by C. L. Stone
North grumbled again. “And we’re short on people at the Academy as it is.”
“Kota has a dog.”
North narrowed his eyes at Luke. “Kota has family to help with Max. You and I have Uncle taking the last bit of our time—what little we have—on starting up his,” he paused and his tone filled with annoyance, “diner.”
“You told him it was a good idea,” Luke said.
“For him, and later, when we wouldn’t have to be so involved,” he said.
Luke and North crossed the road with the dog in tow. Silas was still sitting in the Jeep across the way.
He stepped out, giving at them with a strange look. “Don’t tell me the Academy was looking for a real dog this time,” he said with a chuckle at the end.
“No,” Luke said. “She was just caught in the dilapidated building.”
“We need to find a place for her to go,” North said.
“Not a shelter!” Luke adamantly waved a hand through the air. “They might put her to sleep. She needs an actual home.”
“There are no-kill shelters,” North said. “You’d think I’d take a dog to any sort of kill shelter?”
Luke quieted, relieved. “I think we can take an extra step and find her a good home.”
North rolled his eyes. “We don’t have the time. It could take weeks.”
“I know someone,” Silas said quietly.
North shot him a look. “You can’t keep a dog at your apartment.”
“No,” he said. “But my dad was talking about someone at work having lost his dog a few weeks ago. I can take her with me, for now, and take her over to his house in the morning. I know the guy. I think he’d appreciate it.”
North considered this. “Well, if he’ll take her...”
Luke was a little disappointed. He was sort of hoping he’d get to keep her for at least a few days, enough to convince North that he could keep up with a dog and could keep her forever.
Luke resolved himself, however, to trust Silas. As long as the dog was happy in his new owner, he would be happy to let her go.
6
In the car on the way to Silas’s house, the dog nervously sat next to Luke, looking out the side window. It whined occasionally, a light, panting noise. Luke petted her on the back and she quieted.
“I hope it doesn’t need to poop,” Silas said.
North muttered something under his breath, likely a slew of curses.
Despite his brother’s grumpy attitude, Luke was pleasantly satisfied with what happened. North just needed to stop being so gloomy all the time. Their Academy assignment at the high school... he’d get into fights or anger the teachers with that attitude.
On a personal level, Luke wasn’t so sure he would survive a year of being so busy and North being so grumpy.
He cared about his brother, but sometimes being around the grump all day wore down his own usually cheerful attitude.
They dropped the dog off with Silas at the apartment complex.
“We’re going home now?” Luke said, hopeful that home was the next step, or maybe even Kota’s house. Anywhere else.
“No,” North said. “We have to go back to the motel.”
Luke wrinkled his nose. “But we need Victor.”
“Victor has a few things to do and will show up tonight. We’re on monitoring duty. We only brought Silas back because of the dog.”
Luke groaned. He hated monitoring duty. And now Silas wasn’t here to talk to North.
“I don’t suppose you want to play a game to pass the time,” Luke said as North got the Jeep back on the main road to head back to the motel.
“Not particularly,” North said.
“What about Name That Tune?”
North rolled his eyes.
“No trivia?” Luke asked.
“Huhn.” North grumbled.
“Twenty questions?”
North shot a glare at him from the rearview mirror.
Not that Luke had much hope. North was never any fun.
Luke was still in the back seat. He took out his phone, ready to text anyone else in the group. Who would sit with grumpy butt for a few hours and save Luke from the trouble? Maybe Nathan would do it.
He really didn’t mind his brother, but they’d spent a lot of time together lately... North was an intense personality to deal with on a regular basis.
“By the way,” North said, “Uncle found what he wanted.”
“Already?”
He nodded. “The abandoned church on Kota’s street. He wants that location.”
“Well, good,” Luke said.
“It’s not set up for a diner,” North said. “It’ll cost more money just to set it up.”
“But it has a large parking lot,” Luke said. Luke tried to picture the place in his mind. “And plenty of space inside, and a kitchen that could be expanded.”
North twisted around a little to look at him in the back before refocusing on the road. “How would you know?”
“I’ve been inside.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. One day I was walking around while in their neighborhood and someone left one of the windows open.”
North made some deep incoherent noises. “You shouldn’t break into places like that.”
“I did no such thing,” Luke said quickly. “I only got in to close the window and make sure the place didn’t have any wild animals in it and go out the door. I just happened to look around before I left.”
North released a frustrated sigh but he didn’t argue with him. “Well, we’re to go tomorrow morning early and check it out.”
Uncle wanted North to point out all the issues, because North was very good at pointing out problems. It didn’t mean Uncle wouldn’t buy the place...it just meant he’d get a good list out of North as to what to start with.
Luke adjusted himself until he was practically lying down in the seat.
“Keep your seatbelt on,” North said.
Luke focused on his phone, and then remembered the messages he’d gotten earlier, the one about Sang. Who was that?
He hovered over the number Kota had mentioned, and then the one-word message he’d gotten.
He tried to picture a Sang. What did a Sang look like?
“Did you get a message from Sang?” Luke asked North. “From Kota?”
“Yeah,” North said. “No idea what’s going on there. Silas, Gabriel, and Victor were all riled up about...whoever he is.”
“He?”
“I don’t know. Just an assumption, but it sounded like Kota maybe found someone for the Academy or someone to help. I just don’t know. I’ll wait until he says we need to do something about whoever it is.”
Usually if they needed to know, Kota would provide more information. All he said was: I’ll tell you later.
When was later? Was now later?
Was he supposed to do something with this Sang person?
Well, Kota said the person would message. They did. Should he message back?
Since he was going to get stuck in the car for a while longer anyway, he sent a quick message, letting the other person decide to talk if they wanted to.
Luke: Hi.
That was it. Not a lot. He had nothing to go on.
A reply message didn’t come until they were once again at the motel.
“We can’t just linger in the parking lot on the other side,” North said. “It’s too noticeable. We need to stay for a bit.”
Understandable. Luke stayed in the Jeep while North went inside to reserve a room.
Sang: Hello.
The message was surprising to get. Hello. Luke made a raspberry sound with his lips. Now what? What was he supposed to do with this?
Sang sounded familiar, though. Didn’t Kota have a new neighbor? He’d half heard about it but it was kind of Kota and Nathan just monitoring their neighborhood for safety reasons. Sang might be the new neighbor. Was that what this was about?
But wasn’t it a girl? Or...he couldn’t a
ctually remember. He sort of forgot about it when Kota took charge of his own neighborhood monitoring.
One way to find out. He sent a message along, hoping to just get a little more to go on.
Luke: I’m Lucian but everyone calls me Luke. You’re Sang, right? Where did you move from?
The reply was instant.
Sang: I’m from up north. The south is different.
Sure was. Still kind of getting warmed up with conversation. The person seemed nice so far.
Luke: It’s warmer, but it’s probably the same.
Sang: There’s also palm trees.
Luke: LOL
That was lame. Luke struggled with what else to say. It seemed rude to ask: are you a guy or a girl... or a they, them or what else... Not that it totally mattered, but making conversation was difficult and he had nothing to go on here.
Sang: Are you coming over tomorrow? Kota mentioned it.
He did? Sang knowing he was coming over was weird and threw him off. Why would Kota even mention to a complete stranger about where he’d be?
Or was it the diner? Did Kota already know?
Luke: Yeah. In the morning, I think.
Sang: What’s the big announcement?
Luke blew another very loud raspberry, perplexed. What in the world is going on? He tried to make the connection: North was likely keeping in touch with Kota about the diner. And then Kota’s blabbing about it to this person?
Still, it wasn’t clear so he continued.
Luke: Promise not to tell?
He didn’t want to say it was for certain yet, not when Uncle hadn’t bought the place.
Sang: I promise.
Luke: Pinkie swear?
Sang: How can I pinkie swear if I’m not there to shake your pinkie?
Opportune moment here. Maybe he could get a picture. If he took a picture just right... if he got a pinkie finger in near his face, maybe they’d take one near a face, too? It made him realize how hard it was to converse without seeing a face sometimes or knowing anything about the person.
He wasn’t totally sure how much he should talk to Sang anyway. It seemed to be Kota’s... friend... person. But then why give Sang’s number to everyone? That never happened before.
North interrupted, opening the driver’s side door, getting in and slamming it shut. “Shit manager they have here.”
Luke hesitated. He didn’t want to make it obvious what he was doing. North would likely gripe about it and call it dumb.
He had to settle for a quick picture of just his hand, using the seat of the Jeep as a dark backdrop.
Even then, the camera noise and a flash made North take a glance back at him. “What are you doing?”
“Just texting,” Luke said. It was generic enough. North would likely assume he was talking to Gabriel or someone else. Catching up on what they were up to at the motel was a valid excuse. Normally, that’s what he’d be doing, entertaining himself by catching up with everyone else.
They were all really quiet today. Were they all on weird Academy missions like they were? Usually they texted anyway unless it was uber secret.
North drove around the motel to building A on the top floor, room 211 A. It was sort of in the middle between the two buildings and they could lean out and look around the parking lot. With the right camera to hang just over the ledge, they could get a good shot of the bottom floor to get a glimpse at who was here.
“Should we try to get a copy of the current motel guest list tonight?” North asked. “I think we can do that without Victor.”
Luke heard him but his phone buzzed at the same time. It was a photo.
There was a hand near a leg. The hand appeared small, the pinkie sticking out to make the promise complete. There was a book in the background nearby. Just an assumption, but either a girl or a feminine appearing person. At least there was more to go on here.
Luke: Your hands are small.
Sang: How can you tell?
Luke: There’s a book in the shot. Is that Grimm’s Fairy Tales?
North continued talking, then got out of the Jeep and peered in at Luke. “Are you even listening?”
He’d said more things, and no... he hadn’t been listening at all. “Sure, yeah,” Luke said. He was a bit more invested in getting to know Sang.
Sang: Yes.
Luke: Which one’s your favorite?
North closed the Jeep door and walked away, grumbling. Luke sat in the empty car while it was getting darker out, or at least the sun was on the other side of the motel.
Sang: I like The Princess in Disguise. So what’s your big news?
He could tell, right? It wasn’t like an Academy secret. Well, it was, but there was no way Sang would know that.
Luke: We’re buying the church on your block.
Sang: What? Why?
Not exactly something he could just tell her truthfully. Well, not the full truth. A secret way to filter jobs and money to Academy people without it being too obvious.
He sent the message.
Luke: We’re opening a diner.
She didn’t answer for a while. After a couple of minutes, he realized again he was alone in the Jeep and likely looking weird to anyone paying attention. He got out, double-checked that there wasn’t anything of interest in any of the seats, and then locked the door before heading upstairs to the room. Which one was it? North had said, but he climbed the steps and analyzed the doors, trying to remember which one it was.
He knocked at 210 first, and when there wasn’t an answer, he tried 211.
North opened the door. “Listen, space case,” he said. “We’re going for the list. We need to plan.”
“Right now?” Luke asked. He was hoping to settle in and talk to Sang. While he was interested in who was doing all the hacking stuff in the computer room, he was more than curious now about what was going on and wanted to check in with Gabriel... or Kota... who this was. Why would Kota send a random person all of their numbers? That’d not been done... in ever. Why Sang? Why...
North interrupted his thoughts with snapping fingers. “Wake up! What is wrong with you?”
“Split brain,” Luke confessed. “Got people texting me and was thinking about other stuff.”
“Well, I need you here. You’re the only option I have right now.”
Luke put the phone in his pocket. North usually wasn’t so worked up. “Chill, I’m right here. You want to get the list of people staying here. What do you want me to do? Distract the manager?”
North’s dark eyes drifted toward the front of the motel. “How good were you at checking out the layout inside the front?”
“I got to the back,” Luke said. “There’s a housekeeping area and the ice and soda machines ... outside of the business center office space, which if whoever is in there hasn’t left yet, we don’t want to disrupt right now. Then there’s that short hallway for management with all the closed doors but I didn’t want to poke around just yet.”
“When I checked in, he took everything to the back room to check in. I don’t know if it’s a physical book or a computer. We should find the current list and the IDs. Then make a photocopy.”
“Right. You go in, ask for more towels. I’ll sneak in with a camera and take photos of it all. If it’s a computer, it’s probably on and running. Easy peasy.”
“Not easy,” North said. “There’s only a tiny window in his office, and it’d be too obvious if you were to sneak around to go to the office if I’m at the desk. He’ll be quick to send me off and tell me he’ll send some up. We need to lure him out and hope that you can get out of there in time. We need a distraction. And a big one.”
Luke didn’t like the sound of that. What would draw the manager out, without either of them getting too noticed by other tenants... and not bad enough to scare away the target? They didn’t even have an image of who they were supposed to be looking for yet, and if the person was young, their age...he either had a fake ID or some adult checked him in, not the one they
were looking for.
“Let’s just wait,” Luke said. “By the time we’re done breaking in and that stuff, we’ll be able to follow this person in the office back to whatever hotel room. If we cause a commotion, they might catch on to us and we don’t want anyone to be paranoid.”
North was silent for a moment. “Not like you to not to want to get in quick.”
“It’s not like you to want to hurry things along,” Luke said. He squinted at his brother, the dark hair and eyes. “What’s with you? You’ve been more grumpy than usual. And that’s saying something.”
He rolled his eyes, turned away and sat on one of the beds, still made up. They likely wouldn’t even sleep here tonight. “I’m not looking forward to this diner that Uncle is talking about. It’s what he wants to do, not really something I want to spend my time on.”
“You don’t have to. He has other people who want to work there.”
“He’ll want us. Who do you think he’ll have take it over when he does finally decide to retire? It’s Academy-based. He’d want someone within the system to take it.”
Good point. They were the only kinship who would understand that. “But we don’t want that,” Luke said carefully. He hadn’t really thought of it, because it never occurred to him to want to open a diner... ever. “We don’t have to...”
North’s dark eyes focused on the window instead of looking at him. “He’s hinted at it. More than a few times.”
“He’s also said he’s splitting it with his teammates. Maybe their kids will want it.”
North grunted. “Team members he never sees anymore because their kids are all younger than us. They also have different careers. He talks about it more like a family business.”
Luke nudged the toe of his sneakers against the thin utility carpet of the motel room. “We’ll figure it out. He still has to buy one and get it started. And we’ll have lots of time away with the school and other things we have to do. Eventually he might meet an Academy person who really wants to continue the diner. And he’d understand if we wanted to do other things later on.”
This didn’t seem to satisfy North. He shifted to sitting back on the bed and opened his phone. “Let’s just get this job done. We didn’t even get a letter and we’re the ones here checking the person out.”
