Phil grinned. “It’s not that bad. Relax.”
Mr. Blackbourne bit back a grumble at Phil’s hesitation, wanting to tell him to start talking as he so easily told his team to do. “What is it?”
Phil glanced around the room, as if checking for anyone that could be listening in. He leaned over the table. “She’s clean.”
Mr. Blackbourne scrunched his eyebrows. Why was this bad? Clean, for Academy purposes, meant no criminal history and no bad record at school. Phil still frowned in a way that made Mr. Blackbourne’s body rattle unwillingly. “Explain.”
“I mean she’s absolutely clean. We’ve got a birth certificate and a social security card, and even those are sketchy. That’s it.”
That didn’t sound right. “Medical records?”
“None. Not one. She’s got a shot record on file with the schools she’s been with, but the corresponding doctors don’t have her on file. She’s not on health insurance. They don’t claim her on their taxes. She’s even missed every school photo day since kindergarten.”
Mr. Blackbourne’s lips parted. “Do you mean--?”
“She’s a ghost,” he said. “We’re double checking on the birth certificate, but our first answer on that has come back as negative. It’s a fake. Your bird doesn’t exist.”
Mr. Blackbourne fell back against the booth seat, his palms resting on the table top and his eyes wide. “Could she be… I mean, could she have been kidnapped?”
“We want to check DNA from the family and find out. I’d like to know before conducting a goose chase. But if the DNA checks out and she’s theirs, then…”
“I know,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He didn’t like to interrupt someone older than himself but he couldn’t help it. It was too much to say it out loud. A ghost bird was rare among the Academy.
Ghost birds, or dogs, were kids without much history to their names. It wouldn’t take much to erase their existence completely. A slipped fold of bills across a school secretary’s desk could erase a transcript. Medical records and federal records were complicated. Without a medical history, a dental record, or a police record, it wouldn’t take much to make Sang Sorenson completely invisible.
She was priceless.
That also meant that if she qualified, Academy teams would be hounding her to join with them. This is what Phil meant when he said he hated to bring this up. He wouldn’t want to see Kota’s or the others’ hopes for Sang dashed when another team swooped in and took her.
They were already at a disadvantage for being an all dog team. The Academy rarely gave outright orders to any team families, mostly only strong suggestions. To go against a strong suggestion though, like not letting a girl into an all-male team, often meant adding heavily to a team’s financial and favor debt.
“Does anyone else know?” Phil asked.
Mr. Blackbourne was about to answer, but their food arrived. This meant following decorum and eating in silence as if they were hungry. The anticipation of countless questions etched in their faces as they forced themselves to swallow fries and burgers.
“No,” Mr. Blackbourne admitted finally when he’d cleared a reasonable half of his plate. “There’s no one else working with our team right now. No contractors, either. Your team and mine only.”
The older man nodded. “That’ll keep her a secret for now, but only for so long. This recent incident didn’t help.”
Mr. Blackbourne nodded. Sang’s involvement in the fight nearly risked her Academy career before she knew it existed, including her severe advantage they’d just discovered. Luckily he had been able to talk Greg’s family out of a lawsuit or pressing charges, but only with the promise that Sang could also press charges for sexual assault and attempted murder. The fall over the balcony could have killed her if she wasn’t trained, and most of the witnesses said Greg had pushed her over, that along with several phone and security videos. With the new information, he’d have to destroy them permanently now. It was a risk if Greg’s parents changed their minds. They’d have no video proof.
“Which reminds me,” Phil said. “She was taken to one of our hospital wings. X-rays, you know…”
“I will incur,” he said absently, reciting the familiar line for taking on Academy family members’ financial and favor debts. Only official Academy members could incur. He knew if he didn’t, his other team members would have done so later. He simply wanted the matter closed now.
Phil nodded, as if expecting this. “You haven’t taken a debt personally since you started with us. You and Sean Green, the youngest ever to pay off both financial and favor debt. Our youngest graduates ever for that matter.”
“I’m still in the positive,” Mr. Blackbourne said. Academy debt meant little to him. He could easily refill his accounts on his own. He would ensure his foothold in the positive side for several years, possibly his entire life, by the end of this school term. That is if he managed to get his team through this year at public school without too many more incidents.
“You’ll have to be more careful.”
Mr. Blackbourne nodded, pushing his plate away. “I trust we can keep this between our families?”
“You have my word,” Phil said. “I can’t promise she won’t go unnoticed. Your team is observed carefully, especially now that they’re readily exposed. She’s bound to be detected by the others.”
“It’s a risk we’ll take,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He didn’t begrudge anyone wanting to take on Sang for their team. He still knew little about the girl himself. What he had to go on was Kota and the others, who seemed determined to include her as part of their family. He knew with their particular team, it was probably because of her private family life. They’re team was built on broken family problems. He suspected Sang was the same and thus why Kota was desperate to include her. He wanted to save her from something. If they fully adopted her, they would have to find out what the problems were and eliminate them.
Mr. Blackbourne wasn’t sure if they realized she was also a potential future candidate for official Academy membership.
And if that was true, and she was qualified, he had to review the case of that other team that had a group of dogs and a singular bird. He made a mental note to give the team a call, but he wasn’t sure how to approach the group without alerting others about Sang’s existence. He didn’t know them personally. Any Academy team would be curious about a single bird a team didn’t want to share.
Phil collected the check, pulling out cash and dropping the price of the meal, plus a reasonable tip. The Academy was normally very generous, except when they were trying to be forgettable. “I don’t suppose you’ll consider a merger.”
Mr. Blackbourne’s eyebrows scrunched together. Merging teams? “You’re kidding.”
Phil chuckled as he shoved the receipt into his wallet. “Don’t dismiss us old dogs. Ours might be a little out dated but we’re a lot like your team. We already work together. I think we’d get along well.”
“I’ll bring it up at family meeting,” Mr. Blackbourne said, but he was pretty sure Kota and the others would decline. They appreciated the Academy for what they could do for them, and the promise that it held over their heads, but they were close knit, like many of the individual teams. They wouldn’t like to merge without a good reason. Larger groups meant it was harder for personalities to get along with each other. Working indirectly with other teams on occasion wasn’t bad, as both teams could go home at the end of the day. A true team was around each other constantly, and you needed to be able to not just tolerate, but appreciate your entire team’s company. “But to be honest, you’ll likely just have to find your own ghost bird.”
Phil laughed. Mr. Blackbourne knew it was highly unlikely someone Phil’s age would be a ghost. Most men and women, by the time they were adults, got stuck with college transcripts, marriage certificates and a number of federal incidences, if not records. Tax records alone were nearly impossible to eliminate. The work simply wasn’t worth it.
Phil
got up from the table and Mr. Blackbourne followed him out the front door. They stood together, looking out into the parking lot, and beyond to the downtown Charleston streets. Traffic was subdued. The ocean breeze picked up around them, stirring fallen leaves to dance in the street.
“So,” Phil said as he fished his keys from his pocket. “Are you adopting this little bird into your family now?”
Mr. Blackbourne had a lot to bring back to his team members, but he considered also not telling them as well. He’d tell Sean Green, of course. He told him everything. Together they would make a decision for the whole group.
But should they expose Sang as a jewel, possibly to be negotiated with? He wondered how close Kota, North and the others were to her. With Sang, they could eliminate all their debts right now, including Kota’s and Gabriel’s, whose debts were the most severe.
He had a feeling, though, that Kota would resist this, and he was pretty sure the others would, too. He recalled the way Kota held her after the fight, how the others gazed at her during classes when they temporarily forgot they were being watched. He knew they held hands through the hallway. He’d caught himself gazing at her in that same way on occasion. Three years’ age difference wasn’t much, but right now, it was two years too many for him to ever consider trying to get close.
At least for now.
No. It was too late. Sang’s allure had already won them over. Sang was growing on his family. If they wanted to keep her, they’d have to win her over, too. The Academy was a choice. Your team was a choice. You could always leave, always choose another team, or work alone at will.
If they wanted to keep her, they’d have to earn her trust and loyalty. Mr. Blackbourne knew the answer to whether they would try.
He could already hear the resounding voices of his eight companions if he tried to ask what he should do.
“I am willing,” he told Dr. Roberts, repeating the lines that made her adoption official. “And my team will incur.”
THE END
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Books by C. L. Stone
The Academy Series:
Introductions
First Days
Friends vs. Family (Coming Soon!)
Other C. L. Stone Books:
Spice God
Smoking Gun
Turn the Page for a Sneak Peek of Book Three in The Academy Series, Friends vs. Family.
READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT BOOK IN THE ACADEMY SERIES
T he A cademy
Friends vs. Family
Year One
Book Three
by C. L. Stone
S ecret L ives
I dreamed a wind swept through, laced with fire and blinding anyone that it came across. I was tied to a tree, unable to dodge it no matter how I struggled. All I could do was wait what was coming for me. Part of me felt like I deserved it.
“Sang?” a voice woke me from my dream.
I sat up in bed, shivering, confused. It was dawn. My alarm hadn’t gone off yet.
A knock sounded at the door. “Sang?” my father called. “Are you awake?”
Was something wrong? Was he going to the hospital with my mother? I kicked back my blankets, my heart rattling hard against my half-asleep body. My father never came to my door unless something was wrong. I swallowed back my fears, smoothing my t-shirt on my body as it had crept up my stomach while I was sleeping. When I was decent, I opened my bedroom door, peeking out.
My father loomed in the hallway, dressed in dark slacks, white collared shirt and tie. A suit coat hung off of his arm. If he was going to the hospital, he wasn’t going to be wearing that. He peered in at me with his dark eyes.
I opened the door more, tilting my head. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m going on a business trip,” he said. He nodded toward the stairwell, to the direction of his bedroom, where my mother was likely still sleeping. “I won’t be back for a couple of days. I need to make sure you get your mother to eat something while I’m gone. You know how she gets when she doesn’t.”
I nodded. Since I was about nine years old, my mother had been sick. She first went in for a sinus infection but came back weeks later with bottles of morphine for an illness I wasn’t privileged to know about. She’d never been the same since, traversing in and out of hospitals almost as often as I went to school.
Her illness was bad enough as it was. The drugs, however, made her paranoid. My sister and I spent most of our childhood and early teenage years at her mercy, keeping us isolated in our rooms. She told us that men would rape us; monsters would kidnap and kill us. If we disobeyed, if we left the house and she found out we’d talked to anyone outside the family, she punished us by getting us to kneel in rice or sit on a stool for hours at a time. If she didn’t eat, didn’t take her medicine, the punishments got worse.
“Where are you going?” I asked. It was Friday, and not only did I have school, but I also had something secret to do with the Academy. I’d have to hope it wouldn’t take all day.
“Mexico,” he said. “I’ll be back soon. Tell your sister.”
Marie, my older sister, was probably still asleep across the hall. I wondered why he told me and not her. I couldn’t remember the last time he went on a business trip. I usually didn’t notice until he was already gone. I hardly saw him anyway, he was always working. It had me wondering why he mentioned it this time. Maybe he expected to be gone longer.
He marched down the stairs, turned the corner and was gone. A moment later, the sound of his car starting echoed through the house. His suitcase must have already been in the car. Telling me he was leaving was like an afterthought. No goodbyes. No promises to call.
A hollow household with hollow people. We did what we had to do.
The shower that morning was almost too chill for my liking. No matter how much I twisted the hot water handle, I couldn’t get the heat. It was perfect timing, since my father had already left. I wasn’t sure how to fix it. I thought of mention it to the guys later. Kota, North or one of the others might know.
I got dressed for school in shorts and a blouse. When I was ready, I went to the kitchen downstairs. I found some crackers in the cabinet and grabbed a yogurt cup and a spoon, along with a bottle of water. I tiptoed through the quiet house toward my parents’ bedroom.
My mother was slumped over her pillow, her mouth open and she was snoring. Her mostly graying hair was pulled back in a ponytail, recently brushed out and fixed up. If I didn’t know any better, she looked almost normal, peaceful.
I didn’t want to wake her. I dropped the crackers and everything onto her bedside table. I hoped it would be enough if she woke up and was hungry.
Something glinting under the bed caught my eye. I checked my mother again to make sure she wasn’t going to wake up. I dropped to my knees next to the bed, ducking my head.
There was an open shoebox on its side under her bed. I recognized her handwriting on some of the notes that spilled out. The silver metal glint was a picture frame. The picture was a little faded, and it took a moment for me to realize it was my mother. She had to have been no more than twenty or so at the time the picture was taken. Her hair was longer then, and her eyes clearer, sharper than I’d ever remembered.
It was in that moment that I couldn’t recall ever seeing a picture of anyone in my family. I didn’t think she owned a camera. Why hadn’t it occurred to me before? It was a small thing, but something that never crossed my mind.
This photograph, as far as I knew, was the only one of any of us in the entire house. S
he’d kept it hidden.
The sight of this had my heart thundering in my chest. Why was it under her bed? Did she not like it? She didn’t want anyone knowing she had it. Did my dad know?
There were other objects in the box as well, needles and old bottles of prescription medication, some dating back before I was born.
I didn’t want to go through her private things or get caught doing so. I closed the lid for her, slipping the box back underneath the bed again. I scrambled to get out of her room.
I would let her keep her secrets. I had my own to deal with. Adding hers to mine right now was too much. I needed to get to school.
That afternoon, I was flat on my back in a thin, pale green hospital gown as I waited for the MRI machine to start. The guys had taken me to this nondescript medical building in downtown Charleston with the promise that my parents wouldn’t learn about where I was or why. I’d skipped my last three periods of class to get here, with Mr. Blackbourne covering for me. I wasn’t sure how late it was. I was worried we were running short on time for me to get back into my neighborhood, preferably before my mother noticed I was late from school.
“Just lay still for a second, Miss Sang,” Dr. Green’s voice filtered through to me in overhead speakers.
It was difficult to be still. The room was cold and the table I was on rattled with the movement of the MRI machine. I was naked, except for the thin gown around me. I knew Luke, Gabriel, Victor, Nathan, and Kota were probably watching from the same room Dr. Green was sitting in.
I shifted my head to the side, trying to glimpse into the glass window where I knew they were standing, but from my position, and the glare of the fluorescent lights overhead, I couldn’t see their faces.