Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1 (3 page)

C
ars lined
the streets for two blocks around the teen center. Del had brought her personal vehicle and had to drive around for fifteen minutes before she saw a car pulling out of a space a block away.

She jogged the block back to the venue and walked between two groups of teens at the front door. From the looks she received, she’d been made for a cop even in her jeans and t-shirt, her weekend attire. Luc might have expected dress casual but she’d taken him at his word.

A girl who looked about sixteen stood just inside the door by a table loaded with brochures, handouts, and bottled water. “Hi, I’m Monette. I’ll bet you’re Ms. Burke.” She smiled when Del gave her a questioning look. “Luc—Mr. Larue described you. Here’s your welcome packet. Help yourself to any of the information on the table. There’s water and I think they have lemonade outside by the pits.”

“The pits?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Can’t you smell it? BBQ chicken, hamburgers, potato salad…I love first Saturdays.”

The kid’s smile was infectious. She was dressed in layered t-shirts, an aqua hoodie, and skinny jeans riding low on her hips. A silver belly button ring peaked out below her shirt, but she wore no other jewelry and bore no tattoos that Del could see. Del wondered what her story was. “Is there some kind of schedule? I’m totally in the dark here. Maybe I should look for Mr. Larue.”

“I’ll take you to him. He’s shooting some hoops with a few of the guys. There’s no formal program or anything. Everyone will just sort of meander in around noon.” She stopped and pointed through a doorway, “There he is.”

“Thanks, Monette.”

“I better get back to my post.” She’d used her index fingers to make quotes around “post”, indicating someone had given her express instructions not to leave the door.

Luc was indeed shooting a basketball with some very fit guys in their mid to late teens. As he went up for a shot, he caught sight of her, dunked the ball then swung from the basket. Very
showy
. One of the teens did a fancy handshake with him when he landed. “Razzed, man.”

“Thanks,” said Luc. He jogged over to her, smiling, and shook her hand. “Hey. I was afraid you’d change your mind.”

“I told you I’d be here.” She surveyed the room. “Looks like a good turnout. Is this typical?”

“When we cook, it is,” he laughed. It was such a free, easy sound. It struck a chord inside of her. He was a natural with everyone it seemed, old women, young people and probably babies. Even cops. Look at Jed. He’d been a fan from the start.

She was suddenly aware of another reason she was drawn to him; why she’d felt the urge to trust him from the first. He reminded her of Tom. That put a major checkmark in his column.

“Come on. I’ll introduce you.” He walked beside her to a double set of doors where the smell of charcoal and BBQ was stronger. “This is where the magic happens.” He pushed the door open and held it for her.

The crowd of adults on the grassy area at the rear of the building turned as Luc guided her into their midst. “People, I’d like you to meet Del Burke. She’s a police officer.” Luc introduced each of the mentors. There was a construction worker, a nurse practitioner, a paralegal, a veterenarian, a programmer, and a volunteer with the ASPCA.

“What’s your talent?” came the question from Leanne, the nurse practitioner.

“Pardon me?”

“One of our,” Luc looked around for listening teen
ears
, “our goals for BE-day is helping our teens identify some of their innate talents. Strengths that can steer them in the direction of their life’s work,” Luc said. “You’re a cop. You must have given some thought as to what makes you good at your job. We each share an aptitude or ability, and they usually chime in out of curiosity or competitiveness.”

John, the vet, said, “They are quite competitive.”

Delilah hadn’t given her abilities a lot of thought when she’d joined the police force. She’d joined for one reason and she’d yet to accomplish that.

The other doors opened and teenagers swarmed into the grassy backyard. “You weren’t thinking you were going to eat all the food were ya?” a tall young black youth asked Luc.

“The hungry one is Jude,” said Luc. He put a hand on Jude’s shoulder. “You know the rules, Jude. Guests first, then ladies, then whatever is left you ravening wolves can have.” To Delilah he said, “Better grab two plates. There won’t be anything left after the first round.”

Del made her way through the line filling her plate, taking in the fenced in backyard. It was well maintained with a brick and iron fence separating them from the neighborhood. She tried to remember what the place had looked like before.

With mouths being stuffed, conversation diminished briefly, then picked back up. Delilah listened as the adults swapped opinions with teens about the local college’s first winning basketball team, movies, music, the newest cell phones.

“If these kids are limited in their resources, how did they all get cell phones?” Delilah asked Luc.

“Our programmer, Earl, has an arrangement with the district manager of the Tech Shacks. They donated some refurbished cells for our teens in return for some work at their stores—lawn cutting, cleanup, window washing, tasks they’d have to hire out anyway. It’s gone so well that some of our other mentors are coming up with ways we might take care of their other needs, things like food and clothes. Most of these kids have only the clothes on their back when they show up.”

“Where do they sleep? How do you keep them off the streets?” She knew she sounded like a cop now, but it was a concern. The gangs would be more than willing to offer them asylum, for a price.

“We get them off the street as soon as we can, Del, but sometimes they are too wounded and suspicious. It takes time. We have some people in the community who have opened their facilities at night or donated rooms—back rooms at the Goodwill, basement of a church, empty beds at the soup kitchen—when available. I’ll show you how we manage that. There’s a control room behind the gym where they can look for information on beds, clergy, food, clothing, emergency numbers. Every teen member knows the combination to the back door. If they have nowhere else, that room is secure, clean and a last resort.”

“Hey, Luc. Can you give me a hand with the pit?” John called. Luc hurried over to help move the heavy barbecue pit so another table could be set up.

“How long has this place been here? Like this, I mean,” she asked Rick, the paralegal.

“Since Luc came home on leave three years ago. It’s just been getting up steam in the last year. I used to work with social services, but when Luc invited me to take part in this endeavor two years ago, I jumped at the chance. I saw the distrust the young people had for state run organizations and left to go in business for myself because I wanted to be involved. Without Luc, there would be no Larue Teens Forward.”

Del added that to the growing list of Luc’s attributes.

“
O
kay
, everyone to the gym,” Luc said as the last few plates went into the trash.

Three sets of low bleachers were pulled out from the wall. Luc asked Leanne to start the discussion off with what led her to become a nurse practitioner. Leanne asked one of the teens Luc had been shooting hoops with to come forward while she explained how she used natural healing techniques to augment her medical practice.

“What’s ‘augment’?” whispered someone behind Del. Someone else said, “It’s like ‘in addition to’.” She recognized Monette’s voice and smiled at her answer.

Leanne instructed Angel to hold one arm out and pushed his sleeve up. “Relax and let me place this blood pressure cuff around your arm.

As she squeezed the bulb he complained. “Ow. That’s tight.”

“I’m sorry. It has to be tight but a tough guy like you can take it, right?” She smiled at him kindly, listening with her stethoscope placed against his arm. When she was done, she said, “Who knows what is considered normal blood pressure?”

Several hands went up. Leanne called on a younger teen. “Steven.”

“120?”

“160,” came another voice.

A tiny Hispanic girl said, “That’s only half of a blood pressure reading. I think Steven had it right. 120 over…70?”

“You’re close, Tia. Normal blood pressure is considered somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 over 80, any higher than that and we start monitoring it or even advising meds. 110 over 70 is even better. Without going into a textbook explanation—”

Someone groaned a sarcastic, “Whew,” and Leanne went on, “If the lower of the two is higher than 80 it really needs to be monitored since BP often rises as we grow older. She looked at her ‘patient’. “Angel, you’re BP is a little high. Does it run that way in your family?”

“I don’t know.” Angel’s eyes shifted away and Del realized by the look on Leanne’s face that she had mis-stepped, forgetting for the moment that many of the kids had no family. Although family history could have been something he was aware of.

“I know some of you don’t have background information about your families. The point here is that if you know there’s a history, the earlier you begin to establish your “normal” readings, the better able you and your medical professional—me—will be able to determine if there’s a problem. Angel’s BP is 140 over 100. This could be a temporary high, induced by stress, illness,
or
his normal. We’ll keep an eye on it. Angel, do you mind if we check it again before we leave here today?”

He shrugged, “I guess not.”

She went on to explain that her mother had died of hypertension related illness when she was a teenager. This spurred her interest in healthcare along with the focus on the natural remedies and habits her parents had instilled. “The health industry is going to be one of the major areas of job growth in this country so if you think you might have a calling in this area, I’ll be happy to talk to any of you on the subject.”

She took her seat and the crowd gave her a round of applause.

Luc said, “ Abby, you’re up.”

Abby, a large African American woman with elaborate braids and a Kelly green t-shirt that said, “Beam me up, Scotty” bent over a pet taxi and led, what else? a tiny Scottish terrier to the center of the room. The cocky little dog sat awaiting her commands.

“Hi, y’all,” she grinned. It was apparent to Del the woman had a heart as big as the room. “This little mutt is Pepper,” she pointed to the dog, who was obviously used to being the center of attention. “Say hello to everyone, Pepper.” The Scotty, leaped into the air and did a flip into a seated position then barked once. This brought on laughter and some clapping.

“I’m sure you’re surprised to see a mutt as talented as Pepper living at the ASPCA. He didn’t come out of the womb this well trained. He had a home and a life before something happened to place him with us. His records indicate he was homeless, picked up on the street about a month ago.

“Pepper is one of the lucky boys who is enjoying a lively competition for a new owner. Other animals aren’t so lucky. I wonder if—Angel would you mind holding Pepper for a few minutes?” Pepper jumped into Angel’s arms the minute they were within range and gave him a kiss on lips. Angel laughed.

Abby smiled. “Looks like those two are bonding. Some of you know I grew up on the street. My brothers and I were on our own for a time after my mother died. Unfortunately, my older brother fell in with gangs on the edge of our neighborhood, thinking they were the solution to losing our parents.

Some people think that gangs are a brotherhood, that they take the place of family, but there’s a cost to membership and that cost for both of my brothers was their lives.”

Del felt a deep pain hit her gut at Abby’s statement. Gangs had cost her family a lot, and there wasn’t a day she didn’t remember that fact.

“Thankfully, I was taken in by a foster family who exposed me to a whole new environment—a farm in the country, which was where I learned, along with my foster brothers and sisters, that every life,
every life,
every living thing has its own intrinsic value.”

“What’s ‘in..trisic’?” asked the voice behind Del. Abby was on top of it.

“Intrinsic means special. Unique. Pepper is talented…” she rolled her eyes. “Yes, Pepper you’re the man,” she teased as he wagged his tail from Angel’s lap and gave his best cute doggy smile. Her smile faded.

“But just because Scotty may have had advantages of training and proper nutrition in his early life doesn’t mean he is exempt from being homeless today. Just because he’s talented—and cute—doesn’t make him any more unique or special than the many other animals at the shelter. To the contrary, animals like Hogwart here,” she bent to retrieve a pudgy little creature from the crate behind her, “are unique in their own way. Any volunteers?”

Monette went running down the bleachers past Del and scooped the creature from Abby’s hands. “What is he?”

Abby said, “He’s a she, and Hogwart is a very overweight hamster. Here, hold her like this.” Abby helped Monique support the hamster’s butt and get a firm hold. “You can take her back to your seat.

“Obviously, Hogwart doesn’t have as much going for her when it comes time to be adopted. But it doesn’t make her any less valuable. Can you give me some reasons why someone would find Hogwart more suitable than Pepper?”

Tia said, “She doesn’t need a yard to pee in.” The others laughed.

“That’s true, Tia. Anyone else?”

Monette’s voice came from behind Del. “She’s quiet.”

“Another good point. And there are others. Hamsters eat less, normally. They take up less space.” She looked around the room, locking eyes with as many teens as possible. “But the bottom line is a pet’s value, their beauty if you will, are in the eyes of their owner.” She let that sink in a minute.

Del saw what each mentor was trying to accomplish—help those in attendance see their strengths and their potential through the eyes of their mentors without preaching to them. “Like each of us, Pepper has some hidden skills.” Hearing his name, the Scotty leaped off Angel’s lap and did another flip.

Leanne walked toward Angel. “May I have your arm again, please, Angel?” While Abby handed an older gray feline to Luc, Leanne took the boy’s blood pressure. Del glanced over toward Luc and saw Earl texting on his phone even though Luc had requested the phones be muted.

Leanne said, “Angel’s BP is now 117 over 90, a considerable drop in just fifteen minutes.”

Abby said, “Pepper’s doing. Dogs have a calming, restorative effect on our health and well-being. Not to mention, they love unconditionally, and therefore make excellent role models. It’s one of the reasons I got involved with animal welfare. I could relate to being tossed aside. In helping these marvelous creatures regain their health and find homes, I’ve found my passion, and it came from a life experience most would term
unfortunate
.

“You don’t have to be a professional
or
an adult to contribute. Dr. John talked about this last month. Volunteering with animal shelters or the local veterinarian can often lead to positions as vet techs, dog walkers, groomers. But if cleaning up doo-doo and walking dogs isn’t your cup of tea, you can volunteer with almost any organization—hospitals, nursing homes, city parks, government, and in private philanthropic organizations.” She looked at Jude. “Even sports arenas.”

“Yeah,” Jude spoke up. “But volunteer means you don’t get paid.”

“That’s not always true, Jude, but there are tangible rewards to volunteering. The increase in self-esteem, the knowledge that you’re making a difference in another’s life, learning to work with others and developing work habits that can be included on your first job application, not to mention references from the supervisors you work under. I hope you’ll all give some thought to volunteering now and in the future. Many of the most important accomplishments in our world today are by people who see a need and think of ways to solve the problem, often without pay. We have an excellent example in Mr. Larue.”

Del thought, Way to go, Abby, turn their attention toward someone they obviously admired. She noticed Luc looked a bit embarrassed by the attention that was focused on him. Then, every phone in the room went off.

W
ith a quizzical expression
Luc reached for his phone so everyone could hear it ringing.

“Mr. L, you were supposed to turn your phone off—” Steven said, just as his cell rang and then one by one all of the phones in the room started to blast their various ringtones, including Del’s.

“Our next presenter is our old buddy, Earl.” Luc turned, holding up his ringing phone. “Did you have something to do with this, Earl?”

Earl’s silly grin reminded Del of the Lampoon Magazine picture, with his wide smile, alert eyes and freckles. “Once a geek, always a geek.”

He stepped to the center of the room. “How many of you know what hacking is?”

“I know what “jacking” is,” said a teen sitting behind Jude.

Angel said, “He’s talking about computer hacking, dipsh… Uh, that’s where you get into the big credit card company websites and steal people’s passwords and sh—stuff, right?”

“That’s right, Angel. Or that’s part of it. A hacker is a derogatory term for someone who uses computers to gain
unauthorized
access to documents or programming. Like what I just did to your phones. A harmless prank among friends but not so harmless if the “hacker” is stealing into the Visa records online, or ferreting out secrets from the Pentagon. The difference is illegal intent. Often hackers and programmers start out the same way, with a curiosity for information systems and how they work. At one time they were all just geeks.

“You might be a geek, if you like to take your phone apart and find ways to work around the systems that make it run. Anyone know what that’s called?”

“Jail breaking,” said Jude.

Earl nodded “If you ever thought about overriding the code on a security system, you might be a geek. Essentially, I started out that way. A juvenile delinquent with too much time on my hands and a bunch of old computers to play with. My parents were wealthy but they weren’t around much so I entertained myself by learning to hack into computer systems. As luck, or not having any luck would have it, the turning point happened for me when I hacked into the police department computers,” the crowd stirred and some of the kids looked at Del as if she was going to arrest him. “That was before my eighteenth birthday and the judge gave me community service at the local prison about fifteen miles from here. The first thing I learned was that I didn’t want to spend my life taking showers with other men, or sleeping like sardines in a can.

“Then, I learned there are a lot of things I can do with my skills, and the satisfaction of
preventing
hacking is greater than working the other side of the fence and winding up like the men I saw behind that razor wire.”

Jude huffed behind Del.

“How many of you have played computer games?” As with the other mentors, Earl was intent on helping the group gain a positive focus, and not concentrate on what they lacked. Most of the teens raised their hands.

“So how would you like to design computer games? Programming skills are needed for software design, security, computer games, movie production; the list is long. If this is something you feel you have a talent for, talk to me about it.”

Luc said, “Thanks, Earl. You did un-hack our phones didn’t you?”

Earl waved his phone at Luc.

Del smiled at Luc’s terminology. He either played down his knowledge of computers or didn’t mind everyone knowing he wasn’t a geek. A phrase came to her that she hadn’t thought of since her computer classes in the academy. WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get
. That was Luc Larue.