by C. L. Stone
North and Silas quieted. They parked the Jeep to face the only thing with any live humans, the motel across the street.
Luke watched, but then leaned forward, trying to get his face as close to the running AC as he could. He stilled for as long as they were quiet and sitting in the car, which seemed like a long time.
“Is this right?” Silas, nudging Luke back, and reached for an envelope that was wedged between his seat and the middle console. He checked the address in the far-left corner and gazed at the GPS. “Unless the GPS is off.”
“I wish they’d send actual coordinates instead of addresses,” North said.
“It should be obvious,” Luke said.
North and Silas twisted a bit to look at him, nearly knocking heads to do so.
“Is this obvious to you?” North asked.
“We’re here for someone our age,” Luke said, and then took up a voice to mimic Kota. “And someone smart, most likely, to be of interest. And likely not living in great conditions. And even more likely to have a not great family relationship...”
“You’ve said likely three times,” Silas butted in with a smirk. “Kota doesn’t do that.”
“He does,” North said and returned to looking at the motel. “But you’re right. It’ll be obvious, whoever it is. We need someone to head over and scope out the place.”
“I’ll do it,” Luke said, and before they could say anything else, he jumped out of the car, jogging first toward the abandoned fast-food place. He didn’t want to be stuck in the Jeep for hours. He was the best one to go check it out anyway. He could crawl into spaces the others couldn’t.
The fast-food restaurant was a good first pick. Fewer rooms, for one. It’s likely there were hobos inside, if there was a way inside, but it was good to double-check for signs of any teenagers possibly living on the streets.
He approached the building. This place was a generous distance from most anything else where humans were, outside of the motel. Windows boarded with plywood; any visible glass broken. The dead bushes, with jagged broken branches, seemed to be the only security. Graffiti stained the plywood and brick siding. The smell lingered; old, broken, decaying.
He checked the boards for handprints, found one that was clearly dirty along the edges, and tested it. The nails were missing. It opened enough for a body to get through.
The likelihood that someone was inside increased.
Luke waited, listening. After a minute, he crouched down and peered in.
It was mostly shadows on shadows. If anyone was in, they were keeping quiet.
Or sleeping.
Or dead.
They didn’t send Academy after dead people. It was likely this was the wrong place, anyway. Just to be sure, Luke wedged himself inside.
At first, he waited for ages and ages.
He didn’t want to scare anyone, but he was listening. If anyone was here, asleep or not, he’d hear it.
Minutes passed. Long minutes. This was the hard part of sneaking around places. The waiting. Let them make the first move.
After a while, it was clear he was likely alone. Except for space in the back where there could be something.
He motioned with his phone to turn a light on, shining it toward the darkened spaces.
A dangerous move. North would yell at him for this. He expected a phone call asking what was taking him so long and to give an update at any moment.
His nose coated with the scent of human waste, rotting food, decaying dirt and moisture. The smell was horrendous, but Luke tried to hold his breath, keeping near the plywood opening as an escape route.
A message coming in vibrated his phone against his hand. He glanced at it quick, but as he did, motion from the other side of the room caught his eye.
He stopped and waited. It was too fast and his eyes were adjusting. He swung the light around.
A dog hunched up in the corner, back to the wall, turned toward Luke.
From what Luke could tell, it was the only creature in the place, but it hadn’t been the only living thing in here. There were old clothes and trash bags crammed up against the corners. Tables left behind by the restaurant piled up at the door as a brace. Some tables held old food containers and broken glass bottles.
Luke waited, letting the dog make the first move. The dog hesitated. It was skinny, with wire brush hair and sorrowful brown eyes. Was it trapped in here?
Luke kept on his knees, motioning to the dog. “Come on. Here puppy.”
It remained still, with back arched and tail tucked between legs, and just stared back at Luke.
Luke waited, crouched, and allowed the dog to get used to just having someone here.
He’d have to deal with it in a minute. He wanted to be sure to figure out what they were looking for first. It couldn’t get out on its own, so Luke wanted to come back.
Luke climbed back out of the fast-food place, skirting toward the motel and its front office.
He waited outside the building, trying to appear uninteresting. He did so by checking his phone for the message that came in earlier, something from a number he didn’t recognize.
Weird. Kota had messaged, too, saying the person... Sang... would send a message. Not much more than that.
All it said was hello. That was it.
“Ooookaaaay,” he whispered to himself, trying to figure out what that was about. Another thing for the to do list.
Find out who they were supposed to be looking for.
Dog.
Figure out who Sang is.
He wasn’t great at focusing, so making a short list helped. That’s not who he was looking for, was it? Was Kota outside?
He backed up against the wall, taking one last look at the dog inside. It hadn’t moved from the corner. “Don’t go anywhere,” he whispered. Maybe he could find a bit of food somewhere that would lure the dog out.
Luke slipped around the edge of the fast-food place and checked on the Jeep across the way. Still there. Likely North and Silas were paying attention and could watch his back.
Time for the motel.
4
To not appear too strange just standing there looking at the place, Luke tried to come up with a lie to visit the front office as a starting point. He recited the lie to himself on the way.
Across some scraggly brush and cracked asphalt, paper notices covered the glass front door. He focused on one about some security cameras. Above his head, there appeared to be a box for a security camera, but it was hard to identify the model, and if it was even on.
Good to know. He changed his lie appropriately for any excuse that would get him into the security room and headed in.
No one was in the lobby. There wasn’t even a doorbell to alert that someone had arrived. There was a desk to the right, and further in, a corner counter area where there were newspapers stacked haphazardly, some fruit, an open donut box, although empty—a shame—and a coffee making station with some packets of oatmeal. The continental breakfast options were unimpressive.
With such meager offerings, it was surprising they still offered anything.
Do dogs like oatmeal?
There was a short hallway on the other side of the room. Luke tiptoed across the utility carpet, peeking around corners and into doors before proceeding. A door marked manager’s office was closed. There was another room that was unmarked, but the door was locked. Since it was right next to the breakfast nook area, he assumed that was storage for coffee and other front desk items. He’d have to check on it later if he was wrong.
He took his time at the breakfast nook area, waiting for management, or anyone else, to come in. No one did. To occupy himself, he emptied the coffee pot into a small sink, filled it with water and let it heat in the coffee station—without coffee—to get it warm enough for oatmeal. Sure, he could use the microwave, but he was here to waste time for a while. Getting to know the layout and the people were part of what his job usually entailed. Blend in, find your way into places you weren’t suppo
sed to be, pretend to be some dumb kid who didn’t know any better.
After some oatmeal, some water, and a banana, it was time to explore the rest of the front area out of view of the empty front desk.
Further down the hallway, there was a door that was open, and while there was a glow inside, it was still dark, the overhead lights remained off.
Luke crept to the door and looked in.
It was an office area. There was a short conference table in the center with only two plastic chairs. A whiteboard hung against the wall, stained with a few grotesque penis and breast depictions that never really wiped clean.
On the offset, the room seemed empty, quiet and void of any life. It wasn’t until Luke, mapping the motel square footage and layout in his mind, leaned far in and as silently as he could, that he discovered the room was much longer than anticipated.
The locked door...wasn’t a store room. Or maybe they changed the configuration sometime over the years. The locked door was the first door to this office room.
At the far end of the room, a desk sat, with an executive rolling chair positioned at one of the computer stations.
Someone was in the chair, with their legs barely outlined in the shadow underneath the chair. From what Luke could tell, they were using both computers, and they positioned the two monitors for the different computers as if they were exclusively for him.
The screens blinked and moved a lot faster than he imagined a rundown motel with a wimpy breakfast offering would ever move. Watching for only a couple of minutes, the screens blazed as code sped by and a loading bar to one side moved quickly.
It wasn’t the type of place to keep up with upgrading computers.
Uploading, downloading...
The rest of the room had unused equipment stashed around. The conference table sat cluttered with library books and computer manuals.
Luke couldn’t stay in the hallway, and he didn’t want to spook whoever it was at the computers. Clearly, whoever it was wanted to appear like he wasn’t there at all, until you leaned in very far to see the room was occupied.
He’d likely found who they were looking for. It was highly unusual activity in a place like this. He’d have to wait to find out if it was someone their own age or older. He couldn’t get a good view without scaring the person.
It was better if the person never knew they were being watched.
Luke could make a few assumptions about their mystery friend: this person took advantage of the likelihood other people would not be interested in a rundown motel’s computer office. They did code-things. Things Luke didn’t know.
He needed Victor. They’d have to be very careful. Whoever it was wouldn’t like what they were doing to be noticed.
Luke moved on, checking the rest of the hallway first, finding the housekeeping area with laundry machines running and stacks of neatly folded sheets and towels. There was a slight smell of tobacco smoke and bleach that made him want to hold his breath. The combination left a burning taste in the back of his throat.
Not much else in the area except an ice machine with a handwritten sign letting people know it was broken, and a soda machine, with half of the options appearing to be empty.
Luke kept looking at the machine, and as an excuse to be in the area, he reached into his pocket for some coins and got a cola. The can’s surface Christmas design seemed odd, despite it being summer. Likely that’s how old the soda was.
Luke’s phone suddenly came to life.
North: What’s taking so long?
Luke poked his head out of the motel lobby quickly, meaning to signal to Silas and North he was okay, but there was another car near the Jeep. Looked like Victor’s BMW. Or Mr. Blackbourne.
Luke sent a quick text, letting North know he’d be back in a minute and everything was fine. Nothing much to report except there was possibly some mischief going on. Nothing to do but keep an eye on it and possibly get Victor to poke around the computer when whoever it was went to bed.
Now on to another checkmark off the to do list. Time to take care of the dog.
5
Luke continued to wait around in the breakfast nook. The manager, any guests, any housekeeping services or maintenance people never showed up. There was another hallway behind the check in counter with doors closed, light off, and it appeared to be management. Luke just wanted to test how long he could linger around without anyone coming out.
The person in the business center never came out either.
After a while, it was clear there was a lot of dead time in the front office, and unless you were willing to make some noise, no one would notice you.
Good to know.
On his way out, Luke took a couple of oatmeal packets, and combined them with some creamer and water to make a goopy concoction that resembled milky oatmeal, at least maybe to a dog.
They were probably already drawing some attention just hanging around, especially in the middle of the day. Luke tried to not look in North’s direction as he headed back to the abandoned restaurant building.
He found the loose section of plywood again.
This time, he wedged himself inside, careful not to spill the oatmeal in the paper coffee cup.
The dog had moved since he left, but the space was still dark and smelled horribly.
Luke waited, unsure if someone else might be in here. “Where’d you go, puppy?”
There was a skittering noise in the back.
Luke tiptoed and then crouched, holding out the oatmeal, ready.
He waited for the dog to come to him.
The dog peered at him from behind a table left on its side. It looked at him, its big brown eyes wide. Its tail tucked again. It lowered its head.
“Come on,” Luke whispered, holding the oatmeal concoction out. He breathed out slowly, trying to relax his face, his body and appear calm.
The dog still hesitated for a moment, but the lure of some food won over eventually and it came closer to sniff.
It was a girl dog, from what Luke could tell. She sniffed the cup in his hand, licked at the surface of the oatmeal and then glanced back up at him, unsure.
“Have some,” he breathed. “I have nothing else for you.”
The dog licked at the cold oatmeal, trying to get more at the liquid than the oats, but eventually picked up bits and ate them.
Now what, Luke wondered, trying to figure out what to do with the dog. He searched the debris surrounding them, but nothing appeared useful.
Suddenly a deep voice reverberated and shook him nearly out of his shoes.
“Luke!” It was North, attempting to whisper, but his deep voice carried over. “What are you doing in here?”
The dog became spooked and backed up.
Luke whispered harshly at North. “Don’t scare her!”
North materialized next to Luke, crouching how Luke was and peering into the darkness. His eyes likely still needed adjusting.
When he spotted the dog, he frowned. “We don’t have time for this.”
“It’s trapped in here,” Luke said. “Help me get her out.”
“And then what?” North asked, his voice grumbling. “I swear, you never think far enough ahead. We’re supposed to be looking for... whoever.”
“I found him. Her. Them...” Luke repositioned himself so he was crawling on his knees closer to the dog, offering the half-eaten oatmeal again. “At least I think I did. We need Victor.”
“Why can’t we do it?”
“Because they’re smart, very smart, whoever it is.” The dog got closer, drawn to the oatmeal, and ate it again. “The smart ones are usually the most...skittery. More likely to get scared off or get the wrong idea. Paranoid and cautious. But we should probably see what they’re doing at the office computers at the motel’s business center. There’s coding of some sort. I’m sure Victor will know. That’ll be a quick way to assess character and possibilities.”
North fell silent, waiting and watching. It was likely North agreed with Lu
ke, but North never just agreed outright. He just moved on to the next step. “Victor just left.”
“We’d have to do it later, anyway,” Luke said. “But we need to monitor the main office doors and then we can get a peek at whoever it is and see which room they’re staying in. There are supposedly some cameras around, too. There was a notice on the door.”
North frowned. “Someone is going to have to rent a room here for a couple of days. We can’t keep showing up and looking around and then just leaving. It’ll go noticed.”
“Help me find a bit of rope,” Luke said, motioning to the dog. “She’s almost done with this oatmeal.”
North left him, followed by the sound of the loose board clattering against the wall.
When she finished, the dog still licked at the cup.
Luke offered her his hand to sniff. She did, licked it, and then waited.
He reached over, carefully scratching at the ears, the wiry coarse hairs. She was cute.
It was several minutes before North returned with some paracord and a packet of beef jerky. “Here,” he said, tossing the jerky at Luke.
Luke caught it, ripping it open and offering a little to the dog. The dog nearly swallowed the first piece whole.
“Don’t feed it the whole thing,” North said. “Just use it as a lure.” He knotted the paracord to make a leash. “Put this around the neck.”
Luke did the work, as the dog seemed to trust him more. He carefully put the leash around his neck, made sure it fit properly. North had to show him how to do it so he wouldn’t end up choking the dog if she decided to bolt.
North led the way out of the abandoned restaurant. On the sidewalk outside, the day had shifted to late afternoon. Luke yawned, already exhausted.
“Now we have to find a place for it to go.”
“It’s a girl,” Luke said. “And why can’t we keep her?”
“Because, if you don’t remember, we’re starting school soon...”
“People who go to school have dogs.”
“And we’re on a job here...”
“People who have jobs have dogs.”
