Lord of the Orphanage: Full of Holes

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            “Adam, stop your pacing,” Judie groaned from under his ridiculous captain’s hat. 

Adam shot him a barely-contained glare. “No.”

Judie sighed and sat up, plonking his elbows down on the table and the hat next to them. “We know where she is, we know who has her, we’re closer to getting her back than we have been in weeks,” Judie’s eyes tracked Adam’s down-turned brow as he paced. “So why are you drilling troughs in my floor with both your heels and your eyeballs?”

“Lay off Judie, you’re no fool, you know exactly why I’m pacing,” Adam snapped. “We might be closer to getting her back but she’s still in just as much danger as before, maybe more.” His pace quickened. “Collsworth is dangerous; who knows what he’ll do to her if he’s provoked! Or what he’s already done to her.” He paused his step, then resumed. “She’s still in just as much danger as before,” he repeated. “Collsworth might decide to threaten her safety if he feels threatened by us.” 

He finally sat down in front of Judie and dropped his head into his hands. “And there are just so many ways this plan of ours could go wrong.” 

Judie regarded him from across the desk for a moment, yellow eyes inscrutable. He stuck his feet up on the desk and turned away towards the window. 

“Well there’s nothing to be gained from worrying about it, it’s all we can do to plan. And no matter how full of holes our plan is, its the best chance Rosie’s got.” He turned his eyes back to Adam. “You said it yourself, she’ll be killed as soon as Collsworth realizes your father won’t pay the ransom. We have to get her out now, and that means we have no choice but to take this risk.” He laced his hands behind his head and watched his friend carefully.

Adam was silent for a long few seconds. Then he raised his head and sat back in the chair, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “You give good advice for a man who’s never been worried a day in his life.”

Judie grinned his trademark crazy grin. “I’m a wise fellow, what can I say!”

Adam rolled his eyes and reached for pen and paper. “I’m going to go through the plan again, make sure we can get it down to as few holes as possible.”

Judie plopped the hat back down over his face. “You go ahead and do that. I shall sit here and take a nap.”

Adam snorted, and the two men set to their work.


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