Page 36 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
“The man’s lawyer came by, said that he wanted to stay anonymous, but showed me the potential plans for the expansion and—,” Dennis stopped and laid his hands on the desk. “This is what we wanted, what we’ve prayed for, so wipe that look off your face. Everything is going to be alright. Someone up there is smiling down on us today.” Dennis pointed to the ceiling, but she knew what he meant.
She wanted to argue, wanted to mention all the complex issues with the situation, but she couldn’t do it. Dennis stood from the desk and came around to her. The smile and look of hope on his face was something she couldn’t shatter, at least not now. Besides, she needed something to celebrate.
“Come on, let’s go get you something to eat. I ordered a truckload of pizza.” Dennis smiled and held out his hand for her to take.
A sliver of hope wound its way through her chest and wrapped around her heart. If this miracle could happen, maybe there was hope for one of her own.
Kes stood outside his place, lost in thought, before resuming pacing the short distance from one side of his tent to the other. His feet kicked the small pebbles on the crumbling concrete as he went, sending them skittering away.
A flash of blue tarp moving caught his attention, and his gaze landed on Zumi as she stepped out of her hiding spot. She stretched and yawned, looking like a little gremlin, which made him smirk.
He lifted his hand and waved her over. She rubbed her eyes and shuffled sleepily in his direction. As long as Kes had known her, he’d never known her to be a morning person, and it didn’t look like that was changing anytime soon.
“Mornin’,” she said and shook her head as another yawn gripped her.
“So I’ve been awake all night thinking.” He stopped talking and continued to pace.
“Okay?” She lifted her eyebrows at him as he walked past and then back again.
“Shit, this is a dumb idea.” Halting his crazy little march, he fixed her with a hard stare. “How do you feel after yesterday and, you know…?”
She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “I don’t feel any different. Dude was a bad guy. You killed him.”
“Shhh.” Kes looked around, but luckily, no one else seemed to be awake or in earshot. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tapped his bottom lip with one hand. “You know there is something wrong with that thought process, right?”
Zumi contorted her face like she’d eaten something sour. “Um, isn’t that the same way you think?”
“That’s my point. I’m over three times your age, and I’ve lived through hell. You’re ten. For fuck’s sake, you shouldn’t be thinking like that,” he grumbled.
“Kes,” she said, laying her hand on his arm like she was trying to reason with a child. “I’m currently living in a tent under a bridge and have had the cops cart me away to foster care more times than I can count. I always end up getting stuck with a family that sucks, so I just end up running right back here. I’ve had two heart surgeries and lived in a hospital for months close to death. My mother is a prostitute that comes home high or drunk every night, smelling like cologne and sex. I have to sneak into school because I can’t get my mother to register me anywhere, but my plans don’t have me living on the streets forever, so I do what I have to. My life is not exactly normal.”
Her hand dropped to her side, and she looked up at him with an emotion that he couldn’t put his finger on. “I’ve seen people beaten, shot, overdosed, jump off this very bridge to commit suicide, and show up floating in the water.” Her eyes flicked away, the sun’s morning rays just high enough to bath her face in golden light. “You’re the closest thing I have to a real family, so if you say that what you did had to be done,” she lifted her hands out to the side in a shrug and then let them drop. “Then it is what it is.”
Kes processed what she’d said, the words seeming like they should never be said in the same sentence, let alone out of the mouth of someone so young.
“Alright then,” Kes sighed, still not sure this was a good idea, but he’d certainly had worse ideas than this.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m going to get you into school, don’t worry about the how. It also means that you’re going to come with me today. I want to show you why The Righteous gets us to do what we do, and if you have the stomach for it, then I’ll train you to defend yourself, and one day, if you choose, you can help people the way I do, or find your own way.
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide like a funny little GIF. “Are you fucking serious?” Zumi squealed and lunged at him, gripping him in a hard hug. “You mean there are more of you? It’s like a whole secret club?”
As she leaned back, smiling up at him with way too much excitement in her eyes, a more logical part of his brain screamed that he was a fucking idiot. “Yes, to all of it, but this stays between us. You don’t tell a soul. Do you understand?”
Zumi stepped back and picked at her black nail polish. “Pfft, easy. I’m a vault. Besides, I already know so many secrets, I could blackmail half the politicians and corporate CEOs in this state.”
His lip curled up. “Oh really? Do tell.” Kes placed his hand on her shoulder, ushering her to where his Baby Doll was stored.
* * *
Zumi was worse than a kid in a toy store when he introduced her to his Baby Doll. She’d always been fascinated with technology and had tried to sneak off with his phone on more than one occasion. She was still smiling as she asked the Hummer one question after another, soaking up the knowledge like a miniature sponge. Everything from facts about other countries to how her software worked.
“Okay, enough with the questions. I need to talk to you, Zumi. Baby Doll, end conversation with Miss Zumi.”
“Conversation terminated.”
“Awww.” Zumi bounced on the seat, her dark eyes shining as she looked at him. “What’s up?”
