I hoped I wouldn’t have to use them but I wouldn’t hesitate if it became necessary. The other knives were in various pockets and I had the 9mm I confiscated from Abe Harlow years earlier, in its holder in one of my boots. Simon once said to me, “One can never have too much backup, son”. I’d taken his words to heart.
“I’m making a sandwich for Terrance,” said the doctor. “Do you want one? When was the last time you ate?” He pulled out bread from what I took to be a pantry and laid it on the counter beside the cold-cuts, cheese, and orange juice he’d taken from the fridge.
“Yesterday evening before I came to Blue Heaven, but I don’t have time to eat.”
He threw a stern look my way. “Well, you’ve been busy since then. You need to eat.”
He wasn’t going to be satisfied until I agreed. I capitulated. I’d eat fast.
He quickly began slathering mayonnaise on the bread as he said, “How are you going to go about retrieving Morgan?”
“I’m going down to Bedlow’s house, first. With a little luck, that’s where she’ll be. I wish I had a couple of guys with me but I’ll make do.”
He handed me the sandwich and began making another. He was fast.
“Well, wait a minute. I might be able to get you at least one man.” He handed Terrance the sandwich and poured juice into a glass for him. “He may want pay, though.”
I bit into the sandwich wondering from where he would get someone this time of night, but the doctor was proving to be resourceful and I wasn’t going to worry about it. Madison had given me quite a lot for expenses but in this case, even if she hadn’t I’d still pay the guy because this had become personal.
“That’s fine, Doctor. If you can get him, I’ll pay. Tell him to bring a weapon.”
He nodded and left the kitchen.
The boy tore into his sandwich as if he hadn’t eaten in a while. That didn’t mean he hadn’t.
“Terrance, how old are you?” I asked.
He swallowed and took a sip of juice. “Thirteen, sir, but I’ll be fourteen next month. He grinned and added, “You can call me Terry, sir. The doc says he likes th’ name “Terrence” so that’s what he calls me. Everybody else calls me Terry.”
I chuckled. “Okay, Terry it is.” I’d noticed the doctor, who’d said he liked my name, seemed to prefer to call me Tennessee so I knew what the boy meant. His age could explain the voracious appetite. Kids that age ate a lot. Of course, it could also mean that whoever he lived with wasn’t feeding him well because he was pretty thin. Unfortunately, that happened a lot these days. After all, they had left his on his own for several days. I finished eating, gulped down some orange juice, and wiped my mouth.
The boy couldn’t have been any older than six on the day of the Event. “Have you ever been to school?”
He nodded and stopped eating as he explained. “I went to kindergarten an’ first grade, sir. But that’s it. Mrs. Harris – I live with her an’ Mr. Harris, and their two little girls – sometimes she ‘low’s me to sit in on their school lessons but most of th’ times I have to go to work.”
“Work?”
“Yes, sir.”
I didn’t want to keep him from eating so I quit asking questions, but as soon as I got the chance, I was going to ask him a few more. Such as why the people with whom he was living didn’t take him with them when they went out of town, or at least not lock him out of the house while they were gone. And why did he have to work.
The doctor came back. “All right. I called my neighbor across the street and she’s sending her son over. Two friends are spending the weekend with them and they’re coming with him. Now, I don’t know the friends but Duncan is a reasonable fellow. He won’t charge you a lot for his help and he knows his way around the neighborhood.”
That was good. Three guys were even better than one.
Five minutes later, the doorbell rang. The doctor went to get the door while I got my jacket and pulled it on. I’d forgotten about the gun I’d taken from the guard. I’d put it in one of my inside jacket pockets and it was still there. The .25 I’d taken from Talbert was in a pocket too. I already had the 9mm and didn’t need another small gun so I started to leave it on the closet shelf. I changed my mind because one never knows what might come in handy and it wasn’t in the way. Then I went to the foyer.
Three guys with rifles were standing there. The doctor introduced Duncan Hamilton who introduced his friends. Duncan appeared to be around my age – my real age of thirty-two not the one I appeared to be – the one introduced as Percy Jones looked a little younger, the other one, Lem Bowman, was about forty. The friends didn’t live in Blue Heaven but were visiting with Duncan over the weekend. They were all sizable guys with Percy being the biggest.
Duncan eyed me as he shook my hand. “Hey, didn’t I see you up at the Hole earlier?”
I admitted it.
“Well, what’s the story? The doc says you wanna go get somebody back from that weirdo bastard, Bedlow.”
“Yes.” I raised an eyebrow. Seemed as if he didn’t much care for the head of security. “I’m a tracker, and someone at Semptor has kidnapped the person I came here to find and I’m going to get her back.”
Duncan peered at me. “Damn. Semptor’s in on this? Okay, you gonna tell us now exactly who’s kidnapped?
I nodded. “Yes, Semptor’s involved, and the person that was abducted is Morgan Effingham. Bedlow had her picked up on the orders of his boss.” I shook my head with irritation. “I got her away from them once, and we were supposed to spend the night here and leave later but after the doctor and I were asleep, she tried to leave Blue Heaven on her own.”
He shook his head and blew out a breath. “That’s not good if she don’t know about this place. Morgan Effingham… say, is she any relation to the Effingham’s that owns the shipping company?”
“Yes. Her sister hired me to find her.”
“Why did she leave?”
“She was afraid. I think because of something she learned.” I wasn’t mentioning the aliens. That would be hard to swallow without proof and there was no time for that at the moment. “It has to do with why she was kidnapped. There’s no time right now, but once we get her back I’ll give you the whole story.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’m good to go. I used to be a guard and that sonofabitch wanted us to detain people for no good damn reason at all. That they ask questions is not a good reason to hassle folk. I finally had some words with him about it and then I quit. He hasn’t liked me since. Always trying to give me grief whenever he sees me. I’m about to move out of Blue Heaven because he’s kept me from working anywhere else in here and I had to get a job out of the neighborhood. The bastard has me stopped every time I come or go, and I’m tired of it.” He shook his head again. “Never woulda thought the asshole would get into kidnapping, though.”
He definitely didn’t like him.
“How much you paying?” asked Percy. Apparently, he didn’t care what the story was as long as he got paid.
I studied them. I didn’t have time to haggle. “Two hundred a piece.”
Duncan nodded. “That’ll do.” His friends agreed.
“Okay. Let’s get moving.”
The three men followed me out into the night.