Page 29 of Dark Endures

Dyce steps away as well. “If you decide to call the police, let me know. I’ll be grabbing some lunch.”

We almost never call the police when it comes to kids, especially when it comes to petty theft. Living on the streets, you survive any way you can. I can’t fault him for being smarter than most kids who steal candy bars and beers.

Now if this isn’t about survival and he was sent as a messenger, that’s a whole different story.

The boy isn’t struggling as Pit pulls him into the room by his upper arm. His eyes briefly scan everything, stopping on the security hub which showcases him. “Nice setup.”

Enzo slides back, and I shut the panel behind him and close my office doors, locking them.

We don’t need any visitors for this.

Pit settles the kid in a chair.

Oddly, he isn’t acting afraid or even nervous. It’s like he knew this was going to happen… planned it even. “What’s your name?”

“Everett Jaymes.”

Everett Jaymes can’t be his real name. Yet this kid seems brash enough to do anything.

How does a kid have the skills to do what he just did? It makes more sense that he’s a messenger. “Who sent you?” I give him a hard look that scares most of the kids into telling me what I want to know.

“Sent me? Oh, you think I’m too young or stupid to hack your system by myself.” Everett smirks.

“Anyone smart enough to do that would be smart enough to know not to.”

“Or they aren’t afraid of you.”

“Only a foolish man underestimates his enemy.” Emilia and Louisella both taught us that lesson. My brothers step back as I walk over to lean against the desk and stare at the kid in front of me.

“Then I’m surrounded by fools.”

Pit bristles but doesn’t make a move to correct the snot-nosed punk.

“So tell us then, why did you steal from us?”

“I didn’t steal. Isn’t that money all for kids? Well, I’m a kid.”

“There was no need to steal from us. We would have given you what you needed.” Food would have been at the top of that list. “Someone with your skills could have found a job instead of taking from others.”

Enzo walks over to Everett. “There’s no way he did it himself. He would have needed something more than the obsolete phone he’s carrying around.” Enzo slides it out of Everett’s pocket.

“Maybe an old man like you would need something better than that. But that was child’s play for someone like me.”

Enzo presses a few buttons on the phone. “Liar. This phone doesn’t even work.”

“For you. It works just fine for me.”

Logic says this kid is lying, just like Enzo said. But my gut says otherwise. It’s never steered me wrong. “He did it.” All eyes turn towards me. “My only question is why?”

“There are a lot of kids around here.”

That’s not an answer, but this kid likes jokes and riddles. “There are.”

“Rumor is that this place is a safe spot for kids to land. But you guys kill a lot.”

In unison, all our bodies go tight.

“How do you know that?”

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