Archie sat across from the social worker wearing his best sad face. The good smelling pretty woman pretending to be his sister was next to him. He avoided her angry eyes. The social worker pretended to be angry too, but he knew, despite her frown, he wasn’t in real trouble. The lady would take care of it. He didn’t have a sister. He had a brother, but he left long ago with his parents. He remembered them, though. He leaned closer to the pretend sister lady and inhaled deeply. She gently pushed him away.

“Although they didn’t actually catch him on camera stealing the items, the manager did a careful inventory reconciliation between the scanner and the shelving tracker and was able to pinpoint the missing items to when Archie was in the store.”

The pretend sister looked at Archie and shook her head and Archie looked down, pouting. The DSS worker continued.

“The store owner doesn’t want to press charges, but he did make a report to us, and now it’s our problem. Without any concrete proof, and no formal action, our hands are tied, but we do have enough to have this conversation. As his sister, you need to know what he’s up to when unsupervised.”

The woman next to him heaved a deep sigh and put her hand on his. “Oh, Archie.” She turned to the DSS worker. “We’ll keep a closer eye on him. Of course, we’re not going to restrict his movement, and we will continue encouraging him to live as independently as feasible, but we won’t let this happen again. Archie has a cash card he’s supposed to use for these kinds of purchases. He’s got money. I don’t know why he still does this. What do you have to say for yourself, Archie?”

Archie hung his head and shrugged. The woman leaned in and continued. “Can you tell the lady why you took the candy bars? Were you hungry? Did someone ask you to do it?  Did you lose your cash card?”

“I don’t know yet,” Archie mumbled.

“Was it because you were hungry?” the woman persisted.

“I didn’t thay that.” The woman stared hard at him. “I’m thorry,” Archie finally admitted.

The woman looked back at the DSS worker. “Thank you for letting us know. We’ll get it sorted out.”

***

The woman stared straight ahead as they rode home in silence.  Archie knew better than to ask any questions.

They pulled up to the house and went inside. Serena waited at the door.

“Archie?”

“Hi, Therena.”

“How did it go?” Serena asked the woman, turning in her direction, maneuvering her walker. The woman remained standing in the entrance.

“As well as could be expected. He’s…”

Serena held up a hand to stop her. “Wait, I’m having trouble. Let me…”  Serena reached up behind her right ear and massaged. The woman scowled impatiently. “There. What were you saying?”

“I said, he’s a very good thief. They couldn’t prove he took anything, but only pinpointed an inventory discrepancy to the time window when he was there. The owner isn’t looking to make trouble. The DSS worker did what she had to do. I’d let it go.”

Serena heaved a sigh of relief.

“That’s wonderful.” She turned to Archie. “You can’t keep doing this, Archie. We can’t have them snooping around. Please be more careful.”

The woman turned toward the door.

“I’ll need that payment. These trips are getting more expensive. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be available to do this.”

Serena turned back to her. “Oh no, is everything all right?”

The woman waved her hand. “Nothing to worry about. I just have other responsibilities. Do you have someone else lined up?”

“I’ll check. Thank you. We’ll make sure you get your money.”

***

Serena sat with Adam, forearms clasped, touch talking.

She said we may have to get a replacement sister for Archie. But that would mean we might have to move again. God, I hate that I can’t go out with him!

The government agencies are easy to deceive.

I know, but we have to be careful. Archie might slip. I know they vet those women, but what if one makes a mistake?

Archie is fine. He does this well. I need him in the community gathering information. Perhaps for not much longer, though.

What do you mean?

Things are moving. It may end soon. Then we’ll be free.

Are you sure? Oh, Adam, please be careful.

Don’t worry. I want us to be safe. For us, not them.

I love you.

I love you, too.

Serena departed and Adam turned to his patterns, assessing the locations of all the pieces and their trajectories. He rechecked his encrypted communication applications. Still nothing from the messenger. Infrequent contact was expected, but no less a source of apprehension. This was the riskiest part of the plan. He trusted the grendel to protect Bibi while he maneuvered the adversary into position.

There were other ways to find the information he wanted. His fingers flew across the haptic pad, and his forearm tickled from the feedback from the sleeves he wore. 

Out in the living room, the TV blared the opening music of Archie’s wrestling show, the volume turned all the way up.

Adam sent messages to their gaming group, making especially sure that TSgt Harry Bulow, of Great Falls, Montana, would be online this evening. The specially configured server on which they played Hyperion Quest had Adam’s latest modifications to harvest data for updating the emulations. As anticipated, the government made many changes in response to his probe, most of which he already solved. Their unwitting accomplice Harry would assist with any remaining ones. 

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