Sunshine and Blood #2
“But it’s still not a bad idea,” Burton said. “Let’s make a list of press outlets that are trustworthy—and of bloggers and social media people who are heard. What the government and law enforcement won’t always touch, communities have taken it upon themselves to take responsibility for.”
“And the old standard still applies,” Ernie said. “The one thing that will get a politician fired is proof of a dead girl in his bed—or a live boy.”
“So we need to retrieve the phone and get the information to the right public figures,” Eric summarized.
“Including the FBI and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” Brady insisted. “I get that Jessica might be compromised, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t go to bat if she had the information in her hand. And there are other contacts there.”
“We need a list, I figure,” Ace drawled.
“A real list. And it needs to be locked and loaded into a computer and ready to send as soon as we hook the phone up to it and do….” He made wiggly motion with his fingers, obviously very uncomfortable.
“I won’t lie. The only thing I know about computers is they look cool on cop shows.
Who we got who can make a computer sit up and lap dance for us? ”
“I can do networks and shit,” Burton said. “That’s my specialty—comp sci and comms, right here. But while I’m setting up a server that can’t be compromised and spoofing IP addresses across the globe, I’m going to need a computer set up for me and preloaded with all our info.”
“That would be me,” Eric said. “I can get one and set it up just for this—drive to Palm Springs and back before nightfall. You tell me what you need in the setup, and I can doctor it up.”
Burton nodded. “Appreciate it. I get the network, you get the machine. If we’re going to do this quickly—”
“We need to,” Brady said, and the electricity in his voice told Eric that finally, finally, their boy was waking up. “They may have spent the last two days looking for me—”
“And they have,” Jai said, sounding irritated. “We can’t walk across the street without some asshole throwing his belt buckle around asking about you.”
“Great,” Brady muttered. “So Monday, when I’m still not found, please God, it’s going to occur to them that I’ll be up to no good.”
“Now we’re talking,” Ace muttered. “We need to get hold of the phone—and that’s Brady’s department. So we come up with a plan to get the phone and then—what? We upload it to all the people in the computers. Is that how that works?”
“I’m going to need some time with it to crack, Ace,” Eric said. “And Burton’s promised internet.”
“Okay, then,” Ace said. “Good to know. So we do that, and while it’s happening, we need to get the physical phone into the hands of a grown-up in the room.” He glanced at Jason. “You got any grown-ups?”
Jason grimaced. “Ace, my people are still reeling from that guy who wanted to sell those kids to cover his gambling debts. We start muddying the waters, that guy walks, I guarantee it, and….”
“And what?” Burton asked perceptively.
“And I get reassigned,” Jason said bluntly. “And I’d do it if you needed it, but—”
“We need you here,” Jai said unequivocally. “You are our grown-up in the room.”
“That’s a shitty thing to do to him,” Ace muttered.
“But we do need him here for all sorts of reasons, including he can get us transpo and sniper backup when we need it, although I don’t think that’s wise with this situation.
Also, if he gets transferred out, most of all y’alls don’t got no place to live, and that’s no good.
I don’t know how that money/property thing works, but right now it’s a good deal, and you seem happy there.
Let’s not destroy everybody’s homes if we can manage it, right? ”
“We’d do it,” Ernie said softly.
“It’s worth it,” Cotton said.
“I know it,” Ace told them both, scowling.
“But we promised to protect our people, and I’m not letting go of that.
Let’s come up with a plan before we throw Jason to the wolves, because I’m not okay with letting him and Burton take all our heat.
I ain’t never been. So you all just hush and let’s work on a plan that don’t include self-destruction, okay? ”
There was a soft assent and a chorus of “Okay, Ace,” and Eric noticed that Jason and Burton—the “grown-ups in the room”—were both deferring to the garage mechanic/street racer without batting an eyelash. Before he could ponder that, Ace spoke up again.
“Can we assume that the FBI Office in LA or San Diego will have enough clout?”
“Chambers is from LA,” Brady said. “I might be able to get it into somebody’s hands—and if we can crack it and figure out who might be coming down on her, we might be able to get it to the person above that person. It all depends on what’s on the phone.”
“Alrighty then,” Ace said. “So a lot of this is on you, Brady. You’re the one who’s going to have to figure out a way to steal the phone and who to give it to once we see who’s safe.
The rest of us are in charge of getting the information, sharing it with the right people, and then keeping you intact until the phone’s actually in the hands of somebody who isn’t in on it, somebody with some power.
I think we can do that, but it’s gonna be a challenge.
You need to walk us through how to get the phone, and then we’ll go from there, what do you say? ”
Brady took a breath, picked up his bagel, and munched doggedly. “I think I need more breakfast,” he said through a full mouth, and everybody stood up to stretch and to discreetly queue for the tiny bathroom.
While they were doing that, Eric leaned over Brady’s shoulder. “Whatcha thinkin’?” he asked semi-semiseriously. Brady swallowed and half turned to him.
“I’m thinking… I’m thinking the world is an iceberg,” he said after a moment.
Eric blinked and rocked back, forcing Brady to turn all the way around. “Uhm… in the desert?”
Brady gave a faint smile. “Even in the desert,” he said, but he didn’t seem happy about it.
At that moment, Ace tapped Eric on the shoulder and pulled him aside, which in that tiny house meant pulling him outside, but Eric, tired of the terrible fear of rejection, fear for Brady’s safety, fear for his sanity, was ready to go.
As they walked through the living room—barefoot—he felt the soft drag of Brady’s fingers as he reached up for a lingering touch, and was reassured.
“How’s he doing?” Ace asked as they hit the front door.
“He just said the world is an iceberg,” Eric said, baffled.
Ace chuckled. “Oh, I get that. It’s like Victoriana.
Anybody driving down the road thinks Victoriana is a gas station, a Subway, and us here.
You look a little further, you got, you know, apartment buildings, small suburbs, more places to eat, schools.
You look even further, you got Jason’s military base and your little gayborhood.
And that don’t count the shit we don’t know about.
I mean, until Brady started coming around, I really didn’t even think about po-po, you know? ”
Eric smiled at him, suddenly reassured. “I got it now,” he said. “He’s only seen the part of the world he’s been shown. And now….” He swallowed and barely refrained from looking into the little house. “He’s starting to understand it’s bigger.”
“Yeah,” Ace said. “Took me a while too. At first, all I could think about was Sonny. Last few years made me realize, if I wanted to be that man, I had to think bigger.”
Eric swallowed. “I… he still doesn’t know me,” he said, half apology because why was he talking about his two-night stand with a guy who had been nothing but kind to him?
“I am a murderer and a street racer and—once only—a thief,” Ace said without apology.
“That ain’t all I am, but a man who’s gonna love me has to know them things.
You gotta decide, ‘Eric,’” and Ace definitely made the false name a thing, “how much you’re willing to trust him with.
And you gotta decide—are you willing to let him trust you with his life when he don’t know a damned thing about you? ”
Eric made a sound then, one he wasn’t proud of. “I came here,” he said, trying not to cry, “for some peace.”
“Aw, son,” Ace said, “so did me and Sonny. Hell, so did all of us, ’cept maybe George, who came here for Jai, and Amal, who came here to not be alone in a city of strangers.
Trouble finds you where you’re hiding—and there ain’t no peace without reckoning.
You took that boy to bed, I’m guessing. Unless you was gonna dump him here and run away, that meant you was gonna have to open your suitcases and get rid of some baggage.
You’re not prepared to do that, you might as well get back in your RV and go. ”
Eric whimpered—yes, it was a whimper—and Ace’s sigh told him that the words hadn’t been unkindly meant.
“Not that we want you to. For one thing, this next bit looks a mite tricky, and we’re gonna need your help.
But also, you been a good man this last week.
We’d miss you.” His hand on Eric’s shoulder was reassuring—but it was also hard and no bullshit, and Eric had been told as compassionately as he ever had been to man up and face his responsibilities. “You coming back in?”
“Yes,” Eric said decisively. Man up. His father had said it with his fist and a belt. This man here—ten years his junior but twice his age, apparently—had just said it kindly, with faith and a firm hand. “I do hope the bathroom is free.”
“I’m about ready to tell people to use the one in the garage,” Ace confided. “We clean that thing every day, and there’s more soap.”
THEY TALKED, they laid out scenarios, and apparently they bored Ace stupid, because he and Jai stood up, announced they were taking snacks to the garage, and disappeared for about two hours, probably to help with the cars stacking up.
And finally, about the time Ernie stood up and wandered into the guest room, yawning, Jason announced it was time to give it up for the day.