Amos had no idea what was next but he did not want them to know that, so he defaulted to the one activity he knew most people seemed happy to do at almost any time of day. “Let’s get something to eat first” replied Amos as he started walking down the street toward the bus stop.

  They almost forgot to tell the grocer to go and fetch Giorgio and, in the end, Amos decided that they would call the grocer after lunch instead. They took the bus to the diner near Holden’s surplus as Amos had decided that he needed to buy some time while he turned over in his head what he was going to do with the two young boys that he had just freed.

  At the diner, Amos once again went out of his way to be polite to the waitress and to casually show her that he did have money to spend when she brought the menus with a suspicious look on her face. “Just one bill please and I will take care of it when we are done.” Amos carefully folded some twenty-dollar bills and placed them in his front pocket while he spoke to the waitress.

  Once she had left with their drink order it took a bit of effort to convince the two rather frightened boys that they could and should order whatever they wanted. In the end, once they understood that they could order pancakes with bananas and whipped cream that was what they both happily settled on.

  While they ate Amos noticed that Alanah kept glancing at him with a quizzical and appraising look when she did so. Finally, he leaned back when he caught this look for the third time and said “ok, what is it?” “Nothing, nothing much…. I guess I was just a bit surprised that you were armed with a real gun, you never said that you were armed and dangerous.” Amos grunted and looked down at the table and then up at his companions.

  Robin and Amir were busy eating pancakes and happily ignoring their conversation. “I don’t know how dangerous I really was, he caught me by surprise, and he totally had the upper hand. You really saved me Alanah. Without you I would have ended up chained to something in the kitchen or worse.” She smiled at him and nodded. “Yes, you were a bit stuck for a moment, but you recovered nicely. I am sure you won’t let someone surprise you like that again. “You know, I think we make a good team.”

  Amos flushed red with this comment, he tried to nod in a nonchalant way while he looked down at his food, suddenly it seemed like he was very hungry.

  After their late lunch this unlikely group of kids walked the block and a half it took to get to Holden’s surplus. Jim was outwardly glad to see Amos again but also looked quite surprised to see his three new friends that had accompanied him. Both Amir and Robin looked quite out of place in their dirty kitchen uniform and ancient flip flops. They looked and smelled like they had been living in a greasy kitchen which was unfortunately the truth.

  “What in the world happened to these two?” Jim asked looking quizzically at the two boys. Amos hesitated, not quite sure how to explain things when Alanah interjected. “These two work with me in a kitchen, my friend Amos here said this would be a good place to get them some much-needed new clothes.”

  Jim looked at Amos and raised an eyebrow as he did, waiting for a clarification from Amos. Alanah didn’t trust me fully yet or Jim as well so she must have wanted to limit what we tell him. Amos briefly paused “I just really liked the clothes I bought here, durable and not something that attracts attention, so I convinced them to come now since they don’t have a lot of time during the week.” “Uh-huh…well then, let’s see about sizing.”

  Jim came around the counter and approached the two boys who were trying to hide behind Alanah while also trying not to look like they were afraid. “I just want to measure a few things, we don’t want to just start guessing at what might fit.” Jim slowly unrolled a tailor’s tape measure and very carefully and gently measured the limbs, neck and waist of both boys. As he did so Amos realized just how much the two boys smelled. He was about to say something but once again Alanah came to the rescue.

  “They stink don’t they?” “So do I. Actually, it is not a very nice restaurant, and I think we all may just quit after all, but we still would like to buy some new clothes.” Jim looked at Amos and Amos just shrugged. Alanah seems to be leading us somewhere, let’s see what she has in mind. “Do you have anywhere they could get washed up?” “While you get their outfits together, they will want a couple good sets of clothes and a light jacket each, they could clean up a bit while they wait?”

  Jim looked at Amos again with a really quizzical look this time so Amos just shrugged again. He was having fun watching someone else problem solve for a change. “Sure, I guess, just this once though.” “Come with me, I have my space back here, but you stay with them, they seem to like being close to you.” Jim motioned for Alanah and the boys to follow him through a door to what must be his private apartment.

  The two boys were afraid to follow a strange man through an unknown door, but Alanah calmly took charge and shooed them through with a combination of smiles, encouragement and playful insults.

  A few minutes later Jim returned and leaned against the counter and gave Amos a long look. “What exactly happened to these boys now?” “They both have marks on their ankles that look pretty bad, as if they were tied up for a while.” The young boy looked down at the counter for a moment at nothing in particular and then he gave a slight sigh and looked up at Jim. “They were, I found them and her by mistake, so I helped them out. As quickly as I could, it almost went pretty badly but we got lucky and got them out of there.”

  “I’m trying to figure out what to do next, but I have no idea how to find their people in this city.” “I have no idea what to do next actually or where to go” Amos was wringing his hands again and he looked down at the counter once more. He was getting used to looking after himself on his own, but he was not at all prepared to look after anyone else and the prospect of doing so was pretty frightening for him.

  “Do you know where they came from?” Amos looked up again and said, “Alanah told me that the guy who runs the restaurant would often troll the bus station for workers he could dupe into a few weeks of free labor, she thinks he snatched them there a few weeks ago.” “That could be, that could be it indeed.” Jim scratched his chin and looked off at the window onto the street beyond. “I’ve got a friend in the BDP. He’s a detective in the North End who keeps his ear out for things like this. Let me ask him now. You go and fetch some clothes from the shelves for your friends now and bring them back to em.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  After noting their sizes Amos went through the shelves and hangers and found outfits for the boys very similar to what he was wearing. On a whim, he went back and took some extra care in picking out the same type of tactical clothing for Alanah. You have no idea if she’s gonna like this, she’s a girl after all Amos was briefly troubled by the thought of insulting Alanah with the wrong clothing choices but then he tried to imagine picking out a dress for her and what her reaction might be then. He decided that the tactical pants and jacket were probably a safer bet and anyway, she didn’t have to wear them after all.

  He left the clothes with Alanah who made sure that the boys got dressed after they had cleaned up. While he waited for them to finish he tried to look busy wandering around the front room of Jim’s shop while also trying to not look like he was listening to the calls Jim was making in the kitchen of his apartment.

  As it turned out Amir and Robin were absolutely thrilled when they were handed the new clothes especially when they realized the outfits were theirs to keep. Alanah seemed almost as happy thought Amos, but she also seemed to try hard not to show it. The mood dampened when Jim came back holding the phone in one hand and holding a very worried look on his face. “Can I speak to you for a second Amos?” he said in the way adults do when it is not really even a question.

  Amos followed Jim out into the main part of the store. His good mood had dampened as well, what did I do wrong, we were going to pay for all of the gear we just did not have a chance to yet. This thought really bothered Amos, he was quite happy with the trust Jim had given him, and he was now extremely worried that he had betrayed it somehow.

  “What do we owe you Jim, we have not had a chance to settle u…” “No, no, don’t worry about that now.” The older man waved his hand impatiently back and forth and fell into the universal motion that meant stop talking now. The older man stared at the much younger boy, his blue eyes were intense, and his forehead was knit tightly with wrinkles showing both concern and stress.

  “Amos, you have really kicked over a hornet’s nest with that restaurant you just hit. My friend with the Boston Police says that you targeted a protected member of the North Boston Mafia. The chef Giorgio comes from a family with deep ties to the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta. This is a really ancient Italian crime family from the old country.

  They are mixed up in many, many bad things. They are violent, nasty people, and some say they still practice the Vecchia Religione or the Old Religion which many people think is black magic, curses and spells and the like. Jim sighed and looked down at his hands. “This could get really bad, really quickly Amos. These people do not forget, they do not forgive. If they feel that one of their own was targeted, then they will stop at nothing until they get revenge. What does this Giorgio know about you?”

  Amos was shocked. The restaurant was a dumpy little place. Giorgio had seemed like an aging bully, perhaps tough to deal with and dangerous if you were just a kid but connected to organized crime? Mafia, black magic, curses, and revenge. Would I have gone and done what I did if I had known?

  He actually was not sure, but he felt confident at least that Giorgio did not know anything about him but what about Alanah? She could have a problem; they would have to ask her right away. “What about the boys, did your friend have any idea where they belong?” “He is going to call around, he has to be really careful now if those boys are connected to the ‘Ndrangheta’ here in North Boston.

  They were suddenly interrupted by giggling and muffled laughter. Coming back into the front of the shop from the apartment behind were two miniature versions of Amos in his dark urban tactical gear and then Alanah who looked much different in the dark olive-green pants and jacket Amos had pulled out for her. The biggest difference was her hair, no longer pulled back in a stringy ponytail, it now was loose and cascading over in dark curls around her face and onto her shoulders.

  The effect was instantaneous; Alanah looked older and wiser and no longer like a meek young kitchen helper. “Wow… wow” said Amos while looking directly at Alanah and then realizing his obvious bias he shifted his gaze to the two boys and clumsily tried to compensate. “You guys look amazing. Amir, Robin you guys look ready for anything now!” The two boys giggled harder and were still a bit shy with all of the attention, but Amos could see how much happier and more relaxed they both were.

  Alanah smiled at the two boys along with Amos and Jim started to chuckle as well, he motioned the boys over to the counter and allowed them each to pick out a small, coloured LED flashlight that he said they could keep. Watching from the other side of the storefront Alanah reached over to Amos and gave him a quick hug with her arm. “Thank you again, you have made such a huge difference in such an unexpected way. I had been trying to tell myself that it would get better for us at that restaurant, but I did not really believe that it would. You should be proud.” Amos was proud and he was feeling as happy as he could ever remember being in months and months, perhaps years.

  His growing good mood was still dampened considerably with the mention of Giorgio, and the restaurant and he motioned to Alanah that he wanted a quiet word where the two boys would not notice. They moved onto the main shop floor and stood behind a large, circular rack of woolen coats. “Jim did some digging while you were cleaning up. Apparently, Giorgio is much more than he seems, he has deep connections to organized crime, and they are not going to let what I did go unpunished.”

  Alanah’s eyes flashed with anger “What we did Amos, don’t forget, we planned this together, it’s what we did.” Why is she so angry, I just want to protect her Amos was confused and he momentarily forgot what he was saying. Alanah stood there, her eyes still intense and focused and waited for him to speak. “Sorry, I mean yes, we. We are in big trouble potentially and that’s why I wanted to talk to you. What does Giorgio know about you? Does he know where you live, your name, your aunt’s name?”

  Alanah relaxed a bit and looked off in thought for a brief instant. “Nothing I don’t think. He was not a proper boss in so many ways. He was more interested in cheating me so he would give me a bit of cash now and then and promise some more next week. Always next week.” She laughed and then frowned quickly. “He just didn’t care. If I showed up, then he would string me along and if I didn’t then he had gotten weeks of work out of me for basically free. I never gave him my address or phone number if that is what you are worried about. He doesn’t even know my last name.”

  Amos visibly relaxed, the tension sliding out of his shoulders and upper arms. “Jim says this guy is going to be protected by one of these old Italian crime families in the North End. He has to be careful with the police because many of the cops are connected to the criminals as well.” Alanah shook her head, “I don’t plan on going back anytime soon, the food wasn’t that good anyways. Relax, you did a good thing helping us out and you were lucky that I was there to save your butt.”

  She smiled and then cocked her head and turned to walk back to the others with Amos following behind, still a bit shaken and wondering just what to make of Alanah. She seemed to be much more capable than what his first impression of her had been. She had really saved him back at the restaurant, what else was she capable of doing?