Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price

by Tim Shoemaker

  Hiro looked for any sign of understanding on his face. Eyelids flickering. Maybe a twitch. She saw nothing.

  “You’re in a tunnel, Katsumi. It’s dark and scary, and you think it will always be this way. But you’ll get through. You’ll see.” She squeezed his hand. “And you were right. God led me out of that horrible place. And he put you in my life like an angel in an apron, encouraging me all the way.”

  Hiro wanted to talk to him that way. Wished she could tell him how she missed his grandfatherly advice. The way he checked up on her. Watched out for her.

  “And now you’re in a tunnel. It’s dark. It’s scary.” Hiro’s mom leaned in close. “But you’re going to find the way out. Our Jesus will show you when the time is right.”

  They were all in a dark tunnel. Her, Coop, Gordy … all three of them. Only their tunnel was made of lies and deception. And they needed to find a way out. She wished they were here right now.

  They weren’t able to talk at church this morning, and they probably wouldn’t talk until they met at The Getaway to work out their plan for the surveillance hard drive and the bell tower.

  “How about we pray with you, Frank. Would you like that?” Hiro’s mom talked to him like she really believed he could hear her.

  When her mom started praying, Hiro’s throat burned. She held her own hand and prayed at the same time. Prayed her own silent prayer. Don’t take him away from us, Father. Bring him back. Please. Bring him back.

  She didn’t realize her mom had stopped praying until she felt her hand on her shoulder.

  “We’ll let him rest now.”

  She didn’t want him to rest. She wanted him to sit up and get out of this place.

  Her mom placed his hand back on the bed. “We’ll be back, Frank. I promise you that.”

  And I can promise you something, too. Hiro stood. I’m going to find the person who did this to you.

  Her mom walked out of the room. Hiro hesitated, then reached out and touched his hand. It felt warm.

  CHAPTER 20

  Gordy could see everything from the table he and Hiro shared outside Dunkin’ Donuts. Coop approached the bell tower on foot from the opposite direction—from the west. Cargo shorts. Sweatshirt. Backpack. Even he didn’t recognize Coop with the hood pulled so far forward. His entire face was lost in the shadows, even when he passed under a streetlight. The darkness made for a perfect cover.

  Gordy kept his eyes on everything west of them. Hiro had everything to the east, which was tricky because of the McDonald’s and the size of the parking lot for the Jewel-Osco grocery and drug store.

  Hiro also had the phone. If they saw anybody watching him, or heading his way, he’d get a call, and put into play one of the escape plans.

  “He’s at the bell tower,” Gordy said. “Duct tape is out. Aaaaand he’s taping the note to the bell tower. Kaboom. Message delivered.”

  “Cut the commentary and keep your eyes open,” Hiro whispered. “If anybody is watching, Coop’s in the danger zone now.”

  Gordy grabbed a donut. “Just like a real stakeout, eh? Donuts and everything.” If he didn’t do something to try to keep things light he’d go nuts. He felt jumpy enough as it was already.

  Coop stayed on the sidewalk and picked up the pace, walking directly past them without even glancing their way. Gordy watched to make sure nobody trailed him.

  They’d hammered out the plan on The Getaway after dinner. Gordy still didn’t like the idea of Coop making the drop alone—or even leaving the note in the first place. Hiro gave it her vote, though. Felt they’d be doing something. Which really meant she wanted to play detective. At least they decided to wait until after dark.

  Hiro even brought her pocket digital camera. Not exactly the high-tech surveillance equipment the police had, but hey, it had a 10-to–1 power zoom. Which is why Gordy figured this was all about Hiro wanting to find the robbers herself.

  Gordy wished he’d been the one making the drop. Once he got on his bike, no way those guys would catch him. “You think those goons are watching?”

  Hiro didn’t answer. She nibbled on a donut and kept her eyes on Coop and the parking lot.

  The silence made him jumpy. “I can’t believe you really went to see Frank.”

  “The real shocker is that you two didn’t.”

  Gordy winced. He had a hard time with that too, but he wasn’t about to tell Hiro that. She’d be all over him to go see Frank. Time to change the topic.

  “Okay. If the robbers do pick up the note, think they’ll buy the part about the hard drive being buried and that nobody will get it—not even the cops?”

  Hiro didn’t answer, but kept focused on Coop. “He’s going around the McDonald’s now,” she said. “Let’s move.”

  The plan called for a casual walk over to McDonald’s so they could keep an eye on Cooper from there. Hiro’s pace seemed anything but casual. Which was okay with Gordy. The moment Cooper dropped out of his line of vision, the more Gordy didn’t like this plan.

  They went inside McDonald’s and hurried to the windows just in time to see Coop walk into the grocery store. About a hundred yards of parking lot separated them. Gordy checked his watch. He’d allow him thirty seconds to get to the washroom. Ninety seconds to change and stuff his shorts and hoodie in the backpack. Thirty seconds to get out.

  Hiro stood at the window and watched. Gordy paced.

  “Are you ready to order?” The uniformed order-taker lady smiled at him.

  “Oh, uh, no.” Gordy checked the Jewel exit again. “Still trying to decide between one of those smiley meals with the cool prize and a jumbo hotdog.” Anything to get her out of his hair.

  The lady cocked her head to the side. “We don’t serve hotdogs.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

  He checked his watch. Five minutes. Too long. Hiro must have had the same thought. Without a word they headed for the doors.

  Hiro had her phone out by the time they’d rounded the building.

  “There he is,” Gordy said. Coop walked out the doors on the pharmacy side of the building. Jacket. Blue jeans. Baseball cap. Only the backpack looked the same.

  Gordy slowed the pace and let out a deep breath. “Finally.”

  Cooper’s bike stood waiting for him right where Gordy locked it up on his way to Dunkin’ Donuts. Hiro’s bike was locked next to it. She would follow Coop at a distance. Gordy would walk home. That was the plan. So far, so good.

  If Coop felt nervous, he did a good job of hiding it. Within seconds he mounted the bike and casually pedaled due east toward Meadow Drive before disappearing around the far corner of the grocery store.

  Gordy scanned the lot, all the way out to the cars backed into the stalls along Kirchoff Road. Almost there.

  A dark SUV pulled out of it’s parking slot, turning on its headlights as it rolled forward. Headlight. “Hiro!”

  “Got it.” She punched in Cooper’s number on her phone and raised it to her ear.

  The SUV plowed through the lot—passed the easy exit onto Kirchoff and headed right for the side exit onto Meadow. Even with the overhead lights blazing in the parking lot, Gordy couldn’t make out the driver—but the goon had definitely seen through Cooper’s disguise. The bell tower wasn’t even visible from here. Elvis or the clown must have been positioned where they could see the bell tower—and they phoned their partner in the SUV. There was no other way this driver could have spotted Coop.

  “Pick up, pick up, pick up!” Hiro shouted into the phone, running between parked cars for her bike.

  Gordy sprinted for the corner of the building. This can’t be happening!

  CHAPTER 21

  Cooper felt the phone vibrate in his pocket and had it to his ear after the second ring.

  “You’ve got a tail,” Hiro shouted. “One headlight. Move!”

  He dropped the phone in his pocket, made a hard left to cut down the alley behind the Jewel, and stood on the pedals.

  He spotted the SUV out of the
corner of his eye. And the driver obviously saw him.

  Tires squealing, the vehicle turned off Meadow and barreled into the alley behind him.

  Building to the left. Six-foot cedar fence to the right. Kimball Hill Park straight ahead. If he could make it into the park he’d lose them. God help me. God help me.

  Even with the wind rushing in his ears he heard the SUV driver gun the engine—gaining on him. They were going to run him down. He chanced a quick shoulder check. The SUV was closing fast. Too fast. He wasn’t going to make it!

  Cooper hit the brakes, skidded, and jumped off the still rolling bike. Leaping for the fence, he clawed his way to the top even as the SUV skidded to a stop behind him.

  CHAPTER 22

  Hiro dropped the lock on the ground and mounted her bike on the run. Banking the front corner of the store, she spotted Gordy sprinting along the side of the building. She pumped harder and passed him just as they reached the alley.

  The vehicle was stopped, driver’s door open, about three quarters of the way down the length of the building. A shadowy figure pitched Cooper’s bike in the back and slammed it shut.

  “Noooooo!”

  The man dashed back into the SUV, hit the gas, and peeled out—sending gravel pinging off the pavement toward her.

  He must have thrown him in the back seat. “COOP!”

  In seconds the car disappeared around the corner. She didn’t even catch the number on the plates.

  She clamped on the brakes and stopped, dumping her bike as she did. Too late for the camera. Hands trembling, she fumbled for her phone as Gordy pounded up.

  He bent over, hands on knees gulping for air. “Gotta—help—Coop. 9–1–1.”

  She was on it, if her hands would stop trembling enough to hit the right keys.

  Her phone rang instead, startling her. Coop!

  She connected and swung it to her ear. “Are you okay?”

  “Where is he?” Gordy reached for the phone.

  Hiro pulled away. “Over the fence?” She looked down the alley. “He got over the fence. He’s on foot. By the playground behind Kimball Hill School.”

  “Tell him to hide,” Gordy said, already running for the fence.

  “We’ll come to him.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Hiro sat a couple rows in front of Coop and Gordy on the bus ride to school Monday morning. Any closer and she might have hauled off and hit one of them. Somebody needed to knock some sense into those boys.

  Coop tried to discount the incident in the alley. He was spooked—he could tell. But he tried to cover it up—just like he’d been doing with everything else since they agreed to the Code. The problem was, Coop was getting away with it. His parents thought they went to Frank’n Stein’s, just like he’d told them he was going to do. How he was going to explain the missing bike, she had no idea. But knowing Coop and his new talent for lies, he’d come up with something convincing.

  Hiro stepped off the bus ahead of Coop and Gordy. The school parking lot Monday morning proved to be every bit the circus it had been last Friday. Only this time it wasn’t just the police. A mob of angry parents milled around the entrance.

  The whole interview process had been totally derailed—by Lunk’s mom. Rather by Mr. Slimhall, her attorney. Which made Hiro fuming mad.

  The slick lawyer and his staff called every parent of the Plum Grove student body over the weekend. The moron told her mom how “innocent kids often get fingered for the crime by some grudge-wielding classmate.”

  That didn’t worry Mom. The thing that caused her to agree not to sign the form was when he reminded her that a witness would be called to testify against some pretty desperate criminals—possibly with underworld connections, who may want a little payback.

  Apparently the tactic worked on enough of the parents to raise a significant protest. No interviews would be conducted until the whole thing got sorted out legally, and that could be days. Mom had gotten a call back from the attorney with the news while Hiro was wrapped up in the bell tower stakeout fiasco.

  Coop got the word and loved it. It meant they didn’t have to break the Code yet. That’s the way he saw it—and he definitely wasn’t seeing this thing with 20/20 vision. Coop said something like, “Now that the police won’t be tied up interviewing students, they can throw all their efforts into finding the real robbers.” Ridiculous.

  Detective Hammer stood in front of the group, wearing his mirrored sunglasses, waving his hands like he was trying to quiet them down. The police were so busy with the grumbling parents they didn’t seem to pay any attention to the students—which probably explained the matching grins Coop and Gordy wore.

  They caught up to her and walked into school together. Honestly, the two of them looked better than they had in the four days since the robbery, even after the incident last night. That ticked her off a little, too. Hiro felt like she was going to explode. The way she saw it, she and Coop were at polar extremes. She wanted to go to the police and spill. He wanted to avoid them at all costs. Even if that meant more lies. What was happening to him?

  And Gordy sort of bounced between the two of them. Trying in his own way to be loyal to both. Trying to bring them together. She could see that. It was one of the things she loved about him. But sometimes it made her want to kick him, too.

  The three sat at a lunch table at the back fringe of the cafeteria. The adjacent table stayed empty this time. Apparently Mertz and her flirts weren’t taking any chances that Hiro might lose her lunch again. Hiro smiled. That suited her just fine.

  Gordy sat across from her and tore into his lunch like he hadn’t eaten in days. Coop sat next to her and acted like he didn’t notice anything was bothering her. So if he wasn’t going to bring up the topic, she would.

  “You broke your word to me,” Hiro said. And that was the issue, wasn’t it? He’d lied. To her. She looked him in the eyes. “You said if the men weren’t caught, and if we didn’t hear a report on the Sunday night news, we’d break the Code. We’d tell our parents and go to the police.”

  “But it was only because of the police interviews today. When those got delayed-”

  “You’re in danger, Coop,” she interrupted. “We all are. Some very bad people are looking for us. And we’re hiding the truth from the ones that can help us.”

  And they needed help. Last night she thought she’d lost him. It terrified her. And he might not be so lucky next time.

  Coop looked around the cafeteria like he worried somebody might overhear. “Believe me, I’m with you on that. That’s all I could think about last night. And I got an idea.” He leaned forward. “I’ve got a plan.”

  Hiro groaned and shot him a skeptical look. “The last one didn’t turn out so hot.”

  “It’s a whole new ball game now.”

  “A game? This is a game to you?” Hiro said.

  “That’s not what he said, Hiro. C’mon.” Gordy picked up his carton of milk and started to chug it.

  “That’s exactly what Coop thinks this is,” Hiro said.

  Gordy kept guzzling the chocolate milk.

  She looked from Gordy to Coop. “I think both of you think this is a game. Gee, why don’t we play ‘cops and robbers’ while we’re at it?”

  Gordy hunkered over in a choking laugh. Milk ran out of his nose and dripped on the cafeteria table.

  Coop handed him a napkin.

  They were playing cops and robbers weren’t they? Only this wasn’t some game. The robbers wanted to silence Coop, and the cops were trying to make him talk. Somehow she had to convince Coop they needed to end the Code of Silence. If Coop agreed, Gordy would follow.

  Gordy mopped himself up. He thumped his chest with his fist and cleared his throat several times.

  She hardly dared to pin her hopes on his new plan. She thought about the strategy she’d been turning around in her head last night when she couldn’t sleep. Coop would hate it. But she’d made up her mind to put a plan of her own into action. And she had no i
ntention of telling him. Not yet.

  But she did want to hear about his idea. “So what were you going to say?” Hiro looked at Coop. “Your plan?”

  He looked around as if he wanted to be sure no one was close enough to listen in. She followed his lead and checked to be sure nobody approached from the other direction. The steady noise of the cafeteria actually gave them a decent level of privacy. “I’ve got a plan to help the police find the robbers.”

  Hiro would love it if that was true. But she wasn’t ready to hire a band and start a parade down the cafeteria aisles. “Like what?”

  “Not here. Meet at The Getaway after school.”

  Was he stalling her? She locked eyes with him. “I hope it’s more than stay quiet and keep under the radar.”

  “Way more. I think I’ve found a way out of this. And for once it involves talking instead of being silent. But that’s all I’m going to say here.”

  “More lies?”

  “Uh-uh. The opposite. It’s a way for us to tell the truth without getting caught. Interested?”

  She gave him a single nod. “Very.” She wanted to trust him. Wanted things to be the way they were. She felt the tension between them ease a bit.

  Gordy grinned. “This is more like it.”

  Obviously he felt it too.

  “How about we get off the bus a couple stops early to hit the mini mart on the way home.” Gordy looked from Hiro to Cooper. “We can fuel up for our meeting.”

  When he was happy, the world was a sunny place … and Gordy liked to eat. Hiro hit the fridge when the shadows closed in.

  Cooper shrugged. “Why not?”

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lunk approaching with a food tray in hand. She braced herself.

  “Is this saved?” Lunk nodded toward the empty space on the bench next to Gordy. He slid his tray on the table and sat without waiting for a response.

  “Well, I imagine you must be proud of yourself, Mr. Lunquist,” Hiro said.

  Lunk’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”