Stealing Childhood

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Stealing Childhood Page 23

by Terry Persun

Cora scoffed and walked past Blake toward Dan. “You can’t just—”

  “He’s been working for me,” Dan repeated. He could see the anger rise in her eyes, in the clenching of her jaw, but he held fast. “I did what I was called in to do.”

  “You created a bigger mess. Is this what you always do?”

  “Sometimes you have the right idea, but the wrong implementation,” he said.

  Three EMTs rushed into the room and began working on Jason. One of them turned to Dan. “You’re bleeding, too, sir.”

  Dan smiled and waved the young man away, pointing toward Jason. “Only a scratch. I’ll drive over in a few minutes. Take care of him.”

  In a short while, Jason was on a stretcher headed out the door.

  Dan turned toward Richard and helped him stand. “You had a long day and need rest. I’ll have them call Jenny and stay with you until she gets here.”

  “Thank you,” Richard whispered. “Use this.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and handed it to Dan.

  Cora grumbled as she organized the search and collection process. After Jenny collected Richard, Dan asked Agent Blake to take him to the hospital. “Why didn’t you go with Jason right away?” Blake asked.

  Dan lowered his head. “He was in the best hands. There was nothing more I could do. Other people needed me.”

  “You have a hard life,” Blake said.

  “You have no idea.”

  Chapter 32

  Dan wore a loose smock and sat beside Jason’s bed. Agent Blake had left as soon as emergency checked Dan in. They wouldn’t let him put bloody clothes back on, so one of the interns gave him a smock. It felt rough and itchy, definitely not cotton blend. His body felt stiff all over. Dan was glad it was over for now. The whole job lingered on longer than it should have. There would be a lot of clean up, a lot of conversations with girls trying to convince them that they were actually being helped. Some would understand, but not all. It just depended on how much clout those few had over the others.

  Richard would help with tribal law. If there were any loopholes, he’d know about them. He’d be able to sway the council. Life wouldn’t be easy for him, though, not for a while. Dan figured he’d visit Richard soon but struggled with how he’d communicate with his old friend.

  As for Cora, she’d get over her anger. There was something much deeper bothering her than Dan could imagine. While sitting beside Jason’s bed, he’d journeyed on it and couldn’t get very far. There were some dark places in that woman that simply weren’t his to find.

  When Jason finally woke up, Dan reached out and held his son’s hand.

  “That’s not like you,” Jason said in a slur.

  “Smart ass to the last minute, aren’t you?”

  “Honesty is the best policy.”

  “Not always,” Dan said.

  The nurse opened the door and walked in. “Saw that you were awake.” She looked at Jason. “There are people waiting to see you.”

  Jason said, “Show them in.”

  The nurse, dark complexioned, reminded Dan of a girl he once dated years ago, someone from the reservation where he first me Richard. She reminded him of the girls he hoped they just saved. She laughed at Jason. “You’re ready to go, aren’t you?”

  “As soon as you’ll let me,” Jason said.

  “Well, I’m thinking another twenty-four hours, but the doctor will have to confirm.” She left the room, and a few minutes later Agent Blake and Agent Rafsky walked in. Behind them walked Agent Mercer.

  “You don’t look too worse for the wear,” Dan said to him.

  “Thank you, but I feel worse than I look. I suspect Jason feels even worse than I do.”

  “Not yet, but it could be the drugs,” Jason said. Then he got serious. “Thank you all for coming by. I thought we’d worn out our welcome.”

  “Close,” Blake said.

  Cora gave Dan a look of understanding. She nodded. “You had to save your son,” she said softly. Then she turned toward her partners. “Could you leave us for a moment?”

  The men exited the room, and Cora addressed Dan directly. She swallowed. “I ran from home when I was fourteen.” She averted her eyes. “Went to New York.”

  “You don’t have to…” Dan said.

  “I was afraid for my girls. That’s all. The memories, the way it all ruined my life, my marriage, everything. I don’t want that to happen to another girl ever.”

  “You worked hard and came a long way,” Dan said.

  “Never far enough.” Her voice broke and she turned her head away briefly.

  Dan walked over and reached for her.

  “That’s not you, and it’s not me,” she said.

  He backed away and grinned.

  “It’s okay. I just thought you should know that it was more than just work for me. You probably already knew, but. . .”

  “Remember that you can’t make the decisions for everyone else. It was a mistake for you. It was not what you wanted, but for some of these girls…” he shrugged, “it’s what they want.” He couldn’t tell if he got through to her or not, but he stopped there. Enough had been said. She was at her limit of explanation, and he was at his limit for a lot of things.

  She turned to go. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other as this progresses.”

  “I’ll try to be more tolerant.”

  She left the room. The others didn’t return.

  A few minutes later, Jenny and Richard came by. There wasn’t much said between Richard and Dan. The man spoke mostly to Jason, apologizing for things Dan didn’t quite hear. He was mumbling so low.

  Jenny stood by, and when she saw that Richard was ready to leave, put her arm on his back and guided him toward the door. Before exiting, Richard turned and said to Dan, “You gave me a second chance.”

  “You’ve given many to me, my friend.”

  “If you can see yourself back here again, I could use a friend. We could use a good shaman.” There were tears in his eyes—for Sarah.

  Dan thanked him and said he’d think about it, although he wouldn’t do that until much later. For now, he had a son to care for, and a lot of work ahead of him. Richard would be able to help, too. Dan was looking forward to getting to know his friend again.

  Richard left the room.

  Dan still held Jason’s hand.

  “You did the right thing, Dad. You always do. No matter how it looks on the outside.”

  Dan patted Jason’s hand. “I know.”

 

 

 


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