Page 92 of Signed, I'm Yours!
“Didn’t he call himself the Stony Swamp too?” Jack asks her.
“No. Just The Swamp. It was a whole thing,” April answers.
“Um, hello! What are you talking about? My family disappeared in 2020.”
April shakes her head.
“Then they’ve not been swallowed by The Swamp. Honestly, Mr. Bae, I don’t know where your family is, but I can assure you they’re not in any SPAM facility on Earth or otherwise.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Fine. Here. What are their names again?” She places her fingers on her glass desk and a keyboard lights up like a laser under her fingertips.
“Hana and Min Bae,” Jack says before I can open my mouth. “Hana with one N, no H at the end.”
As April types, one of the monitors swivels around, and we can see the results of her search.
1 result found.
“Oh, that’s strange,” she says.
“I told you. Stop lying.”
April frowns as she clicks on the result and a file opens.
“Ah. I knew it had nothing to do with SPAM. This is an FBI file linking Hana’s and Min’s details to a forger they apprehended last year. They’re believed to be among many people he created new identities for.”
“New identities?”
That can’t be right. Why would they create new identities? And why wouldn’t they reach out all this time?
“Yes, indeed. Let me check…something.” She types some more, but I’m not even looking at the screen anymore. I’m trying to make sense of what I’m hearing. “Yes. There you go. The FBI has managed to find their new names, and we have a known address for them in New Jersey.”
“New Jersey?”
Jack reaches for a Post-it Note and writes down the details while I stare at the names. Hey-jin and Moon Yang.
Is that really them? What happened to Omma and Min? What did they get themselves into?
“I got it. Let’s go.” Jack bolts out of the chair and runs toward the elevator but stops when he realizes I haven’t moved.
“Seojun?”
“Please tell me you’re not lying to us to get rid of me.” I look April in the eyes and hold her gaze without blinking.
“I’m not lying to you, Mr. Bae.” A hint of warmth tints her white skin, but it’s gone as soon as I notice it. “Now get out of here before I change my mind about you two and have you arrested.”
Nothing like the threat of arrest to get me to move. Not that I couldn’t get myself out of it, but the last thing I want right now is to further delay finding Omma and Min.
I join Jack, and we get into the elevator, which takes forever to get going, so we have no option but to stand there, stared down by April until the door closes.
“What exactly did you tell her?” I ask Jack, still staring at the door.
“The truth, Seojun. Nothing but the truth.”
I grimace and turn to him.
“And she doesn’t want to have me arrested?”
