“He’s eleven,” says the Prophet.
“Eleven,” says Simon, his mind reeling. “I thought you said he could get us in to see the Wizard.”
“Yes.”
“An eleven-year-old boy. Did they—”
Simon looks at Wanda. He doesn’t want to say what he knows in front of her.
“No,” says the Prophet. “Javier’s mother worked in the Wizard’s kitchens. He knows the secret passageways.”
Simon considers asking how he knows this but doesn’t. He can guess the answer.
God told me.
“Why not talk to the mother?” asks Louise.
Wanda crosses herself. “Sheriff Roy got her too, but I think she got sent to Brownsville.”
Simon looks at Flagg. He is a few feet away, talking to Katniss and Cyclops. “We could visit him. At the detention center. They have to let them have visitors.”
“No visitors,” says Wanda. “Not even lawyers. Sheriff Roy ain’t a big believer in civil rights.”
Simon looks at Louise. Neither has any clue what to do next.
“Flagg,” calls the Prophet.
“On it,” says Flagg. Simon watches Katniss vault the glass gun display case. She tries its sliding doors. Locked. On the wall behind her, the long guns are locked down as well.
“Keys,” she calls, looking at Simon.
“What?” he says. Everyone is staring at him.
The last Hawaiian tree snail died in 2019.
Don’t be Evil.
Farewell to the giant Yangtze soft-shell turtle.
They’re Grrrreat!
Looking down, Simon realizes he still has the manager’s key chain in his hand.
“Simon,” says the Prophet. “Give her the keys.”
Simon lifts his hand, looks at them. His brain feels like it’s moving in slow motion. Why does Katniss want to open the gun case? And why is Cyclops coming back with a shopping cart full of fertilizer?
Then Flagg walks over and snatches the keys from Simon’s hand. “You’re taking too long.” He tosses the keys to Katniss, who opens the case and begins pulling out boxes of ammunition and stacking them on the counter.
“We have to find Javier,” the Prophet tells Simon.
“I know,” says Simon, “but—”
“To rescue Javier,” he clarifies. “Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt. He sent the ten plagues. He parted the Red Sea.”
Simon’s head is spinning. “You want to—we’re supposed to what? Break into a federal detention center to rescue an illegal immigrant?”
“Don’t call him that,” says Wanda. “No person is illegal.”
“Sure,” says Simon. “Sorry. But—they’re—are they stealing those guns?”
No one answers. Simon feels the edges of his vision starting to go black. There’s no oxygen in the air he’s breathing.
“So, already we’ve got breaking and entering, and now grand theft arsenal, but that’s not—you also want—”
As he lifts it to his face, Simon realizes he’s taken the paper bag from his pocket. In case of emergency… He holds it over his nose and mouth, huffing into it. Louise helps him slide down onto the floor.
“The kid’s day three without meds,” she tells the Prophet. “You should probably get him some Klonopin if you want him to go from state crimes to federal.”
Breathing rapidly, Simon feels he will pass out.
The Prophet comes over, kneels beside him. “Do you know what a criminal is?” he asks. “Someone who rejects morality and ethics. Someone who puts their own needs above the needs of society. A cynic. A nihilist. We’re fighting for something here, a greater good, this human agreement—balance, community, civilization. Our parents have surrendered. They can’t or won’t commit to creating a collective system based on sharing, based on the idea that every human life is precious, that we can’t sacrifice any of God’s children in the name of progress. They can’t or won’t agree that we are stronger together. That diversity strengthens the species. That power without empathy is a sin.”
Through cloudy pupils, Simon watches Flagg and Katniss load weapons and ammunition into an oversize shopping cart with a red plastic steering wheel and a bucket seat.
“This is crazy,” he says.
“No,” says the Prophet. “Crazy is putting eleven-year-olds in cages. Saving them is the definition of sane.”
Simon wants to argue the point, but he can’t for the life of him figure out how.