North, p.6
North,
p.6
Mr. Blackbourne: Good. Have we confirmed about the diner?
North frowned. He should call his uncle. He’d avoided it all day. He hadn’t really forgotten about it, but he was putting it off.
He didn’t want to say take the church.
But the church...it would give him plenty of reason to be nearby where Sang was. And for her to come by and check out the diner as it was finished and then started up as a diner. Could she work there?
Working there would give her some income, and a safe place to be outside of her family’s house.
His phone buzzed in his hands.
Luke: Go buy another wallet.
Luke: Put some fake stuff in it and some cash.
Luke: Hurry up.
North didn’t exactly understand the reasoning behind it, but he knew enough to trust his brother.
North darted into the closest department store, bought the first wallet he could find, paid in cash, and ducked himself in a corner. He bent the wallet a little, rubbed on it between his fingers, trying to make it look a little worn. He even stuffed it into his back pocket a few times, taking it back out to redo it. After, he swapped out some cash from his own wallet, along with some business cards he didn’t need, a spare debit card linked to an account with $100 he kept on hand, and a few other items.
North sent a text back to Luke.
North: Now what?
Luke: Put your real wallet somewhere else not your pants. In your crotch maybe.
Luke: Stick the fake one in your back pocket. Get out into the hallway, try to look distracted. Call one of the others maybe.
North wasn’t liking the sound of this.
One more message came in.
Luke: Whatever happens, don’t confront her. Pretend you don’t know.
Among the group, trust was important. While they had a team lead and a family lead, when the others said jump, you moved fast and asked afterward. It had been hard to get that way with Luke, mostly because of his own antics, but when Luke said jump, he meant it.
North headed out into the main hallway of the mall. He had the fake wallet in his back pocket. His real one, unfortunately, he stuck into his crotch. It made walking a bit weird, and he suspected it looked like he was partially erect, but he trusted Luke to have said what would make sense.
He couldn’t show he had two wallets.
He didn’t want to make assumptions, but he had a feeling what was going to happen.
He wasn’t sure which direction to take, but he started walking in one direction, intending to pace the entire mall, including the outer branches of hallways, a couple of times.
However long it took.
Meanwhile, since it was a good excuse to do so, he took the opportunity and called his uncle.
Uncle answered on the third ring. “You caught me just in time.”
Nothing more after that. He was likely just finishing up something with the Academy or about to start something.
“Buy the church,” North said.
His uncle breathed into the phone. “It’ll cost a lot to get it into proper order.”
“Yup.”
“And there isn’t a lot of money in a diner.”
“Uh huh.”
“And there isn’t expected to be a lot of other commercial properties along that road. There might be zoning issues.”
North remained silent. He knew all of this. He’d said what he needed to say.
It was only another minute of Uncle laying out all the reasons not to and then Uncle said, “But you’re still good with it?”
“Yup.” North did wonder shortly if he wasn’t saying this to benefit himself more than his uncle and his plan for a diner that would help assist Academy people.
It would take work. It would cost money.
However, in the end, Kota’s street would be one of the safest, Sang would have a safe location to retreat to whenever, even if they weren’t there, not to mention everyone else on that street. Also, Academy teenagers could earn money and be able to disappear when they were needed for a job without question.
Among other uses.
It was a good idea. Maybe not the best place, but it could be a good place.
Uncle chuckled. “Sure. Okay. I’ll talk to the real estate agent.”
That was it.
When North had to hang up, he called Nathan, who was on his way back with Victor and Gabriel to Sunnyvale.
North was absently staring off into the void, facing one of the stores, when he felt a bump. He’d heard the footsteps, someone walking up behind him, and the low steady breathing the second before.
And in an instant, there was a gentle hand in his back pocket, so slight he might have missed it if he hadn’t been aware it might happen.
And then very quickly after, a bump of another body into his body.
He turned, as he should have, pulling the phone from his face to be able to see better.
It was the girl. Brown hair, plain features. Slightly older than them. Maybe eighteen. She opened her mouth in an ‘o’ shape, was silent for a moment, and then mumbled, “Oh, sorry. Wasn’t watching...”
But she didn’t mean it.
She didn’t meet his eyes when she said it. She was already turning away halfway into saying sorry. Did she even look at him?
And she turned away quickly, not giving him a chance when he didn’t say anything. He watched her only for a moment before pulling himself back into his conversation with Nathan, forcing a conversation.
“Sorry, someone bumped into me,” North said.
“Our target?”
“Yup,” North said. He was pretty sure she was out of hearing range, probably trying to get to a hidden spot before a normal person might realize their wallet was gone. “Looks like a Luke.”
“A pickpocket?” Nathan asked. “That doesn’t make any sense. If they’re doing fancy stuff on this computer...”
“Luke could do that,” North said quickly.
“Not saying he can’t,” Nathan said. “You know what I mean though. Why go through the trouble of getting physical when a thief could go ...you know...online?”
“Maybe it’s for the cards,” North said. “She needs numbers maybe.” He’d had enough of standing still and headed out toward the center of the mall. “We’ll need to know more.”
Whatever was happening here, it was clear, their group needed to observe. Was she some petty thief?
He hung up on Nathan and instantly dialed Luke. Luke answered quickly.
“I saw it,” Luke said.
“She was good,” North said. “If I wasn’t aware, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.”
“I’m watching her still. The last guy she stole from, it was weird.”
“Why?”
“Because...there was an old lady standing with her purse open right next to him, and she went for the guy with the wallet in his pocket instead.”
North stared off into a store’s bright display, trying to appear to be interested as he spoke. “So, she chose a harder target?”
“Right. Seems to be targeting guys. But I don’t know why.”
“If she’s living in a shit motel...” North said. “She needs the money but won’t get a job.”
Luke blew a perplexed noise into the phone. “I don’t think that’s it. But maybe that’s why we’re watching out for her?”
Something Nathan said made North reconsider what Luke was saying. “If you lived in a shit motel, and you knew how to do...whatever Victor does...and had a computer to work on to do something weird with it, would you steal to get money to survive? By lifting wallets?”
Luke was silent on his end of the phone. “I don’t think the computer person is the same one.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I’m the only one who got close to our computer guy, remember? And...maybe I’m wrong but the two don’t match.”
“So there’s two?”
“We need to keep watching,” he said. “But this girl, this is definitely one we need to keep an eye on. There’s something off if she’s not going for the easy target.”
North didn’t want to say they should.
It also being a girl, would it be the Academy wanted a girl team on this one?
But...if they had known it was a girl, they would have already sent a girl team.
“I’m hanging up,” he said to Luke.
At that point, North headed down the main corridor of the mall and exited through the food court.
He dialed Mr. Blackbourne.
“Something wrong?” Mr. Blackbourne asked instantly.
“Yeah,” North said. He turned, gazing at the parking lot, toward his motorcycle. “I need to talk to the person who sent the damn letters.”
He needed to know. He knew the Academy did things for a reason, but...he needed some confirmation.
They needed details. They didn’t have the time to spare to chase two different people.
He wasn’t even sure how much longer they could be on this job.
At the moment, Sang was higher on the list of priorities. And if he had to call in the Academy to help, it’d be for the thief.
Next Up—Meeting Sang: DR. GREEN, free for newsletter subscribers.
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Also by C. L. Stone
Charleston's Leading Ladies
Evelyn
Celeste
Meeting Sang - The Academy Ghost Bird Series
Kota
Victor
Silas
Nathan
Gabriel
Luke
North
Sean
North Shore
Melody
The Academy
Ghost Bird: The Academy Omnibus Part 1
The Academy - The Bird and the Beetle
Ghost Bird: The Academy Omnibus Part 2
Scarab Beetle: The Academy Omnibus Part 1
The Academy - Bonus Materials
The Academy - Touch of Mischief
The Academy - Sound of Snowfall
Cheat Sheets Remastered
The Ghost Bird Series
The Academy - Introductions
The Academy - First Days
The Academy - Friends vs. Family
The Academy - Forgiveness and Permission
The Academy - Drop of Doubt
The Academy - Push and Shove
The Academy - House of Korba
The Academy - The Other Side of Envy
The Academy - The Healing Power of Sugar
The Academy - First Kiss
The Academy - Black and Green
The Academy - Love's Cruel Redemption
Unsung Requiem
Her Song in His Heart
The Scarab Beetle Series
The Academy - Thief
The Academy - Liar
The Academy - Fake
The Academy - Accessory
The Academy - Hoax
The Academy - Tempest
C. L. Stone, North
