Jack was still struggling to stand. His expression was a mix of mocking amusement and disappointment.
'And the others?' I asked.
He glanced at me, his brown eyes annoyed. 'I have seen no one, heard nothing.'
Jack was standing now. He walked to the fire escape and scuttled up the stairs. In a few minutes he was back, four knives shoved into his belt and two in his hands. Blood was smeared across his face where he had wiped at it. His shoulders were squared and there was a determination in his stride.
'I haven't seen or heard a thing. . except you,' he said. His eyes held a challenge, a request for a rematch. Something I'd gladly give him when all this was over and settled.
We split up. Mateo took the west side of the property line; Jack and I headed east. At the walkway between the two buildings we split again, Jack going between the two, me past and around the far side of the gym.
I found Bern there, silent and still as a statue. She didn't look as if she'd moved an inch in hours, didn't move more than her eyes when I approached, but at my signal she fell into line beside me.
We walked the full eastern length, out to Monroe Street, then cut across the front yard and made our way back to the shop.
Mateo, Lao, Mel, Jack, Kale, and Bubbe were waiting on the shop's steps.
No one had heard or seen anything in the six hours that had passed.
'Do you think Tess heard wrong? Perhaps the attack wasn't planned for today,' Mel offered, but I could see the unease in her eyes and I understood it. I'd ordered us to come here rather than storming the camp and taking Padia.
'Perhaps the plan is not real.' Bubbe held a smooth stone in her hand; she rubbed it in a circular motion with her thumb as she spoke.
'When did the birders attack?' Jack reminded us. 'When would you plan an attack?'
Night. . the answer to both.
I sighed. Which meant we had to wait more.
Accepting this, we downgraded our status and left Jack and Bubbe outside this time to watch for signs of the tribe. Bubbe went to the front yard and proceeded to work through a variety of yoga poses. . a strange sight given her age and choice of clothing-a bright red full-length dress with lots of embroidery. As she hiked the skirt to her knees to perform one pose, I turned and watched Jack climb the large oak that grew alongside the shop. Once in the branches, he was completely hidden, at least from my point of view.
With our lookouts positioned, the rest of us went inside, to the shop level. Mateo headed to the phone.
Placing my hand on top of the receiver, I stopped him. 'What are you doing?'
'Calling to check on my son.'
Realizing we did need to let Tess and Dana know what had happened or not happened here, I removed my hand.
Dana must have answered. He asked about Andres, then cursed in Spanish.
'How long?' His complexion darkened. '
I jerked the phone from his hand.
Dana was on the other end blathering something about a diaper change and going to the bathroom now. Then she whispered, 'They aren't here. I know this is where she said she was going, but they aren't here.'
It took five minutes to figure out what had happened.
They'd left Mel's and driven to a truck stop between here and Illinois. They'd been there the entire time. At first they had stayed together, Dana following Tess when she took Andres for a diaper change or even once to buy a can of formula, but as the time went on and there was no sign anyone had followed them, they'd relaxed some too.
When Tess had said she was going to buy diapers and then change Andres, Dana, busy feeding her own son, had let her go alone.
That had been ten minutes earlier.
While we waited, Dana searched the truck stop and came up empty. Then she checked the lot and saw the car was gone too.
I slammed down the receiver.
Mateo was already moving; by the time I got into the front yard he'd already shifted and was flying toward the truck stop.
Yelling for Bern and Mel to follow me, I ran toward the truck.
Binoculars and rifles with scopes were out and pointed at the sky. A fight almost broke out when someone, thinking he was an endangered species, threatened to call Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
I stood in the open, in clear view, hoping Mateo would see we had arrived and back off.
He did, but not before plummeting toward the building, shrieking as he fell. Ten feet from the ground he pulled back abruptly and soared back into the sky.
As I watched, he flew south. He'd be waiting for us, and he was pissed.
And I couldn't blame him.
I went looking for Dana.
She was sitting in a stained faded-blue booth with two baby carriers and one baby: Pisto. And she was crying. Not horrible gulping sobs, worse-steady slow drips.
And that was before she knew I was there. She was looking down, holding a pacifier to her son's mouth when I walked in. Her chin and the hand holding the pacifier were both shaking.
Mel stopped me from going further, cutting me off and approaching the distraught hearth-keeper herself. Dana fell against her.
'I know you told us to stay together, but it had been so long and we had all this stuff. . and it's hard, but that's not an excuse-'
Mel shoved the girl's face against her chest, cutting off whatever other blubbering admittance she had to make.
I turned on my heel and left the building.
When I got outside, the rest of our group was waiting. They were in a four-door domestic that looked like it got about five miles to the gallon.
Mel stepped into the parking lot, loaded down with a baby bag and empty carrier. Dana trailed behind her, with the other carrier and her son.
'Makis's,' Mel commented, looking at the car. 'He doesn't drive it much. Left it with us to watch while he was gone. I didn't realize anyone knew where I kept the keys.' She glared at Bubbe, who was barely visible behind the wheel.
She looked like every old lady you curse when trying to make it across town in a hurry. Except as Mel marched forward, she gunned the engine in warning.
Mel rapped on the window.
While she and her grandmother argued, I addressed Dana. Her tears were gone, or at least they weren't flowing down her cheeks now. I took the baby carrier and led her to a park bench that sat in the grass a few feet from the parking lot.
'What happened?'
She told me pretty much what I'd heard on the phone. 'Th-they must have followed us, b-been waiting for us to separate,' she stuttered.
Jack walked up behind me. I glanced at him over my shoulder. His gaze flitted to mine and I saw my thoughts mirrored there.
We, I suspected, had been had. What I didn't know was by whom.
It was a long drive back to Illinois. Felt long anyway.
