We were putting everything back into the mission books and file folders when I asked him what we were going to do about Rinteau?
“ Don’ t worry,” Mr. Kim said. “ I will figure out what to do about Mr. Rinteau. Perhaps he’ ll decide to stay at the Academy. Perhaps he’ ll even become Top Floor someday but until then we will find a way to keep our secret safe.”
We heard the voice from the doorway leading upstairs.
“ Safe from what?” The voice said. Pilar nearly screamed and all of us, I think even Mr. Kim jumped a little and spun toward the door.
And there he was, Michael Rinteau standing in the doorway. He looked at all of us, meeting our stunned gazes with a curious one of his own. His eyes moved around the room and tried to take it all in. Finally, he looked back at me and smilirked.
“ Cool.”
Chapter 12— Could I Screw Anything Else Up? Let Me See That Map Of The Middle East
Everyone stood there in stunned silence for a few moments. Rinteau acted almost like we weren’ t there. He strolled into the room, looking around at everything, taking it all in. This was entirely my fault. Somehow he found us out and there was no doubt in my mind it was because of me. I needed to find a new career path. I was not cut out for subterfuge. If it were left up to me, Mithras and his minions would be having lunch in the school cafeteria by next Tuesday.
“ How did he… ” I stammered. I looked at Mr. Kim and he stood there like a gargoyle, studying Rinteau.
“ Find you?” Rinteau said.
“ It was pretty easy. I knew you were up to something in Mr. Kim’ s office. When I followed you there, you weren’ t going to any meeting. You were headed somewhere. And if Mr. Kim wasn’ t in his office, then you were either looking for something there, or doing something you didn’ t want anyone to know about. Which meant you were hiding something. You tried real hard to keep me out of that office. It was simple deduction, really.”
“ So I waited until I figured you’ d left your room again and I went back to his office and started looking around.” He stopped talking and his gaze fell on Mr. Kim, “ you know, you might want to consider locking your doors once in while.”
“ Anyway, I’ ve seen lots of movies and TV shows where an office has a hidden doorway or something. Thought maybe the bookcase might conceal a door to another conference room or something. Fiddled around with it, until I found the trigger. Had no idea it would lead me to this, though. What is this place?”
“ It’ s a training simulator,” I said. I may mess everything up. I may be clumsy and a poor excuse for a spy or a goddess with dopey light powers, but I’ m a freaking genius at making up lies on the spot.
“ Rachel, give it up,” Rinteau said. “ I’ m not stupid. This is no ordinary boarding school. And this isn’ t some simulator. You don’ t teach kids Criminology and Micro-Electronics in high school,” he said. He gestured around the room. “ You don’ t have sophisticated equipment and all this other stuff for Home Ec and Algebra. What is this place?”
“ Mr. Rinteau, we will need to talk. Let us return to my office, while my students return to their rooms. I promise to answer your questions as best as I can. I will tell you however you must not reveal your knowledge of this room to anyone else at Blackthorn. Including the faculty, on the pain of immediate expulsion. Do you understand?” Mr. Kim said.
Rinteau’ s eyes narrowed and suspicion briefly clouded his face.
“ Sure,” he said.
“ You can’ t trust him, don’ t tell him anything,” Alex said.
“ What’ s the matter Axel? Afraid everyone in your little club will end up liking me better?” Rinteau said.
Alex stormed around the table and closed on Rinteau.
“ Alex,” Mr. Kim said quietly.
Alex stopped in his tracks. He wasn’ t going to have Mr. Kim reprimand him a second time, but he was in full alpha male mode again. Somebody needed to go decaf.
He turned to Mr. Kim and bowed slightly.
“ Sir, I respect and honor you as my Sa-Bum nim. You Sa-Bum… there are no words… I… you have saved me. From a life I would not want to imagine. But sir...I must beg you. You cannot trust him. Please.”
Okay. I’ ll admit. It seemed a little over dramatic. I’ d never seen Alex like this before. He was standing ramrod straight, all rigid and tense, like he was ready to burst at any moment. I could also tell he was deadly serious. And there were honest to goodness tears forming in his eyes. He obviously felt very strongly about all of this.
Mr. Kim’ s face softened and for a moment I thought I saw his eyes water as well. Were we all going to burst out crying here? He knew Alex had just paid him a great compliment and understood Alex firmly believed what he said. He put his hand on Alex’ s shoulder, stepped in closer and spoke to him so softly we could barely hear him. I had to shuffle forward a few steps so I could eavesdrop without missing anything important.
“ Alex nothing has brought me greater pleasure than to watch you grow and embrace… no… not merely embrace, but to live the code of the Hwa Rang. You are my finest student. But you must understand my obligation to help those who are entrusted to me. I now ask you to honor the code and the tenant of service and obedience to your Sa-Bum. Please. Return to your room. I promise this will be dealt with. Try to remember above all else the mission of this school is what matters most. This is but a minor interruption. Please. Go.”
Alex sagged. Only slightly, but it was there. Without another word he bowed deeply to Mr. Kim, shot past Rinteau and sprinted up the stairs. A few seconds later Pilar followed after him, a sad and worried expression on her face.
Rinteau watched them go and turned back to us with a “ what a weirdo” expression on his face.
“ Man, I don’ t know if it’ s the roids or what, but if you ask me, the guy needs some chill pills,” Rinteau said.
Brent set his tools down on the workbench. He was deathly quiet as he walked around the conference table and stopped when his nose was about three inches from Rinteau’ s.
“ I’ ve known Alex longer than I’ ve known you. You helped us out at the mall. That earns you my thanks. But not my respect. If Alex thinks you’ re wrong, my guess is someday soon we’ ll find out. And if I have to choose my money is on him,” Brent was quiet when he spoke. Which only made him seem scarier and Rinteau actually leaned back a little as Brent violated his personal space.
“ But know something, Rinteau. You ever insult my friend in front of me again and we will throw down. You’ re from the street, I get that. But so am I. You might have once been a Fourth Street BullHockey or whatever, I’ m not impressed. But say another word about one of my friends again and you’ ll find out first hand how a Chicago kid can fight. Are we clear?”
For a moment, Rinteau thought about making the macho comeback. But he saw the look, the genuine I am not messing with you look in Brent’ s eyes and he swallowed hard and nodded. Brent bowed to Mr. Kim and he and I left.
You can be around people a long time, in all kinds of situations, be they intense, relaxed, fun, serious, or whatever. But sometimes you think you know someone and then something happens and you realize you don’ t. It was easy not to notice Brent, because he was always so quiet. And there’ s no question he was kind of cute and certainly he was smart. And in Hawaii, he’ d dived head first out of a helicopter attached to a safety harness to rescue me from another situation where I’ d made a less than reasonable choice. And he’ d done it without complaint, just being brave and steadfast. Because it needed to be done.
Now he’ d stood there, staring down an ex-gangbanger not because the guy was holding a knife or a gun or was about to physically harm someone else. He stood up for a principle. His friend was more important to him than anything and he would not stand by and let him be trashed by somebody who hadn’ t earned his respect.
Brent was like an onion. Layer after layer kept peeling away. And the more peeling, the better the onion smelled. Okay, I know that metaphor
is a little bit icky.
As we climbed the stairs it was like he could read my mind.
“ You can’ t keep secrets forever,” Brent said, trying to keep me from kicking myself.
“ I can’ t believe this,” I said. “ I’ m such a screw-up!”
“ Rachel, you are not a screw-up, if it wasn’ t for you...”
“ No… I should have paid more attention. Maybe if I were smarter. I just...Brent… what is wrong with me? Why is it that I mess everything up?” I felt like crying. Rinteau had found out our secret, the book was stolen, someone was betraying us, and Alex was in perpetual mad mode. I felt responsible for everything.
Brent took my arm gently in his hand and pulled me into one of the empty classrooms.
I felt the first sob working its way up from my stomach. Brent cupped my chin in his hand and looked me in the eyes.
“ There’ s something I want to tell you. About me. About how I came here,” he said. “ About what Alex let slip earlier,” he said.
“ Brent, really, it’ s okay. I know it’ s something you don’ t like to talk about. I don’ t need to… ”
“ Rachel, it’ s okay. It’ s time I told you,” he said.
And there in the room, I learned how Brent came to Blackthorn Academy.
Chapter 13— More Secrets Revealed
He was just over thirteen when he came here. That was almost four years ago. He grew up in a poor section of Chicago. His mother died when he was three years old.
“ I don’ t really remember her. Just some glimpses really. Little ribbons of memory pop in and out of my head sometimes. She had blond hair and I remember smells; she smelled like soap. And then… I just don’ t remember her anymore. She was just gone. I guess she just died, but I don’ t know how or why. My dad never talked about it. And I’ ve never tried to find out. I don’ t know why that is. I suppose Mr. Kim knows, but I’ ve never asked him, and then after what happened with my dad… well… I never asked him either. Maybe I just didn’ t want to know, because it would mean I’ d have to remember things I’ d rather forget.”
Brent’ s father drank. I could relate to that. Rich or poor, if your parents were drinkers, you knew what it was like.
“ I don’ t spend a lot time thinking about it anymore. You just leave it in the past. Mr. Kim has always said he’ s ready to talk it all out with me and some of the counselors here have helped. And Alex, he’ s actually been really cool about it.”
“ Anyway, my Dad was mad all the time. Couldn’ t hold down a job. I remember always being hungry. There was never enough food in the house. Enough to get by, but never enough, you know? I stopped going to school regularly when I was seven. My dad didn’ t care. They’ d send social workers around and stuff and somehow he always managed to put them off. Or else I’ d start going again for awhile until they forgot and moved on to something else. It went on for years like that.”
“ It’ s funny how you can look back at your life and the choices you make. I was about ten when the drinking got worse and my dad started hitting me. It didn’ t matter what I did. He was drunk all the time and I was the source of all of his problems. It got to the point where he was just mad all the time at everything I did. I started staying out of the house and running the neighborhood. It went on like that for a couple of years. Until I met Jeremiah.”
“ He owned a pawn shop in the neighborhood. I’ ve always liked mechanical things. Ever since I was little, I liked taking things apart and figuring out how they worked. When I was running around the neighborhood, I’ d paw through junk piles and look for old televisions and radios and stuff to see if I could get them running. I’ d take them to Jeremiah’ s shop and he’ d buy them. It’ s how I got money for food.”
“ Before long, Jeremiah was giving me broken stuff in his shop and having me fix it. I learned a lot about electronics. Jeremiah would buy me books and manuals. He set me up with a computer so I could search the Internet for schematics of all the different components that ended up in the shop. It got to the point where I could fix almost anything.”
“ What I didn’ t know until later was Jeremiah… he… was a thief. Well not a thief exactly since he didn’ t steal anything himself, but he was running a giant fencing operation out of his shop.”
“ One day he handed me with a piece of equipment I’ d never seen before. It was slightly smaller than a laptop computer with a cable attached to it and on the other end of the cable was a small, thin circuit board, about the size of a credit card.”
“ Jeremiah asked me if I could figure out how it worked. Someone had sold it to him and he wanted to know if I could operate it. It took me about half a day to figure out it was a card reader for robbing ATM machines. The circuit board slid into the slot for the ATM card and the device ran a program that would crack the encryption codes on the pin number of the last person to use the machine. With the pin number you could take money out of the account. I had it up and running in no time.”
“ I became a thief. Jeremiah gave me bus fare and sent me all around the city, taking money out of ATMs. I was taking $10,000 dollars on good day, several hundred dollars per machine. Eventually I quit going home to my house at all. Jeremiah had an apartment over the shop and I slept there. A few weeks later I stopped back by my house. It was empty. My dad was gone. I never saw him again. As far as I know, he never tried to find me, never looked for me or anything. He just disappeared.”
“ Jeremiah had a good thing going. But I was only thirteen and not as smart as I thought. I got sloppy. They installed security cameras at ATM’ s and I didn’ t vary my pattern from machine to machine, because I was always in a hurry and Jeremiah didn’ t like it if I didn’ t bring home enough cash. Eventually somebody figured out the same machines were being ripped off. The cops staked out a couple of them and they followed me back to Jeremiah’ s pawnshop. They arrested him. They took me in. I had no place to go. They couldn’ t find my dad and I didn’ t have any other family. I was on my way to juvenile detention. One of the cops who arrested me took me into an interview room and asked me all kinds of questions about the machine, and the materials in Jeremiah’ s place. He took me back to the shop and had me show him all my tools and the stuff I’ d repaired. The cop took me to his house where I spent the night and the next day, Mr. Kim showed up and brought me here to Blackthorn.”
The whole time Brent told me this story he stood close to me, his eyes never leaving mine. Like he needed to make sure I paid attention to every word that he said.
“ Brent, I’ m so sorry for what happened to you… I… ”
He put his finger to my lips.
“ Shh. Let me finish. I just need you to hear this. So you’ ll understand. For a long time when I got here, I was ashamed of who and what I was. The things I’ d done. Being a liar and a thief. I stole people’ s money, probably from a lot of people who couldn’ t afford to lose it. And for a while I tried to rationalize it, telling myself I was just a kid, I was manipulated, it wasn’ t my fault, all those things. But I still knew it was wrong.”
“ But you were a kid, you just made a mistake,” I said.
He shook his head.
“ When I came here, Mr. Kim changed everything for me. I learned to trust him. It’ s still hard for me to talk about my past. I still feel guilty about it. You’ re the first person besides Alex I’ ve ever told any of this too.”
I didn’ t know what to say. Brent was so earnest and kind and sweet. And my heart just broke for him, learning how he’ d lived. I wanted to kick my own butt for feeling so sorry for myself all the time.
“ Why are you telling me this now?” I said.
“ Because you need to understand something. I don’ t like talking about myself. Sometimes I’ m more comfortable with machines than people. But I can’ t stand to see you upset. Nothing that has happened to you here is your fault. All you’ ve done is what’ s needed to be done. Whatever it was, you figured it out and did it. So you don’ t blame yourself f
or any of this. You are the smartest most amazing person I’ ve ever met.”
I felt myself blushing. No one, besides my grandfather, and maybe Mr. Kim had ever said something so kind about me. I’ d never had anyone think about me this way.
“ Well you must have low standards when it comes to smart and amazing,” I said.
Brent chuckled. And I think, maybe for the first time, I noticed that Brent had two dimples when he laughed. Dimples!
“ You just need to understand how things are. Sometimes, when things are this tense you need someone to tell you how it is. Mr. Kim will figure out what to do with the new kid. Don’ t blame yourself,” he said. Brent smiled and shuffled his feet so he was standing to the side of me, staring off into space, like he was looking for something far off in the distance but couldn’ t quite see it.
“ What?” I asked.
“ I’ m not sure how to say this next part,” he said.
“ You can tell me anything Brent. I know I’ m a blabbermouth, but I promise I won’ t tell anyone anything if you don’ t want me to.”
“ It’ s not that, it’ s just… ” he was reverting to his quiet demeanor.
“ It’ s not even about me. It’ s about you. I don’ t want you to be upset, about any of this. You just need to know that whatever you do, no matter what happens, you’ ll always do the right thing. I know it.”
I snorted a laugh. “ I don’ t know why you have such faith in me, I screw everything up,” I said.
He turned back to me and smiled. I wish he smiled more often. His smile was pretty awesome.
“ I have faith in you. We all have faith in you, because you’ ve earned it,” he said.
Very quickly, he leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek so lightly that I almost didn’ t feel it. When I opened my eyes he was gone, leaving me alone in the room with my thoughts.
Chapter 14— The New Kid On The Block
3 The Spy Who Totally Had a Crush on Me Page 8