by C. L. Stone
“She looks their age,” Dr. Green said. “Come on, Kota. You’ve got to see she can handle this. They are just kids in there.”
“Scared kids,” Kota said.
“Who want to run off, not fight,” Victor said.
Kota frowned.
“I can go, too,” Nathan said. “I can pull her out if they do start fighting. Silas can ward them off. And Luke is in there. He can help.”
Kota pressed a palm against his face. “Okay. Fine. But we need to cover the exits, and if we need to, we’ll guide them to a safer hiding spot before we can try again.”
Victor tapped at his computer. “There’s an Academy district a few blocks to the south.”
The Academy had a district? From the way Victor said it, it sounded like there was more than one. I pressed my lips together. Now wasn’t the time to ask.
“Lived in?” Kota asked.
“Being refitted,” he said. “We just reclaimed it. But it’s cleared right now, and there are monitors in the area.”
“It’ll have to do. If they don’t want to go with us, we’ll have them go there.” He turned to Nathan. “Convince them that authorities are looking to tear down this place. They have to move, and you know a safe location. I’ll have North go ahead and deposit supplies in one of the houses and open it up.”
Nathan nodded. “Just let me know which one. We can walk them over, if they let us.”
“Do it,” he said.
“Here,” Victor opened his palm, revealing three small earpieces. “Put these in.”
Silas and Nathan took one each. I started to reach for the other one, but Victor shifted to hold it between his fingers, showing it to me. “This is an ear bug. You’ll hear us, and I can hear you if you talk. It doesn’t have a great range, and there’s a short battery life, but it’s the best way to stay in contact without looking like you’re wired.”
“Oh,” I said. It seemed really sophisticated, but it looked like just an ear bud you’d get from a headphone set, just detached from the wire.
“I’ll put it in,” he said. I leaned over. He pulled aside some of my hair and then gently inserted the ear bug into my ear. He traced my ear lobe gently. “Is that okay? Comfortable?”
“It’s fine,” I said. It felt like an earbud. That’s all. I was more worried it might slip further into my ear and I wouldn’t be able to pull it out. It seemed to hold in place, though.
“I need a headset,” Kota said. “There’s three; one for each of them.”
“I want Sang’s headset,” Dr. Green said.
“I should have it,” Victor said.
Kota rolled his eyes. “You should be paying attention to Luke, Victor.”
Silas and Nathan guided me away from the guys before I could find out which one would get the headset I was linked to. Their open quarrel with who got it made my heart race, but going toward the broken down building added to it in a different way.
I stood between Silas and Nathan in front of the old hardware store. Feeling small between the two of them, I swallowed, staring at the dilapidated doors, wondering what to do.
The others blocked off the other exists with Kota and Dr. Green monitoring. Victor was in the alley. We were waiting to go in slowly.
While we were waiting, cars occasionally passed on the road. Each time I heard one, I instinctively turned to check for a silver BMW. “Where is Mr. Blackbourne, anyway?” I asked, trying to sound casual but knowing he’d said he was on the way. Would he be upset that I was going in?
“Keeping our tails busy,” Nathan said.
I’d almost forgotten, but it made sense that someone had to stop our followers from chasing us around when they were doing things like this. Mr. Hendricks hadn’t given up trying to catch us out with something that would get the boys kicked out of school.
Silas, without saying a word, moved to the left. Nathan followed, and I did, too. He was probably getting instructions from Kota.
“How are you doing, Pookie?” Dr. Green said softly in my ear.
“Fine,” I said, a smile on my lips at the endearing nickname. “How are you, Dr. Sean?”
“Don’t talk too much,” he said. “If you’re going in, you should be quiet so you don’t spook them too early.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Haven’t seen you much outside of school lately,” he said.
“I thought you were working.”
“I should bring you to work with me.”
“Okay,” I said, wanting to say something more, but we were approaching the door.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said.
“Are we ready?” Nathan asked as he put his hand on the door.
Silas nodded. I stood behind him, waiting.
Nathan twisted the handle and opened the door slowly. How did Luke manage to get inside without the kids in there knowing about it? I didn’t see a way in from the roof, and the windows were boarded up.
I’d seen a few Academy jobs. Some I didn’t know the full reason for. This was one of the first ones where I’d been invited along and sort of understood the purpose. There were kids, runaways perhaps, inside this building and they wanted to take them to a safe place and figure out what to do with them. It seemed like something the police might handle. It made me wonder how the Academy chose to do certain things, like the job at school. What drove them?
Nathan stuck his head in through the doorway, checked out the inside quickly, and then stepped back. He motioned to me. “You should go in first,” he said.
My eyes widened. “I said I would be behind Silas.”
“If they see you first, they may not bolt,” Nathan said. “I was just thinking. I mean, it’s a cultural thing I learned in a language class I was taking at the university. Silas might look the part, but he’s still intimidating. We need them to listen. If we push them too hard, they’ll just run. That’s how it is when they cross the border illegally. They’ll run and scatter.”
“Do I say anything?”
“Say hola.”
I repeated it. “Just say that?” I asked. “One word?”
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
I glanced back at Silas who nodded, looking concerned, but still urged me inside with a wave of his hand.
Kota wouldn’t like the change of plans. I wondered why Nathan was doing this now. Was it because we were out of earshot of Kota that he felt more comfortable in taking this risk? I wanted to get it over with and hoped Kota wouldn’t be upset if it went okay. At least I had the boys covering me.
I stepped inside. The room was littered with fast food wrappers, beer and soda cans. The smell was horrifying. It was a cool November day, but the dampness from outside seeped in, so it was chill in the shadows. There was wall shelving, half torn down. Some shelves held old cans of paint, the labels faded and peeling.
I cringed, making myself as small as possible. There was so much to look at that it was hard to focus in front of me so I didn’t step into something. I checked back with Nathan, who pointed forward.
“You’re doing great, sweetheart,” Dr. Green said quietly in my ear.
I wanted to say something back but stopped myself.
Ahead were a couple of doors. Nathan pointed to one. I opened it and there was a small hallway. It wound around to the back.
“Say it,” Nathan whispered.
“Hola?” I called out softly.
There was a small stirring, but nothing more.
Nathan shooed me into the hallway. Silas followed, my shadow. Nathan covered the door. He circled his hand, encouraging me to keep going.
“Hola?” I said again, trying to say it a little louder.
“Si?” came a voice.
“Shhh,” another one said.
I stepped closer, pausing in the doorway at the end of the hallway and looking in.
Inside, I could only see two kids. They were taller than me. A boy and a girl. The stood with hands clutched together, eyes wild. Near the walls closer to me
were worn blankets and sheets on top of newspapers piled up together. There were clothes on the floor, and containers of old food. They’d been staying here for at least a few days, if not longer.
From behind the boy and girl came another voice. This one spoke in Spanish, too fast for me to even try to catch up with. It made me realize there were more behind the two, just in the shadow. Being protected.
“Shhh,” said the girl in front.
“Hola,” I said quietly.
The girl looked at me, her eyebrows going together. The boy tilted his head. They wore jeans and T-shirts, their clothes dirty and ill-fitting.
I stood quietly, thinking it best to move slowly so they could size me up. “Are you all okay?” I asked quietly. “Do any of you speak English?”
Again they stared at me. I wasn’t sure if they weren’t willing to talk because I was a stranger or they didn’t understand.
I held my hand out slowly, in an I-won’t-hurt-you motion, then I pointed to myself. “Sang,” I said. “My name is Sang.”
Again, no reply.
I looked back at Silas and Nathan who were still out of sight in the hallway.
The two moved together, slowly. I looked back at the kids, who were easing over, looking at the door and then at me.
Nathan appeared first. The girl started to back up, eyes wide, and she turned, gripping one of the smaller kids who had been hiding behind her. The child looked to be barely a year old. The boy started to open the door.
It caught. There was something blocking it behind.
“Wait,” I said quietly. “We won’t hurt you.”
“No te haremos daño,” Nathan said.
The boy stopped, putting his back to the door frame. He made fists. “Vete. Nosotros no queremos aquí. ¿Cómo se enteró de nosotros?”
I didn’t need Nathan to interpret to tell me the boy was warning us to back off and go away.
“We won’t hurt you,” Nathan said. He said something in Spanish and I understood he was repeating himself in their language. He said something else, too, longer and then finished in English. “We want to help.”
The boy started to talk. The girl talked over him, both of them speaking in Spanish.
Silas started to retreat behind us. Where was he going? He was tapping at his head, tilting it and listening. He returned to the front.
I turned my attention to the group. Now that the two older ones had moved, I realized what I’d thought was shadow before was actually the other kids. I counted all seven: four boys, three girls. The two oldest ones looked to be our age, and the rest ranged all the way down to the one year old. Seven wide-eyed dirty faces looked at us, the youngest waiting for the older ones to tell them what to do.
My heart tugged at the sight of the smaller ones who looked terrified. If only they knew. We’d help if they’d let us.
Nathan started talking then. He rattled on in Spanish, without looking at me, completely focused on the kids. He addressed the boy, then the girl. The boy interrupted him, sounding defensive and then made a shooing motion, warning us to go away. Nathan held up his hands, spoke again, motioned to me and then continued talking.
I’d never heard Nathan use Spanish. I wasn’t even sure I had known he could speak the language. I learned new things about the boys all the time; that one more new thing cropped up didn’t surprise me, I was just in awe of his ability.
I stepped closer, trying to look unthreatening.
One of the kids looked out from behind the others, staring right at me. I smiled, or tried to. I was mostly trying not to hide behind Nathan and feel so nervous, like one false move could send them all scattering.
Footsteps returned behind us. I turned to see Silas was back, carrying bottles of water, and on top were a couple of plastic bags.
The moment Silas stepped into view, the boy and the girl immediately pulled back. The boy jammed his shoulder into the door. The girl barked at the little ones. I imagined she was telling them to get ready to run.
“Wait!” I cried, holding up my hands.
“¡Espera!” Nathan said. “Please, don’t run.”
The boy stopped for a moment, but kept his grip on the doorknob.
I stepped back slowly, taking some of the bottles of water from Silas. I thought it’d be better if I did it.
I tucked one under an arm, opened the other and then brought them both forward, holding them out to the girl.
The girl stared at me.
“Trajimos agua,” Nathan said, in a calmer voice. “Water. We brought water. Agua.”
Silas suddenly stepped forward. “Agua,” he said quietly slightly accented.
They seemed to relax at this, studying the two of them.
“Pensamos que estabas sediento. Podemos hablar?” Nathan said.
“Podemos hablar?” Silas repeated.
How brilliant! My heart leapt. Silas may not know the language, but he could appear to be just like them if he repeated Nathan a bit. I was happy to let them talk. I held out the bottles again, stepping forward once more.
The girl stepped forward, taking the bottles from me. She passed them to the kids, who spilled out from behind her to grab for the bottles.
“We’ve got more,” I said, taking the other bottles from Silas and opening one.
Silas knelt, and the kids came up, each taking their own from him. I helped the smaller ones open the bottles. Inside the bags were white crackers and granola bars. I imagined someone had these in their car and thought to provide them as a peace offering.
The older girl kept an eye on us, listening as Nathan and the boy talked.
I leaned into Silas. “I think we did it,” I whispered.
“Good job, Pookie,” Dr. Green said in my ear.
The satisfaction settled in. We did it. Yes, I definitely wanted into the Academy. If this was a job, and the boys were participating in helping other people, this was what I wanted to do.
BREAKFAST WITH MR. BLACKBOURNE
Things moved quickly then. Nathan told the kids we were there to help and how we could do so. Once we proved we weren’t with Border Patrol and we weren’t there to ship them home, it made things easier.
I empathized with their reluctance to return home. I wondered what must have happened to them to run from their parents as they had. If I’d run off instead of meeting Kota, would I have ended up in a rundown building like this?
Kota had us escort the group of kids to the front doors. Nathan explained they wanted to make sure they were healthy, and they would take them to the hospital. When the boy didn’t want to, the girl overrode his decision and said they’d go. It seemed one of the younger boys had allergic reactions to the sheets, either from bedbugs or fleas, and was getting a rash on his leg.
Kota pulled up near the entrance with a black box van. Dr. Green met us at the door.
The boy yelled and pointed at the van.
“No,” Nathan said to him. “No, not taking you back.” He repeated himself in Spanish. He continued to repeat anything he said in both English and Spanish.
Kota remained quiet, as did the others. Nathan did all the talking, which made me nervous at first, but then I understood Nathan was developing a rapport with them. He’d be the one to stay with them until they settled somewhere safe.
“This is just so we can take everyone in the same car,” Nathan said. “Unless you’d like to split up into different cars. We just thought you’d like to stay together.” He repeated this in Spanish and then added, “It’s up to you.”
The boy started to talk, but the girl spoke over him, nodding her head. “Yes,” she said. “Si.” She continued to talk in Spanish and then moved toward the van. The little ones followed. Dr. Green opened up the door, and they piled in.
They all went into the van, with some of the smaller ones sitting in laps. None reached for a seatbelt. Kota turned his head, started to say something, but Dr. Green sliced his hand through the air, silently telling him to let go. “Just drive carefully for now,”
Dr. Green said. “We’re not far from the hospital. Let’s just get them there.”
Kota pursed his lips, still slightly frowning but nodded. He only wanted them to be safe. I did, too.
Nathan climbed into the passenger seat next to Kota and then they were off.
I stood aside with Silas and Dr. Green on the sidewalk, watching the others drive off.
Luke materialized beside us. His blond hair was tied back in a black elastic to make a ponytail and his T-shirt was a little big on him, which made me think at first it might be North’s, but it was blue, so perhaps it was someone else’s. His clothes were covered in dirt and grime and his face was smeared with dust. Cobwebs hung from his hair.
He stood quietly beside us, looking up the road after the van. “I didn’t get the chance to ask them what their tacos taste like in Mexico.”
Dr. Green turned toward him, breaking into a smile. “I imagine they taste like tacos here, only more...Mexican.”
“I wonder what Mexican taste like,” Luke said. He grinned and then patted at his clothes. “All I’m going to get now is drive-through breakfast. Maybe a Denny’s will let me in.”
“We’re not far from my house,” Victor said, strolling up from around the corner. His sleeves were still rolled up, and hanging from his shoulder was a leather messenger bag. He smiled at me quickly and then looked to Luke. “We’ve got a new cook.”
“Can she make tacos for breakfast?” Luke asked.
“We can ask.”
“I’ve got to get to the hospital,” Dr. Green said. He sighed and then reached out to me, which surprised me because for a second I thought he wanted to walk past me and I took a step back, bumping into Silas. Silas put a hand on my back to steady me.
“Well fine,” Dr. Green said, raking back his sandy blond hair that had blown into his eyes. “I’ll give you both a hug.” He reached out, grabbing Silas by the shoulders and with me between them, hugged.
Silas, once he realized what was happening, wrapped his broad arms around Dr. Green’s shoulders. They squeezed together.
I was squished between them, my face pressed against Dr. Green’s shoulder, Silas pressing into my back. Dr. Green’s sunny ginger scent filled my nose, along with Silas’s ocean. It was an unusual combination and my nose tickled, wanting to sneeze. My arms were out wide between them, unable to bend to hug.
