New beginnings

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I am definitely not a math nor computer whiz so any references to these are complete bullshit. Enjoy!

"Here's some water for you", Meghan said and placed the paper cup of water in front of Alexandra and another one in front of May.

"Thank you", Alexandra said and took a sip. Her gaze kept shifting towards her little sister, whom sat next to her with a collection of coloring books and markers spread out in front of her, which seemd to entertain her. Don had asked Meghan to be the one who talked with Alexandra. The girl's kidnappers had roughed her up pretty good from what he could see, so she might feel more comfortable with a female interrogator, which in turn gave them more information. Don himself sat in another room following the interrogation on tape.

"Hey, anything yet?", Colby asked when he entered the room and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks. No they just started".

"I understand it's been a stressful couple of weeks for you, Alexandra-", Meghan began.

"Alex", the teenager interrupted her without raising her gaze from her sister. She unconsciously had a protective hand placed around the backrest of her sister's chair.

"Alex", Meghan said and smiled. "Could you tell me what happened? How did you end up with those men?"

Alex looked at Meghan and ten back at her sister. She pushed a stray lock of hairs on her sister and pushed it behind her ear. Her sister recoiled from the simple caress. "We had to leave", Alex said and sighed. "After I went to juve, they put her in a group house", she nodded towards her sister. "She has autism. She can't take loud places and group home is nothing but loud. She doesn't read social markers and the other children there...". Alexandra went quiet for a moment. "Most of them are just looking for someone to pick one. She's an easy target".

"So you took her away?", Meghan asked.

"I had to get her out of there", Alex said defensively and shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? That bitch at the home did not listen. They were understaffed as it was and started talking about locking her up in a psych ward, when I complained. The asshole of a social worker we've been dealing with for three years still barely knows her name and it's not like I have a line of other people to help us out". She leaned forward, almost daring Meghan to contradict her. "I tried to go through the system. The system failed".

Don could start to see a picture forming. With no adult to turn to, the older sister did the only thing she thought she could do. Even if that meant breaking the law. The door to their room opened again, when Charlie stepped in.

"Hey", Don said. "I thought you'd gone home for the night"

"No, I wanted to stay", Charlie said absentmindedly and looked at the interrogation film.

"So where did you go?", Meghan asked.

"We grew up in northern LA before we were shipped further south. I've kept in touch with some friends there, who could give me some cash and keeps us hidden until the cops would settle down or until we could leave town".

"People who knew Kovochenko?"

Alex shook her head. "I don't who that is".

"He was in charge of the men you were with".

She shrugged. "I never met him. Or at least I don't think so". Her gaze turned back towards her little sister. "Never met anyone else other than the guys in the room with us and the three outside".

"How did you end up with those men?"

Alex hesitated. "Someone must have sold us out. Told people about what May could do and thought they could earn a buck on it". Her voice was so full of hatred that Don could feel it through the cameras.

"And how exactly is she doing those things?", Meghan said and leaned forward. "I mean, a 10-year old hacking into police databases and FBI records... that's definitely a first".

"Don, are we really believing this stuff", Colby leaned over and asked him. "I mean, I know what you saw on the screen, but still... does sound a little incredible to me"

"I don't know", Don mumbled and frowned, looking back at the little girl drawing away at the coloring books.

"Look at what she's writing", Charlie mumbled. He had not lifted his eyes from the screen for one second since entering the room.

Don shifted his gaze and was surprised to see that the girl was in fact not painting the pictures in the coloring books but instead filling the pages with numbers and graphs that went way above Don's head.

"Huh", Colby said and leaned forward to see the screen better. "Looks like we have a little Charlie Eppes on our hands".

"Charlie, can you make of this out?", Don asked, looking at his brother's amazed face.

Charlie scoffed. "Don, she writing an algorithm of Heinerks philosophy of circular events. This is high-level stuff and she's doing it complete from memory. And she hasn't even had any prober training". Charlie shook his head with a small smile of bewilderment around his lips. "With some guiding her, teaching her... She is 10 years old now. Can you just imagine what she can do in a few years?"

Don did not answer but simply looked at his brother, starring amazed at the little girl. He knew that Charlie was emphasizing with her on a level he would never be able to understand. In some ways, he was really looking at a younger version of himself. A version that had had less privileged circumstances than Charlie himself with no one around to guide or understand the way that she saw the world.

Don looked back at the screen to Alexandra Jiminez, whom explained to Meghan how the men had used her as leverage and threatened May to comply or they would beat her older sister. How she had made May leave traces behind in her hacker jobs, so that it would make it easier for the police to find them. How May had told her how she had left that warning in them about the ambush. Here he was, looking at a young girl, whom had grown up in a foster care system, surrounded by adults who neither listened nor understood how to deal with a gifted child like her sister. He looked back at his brother and asked himself, whether he would not have acted exactly like she did, if he had been in her shoes. What if their parents had died and no one had been around to take care of them? What would have happened to a sensitive gifted child like Charlie? The thought made Don's throat thicken and he had to swallow hard.