Learning the Hard Way 2

by H. P. Caledon

  Keelan had misjudged Mike. It wasn’t just ignorance—he cared.

  “So, our options as I see it,” Keelan said. “One, she’s still here, and if that’s the case, then she’s either a whore or in a group. If not, then she bailed Verion four with either smugglers, a ferry, a freighter—”

  “Collectors.”

  “I feel so fucking useless,” Keelan growled and slumped back in his chair.

  “We have to go into Churchburrow and get her file. We need a picture,” Mike said.

  “We promised Lewis—”

  “Yeah, but Ratkins didn’t. We’ll ask him to do it.”

  Keelan raised a brow at him. “Asking him to do it for us is us doing it.”

  “No, ‘cause we’re just going to mention in idle conversation that we’d really like to do it, but can’t do it. Then we’re going to place money on the table, and if it disappears, we’ll get our information without really having asked him to get it for us.”

  “I don’t like your take on how to keep promises, Mike.”

  “Fine, stay outside.”

  “When will he be here?”

  “A few days. I talked with him this morning, and he’s far from convinced about this whole twin brother thing.”

  “Is he going to tell?”

  “Nah, Lewis talked to him, too,” Mike said and finished his mug of soup.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  The bar was slowly beginning to fill with the regulars. Keelan sat at a table and watched what he suspected was a normal day.

  Mike was at the bank at the moment, so Keelan relaxed with a cup of coffee.

  Alice joined him.

  “I don’t know where to start,” he said and took her hand. “My only option to finding her means I have to see her to be able to recognize her.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I’m an Evo, I know that much. But I don’t know which kind. I just know I can find her like that.”

  “Evo? You never told me that.”

  He was happy to not hear aversion in her voice. “I think there’s a lot we never told each other.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled saddened and caressed his cheek. “I won’t be disappointed if you can’t find her.”

  “I will.”

  “Will you promise me one thing?”

  Keelan looked at her. “What?”

  “To not... that you won’t leave me to find her.”

  “But, if she left the planet, then—”

  “We can make a new one. One we can watch grow, love, and be there for.” There was something desperate about the way she said it.

  “Here? You want to raise a child on Verion four?” he asked. She shrugged and looked down.

  “I have to know what happened to her. Until then—”

  Mike and Ratkins came through the door and walked their way. Ratkins glanced disapprovingly at Alice, whose man-eating attitude returned instantly.

  “Haven’t I asked you to get the hell out of my bar already?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Mike smiled at Keelan. “Forget about what I said about someone having to be of a certain rank to make everything sound like an order. Then again, I don’t know if you were ever an officer in the fleet,” Mike said and looked at Alice.

  Keelan snorted. “Alice, I need his help.”

  She looked at Keelan, and her eyes softened for a brief moment. “Tend to your own company,” she said and left.

  “You guys want something?” Keelan asked and got up.

  “Don’t believe we’ve ever met,” Ratkins said, extending his hand. “But I’ve had the dubious pleasure of meeting your twin brother.” The last words were almost sneered.

  “Right.” Keelan shook Ratkins’ hand, squeezing just a bit harder than necessary. Just like Ratkins had.

  “Yes, thank you. Reel in the hormones, fellas,” Mike said and pulled out a chair. “Ratkins, we have a problem.”

  “So do I, and it’s a hemorrhoid big enough to sit on a chair on its own,” Ratkins said and discreetly pointed at Keelan.

  Mike cleared his throat and lifted his jacket just enough to reveal a bunch of cash. “Is this enough for hemorrhoid ointment?”

  Ratkins sat. “And a cold beer would be nice.”

  “Two,” Mike said and glanced at Keelan. That was his cue to leave so Mike could dance around the promise they’d made Lewis. Keelan wasn’t comfortable with it, but he also knew they had no other way of finding her. So he waited by the end of the bar for Mike to signal that they were done.

  It didn’t take long, so Keelan went behind the bar and grabbed three cold beers. He stopped to kiss Alice on the cheek—earning himself at least fourteen jealous and gaping looks—and returned to the table.

  “So, Kaleb,” Ratkins said wryly.

  “So, Ratkins,” Keelan mimicked.

  “I get his side of the story, but I’m not sure I get yours, but let’s just leave that one alone. I need inside information on the Churchburrow Institute.”

  “And you expect me to provide that?”

  “Keelan, or... Kaleb. Let me tell you how mercenaries and bounty hunters sometimes cooperate. We sell information to each other, so since I’ve never been there, and don’t know a dusty fart about the place, I’m gonna need information from as close to the source as I can get it. Right now, that’s you.”

  “Am I getting paid for it?”

  “In this case, no, but the guy I’m working for got a discount, so he owes you, what the information you’re gonna give me, costs.”

  “Sounds complicated.”

  “Did anyone ever promise you that that badge was gonna make life easier?”

  Keelan stared at Ratkins but finally shook his head. “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. All I know is that they’re very religious.”

  “Ah, well, then I think you heard a bit wrong. They’re fanatics, and it’s not a regular bible they’re teaching. They call themselves the Disciples of the Fallen, and kids are more like slaves. They’re a sect with as many bad connotations to it as that word can hold.”

  “Fancy word,” Mike commented.

  “You told me to educate myself, so I read a thesaurus,” Keelan said and looked at Ratkins again. His expression was all focus and business. That pleased Keelan, because then he was taking it all seriously.

  “When going through the list of bad things I connect to a sect, then sexual abuse is on it.”

  “No, I never experienced that. Didn’t hear of it, either. But I saw someone have his fingers crushed with a cane for masturbating. Frightened the rest of us to keep our hands above the covers. Rumor even has it that Mr. and Mrs. Churchburrow has never had sex, even though they’re married. Being married is because humans weren’t made to be alone. Adam and Eve. But they didn’t multiply in Paradise, right? The pain that women suffer during childbirth is of the Devil. Her punishment for not staying clean for God and letting herself be seduced by the Devil.

  “They try to save the kids from their parent’s sins through the fundamental principles of the Fallen. Children aren’t innocent or pure in their eyes. They’re the result of a sin, and thus have the Devil inside them.

  “According to their teachings, the Devil can’t hold on to a tired soul, so they work the kids half to death. It’s a little contradictory that they are allowed to watch over these kids.”

  “A little? I reread your records. Alice—”

  “That was consensual,” Keelan growled.

  “I can see that, but it tells me a lot about the institution. I have to find the right place to lean on them. Do you have any dirt on them?”

  “Other than two kids aged fifteen can make love in a broom closet for two hours?” Keelan asked.

  Ratkins looked at him expectantly.

  “People don’t care about street kids. Churchburrow gets free labor and takes some of the problems off the streets. Why would people care that they’re being beaten up?”

  “Kaleb. We have a job to do h
ere. To find a girl. A very specific girl. We are not indifferent about this girl. We’re gonna do something for this girl. So, tell me everything.”

  The look in Ratkins’ eyes and sincerity in his voice took Keelan aback. A strange sensation grew from somewhere deep inside him, and he did as Ratkins asked. He told him everything.

  When Keelan finally finished, Mike was staring at the table. He had been since about halfway through the story. Ratkins’ focus had never left Keelan, and he’d only interrupted once or twice to ask a follow-up question.

  Ratkins finally nodded and lifted his bottle only to find it empty. He put it down decisively and got up. “I’ll be back soon,” he said, put his coat on, and left.

  His absence left a thunderous silence at the table—even the background noise from the bar seemed unable to penetrate it.

  Mike finally glanced up, his eyes blank. “I’ll get us a couple of beers,” he said and left.

  Keelan was left lightheaded. He’d never thought he remembered that much about his stay at the Churchburrow Institute. He thought about what Alice had said right before Mike and Ratkins had arrived. That they could make another baby. Remembering Mike’s reaction to hearing that Keelan was a father made him smile—to walk with a baby over his shoulder and ask for a burp. Keelan still had a problem seeing himself in that scene, but he had no problem visualizing Alice humming gently to a baby cradled in her arms.

  He turned in his chair and looked at her. Her man-eating attitude and ability to make any man shrink four inches by looking at them were in place, but Keelan saw through all that. He saw her as he knew her.

  She was so beautiful. She would be even more beautiful with their baby in her arms.

  But one thing Keelan knew for sure—he had no intentions of raising a kid on Verion four.

  With those thoughts came a strange sense of peace with his new job. How else was he going to save up to find them a farm in the Agro-Systems? And some of the scumbags in jail really deserved to be there.

  The evening drew to a close, and Ratkins had been gone for almost seven hours. Keelan was restless and filled time by helping Billy, Sean, and Alice close up. Billy carried the last drunk outside and sat him up against the wall and left the doors open as he reentered.

  Moments later, Ratkins stood in the opening. Keelan tried to read his expression to prepare for either good or bad news. No such luck—Ratkins was too weathered in the business for that.

  Alice looked at Keelan, smiling, but his worried expression must have been what made her smile fade. She turned to look in the same direction.

  Ratkins waved them over.

  “Hey, come here,” Keelan said.

  Mike turned. “You want me there, too?”

  “Yeah, I’m not gonna repeat it all to you later.”

  Mike shrugged and put the tray down.

  Alice took Keelan’s hand and squeezed it hard as she led them to her office out back.

  Ratkins put a briefcase on the table and rummaged through it, producing a photograph. “There are no newer photos of her. All material is destroyed once the child leaves them. Whether there are digital leads?” Ratkins shrugged.

  “Then they’re unattainable,” Keelan mumbled.

  “There’s just this,” Ratkins said and handed them a photo of an infant. “Still no name. She ran off three and a half, almost four years ago. But she didn’t go alone. Six girls and eight boys at the age of eight to fifteen. But the Churchburrows remember your daughter. They say she’s like her dad, a Devil’s child who could never be saved. I’ll spare you the rest.”

  Keelan quivered from pent up anger. “Anything else?”

  Alice looked up when the quiver made it to his voice. She smiled at him understandingly and leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “Rumors. Mr. Churchburrow said he’d seen a few of the girls selling themselves near Red Turf. A couple of the boys, too.”

  Silence dominated.

  “Hey, how old do you suppose the boy from the soup bar is?” Mike asked.

  “Who’s that?” Alice asked.

  “Someone we paid for information,” Keelan said, thoughtfully. “He’s about eighteen, I guess. First time I met him was about three years ago, and he certainly didn’t seem as worn as he does today.”

  “Worn?” Mike asked.

  “It’s in the eyes. They’re the first the soul backs away from when living on or too close to Red Turf for too long. He was about puberty first time I met him. That was the night we don’t talk about. Or the night before,” Keelan said and looked at Mike, who just pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

  “Are we going to look for them?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah, but we start outside Red Turf,” Keelan said. “If we go in there we either need to bring a lot of money... or enough firepower to kill Mr. Rick and his entire staff.”

  Keelan, Mike, and Ratkins looked at each other as if they were discussing their next move.

  Keelan finally looked at Alice. “Maybe you should...”

  She smiled. “Just come home to me... Kaleb.”

  “If I don’t, then I’m dead.”

  “And that was the possibility I did not need to be reminded is actually a possibility!” She glared at him, and Keelan tried to rephrase.

  “I know you need to find her. I want you to, too, but... we can make another.”

  “Do you know how many times I’ve been kicked in the baby-making sacks the past fourteen years?”

  She looked down.

  “Let’s talk more about this when I get home. You and I need to make a plan together for when the fence is gone.”

  “Fence?” Ratkins asked, looking to Mike.

  “Metaphor, I think.”

  “Ah.”

  “I have a plan,” Alice said. “And it includes you.” She then turned to glare at Mike and Ratkins in that irresistible way of hers. “So you two make sure he gets home alive and kicking!” She kissed Keelan and left the office.

  Keelan smiled at them. “Isn’t she wonderful?”

  “I’m still scared about meeting your daughter, you know,” Mike mumbled and sat closer to the desk.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  With earpieces, code words, and a lot of weapons, Keelan, Mike, and Ratkins spread out on the streets bordering Red Turf—all very cautious about not crossing that invisible line. There they looked for the boy from earlier and everyone else who would fit the age of the group of runaways. What Keelan found most depressing was that there were so many of them.

  Keelan began his search where he’d found the boy the previous two times.

  “K, I got the boy,” Mike said. “You better hurry, he’s hurt.”

  “Coming,” Keelan said and spotted Mike’s position on his crono.

  Both Keelan and Ratkins made it there roughly at the same time. Mike stood at the opening of the alley while the boy sat against the wall further in. There was blood on his clothes.

  “Let me see.” Keelan knelt and turned the boy’s face up to catch the light. One eye and corner of mouth was swollen, so Keelan checked the eye-socket and teeth. “You might lose a tooth here.”

  Ratkins poured water on a rag and held it out. “Bite down on this for a while, and it might stay.”

  The boy did as he said.

  “Did the fucker at least pay?” Keelan asked.

  The kid shook his head.

  “Okay. Do you know anyone around your age and up to five years younger who ran away from Churchburrow about three and a half or four years ago?”

  The boy tensed up.

  “Don’t worry, they’re not in trouble.”

  “You are fucking badges,” the boy somewhat managed around the rag in his mouth.

  “Well, yeah, but we’re not exactly here on official business,” Mike said.

  “Then why?”

  “Turns out one of those girls wasn’t an orphan after all and her mother wants her back,” Keelan said and managed eye contact.

  The boy didn’t look convin
ced, but he finally made the inter-planetary sign for cash up front.

  Keelan found a wad of cash and held out a ten.

  “You usually pay more,” the kid said.

  “Let’s work our way up. Maybe even to more than usual.”

  “It was six girls,” the boy said.

  “We knew that,” Ratkins said.

  The boy looked skeptical.

  “Are you one of the eight boys?” Keelan asked.

  The boy looked convinced. “Yeah,” he finally said.

  Keelan gave him the ten and held out another. “Do you know where the girls are?”

  “Three of them, yeah.”

  Keelan looked expectantly at him and waved the ten credits a bit.

  “They walk the streets around here. Well, two of them. The last one is in a house. Which belongs to the pimp you robbed and used me as cover for, by the way.” The boy smiled.

  Keelan gave him the money and shook the wad of cash. “Show us the three girls, and you get a twenty for each of them.”

  “Okay,” the kid said and reached up. Keelan and Mike pulled the boy to his feet.

  “I’m backup,” Ratkins said and disappeared.

  They found the first girl around fifteen minutes later.

  Keelan changed his eyes, but she had no color. “Not her.”

  The boy led them on to the next, and it wasn’t her, either. Keelan hoped she wasn’t in the house, either. However much he wanted to find his daughter, he really didn’t want to find her there.

  They stopped on the other side of the street.

  “What’s her name?” Keelan asked.

  “Professional name is Candy Cane.”

  “How originally clever,” Mike mumbled.

  “Stay here.” Keelan crossed the street. Opening the door, he was met by a man who puffed up enough to try to fill out the width of the hallway.

  “Is Candy Cane here?”

  “Unavailable.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “We got others available.”

  “No, I want to meet Candy Cane.”

  The man crossed his beefy arms and looked at the clock. “You’d have to wait an hour then.”

  “Okay.” Keelan stayed where he was.