"yes boss.....here....the chief....kill...no boss...they have bags... yes three"
was just few of the words Annie could pick up as she pressed her ears to the door.
Apparently, the woman wasn't here to help
"shit" she cursed. "Bertha was right"
Then she held her hands to her mouth. She thought of how her mother would definitely admonish her if she were to hear the wonderful word she just uttered.
Silently, she sneaked her way back to her siblings.
She didn't bother to hear the rest of the conversation.
The word kill in a police station with their names in the mix wasn't a good combination.
They had to bolt, and fast too.
When she got to where they stood, she casually put her hands on their shoulders and steered them to the nearest set of chairs.
"what..." Jon started to say, but she gave him a squeeze on his shoulders which forced his mouth shut.
"Bertha's right....the woman is up to no good and the police chief is in on it....he called her"
"how do you know that" Jon asked
"I heard her on the phone. I did not go to use the toilet"
"How do we go out then.... it's a police station in case you have forgotten " Jon said eyeing her.
"I don't know that but we have to leave before she finishes that phone call" replied Annie, whose eyes were roaming around, thinking of a way out.
Just then, her eyes caught sight of a woman who was shepherding a group of teenagers through the hallway.
Apparently, they had committed and she came to post bail.
She quickly pulled her siblings along with her. She left their bags behind. "what...." John started but kept his mouth shut after thinking better of it.
She held the two of them as they mixed with the teenagers who were on their way out. The woman was talking agitatedly on the phone and didn't notice when they slipped in.
Annie and her siblings followed them out the station.
As they walked out through the door, they ran into a tall man who stared them down as he walked by.
The man was just alighting from his car, parked carelessly in front of the station. No one seemed to notice the way he parked it, or rather they saw and didn't care.
"act normally and just walk Annie whispered" when she bent down to tie her shoe laces or appeared to be doing so. When she got up, she held hands with them as though they were just three kids who were enjoying a nice stroll, soaking up the sun.
Suddenly, they heard voices behind them. It sounded distant, but when Annie turned, she found the man they had passed earlier, running towards them.
"run" she said and grabbed Bertha's hand as they took off.
They ran like they never had in their life. She was so glad they had dumped their bags back at the police station.
Heaven knows what could have happened if they still had it on them.
The moment they found the nearest alley, the three of them ran into it and jumped into the first dumpster they found. Lucky for them, it could fit the three of them perfectly fine, and Annie was ever so grateful for the lean figure and flexibility she inherited from her mother.
The moment they landed in it, Jon held his nose "holy cow" it stinks in here.
"shhhh" Annie whispered. She didn't utter a word, but she felt as though her lungs were on the brink of collapse. The stench was horrendous.
She stayed as silent as she could and held her breath.
Jon found it difficult to stay still. They heard the sound of running footsteps and stayed still for sometime, then Jon opened the dumpster. He couldn't stand the stench anymore.
"that's it" he said jumping out.
"I can't breathe"
"Jon" Annie began standing up.
"what if he comes back. I wouldn't want to be in the hands of that unfriendly friendly Russian woman" Annie said.
Jon walked to the alley entrance and poked his head around the corner. He looked left, then right.
"he's gone Annie" he said.
He lifted his hands and sniffed his clothes. His left first, then the right. He grimaced at each. Then he made a show of sniffing Annie's clothes.
"omg" Jon said chuckling.
"You should have a go at it. You smell like the sewers at home" he added still chuckling.
"you don't look better yourself" Annie said, throwing him a death glare.
"I need help over here" Bertha said, trying to get out of the dumpster.
Annie came to her rescue and helped her out.
"What are we going to do now" Jon said, his back on the wall.
"We try to find Sam and Catherine....see if they can take us in" Annie said.
"but they sent us away" said Bertha.
"they thought the police could help Bertha....they didn't know the police would try to hand us over" Annie replied.
" Okay good, we go to Sam and Catherine again, but first, I'm hungry, and we have no money" how are we going to walk all the way there. Even by car it took us 30 minutes to get here" Jon said, ever the voice of reason.
"Let's get out of here first....I don't think I'll be able to breathe if I stay here one minute or second extra" Annie said.
******
They walked the streets till evening, then Bertha collapsed in a heap out of exhaustion.
"Annie I can't move anymore" she said, her eyes beginning to water.
"come on Bertha.... I'm tired too.... we are all tired"
"I'm hungry" Bertha added.
Annie felt utterly helpless.
She turned to Jon suddenly, then she ripped off one arm of his shirt and loosened to he first three buttons on his shirt.
"what are you....." he started to say but Annie cut his statement short.
"go to that man over there" she said pointing to a man who sat outside a shop on a bench, reading a newspaper.
"act and look as pitiful as you can....see if he can help us with something to eat or money"
Jon eyed her and then turned his expression into one of utter helplessness. He even went as far as changing his walking step and put on his best doe eye look. It was fucking epic.
"he walked by the man at first, dragging his legs as he went, then he stood in front of the man"
The man held his nose.
"go on....shoooo..." he said to Jon, folding his paper flaying his palms at him.
"Christ....did you swim in a river of sewage" the man cursed.
As he saw Jon was not moving on, he began to get angry. Jon was having none of that.
The man tried to chase him away, but each time, Jon would leave and return.
The man grew frustrated.
" what do you want? money?" he asked, dipping his hands into his pockets.
He produced some clean notes from his pockets and threw them to Jon, who happily picked them up and went his way.
"fucking hobos" the man cursed as he watched him walk away.
******
Flint's first stop when he got up in the morning, was a quick stop at McDonald's to get himself breakfast.
He hadn't eaten anything useful but junk food since two days.
He took a seat by the window and ate a light hearty breakfast of omelette, cheese and crackers. He threw in a plate of cake into the mix for dessert. Had diet coke to wash it down.
Anyone who knew him well would notice the light spring to his steps. He was in high spirits.
The emergence of the children had prevented possible larger problems for his investigation. He didn't want a case of missing children, coupled with mass murderer on his hands.
His thoughts travelled back to the mansion.. all those bodies.... families... children who would never discover their talents, know their future, have kids of their own, even taste the forbidden fruit...he shuddered at the thought.
No matter how many times he had seen such things, seeing children along with it was a different matter. He never forgot the empty looks most of them had as they stared into space. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
After his breakfast, he called his wife to inform her of his wareabouts as he hadn't informed her of his movement before he left the house.
He Park his private car in the yellow box provided for special parking and walked up the steps and the moment he was through the door, he went directly to the to the chief's office.
"Flint" the chief began, standing up from his desk to meet him half way into the office.
"Thank goodness you're here" he said.
" the children....we can't find them"
"what? what do you mean you can't find them"
"social child care came to pick them up but when we looked, they vanished"
"what? how do you mean? this is a fucking police station" Flint said, leaning close to the chief, thumping his index finger on the table in the space between them as he spoke.
"Three kids can't just walk out of here without being noticed" he said, all confused.