THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 13

Eden woke from her sleep and opened her eyes to black dark. She immediately closed them again and listened to the sounds around her. Three or four other people slept near her. Their breathing sounded loud in her ears. The old couch she lay on gave off a musty odor and tickled her nose. A huge sneeze jerked her into an upright position. Her feet hit the cold cement floor. A slice of light appeared in front of her as a door slowly opened. She followed the light across the littered room and met Jade in the doorway. His makeup was smeared and his clothes streaked with dirt. He put his finger up to his mouth for quiet and shut the door behind them.
Then he whispered in a thready voice. “I heard you sneeze. There’s no point in waking everyone up. Come into the kitchen and I’ll give you a cup of coffee.”
As he walked away, Eden hurried after him on her bare toes. “Where are my shoes? My feet are cold.”
Jade pointed to a bag in the corner of the kitchen and turned his back to pour coffee for her. Eden rummaged through the bag and found a clean pair of jeans and a clean tee shirt. She quickly changed into the clean clothes and stuffed the others into the bag. She reached for her shoes as Jade walked closer.
“Give me your dirty clothes and I’ll take care of them for you.”
Eden glanced at him with surprise and then pulled the clothes out of the bag. Her hand closed over a small makeup bag stuffed into a corner and she pulled it out. Without even looking at its contents, she handed it to Jade and took the coffee cup from his thin fingers. She sat at a worn wooden table and sipped her hot coffee. A plate of cinnamon rolls appeared in front of her and she carefully picked up one of the sticky buns. Jade emptied out the makeup bag on the table and happily looked through all the mascara, lip gloss, blush, and eye shadow containers. Eden critically considered his smeared face. She reached into the bag again and felt around until she found a jar of face cream. She slid it across the table to Jade. He beamed up at her and grabbed the jar of cream. He cleaned his face until he looked like the boy he used to be sometime in the past. Then he packed everything back into the small makeup bag and said,
“Thank you, dear. It’s a lovely present. I lost all mine in the fire.”
He grabbed a sweet roll and joined Eden. A few minutes later, Deakin dropped into the chair at her side. A weary, dirty Deakin who could have used a bath and a good night’s sleep.
“The computers are all up and running. We didn’t lose much, maybe some old stuff we didn’t need anymore. I’m gonna crash for a few hours. Stay here until I get up and we’ll decide what to do next, okay?”
Eden smiled at him and waved him away from the table. “Go, sleep. You’ll find a nice dusty couch waiting for you in that room. Jade and I will get along just fine.”
As the door closed behind Deakin, she turned to Jade and asked, “Well, what do we do now?”
“Well, we need food mostly. I’m not familiar with this neighborhood so I’ll have to wander around a little. I need to find a laundromat and a grocery store.”
“I’ll come with you and help you carry the groceries back here.”
When Deakin reentered the kitchen, Jade had stocked the shelves with a little food and had a large pot of stew cooking. Deakin dropped into a chair and watched the boy stir the pot of stew and then fill another large pot with rice and set it on a burner. Then he turned around to face Deakin and said,
“Well, I hope you’re happy. I lost everything in the fire. This is the only outfit I have left.”
Deakin stared at the boy’s face and observed, “You look different. Nice, but different.”
Jade touched his cheeks and said, “Your girlfriend had the decency to give me all her makeup. I lost my whole collection. From now on, I’m carrying it all around with me. See.” The boy unzipped a small green backpack and showed Deakin the makeup inside it.
“Well, I think you look very nice, Jade. Is the stew ready?”
“Not yet. Go take a shower first. Your clothes are in that bag over there with the girl’s.”
Deakin looked around the room and asked anxiously, “Where is she?”
Jade jerked his head toward the computer room and said, “She’s been in there with Alden for four hours now. You can take dinner in to them when you’re cleaned up. Go, go, go.”
Jade shooed Deakin out of the room and returned to his cooking.

Several hours later Jade stuck his head in the door and called softly, “Can I get the dirty dishes?”
Eden appeared carrying a stack of bowls. “Thanks for the stew, Jade. What’s happening out there?”
“The boys are drifting in, one at a time. Only a couple of them haven’t showed up yet. They’ll show up before long. The others are getting kinda antsy though ‘cos there’s nothing for them to do. They want to talk to Alden. Since nobody’s seen him yet, they want to make sure he made it out of the fire.”
“Alden, come speak with your loyal followers.”
Alden looked up from the monitor screen and frowned in the direction of the door. “Can’t it wait?”
“No, you should at least let them know you’re here.”
Alden nodded in agreement and gave up his place to Deakin. Eden followed Alden into a large storage room littered with boxes and mattresses. Ten or twelve boys stood up and moved forward as he stood in the doorway. He moved through the crowd saying very little, but hugging each boy and patting him on the back. Then he stood in front of the small group and tersely explained their situation. He gave each of them money and sent them out to furnish their new nest. A tall, gangling redhead with a prominent Adam’s apple was sent out to buy two or three television sets. A smaller darker boy named Rogelio was in charge of Gameboys. Chester left in search of lamps and flashlights. Denver and Dallas went clothes shopping. Keith from Kansas headed for the comic book shop and Aaron from Oregon took a trip to the drug store. The boys all left in different directions. There must have been at least six exits from their new building and the boys used every one of them. At the very last, Alden went into the kitchen and sat down next to Jade at the table. He flicked his finger on Jade’s cheek and pulled him close in a big hug. The man and the boy talked in low tones for a few minutes before Alden reclaimed his chair from Deakin.
Eden followed him into the computer room and sat down at another desk. Ron and Davy had set up six computers around the room but they weren’t all up and running yet. It was time to back off a little and lay low for awhile. Let the dust settle and hope the bad guys had lost their trail. Deakin was wild to continue his search though. He wanted to contact every person his parents had worked with. He wanted to talk to all of them face-to-face but it just wasn’t possible.
Deakin paced around the room and fetched back up at Alden’s chair. “I’ve got to leave, Alden. There are things I could be doing to find out what happened.”
Alden tipped back in his chair and looked upside-down at the set expression on Deakin’s face. “You know you can leave anytime you want, boy. You’re not a prisoner here. You have leads to follow. Go see all these people, ask your questions, and then come back. Eden knows how to find me if we have to move again. Just wait until tomorrow, okay? I’ll have some presents for you to take with you.”
Deakin leaned his head against Alden’s shoulder and said, “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done so far. You have been the greatest friend I’ve ever had. We’ll be back and help you get going again. I promise. And we’ll wait for morning to leave. Until then, we’ll work for you here.”


Eden and Deakin stood at the bus stop five blocks away from Alden’s new headquarters. They wore new clothes and carried backpacks and the laptop as their only luggage. They also carried $5000, two credit cards, and two driver’s licenses each, compliments of Alden. Eden had become Susan Hornung and Ashley Richards. Deakin was now her brother named David Hornung and Justin Richards. Alden had come through with some terrific presents. They each carried a new cell phone and a list of addresses. Former bandits had spread out all over the country. Some of them he’d never met, just done business with over the Internet. Others were boys who’d once lived and worked with him, but were now off on their own. A list of safe houses was a definite plus for their quest. Eden had almost cried as they left the warehouse and Jade really did cry. Deakin swore that Jade always cried when any of the boys left, but Alden would always take care of his younger brother. Eden’s eyes opened wide at this snippet of news that gave her something to think about as they made their way toward UCLA and the first of their interviews with Alex Kimbrough’s past.