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“That’s me, buddy,” he smiled. “Come on. We have to get out of here. Fast. Come on, children, let’s go.”
As the children began to follow the men, Eazee noticed one young girl in the corner, huddled down. Her sweatshirt was pulled over her knees; her head turned as one cheek lay against the top of her knee.
“Honey, come on. We have to get out of here,” he said with compassion.
“Just leave me,” she pleaded. “Just leave me.”
“I can’t do that,” said Eazee. He knelt beside her, lifting her easily and heading back into the tunnel. Sniff stared at him.
“Is she the last?”
“Yep. Get the teachers into the room and blow this fucking place.” Eazee moved toward the light at the end of the tunnel while Sniff along with Cowboy and Matt, who’d joined them, began laying the explosives. When they reached the backyard, all was quiet, and they knew that Lomas and East had done their job.
What shocked them was to see Kegger and Morgan standing over the body of Sutton. The kids were dirty and tired, but all appeared healthy and unharmed other than a few bruises on their cheeks. That alone sent most of the men into protective overdrive.
“We have to go. That tunnel is going to blow in like thirty seconds,” said Matt.
With everyone loaded into the vehicles, they made their way toward Fort Bliss, where they got the kids washed, showered, and changed.
Morgan and Kegger hopped a plane back to New Orleans, no one the wiser of their appearance. Before she left, she was able to have a good conversation with Lomas, who was more than pleased with the outcome of his meeting. The telltale sounds of Steel Patriot pipes rattled the windows as he drove away.
Seated in front of the children as they ate their first hot, healthy meal in weeks, Brooke began to question each of them.
“So, none of you have parents?” she asked.
“No, ma’am,” said Marilisa. It turned out that she wasn’t sick at all. She was starting her period and didn’t want to tell Alex, feeling he was too young to understand. Even she forgot that he was a genius.
“We were all either dropped at the school as toddlers or sent there from orphanages,” said another girl.
“Well, we have some choices to make,” said Brooke. “We all live in a large community south of New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s safe, well protected, and the people are loving and caring. We can find homes for you there if you’d like to go.”
“Or?” asked Marilisa.
“Or,” smiled Brooke, “we can contact child protective services, and you’ll be placed in foster care or a children’s home.”
“I don’t want that,” said Alex.
“Me either,” said another boy, Nigel. “Me and Spencer stay together. We’re brothers.”
“We’re not brothers,” said Spencer, rolling his eyes. “We just said that so they’d keep us together.”
Brooke smiled, nodding her head at them.
“Alright, so what I’m hearing is that you’d like to give our home a try. Is that right?” she asked. “If you agree, raise your hand.”
The children all raised their hands, and East smiled at Brooke. These kids were headed to a place that just might smother them in love and affection.
“Wait,” she frowned. “I’m counting seven kids. There were eight. We had four women that we left behind, then there were eight kids. Why is there only seven?”
They all looked around the room, the kids staring at one another.
“Oh, Chelsea’s gone,” said Alex. “She was always really sad and didn’t talk to anyone.”
“That’s the girl I carried out,” said Eazee. “She went to the showers with the other girls.”
“She showered,” said Marilisa. “I was there when she showered. She dressed behind the curtain and then walked out before us.”
“Fuck,” muttered Eazee. “I’ll go see if I can track her down.”
