“Are you going to take this foreign monkey’s word over ours?” the man who accused Bazel asked. “No way.”
“Then where is your wallet?” Atlas pressed the man against the wall and frisked him, coming up with a wallet from his jacket pocket. “This one? He stole this one? And you expect me to believe that he put it back in your packet too?” He was so angry, and grateful when two other cars showed up. “Take them all in for assault. Which ones hit you?” he asked Bazel calmly.
“He did,” Bazel said, pointing to the man Atlas was holding.
“Then we’ll add battery to his list of charges, as well as hate crimes,” he told the four men in jeans and “No Immigrant” shirts, before they were each cuffed and put in the back of the cars. “Bazel, you get in the front seat, and once I load the rest of these suspects, we’ll drop them at the station and I’ll take you home.”
“You know this guy?” the chief suspect asked.
“Yes. He’s a friend of mine. You boys really picked on the wrong person today. He wouldn’t hurt anyone, and he would never steal. So I’d say today was a very, very, very bad day for all of you.” Atlas got him in the back of the car in front of Evie’s enclosure, where she kept an eagle eye in the stranger. Then hehelped Bazel into the front seat of the cruiser before heading to the station.
“So, do you always hang out with commies?” the man said as soon as Atlas put the car in gear. “Or maybe you like that kind of person. Maybe you aren’t an American?”
“And maybe you need to keep quiet.” Atlas jammed on the brakes, ensuring the suspect flew forward. “Do you understand?” He didn’t get an answer and was able to drive the rest of the way in peace. At the station, it was statements and plenty of paperwork.
“Am I going to have to go to court?” Bazel asked as he sat at Atlas’s desk once again, pulling in and trying to look as small as possible.
“I don’t think so. Just as I hoped, they’re all telling what happened to try to save their skins. We will have enough statements and witnesses to get all of them into plenty of trouble.” He slid into his chair with Evie next to him on the floor and spent time typing up his report, and then he took a statement from Bazel, asking him what happened and when.
“Am I in trouble?” he asked, looking around. “Are you mad at me?”
“No. You didn’t do anything wrong, and of course I’m not mad at you. But I am going to have you review your statement with Carter.” It would divide the duties and not allow it to look like he was trying to railroad anyone. Though between him, Carter, and Red, they had plenty of incriminating evidence. “Did they hurt you badly? Is there anything that hurts?”
Bazel shrugged. “Only pride. They scared me. I was just walking, and they began calling me names, and I ran, but they run too. They catch me just before you arrived.”
He leaned forward. “I’m glad you called me. No one should act like they did.” Carter arrived and escorted Bazel away. Atlaswanted to run after him and try to help him to keep all the bad things at bay.
“It will be fine,” Red told him as he stood next to his desk. “Carter isn’t going to be rough or anything, you know that. But you can’t be the one to officially take his statement.”
“I know. It’s just that I hate seeing him scared like this. And it seems he spends a lot of his time that way.” He saved the document he was typing. “All he did was decide that he wanted to go for a walk and got himself a little lost. Then guys like that, because he talks a little differently, decided that he deserved some of their small-minded ire.” He wanted to shake all of them until their brains scrambled. Instead, he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He’d gotten there in time and Bazel was safe. That was what truly mattered.
He stared at the computer screen, his heart beating in his ears. If he had been just a little while later, god knows what those men might have done. The thought of Bazel hurt sent a chill running up his spine that didn’t stop. Evie whined and lifted her head. When Atlas turned to her, she sneezed and then stared at him like he was a fool. And he knew he was. Atlas had been denying his growing feelings for Bazel, and his growing worry that there was something they didn’t know about. He had been trained to always look for the things hiding around the corner, and he couldn’t help wondering just what that might be.
Atlas pulled his attention back to his work and finished up his report. By the time Carter brought Bazel back to his desk, they both seemed a little frazzled around the edges. “Is everything okay?” he asked Carter.
“Yes. Bazel was pretty clear in what he told us, and we don’t believe that he stole anything. But our suspect is making quite a fuss.” He grinned. “We haven’t told him that all his friends have turned on him and he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. But we’llget to that.” He rubbed his hands together. “I get to be the one to break that little bit of news.”
“You’re naughty,” Atlas told him. “And you can have that particular pleasure. Evie, Bazel, and I are going to go on home. I think we’ve all had enough excitement for one day, and tomorrow she and I have attack training.”
“I don’t envy you,” Carter said. “They brought in a new instructor, and the word is that she’s a real ball buster.”
Atlas smiled down at Evie. “This one’s a good girl. Evie is going to be the best ever.”
Bazel spoke up. “She’s a great dog, and she saved us.” He knelt and gave her pets. “Sorry, she working. I forgot.” He stood, and Atlas said good night before leaving the station.
He went through his normal routine as soon as they got home, but Bazel didn’t stay in the house. He went outside. Atlas watched him through the window, working in one of the beds. Atlas joined him once Evie had eaten and found him standing still, looking at the flowers.
“Is that what people think? What those men were saying?” Bazel asked.
“No. It’s what stupid people think. And it isn’t everyone by a long shot. I don’t feel that way, and neither do the other people you’ve met. They were not good people, and we’re going to see to it that they get what they deserve.” He put his hands on Bazel’s shoulders. “I wish that had never happened to you. There was nothing you did to deserve it.”
“Are you sure?” Bazel asked.
“Yes. I’m very sure. You did nothing at all to deserve that kind of treatment, and there are people here who care for you.” Bazel stood quietly, without saying anything, which only made Atlas wonder what he was thinking.
Chapter 10
HIS THOUGHTSran a little wild, and Bazel hoped he understood Atlas correctly. When Atlas said that he cared for him, did that mean what Bazel thought? His heart raced and he kept playing Atlas’s words in his mind. He was pretty sure he knew what they meant, and no matter how he parsed them, he came back to the same thing.
