by KG MacGregor
“Wait till they hear that the center had to shut down. I wonder if Arturo will be able to tell us what that was all about.”
As they headed back to Homestead, Arturo called. Anna answered the call through the car’s audio system. “Arturo, we’re in the car about twenty minutes away. What’s happening?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this. He’s gone. Andy’s gone. Vogler put him on a plane last night to Berks. It’s in Pennsylvania. It’s a detention center for families and unaccompanied minors.”
“What the fuck?” Lily screamed. “Why would they do that? Are you telling me after all this that they still don’t realize they have the wrong kid? I mean, what the actual fuck is wrong with these people?”
“It’s complicated. I’ll fill you in when you get here. But there’s good news. We’ve got our hearing today. Wait for me at the gate. I’ll be out there in twenty minutes and explain everything.”
Despite Lily’s caution to watch her speed, Anna made the thirty-minute trip in twenty. They waited in the shade among the protestors until Arturo jogged through the gate.
Anna demanded, “How did this happen? They knew damn good and well this was a case of mistaken identity. Why would they ship him to Berks?”
“It’s because of yesterday’s lockdown.”
Lily listened in horror as Arturo described a stabbing incident in which Andy found the victim in the bathroom and then put himself in danger by fingering the gang member thought to be behind the attack.
“That’s the official reason he was moved, because they were worried about retaliation.”
“Those bastards,” Anna grumbled. “If they were so worried, why didn’t they just release him? They had my number. All they had to do was call and I’d have picked him up.”
“That’s the unofficial part. Vogler realized who Andy was because he’d picked up Anna’s messages. In fact, he’d already called Homeland Security to get the okay to release him without a hearing but he hadn’t heard back. Then after the stabbing, CHS corporate didn’t want to take responsibility in case Andy was involved, so it was their decision to ship him out to Berks.”
“Because Berks belongs to the feds,” Lily said. “Now these private contractors get to wash their hands of it.”
“Yeah, they’ll probably end up moving the kid who got stabbed too. He spent the night in the infirmary but it looks like he’s going to be okay.”
Anna’s face reddened with fury as she glared in the direction of the gate. “Is there no one inside this whole craven shit show with the guts to just do the right thing?”
“For what it’s worth, it was Vogler who personally called a DHS attorney and got us in front of a judge today. I called Andy a little while ago to let him know what’s happening. We’ve got a three-way teleconference hearing at ten thirty, after which I can almost guarantee he’ll be released.”
Lily took out her phone—it was twelve minutes after eight—and opened a ticketing app. “Let’s go, Anna. We need to get to Berks. What airport is that?”
“Philly,” Arturo said. “Or if you don’t mind connecting, Allentown is closer, or Reading. Oh, and one more thing…Andy passed on some information on the other kid, the one who got stabbed. His name’s Santos Aguilar. They were picked up together in LA, and I guess they got to be friends.”
“What’s his situation?” Lily asked.
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll make some calls when it gets to be business hours on the West Coast. But here’s the thing: Andy promised him you guys would help find an attorney to take his case. I won’t hold you to that part—I’m on it already. I’m only letting you know in case you want to be in the loop. Santos will never have more leverage for being released than he does right now.”
Lily was reluctant to agree without knowing who this kid was and what he’d done to get picked up in the first place, especially since the ICE raid had targeted gang members. Her experience with clients in juvenile detention raised suspicions of extortion or intimidation. A naive kid like Andy would make an easy mark. “Is Santos in a gang?”
“Andy says he used to be but he did some time in juvie and now he’s clean. I’ve got the name of his probation officer in LA. I’ll call her later on and get the lowdown.”
“What does it matter?” Anna said. “Andy wants us to help him. We should do it.”
“Anna…” She gave her a stern look. “I’m a judge. I have to be careful about who I get involved with.”
“Oh, right.” Addressing Arturo, she said, “We’ll talk it over on the plane. Maybe you can just send the bill to me at my office. I’ll text you the address. And could you let Berks know that we’re on our way?”
* * *
Andy’s eyes roamed the cinderblock wall above his sink, taking note of several small crayon scrawls, most of which were swear words. FuckU, Carajo. Motherfuckers. Reading someone else’s frustration made him want to add his own. Dickheads. Ass clowns. Clusterfuck. If only he had a crayon.
Every time he thought his ordeal couldn’t get any crazier, ICE proved him wrong. Two nights on the floor in LA. One night across the desert in a van, then another one on a plane. One more in a massive room with hundreds of other boys. And now Berks, an honest-to-God jail. This wasn’t a room—it was a cell.
On the plus side, they turned the lights out at night. And he’d picked up new underwear that actually fit, along with a pullover hoodie, since it was cold in Pennsylvania. In fact, there were patches of snow all around the building.
He definitely liked having the whole cell to himself, but he could have done without the obnoxious six thirty wakeup call. Especially since it was one o’clock in the morning before he got to bed, after another lice check and shower. What difference did it make what time he got up anyway? Those nasty breakfast bars were going to be just as stale and gross if they were handed out at nine instead of seven. He might never recover from that disgusting sour milk they’d served the day before at Homestead.
A pair of voices—an adult and a child—grew louder as they approached his cell. “We got a new kid in here last night. He needs a buddy to show him where to eat, where the classrooms are, where the TV room is. How about it, Ruben? Will you show him around?”
Ruben?
“Andy!” Ruben nearly knocked him over with a savage hug.
“You guys know each other?”
“We were kidnapped together in Los Angeles,” Ruben answered matter-of-factly. “He’s like my blood brother but without the blood.”
The guard, a guy so young he could barely manage a mustache, actually seemed like he might be a decent person, practically the only one Andy had seen the whole time he’d been in custody. “All right then, take your blood brother and get him some breakfast. And stop saying you were kidnapped.”
“But we were,” Andy said once the guard was gone. “How are you, little buddy?”
“Okay, but I want to go home. I need to know where my Papà is. Gunner said he’d find out but he didn’t.”
“Gunner, that’s the guard that was just here?”
“Yeah, he’s okay. Everybody else here sucks, especially Wayne. He’s the old guy with glasses. He came in the shower room when I was in there and tried to look at my junk.”
“No way! Did you report him?”
“I told Gunner. He said he does it all the time, not to go in there by myself anymore.”
Great, so Gunner was a nice guy, but too nice to report a pervert. “That’s creepy, Ruben. I’m going to tell my lawyer about him. A guy like that has no business being around kids.”
He followed Ruben to the cafeteria where he instantly grasped what made Berks unique—families. A couple of fathers, a few teens, but mostly mothers with babies and small children. Which was probably why they all had separate cells, so the families could sleep together in one room.
“Who do you stay with, Ruben? Do you have a room all by yourself?”
“Yeah, but I hang out sometimes with Cristal. She’s nine.” He pointed
to a girl dressed in pink jeans and a hoodie like Andy’s. She was sitting with three other kids and a woman who held a baby on her lap. “That’s her. Sometimes I sit at their table.”
“This place is way better than where they sent me. I heard them say there were three thousand kids there but they were all teenagers.”
“Where was it?”
“Florida. Man, it’s hot down there. They had bunkbeds all lined up, hundreds of us in one gigantic room.” He decided not to mention the gangs and the stabbing because that stuff was too violent for little kids. That’s what his moms would have said. They never let Georgie and Eleanor watch anything like that on TV. “Hey, I might get to go home today. I have another hearing in a couple of hours and this time I’ve got a lawyer.”
“No! You just got here. You can’t leave already.”
“I’m here by accident, Ruben. They thought I was somebody else but my lawyer has the papers that prove I’m not.”
“It’s not fair,” Ruben whined, his lower lip protruding.
Andy didn’t blame him for pouting. He’d be mad too if he was stuck in here while others were getting out. “Did they give you a lawyer?”
“No, just a social worker. She says I have to stay here till Papà goes to his trial. Or till they find my abeula.”
“Right, I forgot. They took your dad to jail.” The government’s attorney had said Ruben’s father was charged with assaulting an ICE officer, but Andy hadn’t seen any scuffles during the raid, just people trying to run away. “What did he do? Hit one of those cops or something?”
“He didn’t do nothing. It’s bullshit. Cristal’s mother says they make shit up so you’ll be a criminal. Then they can kick you out.”
That sounded exactly like something ICE would do. “They like to lie, that’s for sure. Remember when we went to court? Those guards lied to the judge about calling my ma. And the judge just took their word for it.”
“Because they’re all son of a bitches.”
Andy thought about correcting his grammar, then realized he’d be teaching a seven-year-old kid to swear. “I don’t get why they’re making you stay here. You said you had an aunt. Can’t you go live with her for now?”
He shook his head vehemently. “Cristal’s mom says not to tell them about her ’cause ICE will go pick her up too.”
“But…you said she was married to an American. That means she has a right to be here. They can’t just pick her up for nothing. You should tell your social worker.”
“I can’t.” He covered his face with his hands and grunted. “I only know her first name is Carla. I don’t even know what street her house is on.”
“Maybe I can get my moms to try to find her. What’s her husband’s name?”
“You have moms? What about your dad?”
“I’m adopted by two moms. They’re married to each other.”
Ruben gave him a disapproving look. “That’s weird.”
“No, it’s fun. I have a brother and a sister too. We say it’s lucky because our friends only have one mom and we have two.” When Ruben said everyone should have a dad, Andy described his grandpa and Hal. “Hal has a huge boat. Sometimes we go out fishing and we sleep on the boat, Jonah and me. He’s my cousin.”
“I don’t got nobody like that, just Papà.”
Andy wished he could help Ruben the way he’d tried to help Santos. He didn’t know any lawyers in Pennsylvania, but maybe his ma did. For now though, it wasn’t fair to promise something like that and get Ruben’s hopes up.
A woman’s voice over the intercom announced the start of classes in the activities room for all “guests” between the ages of five and seventeen.
“There’s a magazine on that table over there,” Andy said. “I think I’m going to grab it and head back to my room.”
Ruben grasped Andy’s sleeve and tugged. “They won’t let you. School is mambatory for everybody.”
Andy groaned. The only thing mambatory was getting out of here.
* * *
Lily swilled her glass of sparkling water and finished it off, sucking an ice cube into her mouth. Her speech garbled, she said, “You probably shouldn’t have chartered a private jet, Anna. I’m never going to want to fly commercial again.”
Anna had balked at flying from Miami International into Philly and renting a car to drive another hour and a half. Their jet from Homestead Executive Airport to Reading shaved nearly three hours off their trip.
“I said the same thing after my jaunt over to Mesa to meet Shelynn Kelly. God, was that just three days ago?”
“Amazing, isn’t it? Think about all we’ve been through in the last week. And poor Andy. God, I’ll be so glad to see that kid.”
Arturo had messaged them only minutes ago to confirm that he’d secured Andy’s release. They were to check in at the main entrance with their documents and wait for him to be escorted out.
“How do you think he’ll be?” Lily hadn’t even wanted to broach the subject until they were sure he was getting out. Now that he was, they had to prepare for the worst. “He might need therapy for this.”
Anna snorted softly. “Good, we can go together.”
“I’m serious, Anna. To this day I get flashbacks from some of the things I went through before I was adopted.” Like men with beer breath and dark, confined places. “It’s not just the stuff that happened…it’s the feelings they dredge up. Remember last month when our power went out at home? I was in the laundry room by myself and it scared me half to death. All I could think of was Karen putting me in that closet and saying she’d whip me if I came out.”
“Oh, Lily.” Anna stretched across the table that separated them in their luxury seats and grasped her hand. “It breaks my heart to think about the things you went through. I’m so grateful to Eleanor for taking you away from all of that.”
“She saved me.” It was Lily’s automatic reply when she spoke of the woman who’d adopted her and given her such a wonderful life. “But I don’t want Andy to have to feel that way about us for the rest of his life. I’d rather he didn’t remember that time at all before he came to live with us. And that’s what worries me, that this experience will trigger some old feelings of anxiety and loss of control that he’s forgotten about.”
The copilot, a twenty-something named Dustin, did double duty as their flight attendant. He exited the cockpit to collect their glasses and tell them they’d be landing soon.
“Anna, have you given any more thought to my suggestion of getting away for a few days with the kids?”
“In a tent? Yes, I’ve thought about it.” She visibly shuddered. “But I wouldn’t exactly call them pleasant thoughts.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Yeah, I could totally get used to this,” Lily said over her shoulder as they descended the stairs in the bright sunshine.
“I wouldn’t if I were you. I’m ready to spend all the proceeds from the sale on lawyers like Arturo who can start putting these families back together.” It was the first time in days Anna had thought about her business.
Dustin waited at the bottom to help them off the last step. “We’re scheduled to be wheels-up at two forty-five, but don’t worry if it takes you longer than that. We’ve got an hour or two to play with, and we could always lay over and go tomorrow. Either way, we won’t leave without you.”
Anna had paid extra for two pilots so they could fly home to LAX tonight without worrying about flying time restrictions. “With any luck, we’ll be back on board in under an hour. Three of us.”
“We’ll try to be ready.”
Her lightweight trench coat, which she hadn’t needed even once in Miami, was all but useless against Pennsylvania’s cold March winds. Under an hour. She could stand anything for under an hour.
Reading Regional Airport handled general aviation and charter services but no commercial jets that Anna could see. After a short walk across the tarmac, they entered a quiet lobby area where a young man in a too-large brown suit and t
ie sprang to his feet holding a placard with their name.
“Right on time,” Lily said.
“Welcome to Reading. I’m Jack, your driver. I understand you’re going to Berks. Would that be the nursing home or the…”
“The ICE detention center,” Anna said, almost laughing at his surprise. To be fair, it probably wasn’t every day two women cruised in on a private jet to pick up an ICE detainee. “They’re expecting us at the main entrance. Do you know where that is?”
“Sure. Are you with the federal government?”
“No, I’m an angry mother who’s had it up to here with ICE.” Anna made a gesture of slitting her throat.
Once they climbed into the back seat of his black SUV, Lily took mercy on the poor fellow and explained the purpose of their visit, how their son had been picked up by mistake.
Anna added, “So when you drop us off, keep the motor running. We’d like to get back to the airport right away so we can fly home.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a cursory salute. “People around here, they’ve got mixed feelings about this place. It’s jobs and all for the community, but there’s a lot of Hispanics in Reading. Sixty percent.”
“I had no idea.”
“Yeah, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans mostly. There’s tons of protesters out here every weekend, and not just Hispanics. Nobody likes seeing families locked up. They aren’t hurting anybody. All they want’s a better life for their kids. Who doesn’t want that?”
They turned off a quiet rural road into a government complex that included the aforementioned nursing home and a multistory “residential” center. To Anna’s surprise, there was no gate or fence surrounding the cluster of buildings, just a large visitor parking lot in front of a building marked Administration.
“Wish us luck,” Lily said to Jack. “But watch out. If they don’t hand over our son this time, we’re going to start a riot.”
As they neared the door, Anna took Lily’s arm. “Can you tell I’m nervous?”
“About what?”