Stealing Childhood

by Terry Persun

  She crossed her legs and her arms. He knew what that meant. Most of these girls didn’t trust any form of law enforcement. He wished he could get the agents out of the room, but also knew that wasn’t going to happen. He’d have to work within the present limitations.

  “Agent Rafsky has already told me a lot about your conversations,” he said. “So I’m going to ask a few different questions, perhaps a bit odd. Is that all right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You can call me Dan, but sir is fine if that’s more comfortable right now.”

  She looked up at him. Her eyes, for a moment were intense. She licked her lips. Dan wrote down the word “snake” in his notebook. That’s what the action reminded him of. He glanced toward Jason, who stood next to the window, and motioned for him to come closer. “Drag a chair over here, would you.”

  Koko watched Jason with a different expression than the one she offered Dan.

  “Do you mind?” he asked her.

  She shook her head, no, then gave Dan another look and flick of her tongue to wet her lips. He underlined the totem he had written down, then turned. “Could someone get Koko a glass of water.”

  “How’d you know,” she asked.

  Dan smiled at her. “You’re from the reservation, I understand.” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Did you have animals growing up? Pets, farm animals?”

  “Animals?” She reached for the water that Agent Blake brought over to her. She took a sip. Even after the sip of water she flicked her tongue over her lips. “We had a dog. I always liked bugs, though, grasshoppers, crickets.”

  “What did you think of snakes,” Dan asked.

  “Poisonous ones?”

  “Any.”

  “I’m not afraid of snakes, if that’s what you’re asking. In fact, I used to play with garter snakes all the time when I was little. That’s what I was told. How’d you know that?”

  “I didn’t,” Dan said. “I’m just asking.”

  “These are strange questions.”

  “They get stranger,” Jason said.

  She smiled at him.

  “Did you want to leave before you had to escape?” Dan asked.

  “You mean, did I feel trapped before I knew I was. Before I realized I wasn’t allowed to leave.”

  “Yes.”

  “There was something about the feeling of the building that bothered me even the first time I visited my friends. Like an invisible wall was holding them there.” Her voice was very quiet and Dan had to lean forward to hear her clearly. “Something blocked them from leaving. It felt heavy, like a big blanket lying all over everything. Even the walls felt dense and restrictive.”

  “You speak very well,” Dan noticed. She also offered longer answers than he expected.

  “Straight A’s in school. I’d go to school to get out of the house.”

  “Smart move. So how’d you get involved…”

  She sat back in her chair. “I met someone.”

  Dan matched her breathing and breath-by-breath slowed his own to get her to follow suit. Her eyes softened after a few breaths. “You know what’s going on. Didn’t you know the first time he asked you to sleep with someone?”

  “We didn’t have anything. Neither of us. It was the only way.” She averted her eyes farther away from his gaze, but the movement felt forced to Dan.

  He wrote down that she was shamed then crossed it out. Intellectual and emotional shaming? With a girl like Koko, intellectual shaming might even be worse; she’d use it against herself. But he was searching. He needed more information to go on, so he dug a bit deeper. “Was he someone from your school, a close friend?”

  “Someone I met.”

  “Through a friend?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Was he working when you met him?”

  She hesitated. “My friend’s counselor.”

  “From social services.”

  “Something like that.”

  He could hear that she was through talking. Even at that, her answers were too pat, came too easily, practiced—or learned. “One more question. The barrier, the heaviness, was it physical or nonphysical?”

  Agent Rafsky walked over and stood behind Dan’s chair.

  Koko’s lips tightened.

  “I don’t know how anyone could answer such a question,” Agent Rafsky interjected.

  Jason rose from his chair and reached for Agent Rafsky. She threw her arm up to block him. “You can’t make me leave. I think this is over.”

  Dan didn’t move. He looked directly at Koko. His inclination was to reach toward her, but touching her would only make things worse. “Please,” he said quietly.

  “We’re through,” Agent Rafsky said. “You can get up, Koko.”

  Koko uncrossed her legs and stood. She looked into Dan’s eyes, deeply. “Don’t get involved.”

  Agent Rafsky reached to usher her around Dan.

  Koko turned back, “Non-physical,” she whispered. “Tight, like a nest.”

  “Enough,” Agent Rafsky said, while taking Koko by the arm and leading her toward the door.

  Dan glanced at Jason, who looked confused. “Bigger mess than I thought,” Dan said after the door closed behind them.

  “What was that all about?” Jason asked.

  “Power struggle? Fear? I’m not really sure. We’ll find out later, though, I know that. I do have a question for you, though. Do you know why I asked you to sit closer?”

  Jason rolled his eyes. “I’m forty-three not twenty-three. We both know why.”

  “So?”

  “You wanted to block off the energy from the agents, offer Koko safe space.”

  Dan smiled.

  “See, I’m doing just fine.”

  “Don’t get cocky,” Dan said, then he nodded.

  “So, what’d you learn?” Jason asked.

  Dan looked toward the ceiling and rotated around. “Maybe we should talk about it after we’ve had a nice dinner and are in our hotel room. Give me time to let it sink in.”

  “You think they’re bugging us?”

  “Cameras, sound, the whole production. And now, they know that we know. And I hope they’re listening closely. Because I have one thing I’d like them to hear.”

  “You don’t have to, Dad.”

  “Fuck you,” he said. “If you want our help, you’d better be more honest than this. This is exactly why Koko hasn’t given you much information. She doesn’t trust you.”

  “Did you have to do that? We could have talked with them.”

  “That wouldn’t get them to listen.”

  “So, what do we do now?”

  “Leave,” Dan said.

  “What about our stuff. It’s still in the van?”

  Dan walked out the door and was met by Agent Mercer coming toward them. “Can I help you?”

  Dan laughed. “So, you heard us in there.”

  “Heard what?” Agent Mercer said.

  “You can’t lie to us, I’m afraid. But since you asked. We’d like access to our luggage so that we can find a place to stay for the night.”

  “We have a hotel room secured for you,” the agent said.

  “I’ll bet it’s secured for you, too.” Dan shook his head. “We’ll find our own place to stay for the night, thank you.”

  “It’s already paid for, sir.”

  “Get a refund.” Dan slid past the agent and walked into the hall and pushed the elevator button. He turned to look back at Agent Mercer. “Let’s go. You’re letting us into the van.”

  “I have to—”

  Dan heard Rafsky’s voice in the background but didn’t hear what she said. He didn’t need to. Agent Mercer followed them into the elevator.

  After pulling their bags from the van, Dan thanked Agent Mercer. “You can leave now. We’ll be in touch.”

  “We have to know where you’ll be staying. I’m not supposed to let you leave without knowing—”

  “We’ll call the moment we decide where to
stay,” Dan said.

  “But—”

  “She’ll have to deal with it.” He pulled the handle of the larger suitcase up and leaned it as he rolled it away.

  Jason did the same with the other two bags. “Why am I taking two?”

  “You’re younger.” Dan turned back for a second and waved toward Agent Mercer. He hoped the guy didn’t get into too much trouble, but he wasn’t about to let Rafsky control everything. On the street, he hailed a cab. “Lot of luggage,” the driver said as he walked toward the trunk.

  “Not as heavy as it looks,” Jason said as he helped the man place the luggage neatly.

  “Where to?”

  “Pioneer Square Hotel on Yesler,” Dan said.

  Jason gave him a curious look. “How do you know where to go?”

  “I lived around here for a while.”

  “A while? How long?”

  Dan shrugged. “Eight, ten years, maybe more off and on.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  Dan laughed for a second. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  “I’ve realized that. So, was it a job?”

  “Partly. Well, mostly. Well, pretty much training.”

  “Training?” Jason asked when Dan slid into the seat.

  “Not now,” Dan said. The rest of the drive they sat quietly.

  It didn’t take long to reach Pioneer Square. Dan paid the cabbie and they stood for a moment soaking up the cool Washington air in front of the hotel before going inside. “They’d have us in a Hilton or something. I think this was off their radar for the most part. We should be safe here.”

  “You going to call them once we get a room?”

  “Maybe after dinner. We need to talk in private.”

  There were rooms available and Dan and Jason got help with their luggage. The television was mounted on the wall over the dresser. There were two queen-size beds with a nightstand, lamp, and phone between them. A small desk, lamp, and chair sat between two windows. “Nice room,” Jason said.

  Dan shook his head and produced a big smile. “Lot of memories in this old hotel.”

  “Were you a hell-raiser?”

  “Don’t know if I’d say that.” He walked over to the window and looked down.

  “You think they followed us?”

  “I don’t think they had time, but you never know. You can see a lot from the Columbia Center. We’re safe in this room at least, though. How about a short chat, a nice dinner, and a good night’s sleep?”

  “You have to call them. You said you would.”

  “Later.”

  “You’re going to make her sweat, aren’t you?”

  “Not the plan, but if that’s what happens…”

  “She’s just going to get more angry. You know that.”

  Dan stepped away from the window. “Not my problem.”

  Jason let out a breath of air in frustration.

  “We have work to do,” Dan said. “You were close to her, what’d you notice?”

  “She had nice legs. And, Koko? Whoever named her must have expected where she’d end up.”

  “Convenient name.”

  “You don’t believe her?”

  “I don’t know yet. Ask me later. But, for now, let’s not be disrespectful.”

  “I’m just saying…”

  Dan was trying to be nicer to Jason but wasn’t always sure how it was coming across. He smiled, the only tool he had at the moment. “Koko means night in Blackfeet. Maybe she was born at night.”

  “How in the hell do you know all this shit?”

  “You forgot that I studied artifacts, many of them Native American. I’ve been all around the west. Kind of miss it sometimes. Well, often.” He kneeled next to the large suitcase and unzipped it. He pulled out an octagonal drum with three buffalo and a woman painted on the front. He laid it aside and removed a turtle shell rattle with a wood handle. It had three blue jay feathers hanging from its neck. He placed the drum and rattle on the bed closest to the bathroom and entrance door.

  “Are we journeying?”

  “Not yet.” Dan sat on the end of the bed and removed his shoes, then crossed his legs in front of him. He shoved the drum and rattle farther away. “What’d you get?”

  Jason sat on the edge of his bed facing Dan. “Not much. Having all those agents in the room with us was pretty unnerving even for me, and I wasn’t their prisoner.”

  “I’m not so sure she’s a prisoner at the moment, but they’re definitely keeping close tabs on her. She must be in a hotel nearby. Bugged, of course.”

  “I saw that you wrote down that she had snake energy, or a snake totem. The lip licking?”

  “That and her handshake felt smooth and dry, like a snake’s skin. You know how when they crawl over your palm how they feel.” He tapped Jason’s knee. “You had snake energy for a while. You should be able to recognize it easily.”

  “Different kind of snake, maybe. Mine wasn’t so pleasant all the time.”

  Dan laughed. “I’ll say. I never told you, but it takes a lot of power to hold onto something like that for that long. You feel more strength now, don’t you? More powerful?”

  “Lately, yes.”

  “Good.”

  “What else?” Jason asked.

  “She looked like she had low self-esteem or tried to make me think so, anyway. She looked away, her weak grip, her movements, yet her answers were long and extremely coherent. Maybe she wanted me to misinterpret her.”

  “You think she was prompted?”

  “It crossed my mind. But she’s a smart girl, too. I haven’t looked at her file or anything, but she did say she got straight A’s. A smart girl in a depressed school could be bullied, beaten, ignored. She could have gotten hooked up with the wrong crowd trying to fit in.”

  “She’d still be smart,” Jason said.

  “I know. And that’s what got her out of there. If she was around the wrong energy for too long, it could have changed her energy. I wonder if Snake came in to protect her.”

  “Even if it did, this isn’t about her,” Jason said. “Like you said earlier—your sage advice?—we have to focus on our job, not everyone around it.”

  “True.”

  “I’ll tell you one thing, Dad, and that’s that I didn’t like Rafsky’s energy when she rushed over to the back of your chair. Lording over you, is what it felt like.”

  “On purpose. Everything with that woman is on purpose. She somehow knew, whether consciously or subconsciously, that she’d be interrupting my aura. And she seemed very uncomfortable about my question about the non-physical.”

  “Scared.”

  “Good word. It’s not that she doesn’t want us meddling with her case but that she’s afraid of what we do. We go to a place she can’t get to, doesn’t understand, and is afraid of.” He uncrossed his legs and slipped his feet back into his shoes, back into movement. “Dinnertime,” he announced. “There’s a nice pub down the street. You’ll like it.”

  Chapter 5

  “This is more like it,” Jason said as they were seated. “These short booths and thin walkways remind me of Casey’s Tavern in Connecticut. Remember when we first met Agent Scroggins from the NSA?”

  “I’ve called Jeremy many times,” Dan said.

  “You have. And he’s helped every time.”

  “Nice man.”

  Jason looked around the room for a waitress. He raised his hand, motioned, and set it down on the table in front of them.

  Dan said, “She mentioned being blocked.”

  “You mean Koko.”

  “Yeah.”

  Jason watched the waitress walk over. Late forties, slim, cropped hair, stopped near Dan and set two menus in front of them. “Drinks?”

  “I’ll have a beer, whatever’s on tap,” Jason said.

  “We have locals,” she said.

  “Make a suggestion.”

  “Hop Diggity,” she said.

  “I’ll have that.”
<
br />   “And you?”

  “Just water,” Dan said, “with a slice of lemon.”

  After she left, Jason said. “The road was blocked on our way into town.”

  “And we were blocked from getting out of our seats the second the plane landed.”

  “You mean the crowd,” Jason said. “Everyone wanting off the plane. I expect that every time I fly.”

  “Maybe. I wrote it down anyway. It seemed more frantic than usual.”

  “Can’t blame them.”

  “I don’t, but I do notice.”

  “I’m wondering more about our journeys,” Jason said. “What about the different languages? Koko never mentioned that, even though Rafsky said they were selling the girls around the world.”

  “True.”

  “And Mindy is a translator.”

  Dan nodded. “That was strange, too.”

  Jason got quiet for a moment. He bent forward with his forearms across the table. “Something’s bothering you, Dad. What is it?”

  “Koko,” Dan said. “We can come back to the language thing. What did you make of her?”

  “Besides being hot?” Jason leaned back.

  The waitress set down their drinks. “Ready to order?”

  “You have anything like a blue cheese burger?” Dan asked.

  “Bacon and blue cheese burger, it is. With fries?”

  “Make it two,” Jason said. “Both with fries.”

  She smiled, wrote down their order, then stood beside their table for a moment. She pointed back and forth between them a few times using her order pad. “You two related?”

  “My dad,” Jason said, since she stopped while looking at him.

  She turned toward Dan then. “You look like Timothy Hutton. Anyone ever tell you that? Except the eyes. Yours are brown.”

  “What color eyes does he have?”

  “Hazel, I think. They’re light colored eyes. I’m sure people have told you that before.” She turned and walked away before he could answer.

  “I think she likes you,” Jason said.

  “I don’t need more trouble than I already have.”

  “Awe, have a little fun. It was innocent flirting.”

  Dan shook his head. “Ever think someone is just noticing? It’s not always flirting.”