despondently on the floor, knees drawn up, his forehead resting on his arms.
“Father, would it be alright if I rang my parents and told them I’m okay?”
“Of course William, but for the time being I’d refrain from telling them where you are. They might be questioned and if the men learned he was here, I couldn’t stop them from taking him.”
Billy nodded and picked up the phone.
25
“So you have no idea where your boyfriend took Kyato?” Marko asked Donna.
“He’s not my boyfriend, and no, I’ve got no idea,” Donna answered, a little annoyed. The Blairs had just finished explaining all that had happened during the previous week and rounding off with their account of their questioning at the hands of Carlisle and his merry men.
“Another dead end,” Marko sighed.
“Do you think this Billy Kennedy could have gotten Kyato out of town?” Jennifer asked.
“Who knows? Perhaps, but I doubt it. They’d be pretty obvious on a motorcycle, I mean those wings aren’t the sort of thing you can tuck into a T-shirt!” Ed said. “Besides, where would he take him, a motel?”
“So you think they’re still around here somewhere, hiding out?”
“It’d be my guess. This is Billy’s town, he’d probably know a lot of places to hide.”
“Well, what should we do now then?” Felicity asked.
“We wait and hope they turn up, hope they get to us before Carlisle gets to them,” Jennifer said. She stood, as did Marko, and retrieved the tape from the VCR. “We’ll head off now and let you get back to it. We’re staying in a motel on the east side of town, the Sun Shine I think it’s called,” She continued.
“Yes, I know it,” Ed said.
“Great, you can contact us there if you hear anything. We’re in rooms eleven and twelve, I’d give you the number for our mobile phone but we’re pretty sure it’s tapped. If we hear anything ourselves, we’ll of course contact you.”
“The town’s phones are tapped as well, Carlisle told me,” Ed said.
“Figures. We’ll have to do it in person then,” Jennifer muttered. Ed nodded and they headed to the door.
“Do you really think we can do anything to help them?” Felicity asked.
Jennifer looked sad and tired. “I don’t know but I intend to try. Goodbye.” She turned and with Marko following got into their car and drove off, leaving Felicity and Ed looking at each other in sad wonder.
Two days later, Jennifer Hatfield was sitting at her notebook computer in her motel room, going over notes and data but not really taking anything in. Marko was lying on her bed behind her, staring in mute disinterest at the ceiling.
So far there had been no sign of Kyato or the Kennedy boy, and Jennifer was beginning to worry that something may have happened to them. But Carlisle’s goons were still hanging around so it seemed they hadn’t found them either and that being the case she was glad to see them, for once. Where could the lad have gone, being so unprepared?
“What’cha thinkin’, Boss?”
“The usual, where the hell could they have gone?” Jennifer answered absently.
“Should we go over and see the Blairs? Maybe they’ve heard something,” Marko said with a yawn.
Jennifer sighed and pushed herself away from her computer, idly switching it off. “I think they’d have told us if they’d learned anything new, but we may as well. It beats sitting around here all day and we can pick up something to eat on the way.”
Marko nodded, rousing himself off the bed. “I’ll just go get my wallet and phone from my room.”
They drove into the center of town and pulled into the half full car park of a diner. “I could eat a horse,” Jennifer muttered as they crossed the lot. Marko smiled then happened to glance at an attractive woman who was walking past. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“Jen, look!” He pointed over the rooftops. About half a kilometer away two black helicopters were hovering and circling close to the ground. A screech of tires and a screaming engine made then whirl around in time to see a black sedan go shooting along the street they’d just been traveling on. It was heading in the direction of the choppers.
“Oh my God, oh my God, Marko they’ve found him!” Jennifer said and they both bolted for the car. Jennifer drove toward the choppers at a speed faster than she’d have normally considered safe. Beside her Marko dialed his phone. “Who are you calling on that?” she asked.
“The Blairs, I figure it doesn’t matter if the phone’s bugged or not now and were gonna need all the help we can get. Damn, no one’s answering!” He hung up and tried again. Jennifer swung the car onto a small suburban street, the commotion was just up ahead, denoted by several black cars parked across the road and the helicopters circling lazily above.
“A church, God damn it, I should have guessed!” Jennifer said angrily as she pulled the car to a stop. They both piled out and ran for the church. It was a small picturesque sandstone structure, the sign outside claiming it to be St Luke’s Catholic Church. At the front doors, a priest and a small crowd of civilians were doing their best to hold off a group of grey suited men. Jennifer was surprised to see the Blairs among them. Other people were joining the group, many firing questions and angry comments at the men in grey. The situation looked volatile to say the least.
Jennifer and Marko pushed their way through to the fore. “Ed, Felicity, what’s happening here?” Jennifer huffed.
“Thank God you’re here!” Ed exclaimed. “We tried to call the motel but you weren’t there.”
“Is he here?” Jennifer asked.
“Yes, Billy brought him here that night and Father Kelly has been keeping him since, but somehow the goon squad found out. We’re waiting for the sheriff now.”
Jennifer looked to Father Kelly, who was standing his ground against a bald agent that she knew only too well. The priest was refusing to let the agents into the church on the grounds they would abduct someone he’d granted sanctuary to. He was obviously afraid but not prepared to back down. The crowd around him, his parishioners apparently, were vocally supporting him. The agents, although prepared to deal with complaints about warrants and civil rights, were unsure how to proceed against such a religious stand; especially one that was sacred and had the potential, if breached, to put the whole town in an uproar. How could they say they exceeded the authority of the Lord in his own house?
“This could get ugly, where are Donna and Ninah?” Jennifer asked.
“Inside. Ninah’s with Kyato, Donna’s with several others calling as many of our friends and congregation members as possible and getting them down here. Father Kelly’s idea, the more the merrier, and the better our chances of keeping them out.” Ed raised his eyebrows at Jennifer as if to ask for her approval, but it also said that if she had a better idea then she should speak up.
Jennifer nodded and smiled. “What are you telling them?”
Now it was Ed’s turn to grin. “Well, we've taken a degree of creative license with that. We’re saying that the Lord has sent a messenger to speak to us, but the government men want to kill him.” He shrugged at Jennifer’s look of surprise. “I know it’s not true but under the circumstances I’m sure the good Lord would approve.” He smiled sadly.
“I can see why they’re all so angry now,” Jennifer said, looking around at the growing crowd.
“Well, the DSS are unpopular in town already, what with their arrogant barging in here there and everywhere, and the fact that they’ve never offered any reason as to why they’re here. For once their secrecy is working against them because there’s not a thing they could say to dissuade the people of our story, especially once they’ve seen Kyato. Even if Carlisle claims he doesn’t want to kill him, but help him instead, these people will never let him take him away, not with out a major fuss.” Ed said.
Just then the bald agent grew tired of Father Kelly and pushed him, knocking the priest to the ground
. The already incensed crowd roared its collective disapproval and surged forward. One large middle aged man slammed a fist into Baldy’s face, knocking him backward, to which the agents responded by drawing their sidearms.
“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Ed said, momentarily forgetting whose company he was keeping. A shot rang out and the large man went down, clutching his shoulder. Another shot and people were screaming now; some scattered, but most stayed.
Before any more carnage could occur, two police cars screeched to a stop in front of the church amid the black sedans, their sirens blaring and lights flashing. Sheriff Tanner and three other officers got out and pointed their weapons at the men in grey. “Hold it right now!” the sheriff yelled. Two agents were using the commotion to their advantage and heading for the church door. The sheriff fired his shotgun into the air before chambering another round and pointing it at the pair. They desisted. A wise idea considering Burt Tanner’s reputation as a hard ass, an honest one, but a hard ass none the less.
Several other police cars arrived as Tanner, pointedly ignoring the bald agent, approached Father Kelly, who was kneeling and holding a hand to the injured man’s shoulder. Blood seeped between his fingers. The sheriff turned and ordered one of his men to get on the radio and call for an ambulance. He then turned back to the priest. “Father, just what in tarnation is going on here?”
“Burt, these men have come here with no