Kai held the ruby up so the camera would see and he banged on the warehouse door with his other fist. He hit the door extra hard, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
“I have it,” he said. He stepped back and waited as the metal of the door snapped as it creaked opened. Noah was waiting on the other side and he waved Kai through.
“I wasn’t sure you could do it,” Noah said.
Kai shrugged his shoulders and walked into the main area of the warehouse. There were more boxes of stuff crowded against the walls.
“Wait here,” Noah said. He walked over to the guys crowded around a table, nearly disappearing in the light for a moment.
“He’s here right now?” someone asked. Then several figures reemerged and Kai recognized the T-Man, Brandons, and Noah coming toward him.
Brandons reached Kai first and he held out his hand and said, “Let me see it.”
“Now, now Brandons, manners,” the T-Man said. He turned to Kai. “Give him the ruby.”
Kai dropped the ruby in the new guy’s hand and wondered how a guy named Brandons came to work for the T-Man.
“I got you the ruby,” Kai said. “I want to know what you found out about my family.”
“Patience,” the T-Man said turning to Brandons. “Is it real? Will it work?”
Brandons held the ruby up to the light and studied it. Then he jogged over to his work table and pulled a laser gun from the top of a pile of papers. He placed the ruby into a center section of the gun and after taking a deep breath he flipped a button. Instantly, there was a humming sound.
“It’s perfect,” Brandons said. “This should give us at least thirty seconds before the monitors figure out something is wrong.”
“Perfect,” Kai repeated. “Like I said, I did my part.”
“Unfortunately,” the T-Man said smiling. “I need one more thing from you before I can give you the information.”
“No! The deal was for the ruby. That is it.” Kai could feel his hopes unraveling. He glared at the T-Man’s smile and wondered how many punches he could land before they pulled him off.
“The deal has changed,” the T-Man said. “We need you for another job in a few hours. You won’t have to do much and I will give you all the information I have before the job so you will know I keep my word. Or you can leave now and stay away without the information and I’ll find someone else.”
Kai looked from the T-Man to Noah. They had him. He couldn’t walk away, not when he was so close to finding out the truth.
“I hate you,” Kai said, his voice quiet and subdued.
“Excellent,” the T-Man said, as if he did not hear the words. He nodded at Noah. “We have some last minute planning to do that you don’t need to know and we will find you before the suns set.”
Noah approached and took Kai’s left arm. Before Kai could act or respond Noah pulled out a gun and shot Kai in the bicep. Pain throbbed down to his hand.
“What are you doing?” Kai asked. His right fingers felt the area for blood but there was none. He looked and couldn’t find a single drop of blood or even a hole. There was a red dot the size of a freckle that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before, but that was it. Noah set the gun down on a table and Kai could see it wasn’t like most of the guns he had seen. It was smaller and the barrel was too narrow, like the medical air guns they used to give a vaccine.
“That is a tracking device, now embedded in your bloodstream.” The T-Man began walking around. “After the merry chase you gave us did you think we would let you leave without knowing exactly where to find you? Don’t worry, it will wear out...eventually.” The T-Man began to walk back to the container. “We will find you when we need you.”
“See you soon,” Noah said, as he showed Kai out of the warehouse.
“Yeah,” Kai said. He felt so tired. As he stood outside of the warehouse, he wanted to escape, to run far away, but he had to know about his family, his mom. He was trapped. If the T-Man didn’t tell him tonight he would leave, tracker or not. The promise felt hollow and he didn’t trust himself to follow through. But it felt good to imagine.
There was no point in covering his tracks or worrying about visiting his normal hideout so Kai went back to the orphanage. The abandoned building and overgrown yard had a new addition. A for sale sign hung near the front gate and Kai wondered who would want to buy the place. More likely the building would be torn down to make room for another. The thought was a bit sad. It was the only place he had ever considered his home. He moved past the orphanage and climbed the bell tower of the cathedral.
The suns warmed the wooden planks through the stained glass and the opened walls. Kai plopped with his back to one of the support beams. The breeze wrapped around the old bell and helped to cool his face. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. His arm hurt and he wanted to rub it, but he didn’t feel like moving. He must have fallen asleep because when he jerked his head up and checked his surroundings the shadows had moved. The suns were in the early afternoon positions. There was a bang as the door of the cathedral slammed shut. One of the steps on the ladder creaked and his first thought was that Noah was coming for him.
“I was hoping you would be here,” Caryn’s voice said and he was glad she’d found him until he remembered what had happened earlier. He heard the floor creak beneath her as she climbed into the bell tower and sat next to him. Reluctantly, he shifted to make room for her. They sat there in silence for a few moments. Kai didn’t look at her. The wind blew against the wooden walls bringing with it snatches of the jigger’s sweet toxin. He had never paid any real attention to the smell before, but in that moment he decided it did smell like the poison it was. He could feel it burrowing into his lungs with every breath he took.
“I’m sorry for the way you found out about this. I assumed you knew and I’m sure it was a shock.” Her voice sounded small and hallow in the loft.
“Are you going to get the cure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” His tone was a bit harsher than he intended. He raised his fingers to where the tracker was buried under his skin. The tiny circle where Noah injected him made a small mound that stood out like a pimple. He couldn’t stop himself from rubbing it. If he had any fingernails his arm would be a bloody mess and he still wouldn’t be rid of the T-Man’s tracking device.
“It is the right thing to do.”
“Who cares about doing the right thing?” Kai snorted. “Nobody does the right thing. Why should you?”
“What about Doc Hubbard and his family and the work they do for those who can’t afford a doctor? What about the way Tommy takes care of a little boy he is not related to? You’re not being fair to the people who are trying to make this world a better place and people can change.”
“A better place?” Kai laughed. “If people can change they choose not to. Do you know how many guys I know who said they were going to give up stealing, gangs or drugs? Do you know how many starving people there are in the universe? They were going to do something about that thousands of years ago and look at us now. I can’t count how many nights I went to bed hungry and compared to most of the kids I know I’ve had it good. For all our progress the way humans are now is the same way humans have been for a long, long time and you dying will not change that.” Kai’s fingers twisted around the bump on his arm until it hurt too much for him to take. He dropped his hand and scratched at the wooden floorboards.
“Maybe you’re right,” Caryn said.
Kai snorted.
“But I can’t let the children we met die because those people may not change. When I look at the kids who have been brought to Doc’s clinic it hurts me to see them sick and I can’t let them die knowing there was something I could do to save them. I’m not going to let them, or you, die so I can live a long life.” Caryn’s hand touched Kai’s arm. Neither said anything for a while.
“Will--will you come to the Compound to see me before...???
? Caryn asked.
“I don’t know,” Kai said. He looked down at the roof of the old orphanage.
“You don’t have to make a decision right now, but I would like you to be there. It would mean a lot to me.”
“I have to do something today and if it goes well I’ll be looking for my family.”
Caryn nodded. She stood up and brushed off her pants. Kai noticed that they were no longer white like they were when he first met her. Now they were a light gray. He listened to her climb down the ladder and quietly close the front door.
Kai sighed, his fingers forgetting to pick at the floor. The information weighed on his mind. He wondered what he would say if he found his family. He always imagined that something must have happened, that they had died or something big prevented his mom from coming back. It was the only conclusion his heart would accept. The other alternative was his mom didn’t want him and did not love him. He wasn’t sure he could handle that.
A door banged open below.
“Hey kid. The T-Man says you have to come with me.”