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of us will go down there to let them in. That’ll give you time to hide.”
    â€œHide where, Luke?” Ana asked. “If the agents come outhere, they’ll do a thorough search.”
    â€œNot without a warrant, they won’t.”
    â€œOh, honey, they can get those in a heartbeat these days.”
    He took a deep breath and let it out through soft lips. He sounded like a deflating balloon. “I’ll need to build some kind of hidden compartment,” he said. “Let me think about it.”
    â€œThe feed room,” Mouse said.
    â€œWhat, baby?”
    â€œHe could hide in the feed room.”
    Luke considered that for a minute. “Not bad,” he said. “The construction’s pretty rough in there. I could move a wall out, leave a space behind it. No fancy carpentry needed, not like building a false bookcase or something like that.”
    â€œI hate to press you,” Ana said, “but is there any way you could do it tonight? We’ll all pitch in. The thing is, they might very well show up tomorrow. I don’t think Kareem’s at the top of their list, but all the same—there are just too many signs that point to us.”
    She raised one finger. “Hanif and I work together and we’re friends. I was very clearly upset about the arrest.” Second finger. “Then right after he was taken away, I called Sky—they can get hold of our phone records and it’ll show the exact time—then I left the hospital and was gone for over an hour.” A third finger. “At the same time, right afterour phone call, Sky got Kareem out of class. And the agents know that, because she was called to the principal’s office while they were there—”
    â€œWhat?” Luke was horrified. “You’re just now telling me this?”
    â€œIt doesn’t change anything, okay?” They glared at each other for a couple of seconds. “It’s just what happened.”
    â€œI can’t stand this,” Kareem said, suddenly getting to his feet. “I really can’t. I don’t want to get you all in trouble. Please just take me home. If they arrest me, fine. At least I’ll be with my dad. I really, really don’t want to do this.”
    â€œKareem—” Ana’s voice took on a soothing tone. “Honey, just before your dad…left…he saw me standing nearby, and he said—just mouthing the words, of course, so the men wouldn’t hear—he said, ‘ Please , take care of Kareem!’
    â€œNow think about that for a minute—there he was, at this terrible moment in his life, and his one concern was for you and your safety. When I nodded yes, that I’d take care of you, he looked so relieved—like he could handle anything so long as he knew you were safe. Please, honey, stay here for him. It’s what he wanted. Do it for your dad.”
    Kareem sat in stony silence.
    After about a minute Luke got up from his chair.
    â€œSky,” he said, “grab a couple of flashlights. Let’s go out and look at the feed room.”

13
A Hiding Place
    B Y THE LIGHT OF TWO battery-powered Coleman lanterns, plus the windups from the house, Luke pried the plywood panels off the left side wall of the feed room, exposing the studs and the plywood nailed to the other side, which lined Peanut’s stall. Using leftover timber from the greenhouse project and some odd bits of wood from the garage, he built a sloppy but serviceable frame to support a new wall, about eighteen inches in from where the old one had been.
    The feed room was ten feet square, two and a half plywood panels per wall. The half panel, attached to the corner stud with self-closing hinges, would serve as the entry door to the hiding place. There would have to be a handle on the inside, for pulling the door open, as well as a bolt for fastening it shut. But Luke couldn’t attachthem with nails. The panels