Jakub quickly discerned that he would need human currency if he was going to survive this fucked up trip to Earth. Everywhere he went they wanted currency. Greedy little bastards and no one understood the Kelmarian Credit System which was entirely electronic. The only thing required to access your funds was a wrist com or an interface. The main thing about the credits system was its simplicity. Other the other hand, this earth currency was confusing and antiquated. From what he had seen observing humans, they used little plastic cards for some financial transactions and much to his disbelief, their actual currency was made of paper! How stupid was this race of humans? Perhaps his father had been right after all and they needed extermination. Then he remembered that they were considered an evolving race and needed several hundred more years for their technology to catch up to what was normal on Kelmar today. In two hundred years, Kelmarian technology would be more advanced. It was a vicious cycle, and the dumbass Earthlings would always be a couple hundred years behind. He just wrapped up that thought knowing that he was part of the superior race.

Jakub was accustomed to a certain level of luxury that regrettably seemed out of reach at the moment. Yes, he would need a lot of the strange human currency to exchange for that luxury. Pure luck enabled him to find the homeless shelter. He never thought he would be so desperate as to need charity, but desperate times, as they say, call for desperate measures. The shelter provided a very basic immediate need, but it certainly was nowhere near a long-term solution. The usual people that took advantage of this shelter considered it luxurious. Jakub laughed to himself imagining what some of these men would think if they saw his third-floor suite at home. Unfortunately, he wasn't at home and the only thing standing between himself and his accustomed standard of living apparently was human currency.

The concrete apron in front of the shelter, which he learned people called a sidewalk, was busy again today. Jakub watched as everything from distinguished gentlemen in expensive suits to teen boys with ripped jeans scooting along on boards equipped with wheels crossed the sidewalk in front of him.

Perhaps he could just 'borrow' some human currency from a random hapless soul. That was when he saw the sign that changed things. 'The Tool Box' was the name and under the name was 'Gay Bar' flashing in hot pink neon. It seemed to call out to Jakub. He grinned. Even on another planet, he knew what that meant … hot boys, hot sex and the added benefit of a chance to pocket some of that paper human currency.

Jakub strolled up to the door and was about to head inside when a huge ugly man, clad in leather and sporting a scruffy beard, stopped him.

"ID, twinky boy," the man said harshly. Jakub had no idea what the man was talking about. Perhaps it was a human greeting?

"And ID twinky boy to you too," Jakub said, trying to conform with local customs.

"Smart ass," the man growled. "Let me see your identification or you ain't getting' in," the man said gruffly. That, Jakub understood. Apparently, this gentleman, and he used that term loosely, had no sense of humor given the scowl on his face. Jakub fished out his school identification card from the chain under his shirt. It had worked at the hotel. It should work here too. He presented it to the man who looked at it with a sneer.

"What's this? A Cracker Jack prize? I've seen way better fakes than this. Hit the road, twinky boy. No valid ID, no entry." That's not what Jakub wanted to hear and that caused a sudden large surge of anger. He grabbed the big man roughly by the balls and squeezed down hard.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but I'm going into this questionable establishment. If you want to keep your manhood intact." Jakub squeezed even harder. "Then you'll get the fuck out of my way and let me inside. Otherwise," Jakub forcefully twisted his hand and the man squeaked. He actually squeaked. "I'm gonna rip off your balls and feed them to wild boars. Do we have an understanding?" A look of pure terror was on the man's face. In his job, he often ran into less than desirable people. The boy in front of him topped his list of frightening people.

The man's expression kind of reminded Jakub of Alesky's expression just before he'd snuffed the boy's life out, but right now, he was too angry to give that much thought. This troll of a man stood between him, hot sex and human currency. Jakub reached down with his other hand and thumped his finger hard against the man's balls causing another loud squeak. "I asked if we had an understanding." The man nodded his head quickly. Jakub loosened his death grip and the man physically relaxed. Jakub quickly squeezed back down hard which caused the man to whimper. "Just making sure. I don't want any trouble." The man once again nodded his head quickly. Jakub released the man's balls and patted him on the cheek. "You have a rewarding day." He turned and headed into the bar.

After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jakub immediately spotted a cute boy at the bar. The establishment was fairly busy for the middle of the afternoon, but the boy stood out like a beacon. He somewhat reminded him of his roommate Dominik. He grinned as he made his way over and slid into place right next to the cutie. The boy turned to Jakub and smiled.

"I've got an eight-inch fuck machine between my legs and it's just begging to get out and stretch," Jakub said seductively. The boy raised an eyebrow.

"You don't fuck around with small talk, do you?"

"No, I fuck. I fuck long and hard especially with cute boys just like you." The boy smiled.

"In that case, my apartment is just around the corner," the boy said and Jakub grinned. Things were working out just fine. His charm hadn't failed him yet.

"Trevor," the boy said, holding out his hand for a shake. Jakub looked down at the hand. Now was the time to establish his dominance.

"You can call me 'harder' or 'oh God,' whichever you prefer," Jakub said with a sneer. The boy's eyes widened and then he smiled a big smile.

"Come on," the boy said grabbing Jakub's hand and leading him quickly out of the bar.

Half an hour later, the boy lay naked on his bed, covered in spunk and gasping for breath. His throat was sore and his ass was on fire, but there was a smile on his face. Jakub snatched the boy's boxers off the end of the bed, wiped himself clean and discarded the soiled garment on the floor. He cinched up his trousers and grabbed the boy's pants off the floor. He pulled out a wallet stuffed with human currency. Jakub smiled, shoved the currency into his pocket and left the boy to catch his breath.

*    *    *    *    *

Joel looked back at the screen to confirm what he was afraid he already knew. The standard biometric signature monitoring scanner showed that an unknown person had teleported from a storage locker near the hanger bay. That had to be the boy they were looking for. Everyone in the Watcher Complex was registered with their unique signature in the main database. The unknown signature had to be the boy they were looking for. He accessed the information provided by the Kelmar Investigation Service and compared it to the signature recorded from the locker. They were a perfect match. Joel knew he had to let everyone know as soon as possible. Kibbeth's son had somehow evaded his security and slipped right through his fingers. Now the boy could be anywhere. This was bad and it reflected poorly on Joel. He decided to investigate the locker before sounding the alarm. He wanted to make sure everything was covered. First, he notified his security team to stand guard at the locker. He might find a clue there.

Joel was greeted by a member of his security team at the storage locker door. He nodded in greeting and proceeded into the locker. Joel looked around. It was a basic locker for cleaning supplies, but he did find two things of interest. First thing he found was a map of Earth carelessly laid out on the back counter. Second, he found a magazine opened to an article about the actor Timothee Chalamet. After a quick scan of the article, Joel moved to the coms device on the storage locker wall.

"Paulik here."

"It's Joel. The biometric signature scanner picked up a teleport from a storage locker down here next to the hanger bay. I compared it to the signature provided by KIS. It was a perfect match to Kibbeth's son. I'm down at the locker now. From the evidence I found here, he probably teleported to a young movie star in New York. We need to follow up with this star and see if he knows anything."

"Let Jevic and Cameron handle this. Two teen boys showing up at this young man's house will be a lot better than an armed security detail."

"Agreed. I'll contact them right now." Joel closed the coms with Paulik and quickly made his way back to the command center. He stepped into his ready room. He accessed his interface and brought up all the evidence he had on Kibbeth's son. Then he opened his coms.

"Hi Joel," Jevic said, looking down at his wrist com. We were walking down the sidewalk on our way to school. While we were out in the open, my tingling was keeping a watch for anything out of the ordinary. Being constantly on watch was tiring and it was a drain on my tingling, but it was necessary. Afterall, there was someone out to get us.

"Jevic, we have a lead on Kibbeth's son and I need your help." Jevic stopped in his tracks and gestured for me to listen as well.

"Okay, Cameron is here too."

"Great. Here's what I know. The biometric signature scanner detected that he teleported from a storage locker near the hanger bay."

"Joel, my tingling hasn't detected anything unusual. I don't think he's near us."

"From the evidence I found, he's teleported to an actor's home in New York City."

"How would he be able to do that?" I asked Joel.

"You know you can teleport to anyone as long as you know them. I found a magazine article in the storage locker that contained enough personal information about this actor to allow for a teleport. It's the only lead we have," Joel explained.

"Who's the actor?"

"Timothee Chalmet."

"Do you have an address or exact location?"

"I'm accessing the biometric signature scanner interface now. I'll send the coordinates directly to your coms in just a few moments. We'll need to know about the actor's interaction with, ah Jakub. That's the boy's name. We need to know everything the boy said. Anything that will give us a clue as to where he is. Once you have that, notify me immediately and we'll take it from there. We wanted you two to make the initial contact. I didn't think a squad of armed security personnel would get very far trying to extract information."

"Agreed. I'm a big fan of his since he was in 'Call Me by Your Name.' It was a great movie," I said.

"Okay, I just sent the coordinates. Good luck you two." We looked at the message from Joel. We nodded to each other, entered the darkness and teleported. We appeared moments later in front of a startled Timothee Chalamet.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed standing up. "Not again?"

"Sorry to intrude, but did another boy show up here recently?"

"Yes, damn it. What is it with you people? How do you keep getting in my apartment?" Timothee asked angrily.

"Excuse us. I'm Cameron and this is my friend Jevic. We're trying to find a friend of ours that's gone missing and his trail led us here to you. Oh, by the way, I'm a huge fan. I loved your performance in 'Call Me by Your Name.'"

"I did that film years ago," he said dismissively.

"It still resonates with me. Your performance was excellent. I really enjoyed it," I said, hoping to bridge some type of friendship gap.

"Thanks for that," he said with a small smile. The smile disappeared abruptly. "Your friend showed up yesterday and left quite quickly when I called security, which I'm about to do again right now," he said firmly.

"No need. We're leaving. Can you tell us which way he went?"

"He went out the door, just as you're about to do." Timothee raised his cell phone to his ear. "Security. I have intruders in my apartment again. What am I paying you guys for? This is starting to get old. Send someone now, preferably armed," Timothee said sternly.

"We're out of here and thank you for the information," I said as Jevic and I headed for the door. We went out into the hall and quickly closed the door behind us.

"Friendly fellow," Jevic said sarcastically.

"Well, we did just pop in unannounced. Appearing out of thin air would scare anybody."

"True. Well, which way do you think he went?" Jevic asked as we headed down the corridor. We came across an elevator door just as the doors whooshed open and two armed security men came rushing out heading in the direction of Timothee's apartment.

"I think we need to exit this building post haste or we're going to end up in trouble with their security," I said to Jevic. He nodded and we headed into the elevator. I pushed the button for the lobby.

"This is a big city. It's going to be impossible to find him. There's what, eight or nine million people here?" Jevic pointed out as we reached the ground floor. I nodded and we headed across the atrium for the building exit. We came out on the sidewalk that was packed with people.

"We should contact Joel," Jevic suggested. I nodded and we moved up next to the building, out of the way of the throngs of people on the sidewalk. I accessed my wrist com.

"What did you find out?" Joel said in greeting.

"Not much other than he was here," I informed him. "Along with a very disgruntled actor."

"That doesn't give us a whole lot to go on but, at least we know where to start," Joel said. "Let me trace your location." He paused a moment. "Okay, you're on the Upper East Side of New York City. That's a very upscale neighborhood. There's a lot of wealth, something Jakub would be familiar with, but he won't have any human currency. That will put him at a severe disadvantage. Plus, he's unfamiliar with human culture and technology. That's another drawback. If I were him, I would be looking for a place to regroup, perhaps a hotel. What do you guys think?"

I thought about it for a minute and looked up and down the sidewalk. I saw a sign that might be a clue.

"There's a sign down the street for a men's shelter. That wouldn't require payment and they don't ask a lot of questions. That'd be perfect for him, although, as you said, not something he'd be familiar with. I still think we ought to check it out."

"That's a reasonable assumption," Joel agreed.

"Can you send us an updated picture of Jakub?" I asked.

"Good thinking, Cameron. Expect the picture in a few seconds and let me know what you find out."

"Done, thanks," I said and looked at Jevic. "Let's check it out." We walked a half block to the shelter and found a 'closed until four' sign on the door.

"Okay, Sherlock. What now?" Jevic asked with a grin. I pounded on the door, smirking the whole time. A few short moments later, a man appeared at the door.

"We open at four. You'll have to come back then," the man said and then prepared to close to door. I held up my coms watch with a picture of Jakub.

"Have you seen this guy? He's a friend of ours and has gone missing," I asked. The man squinted as he looked carefully at the picture.

"Yeah, he looks familiar. We don't get many young ones with long blond hair here, but you have to realize we house a hundred people here every night. I can't be absolutely sure."

"Thanks. That gives us something to go on. I appreciate your help." The man nodded and closed the door.

"We can always come back at four and keep an eye out for him," I said to Jevic, who was looking down the sidewalk.

"There's a gay bar just down there. What do you think?" he asked.

"You want to go to a gay bar now?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I think he may have gone there. He may still be there. Who knows unless we check it out."

"Is he even gay?"

"Well, he raped two guys, so I suppose it'd be a good assumption."

"Okay, let's check it out." We walked down the sidewalk to 'The Tool Box' and went to the front door. We were greeted by a big burly guy dressed in leather.

"I need to see some ID, twinky boys," the man said with a leer.

"And I need to know if you've ever seen this guy," I said right back, holding up a picture of Jakub. The man's eyes got big. He was visibly shaken and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, he was here last night. He's a right little bastard if you ask me," the man said as he discretely rubbed his crotch.

"I didn't ask you but thank you. He's a friend of ours that's gone missing and we're trying to find him. Mind if we go in and check around?" Jevic asked. The man nodded and moved out of the way. We walked inside. After giving our eyes a moment to adjust from the sunshine outside to the darkness inside, we walked over to the bar. A cute bartender approached us.

"Hey twinky boys. What can I get you?" the bartender asked with a grin.

"What's a twinky boy?" Jevic asked confused. I just grinned.

"You're a twinky boy," the bartender said with a matching grin.

"Excuse him. He's from another country. Have you seen this guy?" I asked as I held up my coms watch showing him a picture of Jakub. The bartender looked at the picture, then smiled.

"Hard to forget a pretty twink like that. Yeah, he was here last night. He wasn't here very long before he left with Trevor."

"Who's Trevor?"

"The pretty twinky boy at the end of the bar," the bartender said pointing out Trevor.

"Thanks," Jevic said. We moved down the bar and approached Trevor.

"Hi, Trevor," I said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously. I hooked my thumb and pointed to the bartender. Trevor grinned and nodded.

"I understand you met a friend of ours last night," Jevic started and Trevor frowned.

"Son of a bitch robbed me. I just got paid and the fucker took all my money," Trevor said angrily. I looked at Jevic. That sounded like our guy. I held up my coms watch and showed Trevor the picture. "Yeah, that's him. He's right nasty in bed, real aggressive, if you like that sort of thing. Hung too."

"Sounds like our friend, Jakub."

"He said I could call him 'harder' or 'oh God.' That's all the name I got out of the asshole."

"How much did he take?" I asked.

"Besides my ass, he stole a freakin' thousand dollars. That's all I had and I don't get paid again for another two weeks. I don't even know how I'm going to eat or even pay my rent."

"Did he happen to say where he was going?"

"I was catching my breath after he, well … anyway, he snuck out with my cash."

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Trevor. Jakub has gone missing and we're worried about him. Any idea where he might have gone?" I asked.

"No idea. Anywhere but here is just fine with me. No offense to you, but I hope he gets mugged or better yet, hit by a fuckin' bus. It's not often that I get played like that. Fucker was a real looker with that long blond hair and huge dick. He could be a porn star except for that 'better than you' attitude."

"Well, thanks, Trevor. You've been a real help. Good luck to you," I said shaking his hand.

"I hope you find him. Give him a ration of shit for me, will ya?" I nodded and we turned to leave. I spotted an ATM in the corner and headed that way. I withdrew five hundred dollars, my daily limit. Jevic smiled and nodded his head in agreement as to what I was going to do. We walked back over to Trevor and I handed him the money.

"I know that's not all you lost, but maybe this will help." Trevor looked down at the cash.

"For me?" he asked softly with his eyes glued to the money.

"Yes, it's for you. I know it's not much." Trevor accepted the cash and looked at us both.

"Thank you. Thank you very much. This means a whole lot."

*    *    *    *    *

Jakub went into another hotel. That first one left a bad taste in his mouth. Besides, this hotel, The Lowell, appeared to be much more luxurious than the first one. The lobby reeked of wealth and old money. The floors were marble. There were lamps everywhere creating a warm atmosphere. Art work, fresh flowers and ornate statues completed the ambience. The lady at the front desk was dressed impeccably.

"I need a room for the night." Ten minutes later Jakub was walking into his hotel room. "This is more like it," he said to himself as he glanced in the bathroom and saw the marble surround. There was a huge king bed with a half dozen pillows, plus a sitting area and an impressive balcony, complete with a perfectly trimmed boxwood hedge around the perimeter, all overlooking New York's impressive skyline. He took a quick shower. The hotel even included a extravagantly thick terry cloth robe with an embroidered logo of The Lowell Hotel. Impressive. Jakub enjoyed the luxurious feel of the robe as he relaxed on the couch. The meal he got at the soup kitchen had been free and filling, but it wasn't very tasty. He needed something to eat, something that was more in line with what his palate was used to. He chose to order room service. After quick check of the menu, he decided a nice filet mignon cooked a perfect medium rare along with a loaded baked potato with loads of butter and sour cream would do nicely. A fine bottle of wine would be the perfect accoutrement. He wondered about wines from Earth. He'd read about where the different grapes were grown and the wide variety of vintages. Looking at the room service menu, he was confused but ultimately chose an expensive French Bordeaux. He looked forward to that experience.

Thirty minutes later, a cute skinny young boy with long black hair showed up at his door pushing a cart with his dinner. His name tag read 'Timmy.' The meal was presented on Sterling Silver. Timmy opened the wine and poured it into a carafe for it to breathe, he explained. Whatever that meant. Jakub was more interested in Timmy as dessert.

"And what time to you get off work?" Jakub asked. The boy smiled shyly.

"Ten o'clock," he said softly.

"Why don't you stop by after you get off? I'll get you off again," Jakub said as seductively as he could. The boy blushed and nodded with a lopsided grin. Jakub handed the boy a piece of the human paper currency. It had twenty stamped at either end. That seemed to make the boy happy.

He savored his perfectly cooked steak. The wine choice was an excellent pairing. Then he turned to more important things, like exacting his revenge. The first order of business was finding his damn uncle. Chances were strong that he was at the Watcher Complex, which he'd just escaped from. He remembered the storage locker and would be able to teleport back there with no problem. Secretly navigating around the Complex and to actually find his uncle would present a challenge. A man of his position would certainly have a security detail with him at all times. He'd have to deal with that when he got there.

The second order of business was to find that kid named Cameron. Rumor had it that he was living on the planet surface in the town where he grew up. Some more investigative work needed to be done to figure out where that was. In the meantime, he had to survive on this loud stinky planet. The cash he'd taken from the boy at the bar would only get him so far, especially since this hotel cost him a third of his strange human paper currency.

Jakub accessed his coms. Nothing. Damnit. Then he remembered that to activate his com required registration with the Watcher Complex and that was not about to happen. He would just have to search for the kid the old fashioned way. He remembered seeing a sign for a hotel business center. Perhaps he'd be able to access the human interface and find that damn kid. He headed down to the lobby and inquired about the location of the center. He was directed to a room just off the lobby. There he found several workstations with keyboards and monitors. He'd learned about this technology in his Earth Social Studies class. Jakub sat down at a station and looked at the screen.

"Computer, search for a boy named Cameron." The blank screen stared back at him with its cursor blinking at him like a heartbeat. Nothing else happened. Jakub tried the keyboard and typed in the same question. Much to his chagrin, the screen remained blank. A man walked into the center and sat down at a station. Jakub watched him intently, then mimicked what the man did. A screen came up that said 'Google.' Jakub typed in his question again. Over a hundred thousand results were displayed.

"Fuck," Jakub explained and pounded his fist down on the desk. The man looked up.

"Need some help?" he offered. Jakub smiled.

"I'm trying to find a friend of mine. All I know is his name and that he had a friend that was killed, ah, I believe it was what you call a drive by shooting."

"Okay, let me see what I can do," the man offered. A minute later, the result came up. Jakub was ecstatic.

"That's perfect!" he exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"

Jakub now knew where Cameron lived. All he had to do was figure out how the antiquated human transport system worked. Jakub offered the man some human currency as thanks, but the man refused.

"Thank you very much for the offer, but it really was a simple solution. Perhaps I could offer you a drink up in my room." Jakub wasn't stupid and saw the opportunity for some more sex and perhaps he could get some more human currency.

"You are too kind. First, you helped me find my friend and now you're offering me refreshments. Thank you. That would be lovely."

Forty-five minutes later, Jakub walked back into his hotel room. The man had certainly been enthusiastic in bed. Jakub had to use every trick he knew to wear the man out enough to escape with the man's wallet. He examined the contents and found several plastic cards with numbers that looked promising. The currency wasn't as much as Jakub would have liked, but it would help. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He opened the door and saw his shy room service boy Timmy.

"Oh, it's ten o'clock already?" The timid boy gave him a bashful smile and nodded. "Please come in." That smile suddenly stirred a memory from Jakub's past. He'd not thought of Matyas in years. He shook his head to clear the past and bring the now into focus.

Jakub woke the next morning with his arms wrapped around someone. The boy, whose name was Timmy, was beside him. At first, the boy looked dead and Jakub panicked, but the boy moaned and moved a bit in his sleep.

"Oh, thank God," Jakub mumbled to himself. The shy Timmy turned out to be a lynx in bed and Jakub found himself trying hard to keep up with the boy's voracious sexual appetite. They'd gone well into the night pleasuring each other. Jakub rolled out of bed and headed for a much needed shower.

Room service showed up right on time with breakfast. His little tart was still in the bed, but the smell of coffee and bacon brought him staggering out of the suite's bedroom, naked.

"Mmmm, smells good," Timmy said. Jakub held out a glass of orange juice.

"Here, fresh squeezed." Timmy accepted the glass and drank it half down in one gulp.

"You're quite the lover," Timmy said with a smile as he snatched the terry cloth robe off the couch and covered himself.

"I was just inspired by how amazing you are," Jakub stated in a rare moment of sweetness.

"I know, right? I should come with a warning label. I hope you didn't mind, but I get tend to get a bit carried away and love to top from the bottom."

"No complaints here. None whatsoever." Jakub said with a smile. He really liked this shy boy who was a perfect match for him in bed. Jakub looked Timmy over and decided he liked what he saw. The two boys enjoyed their breakfast.

*    *    *    *    *

Jevic and I left the gay bar and found ourselves in the middle of the Upper East Side of New York and famished. I looked down the sidewalk and saw exactly what I was looking for.

"Come on. We're getting lunch and I'm buying." Jevic smiled and fell into step with me as we headed down the sidewalk. When I stopped at the hot dog vendor, Jevic raised an eyebrow.

"I'm vegetarian, but you know that," Jevic said. I nodded and turned to the vendor.

"Two all the way please with one of those vegan." The man nodded and smiled. I paid then turned to Jevic. You're in New York City. You have to have a hot dog. And later, it is a requirement of all tourists to have pizza. It's going to happen. Just accept it," I said grinning the whole time. I turned and accepted the two hot dogs from the vendor. We ate standing on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 91st Street in the Upper East Side of New York City watching all the people dodging each other on the sidewalk.

With lunch devoured, we turned our attention to finding Jakub. We knew he was flush with a thousand bucks in his pocket. We also knew he was used to the niceties of life and that he didn't understand human currency or humans for that matter. Given that, he would be out of money sooner rather than later. Our options were to wait him out and keep a watch on the homeless shelter or be proactive by making snap decisions like he would based on what signs were nearby. So far, our batting average was pretty damn good. We'd nailed the shelter and we'd nailed the gay bar. Now we just had to think like him.

"Okay, let's start back at the bar. We need to find out where Trevor lives. That's where Jakub left from. With a pocket full of cash, he was probably looking for a hotel."

"Makes sense to me," I said and we headed back toward the bar, which was just a couple of blocks away.

"I think we should touch base with Joel and let him know what we've learned. He may have some insights," Jevic suggested.

"He may tell us to go home and send in a security detail. Afterall, the kid is supposed to be gunning for Paulik and you know how protective Joel can be."

"Still …"

"Okay," I said accessing my wrist com.

"Hey Cameron. What have you guys found out?" answered Joel. I turned my com so Jevic could be in the conversation too.

"We've tracked him from Timothee Chalamet's apartment to a homeless shelter where he stayed. Then he shows up at a gay bar, picks a patron up and robs him. Then the trail goes cold," I explained.

"Okay, sounds like he's been busy."

"We have several ideas on following up. Our hunches have been spot on so far," Jevic chimed in.

"Okay, sounds good. Go for it. Thanks for the update. Do you guys need anything? How are you for currency?"

"I reimbursed half the cash Jakub stole. That was five hundred and we're probably going to need a hotel for the night," I said

"We're going to need food again too. Cameron treated me to New York street food; a vegan hotdog."

"We'll probably need to take a cab too or we can just teleport home," I said.

"Stay there, Cameron. I'll transfer some human currency into your account. You're both doing a great job and I don't want you hindered by something as easy as currency."

"Thanks, Joel. We'll continue to keep you in the loop," I said.

"Bye Joel. Tell dad hey for me."

"Sure Jevic. You guys be careful." We were standing in front of 'The Toolbox' when I disconnected with Joel.

"Let's see if Trevor is still here," I suggested to Jevic. We walked up to the door and we once again met by the big man in leather.

"Oh, it's you two. Go on in. Your friend's here." We both got excited thinking that Jakub was back at the bar. Moving slowly and giving time for our eyes to adjust, we both quickly surveyed the bar. No Jakub, but there was Trevor, dancing in a cage wearing only a G string and a smile. He waved at us. We moved over to the bar and grabbed a seat.

"Back again? And I didn't serve you anything last time? There's something wrong with this picture," the cute bartender said with a smile. Is everybody here cute?

"You do realize I'm a senior in high school, right?" I said, batting my eyes. Both of his eyebrows shot up followed by a huge grin.

"A Shirley Temple it is then!" he shouted out with a laugh and rang a brass bell behind the bar.

"What's your name?" I shouted back.

"Matt!"

"I'm Cameron!"

"That's enough!" yelled Jevic. "Enough!" I looked at my boyfriend and laughed out loud. Jevic joined in on the laugh and seconds later Matt was laughing too. I was having such a good time, I almost forgot why we were here. Then Trevor joined in the laugh followed by the whole bar. It was only mid-afternoon but there must have been at least fifty people in the bar.

I walked over to the cage Trevor was dancing in and watched him for a minute. He was quite good with his dance being erotic, suggestive and darn near acrobatic. Jevic walked up and handed me my Shirly Temple. I was expecting a red drink since a Shirley has a splash a grenadine, but it was blue. I tried a sip. Despite its blue color, it tasted like oranges and it was really good.

"Trevor, mind if I ask you a question?" I asked, trying to be polite.

"I'm dancing trying to make up for the money your buddy stole from me," he said with as he continued to dance. "Thanks for your contribution, by the way."

"You're welcome. Sorry about how you got treated, but I wanted to ask you a personal question?"

He shrugged his shoulders, so I plodded on. "Where do you live?" He immediately stopped dancing, turned his head sideways and gave me 'the look' that said I had crossed a line. Whoops!

"We're trying to find Jakub. The last place we know where he was is your home. That's why I'm asking," I explained. Trevor looked at us both a moment, then suddenly grinned.

"You two are okay in my book. You tried to make things right by your friend and for that you have my thanks. My apartment building is directly behind the bar. Walk down ninety-first street about a half block and it's on the right just past the preschool. Number three twenty."

"Thank you," Jevic and I said at the same time. Trevor grinned, waved at us and started dancing again as we moved back to the bar. I watched as several older men walked up to Trevor and put cash in his G string. He danced with renewed vigor, apparently very happy with the tips.

"Okay, we need to go to the main door of Trevor's apartment building and see what we see," I suggested to Jevic.

"If we're lucky, we'll see something that'll give us a lead."

"What kind of lead are you looking for?" I twisted around so fast I should have whiplash, but the people I saw were the last people I expected to see.

"Brandon! Scott!" I jumped up and gave Brandon a hug. Jevic was hugging Scott.

"Hey guys," Brandon said with a smile.

"Joel seemed to think you guys might get in some kind of trouble so we volunteered to come keep an eye on you two," Scott explained. I looked at him skeptically.

"Well, actually, we begged Paulik and he finally relented. He traced your coms and teleported us here. Nice guy at the door, by the way. Described you two and he just hooks his thumb and lets us in straight in," Brandon said. Scott looked around and saw all the gay decorations.

"Well, maybe straight was the wrong word to use." We all laughed.

"So, you're following a lead or searching for one?" asked Brandon.

"Why don't you guys join us at a table and we'll fill you in?" I suggested. Then I turned and looked at the bar.

"Matt!" I screamed.

"Cameron!" he screamed back.

"Two more Shirleys please!"

"You got it!" The bar patrons hooted with laughter.

"What's up with the yelling?" Scott asked as he sat down.

"Cameron and Matt, the bartender, have a thing going on," Jevic said with a laugh.

It was good to see our friends. I wasn't too sure what they were doing here, but I'm glad they've joined us in the hunt. We quickly brought them up to speed about Jakub and what we'd been doing to track him down.

"You guys are a regular Sherlock Holmes and Doc Watson. Well done in the sleuth department," Brandon said.

"I agree with you both. The apartment building seems like a good place to continue," Scott said. We finished our blue Shirley Temples and headed for the door.

"Hang on a second," I said. I went to the ATM and checked my balance of human currency. There had been a deposit of five thousand dollars. Perfect.

I screamed 'bye' to Matt and he screamed 'bye' back to the amusement of the bar patrons.

Once outside, we followed Trevor's directions. We passed Biddy's Pub and the oddly named Surprise Cleaners and Laundry. I wondered what the surprise was. We finally came to three twenty. It was a six story brown brick building with fire escapes on the façade. The beautiful wood framed glass door was a few steps up from the sidewalk. We gathered at the door and then took a look. Brandon pointed out a restaurant. Jevic saw a transit hub. Scott mentioned a convenience store. What was wrong with these guys? Am I the only one to see the hotel?

"Do you guys see what I see just at the end of the block? It has a valet for parking out front." No one said anything. They just looked. "I'm revoking your detective badges. Look again and tell me if you see a hotel. The sign should be a dead giveaway. It says 'The Lowell Hotel.'" Three different versions of 'oh yeah' came from my friends. "Okay, let's go check it out ya bunch of detective school rejects."

We walked down the sidewalk, dodging hurried people along the way. Scott and Brandon didn't seem surprised by all the rushed activity. Maybe they had been to New York before? I hadn't been before and found dodging people to start being fun. You could almost tell which side people were going to pass. Left? Right? Remarkably, there was never a pedestrian crash. Car crashes were a whole different story.

"Is this guy armed?" Scott asked as we walked. "I'm mean does he have a gun or does he have a Kelmarian weapon?" Before I could answer, Brandon jumped in.

"Does he have powers like you Cameron. I mean, does he have the tingling?"

"I don't know is the answer to both of your questions. Joel has mentioned nothing about powers. He has the full dossier on Jakub, so if he did have any kind of powers, Joel would know," I explained.

"As for weapons, I doubt it," Jevic said. "We've seen not seen evidence to prove he has and he's had plenty of opportunities to use one."

"Thanks. That makes we feel better," said Scott. I suddenly remembered that his boyfriend Greg was shot and killed. Hell, he'd been shot too. It had been some time ago, but I could see that Scott did not like to think anything about guns and getting shot. I nodded and turned to head inside the hotel. Everybody else followed. There seemed to be a nice lady at the check-in desk, so I approached her.

"Excuse me, but we're trying to locate of friend of ours that's gone missing." I accessed my wrist com and showed the lady a picture of Jakub. I subtlety used my powers. She glanced at the picture and I detected a brief sign of recognition in her mind.

"I'm sorry, sir. It is against hotel policy to discuss our guests," she said firmly.

"I understand. It was worth a shot. Thank you for your time," I said and turned to leave only to have Jevic grab my arm. I turned to him quickly and whispered. "Don't say anything. Let's just go over to the corner and sit down. Be real cool." They all followed me to a group of comfy chairs gathered around an ornate table.

"What the fuck, Cameron?" asked Jevic.

"Oh ye of little faith," I started while shaking my head. "You dummies! I used my tingling. I sensed that she recognized the picture. Jakub is either here or has been here today."

"So we just stake out the lobby and wait for him to show up," said Brandon. "My only question is what do we do when he does show up?"

Brandon had me there. The only option I saw was to use my tingling. If that didn't stop him, we were all in trouble.


On to Chapter Twenty-Two
"A Pink Thong"
Back to Chapter Twenty
"The Son"
Chapter Index

Jevic's Story Page

I'd love to hear what you think!
Email me at jevic@tarheelwriter.com