MC: Callahan

by L. Ann Marie

  I empty the last box and find the tissues. I need to get it together before Heather comes in. I tried to be strong for him last night, but it all boiled over as soon as I was alone. My big Tiny has been carrying this around for years. He told me he didn’t need me to do anything. I asked but had no idea what I could possibly do. He just wanted me to know. The therapist thought it would be a good way to let it go instead of carrying and worrying about a secret. I’m glad he told me. I want to say I wish he would have told me sooner, but I don’t think I do. Shit, more tears.

  Heather comes in and starts tagging all the clothes I pulled this morning. I sit at my table and make jewelry; this keeps me in my own little world where I don’t have to chat. I think about my gentle giant with his big secret. I love him so much more knowing what he’s had to overcome. When I think about it that way I realize I’m not crying. He made it and he’s making it better for the kids the best way he knows how. He let me push him into parenting for the group home. I know he could have said no and I would have let it go. I would have been pissed and made his life miserable for a couple of weeks, but I would have let it go. He wanted to do this even though he was nervous, then Courtney happened and we got Diego. I can’t even imagine what that did to him. He never gave up, though. He’s stronger than me, that’s for sure. I smile, thinking about what Jessie always says, ‘He’s sharing his strong, making everyone else stronger because of it.’ That’s my big Tiny, always sharing his strong. I don’t want to sit here any longer.

  I clear the beads and wire from my table. “Heather, I’m going home early today. Sheila should be here in an hour.”

  She looks at me surprised. “Okay, is everything all right?”

  I’m kind of giddy. “Yep, everything is good. I need to go see my man.” She laughs. I don’t stay to answer any more questions. Walking to Amanda’s studio, I pick up the pictures I had her make from some Danny sent me in an email. They are perfect. She has one framed for his desk, one for his wall, and one for the house. He’s going to love them. The one for our house has the boys jumping from a rock into the lake at the reservation. It is so freakin’ cute. My favorite is Tiny sitting with all the kids on the deck. He’s telling a story in sign language. They were all watching so focused on him they didn’t know the picture was taken. The little one is of Tiny, Diego, and Ricky. Tiny is holding Diego, and Ricky is smiling at both of them. He has his hand on Diego’s arm. Tiny is going to love it. The frame matches the picture of Sandy that Amanda took at Family Day. They’ll look nice together on his desk.

  When I get to Transport Baker tells me Tiny is training at the range. He helps me get the picture on the wall and I put the small one on his desk. I leave just as happy, knowing it will be a nice surprise for him when he comes in.

  I check on the kids and decide on dinner. It can’t have been an easy day for him, so I’ll make it good in the ways I can. Once everything is cooking, I run upstairs, pulling my bra off and clipping my chain to the bears on my nipple rings. Any way I can, I think with a goofy smile.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  One week later...

  I hear the bike pull up and the outer door open. “Tiny!” VP yells. What the hell? Walking out to the counter area, I see him standing in the doorway. He cocks his chin toward the parking lot. I follow him out, wondering what this is all about. He moves away from the building under a tree on the side. “Need to be ready, one hour. Danny’s meetin’ you here.”

  I nod, a little confused. “Why didn’t you just call me?”

  “Kids think Geek is watchin’, sent fuckin’ Morse code for me to meet ‘em.”

  I laugh. “Fuckin’ kids.”

  He’s looking at me like I’m off. “Took three fuckin’ stops to get here. Fuckin’ cameras. Take a burner, text this.” He hands me two numbers. “Danny and Rich. Drop your trackin’.”

  “Got it,” I tell him. He walks away. I’m smiling going back in. Morse code. When the hell did they learn Morse code?

  Danny shows. I follow him out to the highway. He stops in the city so we can drop our tracking with one of his building crew. Getting out of the city, we head north into Dartmouth. Turning into a subdivision, he pulls over at an intersection. “We’re going straight through to a church on the other side.”

  “Church?”

  “Yeah, site is running sale bids. It closes at three.”

  I’m not sure what to feel here; church? He calls Rich and talks for a minute, then starts his bike. I follow to a fuckin’ church. A priest is running flesh? Walking in the front doors, we take a minute for our eyes to adjust. He pulls his phone but doesn’t say anything. He’s following directions to the side aisle and straight back to a room on the rear hallway. It looks like a storage room, but no one is in it. There’s a laptop open on a card table set in the corner. He lets Rich know we’ll be waiting inside and hangs up. “We wait. Someone’s got to accept the bids.”

  “More than one?” Fuckin’ church, people trust their priests.

  “Three,” he whispers. We can hear footsteps coming our way. I stand behind the door and Danny moves to the back behind a set of shelves. A little guy comes in and goes right for the laptop. I wait until he’s there before moving in front of the door. He sits but sees my movement and looks up. Just as his hands go to hit the keyboard Danny is behind him, holding his arms up. He pulls him out of the chair and tells me to get the computer. I move it to a high shelf, leaving it open. We always take the computers so the kids can get contacts and shit. When I set it down Danny’s got him cuffed and is pulling tape to shut the pussy up. The door opens and a priest is yelling at us to let Larry go.

  Danny laughs. “I don’t think I will. I have some questions and you might have some answers.”

  I walk toward him and he stands straighter. “We have no money in the church. Take what you want and leave peacefully.”

  I move him to the side and stand behind him. He doesn’t even flinch. I’m a little impressed. “We’re not here for money. We don’t want your shit,” I say by his ear. I see him freeze, but he doesn’t show any other reaction.

  “I would think selling flesh is bad for your business, father. But then again, you have a whole congregation to choose from, don’t you?” Danny says. The priest’s head snaps back like he was slapped, and Larry starts moving and mumbling behind the tape. Danny hits him. “Don’t fuckin’ move again.”

  “Is it a ten-year-old girl?” the priest asks. Danny looks at him with that look like he’s reading his brain.

  “Show him the computer, Brother.” He keeps his eye on the priest while I get it. The page shows three kids with numbers running at the bottom. One is a girl.

  I turn it for him without blocking Danny’s view. He turns white and ages right in front of us. He looks at Larry. “May God have mercy on your soul.” He looks at Danny. “I spent the better part of last night comforting her parents. How do we get her back?”

  Danny nods. “Our buddy Larry is going to tell us that. Aren’t you, Larry?” He rips the tape off and Larry screams. “Where are they?”

  “He’ll kill me. You don’t know. He’ll kill me.” The pussy slumps down on the floor and cries like a girl. Fuckin’ pussies are all the same; doing this shit, doling out horrors and nightmares, then acting the pussy when they’re caught.

  Danny lifts him up and throws him against the wall. “See, that wasn’t the answer. Where are they?” More crying. Pussy. “I’m going to kill you very slowly, asking every single time I hit you. I’ll hang you, cut your foot, and watch you bleed out slowly, hitting you the entire time so you feel that pain in death.”

  “No, the bell tower. They’re in the bell tower!” he cries out. Danny pulls his tape.

  “They’re here? They’re safe!” The priest turns to leave. I stop him.

  “Give me a minute, Father,” Danny says, taping up pussy’s mouth.

  “Do whatever you want to him. The kids are here. We need to get them home.”

  Danny smiles at him.
“This isn’t just about Larry. You need to give me a minute and we’ll make sure the kids are returned safely. We need information to stop this. I have to figure out a way to do that with my Brothers. If we just let the kids loose tomorrow it will be someone else.” He pulls his phone and calls Rich, telling him what we have. He listens for a minute and his shoulders fall. “Call Pres, get Geek in with the kids.” He looks at me. Fuck!

  He hangs up and sits Larry on the chair, duct taping him like a mummy. “Take the computer. Let’s go find the kids.”

  We follow the priest. “Who are you?” he asks as were climbing a million fuckin’ stairs.

  “Concerned citizens,” Danny tells him.

  “The numbers are how much he was selling them for?” Danny doesn’t answer. “I don’t know the boys. They’re not from the congregation.” Finally we’re at the top. He opens a door and we hear crying. The kids are on mattresses against the walls.

  I hold the priest back until Danny looks in. He pulls his phone and talks softly to Rich, telling him what he sees. He looks in the room again. “We’ll get you out, but I need you to stay still and look at the wall. Close your eyes so it looks like you’re sleeping. We need it so we can keep the video going.”

  The priest nods. He’s getting it. Danny talks to the kids for a couple of minutes then goes in the room. “Tiny, we need the cameras off. There’s one above each mattress.” I go in and pull a camera off the first kid. Danny has the girl and the priest has the last one. I look around for clothes. They’re all naked. I peel my shirt and tank off, giving the tank to the girl. They’re all crying but quiet. The priest takes my tank and gives the girl his shirt. He hands the tank to a boy. Danny covers the other one.

  “Do I call the police? I need to get these kids home, but I don’t know what will mess you up here. We can’t let this continue.”

  “For right now, how about we get them out of here and some clothes on them?” Danny says. The girl cries. “We’re going to get you home. We just need some time so this won’t happen again. Yeah?” he says, bent down in front of her.

  She nods and looks at the priest. He smiles at her like a priest would. “You’re safe now, Angela. This is important. As soon as they say it’s safe we’ll call your mom and dad.” She nods, wiping her face.

  “What about us? We want to go home too,” a dark haired boy says.

  “We’re going to get you all home,” I tell him. He must be seven or eight. I lift him up. Danny takes the girl and the priest takes the smaller boy. At the bottom of the stairs we hear boots. Not just one set. Fuck.

  “Back here!” Danny yells. The boots come our way.

  Pres, VP, and Geek holding his laptop open come around the corner. Geek keeps walking when Pres and VP stop. He takes the laptop from me and sits on the floor, typing a hundred miles an hour.

  The priest talks while we’re just looking at each other. “Thank you. I understand you need some time to get this taken care of. I’ll find them clothes and get them something to eat.”

  “Kids stay where we can see ‘em,” VP says.

  The priest nods. “Let me get them in the church. They can sit and you can do whatever it is that you’re doing.”

  Pres turns and walks back down the hall. Fuck, he’s more than just pissed. He looks like he wants to kill us.

  The kids get settled, the priest goes for clothes and food, and VP watches over them, standing on the side of Pres. I walk beside Danny, feeling like I’m headed to the firing squad. Quick as fuckin’ lightening, Pres elbows VP in the cheek, hits Danny with a left, and has his foot in my stomach. “Don’t ever fuckin’ play me again!” Shit, I’m doubled over, but I look at him and throw chin, standing straight so I don’t look like a total pussy. VP and Danny throw him chin. “Geek got us in and is tracking where the bids are coming from. This is a perfect time to get more HS trained and tested. We’ll be pulling them in starting tomorrow. The Little Brothers won’t be going out anymore on your fuckin’ Ops. They’re too fuckin’ young to be dealing with this shit! We take care of our own means you have your fuckin’ Brothers at your back! No one is alone out here. My closest fuckin’ Brothers hiding shit from me.” His hands go in his hair. “Fuckin’ trust is what you broke. Why the fuck did you start this shit behind my back?”

  “Was personal, not for the other Brothers to know,” VP says. I’m an asshole because I’m glad he said it.

  Pres looks at Danny and me, then back at VP. “You think I don’t know who it’s personal for? Spent fuckin’ years learning what goes on in people’s heads while you were learning about being a soldier. I already fuckin’ knew! Nothing is more personal than what touches my Brothers. It’s fuckin’ personal to me too!”

  He paces away then back. “We don’t have to tell anyone dick about the why. I get why you hid it, but I’m your President. I don’t have to justify why I give an order. The Little Brothers can get Geek up to speed and help, but they’re not running fuckin’ Ops on human trafficking. You get the rest of the Officers updated tonight. We do this together as Brothers because we can and it needs to be done. You tell me when you feel the need to take care of something and I’ll have your back. I’ve never questioned any of you when you’ve needed help before. I’m not going to start now. Let’s see what we can do about getting these kids home without a fuckin’ media circus.” He walks toward Geek.

  “Fuck, that felt like shit,” Danny says. I nod without anything to add to that.

  VP looks at us. “He’s right, he’d never ask. Shoulda known better.”

  “At least he didn’t try to blow us up,” Danny says, making us all smile.

  VP walks over to Pres and Geek. “Shoulda known better. Keepin’ a confidence wasn’t meant as disrespect. Protectin’ that shouldn’t have been from you. No disrespect meant, Pres.”

  Pres looks at us.

  “What he said,” Danny says.

  “Yeah,” I tell him.

  He smiles and we all breathe easier. “I get it, don’t let it happen again. Let’s clear this shit up so these kids get home today.” We throw him chin and he gives it back.

  “Love the fuckin’ Brotherhood,” Danny says.

  Pres laughs. “Hold that thought because you may be transporting and explaining so these kids’ parents don’t call the fuckin’ PD.”

  Bob walks in with Driscoll. He’s not giving anything away. “Pussy transport.” I take them back to the room and point to the mummy in the chair. “Scrawny for a pussy, isn’t he?”

  “We try for unassuming employees. Our last maintenance man was big and scared the parishioners,” the priest says behind me.

  I look back at him. “I’ll give you a number. Your next applicants can be screened. We’ll get background checks on them.”

  He nods. “That would be good. We do basic, but it’s not enough in this day and age.”

  Driscoll looks over at us. “This guy drive here?”

  “No, he walks. I was coming to see if maybe the clothes were in here. I gave them some of mine, but they’re going home from a church with no underclothes. The parents will have more than a few questions.”

  “We’ll talk to the parents, but he looked at the shelf, so they might be over there,” I tell him, pointing to where the pussy looked. Bob and Driscoll carry the chair out the door.

  “There’s a covered portico out the back,” the priest says, distracted, pulling bags from the shelf. “This is a lot of clothes.” I look in a bag. They’re all filled brown paper bags. Fuck.

  We take the three bags out and let the kids find their clothes. A woman comes in with food and the kids eat while Geek does whatever he’s doing. Finally he looks up. “The little one is on missing persons. He’ll have to be taken off. If we can convince the parents to hold off, we can follow the bids and find the bidders. As soon as the media finds out and his picture is up the bidders may hide. The other two are new, too soon for the missing person’s site, but that’s going to change in hours.”

  Pres starts pacing
. “Danny, get Kate up here. Ask her to bring Anita. We don’t have much time.” Danny walks away, pulling his phone. “Geek, doesn’t the site work through email? Can’t the parents send an email saying the kid was with a relative or something?”

  “That won’t cover the PD. They’ll have questions. If they don’t get answers, they’ll threaten false report. The parents will cave.”

  “They’re on their way,” Danny says.

  “Call her back. Have her pick up Jeremy and Ally,” Pres tells him. “It may be easier if they see kids with theirs. We don’t have to explain, but they’ll assume because we don’t.” That’s a smart move.

  Pres takes a call, telling them to talk to VP. “Take a name from the list, send ‘em with Bull.”

  “There are almost forty bids to run through. I’m going to need you to help run them down. You good with that?” Pres asks.

  “Yeah, Pres.”

  He nods and starts pacing again. “VP, get me four more from your list. We’ll pair from here so we can move as soon as the kids get home. Have them lock down the pussy then get Bob and Driscoll paired and run from Security.”

  Kate shows with Anita and the kids. Pres explains what’s happening and then he, VP, and the priest take the girl home. Kate, Danny, and Geek take the small boy.

  I take Anita and Jeremy with the older boy. The parents listen and understand. They ask what we’re doing and when they can announce their son is home. Pres told us to get their numbers and we’ll call with an update and when they can call the PD. Anita does a good job. The parents watch Jeremy holding their boy’s hand the whole time. The boy answers their questions, looking at Jeremy for a nod. When we leave the woman asks if Jeremy is going home too. He nods and smiles at her. “He doesn’t talk much,” Anita says. The woman tells her she understands and we leave. We need her to keep quiet for now so correcting her wouldn’t help our purpose. They’re thinking just what Pres wanted them to.