Chapter 11 - The Girl at the GateThe morning after the Hope Ship celebration, I arrived at the center before sunrise.
I liked the building when it was empty.
No children running through the halls.
No parents asking questions.
No reporters.
Just silence.
I walked through the main corridor carrying a cup of coffee.
Then I saw her.
A little girl stood outside the front entrance.
Alone.
She couldn't have been more than nine.
Her coat was too thin for Chicago winter.
Her shoes were wet.
And she was holding a folded piece of paper against her chest.
I stopped.
"Where are your parents?"
She looked at me.
"I don't have any here."
"What's your name?"
"Emma."
"Emma what?"
She hesitated.
"Emma Brooks."
I crouched down.
"Why are you here?"
She handed me the paper.
It was a photograph.
A hospital room.
A woman lying in a bed.
A man standing beside her.
And a little boy.
I recognized the hospital immediately.
St. Jude's.
My stomach tightened.
"Who are they?"
"My family."
"Where are they now?"
She looked toward the street.
"My brother is inside."
"Inside where?"
"The hospital."
"Which hospital?"
She pointed across the road.
St. Jude's.
I looked at the Hope Ship.
Then at the hospital.
"Why did you come here?"
"Because my mom said your spaceship helps people."
I felt something inside me move.
"What happened to your brother?"
She whispered:
"They said they can't treat him."
"Why?"
"They said there isn't enough money."
I stood.
"What's his name?"
"Jacob."
"How old?"
"Six."
I immediately called Victor.
"Get me Jacob Brooks's records."
"Mr. Gallo, it's six in the morning."
"I know."
"What's wrong?"
"A six-year-old boy at St. Jude's."
Victor sighed.
"Another case?"
"No."
I looked at Emma.
"This one came looking for us."
Twenty minutes later, Victor called.
His voice was different.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Jacob's treatment was approved."
I frowned.
"Then why is he being denied?"
"Because the approval was reversed last night."
"By whom?"
Silence.
"Victor."
"I don't know yet."
"Find out."
I hung up.
Emma was watching me.
"Can you save him?"
I looked at her.
"I don't know."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"But I'll find out."
She nodded.
Then she said something that stopped me.
"Mom told me not to trust the hospital."
"Why?"
"She said they did this before."
"Did what?"
Emma unfolded another piece of paper.
There were twelve names written on it.
Children.
Beside each name was a date.
The last name was Jacob.
And beneath it, someone had written:
Do not let them disappear.
I stared at the list.
Three years earlier, I had thought we had destroyed the system that had hurt Keo.
Maybe we had only destroyed one part of it.
I looked across the street.
The hospital appeared exactly as it always had.
Cold.
Gray.
Ordinary.
But now I knew better.
Some of the worst things in the world hide behind ordinary doors.
I picked up my phone.
"Victor."
"Yes?"
"Cancel everything today."
"Why?"
"I'm going back to where this started."
St. Jude's.
Again.
May you like
And this time, I wasn't following a maid.
I was following a list of twelve dead children.
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