Telling Fortunes in Phoenix

Nik

Traffic was light heading back from Ajo and in an hour and a half Nik reached the outskirts of Phoenix. The children sagged bonelessly in their seat belts while Nik tried to think how long they would be under. Four hours? Ten hours? They breathed easily and seemed a healthy lot, neither dehydrated nor underfed. A responsible adult would rush them to a hospital. Nik was a responsible adult but he knew the system well.

After a traumatic hospital experience the children would be whisked off and Social Services called. Frightened and among strangers, they’d be placed in a secure location while attempts were made to find their parents. He, Nik, would be detained for questioning. Any legal disputes would increase the length of the children’s incarceration. He decided he’d take them to a hospital if they seemed sick but otherwise, no.

Nik had the gravest suspicions about these drugged children and their terrified protector. Chui had let Nik, a stranger, take the kids because he was more frightened of someone else. Why did he not come also, and why wouldn’t he tell him what was wrong?

He did not subscribe to the American concept of children as helpless creatures, though their protection was a noble aim. Children everywhere helped their parents raise crops, care for other children, and shoulder many other responsibilities. Nik didn’t believe that Chui’s refusal to accompany him was frivolous. He must have some important reason to stay behind.

He searched through his pockets and on the passenger seat for his phone before he remembered he had given it to Jesús. He was nearly into Phoenix now and hoped the kids recovered soon. His neighbors gave him his privacy but he had no illusions that he could trundle four limp children into his bachelor apartment without speculation if not interference. He’d worried all the way back about being stopped with a car full of unconscious kids. He felt more secure in the Metro area because it was school time and everyone was transporting sleepy kids. At Tolleson the freeway became a parking lot as he joined thousands of commuters trying to get to work.

Though he didn’t think he should bring the children there Nik seemed on auto-pilot; soon he realized he was swinging into the cul-de-sac that held his apartment. He slowed, glancing at the second floor walkway where a tall dark man stood at Nik’s front door. The door swung open and the stranger strolled nonchalantly in. Nik slowed further and continued around the circular street, passing an unknown empty car with a good view of his front door. In a neighborhood full of monster trucks and beat Toyotas the little Chevy almost blended. An unmarked police car?

Why had someone broken into his house, today of all days? No one had seen him when he and Jesús loaded the kids into his car. In fact, he’d only seen five vehicles on the lonely Ajo Highway on his return trip. He didn’t keep sensitive information at his place but his research and books were enough to pique the curiosity of the cops. Sweat broke out on his neck.

The kids began to stir. If Chui had transported them any distance, they’d been asleep a while when he’d found them. They’d slept a further three hours while he got to Phoenix. It sounded like Rohypnol, the date rape drug. It was easy to find and could be dosed for size and had a long period of effectiveness. Medical verification after the fact was impossible as the drug broke down into untraceable by-products.

As he drove away from his apartment he ceased his speculations and turned to the matter at hand. He needed a place to take these kids.

Nik meandered his car through the neighborhoods, overwhelmed. Someone had broken into his house and he had four little kids in his car recovering from drugs. He’d left another boy alone in the desert and he didn’t know what to do with his passengers. He thought back through his actions and didn’t see anything he could have done differently. Jesús was in some kind of trouble and wouldn’t leave but he’d obviously rescued these kids and was willing to let some stranger take them away.

Someone very bad was after these children.

Nik didn’t know what Chui was up against. He didn’t dare call him even if he could find a phone booth. Chui was on some mad quest and the last thing he’d need would be the merry jingle of a phone pinpointing his position. Shit. He should have put the phone on vibrate before he left it with the kid.

The children were sitting up now and looking around. Nik had allies but most were geographically distant and couldn’t help him hide and feed these guys. He started searching mindlessly for his cell phone again then smacked his own head.

He came to Camelback and turned west. At a Rolberto’s he turned in and purchased breakfast burritos and orange juice. The biggest boy was sitting upright and silently looking out the window but when Nik handed him a burrito the child only held it loosely in his hand.

He’d try Cody’s house. Camelback took him to the neighborhood he needed and he turned off, winding through the streets until he found the place. He was hovering at the curb when a woman came out, looking a little rough as if she hadn’t gotten enough sleep for a long time. She came to meet him at the curb, staring at the little faces that stared back from inside the car.

“Hi,” Nik said through the passenger window, craning down to meet her eyes past the boy in the seat beside him. “Is Cody home?”

Maureen shook her head. “He’s at work.”

“My name is Nik Stepan. I work with Cody and I have a problem.” He pointed at the children. “These kids were found and I’m trying to keep them somewhere until I can figure out what’s going on. I don’t want to take them into social services unless I really can’t find the parents. They don’t have very nice accommodations and there has to be a court order and trial to get them back home…”

The woman nodded.

“I thought Cody might know someone who could watch them for a few hours.”

“Do you have his cell?”

“Hah, well that’s the thing. My cell is lost, otherwise I would have just called him. I dropped him here once and I was hoping he’d still be home.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled her phone. “I’ll call him.”

The woman turned away and walked up the path. Nik could see she was speaking but couldn’t hear her. Finally, she turned to him and held out the phone.

“What’s up?” Cody’s voice was on the line.

“It would take too long to explain.”

“And my mother is standing right there.”

“Right.”

“She said she’d watch them. Meet me.”

Nik handed the phone back.

“I’d be happy to take care of the kids,” she said. “My name is Maureen. I’m Cody’s mother.”

“Thanks so much. They might be pretty freaked out, ma’am, and I think they don’t speak English.”

“I volunteer at some children’s crisis centers. I can handle it.”

“You’re a life saver.”

They bundled the strangely compliant children inside and Nik handed her the bag of burritos and Orange juice.

“I’ll only look for the day, Maureen. If I can’t find the parents I’ll take them in and go through formal channels. One way or another I’ll pick them up later today.” And Nik left his lover’s mother and the mysterious children behind and went to find Cody.