The walk back to the fields seemed to take a long time. He spotted Callum with a few others in the middle of the row of trees. One of the men called to him, “Hey, city boy. There’s a porta-toilet in the field. You didn’t have to go all the way back to the bunkhouses.”
Another called, “And if you get thirsty, there’s a water tank here too.” A few laughed at that. He’d passed the water tank to get to his row.
Gregor gestured to a tree at the end of the row. “We saved that one for you. When you’ve filled your box, take it to the truck.” He pointed to a pickup that sat near the edge of the field. “That one over there. Not the ones by the bunkhouses.”
“Right,” Enzo said. They all thought he was incompetent. Walking over to Callum instead of going to the tree would not help with that assumption, so he added, “Ben wanted me to talk to Callum about something.”
He slunk over to the teenager, casting furtive glances around to see if everyone was watching him. They seemed to have gone back to their work.
Callum brightened, suddenly full of hope. “Has he heard from the authorities? Did they find my parents?”
Well, those questions alone were probably enough proof Ben had told the truth. Enzo still had to make sure, though. “No.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I saw your collar and thought you were being held here against your will. Are you? Do you need help?”
Callum deflated. His shoulders slumped, and he went back to picking peaches. “No, the collar is disabled. The Huntingtons rescued me from slavers. Once the authorities find my parents, I’ll have it removed.”
Sometimes victims lied about being abused because they feared worse consequences if they didn’t, but their lies were usually easy to spot. Callum only showed disappointment that Enzo hadn’t brought better news.
Enzo might still get some useful information about what happened at the market, though. “How did the Huntingtons manage to rescue you?”
“About a month ago, Milo, Zia, and Charity drove to a market site that the slavers had just taken over. They got caught, but an unexpected fire distracted the slavers. Milo tackled one of them, grabbed his gun, and shot a bunch. The rest of the slavers took off.”
That didn’t make sense. An unexpected fire? And slavers weren’t easily distracted. “Did you see it happen?”
“Nah, although I wish I had. Would’ve been nice to see that sewage sludge get theirs.”
“If you didn’t see it, how do you know what happened?” Perhaps it was too much to hope that Callum had a detailed memory of the crime scene.
Callum looked at him like he was stupid. “Milo told me about it.”
That was more information than any of the three gave the group of slaves who’d gone to Kansas City. No doubt, the Huntingtons refused to tell that group what happened because they hadn’t had time to come up with a plausible explanation. With Callum, they’d had longer to get their story down.
Callum glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one stood nearby. “Don’t talk about it around Charity. It upsets her.”
“Why?”
Callum lowered his voice. “Things were pretty grisly, with the burned bodies and all. Charity worried they’d accidentally killed one of the captives.”
“Did they?”
He scanned the area again and didn’t speak. The kid didn’t know how to lie at all.
“That’s a yes,” Enzo said. “If the answer was no, you wouldn’t have to debate telling me.”
Callum scowled. “The dude wasn’t worth her feeling guilty about. He would rat out the rest of us for an extra cracker. Don’t ever tell Charity he was a slave. He wasn’t worth her concern.”
Callum went back to picking peaches, yanking one from the branch with too much effort.
Enzo didn’t want to let the subject drop. “How come you went with the Huntingtons instead of the other slaves?”
“I knew two things for certain about the Huntingtons. They could defend themselves, and they had weapons. Couldn’t say that for the slaves. Besides, I’d worked with them and knew acouple of them would happily leave me on the side of the road or sell me back to slavers if it helped them out.”
“So why are you still here with the harvesters?”
“I’m from Topeka.”
Well, that explained a lot. The entire city had to be evacuated six months ago when the Southern Plain States overtook the border.
Gregor approached the two with a hopeful spring in his step. “Any word about your parents?”