2 Chapter 2

“But someone is,” Deke pointed out. “Did you run away from home?”

Rory shook his head. “We don’t have a home. Not anymore.”

“How so?”

When Rory didn’t reply, Molly did. “It burned down, and we got away but Mommy and Dad didn’t.” Tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. She buried her face in Rory’s shoulder.

“Damn. How long ago?” Deke asked.

“Three months, maybe. Yeah, about that,” Rory replied, stroking Molly’s hair. “When the fire happened…” He swallowed hard. “When it did, it was after ten at night. Mom and Dad were still downstairs, I was in my room. Molly was in bed. I heard glass breaking followed by an explosion. I could smell, maybe gasoline? Then Mom was screaming and Dad was shouting. I ran to the stairs, started down, and saw Dad, in flames, stagger into the hallway. He looked up at me and told me to get Molly and run, and…and stay hidden.”

Deke frowned. “Did he say why?”

Rory shook his head. “He said ‘Don’t let them get you’, and then…then he died. Molly was awake by then. She was scared and crying and I told her to get into my room and I grabbed my backpack, crammed some of our clothes into it. Smoke and fire were coming up the stairs, we could hardly breathe, so I…we got out my window onto the back porch roof. I told her to hang on to me, and jumped.”

“He twisted his ankle,” Molly whispered.

Rory shrugged. “Not so bad I couldn’t get us away. We went to the park down the street on the cul-de-sac where we lived and, damn it, the house was engulfed in flames by the time the fire department got there. Them and the cops. I almost went back, to tell them what happened, but with what Dad said, and I was sure someone had firebombed the house, and maybe they were still around somewhere, so…”

“You’ve been hiding ever since.”

“Yeah. Well, first we got out of town. I’d been working at a restaurant and had my tips. Dad wanted me to put them in the bank for college, like I did with my pay, but I liked the feeling of having some cash. You know what I mean?” When Deke nodded, Rory continued. “We hid until morning, and then took the commuter bus, the one that went between the city to the south of us through a couple of towns to the north, and got off at the end of the line. From there, we hitched out here.” He shivered. “I kept looking over my shoulder, wondering if whoever burned our house was following us. I didn’t see how they could, but still.”

“We started living on the streets,” Molly added, having regained her composure. She wrinkled her nose. “We got food from dumpsters, mostly, ‘cause Rory doesn’t think it’s safe to beg too often. Someone might be looking for us. When we do beg, we spend it on real food.”

“Smart,” Deke said. “So what happened tonight?”

“We’ve been sleeping where we could, mostly places like up here,” Rory said. “And scrounging for food like Molly said. During the day, we’d sometimes go to the library because it’s safe and it has restrooms so we can clean up. They leave us alone as long as we behave. Anyway, we were there until it closed at six, and since we hadn’t had a decent meal for a while I decided we should go to the café a couple of blocks from there. When we finished it was already dark. We were going to where we’d been crashing, and then those two guys showed up. At first they were walking across the street from us for a couple of blocks, looking at us on and off, which made me real uneasy. Then one of them pointed at us, said something to the other guy, and they crossed the street. They tried to grab Molly and me, right when we got to the alley. You saw the rest.”

“Yep. I’d say it’s a damned good thing I was around or they’d have both of you by now. Probably selling you to the highest bidder.”

“Huh?” Molly said.

“Human traffickers.”

Rory shook his head. “The blond guy said something, when they were trying to get us, ‘You should have died in the fire.’”

“That definitely makes it seem as if they were after the two of you, specifically,” Deke said thoughtfully.

“No shit.”

“Rory…” Molly said.

“Sorry.” Rory laughed and ruffled her hair. Then his mood darkened again. “Now we have to…hell, I don’t know what to do. Get out of the city, I guess, without them finding us again.”

* * * *

“They know you’re in the neighborhood,” Deke pointed out. “I’ve got the feeling they’re still out there, real close, looking.”

Rory’s shoulders slumped, but Molly didn’t seem that bothered. She looked up at Deke, wide-eyed and trusting. “You can keep us safe.”

“Little lady, I’d love to,” Deke replied with a smile. “The problem is, getting you away from here, first.”

“Why do you want to?” Rory asked, his expression suspicious.