Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Chapter 455: Chapter 211: Graffiti (3)

"We have a safe house."

"A safe house?" Luigi let out a dry, cold laugh. "You’re students, not secret agents. Do you have any idea what the penalty is for harboring a Federation fugitive?"

"This isn’t Washington," Ben retorted. "This is the Brooklyn District."

"The landlords, the shop owners, even the homeless people here—they’ve all been screwed over by the insurance companies. They all despise those bloodsucking vampires in suits."

"We know someone."

Ben thought of Granny Rosa.

The Latina woman who lived on the top floor of an old apartment building, whose husband had killed himself after the insurance company denied his claim.

"She has an attic nobody knows about. She’d be more than happy to offer you a bed and some hot soup."

Luigi looked at the two young people.

Their eyes were filled with something he found unfamiliar.

It was hope.

Or perhaps some kind of blind fanaticism.

They didn’t know him, but they identified with him.

In this strange city of steel, he had actually found his own kind.

In the distance, police sirens wailed again, growing closer.

Luigi didn’t have much time left to think.

In his current condition, there was no way he could outrun those well-trained police officers.

If he stayed in this alley, he’d be discovered before dawn.

"Lead the way."

Luigi pulled his hand out of his pocket.

He didn’t pull out a gun, just hitched the heavy backpack higher on his shoulder.

"If you try anything funny,"

Luigi’s voice was cold.

"I’ll kill you first, then myself."

"Don’t worry, man."

Ben picked up the spray paint can and the bucket of paste from the ground, shoving them into his backpack.

"In this city, people who sell out their friends end up worse than dead."

Ben took Chloe’s hand and turned to walk toward the other end of the alley.

"Keep up,"

Ben said without looking back.

"And don’t step on any rats."

Luigi forced his stiff legs to move and followed the two students, disappearing into the intricate shadows of Pittsburgh.

...

「Thirty minutes later.」

A battered old Honda Civic pulled up in front of a red-brick apartment building.

Ben hopped out of the car and looked left and right.

The street was empty, save for a stray cat rummaging through the trash on top of a garbage can.

"Quick."

Ben opened the back door.

Luigi crawled out.

He looked up at the old building.

Peeling paint, broken windows—a typical dilapidated slum building.

"Third floor, on the left."

Ben pointed upward.

"Granny Rosa isn’t asleep yet. Around this time, she’s always preparing breakfast for the next day for the neighborhood’s homeless."

"Go knock. Three long, one short."

"It’s the code."

Luigi looked at Ben.

"Aren’t you coming up?"

"We can’t." Ben shook his head. "The fewer people, the safer it is."

Ben paused, looking at Luigi.

"Take care, man."

Luigi was silent for two seconds.

"Thanks,"

he said very quietly.

Ben and Chloe got into the car. Its taillights cut a red line through the darkness, quickly disappearing around the corner.

Luigi stood alone at the entrance to the building.

He adjusted his hoodie, hiding the face the entire United States was looking for, and stepped into the stairwell.

The wooden stairs groaned with a creak.

Third floor.

On the left.

Luigi stood before the mottled wooden door.

He raised his hand, hesitating for a moment.

Then, he knocked.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

KNOCK.

Footsteps sounded from inside.

"Who is it?"

A weary, elderly female voice asked from within.

Luigi didn’t say anything.

The lock turned and the door opened a crack, held by a security chain.

A wary eye peered out through the gap.

They were eyes that had weathered many storms, the corners etched with wrinkles.

Granny Rosa looked at the young man outside her door.

Her hand trembled slightly.

Just a minute before Luigi knocked, she had received a text from Ben.

The text was simple, just a photo and a few words.

The photo was a screenshot of Luigi’s wanted poster, and the words read: "He’s one of us. Open the door."

Rosa deleted the text.

She had seen those eyes on television.

They were the eyes of the fugitive from the news, the one with a fifty-thousand-US-Dollar bounty on his head.

They were also the eyes of the avenger she had dreamed of becoming countless times.

Rosa undid the security chain.

The door slowly swung open.

Warm, yellow light spilled out, illuminating Luigi.

"Come in, child."

Rosa’s voice carried a reassuring firmness.

"There are no wanted posters here."

"Only hot soup."

Luigi stepped over the threshold and into this unfamiliar place.

The door closed behind him, shutting out the entire world’s pursuit.