—
The two boys ate like there was no food left in the world, after Derek had finally convinced them it was okay. They’d given Sam the names Hugo and Ove, and said they’d been playing hide and seek at a park somewhere when the guy Sam had killed earlier had tricked them into getting in his car by telling them he was a police officer.
He hadn’t been a police officer. Sam had had Spencer do a background check on him just in case. Just a regular run of the mill child molester who nobody would miss.
“Okay, thanks,” Sam said, ending the call with Spencer. He sat down at the table, listening to the boys eat for a second. “My brother is a police officer,” he told them. “A real one. He’s looking for your parents. It would help if you could tell us where you were from.” They were young, but they were both old enough to know their parents’ names and the name of their hometown.
“Uh…” said Ove, who had a higher pitched voice. “It’s really far away. The town is called Redwood.”
“Okay,” Sam said, putting his phone on the table. “What province is it in? And if you could tell us your parents’ names too, it would make it much easier to find them.”
“Y-yeah,” said Ove, swallowing audibly. “Can I, can I go to the bathroom for a minute?”
Sam sighed. They’d been lying when they’d said they were playing hide and seek. They said they’d been kidnapped two days ago, but Henry hadn’t found an Amber Alert for them anywhere in the country. There wasn’t going to be a town called Redwood.
“It’s just down the hall, Derek or Todd can show you where it is,” Sam told him. “Ove, you don’t have to lie to me. If you don’t want to go home, we don’t have to look for your parents.”
“Wh-what?”
Sam smiled. “I ran away from home when I was your age too.”
“Then…” that was Hugo. “What are you going to do with us?”
“I don’t know, are you okay sleeping in a guest room for a few days while we figure out a bedroom for you?”
“What?”
“You can stay here as long as you want,” Sam told them, already knowing how long that would be. His phone was ringing. “Todd, when they’re done eating, show them which doors are booby trapped. Derek, give them some security codes. Just, you know, not the ones to any of the rooms with explosives in them.”
“You guys have bombs here?” Hugo asked, voice breathy.
“Of course they do, they’re superheroes,” Ove told him.
“Not quite,” Sam said, answering the phone. “What?”
“Hey,” said Spencer, as Sam stood up and let Derek and Todd handle the boys. “I’m filling out the report on your kids. I’m fudging all the details, but I still need to at least know…”
“Don’t file the report,” Sam told him. “They’re not going anywhere.”
Spencer sighed. “Sam, stop adopting every kid you meet.”
“No. Come over tomorrow, Henry and I need help moving some furniture.”
“I get off work at six.”
Spencer hung up, and Sam, hearing Derek and Todd taking the boys down the hall, went to go find Henry, who was figuring out why their target hadn’t shown up earlier.
He pulled up the security feed on his phone so he could listen to the boys, just in case they needed anything. It was a lot of work, being a superhero.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 