Medical Kidnap Files 1-6, page 49
Katt woke up several times in the night. There were footsteps and doors opening and closing as neighbors came and went. Gabriel and Ray were each up to the bathroom at least once. But she was so tired after not sleeping the previous night, that Katt just kept her eyes closed and went back to sleep. Even in the morning, as the room got warmer and the sun filled the room, she just pulled a blanket over her head and went back to sleep. She wasn’t the one in charge. She was going to get as much sleep as she possibly could.
“Rise and shine, you guys. Time to get on your feet. We gotta check out or pay for another night.”
Katt yawned, reluctant to open her eyes.
“And if they figure out we slept three in here, they’ll charge us extra. So let’s go,” Gabriel ordered.
“Have some compassion,” Ray said. “She’s worn out.”
It wasn’t until then that Katt realized the warm lump she was sleeping against was not her blankets, but Ray. She cracked open her eyes and looked at him, his face two inches from hers. Katt startled and pulled back from him. Ray laughed.
“Morning, sunshine.”
Katt cleared her throat. “Good morning!” She laughed at herself. “Did I squash you all night?”
“It was very nice. It’s been a long time since I had any company.”
Katt knew her face was getting red. She got up quickly and retreated to the bathroom, which she hogged for the next half hour. She finally got up the courage to face the boys again and walked out as if it were perfectly natural for her to wake up in a motel room with two boys who were almost strangers. Ray looked at his watch.
“I know we’ve only got about ten minutes, but do you mind if I take a quick shower? I haven’t had a hot shower in months.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yeah. Just be quick.”
Ray was in and out of the shower in less than the allotted ten minutes. He and Gabriel started talking as soon as Ray stepped out of the bathroom, as if they had been making plans all night and were just formalizing them now.
“If anyone other than Heather suspects that I was helping Katt out, they’ll be looking for the two of us together,” Gabriel said. “No one will be expecting you, because, among other things, no one knows you’re even alive. So you need to be the one to take her out of town.”
“She needs to dye her hair,” Ray inserted, nodding. “Maybe cut it short or tuck it up under a hat. If they’re looking for long blond hair with a black boy, and they see a bobbed brunette who happens to be on the same bus as a random white boy, they’re not going to have a clue.”
“As long as they don’t recognize her face from missing persons posters.”
“We have to take that chance. You got a hat?” Ray asked Katt. “Or a hoodie? Guess you could borrow my hoodie.”
“It would swim on her,” Gabriel disagreed. “Just attract more attention to her.”
“Wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t recognize her face.”
“She’d end up getting it caught on something. Tripping over it.”
Ray laughed, but Katt nodded her head. “He’s probably right. I’m really klutzy. I’d get it caught in the bus door, and it would drag me down the street. I could pick up a hat, though. And hair dye. I have enough money. Does that mean we could get out of town today? And not have to wait another day?”
Gabriel and Ray looked at each other, considering.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said. “I think it could work. I’m a bit worried about the cast, though. They know they’re looking for someone in a cast.”
Ray shrugged. “Stay in a crowd. She moves pretty good, doesn’t lag behind. It’s the best we can do. As long as Social Services doesn’t know you’re involved, they’re going to be watching for Katt to go back to her mom, not to be heading out of town. Runaways always head for home.”
Katt looked back and forth between Ray and Gabriel. “So? Everyone is agreed, then? We can leave today?”
Both boys nodded.
“We have to disguise you first,” Gabriel said. “But I think we can do it.”
Gabriel and Ray had switched positions. The previous day, Gabriel and Katt had traveled together, and Ray had trailed them, though they weren’t aware of it at the time. Now it was Ray and Katt together, and Gabriel followed at a distance, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be paying too much attention to the couple. Cops, social workers, anyone who might have a reason to report them for some imagined infraction. Ray wasn’t as likely to be reported as Gabriel was. Gabriel let them get out of sight for a minute or two at a time, not following them in a straight line, weaving in and out for a quick check and then falling back again.
Ray seemed to find it a lot easier to talk to girls than Gabriel did. It came more naturally for him, whereas Gabriel was always trying to figure out what to talk about next. Ray walked closer to Katt than Gabriel would have, and occasionally put his hand around behind her back and rested it on her shoulder as they walked. Gabriel was always trying to project that he was not romantically involved with Katt, not wanting to draw the attention of people who objected to mixed-race relationships, but Ray seemed to melt into a pseudo-boyfriend role, acting like he and Katt had known each other forever and were completely comfortable with each other. Gabriel walked up to them as they stopped to rest on a bench. He sat on the bench that was back-to-back with theirs, not saying anything to acknowledge them, but listening to their conversation.
Ray was talking again with Katt about EDS. To begin with, Gabriel had thought that Ray’s claim to have had a girlfriend with EDS was just crap. Just Ray pretending that he knew something before Gabriel did, acting like he knew more than anyone else. But his conversations about his ‘ex’ and her Ehlers-Danlos seemed to be just as natural as the rest of his conversation with Katt.
“There’s pros and cons of being in a relationship where you both have a disability,” Ray commented. “On one hand, it’s great, because they understand that you have to compensate, that you have limitations sometimes. And if you both have to stop to take breaks, you can just hold hands and have a nice time, without worrying about the other person getting impatient.”
Katt nodded, listening raptly. Gabriel didn’t get the impression that she’d ever had a boyfriend. Maybe not even a best friend. She and her mom were so close; Gabriel figured it was probably the only real relationship she had.
“But it can suck too. When you’re too tired to do something, and the other person can’t do anything for you. When you get sick at different times and can’t see each other for a month. When you’re both on crutches and neither one can carry the other’s books.” He laughed.
Gabriel could see where he was coming from. Katt patted Ray’s leg. He had his arm around her shoulders again.
“I bet you carried her books anyway,” she said.
“Well, I did my best.”
“Would you want to get involved with another girl with—a disability—again? Or would you avoid it? Stick with someone… normal?”
Ray took his time in answering. If it had been Gabriel, he would have rushed in to answer, filling the silence with whatever prattle came to his mind. But Ray held back, and Katt waited, not prompting him again.
“I don’t know,” Ray said. “What’s normal? Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think I’d rush into another relationship with someone with physical issues… but I wouldn’t avoid it either. Just take my time and see what happened.”
Katt nodded, looking satisfied with the answer. Neither of them looked at Gabriel, still pretending that he wasn’t there. Which was what they were supposed to be doing; but Gabriel still felt rejected, somehow.
They were silent for a while. Ray moved, rolling his shoulders. He pulled out his water bottle, and Gabriel saw him palm a couple of pills before taking a drink to chase them down. Katt didn’t appear to have noticed.
“Well, kid, time to be getting on our way again,” Ray said, ruffling Katt’s new dark auburn hair. “Can’t spend too much time sitting around. How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.”
“Ribs?”
“Sore, but not too bad.”
“Shoulders?”
“Fine.” Ray had helped Katt to find a backpack with wheels on it, which she could pull behind her when the sidewalk was smooth and level.
“Feet?”
Katt gave a grimace. “They’re still pretty sore today.”
“Do I need to look at them? Any new blisters?”
“No. They’re okay. Just hurting from yesterday.”
Ray nodded. “Anything else?” he prompted. Gabriel admired his persistence. If he’d been that patient and persistent with Katt, maybe she would have told him about the problems with her shoulders and her feet before she hurt herself.
Katt shook her head. “When are we going to get lunch?”
Ray glanced over his shoulder at Gabriel, but quickly forced his eyes back away and answered without consulting with him. “Not for a couple more hours. If you need something, you’d better get a snack from your bag.”
Katt turned to unzip her bag and find something. “What about you? Don’t you need something to keep your energy up?”
“I did not long ago. I’m okay. Did you take your meds this morning?”
“Yes, mom.”
Ray smiled at her. “Good. We’ve got to make sure you take care of yourself. It’s easy to let yourself get run down when you’re on the lam.”
“Is that supposed to make you sound tough?” she teased. “Because I’m not buying it.”
“That’s what I get for showing you my sensitive side.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Everything had gone smoothly. Which either meant that they were on a roll and everything would go fine, or that they were due for everything to fall apart. Gabriel wasn’t sure which. Thinking like Renata about anything that could go wrong, he was pretty sure that everything was going to fall apart.
He hung back at the bus depot, watching Katt and Ray buy tickets separately and board the bus to sit alone as if they didn’t know each other. Everything smooth as silk. But Gabriel couldn’t get the feeling of dread out of his stomach. The bus depot was one of the pinch points in the transfer. In order for them to get out of town, they needed to have an egress point. Sometimes they could find someone who would drive them from one town to the next, or preferably over state lines, before putting them on another bus. But mostly their volunteers operated in their own city and didn’t expose themselves. Driving a transfer over a state line could escalate charges from abetting a runaway to kidnapping, and people didn’t want to risk that.
Gabriel bought a ticket for another bus and went to sit down. None of them were going to be leaving immediately, so he figured he might as well close his eyes.
The bus trip went off without a hitch. Katt boarded first and found a seat, so she was already sitting down when Ray got onto the same bus and sat down without looking at her. Even though she knew that he wasn’t supposed to acknowledge her presence, she was surprised that his eyes didn’t even flick to her once. He was good at what he did. Gabriel was too, of course. Katt wouldn’t see him again until they reached their destination. He was on a later bus, so she wouldn’t see him again until after disembarking.
Even though Katt had slept pretty well at the motel, she was still exhausted, so she made the most of her time on the bus and closed her eyes to go to sleep. She wouldn’t be getting off for a few hours.
She dozed for most of the trip, sleeping for a while, then waking and watching out the window, then falling asleep again. She watched the desert flow by outside the windows and remembered that vacation to the Grand Canyon. It was a mile marker in her life. One of those things that she looked back on in life. Other events were often measured by it. That was before the Grand Canyon vacation, or that was after. The bus ride would be another. That was before she ran away. That was after. Even her name would change. She wasn’t Katt Lindholm any longer. Katt Lindholm had ceased to exist.
When the bus pulled into the final depot and everybody who remained got up to disembark, Katt felt a sense of let-down. After such a momentous change in her life, there should be something more to mark the change. Not just stepping off a bus into a new world.
“Katt Lindholm?”
Katt turned her head as she stepped off the bus, even though she knew that wasn’t her name anymore. A security guard stood there, along with a woman in a suit. Neither was smiling. Katt swallowed and turned her head back away like she hadn’t heard them and was just going on like the rest of the passengers. But the guard grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the line of the exiting passengers. Katt resisted, but he was strong and determined.
“No, you don’t, you’re coming with us.”
“Are you sure it’s her?” asked the woman, following as the guard pulled Katt farther away from the other passengers. Away from Ray. He didn’t reveal himself. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t grab her and run away with her. Jump on a motorbike like the spy in some espionage movie. Katt tried to resist the guard’s pull, but there was no point. He was too strong and determined, and she didn’t want another dislocation.
“Are you sure? It doesn’t really look like her,” the woman persisted, looking down at her phone.
“It’s her,” the guard growled. “Isn’t it, Katt?”
“I…” Katt’s mouth was full of cotton. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve made a mistake.”
He made a growling noise in his throat and continued to pull her along. Into a hallway that led away from the public area that the rest of the passengers were going down, into a series of dimly-lit hallways and rooms where only authorized personnel were allowed. Staff rooms. Administrative offices. It was an interesting peek behind the scenes. Katt was aware that she was trying to distract herself from the reality of the situation.
She had been caught. They were going to call the police or to put her on a return bus to meet the police back on the other end. Gabriel was not going to be happy. After all their careful planning, how had it happened? Had she done something to give herself away? Was it the cast? The bus driver must have recognized her for her to be met on the other end.
Katt tried to think of a swear word that was bad enough to use in the circumstances. It was so bad she didn’t know whether there was one.
She had been caught.
She was going back.
But likely not to the Foegels. Instead, she’d be sent to a residential facility that she couldn’t run away from. An institutional setting where she would have a dorm room and no privacy. Everything would be regimented. A prison.
“In here.” The guard pushed on Katt’s arm and opened a door, revealing a bare room, just a table and two chairs. Green walls, hard tiled floor.
“You’re making a mistake,” Katt protested, as he pushed her in ahead of himself.
The woman followed and watched as the guard checked Katt’s pockets and sat her in one of the chairs. Katt looked at the bracket attached to the top of the table and wondered idly what it was for. In answer to her unspoken question, the guard put a handcuff over one of Katt’s wrists, ran the chain through the bracket on the table, and put the other handcuff around Katt’s other wrist. She pulled against the bracket.
“No. No, there’s been some kind of mistake. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
The guard was an older man, graying around the temples, not much taller than Katt. He gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head. “Runaways. You always think you are going to get away with it. You think we don’t read the bulletins? Changing your hair color is going to confuse us?”
“Just leave her in here,” the woman in the suit said. “I don’t know how long they’ll take to pick her up. Might be a while.”
The guard grunted. He double-checked the handcuffs. Then they left her alone, pulling the door shut behind them.
Katt sat there, devastated. She had let herself believe that Gabriel and Ray could whisk her away and get her back to her mother. They had done it for other kids, why wouldn’t they be able to do it for her? It didn’t matter that she had to take on a new identity and move away from her childhood home. All that mattered was that she would be able to be with Karina again, living her normal life instead of being trapped in a foster home with people who didn’t understand her and who had no history with her.
Hot tears ran down Katt’s face. She sniffled and tried to wipe them away with her shoulder. How could she have gotten caught? She’d done everything right. She listened to everything the boys told her. She was stuck, chained up like a criminal. At least Gabriel and Ray hadn’t been caught. Katt knew things would be worse for them than for her. Running around wouldn’t likely get her put in jail. Locked up in a residential treatment program, maybe, but not in jail.
Katt pulled on the handcuffs, wanting to wipe her face. She wiggled her fingers. One of the talents she had was the ability to fit her hands through very narrow openings. The guard hadn’t counted on her hypermobile joints when he had handcuffed her. Katt squeezed her fingers together and inched them through the bracelet of the handcuffs. She wiped away the tears on her cheeks and rubbed her eyes. She squeezed her other hand through the other handcuff.
She massaged the joints on each hand in turn. Then she looked at the closed door. Had the guard locked it? Why would he bother, with Katt securely chained to the table? Katt slowly rose from her chair and crept to the door, ears alert for any sounds from the hallway. She peeked out the narrow window with wires running through it. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the hall. The handle turned easily in her hand. Katt pushed the door open and stepped out into the hallway. She closed the door again and headed the way she had come from. She couldn’t remember all of the turns, but she could hear arrival and departure announcements over the public address system, and walked toward the sound. She passed a couple of bus depot workers on the way out, but apparently no one thought anything of an unescorted teen walking through the staff corridors. No one challenged her.
