Lost Lake

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Ryan was supposed to go home with Bobby O’Dell’s mother, so he was surprised when Ami picked him up at school and told him that they were going to the Multnomah County courthouse. The last time Ryan had been to the courthouse was on “Bring Your Child to Work” day. Before court convened, a nice lady judge had let him sit in her chair and hold her gavel. Then he’d had to sit in the spectator section for an hour and listen to his mom and another lawyer talk. Ryan liked sitting in the judge’s chair, but the other stuff was pretty boring. Ryan asked Ami why they were going downtown. Ami said it was a surprise. She didn’t tell him that this meeting had been one of Carl Rice’s conditions for helping Ted Schoonover and President Jennings bring down Morris Wingate.

The courthouse was still busy when Ami and Ryan arrived, but the only people in the corridor outside Judge Velasco’s courtroom were a hard-looking man and woman in plainclothes, who Ami guessed were FBI agents. Inside the locked courtroom, two other agents watched the door to the judge’s chambers.

Ami knocked on the hall door for Judge Velasco’s chambers. It opened into the anteroom where the judge’s secretary worked. The secretary was gone, her place taken by two FBI agents who watched alertly as Ami and Ryan entered.

“Go on in, Mrs. Vergano,” said the agent who had unlocked the door. Ami thanked him and ushered Ryan into the judge’s office where Carl Rice waited, free of his shackles and dressed in tan slacks and a plaid cotton shirt.

Ryan hesitated when he saw Carl, suddenly shy and tentative.

Carl flashed a big smile. “Hey, Champ, how’s the team doing?”

“Okay,” Ryan answered quietly.

Ami placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “They won one and lost two, but Ryan had a single and a double in the last game.”

“Not bad,” Carl said. “How’s the curveball coming?”

“I haven’t really been practicing,” he mumbled.

“That’s not good. You won’t master the curve if you don’t practice. Have your mom catch for you.”

Ryan shrugged. Carl knelt down so that he was closer to Ryan’s height, and Ami stepped back.

“You’re upset by what happened at the ball game, right?”

Ryan shrugged again but wouldn’t look Carl in the eye.

“That’s okay. It shook me up, too. It’s no fun being shot, and I feel very bad about hurting Barney Lutz and that policeman. That was wrong.”

Ryan shifted uneasily.

“But I didn’t ask your mom to bring you here to talk about that. There’s something I want to tell you.”

Ryan looked at Carl expectantly. “Are you coming home?”

“I wish I could.” Ryan’s face fell, and Carl put his hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “If I tell you a secret, will you promise to keep it to yourself? It’s important that no one but you and your mom know.”

Ryan hesitated. He looked confused.

“My real job isn’t being a carpenter, Ryan. I’m a spy. You know what that is, right?”

“Like James Bond.”

Carl nodded. “I work undercover for our government, and I was on assignment when I was living at your house. I can’t tell you what the assignment was, because it’s top-secret, but it was very important. When I got shot, it loused up everything, but my bosses squared it with the police and I’m not in trouble anymore.”

“If everything is okay, why can’t you move back?”

“I wish I could. I really like your mom, and you’re terrific, but spies don’t get to settle down like regular people.”

Carl leaned forward until his lips were close to Ryan’s ear. “This is something even your mom doesn’t know,” he whispered. “I work directly for the president, and he just gave me new orders. I can’t tell you what they are, but it’s my most important assignment ever.”

“Really?”

Carl nodded. “I’ll tell you something else that isn’t a secret. If I had a son I’d want him to be just like you, but spies don’t get married. We have to be on the move all the time, and we don’t want to put the people we love in danger.”

“Don’t you get lonely?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah,” Carl said. He felt a tightening in his chest and had to struggle to hide his sadness from Ryan. “But, from now on, when I start to feel down, I’ll remember the fun I had at your house and I’ll cheer right up. I’ll be able to keep track of you guys, too. My intelligence agency will let me know how you’re doing in school and Little League. That’s why I want you to practice that curve. It would be great if I heard that you’d won a few games with the pitch I taught you. What do you think?”

“I’ll work on the curveball.”

“Will you help him, Ami?” Carl asked.

“Definitely,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.

“School, too. I want you to do your best. Okay?”

“Okay,” Ryan answered solemnly as a tear trickled down his cheek.

Carl stood up. It took all his training to stay calm. “Let’s shake on it, then.”

Ryan held out his hand, and Carl’s engulfed it. Then Carl drew Ryan to him and gave him a hug.

“Wherever I am, you’ll be in my heart, Ryan.” His eyes met Ami’s. “You and your mom.”

“Will we ever see you?” Ryan asked, tears coursing down his cheeks now.

“I’d sure like to see you again, someday. Meanwhile, you take care of your mom, okay? She needs you, and you need her. And work on that curve.”

Carl tousled Ryan’s hair.

“I’ve got to go now. The president sent a special plane for me, and I can’t keep him waiting.”

Ryan wiped a forearm across his eyes.

“Keep safe,” Carl said. Then he touched Ami on the shoulder and walked through the door to the courtroom. The door closed behind him, and Ryan didn’t see the agents secure his handcuffs before leading him away.

“He’ll be okay, Ryan. You don’t have to worry,” Ami assured her son, her eyes still on the door to the courtroom. Then she looked at Ryan.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

Ryan nodded, embarrassed to be crying but unable to stop.

Ami knelt beside him. She had tears in her eyes, too. “It’s okay to be sad. He’s a good friend. And maybe he’ll get some time away from his job someday and you’ll see him again. The important thing is to know that he cares about you very much. You understand that, don’t you?”

Ryan nodded.

“And you also understand about keeping what Carl told you a secret.”

“I won’t tell,” Ryan answered solemnly.

“And I’ll help you with the curve and your schoolwork so Carl will be proud of you, okay?”

Ryan nodded.

“You know it’s a little late for me to shop for dinner. How about going to the Spaghetti Factory? You’ll need those carbs for tomorrow’s game. Coach is letting you pitch, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Gonna try the curve?”

“I don’t know if I have it right, yet,” Ryan answered. Ami heard the worry in his voice. She smiled and gave him a hug.

“You’ll never know if you don’t try, right?”

“I guess.”

“Then let’s go eat and you can practice with me before you go to bed.”

One agent had stayed behind to lock up. He let them out of the judge’s chambers and turned off the lights at the same moment an unmarked car with tinted windows drove out of the parking garage with Carl Rice in the backseat. The car headed for the airport where an FBI jet was waiting to take Carl to an undisclosed destination.