Stealing Childhood

by Terry Persun

  When they broke into the room, all they heard over the communications unit was Jason breathing hard.

  Blake plopped into a chair and looked up. “He was screaming. It must have been a nightmare.” Blake looked visibly nerve-wracked. His hands shook as well as his head. “It was horrible. I thought someone had sneaked in and was murdering him.”

  “Don’t say that,” Dan said. “Never say anything like that. Words can be dangerous.”

  Agent Blake said, “I was just so…”

  “Play it back.” Dan put a headset on. “Can you do that while still listening to Jason in real time?”

  “Yes, of course.” Blake took over the controls.

  “If you hear anything else, let me know. If anyone comes into the room,” Dan said.

  “Will do,” Blake said.

  Agent Rafsky stood next to Dan and placed a hand on his shoulder. It was a touching gesture. He hadn’t expected it and looked over to meet her eyes for the second time in the last hour. What the hell was going on? He turned back toward the equipment and listened to Jason breathing then yelling. “Get them away from me. Get ’emoff. They’re biting, they’re biting. No, not that…” Then it stopped and Jason was breathing hard. The bed creaked as he got up. “Rats, thousands of them. I was in their nest inside a wall or something. It was packed with fibers, foam, straw, all kinds of shit, packed hard. I couldn’t move, but they could climb all around me. Then they started biting and when I looked up all the girls were trapped there with me and rats were coming out of them, their…” He stopped. “Sorry. Sarah said they weren’t tapping the room. I’m okay. I’m okay.” Then Dan heard Jason sit down, probably in a desk chair because it squeaked a little.

  Dan removed the headset and Agent Blake said, “He’s been quiet.”

  “Let me talk to him,” Dan said.

  Blake nodded and pointed toward the button Cora had used earlier. He flipped another switch and some low toned white noise came through. Dan pushed the talk button. “Jason, I’m here, and everything is okay.”

  They heard a little laugh. “Hi, Dad.”

  Dan felt Cora grip his shoulder tighter, then ease up.

  When he looked over, she smiled. “Maybe Sarah was right. Maybe you should get out of there while you can,” she said.

  “I’m not sure I can,” Jason said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have this feeling, Dad. I can’t let this go now. The dream. The girls. I have to help.” There was another laugh. “Like you, maybe once I’m called in, I don’t leave until the job’s done. The dream just made me more committed. But there’s something I don’t understand. These guys aren’t pimps or anything. Something bigger is going on, and I need to find out what.”

  “You don’t have—”

  “Yes I do, Dad, and you have to let me.”

  “Okay, okay. Then how can I help? What do you want me to do?” Those were some of the most difficult words Dan had ever said, particularly to his son. But after the journey to the bottom of the ocean, and after Jason’s committal statement, that’s all that was left to say.

  “He’s right,” Cora said. She let her hand slide from his shoulder. “We couldn’t go in after him even if we wanted to. Not now.”

  “Jason?”

  “I’m thinking. Would you be willing to journey on this whole idea of a nest? We’ll do it together, a shared journey to try to figure out the blockage. I was also thinking about what Koko said—or what Sarah said—about letting them handle this. Do you think that she is one of the shaman your friend Richard talked about?”

  “I don’t know any answers at the moment. For now, I’d like you to decide what’s next. What I’m doing, what I’ve been doing, hasn’t led to a very good place,” Dan said.

  “You mean the mirror rooms, the mirror snake and mouse, the cracked window, and the rattlesnake?”

  Dan had to laugh. “I think you’ve got the idea.”

  “Even if you don’t want to admit to it?”

  “Don’t push your luck,” Dan said with a chuckle. “When would you like to journey on this idea?”

  “Shared journey. Let’s meet in fifteen minutes, that should give you time. I want you to meet me here, in my room. It looks similar to any hotel room, a bed, desk with chair, a second stuffed chair with a floor lamp over it, dresser for my clothes, side table with a lamp but no phone, and a side closet. One thing, though, there are no windows.”

  “Intention?”

  “I want to have a look around my nightmare. I figure that even if I get stuck and fearful that you’ll be able to keep your head, poke around for a way out. And, Dad?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m more worried about the girls than me. There’s something awful going on here no matter how congenial everyone appears. Something heavy.”

  “Worse than selling them off?”

  Jason didn’t have to answer.

  “Fifteen minutes,” Dan said. He turned and looked up at Cora.

  “I’m with you. I don’t know how you’re doing all this but, after the last time, I want to be there. Your choking scared the hell out of me.”

  “What’s she talking about, Dad?

  “Later,” he said.

  “Don’t bring me back early,” He said to Cora. Then he thanked Agent Blake—who smiled in acknowledgement—and walked back out the door to go to his own room. “So, what’s so frightening about this operation for you?”

  Agent Rafsky took a deep breath. “My girls. You should understand. I can’t allow people like this to be in the world. Enough is enough.”

  Dan unlocked his room and walked inside. “What else?” He stared into her face, his eyes steady, penetrating.

  “My oldest, Lizzy. One of her friends disappeared last year. She’s never been found. We assume it was these guys, but can’t be sure. The Council has been on this case, but they do things their own way—shamans included—which doesn’t seem to be working no matter what Koko or Sarah claims.”

  “That was a surprise,” Dan said.

  “Yes, it was. We thought she actually escaped, but she’s been a part of this somehow. Richard must know. Maybe he’s a part of it, too.”

  “No assumptions. We don’t know everything yet.” He picked up the drum and handed it to her. “All the way through this time.”

  “Don’t scare me.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  She sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her watch. “We have a few minutes. How’s shared dreaming work? Can you do it with anyone?”

  “Anyone? Yes, with permission. And it’s hard to explain. Everything I do is hard to explain. But, basically, you choose a place and time and intention. Both of you journey and compare notes afterward.”

  “You expect this to work?”

  “It always does.”

  Chapter 18

  The room was dark and reminded Dan of the bottom of the ocean. He knew he needed to enter the wall, find the nest, then find a way out. He glanced around the room for a guide. He didn’t have to ask. A cockroach appeared. “Fantastic. Thank you, thank you,” he said to the bug. “What would you have me do?”

  Cockroach raised its feelers in response. “Shrink down and follow me,” it said.

  Dan raised his arms—he didn’t know why, but it initiated the change—and shrank to cockroach size. The insect beside him looked sleek at that level, even with the threatening spikes on its legs. Dan didn’t pay close attention because that wasn’t the point. The point was to get inside the wall, find the blockage, and decide how to get through it. He explained what he was there for, that he and Jason were doing a shared journey.

  Cockroach led Dan toward a slight crack in the baseboard, which Dan had to jump up to reach the lip of, then pull himself up. Near the corner of the room, a large gap opened, and he slid down the gap and into a broken corner of the sheetrock. Cockroach scurried beside him.

  Every known material he could think of—newspaper, straw, foam insulation, even soda
cans—packed the space inside the wall. It felt restrictive. “We have to find a way through this barrier,” Dan said, “then a way back out, or through to the other side. Maybe that would be better, to escape this room altogether.”

  Cockroach wound its way through a maze of tunnels, and Dan followed. His claustrophobia kicked in, blood rushed to his head. The space tightened around his shoulders. He took in more breath, expanding his chest, further pressuring his shoulders, causing even more panic. Dust from the walls floated into his face but he couldn’t reach up with his hands. They were stuck to his sides. He choked and spit. He closed his eyes and tried to think like a snake, but no amount of thinking gave him peace. At one point, he wiggled a short distance more, pushing with the tips of his toes. He edged forward until he got wedged in. Instead of focusing on his present predicament, he considered the overall situation and how he, Jason, and the FBI had been blocked from the beginning, even Koko mentioned being blocked.

  Not this time. He managed to will himself to shrink a slight bit smaller but knew that was all he could do. The next time he’d be completely stuck, unable to escape. He couldn’t let that happen.

  Cockroach led Dan into an open space. Dan’s relief was palpable. He threw his hand up, then rubbed them along his face and the back of his neck.

  Jason had already arrived, surrounded by rats, just like in his dream. Part of one of Jason’s arms had been chewed. Blood spread around him. Some rats licked at the blood. There were no girls. Dan turned to Cockroach.

  The insect walked toward the rats and stopped in front of them. “The girls?” Cockroach asked.

  The rats all talked at the same time, but in different languages, several of them speaking in English, which Dan understood. “Hidden, cooperative, sold.” Dan settled on sold and turned to scan the area for an escape route. The rats must have gotten in somehow.

  Jason moaned, then said sleepily, “Get them out of here?” Rats turned toward him and he stopped talking.

  Dan yelled to his son, “Trust what you feel, regardless of how things might appear.” The irony. He wished he could take his own advice.

  The rats didn’t appear to like his words. They turned toward one another and away, ran in small circles, squawked and talked. Dan repeated his words. The rats activity became erratic, as though more irritated. “Follow your intuition,” Dan yelled.

  Suddenly, several rats rushed Cockroach, who turned and ran toward, then past, Dan. As Dan followed Cockroach’s exit path, a small opening showed itself. Again, it was tight. The space closed in on his shoulders and Dan squeezed through the space, too small for the rats to follow.

  Cockroach climbed over Dan’s back and behind him. “The girls.”

  “How can we help them escape?” Dan asked.

  “A bargain.”

  “I don’t like bargaining with rats,” Dan said.

  “You’d better start.”

  Dan heard the three separate beat sequences of the drum and wiggled backward to the opening. The rats appeared to be busy and Jason was gone, so Dan and Cockroach traveled the same route they arrived through, back into the first room, and back to normal size. Jason sat at a desk across the room, but Dan didn’t notice details. He knew it was Jason. The return drumming had begun. There wasn’t much time. Dan customarily thanked Cockroach, then took three long, deep breaths before opening his eyes.

  “That was better,” Cora said, standing over him.

  “For whom?” Dan said.

  “You didn’t cry out or act weird.”

  “I didn’t have to, but we have to help Jason get out of there. I’m afraid he might get hurt.”

  Cora shook her head as though not sure what to believe. “Why? What do you mean get hurt?”

  “Something about his arm. It didn’t look good.”

  “Okay, okay. You look upset. We’ll see what we can do.”

  “No, we’ll do something. Period.” Dan knew that his stare could scare people, but kept his eyes on Cora anyway. “I’m serious.”

  For some reason, she relaxed in front of him. Had he worn her down? Was she giving up? “I know you’re serious.” She lowered her head and plopped down on the bed, setting the drum and stick aside. “We’re at the end of our rope,” she said.

  Dan felt a confession coming and held back his concern to allow her to speak. Her expression changed to something more cordial. “Every time I try to plan, try to think things through, my mind gets muddled and I feel confused. That’s never happened before. I kept thinking it was stress. We have never gotten this close. Every damned thing we’ve tried has backfired. At one point, we were ordered to back off completely. We asked to stay on for a while, see if anything new came up, and you were sent in. We hang around. We watch. Nothing.”

  “Who told you to call me?”

  She turned her head. “We heard about you through secondary channels.” She shook her head, not as though she didn’t want to tell him, but because she didn’t really know. “Roundabout. I hardly recall anymore.” She glared at him. “Sound familiar?” She shook her head. “Like a dream. Then the word came down that you were showing up and to head to the airport.”

  Dan gave a little laugh. “That’s how it works. A lot of people, not all, don’t remember how they arrived at my doorstep. It’s all part of the job for me. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m here, and I can help.”

  She gave him a look of disbelief.

  “Trust me. I haven’t pulled out the big guns yet. But first, we have to get Jason out of there. Maybe Koko, or Sarah, can help. She wants us off the premises anyway.”

  “Don’t you wonder why?”

  Dan stood from the chair and reached down to take her shoulders. “Oh, I’ll find out.”

  Chapter 19

  Trying to decipher a shared journey was not always easy. Jason’s side of the story sounded more like a happy dream. He left his room and walked down the hall to where the girls’ rooms were. “I’m not far from them, Dad, I’m sure of it. In fact, I know Sarah is next door, I heard her go in after she talked with me. Anyway, once I got to where they were, we talked for a while and we all left the room, walked down the hall, and out a side door. Sarah led the way.”

  Dan sat with Cora and Bill Blake. “We have to take both journeys into consideration. You know that. I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks. And while you’re there, call her Koko. I don’t want her cover blown, not by us, no matter what she’s doing in there. Remember, she said a blockage walled the passage.”

  “I know, Dad, but maybe she wanted us to quit working the case. Maybe she lied. As for the rest of your journey, you’re claustrophobic. Don’t you think your fear could have infused the journey?”

  “Not likely.”

  “But possible,” Jason said.

  Dan didn’t mention the journey he’d had with the whale, where Jason lay at the bottom of the ocean. Cora put a hand on Dan’s shoulder. “I have a bad feeling,” Dan said.

  Jason responded in a low tone as though trying to ease his dad’s worries. “I know how much your feelings mean to you, and I promise I’ll be careful. It’s late. I doubt anyone is even around.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  Cora put her hand over Dan’s hand before he responded to Jason. She patted it once and said, “Let him do this. You have to trust him.” She removed her hand after Agent Blake glanced at her with a questioning look.

  “Alright,” Dan said to Jason. “Do a body scan before leaving your room. Know where you are emotionally and physically, and move slowly. Don’t get in a hurry. Stay grounded.”

  “Got it and got it, Dad.” They heard Jason rustling around as he got dressed and walked over to the door. The door clicked when he turned the knob. Jason whispered, “Outside the room.”

  Cora tapped the com unit. “No talking while outside. That’s a sure giveaway if you run into anyone.”

  They heard nothing more than some breathing then a knock on a door. They expected a muffled answer, but a ma
n’s loud voice said, “What are you doing out of your room?”

  “Sorry,” came Jason’s answer. “I was just—”

  “Just what? The girls aren’t for you. They need their rest.”

  “I thought I knew one of them.”

  “Doubtful. Now get back to your room.”

  “I thought I was trusted. Is there something more going on here than what I know? I should be able to at least talk,” Jason said.

  “Would you like me to contact—”

  “You don’t have to,” a second voice said.

  “We didn’t mean to wake you, sir,” the guard responded.

  “I was making arrangements for tomorrow. What’s going on?”

  “Found this guy knocking on Koko’s door.”

  Jason said, “Chuck, man, I just thought I recognized her when I saw her going into her room earlier.”

  Dan flipped back a few pages in his notebook where he’d written down everyone’s name. “Chuck O,” he said.

  “How would you know Koko?” Chuck asked.

  Jason hesitated. “Oh, Koko? That’s her name? No, I thought it was someone else. I must be mistaken.”

  Chuck’s voice got louder. “I don’t know if I like you snooping around. I thought you understood that the less you knew about our business the better off you were. Did we not make that clear enough?”

  “Yes, sir, you did. Thanks for reminding me.” Jason lowered his voice. Dan could imagine him raising his hands slightly in surrender, maybe removing eye contact.

  Chuck said, “Give him a reminder.” Then they heard a muffled gunshot.

  “My arm!”

  “What the hell?” Dan jumped up.

  “Your journey,” Cora said while staring at Dan in what appeared to be disbelief.

  “That’s not the journey I’m worried about,” Dan said. He pushed the transmit button, but Cora pulled his hand away before he could say anything. “If you say one thing to him, he’s going to answer automatically. He’s in distress and won’t be thinking straight.”

  Dan pulled his hand away then lowered himself back into the seat and listened. His heart racing.