Courage

Chapter 22

AN: If you can't tell, I am trying to get as many updates as possible out before Monday arrives, because after that I genuinely do not know when I'll be able to write because the school year is much to stressful yikes

The more Katherine thought about it, the more writing an article about The Refuge didn't make sense. Not only was her editor not going to let her write it, but she  couldn't figure out how she would ever be able to get inside and get enough information to prove that it should be shut down. The only person she could think of who could give her that was Jack, and as of right now, they didn't even know where in that building he was.

So, it was in a dejected manner that she started on her way back to the Lodging House the next morning. She honestly had no idea how they were going to get Jack out of there without breaking any laws, but she didn't know that she was above that any more. She just knew that they had to get him out.

"Katherine!"

She stopped and turned to see Davey coming down the street towards her, and her face broke out into the first genuine smile she'd had in days. Davey seemed to be the voice of reason out of all of the boys, and she'd missed having him around.

"Davey, hey!"

She was hesitant, but when he reached her, he pulled her into a light hug, which she returned, though carefully - she didn't know what the extent of his injuries were.

"How are you feeling?" She asked once they'd pulled away, and he shrugged.

"Not great, obviously. I didn't get much sleep last night, but that's not really new. My ma barely let me out of the house, and Les didn't giver her a convincing enough case."

Katherine laughed lightly. "That's probably for best, depending on how the day goes."

He nodded. "You have any ideas on how to get him out?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I thought about maybe writing an article, but... I asked around, and no one would publish it and I don't have enough proof..." She trailed off, and Davey put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"We're gonna get him out, Kath. You got me, Les and Crutchie out, this is just another article."

Katherine nodded unconvincingly. "Yeah, another obstacle. This one just feels like an impossible one."

oOo

"We've gotta break him out."

Albert was the first one to speak after the situation had been explained to everyone - including Davey telling everyone about the isolation cell, which complicated everything even more.

"Yeah, but if he's still in the basement, we can't get to him, can we?" Mush pointed out.

"What if we just, I dunno, storm the place or something?" Jojo suggested, and Crutchie made a strangled sound that could've been meant to be a laugh.

"No one's going in there by choice."

"But - "

"Crutchie's right." Davey interjected. "It's not easy to get around in there undetected, and Snyder's not gonna hesitate to arrest any of us."

"He wouldn't arrest me." Katherine said thoughtfully, and all the boys turned to look at her."I'm not suggesting I storm the place, or something like that. But I've been to that fire escape twice now, I could go again, see if he's out of that cell yet. If I get caught, Snyder wouldn't dream of arresting me."

"I'm going with you." Race immediately said, and she shook her head.

"Haven't you been paying attention, Race, it's too risky."

"You went with Jack when Davey and Les went in there, and nothing happened then."

"But look where he's ended up." Davey said. "Katherine's right, Race. Snyder goes in there all the time, if he comes in and you're at the window, you're gonna get stuck in there too."

"He ain't gonna catch me!" Race protested. "I'm too fast, hence the name."

"You ain't going, Race." Crutchie said firmly. There was something going on with him, and the boys were beginning to notice, but no one questioned it. "I don't even want Kath going, but if she does, she's going by herself."

And that was the end of that conversation. No one protested, no one else volunteered themselves. And Katherine nodded.

"Okay. I'll go to the Refuge, we'll figure something out, and we're going to get him out of there."

She said it in such a decided manner that the boys almost believed her. They almost had enough hope to believe that they would get Jack out easily, and that everything would work out. Almost.