Page 8 of Lost and Found

There were more sirens in the distance. When his guards didn’t find him inside the hospital, an exhaustive search would commence. Kasim knew that he needed a place to hide. The crumbling edges of a warehouse a few blocks away caught his eye. A tall chimney hovered above the houses and…everything in this neighborhood looked as if someone had abandoned it. And yet, there were people living here. Not many, he thought as he started walking towards the chimney.

Point of fact, three blocks from the hospital, Kasim noticed a group of three college aged men coming out of one of the houses. They wore khaki slacks and expensive coats. All of them were neat and tidy as they laughed uproariously, leaning against each other as they slapped each other on the backs. Obviously, they were celebrating something, Kasim thought. However, they definitely didn’t live in this neighborhood. The three men, were simply…passing through.

He glanced at the house. It looked run-down, but there were obvious signs of life inside. In fact, as Kasim looked up at the windows, one of the ragged, filthy curtains twitched. Apparently, someone had been looking out. He heard a wail coming from inside. Kasim paused, listening. Was someone being hurt inside?

His attention was once again caught by the three fraternity-looking boys…uh…men. They were slightly drunk and their conversation loud enough for him to hear. They were laughing about their sexual exploits and their comments were in bad taste. Kasim looked up at the house. Was it a brothel? For some reason, the hairs on the back of his neck tingled. Something was going on inside that house. Something bad.

A police siren sounded, then a police car zoomed down the street. The officer didn’t even slow down, but the speeding police cruiser reminded Kasim that he needed to get into hiding.

Memorizing the house number and street name, he hurried on towards the warehouse. There was another burst of laughter and Kasim glanced back, relieved to see that at least one of the men appeared sober enough to drive. The other three…?

Dismissing the men and the mystery of their reason for being in this neighborhood, Kasim figured it would be another four blocks, maybe more. When he’d gone two blocks, the houses disappeared and the ground became merely a field of weeds growing out of what looked to be an old parking lot.

Kasim kept to the taller weeds, ignoring the crickets and grasshoppers that jumped out of the tall grass in protest at his invasion.

Stepping through the broken door, he paused and looked around. The warehouse had been abandoned decades ago, but it didn’t look as bad as it should. Even the door was well oiled.

More sirens blared behind him and Kasim stepped into the warehouse, hiding himself from anyone passing along on the street. His initial instinct was that the sirens were for him, but he pushed that thought aside. He’d learned his lesson at the emergency room hospital. It wasn’t all about him.

Still, there was no reason to ignore caution, so he moved deeper into the shadows.

“Are they looking for you?”

The hard, angry voice came out of nowhere and Kasim spun around, crouching low with his hands loose and ready for battle. His eyes scanned the area, ready to take on the newest threat, only to find himself facing three burly males, all about his age and, shockingly, about his size as well.

“Who are you?” Kasim demanded.

“Doesn’t matter who we are,” another one replied. He had dark brown hair and cold, merciless eyes. “It only matters who you are and what you’ve done to cause such an uproar in the neighborhood.”

He shook his head. For a long moment, he debated answering the men honestly. Normally, Kasim would have been confident in his abilities to take down three opponents in a fight. But not with these men and not with the poison still making him sick. They looked hard and battle ready.

“Someone is trying to kill me,” he blurted out, then tried to hide his surprise at the admission.

The three strangers looked at each other, then back to him with amusement. “And?” one of the men replied, the corners of his lips quirking up slightly. “That’s a daily occurrence around here.”

Kasim could explain who he was and why it was so important that he stay alive. And hidden. But he doubted these men would care.

“I just need a place to sleep for the night,” he replied. “Any bed will do.”

The three of them snickered. “You can have any bed around here,” the first one offered.

Kasim looked around. There were no beds. There were some blankets on the floor off in one corner. But he doubted that the concrete was very comfortable. Still, it was better than the bottom of a coffin, he told himself.

“A separate corner will suffice then,” he said, and his tone implied that his words were a request.

“Have you killed anyone else?” the second man demanded.

Kasim straightened, offended by the question. “Absolutely not!”

The men rolled their eyes, but the second continued. “You part of a gang?”

Kasim chuckled. “Not an illegal gang,” he replied, thinking of his father’s advisors. They would laugh heartily if they ever found out that Kasim sometimes considered them to be gang members. They were certainly obnoxious at times. But Kasim’s father was strong enough to keep them under his control. Kasim would do the same and not allow any of them to think that they had the power to control decisions within Alistar.

“Drugs?”

Kasim wished that he had some pain relievers for his arm and something to ease the nausea, but shook his head. “Never!”

The three of them still hesitated. They did another one of those glances with each other, then seemed to nod together. Whatever silent messages they’d just passed between themselves, Kasim was grateful.

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