Sang's Freedom (Original And Rewritten)

Chapter 52: Regrouping

-Chapter 52-

Kota Lee's POV:

I didn't expect Sang to want to be Academy. I thought she would walk away for sure, but the moment Eli had proposed the idea of leaving us, she rolled her shoulders back and stood taller than ever.

But Sang couldn't be Academy.

They would eat her alive, and she didn't know the most important thing about herself.

Sang was a ghost bird.

There was almost no information on her. No birth certificate. No prior electronic school records. No social security number. No license. No state ID.

No medical reports or dental records. Her parents didn't even claim her on their tax returns.

Sang was invaluable to the Academy. A ghost bird, almost eighteen years old. She could become anyone. She could do anything, and if she was trained into the same department as Eli, she would be unstoppable.

I looked to Mr. Blackbourne who appeared particularly miffed. Victor was no better. They were the only two who were aware of Sang's ghost bird status, and someone had to say something before this whole prospect of Sang joining the Academy got too far.

Surely, Eli would understand how quickly we would lose Sang. She was too innocent to be lost in all that the Academy was.

My team had fought the Academy for years to keep from being promoted to Eli's level.

We did not want to kill.

We did not want to be killed.

There were plenty of other world issues going on that could be addressed without getting shot at.

Someone had to say something.

I had to say something.

"Eli." My throat felt really dry. The young man looked my way. "Sang can't be Academy. You don't understand the whole situation..."

He raised a brow, fetching his leather jacket from the hood of the van. "Well, please clue me in, kiddo."

Kiddo?

"Sang is a ghost bird."

Both of Eli's brows went up as he looked to Sang. "A ghost bird, really? You just keep on surprising me, don't you beautiful?"

Silas clenched his jaw, growling out a string of Greek as North blocked him with an arm.

"What's a ghost bird?" Sang asked looking to me. Her green eyes caught me off guard, as they often did.

"You don't have a paper trail. No birth certificate or records. You technically don't exist."

She laughed. "I've gone to like ten different schools. I have to have records."

"Princess, he's telling the truth. I looked myself, and there's nothing. Your family has been moving you around to keep from exposing the fact you don't have any identification."

"Why?" Her eyes darkened in a way I had not seen before. I touched her arm and she jerked away. My chest tightened as I tried to remind myself that she had been through a lot. We didn't know what had happened to her. "Kota, why would my parents be hiding me? What if they're not really my parents? What if they kidnapped me, too?"

"I...we don't know, Sang."

Victor tried to comfort her, but she pulled away from him, too. She closed her eyes and took a breath. "It doesn't even fucking matter."

"It does, Pookie." Dr. Green dropped a hand on her head and she didn't fight him. Her shoulders slumped. "We'll figure it out, but for now, let's keep to what we know."

Eli chuckled. "We know that a ghost bird wants to join our team. We know where the outlet is for an entire organization of sex trafficking, and we know that this entire team is under qualified for this mission."

"We should regroup, Mr. Eli." Mr. Blackbourne looked longingly to our van. "Mr. Simba will be needing kibble and fresh water."

"You didn't give him extra food?" Sang gasped, head snapping to where Mr. Blackbourne stood.

"We were in quite the rush, Miss Sorenson," he replied. "Mr. Eli, we can regroup at my home and prepare a plan of action."

Eli nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Just remember that for every moment we are regrouping, there are other people trapped in that building."

"Understood."

***

Matthew Eli's POV:

The black 2016 NV Passenger was a monster of a vehicle, meant to comfortably seat thirteen people. There were eleven of us, and I can honestly say I had never felt more uncomfortable in my life.

Mr. Blackbourne and the doctor were seated up front for they were the designated driver and navigator.

Behind them were three rows of seats. The first row consisted of glasses boy, Ginger Snap, and the guy with the dragon necklace.

Then came my row. I was against the left window, Sang was beside me, and to her right was Luke. He was the only one of the nine team members who had bothered to introduce himself.

Behind us was the Greek guy. I knew because I could feel his eyes boring into my skull after Sang had fallen asleep against my shoulder.

North was no better.

Or that blond juke, Meanie.

To make matters worse, the vehicle was dead silent aside from necklace boy ticking away on his laptop and the doctor calling out direction every once in a long while.

Sang sighed trying to shift closer to me. I put an arm around her shoulders, allowing her to use my chest as a pillow.

"Why the fuck will Trouble let you touch her?" growled Meanie from the back seat. "She cringed away from Kota and Victor."

I watched the boy with the laptop slump in his seat.

"She's just tired."

"Exhausted, more like." Luke reached out, tucking a loose lock of hair behind Sang's ear. "You guys should stop giving all this grief to Eli. We wouldn't have gotten Sang back without him."

"Luke's right," Ginger Snap said after a long moment of silence. "We would have never found Sang. The trail was dead."

More silence. It was Mr. Blackbourne who spoke up next. "Mr. Eli, perhaps you should share a few things about yourself."

"Yes," said the doctor. "That's a good idea, Owen. Let's get ourselves better acquainted."

A few of the others voiced their agreement and I tried to not groan, because the only thing I hated more than teamwork was sharing.