Up ahead Mike saw DJ Huff bear right down another street. It looked like he had a cell phone pressed against his ear. Mike hurried to catch up to him… but then what would he do? Again. Grab him and say, “Aha!” Maybe. Maybe he would just follow him, see where he was going. Mike didn’t know what was going on here, but he didn’t like it. Fear started nibbling at the base of his brain.
He veered right.
And the Huff boy was gone.
Mike pulled up. He tried to gauge the speed, how much time had elapsed. There was one club about a quarter of the way down the block. That was the only visible door. DJ Huff had to have gone in there. The line outside the place was long-the longest Mike had seen. Had to be a hundred kids. The crowd was a mix-the emos, Latinos, African Americans, even a few of what they used to call yuppies.
Wouldn’t Huff have had to wait on line?
Maybe not. There was a super-huge bodyguard behind a velvet rope. A stretch limousine pulled up. Two leggy girls stepped out. A man nearly a foot shorter than the leggy girls took his seemingly rightful place between them. The super-huge bouncer opened the velvet rope-this rope being about ten feet long-and let them right in.
Mike sprinted toward the entrance. The bouncer-a big black guy with arms the relative thickness of your average hundred-year-old redwood-gave Mike a bored look, as if Mike were an inanimate object. A chair maybe. A disposable razor.
“I need to get in,” Mike said.
“Name.”
“I’m not on any list.”
The bouncer just looked at him some more.
“I think my son might be inside. He’s underage.”
The bouncer said nothing.
“Look,” Mike said, “I don’t want any trouble-”
“Then get to the end of the line. Though I don’t think you’ll get in anyway.”
“This is something of an emergency. His friend just came in two seconds ago. His name is DJ Huff.”
The bouncer took a step closer. First his chest, big enough to use as a squash court, then the rest of him. “I’m going to have to ask you to move now.”
“My son is underage.”
“I heard you.”
“I need to get him out or it could mean big trouble.”
The bouncer ran his catcher-mitt hand across his cleanly shaven black dome. “Big trouble, you say?”
“Yes.”
“My, my, now I’m really worried.”
Mike reached into his wallet, peeled off a bill.
“Don’t bother,” the bouncer said. “You’re not getting in.”
“You don’t understand.”
The bouncer took another step. His chest was almost against Mike’s face now. Mike closed his eyes, but he didn’t step back. Hockey training-you don’t back down. He opened his eyes and stared at the big man.
“Back up,” Mike said.
“You’re going to be leaving us now.”
“I said, back up.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m here to find my son.”
“There is no one underage in here.”
“I want to go in.”
“Then get on the end of the line.”
Mike kept his eyes locked on the big man’s. Neither moved. They looked like prizefighters, albeit in different weight classes, being given instructions at center ring. Mike could feel a crackle in the air. He felt a tingle in his limbs. He knew how to fight. You don’t get that far in hockey without knowing how to use your fists. He wondered if this guy was for real or just show muscle.
“I’m going inside,” Mike said.
“You serious?”
“I have friends with the police department,” Mike said, a total bluff. “They’ll raid the place. If you have underage kids in here, you’ll go down.”
“My, my. I’m scared again.”
“Get out of my way.”
Mike stepped to the right. The big bodyguard followed him, blocking his path.
“You realize,” the big bouncer said, “that this is about to get physical.”
Mike knew the cardinal rule: Never, ever show fear. “Yup.”
“A tough guy, eh.”
“You ready to go?”
The bouncer smiled. He had terrific teeth, pearly white against his black skin. “No. Do you want to know why? Because even if you are tougher than I think, which I doubt, I got Reggie and Tyrone right there.” He pointed with this thumb to two other big guys dressed in black. “We aren’t here to prove our manhood by taking on some dumb ass, so we don’t need to fight fair. If you and I ‘go’ ”-he said it in a way that mocked Mike’s voice-“they’ll join in. Reggie has got a police Taser. You understand?”
The bouncer folded his arms across his chest, and that was when Mike spotted the tattoo.
It was a green letter D on his forearm.
“What’s your name?” Mike asked.
“What?”
“Your name,” Mike said to the bouncer. “What is it?”
“Anthony.”
“And your last name?”
“What’s it to you?”
Mike pointed to his arm. “The D tattoo.”
“That has nothing to do with my name.”
“ Dartmouth?”
Anthony the bouncer stared at him. Then he nodded slowly.
“You?”
“Vox clamantis in deserto,”Mike said, reciting the school’s motto.
Anthony handled the translation: “A voice crying in the wilderness.” He smiled. “Never quite got that.”
“Me neither,” Mike said. “You play ball?”
“Football. All-Ivy. You?”
“Hockey.”
“All-Ivy?”
“And All-American,” Mike said.
Anthony arched an eyebrow, impressed.
“You have any children, Anthony?”
“I have a three-year-old son.”
“And if you thought your kid was in trouble, would you, Reggie and Tyrone be able to stop you from getting inside?”
Anthony let loose a long breath. “What makes you so sure your kid is inside?”
Mike told him about seeing DJ Huff in the varsity jacket.
“That kid?” Anthony shook his head. “He didn’t come in here. You think I’d let some chicken-ass in a high school varsity jacket in? He ran down that alley.”
He pointed about ten more yards up the street.
“Any idea where it goes?” Mike asked.
“Dead-ends, I think. I don’t go back there. No reason to. It’s for junkies and the like. Now I need a favor from you.”
Mike waited.
“Everyone is watching us going at it here. I just let you go, I lose cred-and out here I live on cred. You know what I’m saying?”
“I do.”
“So I’m going to cock my fist and you’re going to run off like a scared little girl. You can run down the alley if you want. Do you understand me?”
“Can I ask one thing first?”
“What?”
Mike reached into his wallet.
“I already told you,” Anthony said. “I don’t want-”
Mike showed him a picture of Adam.
“Have you seen this kid?”
Anthony swallowed hard.
“This is my son. Have you seen him?”
“He’s not in here.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Never seen him. And now?”
Anthony grabbed Mike by the lapel and cocked his fist. Mike cowered and screamed, “Please don’t, okay, I’m sorry, I’m going!” He pulled back. Anthony let him go. Mike started to run. Behind him he heard Anthony say, “Yeah, boy, you better run…”
Some of the patrons applauded. Mike sprinted down the block and turned into the alley. He almost tripped over a row of dented trash cans. Broken glass crunched beneath his feet. He stopped short, looked ahead, and saw yet another hooker. Or at least he figured that she was a hooker. She leaned against a brown Dumpster as if it were a part of her, another limb, and if it was gone she would fall and never get up. Her wig was a purplish hue and looked like something stolen from David Bowie’s closet in 1974. Or maybe Bowie ’s dented trash can. It looked like bugs were crawling in it.