For the first time that day, Nole was actually grateful for the constant sirens going off around the city. As they walked, the noise around them made the awkward silence less deafening. Although he was grateful for her help, and he knew he needed it, he was unsure of Olivia, especially after the way she covered for him after the job. Even though he was expecting an explanation from her, it didn’t seem like she would be offering one soon.
She was wearing different clothing from earlier that day, and her long hair was no longer in a tight ponytail, but woven into a loose braid that extended all the way to her lower back.
“So,” he began, breaking the ice, “did you bring that map you had with you earlier?”
Without a word, she whipped out the folded map from a side pocket of the knapsack and looked at him. Stupid question I guess.
"Any leads?” she asked, unfolding the paper midstride. “We should start where you last saw him.”
“Nothing there,” he replied. “I checked earlier-” he stopped, realizing that he’d just admitted leaving during the mission. Thinking of a way to backtrack his wording, she picked up the conversation.
“Gain any new info from that?” She was completely ignoring his fumble.
Did she not hear me right, or does she not care?
“N-no.” The quiet hovered over them once again, like a cloud rolling in the sky. “But I want to go back to where we were living. That’s the only place I think he could be.”
“Okay,” she answered. “Lead the way.”
The apartment complex was located near the southern part of the city, ten blocks from City Square. From there, the library would only be a short distance north. Any way he looked at it, it would be a solid hour of walking. Running would cut the time in half, but he thought it best to conserve their energy as they had a long day ahead of them.
Passing through the first block of the trek, Nole’s stomach rumbled. In his haste, he’d forgotten to eat after getting back to the complex. He ignored the moan of his stomach and glanced over at Olivia to see if she’d heard. To his relief, she was rummaging around the contents of her bag rather noisily. Before he could turn away, she uncovered the item she’d been looking for and extended it his way. Reluctantly, he accepted the item, embarrassed to realize it was a wrapped turkey sandwich.
He thanked her passively and slowly unwrapped the clear plastic almost too hurriedly. He didn’t know why he felt so discomposed, but seeing Olivia bite into her own sandwich put him a little at ease. Whether it was the gesture of food or her actions from earlier that day, Nole decided Olivia wasn’t as bad as he made her out to be.
“Why help me?” Nole blurted out. He stared down at the decked out sandwich, a mixture of mayonnaise and mustard dripping down the side of the bread. Turning his head slightly, he saw that her expression was unchanged, so she was either thinking of an answer or swallowing a bite of the sandwich.
“You wouldn’t get very far looking on your own.” The response was both concise and logical. Clearly her strategic skills extended beyond the calls of the errands.
“And this morning?”
“Zane looked like he was going to kill you.” Another concise answer, he thought. “And,” she added, “you looked really desperate judging by the way you’ve been acting these past couple of days. That’s why I sent you off on your own. It was a relatively easy job, so I could handle my end without your help, giving you an opportunity to sneak off.”
Nole was shocked, not by her answer or her reasoning, but by the way she had admitted knowing he would sneak off. So she didn’t just lie to cover for me, she actually gave me the chance to go out looking in a way that wouldn’t expose my absence from the job. I was the one who screwed up by getting back late. “I didn’t tell Betty,” she stated after he didn’t respond. “As far as they know, you were with me the entire time, though I thought you’d be more punctual when getting back.”
“Why?”
“Well, I assume you were trying to hide the fact that you left, so-“
“Not that,” he interrupted, standing in place. “Why are you going out of your way to help me? Aren’t you risking a lot lying to Betty? It doesn’t seem like a lot gets by her, so why risk it?” Olivia took a few more steps before turning to face him.
“Be quiet,” she mumbled, finishing the last bite of her sandwich. Balling up the plastic wrap, her eyes wandered on something behind him. “Don’t do or say anything,” she ordered.
“What?” he muttered, confused by her behavior. A frustrated look was thrown his way, as she walked casually over to him.
“There are three pedestrians whispering over there.”
“So?”
“So,” she explained, wrapping both of her arms around his left one, “they keep glancing your way.” Before he could resist, she rested her head against his shoulder and pulled him forward.
“What are you doing?” he asked red-faced.
“They recognize you from the paper.” Her tone was totally opposite her body language.
“Still, I don’t see why-”
“Just act normal,” she ordered under her breath. Nole obeyed the call and strolled down the block with Olivia strung on his arm. He clenched his sandwich; unable to eat it as it was in the arm being fettered by Olivia’s grasp. Out of a habit of self-reliance, he ventured to turn his head and observe the watchers.
They were average civilians, one man and two women all appearing to be in their upper forties. If their sideways glances and pointing fingers weren’t hinting enough, their next course of action was. The man’s lips mouthed the words “it’s him,” to both women, and before Nole knew it, they were shouting for him to stop.
It wasn’t the three civilians he was worried about, but the attention they were bound to attract with their shouts. Nole had had a suspicion that if caught by law enforcement, the sketch would be his downfall, and the situation proved his hunch right. “Run,” Olivia commanded, reading his mind. Releasing her hold, she sprinted down the block. Feeling the adrenaline and fear rushing through him, Nole ran at full speed, passing her in the process.
Racing down the main roads, Nole slid into a side street to escape other vigilant passersby. For good measure, he jogged a few more yards down the narrow street and stormed into the side entrance of a rundown building. Olivia joined him as they caught their breath inside.
“That could’ve been bad,” he sighed.
“You turned to look, didn’t you?” A glare was thrown his way.
Avoiding the question and the glare, Nole turned to look around the empty room. A long molded counter extended through the room with stools lining the length of one side. Worn out booths and tables took up most of what little space remained in the cramped area.
“I’ve never seen this place before,” he mentioned. “It looks like a bar. Maybe a café.”
Olivia approached the counter, setting her bag on the surface as she unfolded her map before her. Following her lead, he sat in a stool, staring at the map before them. Unlike the short time before the errand, he actually got a good look at it and the detailed images it contained. “It looks like the entire city is on this piece of paper,” he admired.
Upon closer inspection, he discerned more than just the images of streets and buildings on the map, but areas marked with icons. Throughout the page, he noticed random markings and shapes, including the shapes representing the gangs. They know all of this, he thought in awe.
“It’s a lot to take in,” she said as he stared in silence. “The black marks are things we’ve confirmed and know to be true. The red marks mean we haven’t verified it yet,” she explained. As his eyes searched the large sheet, she drew his attention to one area. “This is the complex.” With her finger, she indicated the area marked with a black star. “And this is where our errand was this morning.” About ten blocks away from the star, a building was marked with a black octagon.
“Why do you have other octagons on the map besides that one?”
“Those are other hideouts.”
“The gangs have more than one hideout?” Of course, there are probably hundreds of members in each of the Great Eight Gangs. Multiple hideouts would make the most sense.
“Yes. As you can probably tell,” she pointed to two separate hexagon icons on the map; one black and one red, “not all of the hideout information is validated yet.”
His eyes wandered to a black Para icon. They even know where the Para’s hideout is. What the Enforcers wouldn’t give for this information. “It would help if you told me where we’re heading now, the location of your old place,” she added.
“Here.” His index finger rested on the building representing the City Library.
“Right now, we’re in this alleyway.” Tapping on the area representing their current location, Olivia traced their predetermined route to the library. “Looks like walking will get us there in twenty minutes. We got lucky Enforcers weren’t around when those civilians were making a fuss.” She refolded the map and tucked it into the side pocket of her knapsack before heading toward the back entrance where they entered.
“Judging by all the gang icons on your map, Enforcers seem like the least of our worries.” Lagging behind her as she exited the building, Nole looked over his shoulder at the bar while shutting the door, inadvertently bumping into Olivia, who was stationary just outside the building. “Whoa, sorry,” he apologized whipping his head forward and seeing more than just Olivia before him.
“Is he the one, Tyrone?” asked a skinny goateed man in between loud chomps of his gum. He wore a black t-shirt with ripped sleeves. His beady eyes stared them down while his hands rested at his sides. Even though he wasn’t moving, the fingers of his left hand danced menacingly on the stolen Enforcer’s baton hanging loosely from the belt of his cargo shorts.
“I’ve never seen her, but that’s got to be the kid in the paper,” the pudgy man confirmed. When his beefy, ebony-colored arm reached for his back pocket, Nole noticed Olivia subtly reach into her own back pocket and recalled the pepper spray he’d first seen her use at Murphy’s shack. To his relief, the man pulled out a newspaper instead of a weapon. “Damn, that’s a mighty similar face.” His thick lips parted, revealing a wide gap-toothed smirk. “This is you, isn’t it?” he inquired, turning the paper for Nole to see. Seeing the sketch of himself, he had a brief, ironic thought about how he’d thought Enforcers would be his only worry that day.
“Yeah,” Nole replied, silently coming up with a plan of attack.
“You know, you’re an honest kid,” the man, Tyrone was what the lankier guy called him, noted. “We don’t find a lot of honest people nowadays, do we Marco?”
“Nah, we don’t,” the baton-equipped Marco responded with a sadistic grin. He raised his right arm, making Nole tense up. Seeing Nole’s reaction, Marco let out a heinous chuckle as he licked his palm and slicked back his greasy black locks. With another swipe of the tongue to his thumb and middle finger, he smoothed out both of his eyebrows.
It took Nole a minute to realize it, but the man had his eyes on Olivia. He can’t be serious. “Oye, chica,” he called out, “if you’re into criminals, I could steal your heart.” Another round of his ear-piercing chuckles filled the air. I think I actually miss Betty’s cackles, Nole admitted to himself.
Olivia didn’t respond and kept a watchful eye on Tyrone, who had remained silent during his comrade’s antics.
“What is it you want?” Nole asked, annoyed by the silence.
“If you want to get to it,” Tyrone started, “we need you to come with us.”
“Gang members I’m guessing?” Nole wondered.
“Almost,” Tyrone responded after exchanging a look with Marco.
“You could say this is our final test for enrollment,” Marco added. “So don’t make it more difficult than it has to be, ‘cause we’ve come prepared for that you see.” He curled his fingers on the end of his weapon in warning.
“You just want him?” Olivia asked, surprising Nole. “You’ll let me walk?” She’s strategizing. This is part of her plan, he reasoned.
Despite the consideration that Olivia was more or less his ally now, Nole still felt a twinge of panic with her words. It made him aware of the fact that he couldn’t fully trust her, or any of them for that matter. No matter what Betty, or Valerie, or Olivia did for him, he would always carry a feeling of doubt or suspicion.
Both Tyrone and Marco didn’t appear to be gullible amateurs, as they both shot each other a look. Doubtful of Olivia’s surrender, Nole watched her carefully, trying to catch on to her plan. Sure enough, she began approaching Marco, who tracked her curiously.
“He’s all yours,” she offered, stepping aside so that Nole stood alone by the door.
I hope this is a plan, Nole assured himself. The larger Tyrone made his way toward Nole, as Marco kept watch on Olivia. This guy hasn’t shown his weapon, if he even has one. Tyrone was now one yard away from him as he glanced at Olivia, who was preoccupied with a chatting Marco. Oh well, looks like I’ll have to deal with this my own way.