. "Is this how you get new members? With empty promises of wealth?"

"It's not an empty promise. Do you see me with my own car, my clothes from name brands, and trust me, there are other things I get provided for me."

"Point taken."

"Number two, you're going to go to jail."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't go to jail."

"None of us want to go to jail, but you have to know it is a possibility. Some of the things we do are illegal. You have to be smart and intuitive to try and stay out of the pen."

I nodded, but I was not convinced.

"Rule three, you're going to die."

"I can't die."

"Everyone dies sometime. You don't know when or how, but you know death is eminent."

"Obviously."

"Well, if you can't accept the first rule of Thug Life, I guess there is no reason to continue, and you won't get your chance to meet with the diplomat and find out what he knows about your boyfriend."

I sat forward as this information propelled me upright. "So he knows? Ximena? He knows who killed Colton?"

Ximena ignored my question. "This opportunity will only come once. The diplomat has generously offered his help so you have the chance to resolve your grievances and if you decide to use the men in blue he will withdraw his support."

"You mean the police?"

"Yes. Which leads me to rule number two; the police don't run nothing, we do."

"Let's say I turn down the diplomats offer and wait for the police to solve the case. Will he be angry with me?"

"No, angry isn't the word. More like indifferent. He won't assist you with finding justice and I believe the police aren't going to give you much help."

"What makes you think that?"

"Honey, the police don't care what happened to a kid that served time for grand larceny. They probably celebrate one less criminal on the streets."

I was beginning to believe Ximena. They didn't value the life of a former thief. They busied themselves with murders of people with clean backgrounds, the ones they didn't feel deserved to die. I would probably grow old and die waiting for them to solve the case then die. Joining a gang in order to find out who killed Colton, find immediate answers and some shady type of justice was impulsive, irresponsible, and desperate.

"Let's say I join just to get justice. Can I drop out again?" I asked.

"No. Once you're in, you know classified information. The diplomat puts his ass on the line to bring you justice. You can't just leave the life."

"Not ever?"

"No I'm not saying never, but you have to serve a good number of years. You have to make it to about twenty-five and then you're an OG."

"What's OG?"

"An old gangster."

"What would I have to do to be part of the," I swallowed, "gang? There's some kind of initiation, right?"

"Right. You would be asked to carry out a task that you would agree to. An illegal task. One that would put you in juvie for a long time if you were caught."

"Like what?"

"Something that would guarantee your silence and loyalty. Once you have accomplished this task you have the protection of the group."

"I have to know what the task is or I don't know if I could go through with it." OMG. I was already talking like I was considering it.

"The task will be unknown to you until you meet with the diplomat and he will give you the task to be carried out immediately."

"What if I decide I can't do it?"

"Then you walk away, but there are no second chances."

I stared out the window at the empty playground. What if I would be expected to steal something, or worse, commit robbery? I couldn't point a gun in someone's face. What if I was asked to have sex with one of the members? That was out of the question. What if I was asked to hurt someone? I couldn't do it. It wasn't in me. I could always show up and find out what the task was. If I couldn't do it she said I could walk away.

"You're thinking too hard," Ximena said. "Most people say yes when they understand the first rule about being rich."

"What do you do to become rich?"

"We dance, do construction, gamble, rap, some of us prepare meals. The more you do the more you get."

"What about drugs?"

"Will's Construction doesn't sling. We focus on sticking to probation. The money comes from the construction. Will provides housing, cell phones, and food in exchange for work. If they don't work, they fail probation."

At least I would have a place to go if we got evicted, but what about Tyler and Mom? I didn't want to think about it.

"You join and you'll never worry about your cell phone being paid, or if you're going to eat ever again."

"I know, but I could get a regular job and pay my own bills."

"Honey, have you forgotten you were a witness to your boyfriends murder?"

"Excuse me?" I was pissed at this rude comment. Of course I hadn't forgotten and I never would. "He was my life. I could never forget and I will never stop looking for his murderer."

"Aha! We have arrived."

"What?"

"Don't you see? You're a loose end. You witnessed the murder and if this person recognizes this was a mistake and that they should have killed you too, you're in danger."

I thought about the weird intrusion in my bedroom, Tyler missing, and the drone that had spied on me. Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed protection. "Okay, okay. Schedule a meeting for me with the diplomat."

"I knew you'd come to your senses."