It was late morning when the tracker alearted him that his charge was on the move once again. Quickly, he threw on a warm jacket and hat, then ran down to catch a bus.
Once a few blocks away from his destination, he disembarked and looked at his watch. He tapped a button on the side, and the tracker appeared. After a brief look, he tapped the button again, bringing back the digital numbers, and ran off in the direction indicated. Finally his charge came into view, entering a discount supply store. He settled onto a bench to wait for her to return to view.
Eventually, she did and, along with her brother, was carrying armloads of blankets.
Vhat are you doing? he wondered to himself with a raised eyebrow. He watched as they caught a cab, then caught one himself, asking the driver to follow it at a discreet distance.
"What, do you think this is one of those movies? We don't work like that here no more. Now, where you wanna go, bub?"
He thought a moment, thought about what he'd been told of his charge, and remembered the armloads of blankets. "Vhere are dhere lots of homeless people?" he asked.
"You could try Alphabet City."
"Alphabet City?"
"Yeah, you wanna go there or not, I don't got all day."
He slid into the back seat of the cab, "Yes, I'll be going. Dahnk ou."
After watching the pair hand out blankets, he followed them onto the metro train. He placed himself in a spot where he could easily watch the entire car, and for his charge's safety.
Something was wrong; she did not look very well; he disembarked the subway a few passengers behind the pair and came up into daylight.
They were at Ground Zero.
Now, he stood leaning against a building. To passers-by he seemed to be holding a long, thoughtful conversation with someone on the other end of his cell phone, but his eyes were locked on the stripe-haired siblings.
He winced as she dropped to her knees, and wished to heaven he could help her, but no. His job was to look out for her, and nothing more. His heart went out to her though. From what his "boss" had told him, she was a special young woman with a deep running soul.
They stayed there like that for a long while, then her brother helped her to her feet, and they moved toward the city streets.
He soon followed, lost in the crowd behind them.