Lautaro has not come home Part II (MMMM/M) (Co-written by Alkaid and Krashnamsa)
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:47 pm
CHAPTER I: THE NEW KID
It all seemed like a routine day in the city. The month of December began. People began to share that festive and friendly spirit that invades people as the last days of the year approach.
However, the streets and traffic of the city resented that party atmosphere for the arrival of Christmas, even though this would take almost 15 days.
One of those streets was the Peripheral. Normally it was a road that in rush hours the cars moved slowly. Usually that happened after 6 in the afternoon. However, that last week had been strange. Sometimes from earlier the traffic on the Peripheral began to be unbearable.
Those who began to despair at how slow it was were the passengers of a white VW jetta car, model 2010, with opaque glass outside.
It was already night and it was difficult to see what could happen inside neighboring cars. But if anyone could see the three passengers in that car in detail, they would notice that the driver, the co-pilot, and the passenger in the back seat were nervous to the point of despair.
They were in a hurry but little by little the slow progress and the inability to get out into the side lanes made them desperate. But doing that was not going to help them much either, because to reach their destination there were not many shortcuts or streets that served as an alternative.
And all because on the floor between the rear and front seats they carried a 14-year-old boy who had just been kidnapped. The boy was lying on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind his back. With a black winter hat made of yarn that covered his head and that did not allow him to see anything around him or the road that car was taking.
Nothing prevented him from screaming for help, yet those subjects had warned him well.
"Not a single noise or so-called asshole ... any asshole act costs the life of whoever wants to help you and you will also end up dead ... but yes, I warn you, if we have to kill you, I will not rest until I kill your mother and your dad"…
Lautaro was 14 years old. The boy was a little short of stature for his age and maybe that's why he fit almost perfectly in that small space between the front and rear seats of that car. It was barely above 1.50.
The boy's physique also helped his captors. The boy was a bit skinny and he was athletic. Lautaro liked to go jogging on the private club track where his father had a membership. He also exercised trying to get the squares on his abdomen marked and his biceps muscle growing.
And he also dreamed of returning to his country Argentina, to enter the basic of Boca, the team of his loves and become the striker who could be up to Tevez, Riquelme and Maradona.
However, the boy was now living a most terrifying experience. Lautaro was being kidnapped in a country and a city that was strange to him. Lautaro had been born in the San Isidro neighborhood in Buenos Aires, however, for two years he had had to travel to Mexico.
His father, Mr. Facundo Coppola, had arrived transferred to Mexico to take the regional general direction of a multinational company. Mr. Facundo had climbed for 15 years in the executive positions of this company and went on to become the deputy manager for the south of said company.
His talent, business vision, optimization of resources and business risk reading had led him to be appointed by the board of directors, who worked at the corporate in the United States, to the important position of the central office in Mexico, of the which was the supervision for the sub-managements of Bogotá, Santiago and of course Buenos Aires.
For Mr. Facundo, this was the opportunity he had been waiting for so long to show his abilities as a business leader. Moving to Mexico was difficult because he left his father, mother, and grandfather behind.
In addition, their older children Facundo and Estefanía did not travel to Mexico either because the move would greatly affect their progress in university studies.
His wife, Mrs. María Estefanía also had no problem moving. Despite being the wife of a successful businessman, she was a sales manager for a subsidiary of a telephone company that had its headquarters in Mexico.
When the company learned of her possible move, the company decided to support her move to Mexico.
So Mr. Facundo and his wife María Estefanía made the move with little Lautaro.
For Lautaro the existence with his family was complicated. It was the only one different. He was the only one with dark hair while his father, mother, and siblings were light brown almost blonde. His brothers' eyes were light while the boy's were dark.
Anyone would say that Lautaro was adopted but the reality was different. The boy took those characteristics from his maternal grandmother, who died when the boy was 7 years old. However that didn't matter with his older brothers, who used that hair and eyes theme to tease and tease the younger brother of the family.
And the complications for Lautaro became more complicated when he arrived in Mexico. It was the new boy, the one with a different accent. The one who used strange words that no one at his school knew. The one who had a liking for a soccer team different from the rest of the schoolmates and of course, being Argentine, ended up being a victim of the law of ice when the teams of Mexico and Argentina faced each other in some friendly or official game .
Although he had already lived in Mexico for 2 years, Lautaro did not know the city. He hardly knew the wealthy neighborhood where he had come to live. The company where his father worked had installed him in an apartment in the Polanco area.
His school was 30 minutes away either on foot or by car. By car because of the traffic in the area, but the boy's parents preferred to take him in the family car or, when they did not have time, it was the family driver who did the work.
The boy could not complain about the conditions in which he lived. His parents gave him everything to grow up healthy and happy. Not only talking about money and possessions, but also in quality time.
Mrs. Estefanía always tried to be punctual for her son at the time of leaving school. Sometimes they traveled to his apartment to eat or sometimes they did it at the sports club. After that, it depended on where they took their food, the lady returned to her office and the boy stayed at the club where he did his sports activities, especially his soccer training.
And if they ate in the apartment, the lady would take her son to the sports club and drop him off right at the front door, and then return to his office.
Before dusk it was his father who went to the private club to do some exercise, relax in the sauna while his son did some chores. In the end they both traveled home where Mrs. Estefanía was already waiting for them to have dinner together around 8:30 at night.
In the house, the Coppola family had 5 people they trusted who left and worked days and some tasks in the department: Laura Camacho and Jesús Paz, both in charge of the kitchen, Doña Luz Pérez in charge of cleaning and two employees subordinates: Fabián Ordaz and Beatriz Morales.
On weekends, Mr. Facundo tried to have them for his family. Sometimes there were family meals with a close or distant relative who had moved to Mexico. Sometimes the three of them would go for a walk somewhere near the city to visit.
Or sometimes Mr. Facundo and Lautaro traveled alone to visit a Mexican soccer stadium. Both missed the La Bombonera de Boca party and it was something they couldn't find in Mexico.
Lautaro couldn't complain about inattention or not spending time with his dad. However, he also felt a little uncomfortable. Sometimes she felt her parents were too overprotective.
They wouldn't let him out of the house alone, even when the boy wanted to buy a treat at the convenience store that was two blocks from the building where he lived. They also did not let him go alone with friends or classmates or a private club to walk through a shopping plaza or the cinema.
The only moments of freedom the boy had were when he had to do some school work as a team. Only in this way could he go to the house of a companion, but his return home was always with the family driver or with Mrs. Estefanía.
Sometimes the boy felt suffocated by that overprotection.
However that December day was strange. The boy had asked, begged and even had a tantrum to get his parents' permission to go alone with a group of schoolmates to a shopping plaza and watch a movie.
Initially the answer was the same as always: No. However, things changed strangely. Mrs. Estefanía and Mr. Facundo welcomed the fact that their son lived without problems.
“Stefi, Lautaro is no longer a boy, he is going to be 15 years old. We can no longer treat him like a baby, Also, remember what happened to Facu when we wanted to get strict and serious with him .. he passed us, he was escaping. I think the best thing is to let him out a little, give him his space, so that he knows that we trust him to tell us whatever, with whom and where he is. The truth is that I don't want this to get out of hand like with Facu. ”
His wife was looking at him with some suspicion. The truth is that years ago, when Facundo lived his adolescence, they passed embarrassing and anguished moments due to the festive character of their oldest son. He remembered that they tried to be strict with him, to watch him at every step and in every place, but his son managed to evade the vigilance of his parents and the driver.
Facundo told them that he was going to a friend's house but the reality is that he ended up escaping to another party, to another place far from the control and surveillance of his parents. The same happened later with the daughter Estefanía.
"You may be right, but we were at home there ... Lauti lives in a country that he does not know ... we do not know this city at all ... we hardly know his friends, his friends' family ..."
Her husband tried to convince her by saying that that was why they could not continue with this overprotection, that it was better for her son to tell them where he was going to be.
"Remember that in Buenos Aires we knew where those 2. could be. What places they could go to. That is why Lauti must have that confidence ... Imagine ... where are we going? Who do we ask if Lauti escapes like his brothers did? ”
Mrs. Estefanía seemed to be convinced. He remembered the stress caused by Facundo and Estefania's escapes, and he honestly did not want to experience it again. And her husband was right, with her older children she knew where to look for them, but in a country unknown to them it was going to be more complicated, more stressful and more desperate.
The next day Lautaro received the good news. On Wednesday, in 2 weeks, I was going to be able to go out with the group of friends. That first freedom was wonderful for the boy.
His dad had told him that he could decide how to go to that shopping plaza, if he needed the driver.
"Whatever you need you have to Gustavo, call him."
Lautaro said that it would not be necessary because the driver of one of his friends would take them all to the shopping plaza.
The homecoming option also excited Lautaro.
"Well, when you come back you can call Gustavo if you need to, if you don't want to call him you can use my Uber account."
Lautaro's eyes sparkled. For the first time in his life his parents were not going to feel watched by his parents.
For Lautaro the following days were very emotional. Much enthusiasm, happiness, joy and wishes so that the time passed as quickly as possible.
Finally the date arrived. And that morning was the most anxious for Lautaro. He even woke up almost half an hour before the alarm on his cell phone started ringing.
That day he was taken to school by Gustavo, the family's driver. At school the boy was completely distracted the entire time. He was not attentive to the classes, he did not turn in the work that was done during the day, when the chemistry teacher asked him about some topics on the periodic table of elements, he did not know what to answer.
Finally the moment that Lautaro had been waiting for days ago arrived: the end of the school hour: 2:30 in the afternoon. The school clock rang and their physics teacher dismissed them from school.
Lautaro joined the group of six other boys: three girls and four boys in total. The group went to the school exit and they got into a van, owned by Dania's father, one of Lautaro's classmates who had been the head of that exit to the commercial plaza to the cinema.
Behind the wheel was waiting for them Orlando, the driver of Dania's father, who worked as a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company.
Lautaro sat next to Fatima. Inside that room, Fatima was the most humble girl in every way. His family was not of money, his dad had won the lottery 5 years ago. Before that award, her dad worked in the accounts area of a department store. And thanks to his knowledge and studies in finance, he knew how to invest a large part of his prize and gradually build a fortune.
Fatima's father did not have a driver, he did not use a high-class car. Sometimes even the girl would come to school with her mom and get out of a taxi or an app chauffeur one block before school and walk to the door.
On a personal level, Fatima was smiling. Although she was proficient in math and had good grades, her older sister Brenda, seven years older than her, had helped her not to be the trouble in the classroom, not to be the girl who reminded her of teachers when she had left homework and had not revised, no longer be smug with grades.
Her mother worried about her daughter's new change of environment and that they would not hurt her in a new group and rich people took her to karate classes and there she learned to defend herself in a good way.
A year earlier, when a boy and a girl wanted to mock Fatima because they knew what the origin of their family's money was, they tried to make her less. The boy wanted to touch his face in intimidation but Fatima replied: he slapped the boy's hand and shoved him in the chest.
The other girl wanted to pull her hair but made a move to avoid her and the attacker ended up being subdued with a fighting key.
Lautaro was the new entry boy. I watched in the distance what was happening. Suddenly the boy who had accompanied the attempt to intimidate Fatima wanted to take advantage of the fact that she was focused on the other girl and tried to get closer to her. Lautaro ran and pushed the boy who was trying to hurt someone distracted to the floor.
"Listen to me, pelotudo (In Argentina Pelotudo means Idiot), it's a girl ... first two against one and then you try to hit her treacherously. Apart from Patoteros (Means like a mob who fights with one person), You are are cagones (Means crap) "".
Lautaro almost leaned down to yell at his face. The boy was surprised by the speed with which Lautaro acted, the force of his push, the strong way in which he faced him and of course, the strange accent of the boy.
The two bullies were frustrated in their attempt to annoy Dania and ended up escaping. From that day on, Fátima earned the respect and fear of her generation companions and also she and Lautaro clicked and became good friends.
But with the passage of time Lautaro wanted something more, but he had never had the opportunity to spend more time with Fatima outside of school. And that exit was his opportunity.
Lautaro tried not to separate from Fatima and Fatima tried not to separate from his Argentine friend.
At times and when no one noticed they walked hand in hand.
They sat together in the movie theater and were still holding hands at times. One looked at the other's face when he was attentive to the screen and the scene was repeated backwards moments later. After the movie, the seven boys went to a cafeteria. Either way, Fatima and Lautaro sat side by side.
The boys talked about what the 15-year-old boys are talking about. What they liked and didn't like about the movie, whether an actor or actress is their crush, the video or a recent post by a youtuber, of the most recent meme that a friend who could not attend that outing had just published .
But for Lautaro the most difficult moment came. Fatima had received a call from her mom. He was waiting for her in five minutes at the door of the cafeteria.
Fatima got up from the table and said goodbye to everyone. The last one was Lautaro. The boy gave a sad look. It had been a fun and comfortable day but without Fatima I no longer felt like continuing.
It was also Wednesday. The next day you had to go to school. He had some pending tasks and without Fatima in the meeting he didn't feel like going on.
So 10 minutes later Lautaro got up from the cafeteria table, said goodbye to his friends and announced that it was time to go home.
“Sha shegó (This is because The people of BsAs pronunce the letter Y like SH) your mom, boludo (Means like Idiot but the argentinians says that in a friendly way)…”
Lautaro heard that voice trying to imitate his accent. She immediately turned to see Eduardo, one of her best friends from school whom she had completely forgotten all that day.
Since they had mutual trust, Eduardo used to imitate his friend's accent to play and joke with him.
"I'm leaving, but no ... my mom is still in the office ..." The boy replied.
Eduardo wanted to convince him to continue one more hour. "Stay stupid, my dad is coming for me ... sho, I'm taking you home."
Lautaro was tempted to stay, but he also wanted to enjoy a little of that freedom to move only in that city that after 2 years was still unknown to him.
It was after 6:30 in the afternoon. The boy still had time on leave. He had to get home no later than 9 pm. Lautaro began to walk through that shopping plaza. It looked like a puppy without a chain. Erratically walking from one side to the other, seeing sideboards and stopping at those that caught his attention.
I would walk into video game stores to check out what's new, sports stores to check out tennis and soccer team jerseys, and an electronics store to better appreciate various gadgets.
At the same time as he was making the trip, he entered his dad's Uber account. He had the key and password and made the request for the car to return home. He also told his parents that he was already going home.
The car arrived almost 10 minutes later at the door of the shopping center. The trip from the shopping center to his home would take no more than 20 minutes, but with the time of day, the area of the city and the dates and holidays, it took the boy almost an hour to reach his destination.
However, Lautaro did not get down at the door of the building where he lived. The boy marked the destination of his trip in a park that was five blocks behind the building where he lived.
Lautaro got out of the Uber and began to observe what was around him. He had lived 2 years near that place but it was unknown to him. Sometimes he had passed through that place on board the car with Gustavo, with his mother or with his father.
Never before, nor when she went down to the convenience store to buy any candy, had she been able to walk to that place.
Lautaro walked fascinated by the street. Through the trees, through the people running, through the office workers who traveled by bicycle to a nearby subway station or some other public transport route. Lautaro walked through a dimly lit part of the park. I felt like I was in a mystery movie. Suddenly the mystery turned to terror.
"Without looking at me child, walk next to me as if I were your father or your driver ... if you make a false move right here you die ... if you ask for help the one who comes also dies ..."
Lautaro drastically changed from euphoria to nervousness and fear. The boy felt an object pressing against his left side and a hand above his right shoulder.
"I'm going to give you everything I have ... Just don't hurt me please."
Despite his innocence, Lautaro understood what an assault was. His father had always told him that if something like this happened to him at any time in his life, he should not resist, give up all his belongings and not look his assailants in the face because his life would always be more valuable than any belongings.
"You just do what I tell you and nothing will happen to you, boy..."
Lautaro was beginning to feel shaky. He just had to wait what would happen to that guy. Little by little, a van from a laundry service approached. The truck matched up with Lautaro and the man until it finally stopped.
The side door opened and the subject grabbed Lautaro's neck and the back of his sweater and school uniform shirt.
"Get in ... get in ... fast ..."
The boy did not reason what was happening. He did not understand what they were asking. He just followed the order mechanically.
As soon as the man and Lautaro got into the truck, the side door closed quickly and he moved forward quickly and abruptly. Lautaro was forced to lie face down on the floor.
The boy was beginning to feel strange. He was beginning to be scared by what was happening. His fear began to grow because the three people inside the van began to argue and raise their voices while he was lying on his stomach. She was more afraid to look up, but something strange was happening to her, she began to feel agitation and a feeling of hollow in the pit of her stomach that she had never felt before in her life.
Her mind was telling her to calm down, but an inner voice was very nervous. Suddenly that voice began to disobey Lautaro.
"Help ... please ... let me go ... take what you want, my phone is expensive, I will not tell anyone but please let me go ..."
Suddenly Lautaro felt a strong blow to the head. The man who had ambushed him on the street slapped him.
"Listen to me, little boy ... I told you, no bullshit ... another one and you die ... and if someone comes to help you, he also dies ... and if we have to kill you, little boy, I will kill your father and your mother myself" .
Lautaro was beginning to sob at that menacing voice whispering in his ear, in addition to the barrel of the pistol that squeezed his left cheek with great force as the squeaker squeezed his eyes to keep them closed.
Lautaro was still like this when he felt a pull on his hands and suddenly he felt something metallic around his wrists. He wanted to move them and noticed that they were imprisoned. Moments later, he felt that the man was putting a yarn cap on his head in such a way that it covered him from the neck to the neck. Lautaro's sight was completely blind.
The boy started to get more scared when he felt imprisoned. Many things were beginning to happen in his mind.
"I would not have gotten off in the park ... better I would have gone straight to my house ... better I would not have gone to walk to the park ... better I would have said to Eduardo that I would go with him to his house ... why is this happening to me? What are you going to do to me?"
Lautaro was beginning to lose track of time and distance, thinking that an hour had already passed and they had traveled far from the area where they had caught him. However, the truck barely moved a few meters after less than 10 minutes.
The truck entered the underground parking garage of a 5-story building. On the ground floor this building had a small shopping plaza with a cafeteria, a watch store, a stationery store and the main reception for the offices that were on the upper floors.
The truck parked, the engine was turned off, and the two subjects in the front seats got out of the vehicle.
A few moments later the side door of the van opened. Lautaro was silent, though his breathing was still a little shaky.
"No cabrón (in mexico means bastard), better better open the back door ..." Lautaro heard again that voice that had previously threatened him.
The boy began to feel that a hand was beginning to go over his waist and along his right side at the height of his pants bag. He repeated the same thing on his left side and took out his wallet and cell phone.
Laurato felt a little relief, maybe those guys already had what they wanted and maybe in a few minutes they were going to set him free. However everything was going to be different.
Lautaro felt him being lifted off the floor abruptly. They made him get out of the van and walk three steps. The boy tried to oppose him, tried to nail his feet on the floor but his shoes slipped on the floor of that parking lot. The guy who was holding him tightly landed an accurate punch to Lautaro's stomach.
The boy immediately doubled over in pain. He felt as if he had lost his breath. He lost track of his movements and therefore did not feel the moment he was introduced into a sedan-like vehicle. The boy was lying face down in what felt like too narrow a space.
The guy who had caught him minutes earlier climbed into the car seat. Lautaro felt a heavy foot tread down his back.
"Remember child ... no nonsense ... quiet, without making noise ..."
A door opened and moments later the car's engine started and began to move forward.
The car drove a few meters and stopped for a moment. The passenger door opened and the third guy entered.
The car started up again. He advanced several streets until he reached the Peripheral. The car tried to go up to the second floor but they did not have access due to a problem with the tag. Lautaro began to shake his breath at the tense atmosphere in that car, the discussions between those three subjects, and the strange situation the boy was experiencing.
"Where are they taking me? What do you want from me?" The boy thought.
In an apartment in Polanco there was an atmosphere of tension. Mr. Facundo took his phone, saw the time, made a call and waited for an answer.
However, after hearing the ringtone, no one answered.
"This pibe (In argentina means kid) what he believes ... we give him a little freedom and look ... he does what he wants."
Senor Facundo and Senora Estefanía began to argue. Lautaro had not yet arrived home. It had been more than half an hour of the time that Lautaro had to get home.
"I already told you ... I told you that Gustavo had to go look for him." Mrs. Estefanía claimed her husband.
Mr. Facundo continued to insist on the call but it was still not answered. I reopened the Uber app and reviewed the last ride. The beginning marked a shopping plaza near the boy's school and the end of the trip in a park that was behind the entrance to the building where they lived.
"I'm not going to sit idly by, woman ... I'm going to the place where the Uber says he left the boy ..."
Mr. Facundo had not even taken off his coat, took his keys from a small table and went to the door of his apartment and then went outside.
He entered the elevator bound for the lobby. As he went down the 12 floors a lot of things were beginning to happen to his mind.
Where will this child be? What will he think, what can he do what he wants? I can't believe it, he barely has a permit and he already wants to do his will… he's worse than his brothers, for God's sake! ”
Senor Facundo was somewhat angry. He left the building and walked to the point where Uber told him the ride was over.
Senor Facundo knew that the youngest of his children was curious. That he always wanted to know the area where he lived, but that he and his wife were always afraid that their little one would only walk the streets of the city.
Suddenly her annoyance turned to understanding. What if you started walking the streets and got lost? The fucking mother! I just hope to find him in this plaza. ”
Mr. Facundo began to tour the park, he stopped every person who was there and asked if he had seen his son, he showed them a photo of Lautaro on his cell phone. However, he always received the same answer: nobody had seen the boy.
After almost an hour, where he toured every corner of the park and some streets near the department and the area and there was no sign of his son.
He called Lautaro's phone again and it remained unanswered. Whatsapp messages that he had sent to his son remained in the received status. The boy's last connection dated from minutes after 7 p.m.
Senor Facundo was already beginning to despair. He called again on his cell phone, but this time the call was answered.
"No love ... Lauti still hasn't arrived. Nor is my name… No man, I spoke with Dania's mother and Eduardo's father… they told me that Lauti left after 6… No love, he didn't answer me either… No call or whatsapp… ”
Senor Facundo closed his eyes and sighed. He used to do that when he got nervous, stressed, or was about to explode. All of that could be possible at the time.
Mr. Facundo decided to return to his apartment. There he called his assistant.
"Sorry to bother you so late, but I need you to support me please ... who is the legal assistant? ... Okay ... you have your phone handy ... yes, I need it ... it is a personal, family matter, but I need someone who know how it is solved in Mexico… ”.
Mr. Facundo hung up and almost a minute later he checked his WhatsApp. The message from Ana, her personal assistant had just arrived.
Lic. Román Pérez.
"Graduate Pérez ... sorry for disturbing you at this time ... I am very sorry, Facundo Coppola speaks ... no, excuse me, I know that it is not time to call ... don't worry sir, I understand, but I am talking to you because I need a little help from you , to guide me in something personal ... "
Mr. Facundo began to tell what had happened to his son. What had happened that day, who had not had contact with him for 4 and a half hours, from his trip on Uber from a shopping plaza near his school to a place near his home and that he went looking for him but did not find him and that he did not answer calls or messages.
Mr. Pérez listened attentively to the words of one of his bosses. He understood that Mr. Coppola was surely experiencing a moment of emergency and that he needed your help.
"Sir, I am in half an hour at your house. Whatever happens, the boy appears and they can contact him, call me ... "...
After more than three hours of dealing with the city traffic, under a lot of stress and tension, the white jetta car reached its destination. A house in one of the mountain areas of the city. The dates of the year and the night made this place especially cold.
The three subjects got out of the car and immediately reacted to the weather.
That tall man abruptly lifted Lautaro. With some complications, he managed to get the boy out of that narrow space between the front and rear seats. Lautaro felt a little numb but also very nervous. The cold snap made him start to tremble and his breathing and sobs wouldn't stop. The boy kept in mind that threat that if he yelled for help that guy was going to kill him and the worst thing is that he also threatened to do the same to his parents.
However, his survival instinct made him resist. Try to nail your feet to the floor to avoid being led to who knows where. Try to escape from that place and contact your parents for help. Yelling desperately for help.
But the fear, the tension he felt, and the despair of having his eyes covered with that yarn cap, all they allowed him to do was try to resist his steps.
However, that man was stronger than Lautaro, he made him walk several steps, enter a house, walk down a corridor, enter a room and finally Lautaro was thrown face down on a somewhat hard mattress.
"Listen to me, child ... you have been good so far, but it is not enough ... I am going to put you on your back and take off this hat. But if you know what suits you, you will keep your eyes closed. I'm also going to remove the handcuffs from your hands, but if you know what suits you, you're going to stay still… ”
Lautaro shook his head saying that he understood the threats of that subject. He felt how they were holding him by the shoulders to turn him over and also how that hat was suddenly stripped from him.
He squeezed his eyes tight to keep them closed. He was fighting his instinct telling him to open them so you know where you are.
Lautaro heard a strange noise. Suddenly he felt something being placed over his eyes and hands running over that area to make it firm. When he felt his hands withdraw, he opened his eyes to realize that his sight had been blindfolded.
He felt that they were lifting him in such a way that he was sitting on that mattress and his right hand was released from the wife. However, he felt a slap on the chest that made him fall on his back on the mattress. He felt that this guy was handling him as if he were a doll and pulled him onto that mattress and then took his left hand, stretched it out as much as he could, and when he felt that it was released he realized that his left hand had been adjusted in such a way that I could barely move it.
The same thing happened with his right hand. The boy was starting to get more nervous. He was starting to pull his hands as if trying to bring them together in front of him. He was also beginning to move his feet desperately. He flexed his knees and shuffled his feet, still in his black shoes over the mattress as he breathed nervously.
Lautaro felt those strange hands now grasp his left leg. Lautaro tried to resist and free himself.
"Quiet boy ... I don't want to put a madriza in you ..." Lautaro felt a punch on his left thigh. Moments later she felt a metal ring surround her ankle and then her leg was stretched to the maximum to finally be completely secured. The same thing happened with his left leg.
Lautaro was still sobbing. Feeling imprisoned like that made him despair more, breathe harder, and at times let out sighs of fear.
The man approached a small table that was on the right side of the bed. He took the roll of tape and began to separate it.
He approached his captive, peeled off a piece of tape, and placed it over Lautaro's lips. The boy was in complete shock. Moments later, the subject took his head and raised it slightly. Lautaro heard a strange noise and at the same time he felt something wrap around his head.
Lautaro was gagged with five turns of tape.
"You better keep on being good boy. It depends on whether we give you something to swallow and drink later… ”.
Lautaro heard a few steps move away from him and then the sound of a door closing. Later the sound of a lock and a click, and then everything in silence.
The boy could hear his labored breathing. He moved his hands and feet and despaired of being completely stretched out on that bed. The boy could hear her desperate breathing. I was starting to feel a little cold inside that room. Lautaro was already terrified.
Finally his instincts began to win. Lautaro was screaming for help. But they were just sobs caught in five turns of duct tape.
Mr. Pérez arrived at the Coppola department. She heard from Mrs. Estefanía that the calls to her son's cell phone were no longer coming. Instead, he received a message that the cell phone was turned off or outside the service area.
Mr. Pérez knew that things were wrong. He indicated to Mr. Facundo and Mrs. Estefanía that it was best to go and report the disappearance of their son to the police.
"The faster we act, the better sir ... the police will move to look for their son ..."
After 20 minutes, Mr. Pérez arrived with Messrs. Coppola at the Public Ministry agency. Mr. Pérez knew three policemen who were on duty and told them why he was there.
The agent of the public ministry passed to Messrs. Coppola and began to take his statement.
Then came the questions that for the parents were uncomfortable: didn't he go with the girlfriend? Have you already seen with your friends? What was he doing alone? Are you sure you have no problems? Didn't they argue or fight with him boy? You have no reason to run away?
After answering the questions, the agent decided to initiate the alert Amber for the disappearance of Lautaro Coppola, 14 years old.
At the moment the order was issued to look for the boy in the entire colony. The agent stated that the boy, being on the street, began to walk the streets of the neighborhood but perhaps he was lost. That maybe they could have mugged him and took his phone away from him.
The agent indicated to Lautaro's parents that to find out the location of the phone they could first activate the location function. However, this could not be done because Mr. Facundo and Mrs. Estefanía did not know their son's passwords to enter iCloud.
The Coppola gentlemen came out nervous and tense. They were a little frustrated by the bureaucracy to search for their son's phone. Not having access to their son's account forced them to wait the next morning to make a request to the phone company to locate the phone.
They also despaired of the fact that they asked them to go home, perhaps the boy could return home and thus happily end the bad time as the police scoured the entire colony and its surroundings to search for the boy.
They were also told that the next morning they would go to the mall to check their security tapes. Mr. Facundo did not understand why go to the mall if his son had taken an Uber ride to an area near his home. But the agent indicated that they wanted to see if someone had been watching her son in the shopping plaza.
They also told him that they would be in charge of finding and locating the Uber driver so that he could give his testimony to help locate the boy.
Mr. Pérez said goodbye at the exit of the public ministry of Messrs. Coppola. He indicated that any news of the case should be made known to him. Facundo and Estefanía returned to their apartment. At different times they entered Lautaro's room, looked at him and became nervous.
The night was long and there seemed to be no end.
In the living room of a house in the Ajusco, three subjects finally began to have dinner. There was beer, cigars, a bottle of rum, and a tray of quesadillas, sopes, and gorditas.
After several minutes, the man who hours earlier had ambushed Lautaro and then left him handcuffed to a bed, was checking his phone. The guy got up from the table, went out to the patio of the house and opened WhatsApp.
It took a few seconds to search for a contact: Díaz.
"We already have it ... the package is stored ..."
The message had been sent. The man took out a pack of cigarettes, took out one and with some difficulty due to the blowing wind, managed to light it.
The phone vibrated again.
"Now let's wait ... don't do anything ..."
The guy let out an angry sigh. He did not understand why it was necessary to wait. Moments later he received a new message.
"They are nervous, let them suffer for a while longer ... we have the advantage."
That subject read the message. He didn't seem very happy, but he resigned himself to accepting that indication. After all, he knew that Díaz was going to warn them of any movement with that family.
The guy rubbed his arms with his hands to shake off the cold.
He returned to the house with the cigarette in his mouth. He walked to the room where Lautaro was locked and handcuffed.
As soon as the boy heard the door open, he began to sob and moan asking to be let go. The subject ignored those laments. He simply made his way under the bed, pulled out a blanket large enough to cover the bed where Lautaro was tied up.
The man covered the boy and left the room without saying a word
It all seemed like a routine day in the city. The month of December began. People began to share that festive and friendly spirit that invades people as the last days of the year approach.
However, the streets and traffic of the city resented that party atmosphere for the arrival of Christmas, even though this would take almost 15 days.
One of those streets was the Peripheral. Normally it was a road that in rush hours the cars moved slowly. Usually that happened after 6 in the afternoon. However, that last week had been strange. Sometimes from earlier the traffic on the Peripheral began to be unbearable.
Those who began to despair at how slow it was were the passengers of a white VW jetta car, model 2010, with opaque glass outside.
It was already night and it was difficult to see what could happen inside neighboring cars. But if anyone could see the three passengers in that car in detail, they would notice that the driver, the co-pilot, and the passenger in the back seat were nervous to the point of despair.
They were in a hurry but little by little the slow progress and the inability to get out into the side lanes made them desperate. But doing that was not going to help them much either, because to reach their destination there were not many shortcuts or streets that served as an alternative.
And all because on the floor between the rear and front seats they carried a 14-year-old boy who had just been kidnapped. The boy was lying on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind his back. With a black winter hat made of yarn that covered his head and that did not allow him to see anything around him or the road that car was taking.
Nothing prevented him from screaming for help, yet those subjects had warned him well.
"Not a single noise or so-called asshole ... any asshole act costs the life of whoever wants to help you and you will also end up dead ... but yes, I warn you, if we have to kill you, I will not rest until I kill your mother and your dad"…
Lautaro was 14 years old. The boy was a little short of stature for his age and maybe that's why he fit almost perfectly in that small space between the front and rear seats of that car. It was barely above 1.50.
The boy's physique also helped his captors. The boy was a bit skinny and he was athletic. Lautaro liked to go jogging on the private club track where his father had a membership. He also exercised trying to get the squares on his abdomen marked and his biceps muscle growing.
And he also dreamed of returning to his country Argentina, to enter the basic of Boca, the team of his loves and become the striker who could be up to Tevez, Riquelme and Maradona.
However, the boy was now living a most terrifying experience. Lautaro was being kidnapped in a country and a city that was strange to him. Lautaro had been born in the San Isidro neighborhood in Buenos Aires, however, for two years he had had to travel to Mexico.
His father, Mr. Facundo Coppola, had arrived transferred to Mexico to take the regional general direction of a multinational company. Mr. Facundo had climbed for 15 years in the executive positions of this company and went on to become the deputy manager for the south of said company.
His talent, business vision, optimization of resources and business risk reading had led him to be appointed by the board of directors, who worked at the corporate in the United States, to the important position of the central office in Mexico, of the which was the supervision for the sub-managements of Bogotá, Santiago and of course Buenos Aires.
For Mr. Facundo, this was the opportunity he had been waiting for so long to show his abilities as a business leader. Moving to Mexico was difficult because he left his father, mother, and grandfather behind.
In addition, their older children Facundo and Estefanía did not travel to Mexico either because the move would greatly affect their progress in university studies.
His wife, Mrs. María Estefanía also had no problem moving. Despite being the wife of a successful businessman, she was a sales manager for a subsidiary of a telephone company that had its headquarters in Mexico.
When the company learned of her possible move, the company decided to support her move to Mexico.
So Mr. Facundo and his wife María Estefanía made the move with little Lautaro.
For Lautaro the existence with his family was complicated. It was the only one different. He was the only one with dark hair while his father, mother, and siblings were light brown almost blonde. His brothers' eyes were light while the boy's were dark.
Anyone would say that Lautaro was adopted but the reality was different. The boy took those characteristics from his maternal grandmother, who died when the boy was 7 years old. However that didn't matter with his older brothers, who used that hair and eyes theme to tease and tease the younger brother of the family.
And the complications for Lautaro became more complicated when he arrived in Mexico. It was the new boy, the one with a different accent. The one who used strange words that no one at his school knew. The one who had a liking for a soccer team different from the rest of the schoolmates and of course, being Argentine, ended up being a victim of the law of ice when the teams of Mexico and Argentina faced each other in some friendly or official game .
Although he had already lived in Mexico for 2 years, Lautaro did not know the city. He hardly knew the wealthy neighborhood where he had come to live. The company where his father worked had installed him in an apartment in the Polanco area.
His school was 30 minutes away either on foot or by car. By car because of the traffic in the area, but the boy's parents preferred to take him in the family car or, when they did not have time, it was the family driver who did the work.
The boy could not complain about the conditions in which he lived. His parents gave him everything to grow up healthy and happy. Not only talking about money and possessions, but also in quality time.
Mrs. Estefanía always tried to be punctual for her son at the time of leaving school. Sometimes they traveled to his apartment to eat or sometimes they did it at the sports club. After that, it depended on where they took their food, the lady returned to her office and the boy stayed at the club where he did his sports activities, especially his soccer training.
And if they ate in the apartment, the lady would take her son to the sports club and drop him off right at the front door, and then return to his office.
Before dusk it was his father who went to the private club to do some exercise, relax in the sauna while his son did some chores. In the end they both traveled home where Mrs. Estefanía was already waiting for them to have dinner together around 8:30 at night.
In the house, the Coppola family had 5 people they trusted who left and worked days and some tasks in the department: Laura Camacho and Jesús Paz, both in charge of the kitchen, Doña Luz Pérez in charge of cleaning and two employees subordinates: Fabián Ordaz and Beatriz Morales.
On weekends, Mr. Facundo tried to have them for his family. Sometimes there were family meals with a close or distant relative who had moved to Mexico. Sometimes the three of them would go for a walk somewhere near the city to visit.
Or sometimes Mr. Facundo and Lautaro traveled alone to visit a Mexican soccer stadium. Both missed the La Bombonera de Boca party and it was something they couldn't find in Mexico.
Lautaro couldn't complain about inattention or not spending time with his dad. However, he also felt a little uncomfortable. Sometimes she felt her parents were too overprotective.
They wouldn't let him out of the house alone, even when the boy wanted to buy a treat at the convenience store that was two blocks from the building where he lived. They also did not let him go alone with friends or classmates or a private club to walk through a shopping plaza or the cinema.
The only moments of freedom the boy had were when he had to do some school work as a team. Only in this way could he go to the house of a companion, but his return home was always with the family driver or with Mrs. Estefanía.
Sometimes the boy felt suffocated by that overprotection.
However that December day was strange. The boy had asked, begged and even had a tantrum to get his parents' permission to go alone with a group of schoolmates to a shopping plaza and watch a movie.
Initially the answer was the same as always: No. However, things changed strangely. Mrs. Estefanía and Mr. Facundo welcomed the fact that their son lived without problems.
“Stefi, Lautaro is no longer a boy, he is going to be 15 years old. We can no longer treat him like a baby, Also, remember what happened to Facu when we wanted to get strict and serious with him .. he passed us, he was escaping. I think the best thing is to let him out a little, give him his space, so that he knows that we trust him to tell us whatever, with whom and where he is. The truth is that I don't want this to get out of hand like with Facu. ”
His wife was looking at him with some suspicion. The truth is that years ago, when Facundo lived his adolescence, they passed embarrassing and anguished moments due to the festive character of their oldest son. He remembered that they tried to be strict with him, to watch him at every step and in every place, but his son managed to evade the vigilance of his parents and the driver.
Facundo told them that he was going to a friend's house but the reality is that he ended up escaping to another party, to another place far from the control and surveillance of his parents. The same happened later with the daughter Estefanía.
"You may be right, but we were at home there ... Lauti lives in a country that he does not know ... we do not know this city at all ... we hardly know his friends, his friends' family ..."
Her husband tried to convince her by saying that that was why they could not continue with this overprotection, that it was better for her son to tell them where he was going to be.
"Remember that in Buenos Aires we knew where those 2. could be. What places they could go to. That is why Lauti must have that confidence ... Imagine ... where are we going? Who do we ask if Lauti escapes like his brothers did? ”
Mrs. Estefanía seemed to be convinced. He remembered the stress caused by Facundo and Estefania's escapes, and he honestly did not want to experience it again. And her husband was right, with her older children she knew where to look for them, but in a country unknown to them it was going to be more complicated, more stressful and more desperate.
The next day Lautaro received the good news. On Wednesday, in 2 weeks, I was going to be able to go out with the group of friends. That first freedom was wonderful for the boy.
His dad had told him that he could decide how to go to that shopping plaza, if he needed the driver.
"Whatever you need you have to Gustavo, call him."
Lautaro said that it would not be necessary because the driver of one of his friends would take them all to the shopping plaza.
The homecoming option also excited Lautaro.
"Well, when you come back you can call Gustavo if you need to, if you don't want to call him you can use my Uber account."
Lautaro's eyes sparkled. For the first time in his life his parents were not going to feel watched by his parents.
For Lautaro the following days were very emotional. Much enthusiasm, happiness, joy and wishes so that the time passed as quickly as possible.
Finally the date arrived. And that morning was the most anxious for Lautaro. He even woke up almost half an hour before the alarm on his cell phone started ringing.
That day he was taken to school by Gustavo, the family's driver. At school the boy was completely distracted the entire time. He was not attentive to the classes, he did not turn in the work that was done during the day, when the chemistry teacher asked him about some topics on the periodic table of elements, he did not know what to answer.
Finally the moment that Lautaro had been waiting for days ago arrived: the end of the school hour: 2:30 in the afternoon. The school clock rang and their physics teacher dismissed them from school.
Lautaro joined the group of six other boys: three girls and four boys in total. The group went to the school exit and they got into a van, owned by Dania's father, one of Lautaro's classmates who had been the head of that exit to the commercial plaza to the cinema.
Behind the wheel was waiting for them Orlando, the driver of Dania's father, who worked as a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company.
Lautaro sat next to Fatima. Inside that room, Fatima was the most humble girl in every way. His family was not of money, his dad had won the lottery 5 years ago. Before that award, her dad worked in the accounts area of a department store. And thanks to his knowledge and studies in finance, he knew how to invest a large part of his prize and gradually build a fortune.
Fatima's father did not have a driver, he did not use a high-class car. Sometimes even the girl would come to school with her mom and get out of a taxi or an app chauffeur one block before school and walk to the door.
On a personal level, Fatima was smiling. Although she was proficient in math and had good grades, her older sister Brenda, seven years older than her, had helped her not to be the trouble in the classroom, not to be the girl who reminded her of teachers when she had left homework and had not revised, no longer be smug with grades.
Her mother worried about her daughter's new change of environment and that they would not hurt her in a new group and rich people took her to karate classes and there she learned to defend herself in a good way.
A year earlier, when a boy and a girl wanted to mock Fatima because they knew what the origin of their family's money was, they tried to make her less. The boy wanted to touch his face in intimidation but Fatima replied: he slapped the boy's hand and shoved him in the chest.
The other girl wanted to pull her hair but made a move to avoid her and the attacker ended up being subdued with a fighting key.
Lautaro was the new entry boy. I watched in the distance what was happening. Suddenly the boy who had accompanied the attempt to intimidate Fatima wanted to take advantage of the fact that she was focused on the other girl and tried to get closer to her. Lautaro ran and pushed the boy who was trying to hurt someone distracted to the floor.
"Listen to me, pelotudo (In Argentina Pelotudo means Idiot), it's a girl ... first two against one and then you try to hit her treacherously. Apart from Patoteros (Means like a mob who fights with one person), You are are cagones (Means crap) "".
Lautaro almost leaned down to yell at his face. The boy was surprised by the speed with which Lautaro acted, the force of his push, the strong way in which he faced him and of course, the strange accent of the boy.
The two bullies were frustrated in their attempt to annoy Dania and ended up escaping. From that day on, Fátima earned the respect and fear of her generation companions and also she and Lautaro clicked and became good friends.
But with the passage of time Lautaro wanted something more, but he had never had the opportunity to spend more time with Fatima outside of school. And that exit was his opportunity.
Lautaro tried not to separate from Fatima and Fatima tried not to separate from his Argentine friend.
At times and when no one noticed they walked hand in hand.
They sat together in the movie theater and were still holding hands at times. One looked at the other's face when he was attentive to the screen and the scene was repeated backwards moments later. After the movie, the seven boys went to a cafeteria. Either way, Fatima and Lautaro sat side by side.
The boys talked about what the 15-year-old boys are talking about. What they liked and didn't like about the movie, whether an actor or actress is their crush, the video or a recent post by a youtuber, of the most recent meme that a friend who could not attend that outing had just published .
But for Lautaro the most difficult moment came. Fatima had received a call from her mom. He was waiting for her in five minutes at the door of the cafeteria.
Fatima got up from the table and said goodbye to everyone. The last one was Lautaro. The boy gave a sad look. It had been a fun and comfortable day but without Fatima I no longer felt like continuing.
It was also Wednesday. The next day you had to go to school. He had some pending tasks and without Fatima in the meeting he didn't feel like going on.
So 10 minutes later Lautaro got up from the cafeteria table, said goodbye to his friends and announced that it was time to go home.
“Sha shegó (This is because The people of BsAs pronunce the letter Y like SH) your mom, boludo (Means like Idiot but the argentinians says that in a friendly way)…”
Lautaro heard that voice trying to imitate his accent. She immediately turned to see Eduardo, one of her best friends from school whom she had completely forgotten all that day.
Since they had mutual trust, Eduardo used to imitate his friend's accent to play and joke with him.
"I'm leaving, but no ... my mom is still in the office ..." The boy replied.
Eduardo wanted to convince him to continue one more hour. "Stay stupid, my dad is coming for me ... sho, I'm taking you home."
Lautaro was tempted to stay, but he also wanted to enjoy a little of that freedom to move only in that city that after 2 years was still unknown to him.
It was after 6:30 in the afternoon. The boy still had time on leave. He had to get home no later than 9 pm. Lautaro began to walk through that shopping plaza. It looked like a puppy without a chain. Erratically walking from one side to the other, seeing sideboards and stopping at those that caught his attention.
I would walk into video game stores to check out what's new, sports stores to check out tennis and soccer team jerseys, and an electronics store to better appreciate various gadgets.
At the same time as he was making the trip, he entered his dad's Uber account. He had the key and password and made the request for the car to return home. He also told his parents that he was already going home.
The car arrived almost 10 minutes later at the door of the shopping center. The trip from the shopping center to his home would take no more than 20 minutes, but with the time of day, the area of the city and the dates and holidays, it took the boy almost an hour to reach his destination.
However, Lautaro did not get down at the door of the building where he lived. The boy marked the destination of his trip in a park that was five blocks behind the building where he lived.
Lautaro got out of the Uber and began to observe what was around him. He had lived 2 years near that place but it was unknown to him. Sometimes he had passed through that place on board the car with Gustavo, with his mother or with his father.
Never before, nor when she went down to the convenience store to buy any candy, had she been able to walk to that place.
Lautaro walked fascinated by the street. Through the trees, through the people running, through the office workers who traveled by bicycle to a nearby subway station or some other public transport route. Lautaro walked through a dimly lit part of the park. I felt like I was in a mystery movie. Suddenly the mystery turned to terror.
"Without looking at me child, walk next to me as if I were your father or your driver ... if you make a false move right here you die ... if you ask for help the one who comes also dies ..."
Lautaro drastically changed from euphoria to nervousness and fear. The boy felt an object pressing against his left side and a hand above his right shoulder.
"I'm going to give you everything I have ... Just don't hurt me please."
Despite his innocence, Lautaro understood what an assault was. His father had always told him that if something like this happened to him at any time in his life, he should not resist, give up all his belongings and not look his assailants in the face because his life would always be more valuable than any belongings.
"You just do what I tell you and nothing will happen to you, boy..."
Lautaro was beginning to feel shaky. He just had to wait what would happen to that guy. Little by little, a van from a laundry service approached. The truck matched up with Lautaro and the man until it finally stopped.
The side door opened and the subject grabbed Lautaro's neck and the back of his sweater and school uniform shirt.
"Get in ... get in ... fast ..."
The boy did not reason what was happening. He did not understand what they were asking. He just followed the order mechanically.
As soon as the man and Lautaro got into the truck, the side door closed quickly and he moved forward quickly and abruptly. Lautaro was forced to lie face down on the floor.
The boy was beginning to feel strange. He was beginning to be scared by what was happening. His fear began to grow because the three people inside the van began to argue and raise their voices while he was lying on his stomach. She was more afraid to look up, but something strange was happening to her, she began to feel agitation and a feeling of hollow in the pit of her stomach that she had never felt before in her life.
Her mind was telling her to calm down, but an inner voice was very nervous. Suddenly that voice began to disobey Lautaro.
"Help ... please ... let me go ... take what you want, my phone is expensive, I will not tell anyone but please let me go ..."
Suddenly Lautaro felt a strong blow to the head. The man who had ambushed him on the street slapped him.
"Listen to me, little boy ... I told you, no bullshit ... another one and you die ... and if someone comes to help you, he also dies ... and if we have to kill you, little boy, I will kill your father and your mother myself" .
Lautaro was beginning to sob at that menacing voice whispering in his ear, in addition to the barrel of the pistol that squeezed his left cheek with great force as the squeaker squeezed his eyes to keep them closed.
Lautaro was still like this when he felt a pull on his hands and suddenly he felt something metallic around his wrists. He wanted to move them and noticed that they were imprisoned. Moments later, he felt that the man was putting a yarn cap on his head in such a way that it covered him from the neck to the neck. Lautaro's sight was completely blind.
The boy started to get more scared when he felt imprisoned. Many things were beginning to happen in his mind.
"I would not have gotten off in the park ... better I would have gone straight to my house ... better I would not have gone to walk to the park ... better I would have said to Eduardo that I would go with him to his house ... why is this happening to me? What are you going to do to me?"
Lautaro was beginning to lose track of time and distance, thinking that an hour had already passed and they had traveled far from the area where they had caught him. However, the truck barely moved a few meters after less than 10 minutes.
The truck entered the underground parking garage of a 5-story building. On the ground floor this building had a small shopping plaza with a cafeteria, a watch store, a stationery store and the main reception for the offices that were on the upper floors.
The truck parked, the engine was turned off, and the two subjects in the front seats got out of the vehicle.
A few moments later the side door of the van opened. Lautaro was silent, though his breathing was still a little shaky.
"No cabrón (in mexico means bastard), better better open the back door ..." Lautaro heard again that voice that had previously threatened him.
The boy began to feel that a hand was beginning to go over his waist and along his right side at the height of his pants bag. He repeated the same thing on his left side and took out his wallet and cell phone.
Laurato felt a little relief, maybe those guys already had what they wanted and maybe in a few minutes they were going to set him free. However everything was going to be different.
Lautaro felt him being lifted off the floor abruptly. They made him get out of the van and walk three steps. The boy tried to oppose him, tried to nail his feet on the floor but his shoes slipped on the floor of that parking lot. The guy who was holding him tightly landed an accurate punch to Lautaro's stomach.
The boy immediately doubled over in pain. He felt as if he had lost his breath. He lost track of his movements and therefore did not feel the moment he was introduced into a sedan-like vehicle. The boy was lying face down in what felt like too narrow a space.
The guy who had caught him minutes earlier climbed into the car seat. Lautaro felt a heavy foot tread down his back.
"Remember child ... no nonsense ... quiet, without making noise ..."
A door opened and moments later the car's engine started and began to move forward.
The car drove a few meters and stopped for a moment. The passenger door opened and the third guy entered.
The car started up again. He advanced several streets until he reached the Peripheral. The car tried to go up to the second floor but they did not have access due to a problem with the tag. Lautaro began to shake his breath at the tense atmosphere in that car, the discussions between those three subjects, and the strange situation the boy was experiencing.
"Where are they taking me? What do you want from me?" The boy thought.
In an apartment in Polanco there was an atmosphere of tension. Mr. Facundo took his phone, saw the time, made a call and waited for an answer.
However, after hearing the ringtone, no one answered.
"This pibe (In argentina means kid) what he believes ... we give him a little freedom and look ... he does what he wants."
Senor Facundo and Senora Estefanía began to argue. Lautaro had not yet arrived home. It had been more than half an hour of the time that Lautaro had to get home.
"I already told you ... I told you that Gustavo had to go look for him." Mrs. Estefanía claimed her husband.
Mr. Facundo continued to insist on the call but it was still not answered. I reopened the Uber app and reviewed the last ride. The beginning marked a shopping plaza near the boy's school and the end of the trip in a park that was behind the entrance to the building where they lived.
"I'm not going to sit idly by, woman ... I'm going to the place where the Uber says he left the boy ..."
Mr. Facundo had not even taken off his coat, took his keys from a small table and went to the door of his apartment and then went outside.
He entered the elevator bound for the lobby. As he went down the 12 floors a lot of things were beginning to happen to his mind.
Where will this child be? What will he think, what can he do what he wants? I can't believe it, he barely has a permit and he already wants to do his will… he's worse than his brothers, for God's sake! ”
Senor Facundo was somewhat angry. He left the building and walked to the point where Uber told him the ride was over.
Senor Facundo knew that the youngest of his children was curious. That he always wanted to know the area where he lived, but that he and his wife were always afraid that their little one would only walk the streets of the city.
Suddenly her annoyance turned to understanding. What if you started walking the streets and got lost? The fucking mother! I just hope to find him in this plaza. ”
Mr. Facundo began to tour the park, he stopped every person who was there and asked if he had seen his son, he showed them a photo of Lautaro on his cell phone. However, he always received the same answer: nobody had seen the boy.
After almost an hour, where he toured every corner of the park and some streets near the department and the area and there was no sign of his son.
He called Lautaro's phone again and it remained unanswered. Whatsapp messages that he had sent to his son remained in the received status. The boy's last connection dated from minutes after 7 p.m.
Senor Facundo was already beginning to despair. He called again on his cell phone, but this time the call was answered.
"No love ... Lauti still hasn't arrived. Nor is my name… No man, I spoke with Dania's mother and Eduardo's father… they told me that Lauti left after 6… No love, he didn't answer me either… No call or whatsapp… ”
Senor Facundo closed his eyes and sighed. He used to do that when he got nervous, stressed, or was about to explode. All of that could be possible at the time.
Mr. Facundo decided to return to his apartment. There he called his assistant.
"Sorry to bother you so late, but I need you to support me please ... who is the legal assistant? ... Okay ... you have your phone handy ... yes, I need it ... it is a personal, family matter, but I need someone who know how it is solved in Mexico… ”.
Mr. Facundo hung up and almost a minute later he checked his WhatsApp. The message from Ana, her personal assistant had just arrived.
Lic. Román Pérez.
"Graduate Pérez ... sorry for disturbing you at this time ... I am very sorry, Facundo Coppola speaks ... no, excuse me, I know that it is not time to call ... don't worry sir, I understand, but I am talking to you because I need a little help from you , to guide me in something personal ... "
Mr. Facundo began to tell what had happened to his son. What had happened that day, who had not had contact with him for 4 and a half hours, from his trip on Uber from a shopping plaza near his school to a place near his home and that he went looking for him but did not find him and that he did not answer calls or messages.
Mr. Pérez listened attentively to the words of one of his bosses. He understood that Mr. Coppola was surely experiencing a moment of emergency and that he needed your help.
"Sir, I am in half an hour at your house. Whatever happens, the boy appears and they can contact him, call me ... "...
After more than three hours of dealing with the city traffic, under a lot of stress and tension, the white jetta car reached its destination. A house in one of the mountain areas of the city. The dates of the year and the night made this place especially cold.
The three subjects got out of the car and immediately reacted to the weather.
That tall man abruptly lifted Lautaro. With some complications, he managed to get the boy out of that narrow space between the front and rear seats. Lautaro felt a little numb but also very nervous. The cold snap made him start to tremble and his breathing and sobs wouldn't stop. The boy kept in mind that threat that if he yelled for help that guy was going to kill him and the worst thing is that he also threatened to do the same to his parents.
However, his survival instinct made him resist. Try to nail your feet to the floor to avoid being led to who knows where. Try to escape from that place and contact your parents for help. Yelling desperately for help.
But the fear, the tension he felt, and the despair of having his eyes covered with that yarn cap, all they allowed him to do was try to resist his steps.
However, that man was stronger than Lautaro, he made him walk several steps, enter a house, walk down a corridor, enter a room and finally Lautaro was thrown face down on a somewhat hard mattress.
"Listen to me, child ... you have been good so far, but it is not enough ... I am going to put you on your back and take off this hat. But if you know what suits you, you will keep your eyes closed. I'm also going to remove the handcuffs from your hands, but if you know what suits you, you're going to stay still… ”
Lautaro shook his head saying that he understood the threats of that subject. He felt how they were holding him by the shoulders to turn him over and also how that hat was suddenly stripped from him.
He squeezed his eyes tight to keep them closed. He was fighting his instinct telling him to open them so you know where you are.
Lautaro heard a strange noise. Suddenly he felt something being placed over his eyes and hands running over that area to make it firm. When he felt his hands withdraw, he opened his eyes to realize that his sight had been blindfolded.
He felt that they were lifting him in such a way that he was sitting on that mattress and his right hand was released from the wife. However, he felt a slap on the chest that made him fall on his back on the mattress. He felt that this guy was handling him as if he were a doll and pulled him onto that mattress and then took his left hand, stretched it out as much as he could, and when he felt that it was released he realized that his left hand had been adjusted in such a way that I could barely move it.
The same thing happened with his right hand. The boy was starting to get more nervous. He was starting to pull his hands as if trying to bring them together in front of him. He was also beginning to move his feet desperately. He flexed his knees and shuffled his feet, still in his black shoes over the mattress as he breathed nervously.
Lautaro felt those strange hands now grasp his left leg. Lautaro tried to resist and free himself.
"Quiet boy ... I don't want to put a madriza in you ..." Lautaro felt a punch on his left thigh. Moments later she felt a metal ring surround her ankle and then her leg was stretched to the maximum to finally be completely secured. The same thing happened with his left leg.
Lautaro was still sobbing. Feeling imprisoned like that made him despair more, breathe harder, and at times let out sighs of fear.
The man approached a small table that was on the right side of the bed. He took the roll of tape and began to separate it.
He approached his captive, peeled off a piece of tape, and placed it over Lautaro's lips. The boy was in complete shock. Moments later, the subject took his head and raised it slightly. Lautaro heard a strange noise and at the same time he felt something wrap around his head.
Lautaro was gagged with five turns of tape.
"You better keep on being good boy. It depends on whether we give you something to swallow and drink later… ”.
Lautaro heard a few steps move away from him and then the sound of a door closing. Later the sound of a lock and a click, and then everything in silence.
The boy could hear his labored breathing. He moved his hands and feet and despaired of being completely stretched out on that bed. The boy could hear her desperate breathing. I was starting to feel a little cold inside that room. Lautaro was already terrified.
Finally his instincts began to win. Lautaro was screaming for help. But they were just sobs caught in five turns of duct tape.
Mr. Pérez arrived at the Coppola department. She heard from Mrs. Estefanía that the calls to her son's cell phone were no longer coming. Instead, he received a message that the cell phone was turned off or outside the service area.
Mr. Pérez knew that things were wrong. He indicated to Mr. Facundo and Mrs. Estefanía that it was best to go and report the disappearance of their son to the police.
"The faster we act, the better sir ... the police will move to look for their son ..."
After 20 minutes, Mr. Pérez arrived with Messrs. Coppola at the Public Ministry agency. Mr. Pérez knew three policemen who were on duty and told them why he was there.
The agent of the public ministry passed to Messrs. Coppola and began to take his statement.
Then came the questions that for the parents were uncomfortable: didn't he go with the girlfriend? Have you already seen with your friends? What was he doing alone? Are you sure you have no problems? Didn't they argue or fight with him boy? You have no reason to run away?
After answering the questions, the agent decided to initiate the alert Amber for the disappearance of Lautaro Coppola, 14 years old.
At the moment the order was issued to look for the boy in the entire colony. The agent stated that the boy, being on the street, began to walk the streets of the neighborhood but perhaps he was lost. That maybe they could have mugged him and took his phone away from him.
The agent indicated to Lautaro's parents that to find out the location of the phone they could first activate the location function. However, this could not be done because Mr. Facundo and Mrs. Estefanía did not know their son's passwords to enter iCloud.
The Coppola gentlemen came out nervous and tense. They were a little frustrated by the bureaucracy to search for their son's phone. Not having access to their son's account forced them to wait the next morning to make a request to the phone company to locate the phone.
They also despaired of the fact that they asked them to go home, perhaps the boy could return home and thus happily end the bad time as the police scoured the entire colony and its surroundings to search for the boy.
They were also told that the next morning they would go to the mall to check their security tapes. Mr. Facundo did not understand why go to the mall if his son had taken an Uber ride to an area near his home. But the agent indicated that they wanted to see if someone had been watching her son in the shopping plaza.
They also told him that they would be in charge of finding and locating the Uber driver so that he could give his testimony to help locate the boy.
Mr. Pérez said goodbye at the exit of the public ministry of Messrs. Coppola. He indicated that any news of the case should be made known to him. Facundo and Estefanía returned to their apartment. At different times they entered Lautaro's room, looked at him and became nervous.
The night was long and there seemed to be no end.
In the living room of a house in the Ajusco, three subjects finally began to have dinner. There was beer, cigars, a bottle of rum, and a tray of quesadillas, sopes, and gorditas.
After several minutes, the man who hours earlier had ambushed Lautaro and then left him handcuffed to a bed, was checking his phone. The guy got up from the table, went out to the patio of the house and opened WhatsApp.
It took a few seconds to search for a contact: Díaz.
"We already have it ... the package is stored ..."
The message had been sent. The man took out a pack of cigarettes, took out one and with some difficulty due to the blowing wind, managed to light it.
The phone vibrated again.
"Now let's wait ... don't do anything ..."
The guy let out an angry sigh. He did not understand why it was necessary to wait. Moments later he received a new message.
"They are nervous, let them suffer for a while longer ... we have the advantage."
That subject read the message. He didn't seem very happy, but he resigned himself to accepting that indication. After all, he knew that Díaz was going to warn them of any movement with that family.
The guy rubbed his arms with his hands to shake off the cold.
He returned to the house with the cigarette in his mouth. He walked to the room where Lautaro was locked and handcuffed.
As soon as the boy heard the door open, he began to sob and moan asking to be let go. The subject ignored those laments. He simply made his way under the bed, pulled out a blanket large enough to cover the bed where Lautaro was tied up.
The man covered the boy and left the room without saying a word