A Pack Is More Than Family

Chapter 1“Run.” Rory grabbed Molly’s hand, pulling her along as he veered into the alley. When she couldn’t keep pace, he scooped her up, holding her with one arm. “Put her down,” a man ordered, stepping into view from a dark doorway. He wore a long, black coat and held a pistol at his side. Rory had no doubt he knew how to use it. “No! She’s my sister. I have to get her away…” “Sure she is,” the man broke in. “I am,” Molly protested, wriggling until Rory put her down. She cast a fearful look behind her. “They’ll find us.” The man glanced past them. “Two guys, one blond, the other dark-haired? Seems like they already have.” “Shit.” Rory spun around, shoving Molly behind him. He saw the men standing at the end of the alley, the lights from the street behind them putting their faces in shadow. The man stepped between Rory and the men, raising his weapon. “You might want to rethink whatever you’ve got in mind,” he called out. “Keep your nose out of this, Deke,” the dark-haired man called back. “It ain’t none of your business.” The man called Deke smiled and from what little Rory could see of it, it wasn’t a nice one. “I’m making it my business. Now turn around and walk away before I decide to put a couple of holes in you. You know what’ll happen if I do.” The two men looked at each other, then spun on their heels and left the alley. The blond one called back, “This ain’t over.” “Yeah, it is.” As the man put his pistol away under his coat, he said “I’m Deke, well Deacon, actually, but most everyone calls me Deke. Now you want to tell me what that was all about?” Rory hesitated. “I guess we owe you that much for saving us. But, can we go somewhere else, first?” “You name the place,” Deke replied. Rory thought for a moment as he adjusted his backpack. “Up.” He gestured to a fire escape a few yards ahead of them. “That way we’ll see them before they see us if they come back.” “Smart kid. Okay, up it is.” Deke jumped for the bottom of the fire escape when they got there, pulled himself up to stand on the lowest step, then reached down. “Give me your hand, little lady.” “Uh-uh,” Molly said, clinging to Rory. Rory unwound her arms from around his waist, lifting her up with a whispered, “He saved us. I think he’s okay.” “Yeah, I’m the good guy here,” Deke said with a grin as he hoisted Molly onto the step above him. “Now you.” He held out his hand, Rory grabbed it, and seconds later he was on the steps as well. Single-file they made their way to the roof with Deke in the lead. Holding up his hand to keep them where they were, he went to the roof’s street side and looked down. “Free and clear,” he told them. After going to the parapet separating the building from the lower one next to it, he sat, looking at them in question. Rory took Molly’s hand, and they joined him. “So, who do I have the honor of saving, little lady?” Deke asked with a smile. “Molly,” Molly told him. “And Rory.” “How old are you, Molly?” “Twelve.” Deke arched an eyebrow. “You sure? You look maybe ten, if that.” “She’s telling the truth,” Rory said, frowning at Deke. “Okay, okay, I believe her. How about you?” “Nineteen.” Finally relaxing somewhat, Rory grinned. “And you?” Snorting, Deke replied, “Twenty-six and counting. Now for the important question, why were those men after you?” “No,” Rory said with a shake of his head. “The important question is who are they? They seemed to know you.” “So it would appear,” Deke agreed. “Believe me or not, your choice, but I don’t know them.” “Yeah, right.” Deke held up one hand. “Scouts honor, so to speak, but I don’t. Not personally, anyway. I’ve seen them around. Same goes for them seeing me. That’s it.” “Then why did they know your name?” Rory asked. “I’m infamous, in certain circles. Leave it at that for now. Why did they want you and Molly?” “I don’t know. We were, well…” Rory wasn’t certain he wanted to admit what they’d been doing. “From the look of the two of you, you’ve been living rough,” Deke said. “Nothing wrong with that. Well, there is, but unless you’re on the run from the law…Hell, it happens.” “The cops aren’t looking for us. Honest,” Molly said. “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. “Call it my white-knight streak,” Deke said. “Saving the fair maiden and her consort.” Rory snorted. “Try again. I wasn’t born yesterday.” Deke chuckled. “Okay, I’ll admit that was a bit over the top. Nonetheless, I do want to help if I can.” I need to know why those men are looking for them, and why whoever’s behind them wanted the whole family dead. He had a strong feeling he knew at least part of the answer, but until he was certain, he felt duty-bound to keep Rory and Molly safe. “How?” Rory asked. “Okay, for starters, I’m parked in a lot a block away.” “Just happened to be in the neighborhood?” Rory asked disbelievingly. “Actually, yes. I was going to the movies, the lot was the closest place I could find to park, and I was taking the shortcut through the alley when I saw you. Of course I thought you were trying to abduct Molly and I wasn’t about to let that happen.” “I guess it did look like that,” Rory admitted. “No kidding. Anyway, as I was saying, I’m parked close. I’ll get the car, drive to the end of the alley, and you two jump in.” Rory sneered. “Then you’ll try to sell us to the highest bidder.” “If I was planning on doing that, you’d already be tied up in the back seat of my car. After all, in case you forgot, I’ve got a gun.” Puffing out a breath, Rory nodded. “I guess you have a point.” “He’s not going to hurt us,” Molly said, gripping Rory’s hand. “I know he’s not.” Deke waited for Rory to come to a decision, relieved when the young man said, “All right. I don’t suppose we have much choice.” Not if you want to survive. Deke decided it wasn’t prudent to say that. Instead he said, “Let’s get out of here, or off here, I guess.” He led the way down the fire escape, checking first to make certain no one was watching. After telling Rory and Molly to wait in a doorway at the end of the alley, he went to get his car. Pulling up a couple of minutes later, he reached back to open the rear door, chuckling when they made a mad dash for it, tumbling into the back seat. “Where are you taking us?” Rory asked when Deke began to drive down the street. “To the safest place I know. My house.” Deke glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Rory scowling. “You got a better idea?” “I guess not,” Rory admitted. “If we’re going to trust you, we have to start now.” “Bingo.” Since Deke lived in the foothills outside the city, it took fifteen minutes before he was driving up a narrow winding lane through the towering trees to park at the side of the house. “Wow,” Molly exclaimed when they got out. “This is the middle of nowhere.” “Pretty much,” Deke agreed as he led them around to the back porch. Unlocking the door, he quickly disarmed the alarm box before letting them inside. “Kitchen, as if you couldn’t guess,” he said, taking them through it to the large main room. “You can put your backpack in here, if you want,” he told Rory, opening the closet next to the front door. When Rory shook his head, Deke shrugged, took off his coat and hung it up, slipping the pistol and shoulder holster off and stashing them on the shelf while the pair were checking out the main room. They seemed to have forgotten he had it, which he put down to everything else that had happened.