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“I see,” she said. “So he still might be available for a closed adoption. I’ll keep it in mind when holding another meeting.” She gave a knowing nod, then went quiet for a moment, studying the files. She touched briefly at each page, and traced her fingers over the words with a caring touch. It was an odd thing to see this, like she was already concerned for our welfare when she only had a piece of paper and Axel’s word to rely upon. Somehow my ideas about the Academy and her didn’t fit together: spies, secret police. This lady, with graying hair and wrinkles, and a grandmother’s smile should have been retired. “How much does she know?” she asked quietly.
“A lot more than I’d like to admit,” Axel said.
She nodded, a gentle one, like she knew the entire story. “How long did it take for her to figure it out?”
“A few hours, give or take. On her own.”
The lady turned her head, blinking several times. This wasn’t part of the pretty picture she must have been painting. “You’re kidding.”
“She’s cunning,” he said. “A little time in our apartment, and she pegged us. One of the best I’ve seen. Her morals are a little on the border.”
“Do you think she’d take it over the edge?”
“I think we caught her just in time,” he said. His shoulders rolled back a bit, and his smile widened. I focused on him now, since I’d been studying her since it started. He looked almost proud now, like he was happy at this result. “If she’d not met us, I don’t think she’d be here to talk about now. She’d probably end up in jail.”
The lady nodded. “I understand. Then it’s a good thing we did get involved. I like the sound of that. As long as there’s no more wild accidents like what I’ve heard happened yesterday with the yacht crash, I think this will work.” She collected the files, closing them and drawing them into her lap. “I’ll see to the adoption. There should be a nice family reunion in a couple of days. Is the closed adoption for this new bird approved by your whole team?”
“All approved. I am willing, and my team will incur.” His smile broadened.
“Fine. I’ll put out a notice. No other Academy teams will approach her from here on out, but I think the council will be interested to hear of her progress.”
“Don’t let them hold their breaths. This will take a while. She’s feisty.”
“They always start that way.” She patted the folders. “By the way, speaking of money income, there’s an open assignment if you’d like to take it.”
Axel cocked an eyebrow and his lips tightened, almost a pained expression. It reminded me of an elderly lady asking assistance crossing the street, opposite where you are going, but you felt obliged to help anyway. “I’m listening.”
“Another member’s grandmother became involved in one of those online Ponzi schemes. Talked into it by one of her other grandchildren. She’s put nearly all of her savings into it.”
“Who is it?”
“Mrs. Gunther. She lives in Florida, in the St. Augustine area. We can get you some specifics but this one will require visiting for research. It would probably be best to talk to her, and hopefully we can regain what was invested. Talk her into getting her money back before it becomes lost. The reward will be fifteen percent of whatever is recovered. From what I hear, it’s around two hundred thousand dollars.”
My breath escaped me, and I did a quick bit of math. The reward was thirty thousand dollars.
There was a long pause. Axel’s rocking foot stopped. His face was unreadable for a moment. Slowly, he reanimated, nodding. “All right. That sounds like something we can do.”
“I had a feeling Corey could handle it easily enough. We can’t bring down the scammers, but we can help her, I think. She’ll be happy to get her savings back. By the way, that grandchild didn’t know any better. He meant well. He wanted to improve her retirement because she’d been worried about it. No need to pursue that one.”
“They all think they’re being helpful.” Axel sighed. “Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of. Let me know when you manage to track this other Winchester down. Poor dear. Hope he comes back.”
“We will let you know.”
I watched in silence as they continued with some small talk about the weather. She got up and they moved out of my field of view toward the door. Axel offered to walk her back to her car, and locked the door behind him.
I waited as long as I could, and then opened the door quietly, checking the space. Empty. The files were gone. She’d taken them with her. I was hoping to check out the material.
A mix of emotions rolled over me, and I had no idea what to do. Prospect. Adoption.
What was this Academy?
They had files on Wil and me. While I’d been riled up seeing them with the files, nothing in their conversation sounded malicious. They wanted to include us. Somehow. They set up a closed adoption for me because they considered me a prospect. They would adopt Wil, but what did it mean, exactly? He was on some secret group list? Protection?
If that was the case, what did we need protection from? People like Coaltar? People who could come after them because they were nosy and didn’t mind their own business?
The gnawing sensation I’d felt since I joined this group suddenly became very clear. This Academy was a secret, and I didn’t like not knowing.
Jack, who I’d known since forever, kept secrets.
Wil had his own secrets.
I had my own, too. The only difference was that now the guys seemed to know most of mine. They knew the ones I hadn’t even told Jack or Wil, about the pickpocketing.
As much as the Academy guys had helped me, the truth was, their motives were still unclear. I remembered the other day and visiting the gun range with Axel and Raven. They were training teenagers to shoot guns. Was I okay with that? Was that something I wanted to be a part of?
I clenched my fists. They should have asked me first if I wanted this. They should have talked to me before they involved Wil at all, or even thought to adopt him. Whatever that meant.
This changed everything. I needed to find out what this Academy was. I needed to know who I was up against. What if I was diving deeper into something that could get me arrested? If they had such secrets, worked in secret, didn’t that mean they were hiding something? Could anyone start up a private spy group? I supposed anyone could, but this seemed so organized and resourceful.
I needed to know everything before I found Wil. That was clear. If this was a dangerous group, there was no way I was going to let anyone adopt Wil, or even let them get near him. I needed to get those files back. I didn’t feel like they were evil, they didn’t seem to be, but I had to be absolutely sure. I wanted names. I wanted an address. I wanted to know who was in charge, where he worked, how he earned his money, who he voted for. All groups had a motive, and they couldn’t simply be a goody-two-shoes group willing to help anyone and everyone, like this grandmother in Florida. They earned money for it. I heard them talk about it.
I listened to the quiet. I had a few minutes alone before Axel got back. I closed the door again to give myself some cover.
My brain and my heart buzzed to life, filled with a new purpose and my whole body was wired to get started. I needed the truth. The full story. I couldn’t get close to Brandon, to Marc, to any of them without knowing what this was.
If I didn’t like what I found, I would have to contact Wil and tell him to stay hidden, to run, assuming I could find him first.
Maybe I could tell them to back off somehow. If he ran away, he didn’t want to be here. I’d have to stay behind with the Academy, to find those files, erase us from their group. If they were really bad, I may even need to stop them.
This was my fault. I had to fix it.
I scanned Corey’s bedroom. If I needed to know about the Academy, there should be evidence of it right here. It was a starting point. It felt wrong to snoop on Corey, but I pushed away that feeling. They had files on us, after all. Digging arou
nd in his underwear drawer for some dirt was fair game.
What did I really know about Corey Henshaw? I stared at the math on the wall. So he did fancy equations. He called it geographic profiling, using math formulas to track people down. People like me. Who else was he tracking? What was this math on the board for now?
Since I couldn’t figure out the math, I started with his side table drawer, opening it, checking the contents. An old cell phone that wouldn’t turn on, Xbox controllers, a TV remote, a bottle of aspirin, and a pocket knife. I slid some of the stuff aside and heard a thunk. There was a gun inside: a .38. The safety was on.
I lifted it, checking. Loaded. Even Corey had a gun. I’d been sleeping next to this?
I closed the drawer back. It was interesting, but still, it said nothing about this Academy. Half the boys in Charleston probably had a gun in their nightstand. In the South it was pretty standard. Corey didn’t seem like the type, but knowing someone like Raven and the training he’d had, I couldn’t be too surprised.
Corey’s laptop wasn’t here. Wherever he was, he must have taken it with him. I tried the closet, checking the contents.
