Children of the Knight, Michael J. Bowler [classic book list txt] 📗

>Within The Hub, Arthur and his leadership team talked until well past midnight. There was much heated debate on how best to hit the crack houses and meth labs. Most were, the kids informed Arthur, just regular homes in their neighborhoods. Most people wouldn’t even know what went on inside, “’less you live round ’em,” Jaime put in.

Esteban was all for firebombing every one with Molotov cocktails, which he assured Arthur were easy to make.

“Nay, Sir Este,” Arthur commanded, once again wishing for and needing the calming presence of Lance. “We do not seek bloodshed, merely justice. We are warriors of right and cannot risk such fires spreading and killing the innocent.”

“What about smoke bombs?” Reyna suggested. “We could smoke ’em out and then grab ’em.”

“Grab ’em how?” piped up Darnell, who sat twiddling his cornrows. “They got guns, Lady Reyna.”

Reyna shrugged and threw up those lovely eyebrows of hers. “I don’t know. Drop a net on ’em?”

Arthur lit up at that suggestion. “I believe the lady be on to something.” They discussed that option and reasoned that kids could be above an exit, or right outside, and when the “druggists” bolted, “Bam! You throw a net on ’em an’ catch ’em like fish,” Duc finished, laughing excitedly.

“Then what, Arthur, we wrap ’em up and give ’em to the mayor?” Esteban asked.

“We shall have a gift for the mayor, but methinks I have a better plan for these druggists, as ye hast called them.”

Many of the boys said getting or making smoke bombs wasn’t hard—they had connections, but buying nets could cost big bucks. Reyna solved that problem by offering the six thousand she’d been given by her parents to not vacation with them. Plus, Arthur still had money in the bank and his ATM card.

They agreed on a limited area of coverage because they wanted the operation to go off this very day. The mayor was planning an event to unveil the mural, and they wanted to trump his card. The leaders figured they could hit at least a hundred of these places at once and be ready by nightfall.

“What about Mr. R.?” Justin asked nervously. “He’s badass—sorry, he be dangerous, Arthur. Got some Chinese dude with him. I think they be Mafia, you know?” The others nodded, though Mafia clearly meant nothing to Arthur. “I think he wasted Dwayne, ’cause I hain’t seen ’em since that day we run ’im out of the ’hood.”

Arthur leaned forward. “You know where to find these men?”

“Yeah,” Justin answered. “It’s a big warehouse downtown. That’s where a bunch of the sh—the drugs are made.”

“I say we firebomb that place, Arthur,” insisted Esteban, his face hard and serious. “Otherwise he’ll just stay in business. If we take down his operation, maybe he won’t get it back up.”

Arthur agreed, so long as the firebombs Esteban talked about were thrown through the upper windows to allow anyone within the building time to escape via the ground floor.

Esteban and Jaime agreed that was okay by them.

They settled on teams and who would lead each one. That meant a hundred different teams, so they went through all the names of knights they thought most capable of handling a leadership role. Each team would be comprised of six members for a total of six hundred kids mobilized at once, the teams scattered throughout the main parts of the city.

Because Arthur wanted all of his knights to rendezvous at City Hall to meet with the mayor, this initial operation would only focus on the downtown metro area and surrounding communities.

All teams would remain in contact with Arthur via cell phone. Esteban would be temporary First Knight for this operation unless Lance returned in time. It troubled Arthur to even consider someone else in the role, but Lance had given him little choice. Besides, he reasoned, this type of crusade was more suited to Esteban, who knew better the people they’d be up against.

Each team member would have his or her specific responsibility when the operation commenced, and at least one must be assigned the task of filming the druggists and their drugs as evidence to give the authorities.

When all had been planned and settled, everyone returned to their respective neighborhoods to begin assembling their teams first thing in the morning and preparing them to be ready by mid-afternoon. Arthur and Reyna would take a few of the kids who lived in the tunnels in her parent’s Escalade to purchase the netting and rope and other supplies they would need.

Operation Drug Lab was scheduled for dusk, and the knights felt giddy with anticipation.

Jack had said nothing during the meeting because his thoughts were elsewhere—on Mark, of course, but also on Lance. His mind replayed images of Lance over these past months, of the times they’d spent together, both happy and sad, of the connection they’d made, of how good it felt just to hold him in his arms. How perfect that seemed. His chest swelled with emotion as he pictured the most amazing boy he’d ever known in his life, and Jack knew he couldn’t lose him. No way. In some ways, he realized with breathless abandon, losing him could be even worse than losing Mark….

He knew he should volunteer to lead a team. Hell, he could easily have been the football team captain before everyone found out he was gay. After his outing, however, the only title he’d been given was team pariah. He shoved that memory away and replaced it with Lance. The boy’s beautiful face, that oh-so-engaging smile that made Jack fantasize about what it would feel like to kiss him, that easy laughter when they’d be working out, all sent shivers of joy and fear coursing through him.

He knew he should volunteer, but Arthur hadn’t asked, and so he remained silent, cradling Chris, the small boy asleep in his lap. If Lance wasn’t back by morning, with or without Arthur’s permission, Jack would go out and find him.

Jenny had prepared herself to begin lessons that same morning, but Arthur had called early and asked her to wait until tomorrow. The knights had a special mission to complete today. That worried her because he didn’t say what it was. She knew the clean-ups were being restructured to accommodate schooling, so that wasn’t likely the reason. No, something was wrong. All her instincts told her so. And Lance was still missing, Arthur had said. Yes, he’d been texting the boy, but had gotten no response.

“Did you text that you love him?” she asked.

There had been silence on the other end. “No.”

“Then do it, and call me the second you hear from him,” she insisted sternly.

Arthur promised to do so and hung up. As she sat with her morning coffee, gazing out her living room window, the bad feeling increased, crept all the way up her back, and lodged itself deep within her heart. If she didn’t hear anything more, she would go to Arthur’s place directly and find out what was going on for herself.

When Arthur hung up with Jenny, Chris had needed help getting ready, and Arthur’s plan to text Lance slipped momentarily from his mind. Then Reyna arrived to pick up Arthur, and Lance had still not returned nor been heard from. Both Arthur and Jack were convinced that something had happened to him. Reyna said she’d texted him also, but he’d not responded.

Arthur knew he had to focus on Operation Drug Lab, but Lance remained uppermost in his mind.

I cannot lose thee, my Lance….

Jack made sure Chris was fed and ready to accompany Arthur and Reyna and then threw on a clean red tunic and grabbed his phone. He strode up to them.

“Arthur,” Jack announced, “I’m going out looking for him.”

Arthur nodded, his mind on Lance.

Reyna leaned in to give Jack a kiss on the lips. “Give that to Lance for me.” Jack blushed, and she laughed gently.

“I’ll let you give it to him,” Jack told her with a small smile.

Reyna turned serious now, unusual for her. “You tell my beautiful brother that I love him and need him here with me. You tell him.”

“I will.”

Arthur looked grave, graver than Jack had ever seen him. “Tell him I… also need him, Sir Jack. Hast thou any idea where to look?”

“No, but I got a friend in Hollywood who could help—” He stopped suddenly, his face lighting up with a revelation. “Never mind that. I know exactly where he is.”

“I shall go with thee,” Arthur said immediately.

“Then who’ll go with me to buy the stuff?” Reyna asked cautiously. “I’m not a legal adult yet, remember?”

“She’s right, Arthur,” Jack put in. He didn’t really want Arthur to go. He needed time with Lance first. “The needs of the whole company, remember?”

Arthur looked weary, and afraid. Jack had never seen him this way.

“Very well. But call the moment you find him, Sir Jack, and bring him here to me at once.”

“I won’t fail you again, Arthur,” Jack insisted, and he meant it too. He gave Chris a high five and took off running through the tunnels.

“Ready, Arthur?” Reyna asked.

Arthur was fiddling with his phone.

“Message from Lance?”

“Nay, I was going to text him, but it doth not seem to be working.”

She took it and tried to turn it on, but nothing happened.

“He forgot to charge it again,” piped up Chris, watching them from his chair. “I’ll do it.” He jumped off the chair, took Arthur’s phone, and plugged it into the generator.

A generous benefactor had given Arthur a sizable generator for when he needed power along his various journeys. Mostly he kept it here in The Hub and used it to power electric lights and electronics like cellular phones. Its constant hum added almost musical accompaniment to the usual dripping of water.

“When’s Lance coming back, Arthur?” Chris asked in that sweetly innocent voice while plugging in the phone. “Will Jack find him?”

The king offered the best smile he could conjure under the circumstances. “Yes, Chris, soon.”

Reyna held out her phone casually. “You can use mine today and tonight for the operation too, if you need it. I’ll be with Este, so you can reach me on his phone.” She handed him her leather-encased phone. “Oh, and don’t look at the pictures.”

Arthur tossed her a puzzled look as the three of them headed out to her car.

Jack boarded the first Metro bus headed for Hollywood, slumped down in his seat with one arm draped across his face, and feigned sleep. He absolutely wasn’t in the mood to be gawked at or autograph-hounded as one of Arthur’s world- famous knights. He was too hyped up with anticipation, hoping and praying he was right and Lance would be there. Still be there, anyway, for he knew in his heart where his friend had spent the night.

And why not?

It was where he wished to be all the time, too.

As expected, he found Lance off Cosmo Street, sitting behind the dumpster, leaning up against the dirty brick wall in exactly the spot where they’d found Mark’s body. Had it just been yesterday, Jack reflected, his heart lurching violently?

Lance looked tired and a bit disheveled, like a lost puppy, but otherwise unharmed. Jack felt an almost overpowering urge to scoop the younger boy into his arms and never let him go. But he held back.

Lance looked up, long hair draping his broadening shoulders, eyes pensive, but unstained by tears.

“You okay?” Jack asked, almost a whisper, fighting to control his voice. Lance nodded.

“May