The Academy - Friends vs. Family (45 page)

There was a chorus of grumbles in the negative. Kota knew better.
Despite their group being the team lead because they adopted her, she was still
new to them. Another team could easily swoop in and lure her into joining them.
Kota was pretty sure Sang liked them, but did he want to risk losing her? If
joining the Academy became the answer, the only team he wanted her to join was
theirs. As it stood now, the Academy wouldn’t allow it. A bird in a dog squad
usually never worked out. So that confirmed it for him. He didn’t want her to
join.

Mr. Blackbourne’s mouth curled up in the corner. “I guess that
answered the other question I had. So we do want to keep her?”

“Yes,” Kota said, though his voice was lost as eight other
members, including Dr. Green, all answered the same, some louder than others.
There was no question about this. Sang was staying.

“What are we talking about?” Nathan asked. His face was drawn,
blue eyes dark. “We’ll ask for a favor from the Academy to help us get her
out?”

“Correct,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “We have them help us find out
the truth about Mr. Sorenson. It’ll be the fastest possible solution. We could
possibly use the Academy’s private school façade, and make Mr. Sorenson believe
that our Miss Sorenson has been accepted under a scholarship. He might be
willing to give her to us if he believes a school is willing to take her in for
free.”

“If he can put her in sooner,” Kota said, almost liking this idea,
even though he knew a catch was coming, “if he was told she was accepted before
the end of the school term, he’d probably jump on it. Especially if he doesn’t
have to spend his school fund he’s set aside.”

Mr. Blackbourne’s eyes brightened. He planted his hands on the
table in front of him, leaning against it. “We’d have to find an acceptable
place for her sister, although that might be a problem because of her failing
grades. We’ll have to have the Academy pull a few strings for us. With their
protection, Miss Sorenson would be out of reach if Mr. Sorenson’s past is too
horrible to ignore. But on top of Mrs. Sorenson’s hospital requirements and
dealing with Mr. Sorenson’s past, if we wanted to ensure she stayed with our
group, our quickest answer could cost us.”

Dr. Green sighed. “Can we afford this? How many favors are we
talking about here?”

“From my last count, it’ll cost us everything, including the
favors we’d earn completing our mission at Ashley Waters. That’s if we’re
successful. We couldn’t afford it otherwise.”

Kota blew out a loud sigh. This was an impossible choice. The
Academy’s system worked on a series of favor and financial debt.

Financial debt was obvious. Everyone in the Academy starts out
with financial debt. It’s the value of the education an Academy student
requires to become the best at what he does. If it was a private investigation
training class or an eight week boot camp or you were starving and needed
groceries to get through a human biology class, the Academy took care of it.

Repaying your debt required completing various Academy missions.
Their particular team specialized in recovery. It was the easiest thanks to Mr.
Blackbourne’s and Dr. Green’s training. A stolen vehicle. Valuable information.
A company’s prototype. Whatever it was, there was a price tag.

Some member’s financial debts were higher than others. Sang’s MRI
did cost money, but there were several Academy members on the board at that
hospital, and the amount was shifted into their team’s debt account. Sang’s
mother was going to cost them several thousand dollars, but money wasn’t really
a problem with them.

They couldn’t pay the debt off directly. Victor couldn’t pull out
his black card and swipe away what they owed. It wasn’t allowed. The Academy
trained their teams really well. Recovering stolen money and valuable objects
was pretty easy. They enjoyed the challenge. And whenever something like an MRI
or tuition to a little sister’s private school needed to be paid, the hospital
bill would be covered by an anonymous donor, or a special sponsorship would
open up for just the right student. Always in cash. Always untraceable.
Anything they needed was taken care of.

Favors, though, were the real core of the Academy. Favors were
anything that didn’t have a price. It was usually family problems within the
Academy that other members couldn’t handle alone. Little brother getting beat
up by kids in school? Hire Silas and North to babysit the playgrounds. When the
bullies got a taste of their own medicine, Silas and North would walk away with
a couple of favors.

When you were finally a member, you were in the negative of ten
favors right off the bat, just to keep everyone on a level playing field.
Favors varied from different situations. Running a background check without
anyone noticing you’ve been snooping around, that was probably worth one or
two, depending on how extensive one had to get. Pretending to be a rock band?
That was worth three. An operation, like being undercover in a high school for
a year, was easily worth at least ten each for the nine team members involved.
And since Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green didn’t have any favor debt, there would
have been spill over that they shared with the rest of the team.

Kota was out of favors. Thirty was the maximum anyone could have.
This year at the school, plus all the other favors they’d earn on side jobs,
would have placed him close to zero. That is, if he didn’t end up spending any.
He wouldn’t have graduated from the Academy, but at least he wouldn’t be at the
max favor debt.

Sang had already cost them a few favors when they asked for an
adoption. Kota’s fingers traced along the grains of the wood on the table. Did
Mr. Blackbourne really mean they’d all be back in the negative? Mr. Blackbourne
and Dr. Green had already graduated from the Academy, with a positive side on
both favors and financials. If they were to revert and go back, what did that
mean?

“Why are we playing around?” North asked. His palm flattened
against the table. “Let’s take Sang. Fuck her dad. Why is she having to suffer
because of what he’s done? And who cares if the police find out? She’s not the
one who is going to be arrested. We’ve got some pull. I bet we could get her
emancipated with only a couple of favors. Ten at most. She can move in with me
if she wants. If she wants a place of her own, we’ll get her one. The police
can go chase Mr. Sorenson all day. There’s nothing they can do to her.”

 “I agree,” Kota said. “I want to protect her, but if she stays,
she’s only going to get hurt. It’s only a matter of time before Marie gets
arrested, her mother returns, or at the latest, her dad tells her to go to this
school. We can’t let that happen. The sooner we get her out of there, the
quicker she’ll adjust if she’s with one of us. We don’t need the Academy
stepping in this far.” That wasn’t a risk he wanted to accept. If the Academy
was to get involved, they’d learn everything about her, and the teams that
picked it up would spread word that there was a new bird of interest.

Kota knew better, and the others did, too. Sang was clever, and
surprised him with new talents every day. She was quiet on her feet, honest,
and no matter what they were doing, she stepped up and did it with them. And if
their team was interested in her, there was no doubt the Academy would be drawn
to her, too. Asking for their help would almost be a guarantee the Academy
would ask for her to join them.

Mr. Blackbourne’s face shifted into a frown. “Stealing her is not
a good idea. We can’t just rip her out.”

“Why not?” North asked. “We don’t have time for plan A and I don’t
particularly want Mr. Sorenson to get away with this. And I don’t want the
Academy to tell us it’ll be in her better interest if we allow her to work with
other teams so she has a choice. Fuck that shit. She’s ours. We found her.
She’s with us. Let’s just call the cops on Mr. Sorenson and be done with it.”

Mr. Blackbourne glanced at Dr. Green.

Dr. Green sighed. “You’ve got to tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Gabriel asked, nearly standing.

Mr. Blackbourne touched briefly at his tie. “We’d rather not
expose Miss Sorenson to any authorities.”

Kota’s eyes narrowed on him. “Whatever you’re worried about, she
can take it. She’s strong. She won’t…”

“It’s not about her emotional state, although that is a concern,”
Mr. Blackbourne said. “We don’t want to expose her because she’s a ghost.”

Kota blinked after Mr. Blackbourne spoke, because at first he
wasn’t sure he heard him right.

“It’s true,” Dr. Green said, as if understanding everyone’s
confusion. “She’s a ghost bird.”

The weight of that idea settled into Kota’s brain heavy, like a
stone in a water bucket. He might as well told him Sang was going to be leaving
them forever, because it could be true whenever anyone else found out. “Shit,”
he said.

Everyone’s eyes widened, especially Gabriel’s. “What shit? What do
you mean shit?” He pointed at Kota with a lean finger but turned his attention
to Mr. Blackbourne. “If he’s cursing, this is bad. What about Sang being a
ghost? What does this mean for her?”

“It means she’s valuable to the Academy,” Kota said, his eyes
focusing on the table. Part of him, in the back of his mind somewhere, started
counting the lines in the grains. Counting was how he calmed himself, but in
the moment, his mind couldn’t count high enough. “She has no history. No
identification. She’s untraceable. She doesn’t exist to anyone. She could walk
into a job, and if anyone tried to ID her, they wouldn’t be able to. No one
would be able to find her.”

“Yeah she does,” Silas said, speaking up and surprising everyone,
because he was usually quiet during these meetings. “She’s got a school ID.”

“Not anymore,” Dr. Green said. “At least not on the school
records.”

 “What about her birth certificate?” Kota asked, wanting to know
all the details.

“Forged,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “They seemed to have copied
Marie’s and just changed the date and the name. Same with the Social Security
card. She’s never been to the doctor. She’s never been mentioned in their
taxes. They gave the schools exactly what they needed, and schools just made
her a number. They never look too closely at those things. Dr. Green and I have
already collected her old school records from her other schools, and gotten rid
of any computer information. All that’s left is what is necessary at Ashley
Waters. We’ll get rid of that when she’s about to leave. If we did it now,
someone would notice.”

“But what were they going to do if Sang ever tried to get a job?
Or get her license?” Kota asked. “She was bound to find out.”

“IDs are stolen all the time,” Dr. Green said. “We know that. But
you’re right, Mr. Sorenson hadn’t thought this through. Someone might have
discovered eventually that Miss Sorenson’s records weren’t genuine. If she gets
her driver’s license, that’d be one solid ID that she could use to get most anything
else she needed, up until she tried to apply for a credit card. Either she
would have gotten lucky and offices would turn a blind eye and see it as a
mistake and issue her new things, or they’d check it out. It might be why he’s
really interested in this particular school. She’d be eighteen before she was
released. That would give him time to figure out the next step.”

“But now that we have her,” Mr. Blackbourne said, “the ideal
situation would be to keep her record completely clean. If possible.”

The new realization settled into Kota, and he sat back. This made
it incredibly complicated. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to care about this.
Not at the risk of her safety. He knew it would never come to that. They
wouldn’t allow Sang to risk her life for the hope of keeping her a ghost bird.

But if what they were saying was true, the Academy would do
anything to collect her. And if their group asked for help and paid in favors
to save her, they’d find out for sure.

Mr. Blackbourne nodded quietly as the group seemed to come to
understand the full significance. “If we turn to the Academy for help, we’ll
expose her for what she is and there’s a strong chance they’ll convince her to
join and under their terms. Even if she wanted to stay with us, they’d dangle
promises to release all of our favor debts and even put us in the positive in
exchange for her working with a team they select. Once she realizes she has the
ability to command such a price, and with her sweet disposition, she’d agree to
it in a heartbeat. We already know she’d put her own life at risk just to save
you guys from a fight.”

Dr. Green inhaled sharply. “If we let the police handle this,
it’ll take away one of the most valuable assets…”

“She’s not an asset,” Victor barked.

“You are an asset,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Every one of you. And
like it or not, right now she’s worth ten of you.”

Victor’s head jerked back. “We can’t… I mean…” His eyes turned to
Kota. “What are we supposed to do?”

“We have to convince Mr. Sorenson to release her to us,” Kota
said. He didn’t like this answer. It was against his morals to see Mr. Sorenson
get away with anything. At least Mrs. Sorenson had an excuse, being ill. He had
none, and practically caused Mrs. Sorenson’s mental state. “If we can do that,
we won’t need to turn to the Academy. It’ll buy us time to win her over and to
get her to understand how this works.”