Hero's Call

Chapter Twenty Four

A cold air was blowing in off of Lake Erie and cutting through the streets of Cleveland like a razor blade. As November slowly faded into history, it took the last vestiges of mild autumn weather with it. A thick bank of dreary gray clouds hung over the city like a sheet of sullied cotton. Although it didn't often snow that early in the year, the cloud cover seemed to be threatening just that. Most of Cleveland's citizens flagrantly called the bluff of Mother Nature and moved about the sidewalks as if the clouds weren't even there. She would bide her time, waiting to strike until the moment was absolutely perfect. Revenge would be sweet.

Brooke Radcliff pulled her mini-van onto Public Square from Ontario Street. Milo was seated in the passenger with Bill and Calliope in the middle bench seat. For being a Saturday, there was very little traffic which Brooke couldn't help but be thankful for. Driving in the city made her a nervous wreck. Add a little heavy traffic and she could barely function. She didn't make a habit of going to the city for that very reason. Once a month, though, she would drive the hour and a half to make drop off a donation of clothes or canned goods at the Old Stone Church. It was her way of giving back to those less fortunate. She liked to make a day of it for Milo and his friends, usually taking them to lunch and then the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Great Lakes Science Center after dropping off her donation.

She pulled the beige mini-van into an empty parking space that was nearly on the next block over from the Old Stone Church and killed the engine.

"This won't take kids," she told her passengers. "You can come with me if you'd like or you can wait here."

The three teenagers looked at each other briefly and Milo turned to his mother.

"We'll wait here," he told her.

She nodded and swung open the car door after making sure there were no cars coming. She walked around to the back of the van and opened the back hatch. A large cardboard box filled with clothes no one in her family would wear anymore either because Milo had already grown out of them or they were drastically out of date. Just before she shut the door and leave Milo and his friends alone, four police cars with sirens blaring came tearing around the corner of West Roadway onto Public Square. They zipped past the mini-van and came screeching to a halt a block and half away in front Society Center. Brooke, Milo, and his friends watched in awe as the officers climbed out of their vehicles and sheltered themselves on the opposite side of the car from the skyscraper, guns drawn.

Brooke looked at the scene with concern knitting her brow. "Do not get out of the car," she said sternly, looking directly at Milo. "I'll be back shortly."

She shut the back door of the mini-van and quickly made her way back down the sidewalk toward Old Stone Church. It wasn't until she disappeared inside the church that any of them spoke.

"Don't even think about it, Milo," Cali said flatly.

"What?" he asked as if he didn't know what she was referring to.

"Your mom said stay here," she retorted. "We're staying here."

"I wasn't..." he began, but stopped at the look on his friend's face. "Okay, fine. I was just going to get a closer look at what was going on. We'll just head down, see what's up, and head back. No harm done."

"I don't know, Milo," Bill cut in. "It looks pretty serious. Maybe we should just stay where we are."

Milo turned around in his seat and faced front. "Fine. You guys are no fun."

He reached over and rolled his window down a crack if for no other reason than to have something to do. He quickly rolled it up and then back down again. He kept rolling the window up and down slightly for a moment without even thinking about it and how it might irritate the two people in the backseat. He'd never admit it, but Milo was pouting just a little bit. He never liked it when both of his friends sided against on something. It just never particularly seemed fair. What harm could there be in checking out what was going on? They'd stay at a safe distance. What could possibly be dangerous about doing something like that?