Stealing Childhood Read online

  “That won’t be necessary,” Dan said. “By the way, it was more than six years, and he was more than a liaison. I trained with him…under his grandfather.”

  She cocked her head toward him.

  “I’ll meet with him in a neutral place.”

  “Neutral? Is there some bad blood?” She perked up as though bad blood between them would be a good thing.

  “Neutral as in shamanically balanced and stable. Not tied up with laws, offices, duties, but on an even playing field…and in nature.” He cocked his head to mirror hers. “I wouldn’t exactly call it bad blood.”

  “Someone has to go with you,” she said.

  “Me,” Jason suggested.

  “No one,” Dan said. “Not until Richard and I get to talk.”

  Jason plopped onto the bed.

  “Not even your own son?” Agent Rafsky questioned.

  Dan nodded toward Jason. “Sorry.”

  “I’m used to it. I’ll just hang with these guys.”

  “I don’t like it,” Agent Rafsky said.

  “I know, but you have your interests and needs and I have mine. I can’t be sure everything is in the open with people hanging around or listening in.”

  “I won’t ask anything. I won’t say a word, just observe,” Jason said.

  “No.” Dan was adamant.

  “I don’t like the way you want to control everything,” Agent Rafsky said.

  “That has been established.”

  “Someone needs to go with you.” She gave him a slight grin. “If you want, you can force us to follow you.”

  “Give your man a compass and overnight pack,” Dan said. “And pray he doesn’t lose us.”

  Mercer took a step back.

  Dan figured he had the guy on the run. Too much strange going on. For that reason, she probably wouldn’t send him when it came down to it.

  She swung around in a bit of a huff and shooed her men out the door. It was too late for Dan to call Richard Running Deer. “They’re not going to feed us. Want to go out?”

  “Sure.”

  “Don’t be upset. I’m only doing what I have to.”

  Jason didn’t say anything as he followed Dan outside. They walked down the street. “You know they’re going to follow us and snoop.”

  “They don’t know how to trust anyone,” Dan said.

  “I liked working with the NSA much better.”

  “Me, too.” Dan held the door open for Jason, and they walked into a Denny’s. A waitress showed them to a window table. Dan asked for a seat without a window, so she moved them.

  “What’s up?”

  “More difficult for them to read my lips. Not that they can, but we’d might as well be safe.” They sat opposite each other. Dan kept a hand near his mouth while they talked. “I suspect they have a very small team. They’re going to want to follow me and you, which separates them.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything that we talk about.” He did a single-shoulder shrug. “Well, maybe not everything. We do have some history and stories that we might not want out.”

  Jason laughed. “You are one bad ass man, aren’t you?”

  “Another reason your mom couldn’t live with me.”

  Chapter 11

  Dan spent very little time showering and getting ready the next morning. Jason slept in for a while, but was sitting at the desk writing things down as his father finished preparing. He remained relatively quiet.

  “Any strange dreams?” Dan asked.

  Jason looked up. “Surprisingly, no. How about you?”

  “Nothing I remember.”

  “You think that’s okay?”

  “We’re tired from the last two days. I wouldn’t be concerned.” Dan intruded on Jason’s space, opened a desk drawer, and found a local map. He laid it out next to where Jason worked and located a grove of trees near traffic—just like his journey the day before. Jason watched from the side as Dan circled the area. “That should work.”

  “You told them you’d be deep in the woods.”

  “Deep enough,” he said. He called Richard Running Deer, told him who he was, and suggested the spot to meet, then listened for a moment before hanging up.

  “You didn’t stay on the phone long. Is everything okay between you two? Was Rafsky right about bad blood?”

  “We aren’t chatty.”

  “Does this guy know what you do? I mean…”

  Dan made sure he had his notebook with him, patting all his pockets in case something was forgotten. “His grandfather mentored me. Probably tripled my capabilities in a few years of work.” Dan shook his head. “I’ll have to tell you about it sometime. The craziest things…”

  “I’m not surprised.” Jason stood to see his father off. “You’ll be okay?”

  Dan nodded, stood next to his son for a moment, then tapped the top of the desk. “Okay then. Talk with you later.”

  “Don’t forget, you’ll be followed.”

  “Even if I don’t lose them, they’ll be bored to tears.” Dan winked and hoped Jason understood that he was playing with the FBI agents listening in. He left the hotel and took a cab to an iHop where Richard suggested they meet. When he walked in, a large man approached from his right. “You’re looking old, my friend.”

  Dan reached out and took Richard’s hand, then threw himself against his old friend and gave him a hug, patting his broad back. “It has been too long, Richard.”

  “Then move here. It’s much more beautiful than New York.” He motioned for Dan to go first. A waitress walked them to their table. “I could use some protein,” Richard said. He sat heavily into the chair across from Dan. He had always been a big man, but he had also put on a few pounds—but who hadn’t. There was the stubble of a couple days worth of beard on his face and his black and gray hair was pulled into a ponytail, braided and neat. Richard wore a fishing hat without all the hooks, and placed it on the table next to him. “So, what’s your business here?” He got right to it.

  “Human trafficking.” Dan got to it as well.

  “That’s been a problem for a long time.” He leaned back and gave Dan a grin. “You’re working with the FBI. She never mentioned you. Is this new?”

  “Yeah, and she hates it. She’s done everything she can to thwart my progress. I haven’t even started yet. I’m blocked at every turn. But so are they. They just don’t know it. If things were up to Agent Rafsky I’d never get the chance.”

  “Cora can be difficult, that’s for sure. But you can’t blame her.”

  “Can’t I?”

  “Divorced with two young girls, very pretty, too. Being in this business, on this case, she’s seeing way too much and applying it directly to her personal life.”

  “Her girls aren’t likely to be targeted.”

  “Not normally, but if anyone were to find out about her, I wouldn’t guarantee it.”

  “I see your point,” Dan said.

  Richard held the menu in front of him then set it down. The cue for the waitress to take their orders. Afterward Dan asked pointedly, “Why aren’t you taking care of this? Is it really because of the size of the organization? The different way they’re operating?”

  “It’s complicated and nothing you need to worry about. What you need to know is that these people are giving some of the girls a cut.” He waited.

  “Why? That’s not how this works,” Dan said.

  “It is now. Some girls are recruiting while others are training and selecting who gets sold and who goes to the streets. Smart girl like Koko…”

  Dan held the moment and took a few breaths. “You know about her. That means they do, too.” Dan tapped the table, pulled out his notebook, and opened it, the pen still sticking out through the spiral. “She’s a decoy? A spy?”

  Richard shrugged, then leaned forward with a huge grin on his face. “Remember the time we chased down that drug dealer and changed his attitude?”

  “I don’t do that anymore.”

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p; “I know. You journey, little activity, little excitement.”

  “Then you’re not doing it right,” Dan said as he watched Richard’s expression get darker. “I found that I can often do more damage if I do it in an altered state—which can be dangerous and horrifying.”

  “You mean an altered universe. Grandfather said you were the best. I believed him.”

  “Is that why you don’t do it anymore?”

  “I do, just not as often as you must, not professionally.”

  Dan looked away. “What I do is not a profession.”

  “It’s a burden?” Richard suggested.

  “More than you could know sometimes. Other times, it’s okay.”

  “How can I help?” Richard asked.

  Although Dan didn’t quite believe the question, he said, “Thank you for asking. I know you’ve journeyed on this situation or you wouldn’t have allowed the FBI to come in.”

  “That’s not exactly true. Paperwork, laws. Like I said, it gets complicated. But you are right that I’ve journeyed on the problem, tried to get inside, but very little has come of it. I can tell you that there are a lot of rats over there. Rats and rabbits.”

  Dan laughed.

  “It’s not funny.”

  He waved his hand. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just that those two animals are such a cliché when it comes to reproduction…” He stopped mid-sentence. “Who are these people?”

  “It’s so hard to get to them,” Richard said as he leaned back for his plate to be set down in front of him. Pancakes, eggs, sausage. He turned to the waitress. “A large orange juice please.”

  “Anything else?” The waitress looked Native American, but could have been any number of mixed races. Few things were pure anymore. Dan shook his head and she left.

  “Doctors, lawyers, businessmen. We’re guessing. The FBI assumes that they’re all upstart pimps, but that’s not it. They all have clout, money, and they watch out for one another. Cora and her team have been stalking them, but can only get so close, like you said. The wrong move and all hell breaks lose, they get sewed, lose the project, maybe their jobs, la, la, la, la. You know the drill. Oh, and the girls are gotten rid of. That’s the worst of it.”

  “Is this what you told them or is it the truth?”

  Richard didn’t answer.

  “It has to be broken from the inside then,” Dan said.

  “No one’s going to talk, no one’s going to help,” Richard told him. “So, yes.”

  “There’s something else.”

  Richard looked away. He toyed with his fork, set it down, picked up his coffee, and put that down. Finally, he put one strong hand on either side of his plate. “You think you’re the only shaman on this, but you’re not.” His dark side was coming out again.

  “My mirror image,” Dan said. “What shaman would do that? Be on their side?”

  Richard looked disgusted by Dan’s comment. “You haven’t been gone that long.”

  Dan decided to ignore the comment. “It’s like the FBI then. Cora hates that I’m even involved, but someone above her believes and she’s caught up in it, unwillingly. Maybe she just has to put up with me.”

  Richard laughed and went back to eating. His orange juice came. In a moment, he said, “She called me early this morning about you.”

  “I’m not surprised.” Dan drank his coffee down and waved the waitress off when she headed over to refill his cup. He pointed to his coffee cup, though, and said, “Can I get one to go?”

  “Me, too,” Richard said. “You ready for a walk?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “The park is nice this time in the morning.” Richard finished the last of his food and downed the orange juice. He rose and Dan followed. Richard picked up the tab and led them outside. “I’ll drive over and we can take the boardwalk.”

  They got into Richard’s Navy blue Pathfinder and drove a few blocks to the Hylebos Wetland Park where they got out and started walking. Dan had his notebook handy and, with one hand and the notebook perched atop the coffee cup, wrote down heron and snake, turtle and frog, as they walked. Perhaps seeing what was missing would provide him with more information than what was included.

  “Grandfather didn’t teach you that,” Richard said, pointing at Dan’s notebook.

  “Learned along the way.” Dan held up the notebook and coffee cup. “It can get in the way, though. And if I’m not careful, I can purposefully pay attention and then see everything, write everything down, which ends up being useless.”

  “Staying in that state between looking for something and finding it,” Richard said with understanding.

  Dan stopped and leaned against the railing of the boardwalk. He slipped his notebook into his pocket and held the coffee cup with both hands. “How are you and Jenny, the kids?”

  “Kids are grown and gone. Still in the area, but we don’t see them much. Couple of grandkids.” He smiled. “We get to babysit mostly. Jenny is Jenny. Half the time she hates me and the other half we’re like teenagers.”

  “I’d like to find that space again.”

  “I understand you’re working with your son. That must be nice.”

  “We don’t get along all that well. I try to help and he tries to act like he already knows. I don’t know quite how to talk with him. He’s a grown man, yet I treat him like he’s a kid—his words, not mine.”

  “You mean you try to control everything that goes on between you and he doesn’t go for that.”

  Dan glanced at his friend. “Maybe.”

  Richard stared out over an open area in the water. He was not altogether in the physical world, even though he carried on the conversation.

  Dan admired that ability…in anyone. “I do want to be—”

  “In charge.”

  “That’s not fair. I have always needed to be in charge or things wouldn’t have worked out.”

  “You don’t know that for sure. You never let go long enough to find out,” Richard said. “Things may have worked out. Maybe differently, but in forward motion all the same.”

  Dan laughed and slapped Richard on the back. “You know me too well.”

  “Take it easy on your kid and he’ll surprise you.”

  “Maybe so.”

  “That’s what I learned. Both my boys have done well. And Sarah, too,” he said more softly.

  “You sound a little worried about her.”

  He shook his head, then stared out across the expanse again. “She’s her own person. But she’s my girl, too. I’m always worried about her.”

  They walked around and reminisced for a while, then wandered back to the Pathfinder. The sound of traffic rose and fell. At one point there was a screeching of tires, but no sound of an accident.

  “Sorry I couldn’t help any more than that,” Richard said.

  “You helped a lot,” Dan told him. “You know you did. Maybe we have dinner when this is all over.”

  “Jenny would like that.” He lifted his head high. “And so would I.”

  They shook hands.

  “Get in and I’ll take you back to your hotel.” While driving there, just before dropping Dan off out front, Richard’s hand reached over and gripped Dan’s forearm. “The shaman they hired aren’t from here. They’re not Puyallup.”

  “I met some crows, all speaking a different language,” Dan said.

  “I hope you have a translator.”

  Chapter 12

  “We’ve been held at bay long enough. We have to get started on this job right away.”

  “I’m game when you are, Dad. But what about them?” He pointed to the corner of the ceiling.

  “Cora and her crew will have to follow my lead. She won’t like it, but I’m sorry. She’s blocked us enough.”

  “I take it you had a good breakfast with your friend?”

  “Did you eat?”

  “Jim and Bill stopped by with a couple egg sandwiches and coffee. But I haven’t been anywhere and could use a walk.”r />
  “At least they’re taking care of us, probably to keep tabs so we don’t disappear.”

  “Do they really understand what we do?” Jason asked sarcastically. “I did try to explain…”

  Dan laughed. “I’m sure they heard what happened to you yesterday evening. The whole fox thing.”

  “You want to try a journey?”

  “What about that walk?”

  “Later.”

  Dan smiled and reached into his bag and grabbed his buffalo drum and handed it to Jason. “I’ll sit at the desk. I don’t want to lie down after a heavy breakfast.”

  Jason lay on the bed and began to drum.

  Dan stepped from the physical world into a world of mirrors and mazes. It happened too fast and he couldn’t help but remember Richard telling him about the other shaman. He called for an animal guide, but got nothing. He wandered forward and tried to ignore all the mirrors around him. He stared down at the ground so he could focus on the open spaces between the mirror reflections. He walked down one path and it led to a dead end. After turning back and taking a different path, he ran into another wall. Every time he looked up he saw reflections of himself. In his altered state, he wore an owl feather headdress.

  He called for an animal guide again and in one of the mirrors saw a mouse. A moment later, a snake appeared in a different reflection. Was he being offered more than one direction to go, one or more guides? Was he meant to choose? He lowered himself to his knees and reached out, expecting one of them to come out of the mirror and get closer, but neither moved. “What would you have me do?” he asked Mouse.

  It came closer and spoke in a language he didn’t understand. He tried to recall the words and repeated them several times in his head. He waited, but when it didn’t come any closer, he turned to Snake. “And you? Do you have something to tell me?” It, too, came closer, but never out of the mirror. And, similarly, it spoke in a language different from Mouse.

  Dan was getting frustrated, which was not a good place to be. He searched for an item to recall the journey, so that he could honor it, but the floor around him was clean. He continued to repeat the two phrases—or warnings, as he was beginning to believe they were. He tried a few other paths and they all led to dead ends, walls with nowhere to go. He turned back several times, always back to the one spot where he had arrived. Neither Mouse nor Snake followed him down any of the paths. They stayed in their own individual mirrors. Perhaps they were only images and not real at all. Then what information could they offer?