“ Enough!” Mr. Kim said. “ Alex, apologize.”
“ But… ” Alex started.
“ Kalyeo!” Mr. Kim said sharply. Uh oh. Mr. Kim was speaking Korean which meant he was darn serious. Kalyeo means break or stop in Korean. It’ s a word we use when we’ re sparring in the do jang. Mr. Kim was telling Alex to stand down. Harshly, I might add.
The command got Alex’ s attention.
He almost came to attention and nearly bowed. The training does that to you even when you’ re not in the do jang. His expression turned darkly serious. Alex worshiped Mr. Kim and I think he was clearly embarrassed that he’ d been reprimanded. But he had enough teenage hormones coursing through his veins that he still wasn’ t happy about having to apologize.
“ I apologize,” said Alex. He didn’ t take his eyes off Rinteau.
“ What is your problem with me?” said Rinteau. “ I mean if it wasn’ t for me Booker would have gone all Swayze on your butt, so what’ s your deal?”
“ I don’ t trust you,” said Alex.
“ Alex… ” I started.
But Rinteau was laughing. Laughing? I’ d be ticked off.
“ Yeah? Well so sorry I was too busy saving your hide to earn your trust.” I noticed then that he had dimples in both cheeks when he laughed. Dimples!
Mr. Kim spoke up.
“ Mr. Rinteau, Alex was wrong to question your motives. However he has apologized and I think it’ s best for all of us if you accept his apology and we put this behind us.”
“ I don’ t know Mr. Kim,” Rinteau said, “ you think he really means it? He seems a little headstrong to me. I mean if he’ s not sincere I’ m not sure I can accept.”
Mr. Kim seemed taken aback.
“ But I assure...”
Then Rinteau punched Mr. Kim lightly on the shoulder and winked.
“ Relax. I was just funning with you. No hard feelings.” He stuck his hand out to Alex. Alex stood there for a moment but after another glare from me and Mr. Kim he quickly shook Rinteau’ s hand. At least he didn’ t wipe his hand on his shirt afterward. Alex had a look on his face that I’ d never seen before. For some reason he’ d taken an instant dislike to Rinteau and I couldn’ t figure out why. I’ d have to quiz him about that later.
Mr. Kim smiled.
“ Well then, again, we appreciate your help. May we drive you somewhere?”
Rinteau started getting all twitchy when Mr. Kim asked about driving him somewhere. He fidgeted a little bit and looked around and he was all nervous like.
“ Nah. Seriously, I’ ll walk back to the mall. It’ s cool. I hang there a lot. You don’ t owe me anything, I’ m glad I could help,” he said.
“ But surely you must have a home somewhere. You were released to my custody and I’ m afraid it would be irresponsible of me to just drop you there, especially since it may not be safe.”
Rinteau started down the steps of the courthouse like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, then stopped and looked back at Mr. Kim.
“ Look I thank you for squaring things with the cops. I really do. But I’ m kind of a loner. I like my me time. Don’ t worry, I can handle Booker. To be truthful, he shouldn’ t have been there. He’ ll have his hands full once word gets out to some of the other gangs that he was working neutral territory. I doubt he’ ll show up again.”
We were walking out of the holding area and back out through the courthouse and in a few minutes we were outside. It was getting colder and Rinteau didn’ t have a coat. He was still in his Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt. I looked up at the gray sky and saw that a few snowflakes were starting to fall.
“ So, thanks for straightening everything out with the cops. See you around.”
With that he turned and trotted down the steps of the courthouse toward the sidewalk.
“ Mr. Kim, you have to do something,” I said.
“ I know Rachel,” he said. “ But the question is what?”
Rinteau turned around and looked at all of us standing on the steps above him. He gave me a little wave. I mean, actually he might have been waving to the whole group, but I choose to believe that he was waving directly at me; my very own special little wave. Then he disappeared around the corner. I couldn’ t help thinking to myself, okay selfishly, I’ ll admit it, that I might never see him again. Turns out I was way wrong about that.
CHAPTER SIX— Newsflash: Boys are jerks!
The next day, we were back at school enjoying a typical Sunday morning breakfast. You would think that that the cafeteria in a boarding school would be kind of deserted on a Sunday morning, with most kids sleeping in and taking it easy. If you thought this about Blackthorn Academy, you’ d be wrong.
Blackthorn Academy was not like ordinary boarding schools. Students here did not waste away a day with sleep or frivolous activities. Not when Sunday was a perfect day for studying, working out, practicing Tae Kwon Do and other such pursuits. Time was to be consumed and not frittered away here. So the cafeteria was full of students like it was on any other morning.
The four of us were sitting at our usual table in the far corner of the room. I was talking about my new favorite topic, Michael Rinteau. Alex, Brent and Pilar were pretending to be interested and Alex was taking every opportunity to needle me.
“ I wonder what his deal is?” I asked for maybe the fortieth time that morning.
“ Oh for crying out loud, would you just let it go? Stop talking about the guy already. You’ re creeping me out. You’ re like a stalker or something,” Alex said.
“ I am not like a stalker,” I said. Well, okay. In a way, I sort of was. But come on the guy had dimples for heavens sake! “ Besides, why did you take such an instant dislike to him? I mean, he really helped us out there.”
“ Something about him isn’ t right,” Alex said. “ The whole thing about him showing up in the nick of time was just a little too convenient. I just don’ t trust him.”
“ But you don’ t even know him,” I said.
“ Neither do you,” he said.
Leave it to Alex to get everything all confused up with the facts.
“ But I just don’ t know why you’ re so convinced he’ s a bad guy, I mean, if he was, Pilar would be able to tell. She gets those ‘ feelings’ about people, right Pilar? If he were bad you’ d know, right?”
Pilar looked at the two of us. Pilar kind of a had a thing for Alex, really they were a couple sort of. Like most things about this school and the people in it, I hadn’ t been able to figure it all out yet. I knew they liked each other but wasn’ t for sure yet if they were serious. Still, Pilar looked distressed. She didn’ t want to be dragged into another Alex and Rachel fight.
“ Umm. Well. Not necessarily,” she said.
“ What? What do you mean? You could tell if he’ s up to no good can’ t you?” I said.
“ No. I mean I don’ t know. Sometimes I get feelings about people. But not always. Usually it’ s only when the people themselves are feeling some kind of strong emotion. I get a sense of what they are doing or thinking. But with some people, I don’ t get anything at all. Blankenship for instance. Him I totally can’ t read. It’ s like he’ s got some kind of filter on or something. But you, Raych, you’ re emotions are always full bore and I can get a real sense of you most of the time. Like I know what you’ re thinking or feeling. But I’ m not infallible. And I wasn’ t around him long enough to pay attention.” She smiled at Alex. She’ d managed to stick up for his point of view without making me feel stupid.
“ Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I said. “ Still, I think you’ re wrong Alex.”
“ So what else is new?” he said, grumpily, picking up his tray and storming off.
I looked at Brent and Pilar with a ‘ what did I say’ expression on my face, and they both just shrugged.
“ Well geez-o-pete,” I said. “ Why is he so touchy?”
“ You don’ t understand him at all, Rachel,” Brent said. Which was an event in its self almost. I
n case it hasn’ t come up before, Brent is not a big talker. He notices everything, is probably one of the most loyal people I’ ve ever met, he just isn’ t verbal at all. Which is fine with me because I certainly don’ t have a problem in the being verbal area. But when he does say something, it’ s usually pretty smart and he knows what he’ s talking about. I always end up wishing I’ d said it. And the other thing I’ ve learned about Brent is that there are three things in the world that he values more than anything. One is Mr. Kim, two are the little gadgets that he’ s always building and experimenting with, and the third is Alex Scott. Alex can do no wrong in Brent’ s eyes.
“ What do you mean?” I said.
“ You just don’ t get him. He’ s still upset for the way he acted at the jail. How Mr. Kim had to reprimand him. You think Tae Kwon Do, something Alex is so passionate about, is just a physical activity, like gym or something. But to Alex it’ s a way of life. It’ s a philosophy influencing and guiding everything he does. Now he feels he’ s embarrassed himself and more importantly his Sa Bum-nim, Mr. Kim, and he’ s still smarting from it. Tae Kwon Do isn’ t just an after class activity to Alex. He is studying to become a warrior, to live by the code of the Hwa Rang-do. And yesterday he lost his cool and broke the code. It’ s eating at him.”
I guess I sort of knew this about Alex. I mean he took this Tae Kwon Do stuff very seriously. He wasn’ t cocky about it. Just serious. What Brent was telling me was that Alex had a deep respect for his Sa Bum-nim, which is Korean for “ revered teacher.” The Hwa Rang-do in actual translation meant ‘ way of the flower of manhood’ and was a code that the first Korean Hwa Rang warriors, who invented Tae Kwon Do, followed religiously. It’ s sort of the Japanese equivalent of the way of the Samurai. I knew all this because Mr. Kim made us study the history and meaning of Tae Kwon Do in addition to just knowing the physical stuff. We also used some of these translations and stories in our patterns and sound offs while training in the do jang. So though I knew what Brent was talking about, it never occurred to me that someone would take it so seriously.
This whole exchange was probably the longest conversation I’ d had with Brent since I’ d been at the school. It was kind of nice to hear what he had to say about something important to him, even though he was sort of dissing me.
“ Really? He’ d be that upset because Mr. Kim was stern with him? Everyone loses their cool once in a while, I just don’ t see what the big deal is.”
“ And again, you don’ t understand him. You and Alex argue a lot and he gets mad at you and even loses his temper sometimes. That’ s just normal teenager stuff. But to lose his focus like that in front of Mr. Kim bothers him,” Brent said.
“ That’ s all well and good. But it still doesn’ t explain why he’ s so down on Rinteau. He doesn’ t have any reason to dislike the guy that much,” I said.
Brent shrugged. Back to his normal non-verbal self. Apparently on that subject he had no opinion, at least not one that he was ready to share.
The next day at breakfast nobody said anything about Rinteau. Alex wolfed down his food and left the three of us sitting there. It was almost time for class so Pilar and I said goodbye to Brent and headed toward the academic wing. We were just about to the class room when my watch buzzed gently against my skin. Since all this hoo-hah with Mithras had started, Mr. Kim had given us all special watches that were actually very complex communication devices. They were like little cell-phones, pagers and wireless transmitters, GPS locators with email all in one, and very fashionable besides!
I glanced around to see if anyone was looking and carefully pushed a little button on the side of the watch. The watch face disappeared and a small LED screen took its place. It read, ‘ off. 15.’ It was Mr. Kim’ s top-secret spy code and meant he wanted to see me in his office in 15 minutes. He had never summoned me to his office during class time before, so it must have been something very important. I was guessing he probably needed my advice on a new tactical plan to take down Mithras. Or perhaps he was being called upon to completely reorganize the FBI and needed my input. That’ s probably it.
Pilar said she’ d take notes for me, and I excused myself from the room and made the trek to Mr. Kim’ s office. In a few minutes I was knocking on the door. He yelled for me to come in. Mrs. Marquardt (Mr. Kim’ s creepy assistant) had the door to her office standing open. It was directly across the hall from Mr. Kim’ s so she could see me knocking. I glanced at her before opening his door and she gave me one of her weird, freaky quasi-evil looks. I’ ll admit it. The lady gave me the willies.
Mr. Kim sat at his desk with a single manila file folder on his desk. Ordinarily his desk was completely free of everything. No pens or papers or a nice desk blotter, just a big old mahogany desk with nothing on it. Not even anything in the drawers. I know this because I once searched through Mr. Kim’ s desk looking for clues to his whereabouts and had discovered his secret aversion to office supplies. Well, I don’ t know if empty desk drawers were an aversion, exactly but it was weird. But Mr. Kim didn’ t need to know I knew.
His back was to me and he was staring out of his office window. Before he turned to face me I snuck a quick look at the file folder. There was a little label on the tab and my pulse quickened when I saw it read: Rinteau, Michael. What was up with that?
Mr. Kim swiveled to face me and he smiled at me. He pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk and I sat down.
“ Thank you for being so prompt Rachel,” he said. “ How are you today?”
“ Fine I guess.” Okay this was weird. I was sure Mr. Kim didn’ t want to indulge in idle chit chat about my state of mind.
“ You’ ve been sleeping well? Getting enough rest? How are your classes? Not too difficult I hope?”
“ What’ s up with Michael Rinteau?” I asked. Mr. Kim blinked in surprise then smiled as I pointed to the file folder.
“ I’ m pretty good at reading upside down,” I said.
“ Ah. Yes. Well, once again, you’ ve shown me your resourcefulness.”
Why was he trying to butter me up? He left the folder lying right out in plain sight. I’ m fairly certain he meant for me to see it. It was another one of his little tests. Trying to see how observant I was being. Or not being.
Mr. Kim pushed the folder across the desk with his index finger and gestured for me to pick it up.
“ Have a look,” he said.
I opened the folder and found there wasn’ t much there; just a copy of the police report from the Philadelphia PD about the incident at the mall, and a two page copy of Rinteau’ s police record. There was nothing else.
“ I’ m officially lost. What are you asking me?” I said, looking at him with a quizzical expression.
“ Mr. Rinteau has been on my mind since Saturday. I’ ve been thinking about how he managed to resolve your situation with the gang and so abruptly left us at the police station. I worry he may be in trouble if this Booker person is looking for revenge, even though he tried to down play it. I asked my friends in the Philadelphia PD to keep an eye on the mall and to keep a watch on this Booker person.”
“ That’ s good.” And it was. But what did that have to do with me? I was missing valuable time in Languages and this week we were working on a Serbian unit. Trust me, Serbian is not easy.
“ Yes,” said Mr. Kim. “ But what else do you notice in the file about Mr. Rinteau.”
I opened the file again and studied his record. Loitering. Disturbing the Peace. Truancy. The guy was handsome and dangerous!
“ It looks like maybe he has a few issues,” I said.
“ Really? I found the report to be most interesting for what isn’ t in it. No permanent address. No listing for family or parents. No listing of schools attended. Mr. Rinteau seems to be something of a mystery. According to the police report, on his first arrest he claimed to be from New York City, but did not give an address. Nor did he reveal any information about his address or family. Strange. Very strange.”
>
Now that he mentioned it, looking at all the paperwork more closely it did seem a little odd. Mysterious in addition to dangerous and hot. I felt myself flush.
“ Maybe he’ s a runaway. And when he got pinched by the cops he didn’ t want to tell them who he was or where he was from because he didn’ t want to go home or he’ s in Federal Witness Protection or something, because he witnessed a mob hit and had to take on a new identity,” I said. This was kind of fun! I was coming up with all kinds of cool stories to explain his mysterious hotness.
Mr. Kim just stared at me before letting out a long sigh. I think I wear him out sometimes.
“ What does it mean, Mr. Kim?” I said. And more importantly what does it have to do with me? Sometimes the guy just will not get to the point.
“ I believe our Mr. Rinteau may be a runaway. If I had to guess I would say he would appear to be a ‘ street person.’ When I asked him at the station if I could drop him somewhere he insisted on returning to the mall. His record shows no known address or family. According to what he told you, he apparently at one time associated with a group of misdirected youth who call themselves the Fourth Street Bully’ s, as grammatically incorrect as that may be. Yet in the midst of a crime, he steps forward to intervene on your behalf. That puzzles me.”
Leave it to Mr. Kim to refer to a gang of most likely incredibly violent criminals, as ‘ misdirected’ youth; always the benefit of the doubt with him. I’ m sure in his quiet moments, Mr. Kim thinks Blankenship is just misunderstood.
“ Why does it concern you? Maybe he’ s reformed and just wanted to help,” I said.
Maybe he saw me and realized we had an instant connection. I was the girl of his dreams and in order to win me over he would need to turn his back on his life of crime, beat up the bad guys and sweep me off me feet. And to be serious, Rinteau had said he ‘ used’ to be a Fourth Street Bully and that Booker guy had said ‘ you ain’ t a Bully no more.’ I have keen powers of observation and notice things, and pointed these facts out to Mr. Kim.
3 The Spy Who Totally Had a Crush on Me Page 4