by Matt Lincoln
The boy almost pouted at this revelation.
“Mikey, I want you to know that none of this was your fault,” I told him, squeezing his little hand in my much larger one. “None of it at all. Those men, they did a very bad thing taking you from your parents, and they’re going to pay a high price for that if they haven’t already. We’ve already caught the other two men, so none of them are ever going to hurt you again, I promise.”
I didn’t bother to tell him that one of the men was already dead, and the other might be at the hands of other goons. I figured that might be a little much for him to handle right now.
“Okay,” the little boy sniffled, though he still didn’t cry.
“Alright, Mikey, what happened next?” Nina asked, giving him a gentle squeeze.
“Well, then there was the boat,” Mikey said, taking a deep breath as he moved on to the next part of his story, the one we didn’t know much about yet. “I don’t know where it came from. They argued about it some more, and then the other two went away. I don’t know where they went.”
“That’s alright, we found them,” I reminded him. “And then we found you. What happened when you went out on the water?”
“Well, we went way far out at first, but then Mister got really upset, and the boat started making funny sounds,” Mikey said, his lip starting to tremble again. “It was really late, and I couldn’t see any land anymore. He said something about going to another country. I didn’t want to go to another country. I wanted to go home.”
“I know, Mikey, and you aren’t going anywhere other than home,” I promised him, squeezing his hand again. “What happened after the boat started making the funny noises?”
“Well, then Mister started looking through some stuff on the boat, and that’s when he found the food. I was glad about that because I hadn’t eaten all day. Mom said that we couldn’t have breakfast until after we got my new swimsuit at the mall, and, well…”
Mikey looked like he understandably might actually cry now at the mention of his mother, and Nina smiled down at him.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to see your mom really soon,” she assured him. “We’re going to see her right now, actually. And your dad.”
We exchanged a look, knowing that Mikey actually had two dads, but he didn’t know that yet. Whatever happened next, or however they chose to tell him, there was no doubt that cat was coming out of the bag very soon if it hadn’t already. Even so, it wasn’t our place to break that particular news to the boy. The parents were going to have to figure out how to do that themselves, maybe with some help from Dr. Osborne.
“Promise?” Mikey asked, staring back up at her.
“Promise,” she said, breaking into a smile and giving him another squeeze around the shoulders.
“So what happened when the man you were with realized there was something wrong with the boat?” I asked the boy.
“Well, he got really angry, and he started stomping around, and I was scared we were going to fall off ‘cause the boat was shaking so much,” Mikey explained, his eyes wide with fear again at the unpleasant memory.
“Did he ever hurt you?” Nina asked, furrowing her brow together in concern as she asked the question. “Did he ever touch you at all or make you uncomfortable?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Mikey said, shaking his head. “He grabbed my shoulder once when he was mad, and the boat was making all those noises. For a minute, I thought he was going to hit me, but he didn’t.”
Nina and I exchanged a look as relief no doubt washed through us both. If the worst Charlie had done to Mikey was grab his shoulder a little too hard once, I would take that as a big win.
“He gave you something to eat, then?” Nina asked. “I remember you saying in the cave that you were hungry.”
“And thirsty,” Mikey said, nodding knowingly. “There was some food and water in those weird packets on the boat, and he let me have some of them when we stopped in a cave after the boat stopped making those noises. I wanted more, though, but he wouldn’t let me. He ate one and then gave me two, and we shared a water bottle, but he said he didn’t want to run out of food in case we were out there for a while. But then you came!”
Mikey smiled at both of us brightly, and another wave of relief crashed over me. Charlie had tried to take care of the kid, at least, even giving him more food than he ate himself. Mikey would surely be traumatized by this experience, but it could’ve been so, so much worse, even with finding him.
“That’s good, Mikey, really good,” I told the boy. “And we’ll get you some food very soon. We just have to get you back to your parents first.”
“I’d like that, thanks,” Mikey said, and Nina and I both laughed.
“Did the man ever say anything to you?” Nina asked. “Anything at all that you can remember?”
“We didn’t talk much,” Mikey said thoughtfully, scrunching up his face as if he was trying to remember. “Whenever I asked any questions, he just told me to shut up. He talked to himself sometimes, though. He kept saying how much trouble he was in or something about that. Is he in trouble?”
“Oh, he’s in a lot of trouble,” I chuckled. “People aren’t supposed to take kids from their parents, and you’re not even the only one he’s taken. But don’t worry, we’ll take care of him. We’ll make sure that he doesn’t hurt any more kids ever again, okay?”
“Okay,” Mikey said, almost cheerily, and a paramedic came over to look him over for bumps and bruises, abruptly ending our conversation.
We’d have time for a longer interview later, but for now, Nina and I were satisfied that Mikey would pull through this with a little help from his family and Dr. Osborne.
“Well, that could’ve gone so much worse in so many ways,” Nina muttered to me as we stepped off to the side to make room for the paramedic. She couldn’t keep the smile off of her face, and I was pretty sure that I was the same.
“You could say that again,” I chuckled as I watched Mikey cheerfully interact with the paramedic. “Kid’s gonna crash soon. He probably hasn’t slept in two days. But for now, I’d say things are going way better than I could’ve expected.”
“Hey, you were right not to give up on him,” Nina said, nudging me playfully in the ribs.
“Told you he was still out there,” I grinned.
“I’ve never been happier to say you were right,” Nina beamed.
The helicopter ended up depositing us in the parking lot of the hotel where we were staying, and where the police officers, Dr. Osborne, and all three of Mikey’s parents had evacuated when the police station was attacked. There was a throng of people waiting there for us, even though it was the middle of the night at that point.
The lead detective on the case was the first to get to me, and I gave him a quick rundown of everything that had happened while I watched the relief that I was already feeling wash across his face. Chief Raskin was next, closely followed by the older Coast Guard man I had spoken with earlier, and then the Durham police detective, Lance, who had been so against wasting resources trying to find Mikey since he was probably already dead.
“Uh, good job, agent,” he said, holding out a begrudging hand to me.
I took it. Why not?
“Never give up on a case,” I warned him. “You never know what might happen.”
“Understood, sir,” he said, giving me a small smile that might’ve even reached his eyes.
Dr. Osborne was next, closely followed by Curt and Annabelle, who rushed Nina and Mikey the instant they saw them.
“Oh my God!” Annabelle screamed, clutching her son close to her chest. “You found him! I can’t believe you found him.”
Mikey buried his face in his mother’s stomach as both parents wrapped their arms around him. He didn’t say anything. He just let them encase him and tell him he was safe now. His little shoulders were shaking.
Curt shakily reached out to give both myself and Nina a hug, despite the fact that we were covered in gunk an
d water from the cave, not to mention Charlie’s blood.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice trembling. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what you’ve done for us. We’ll never forget it.”
“We were just doing our job,” I told him, shaking his hand. “And make sure you never forget how lucky you all got today. Most people don’t get a mulligan like that.”
“We won’t,” Curt assured me, swallowing hard. “We promise.”
I noticed soon that Jackson wasn’t out there in the parking lot with us. Quickly, Mikey was cleared by the paramedics to go, and we all went inside to discuss what had happened some more. Jackson was there, practically hiding behind a plant in the hotel lobby and trying to blend in with the mass of policemen and other law enforcement personnel occupying the area.
When he caught sight of Mikey, his relief was unmistakable, though he still didn’t approach us as I sat down with Curt, Annabelle, Dr. Osborne, and Mikey to catch them up on the night’s events. Nina went off to talk with someone in an FBI jacket who I imagined was her supervisor.
Mikey fell asleep on Annabelle’s shoulder almost the second he sat down. She held him tightly to her as if she was afraid he might disappear if she let him go for a single second.
“Alright, catch me up,” Dr. Osborne said quickly, glancing over at Mikey with some wariness. “Should you and I step outside?”
I realized that Osborne and the parents didn’t know yet what had happened to the boy while he was held captive, so I quickly caught them up, assuring them that he was a bit dirty, tired, and hungry, but otherwise unharmed. Their relief was palpable.
“Thank God,” Curt sighed, his whole body practically deflating as he released the tension he’d been holding for so long.
“I’ll be,” Dr. Osborne said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I never would’ve guessed this ending, I’ll tell you that much.”
“I know,” I said darkly. “I don’t know that I would’ve either, but I couldn’t be happier with the way things went. Now everyone can focus on finding those other kids and taking down the whole gang. This shouldn’t happen to any other kid again. Not here, anyway. Not this way.”
“We couldn’t be more grateful,” Annabelle gushed, looking at me with almost pleading eyes. “Anything we can do, just name it.”
“No, ma’am, I was just doing my job,” I assured her just as I had her husband, holding up a hand to indicate as much. Then, despite myself, I glanced over at Jackson still lurking behind that plant, watching us intently.
Annabelle followed my gaze, and surprisingly, her face softened.
“Come here, Jackson,” she called out, waving him over. “Come sit with us.”
Mikey didn’t move, snoring gently on his mother’s shoulder as he got some well-needed rest, but the gesture was what counted. Annabelle was welcoming Jackson into their family, in a way. It probably wouldn’t be smooth sailing, but at least it was a start.
Tentatively, Jackson meandered over to us and leaned against the side of the couch that Dr. Osborne and I were sitting on across from Curt, Annabelle, and Mikey. It seemed as if Jackson was afraid to get any closer to them.
“Is he okay?” he asked in a voice so soft I could barely hear it, unable to take his eyes off of Mikey.
“Yes, he’s going to be just fine,” Dr. Osborne said, reaching up and squeezing Jackson’s hand.
We quickly gave Jackson a rundown of everything that had happened and everything that Mikey had told Nina and me about his adventure with Charlie on the water.
“So he really is okay, then?” Jackson asked when we were finished, looking more than a little surprised. “Like, he was just cold and hungry? Nothing else happened to him?”
“No, nothing else,” I chuckled. “You’ve all got a good kid here. Don’t lose him again.”
“Oh, we won’t,” Curt assured me, squeezing Mikey’s shoulder gently from the boy’s other side.
“No,” Annabelle said softly, burying her face in her son’s wispy light brown hair. “No, we won’t.”
“It will take some time to get things back to normal,” Dr. Osborne told them, her characteristically stern expression returning to her after a brief reprieve. “In fact, I’d say you need to work toward a new normal, instead of looking back. Mikey got very lucky today, but he’s still going to be affected by what happened. He’ll probably regress a bit for a while, have some separation anxiety. That’s all to be expected. School in the fall might be an ease-in kind of process this year, instead of just going back right away. The good news is that you have a couple of months of summer to prepare.”
“We… we understand,” Curt stammered. “Or if we don’t yet, we will.”
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” Dr. Osborne assured them. “I’ll have other cases, but I’m not far away from you in Virginia, and I’m not going to abandon Mikey. I’ll see your family through this.”
“Thank you so much,” Curt said, looking more than relieved to hear this. “We appreciate that. We know Mikey will need more help, and this is probably just the beginning. We’re just so glad to have him back.”
“And we’ll have other help, too,” Annabelle said, smiling up at Jackson.
“I wouldn’t dream of making his life more unstable right now,” Jackson said quickly.
“We know,” Annabelle said. “And thank you. But as they say, it takes a village.”
“I, um… thank you,” Jackson said, hanging his head as if he couldn’t believe that this was all happening.
I glanced over at Dr. Osborne and smiled. Her eyes sparkled.
“When does your fiancée get here?” Curt asked Jackson, looking up at the other man in what I had to assume was their most friendly interaction yet.
“I… uh, she lands early this morning,” he sputtered, clearly surprised by this one-eighty, though pleased.
“Well, we look forward to meeting her,” Annabelle said. “And to introducing the both of you to Mikey.”
Jackson looked like he might just cry for joy.
29
Ethan
I slept for a few hours after that, though my body ached for more after such a harrowing and physically demanding case.
When I awoke and returned to the hotel lobby, I saw Jackson and a woman I didn’t know talking to Mikey while Curt and Annabelle stood off to the side, watching them and drinking coffee. The boy was laughing, and so was the couple. I couldn’t help but smile and think that we’d done well on this one. This just might have turned out to be my most rewarding case yet.
The lobby was still crawling with law enforcement, and the clerks standing at the desk looked more than a little uncomfortable with the situation, though they didn’t say anything to that effect.
“Hey, thanks for letting us use your space,” I told them, leaning against the front desk. “We really appreciate having such a large area to meet after what happened yesterday.”
“Of course,” a young woman with a manager’s name tag said, forcing a smile. “We’re happy to help. And so glad that you found Mikey.”
I glanced up at a small television hanging above the breakfast area off to the side of the lobby. Predictably, there was a reporter on there excitedly talking about how the boy had been found the night before.
As I squinted at the screen, I realized that the woman was standing outside this very hotel, making her report.
I slowly made my way toward the front doors, only to be practically assaulted with camera flashes and microphones being jabbed in my face the second I stepped outdoors.
“Are you one of the agents who found Mikey?” a reporter asked.
“Which agency are you with?” another asked. “MBLIS or the FBI?”
“Will you be working on the case to take down the human trafficking ring in Durham?” another cried, practically throwing his microphone over the mass of bodies in front of him to get to me.
I blinked, overwhelmed by this sudden exposure to the media. I was used to working more behind
the scenes.
Suddenly, someone was grabbing me from behind and pulling me back into the entryway between the front doors and the lobby.
“Whoa, Marston, sorry. Someone should’ve briefed you,” Nina said, and I turned around to see her standing there, grinning at me.
“It’s alright,” I said, blinking a few times and running a hand across my face in an attempt to recover from the onslaught.
“They must’ve seen your badge,” she said apologetically, glancing down where it hung at my belt.
“Oh, right,” I said, pulling it off and hiding it safely away in my jacket pocket, as I didn’t need any more of that today. “So I’m guessing you briefed the media?”
“Yeah, Osborne did a press conference early this morning with the family, once Jackson’s fiancée flew in. The whole thing was pretty melodramatic, lots of crying, but I got through it.”
“You were in the press conference?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise that Nina would put herself through such a thing willingly.
“Try not to sound so surprised,” she said dryly. “But yeah, someone had to brief the press on the law enforcement side of things. I told Osborne not to get used to the company, though. I won’t be doing any more of those things if I can help it.”
Her eyes flicked involuntarily to the TV screen I had been looking at before, which we could see through the large glass double doors to the hotel.
Sure enough, there was Nina standing at a podium, looking more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen her. But she was there alright.
“They keep showing it,” she grimaced. “I don’t know why they keep showing it. Not just locally, either. It’s all over the national networks, too.”
“Well, it is big news,” I chuckled. “And I’m sure you did just fine.”
“Ugh,” Nina groaned, rolling her eyes and peeling her eyes off of the screen.
“Why didn’t you wake me for the conference? I would’ve been happy to help out,” I told her, though I secretly didn’t mind not having to deal with any of that mess.
