G. Wright - Broken Things

James let out a sigh of relief. He just might get to keep his job after all. “Can you track them?”

“Just one. We have his Registration Number. If they stayed together I can get them both. I imagine they will, if the kid doesn’t break down right away. Either way I’ll have something to show. Dead or alive, right?”

“What about the other one?”

“Somebody has jailbroken his operating system. He doesn’t receive any firmware updates, and therefore I can’t ping his location.”

James took a sip of his coffee and smacked his lips. He’d poured it two hours ago and had hardly touched it. He pushed it away. “We haven’t seen much of that in a while, have we?”

“No, thank God. Who knows what all people would do with them?”

Josh tried not to look too much at the man. He reached out and patted Josh on the leg, like he was trying to comfort him or something. He had sweaty hands. He’d introduced himself as Norman.

“I like to go for walks on the Greenbelt,” Norm explained as he drove, “It’s peaceful down there. I almost forget where I am, that I even live in the city. I used to see kids down there all the time, skating, riding their bikes, but not so much anymore. Where you from?”

“Twin Falls,” Josh said.

“You’re a long way from home. I used to have cousins that lived there. Not sure where they are now. I think they moved to Arizona or something, they were always complaining about the winters. I don’t stay in touch much anymore. What happened to your arm?”

“I got in a fight.”

“Some people like to hurt kids. There’s a lot of bad people out there, Josh. You got to know who you can trust. Take me, for instance. I love kids. You can trust me. You’re lucky that I came along. You’re safe with me.”

“I’m glad. Can I call my parents yet?”

The man shook his head. “Not yet, I want to make sure you’re someplace safe first. When you’re home. When you’re at my home, that is. I bet they’re terribly worried about you. I know I’d be.”

Norman drove along for about twenty minutes before they arrived at his house. It was a small, modest place, and he took an obvious pride in its appearance. “Well here we are, home sweet home. Let’s get you some food, shall we?”

“Then can I call my parents?”

“Soon. Very soon.”

He led him in. Josh sat down in the living room and Norman turned on some cartoons before excusing himself to the kitchen to make peanut butter sandwiches for the both of them. The cartoon was of a mouse torturing a cat in one creative way after another. Norman returned with two plates, and set Josh’s on the end table. “I cut the crust off of yours. I don’t meet many kids that like the crust. Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, that’s good,” Josh said. He eyed the sandwich warily. It looked good, but his skin crawled every time Norman looked at him.

“I’ve had many kids stay with me over the years. We’ve had a lot of fun. I get so lonely when they’re gone. I’ve never found grown-ups to be as good as company as kids.”

“It’s a long drive for my parents,” Josh said, “I’d like to call them now.”

Norman ignored him. “I’m afraid I’ve got to leave you for a bit. I only have an hour for lunch. I’d call in if I still had the sick days. I’m sorry about that. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Please, can I use your phone?”

“You’ll need to play in the basement. I can’t have you breaking things while I’m gone. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I had a kid break things once. I don’t normally lose my temper with children, unless they break my stuff.”

“I don’t want to go in the basement. I’ll be good, I promise not to break anything. Can I call home yet?”

“Stop asking for the damn phone!” Norman suddenly screamed, spit flying from his lips. “I told you later, so stop pestering me! If I get in trouble at work because you made me late I’ll smash your little brat brains in. Get in the basement now before I do something we’re both going to regret.”

Tamara pulled her black sedan up in front of Norman Finkle’s house. She kept the windows down and longed for a breeze. The vehicle stunk something terrible from the adult android. The smell, once isolated to the trunk, had seeped into the cab. She would have to air it out by leaving the windows down for a week. She wished she would’ve taken her own vehicle, but the company wouldn’t spring for the gas. Her records showed that he’d been a repeat customer with Kidsmith, and had purchased three kids over the last fifteen years. None of them had been returned to the company. That wasn’t in itself unusual, but they liked to track repair work too. Maybe Norman was jailbreaking androids.

She watched the house for a few minutes, and checked her phone for messages. There was one from her boyfriend, Tom, and one from her doctor’s office trying to reschedule. She ignored the doctor’s call and listened to Tom’s. She considered him to be her boyfriend, regardless of whether the feeling was mutual. He was a paramedic. After her divorce almost six years ago, she’d avoided anything that could develop into a relationship. Not that she wanted this to develop into anything, heaven forbid she get married again, she would never make that mistake a fourth time. But it would be nice to have someone around again.

He’d been dating Pam, one of her long-time girlfriends. But Pam had taken a job in Salt Lake City, and Tom had stayed behind. The two had always enjoyed each other’s company, and things just naturally happened on their own. She’d never told Pam that they were sleeping together, but she hadn’t talked to Pam for a few months now anyway.

The message was sweet, Tom wishing her a good day, and a promise of a night out. He had a way of knowing what she needed. That was the kind of thing that eventually went away with all of her previous marriages.

Would Tom go with her to Boston?

She had a sudden fear of showing up to her date smelling like the car. The house didn’t have a garage, and there weren’t any cars outside. His profile showed that he’d been at the same job for twenty years, at a local investment firm, and that he was single. She pulled her tablet out of her briefcase and pinged the boy’s location again. Yes, he was definitely in the house.

She got out and took a deep breath of fresh air, put on her business face, and approached the house. She didn’t have any real authority, but if this man had the kids she could call the police. Most people were cooperative, but she dealt with all types. She rang the doorbell and waited, but as expected, nobody answered. Things like this ruined her day. She’d have to wait for hours until Mr. Finkle came back from work, and that meant being stuck in that smelly car. She thought about getting some other work done, but thought better of it. Her bosses were wound up over Gus’s death. It didn’t bother her so much, she’d hardly known him.

She walked slowly back to her car, hating how cruel life could be. If Mr. Finkle didn’t return at a reasonable time she’d end up missing her date with Tom.

She sat behind the steering wheel, looking up and down the street. She blamed the kid for this, being stuck in a hot car in the middle of September with the constant stench of rot. If she didn’t know better she’d almost think it was still in the car with her. How the Hell had the boy escaped? He seemed hardly functional, nearly shutting down from whatever abuse he’d suffered.

“When I find that kid I’m going to shut him down myself,” she muttered aloud.

Seriously, her stomach rolled from the stench. The windows didn’t seem to make much difference. She glanced in the rearview mirror to check her make-up. As she adjusted the mirror, a reflection of something behind her caught her eye. Dark eyes in a corpse-like face stared back at her, its mouth frozen in a rictus grin, teeth filthy with dried blood.