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“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.
