The Cost

Chapter 10-Street Thieves

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."-Jesus

I moved closer to Trish's frozen body, checking her wrist for a pulse. There was nothing beating. Every sign of life was gone.

I took a deep breath, trying to settle my thoughts. A memory came to mind of something I'd read, the story of a man who had stayed buried four days; a man who had been raised to life by a Jewish carpenter.

****

I felt her squeeze my hand after a few seconds, and my eyes flew open in surprise. I mean, I'd known God could raise the dead. It's just that well, when it actually happens and He answers....

She smiled at me and sat up, slipping what looked like a dark gray watch off her wrist. "I won't need that anymore," she said. It was still smoking a little from when it had created the mini explosion.

No one had entered the storage room, and there was no sign that anyone would. In that moment Trish and I glanced at each other, and it was pretty obvious we were both thinking the same thing: What now?

****

I had come this far not sure what to expect, only knowing that there were people who needed to know the truth. And I wasn't quite sure where I was going to start with that either.

Trish and I tried to avoid attracting attention as we strolled down the sidewalk in disguises we had picked up from the warehouse. Every time we passed an enforcer was another chance that they would want to check our IDs, see what we were up to, make sure we weren't skipping work hours. Even though our cover-ups were helpful so far, I was trying not to let the question bother me about whether or not it was right to be taking stuff that wasn't ours.

We were turning a corner down the street where our house was, not knowing if we would still be able to go inside or if the community leaders had assigned it to some other family.

"Jacob!" a familiar voice shouted with excitement, and I pretended not to hear as I kept walking with Trish. Just then a big hand grabbed my shoulder and swung me around until I was facing back.

Smiling, as if he knew everything I was up to, was Kane—wearing an enforcer's uniform.

"Hey, haven't seen you around," he said. "What you been up to? Thought you'd been relocated or something."

"Yeah, well..." I wasn't really sure what else to say.

A quick glance told me Trish was succeeding a lot more than I was at appearing nonchalant. She lowered her voice as she said, "Yeah, well you know what it's like being an underage enforcer. Always on the move."

His smile disappeared. He turned to Trish. "So that's what you were assigned to?"

"Pretty much. It's a little-known government program, but I assumed you'd know since you're an enforcer."

He shrugs. "I haven't been that long on the job." He smiled again. "But if anyone else asks, then I don't know." He looked at me again. "Your face is a lot different in the posters."

"Posters?" I echoed, trying to pretend I didn't understand. But we both knew.

Awkward silence. Kane checked both ways. "Jacob, I—,"

Two other enforcers came by. "Kane, commander's passing through," one hissed. "Back to position!"

I saw the conflict in his eyes. He knew who I was, no one else did. Huge rewards were given for turning in people like me, the Radicals. And what better way to start his job off as an enforcer?

We didn't have time to talk it out. "Whatever you do," I said quietly, "just leave Trish out of this."

"I'll let you go this one time," he muttered. With that he nodded to the other enforcers, saying in a louder voice, "I'm on my way. Just validating their IDs."

****

Night approached at a pretty inconvenient time. With our house reassigned, there was no place for us to go from here. We'd spent most of the day, well....wandering around what had used to feel like home to us.

We picked an alley, and exhaustion hit me immediately.

"Jacob?" Trish asked as I was dozing off.

"What?" I asked, keeping the mild irritation I felt out of my voice.

"What do you think they would do if they caught us?"

"Being part of a secret government program," I answered, "I'd think you would know." She didn't answer, and I realized my answer might have been a little insensitive. In a more reassuring voice I added, "Let's just think about now. So what if the government is against us? God is on our side and that's all that matters."

I once more leaned my head back against the brick wall, trying to tune out the unpleasant aroma of garbage.

"Good night Jacob."

"Night, Trish."

****

Tapping. My eyes flew open, my heart outrunning itself. Two shadows were crouched near the entrance of the alley behind two trash bins. I heard sirens before I saw the red and blue lights speeding past our little hideaway. In that moment a flash illuminated the masked face of one shadow looking back at me.

"Wendell," he said, "we're not the only ones here."