Change in Plans

by Meagan Fink

“Just make sure that they agree to bring you along, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Isaac directs them over to the automobile and grabs the last bag and hands it to him.

  “Alright, so I know what we’re doing tonight and then we’ll make it so they find out who I am. But after that, do you want me to just improvise?” he asks.

  “Improvise is good, yes. Just trust me little Brother. You will be informed of any changes if it’s possible to do so.” Isaac grabs him by the shoulder and walks him toward the car.

  “I think you’re all set, good luck! I’ll see you soon,” says Isaac as he pats him on the back again and opens the door for him. Once he’s inside Isaac hits the roof of the car twice and it rolls forward.

  He takes a step backward and waves to him, calling out farewells and good wishes. Crunching footsteps approach him from behind but he doesn’t turn around.

  “Do you think he’s ready for this type of mission?” Isaac recognizes the voice as John’s.

  Isaac laughs, “Are you joking? He’s still just a boy.”

  “He’s almost 19, I wouldn’t call him a boy, but he still doesn’t seem ready for something like this. It’s not too late, Isaac, either I or even Michael can take his place.” Isaac stops waving as the car turns left onto a street and disappears from sight. Isaac tucks his hands into his pockets and looks at John with a soft smile on his lips.

  “No, no. My brother is the perfect candidate, and he has something to prove to me. I expect great results from him,” he says, with a proud look on his face.

  “And what, exactly, would those results be?” asks John, glaring at him. There’s a hard edge to his voice that makes Isaac sneer at him.

  “Don’t question my methods, John.”

  “I’m not Isaac, I just want to know what you expect to get out of this?”

  “Well, if everything goes as planned, and I’m sure it will, my greatest enemies will be wiped out and little Luca will be dead within the week.”

  5

  “You punched a copper?!” asks Dyton grinning.

  He still doesn’t completely believe her.

  “I’ve told you three times now!” she says laughing. Tita sits down on the edge of her bed and pulls off her boots and takes her cap off, letting her hair fall down to the middle of her back.

  “If you ever see him again, he’ll arrest you,” he says, the humor starting to fade from his eyes.

  “If he can catch me that is, and he won’t,” she says, smirking again. She gets up and walks over to the lockers and pulls out the twenty dollar bill from her back pocket.

  “So how much do we have now?” asks Dyton, lying down on his bed throwing a ball up in the air.

  “We have…” she starts to add up the money they already had along with the $20, “a total of $32.73,” she says proudly.

  “We’re rich!” he exclaims, as he throws the ball again. Tita walks over and catches it in midair. “Hey,” he mutters.

  “So I was thinking that we could leave tomorrow,” Tita says, as she sits on her bed again facing Dyton.

  “Tomorrow? Do we have enough for two tickets?” He tries to ask nonchalantly, but the tightness around his eyes betrays him.

  “We’ll have enough for the train, but once we get in D.C. it’s going to be hard. At least until I can get a job.” She fiddles with the ball in her hand; it was falling apart, in complete tatters. Maybe she could buy him a new one.

  “OK, if you think we can do it, then let’s go.” He has that lopsided grin now, so trusting; as long as she thinks it’s a good idea, then it must be the right thing to do.

  She sighs, she’d be much more confident if they had more money.

  “We also have the $10 in our bolt bags, we can make it.” She nods and says it again to herself, “We can make it.”

  Dyton and Mom hug Daddy. Tears stream down all of our faces except for Daddy’s; he’s trying to stay strong for us and to show strength to the team waiting in the Opel truck in front of our house.

  “Daddy, tell them you can’t go, they can find someone else,” I cry. Dyton who is almost five clings onto Daddy’s leg with a death grip, hiccupping, while glaring at the troops in the truck.

  “I wish I could honey but they need my help, this way I can keep you guys safe. But I need you to take care of your mother and Dyton here,” he says with a sad smile, as he crouches down so he’s eye level with me. I hold onto Mama and clutch Mr. Snuggles in my hand.

  There’s a whistle from the truck and Daddy turns to look at them; he nods, and then turns back and looks into my eyes. “I love you sweetie, so, so much,” he says, as he bites his lower lip to keep it still. I throw myself into his arms for what I know will be the last time, I just never dreamed it would be so soon. I feel a wet splatter of a tear on my neck as he clutches me to him.

  “I love you too, Daddy.” He then whispers the last words I’d ever hear from him into my ear.

  “Stay strong for them.”

  A crash jolts her awake. She bolts upright in bed and glances around the factory. She’s breathing hard and her muscles are rigid with adrenaline, in part from the dream, also from the noise. She pulls the sheets off of her and sits on the edge of the bed, still listening. She quietly slips on her boots and then looks over at Dyton.

  He’s still snoring. She’s tempted to wake him up but decides against it. It was probably just a rat anyway. She stands up, the mattress springs squeaking. Dyton mutters gibberish and then turns over throwing an arm over his head. She walks a few steps forward, her boots making soft thumping noises.

  “Tita?” asks Dyton, his voice like thunder in the silence. She jumps and wheels around. She holds a finger up to her mouth; he stares at her frowning. There’s another noise upstairs. His eyes widen and he gets out of bed and runs over to her.

  “What was that?” he whispers. She shrugs, “It came from upstairs.” They walk over to the stairs and try to keep their steps silent. When they reach the second floor Tita glances around looking for anything out of place.

  “Search through the tables,” she whispers to him. He looks over at the tables and offices and nods. She walks over to the railing and looks down at the main floor, she doesn’t see anyone or anything. She begins to relax as the possibility of the noise just being a rat seems to be what actually happened.

  There’s a rustling noise to her left, she glances at where she thought she heard the noise and sees the other stairwell that connects the second and third floors. Her heart stops. Four figures are silently making their way down to the second floor.

  “Dyton,” she whispers. She turns around and motions for him to come over. He runs over carrying their two bolt bags. She frowns at them; did he search inside the desks instead of looking underneath and around for a person? She shakes her head dismissing it, “We need to hide,” she whispers. She grabs his hand and tugs him toward a closet near the windows. She opens the door and pushes him inside, she’s about to close it behind her when Dyton shakes her arm.

  “The money, they’ll steal it. We need that money, Tita,” he whispers. His eyes plead with her. He’s right, we’re stuck here without it, she thinks. She nods, “Do not leave this closet, no matter what. If someone opens this door other than me, you scream your head off, understand?” He nods.

  She turns to the left and goes down the hallway. Dim moonlight streams in through the windows. She passes the last window with the fire escape and stops when she reaches the staircase. She leans over the railing and glances up looking for shadows. They seem to have stopped before reaching the staircase.

  She slowly makes her way down the stairs, keeping to the wall trying not to be seen by whoever’s up there.

  When she reaches the bottom she glances around, and runs silently over to the lockers. She tries to open the one with the money as quietly as possible, which isn’t very quiet, making her cringe at each little squeak.
She reaches in and grabs the money from the very back, and stuffs it into her pocket.

  She glances back up at the stairwell she had just come from. She was too slow. They’re already at the second floor.

  They’ll find him, oh my God, they’ll find Dyton! What were you thinking leaving him there? Her mind whirls with possibilities of what might happen. They will either continue going on the second floor to steal what they can or they’ll continue down the stairs to loot the lockers. Unless they’re not here to steal, a small voice in her head whispers. No, no how would they have found us? I’ve covered our tracks, I’ve done everything so they wouldn’t find us. Whatever they were there for, they were walking closer toward the closet where Dyton hid.

  What could she do to get their attention, to keep them from walking down the hallway, and yet not draw their attention to her? She slams the locker door. The sound of metal against metal rings through the factory with a slight echo.

  She didn’t think it would be that loud. The shadows stop, one of them turns around. There’s a murmuring as they converse, and then two of them start to come down the stairs. She runs.

  Yeah, that didn’t draw any attention to her.

  She looks back to see the two running as well. She reaches the opposite stairwell and flings herself up taking the steps two at a time, she needs to reach Dyton before they do and get out of here. She maps out their escape as she reaches the second floor and runs past the desks. Her two pursuers reach the stairs and pound their way up, metal clinging with each footstep. She turns right, almost there, almost to the closet, but her path is cut off. A man with short red hair stands in her way. She starts to turn back, but the two that were following her reach the second floor and stop when they’re five feet away from her. Wait, there’s only three, where’s the other one? There were four on the stairs.

  She looks past the man in front of her, to the closet; the door is still closed. She looks back at Red and he starts to laugh as he comes forward. She looks over her shoulder and sees the other two coming closer. Her mouth goes dry as she decides what she’ll do.

  Her mind races with possible attacks she’s learned on the streets.

  She jumps at Red and punches him in the jaw. He grunts and steps back with a surprised look on his face, he wasn’t expecting her to fight back. Oh how wrong he was. The two men behind her jump at her and knock her to the ground. She flails and one of her legs catches him on the temple, she grins. It was a lucky shot, don’t get cocky, she thinks. The man falls back but the other one pins her shoulders to the ground. She pulls her leg up to get it underneath him and plants her foot on his chest and then kicks him off.

  She jumps to her feet, eyeing the closet door and takes a step forward. She turns around as someone moans behind her.

  Red glares up at her and growls, he gets back onto his feet and runs at her. She stumbles back the way she came hoping to draw them away from the door. She runs to the staircase and makes her way down as fast as she can. Stop playing games Tita! Just get to the door, quit acting like a mouse in a maze, yells a voice in her head. I’m trying.

  Then an ear-piercing scream rings through the air. Dyton! She glances up and falters, they’ve found him. Then the scream comes again, but it’s not Dyton, it’s a girl. How many people are in this place? She continues her descent down the stairs, assuming the girl was probably the fourth one she had seen. But who made her scream?

  Then someone tackles her to the ground. Red flips her onto her back and pins her shoulders to the ground.

  “Where is he?” he yells at her. She doesn’t respond, just focuses on getting him off of her. He yells at her again, “Where is he! I know you’re helping him!” She shakes her head frantically.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” she yells at him, still trying to get away from his grasp.

  “Lies!” he yells, and then his hands move to her throat and start to squeeze. Her airway gets cut off, and she starts to kick out trying to get him off. Her hands pull futilely at his. Her vision starts to go dark as oxygen fails to go to her brain. But then, out of the corner of her eye, she sees something moving toward them.

  The metal pole hits Red straight on causing him to collapse on top of her. Someone pushes him off and she can breathe again. As she gasps for air, she looks up to see a man standing above her; no, not a man, a teenager, maybe 18 or 19.

  He drops the pole with a clatter and helps her up.

  “Are you all right?” he asks. She nods, still trying to catch her breath, her hands on her knees, and then she looks at his face.

  “I am so sorry, none of this was supposed to happen…” he pauses and looks around for the others. He has dark blond hair, green eyes, and is wearing blue jeans, a black jacket, and a newsboy cap like Dyton’s. The man grips something in his hand, she glances down and sees a tactical knife. She’s met three of the men on the stairs and the other was the girl, he’s the one that made her scream. She steps away from him, her eyes widening and she looks back up at his face. He glances down.

  “It’s alright, I won’t hurt you, but I need you to tell me if…” he gets cut off as someone tackles him to the ground. Another person throws her to the side. She lands hard, hitting her head on the ground. She looks up expecting further attack, but it doesn’t come; she looks to the side and sees three guys struggling. She’s tempted to help but then doesn’t. You can’t help him, get Dyton and run. She listens.

  She runs to the staircase that leads to the offices but stops. Her lungs burn and her eyes are watering, she glances up and sees that the air is gray with smoke. The building’s on fire.

  6

  Tita runs up the stairs only to stop as a racking cough shakes her whole body; the smoke is much thicker up here. How did things get so complicated?! What else will go wrong?

  “Dyton!” she screams, but it comes out more of a rasp than a yell. She runs over to the closet where she had left her little brother and opens the door to find Dyton cowering behind a box clutching a baseball bat. He looks up at her with fear-stricken eyes, “What took you so long?!” he shouts.

  “Not the time.” She reaches down, grabs his arm, pulls him to his feet, and then grabs both of their bags and hands him one.

  Dyton looks around and his eyes grow even wider. “The building’s on fire!” he shouts at her.

  Really?

  “I know, come on!” She grabs his arm and runs back the way she had come. They run around to the stairwell only to be cut off by a gulf of flames. There’s no exit, there’s no way out.

  “What do we do!?” shouts Dyton. Tita looks around trying to reorient herself, what do I do? She continues to look around as Dyton stares at her waiting for her to say something, to get them out of this mess, when someone comes running around a corner from where they had just come. It’s the blond guy, the guy that had saved her from Red. He stops when he sees them; they stare at each other for a good five seconds, sizing each other up.

  “Do you know a way out of here?” asks Blondy.

  Tita’s about to shake her head when she looks back behind her at the fire escape. That is what it’s there for, in this kind of situation.

  “This way.” She grabs Dyton’s hand and pulls him toward the fire escape, with Blondy following. She reaches the window and tries to pull it up but it won’t budge. Blondy runs up behind her and gently pushes her away and pulls, the window slowly starts to inch upward. The fire roars to life behind them and Tita looks behind and sees the red flames licking the top of the stairs.

  “A little help?” asks Blondy, his voice strained. Tita reaches underneath the window’s edge and pulls upward until the window finally opens about two feet.

  He holds the window up and motions with his head for her to go through.

  Tita ducks through the window and lands on top of the fire escape with a clatter from the metal grating. She helps Dyton over the edge and tells him
to hold on to the side and then grabs the window and holds it up.

  “OK, come on,” she says, as she struggles to keep the window open as he makes his way through. Once his leg is out of the way she lets it drop. Tita looks down only to see that the ladder doesn’t reach the ground. What idiot designed this thing? She wonders.

  Blondy looks down, “It’s not that far of a drop,” he says, and starts to make his way down the little bit of ladder that’s left. When he reaches the end he pauses for a second and then drops. He winces when he lands but doesn’t appear to break an ankle.

  “OK kid, come on down,” he says and points at Dyton. Dyton looks up at Tita, fear and hesitation in his eyes. He shakes his head.

  Tita grabs him by the shoulders and looks him in the eyes. “It’s going to be OK. I know it’s scary but just think that it’s a few seconds of fear and then it’s over.

  When he glances down at the ground, she looks through the window; the flames are right there.

  “Dyton, now is the time to be brave, just for a few seconds.” She looks into his eyes and nods reassuringly. He nods and slowly goes down the ladder, when he reaches the bottom the man raises his arms intending to catch him. Dyton hesitates, his hands gripping the rung for dear life.

  “It’s OK, come on kid, I’ll catch you,” says Blondy.

  “Just a few seconds of bravery, Dyton,” Tita calls to him. He lets go. Blondy catches him easily and sets him on the ground and then looks up at Tita and nods. Why doesn’t he just go? He’s down, he is safe, why wait here for us? But she doesn’t have time to dwell on it any longer, as the heat radiating from the building is becoming unbearable. She quickly makes her way down the ladder and jumps. Right before she reaches the ground the glass windows above her shatter.

  His hands catch her around the waist and throw her to the ground as the glass rains down from above. He shields her as she wraps her hands around her head, and she feels him wince as the glass makes impact on the ground. Tita breathes heavily as she waits for him to get off of her. He rolls to the side and lies on his back for a second before getting to his feet, his hand clutching his side. Tita gets up and looks around for Dyton, she finds him huddling at the bottom of the neighboring building; fortunately, he seems to be harm free. She walks over to him and crouches next to him and pries his hands from his head.