Let the Music Play - 18. Shadow Rising

Sitting in the front room of Chase’s suite, Brandon smiled at his boyfriend. Taking a quick glance at the clock, he put his plan into motion. “I was checking out the hotel’s brochure; the pools here look really great. Want to go get some sun?”

Commando and wearing just a pair of white cotton shorts, Chase leaned back, glancing out the sliding glass doors at the balcony of his suite. “I’d like to, but too many people know we’re staying here, we’d get mobbed. The balcony should be in full sun pretty soon though, so we could kick it out there.”

Running out of time, biting his lip as he frantically tried to think of some other way to get Chase down to the pool, Brandon paused for a moment before giving Chase a seductive grin. Without a word, Brandon walked into Chase’s bedroom, closing the door behind him. He knew that he had to get Chase into a swimsuit because the white cotton shorts would turn transparent in the water, and not even Chase was that much of an exhibitionist. Remembering their sun seeking expedition to the hotel pool back in Los Angeles, and having heard who was behind Helen’s choice of swimwear for him that day, Brandon again began to search through Chase’s wardrobe. Finding what he sought, Brandon stripped off his jeans and pulled on the blue Speedo he’d located. Grabbing Chase’s Brazilian cut black swimsuit and a couple of t-shirts, Brandon picked his jeans up off the floor and fished in his pocket for his cell phone. Hoping that he was dialing the right number ­– he’d only had time for a quick glance at it in the brochure – he made the call.

In a whisper, he made his request of the clerk at the front desk, relieved to hear a laugh and agreement from the other end. Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, he snatched up a pair of Chase’s sunglasses, putting them on as he padded through the bedroom, pausing only long enough to throw his jeans and the t-shirts onto the foot of the bed. Strolling back into the living room in just the tight Speedos, with Chase’s black swim briefs in his hand while trying to look as sexy as possible, Brandon grinned at an awestruck Chase. “I thought we could go out on the balcony now, and enjoy the view while we wait for the afternoon sun.” Standing by a table occupied by a phone, Brandon tossed Chase the black swimsuit. Nodding eagerly, Chase snatched it out of the air, jumping to his feet, never taking his eyes off Brandon. Dropping his shorts as Brandon enjoyed the sight, Chase tugged on the black swimsuit.

Brandon fought the urge to look at the still silent telephone, counting the seconds, fearful that something had gone wrong, his concern only dispelled by the sudden, welcome ringing of the phone. Feigning irritation, he snatched it up, placing it to his ear with a grumbled “hello” as he heard the desk clerk on the other end chuckle and hang up. Pretending to listen for a few moments, Brandon shouted into the now-dead line; “What? You can’t be serious... Now? Right now? Okay, if it’s that important, we’ll be right over.”

Slamming the phone down, Brandon said in a hurried voice, “That was Jerry; he’s here in one of the hotel’s cafes and he needs us right away. He’s got some kind of big shot with him, and Jerry said if the big shot gets to meet us it will mean a lot of money to the charity Jerry raises money for.”

* * *

Eric studied Steve’s face for a few moments, still tasting the tequila he’d just consumed, before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, okay, cool, I’ll try anything once.” Taking a second pull from the bottle, Eric slipped it back into its hiding place and added, “Just be discreet if you come in here for a drink, otherwise Helen will confiscate it. She’ll turn a blind eye as long as we aren’t too obvious.”

As the four returned to the pool deck, Jon arrived, in shorts and sunglasses. Taking a lounger near Eric he said to The Shadows, “Brandon and Chase should be here soon. I’m guessing that Eric already showed you the liquor so we’re about ready. Just don’t yell ‘surprise’ when Chase gets here; that would be pretty gay...” Jon bit his tongue as he realized what he’d just said, his gaze shifting between the puzzled Shadows and his ears filled with his brother’s riotous laugher. “Shut up, Eric...” he grumbled.

Deciding to help his brother extract the foot he’d so firmly planted in his mouth, and realizing that if The Shadows already knew, there wasn’t much point in lying, but he also didn’t want to give blatant confirmation, either. So, choosing his words with care, Eric stopped laughing to tell their guests, “Look, dudes, Brandon and Chase are just normal guys, so treat ‘em like guys, okay?”

Taking chairs nearby, the three members of The Shadows nodded in uneager agreement. Zeke and Steve remained in the sun, while Wilde moved his chair into the shade, drumming his black-painted fingernails on the chair’s plastic arm as he added, “Yeah, we read you, no problems here. So, how long have you guys been playing?” he asked, leading the conversation to a place they were all comfortable with; their shared love of music.

* * *

Grabbing his discarded white shorts and yanking them on, Chase grumbled, “Why the hell didn’t he let us know he was here?” Dashing into the bedroom, Brandon snatched up his jeans and began tugging them on as Chase rushed into the room. Snatching up the two t-shirts lying on the bed, never stopping to wonder why they were so conveniently there, Chase tossed one to Brandon as he pulled on the other. Pulling on a pair of sneakers as Brandon tugged on his own, Chase asked, “What’s the big rush?’”

Brandon finished his hasty dressing as he shrugged. “Dunno. Jerry just said we had to hurry.” Together, the two guys dashed from the suite, barreling down the plush hallway at a run, taking the stairs to save every second.

Emerging into the bright sunlight, Brandon tugged Chase along by the arm with a hurried “this way,” as they broke into a run, heading north. With Brandon in the lead and racing past an archway guarded by a member of the hotel staff, Chase glanced around and said, “Dude, you’re going the wrong way; I’ve stayed here before...” Brandon spun on a heel as Chase slowed to a halt halfway through the broad passageway.

One thought ran through Brandon’s head, ‘They were so close...’ He had to get Chase to the pool unawares. Making a fast decision, and giving Chase no time to react, Brandon rushed him, pulling Chase’s T-shirt up to cover his boyfriend’s head before throwing his arms around him and lifting him off his feet and hauling his startled boyfriend down the remaining few yards of the passage. All he had to do was get him to the pool, and that was precisely what Brandon now planned to do.

In seconds they reached the pool deck and Brandon kept going, striding hard towards the azure waters just a few feet ahead. Chase struggled and yelled, “What the hell are you doing...” as Brandon’s final stride ended at the water’s edge, and he heaved Chase on ahead, sending him flying into the waiting water.

Coming to the surface, struggling to pull his shirt down and away from his face, Chase looked around, finding himself in a large, deep swimming pool which was surrounded on all four sides by a three story building. Seeing Brandon standing on the pool’s edge with a goofy grin on his face, a spluttering Chase trod water as Brandon yelled, “Happy birthday, dude.”

Peals of laugher from behind him drew Chase’s confused attention. He spun in the water, laying eyes on a table bedecked with presents, and then his brothers sitting with three guys he recognized as the members of their opening act. Looking a little to the side, he spied Helen and Barbra as Helen pointed her camera in his direction and began clicking away. Finally, the light began to dawn, and Chase spun back towards his boyfriend. Brandon grinned and laughed. “It was all Helen’s idea. I had to get you here somehow, didn’t I?”

Helen stopped laughing long enough to say, “Brandon, I said bring him to the pool, not throw him in it.”

Ducking a barrage of splashed water from Chase, Brandon backpedaled away from the pool. Chase swam over to the side of the pool, fixing his boyfriend in a mock glare. “I hope you know I’m going to get you for this, Brand...” Hauling himself out of the water, his wet shorts and t-shirt heavy on his skin, Chase shook himself like a dog, taking special care to splash Brandon in the process.

Walking even closer to a now-backpedaling Brandon as Eric strode towards them both, Chase tugged at his clinging wet shirt, laughing as he said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever been dunked for my birthday.”

Eric broke into a jog, ramming into his soaked brother, his momentum carrying them both into the pool with a splash. Chase surfaced as Eric swam away laughing. “I couldn’t leave ya with just one dunking on your birthday, bro.”

Brandon knelt down to offer Chase a hand again, bracing himself against any attempt by Chase to pull him in, and began to pull Chase from the water, not noticing Jon’s stealthy approach until Jon’s hands slammed into Brandon’s back, shoving him headfirst into the pool as Chase, his handhold gone, fell back into the water. Jon laughed from the edge of the pool, “That makes three dunks for you so far, bro: just fifteen more to go.”

Brandon and Chase, side by side, climbed out of the pool, the water cascading from their sopping wet clothes. Chase peeled off his shirt, wadding it into a wet and heavy lump before hurling it in Jon’s direction. Jon dodged, the shirt missing him by inches on its way to a wet and messy landing in Helen’s lap. After a yelp of surprise, Helen shoved the offending garment away as she stood up to wag a finger at Chase in mock anger. “Do that again, pretty boy, and you won’t live long enough to have another birthday!”

Chase nodded, smiling, as he shucked off his wet shorts before doing a back flip into the pool. Surfacing, he stared at Brandon, waiting...

Brandon saw Chase’s expectant look, and decided that he might as well get it over with. He hadn’t planned on going in the water so soon, but he hated the feel of wet jeans. He kicked off his shoes, tugged off his shirt, and then peeled off the heavy wet denim jeans. Eric stood by the pool, observing The Shadow’s reactions, and wasn’t pleased with what he saw: they looked to him to be uneasy, as if they wanted to be somewhere, anywhere else.

Sitting in silence in their chairs, the three members of The Shadows watched the antics in and around the pool, indeed feeling a little uncomfortable. Eric, still dripping from the pool, walked over to them. “Come on and join the fun, guys. The water’s great, and don’t forget my bottle stash in the pool house.”

Steve and Zeke shared a troubled look, but stood up and followed Eric into the pool house, leaving Wilde behind sitting in the shade.

After taking a pull from the tequila bottle, Eric handed it to Steve, asking as he did so, “Okay guys, what’s up? You are acting as uncomfortable as hell, and Chase is going to notice. I don’t want anything messing up his birthday, so spill it, what’s the deal?”

Zeke waited for Steve to finish drinking, and Eric took note of the delay, not knowing quite what to make if it. Zeke took a fiery swallow himself before answering, a little hoarsely, “We don’t really know Brandon and Chase, hell, I only met Brandon maybe twice when he knew my brother, and we don’t really know Chase or you guys, so I guess I’m a little uneasy, and the others are, too. Haven’t you ever been the only new guy at a party? And okay, there’s more; this being a pool party is making things kind of awkward. Just... don’t expect us to take our shirts off, okay?”

Arching an eyebrow, Eric put his hands behind his neck, stretching a little, his bare, tan, defined chest even more prominent as he asked, “Mind telling me why you’re worried about that? Are you afraid that Brandon and Chase might look at you? Jeeze, do you have it all wrong; they’re just normal guys, hell, it’s not like they do weird shit like hit on every guy they meet or wear makeup...”

Eric paused to let his dig sink in, paying careful attention to Steve and Zeke’s reaction. He was surprised they didn’t react to the dig about their use of makeup, and instead Steve said, “Look, it’s not what you think, okay?”

Without waiting for a reply, Zeke peeled off his shirt. Turning towards Steve he said, “I’ll go for a swim and you can stay with Wilde.” Zeke turned to face Eric and added, “You’ve got us wrong. Just leave it alone, okay?”

Eric took another chug of the tequila as the two Shadows left the pool house. Watching through the windows, he saw Zeke dive into the pool, while Steve returned to sit with Wilde. Eric squinted his eyes, studying Wilde’s deathly pallor and numerous piercings, thinking ‘He’s the key to all this. They’re hiding something and he’s the key.’

Returning the bottle of tequila to its hiding place, Eric felt a welcome warmth in his gut and decided to have a little fun....

* * *

Zeke hauled himself out of the water and padded over to where Brandon, Chase, and Jon stood talking. “Hey,” he said, his unease clear in his voice.

Trying to break the ice, Brandon replied, “Hi, Zeke. I’m glad you guys are here.”

Zeke shrugged. “Our manager kind of told us to get over here, but yeah, I’m glad we’re here too. Look, you probably heard what happened; Steve collared me backstage and asked me about you. He knows me pretty well and I’m a lousy liar, so I told him. I hope you aren’t pissed.”

“It’s no big deal, but what about Steve and Wilde? I hear Steve didn’t take it too well,” Brandon asked, angling his head towards where the other two Shadows sat.

Zeke glanced in his band mate’s direction. “There shouldn’t be any more trouble. Steve flies off the handle sometimes, does stuff without thinking: he’s just impetuous and has a temper. Sometimes he’ll throw a royal fit over nothing, but the next minute he’s fine. You’ll like him once you get to know him.”

Brandon nodded, choosing his words with care. “Do you think he or Wilde will be okay with me and Chase?”

Looking right at Brandon, with a quick glance at Chase, Zeke said, “Yeah, I think Steve will be okay about the... situation. He’s not like my brother.”

Brandon felt his fists clench for a moment at the mention of the friend who’d turned on him. “What about Wilde?” he asked.

Zeke did a quick double take at the question, before replying, “Yeah, he’s okay with it. He gets along with everybody.” Zeke paused for a second, his eyes opening slightly wider, and then added quickly, “I mean he’s not prejudiced or anything. Hell, he’s a real Goth type, really into it, and homophobia ain’t their thing, right?” Brandon didn’t notice Zeke’s double take, so he didn’t stop to wonder why Zeke had reacted in the way that he had.

* * *

The low flames licked at the walls of the rusted steel barrel in which the small wood fire burned. The Scar fed another document into the flames: burning, then stirring the ashes was his preferred method of document disposal, for even shredded paper could be re-assembled. Watching as the fire consumed his notes, he nodded a silent greeting to the approaching Dimitri.

“We’ve got a small problem,” Dimitri reported. “Our engineer has demanded a supply of gold, including gold leaf. Worse, one of the men, the replacement I obtained for that fake gunsmith, took me aside and told me that he had both explosives-handling and assembly skills, and that should we need someone to aid in an implosion project, he could do so, if we increase his pay. With what he said and how he said it, it was clear he knew what we are doing here.”

The Scar froze in place for a moment, stopping with a document just inches from the waiting flames. He looked Dimitri in the eye. “This is both a security risk, and an opportunity. We could use someone to aid Vladimir, if for no other reason than to spare ourselves the aggravation. However, it means that there is another person who knows. How did he find out?”

Dimitri watched as the flames reduced their latest conquest to embers. “According to Vladimir, anyone with sufficient knowledge could deduce it. The metal components we are making are sufficiently specialized that it could be little else. This gunsmith has seen the assembly jigs, as well as the pusher plates and a few other components.”

The Scar nodded. “Yes, I see how that would be possible. However, we must be certain he has the actual skills he claims, for we cannot afford any mistakes. First, we will test him, and then we will have Vladimir make certain. If he is what he claims, offer him whatever he wishes in pay. If he is not, he can join the false gunsmith.”

With a small, cold smile, Dimitri fished in his windbreaker’s pocket, pulling forth a grey, irregular block that looked like a mix of wax and clay. “I guessed that you might wish to test him, and had an idea. This is one of Vladimir’s rejected explosive blocks. The gunsmith will recognize it as high explosive, which is easy enough. I have an idea how we can use it to test him...”

* * *

Jon tugged Brandon and Chase into the pool house, sharing the secret of Eric’s stashed bottle of whiskey –the only bottle Eric had shown him– wondering as he did so where Eric had gone. After pouring some whiskey into their open cans of coke, the three guys returned to the pool deck. Steve walked over to join them, and as Steve approached, Brandon noticed Zeke with his shirt back on, sitting with Wilde. Steve looked askance at Brandon and Chase’s swimsuits, though made no attempt to say anything in that regard. Instead, he gave a slight shrug. “I’m sure you guys have heard that I have a few... concerns. I just wanted to make sure you understand that it’s nothing personal. I don’t have anything against your kind. I told Eric already, and he’s agreed, but I wanted to invite all of you to come out with us for some climbing after the Vegas concert. It’s a blast and all three of us are into it. What do ya say?”

Feeling a few butterflies in his stomach as he remembered his dislike of heights, Brandon shrugged, waiting for his band mates to weigh in. Chase and Jon nodded, neither appearing overly eager, and Jon mumbled a less than enthusiastic, “I’ll come with you, but we’ll see about actually climbing, I might sit that out.” Brandon seized the opportunity and echoed Jon’s sentiments.

Steve picked up on their reluctance and tried to reassure them. “We won’t try anything crazy; we wouldn’t do that to a beginner. We’ll try some free climbing, maybe some rappelling. We’ll use safety harnesses so there’s no chance of a fall, and I doubt anyone will get more than twenty feet off the ground. I figured it would be a good way to get to know one another.”

Sensing that the party was stagnating, Helen called for everyone’s attention, and announced that it was time for the birthday boy to open his presents. Everyone gathered around the table which held the gifts, every one except Eric, who was conspicuous to all by his absence. Chase began tearing the wrapping off the first box, working his way through gifts from Helen and Barbra, which turned out to be a DVD movie player and a large stack of movies, for which Chase made the normal ‘thank you’ speeches. Opening the camera from Jon, Chase busied himself by figuring out how to turn it on, and then snapping a few pictures of everyone. He did however make certain to take several extra of Brandon, who he thought looked hotter than hell in tight Speedos. Opening Eric’s present, a handheld GPS SatNav, he wondered aloud, “Where the hell did Eric go?” a question which no one could answer.

“If he doesn’t turn up fast, somebody better find him before he gets into trouble,” Helen said, with concern evident from her tone.

Seeing the grin on Brandon’s face, Chase knew who the gift in his hand was from. Peeling back the wrapping paper, he extracted the long, white jewelry box, and flipped the lid open. Draping the chain over his fingers, he slowly lifted the round pendant with fluted edges framing a brilliant round Tiger’s Eye stone, letting it catch the sunlight. With a warm smile, he handed it to Brandon, and then turned so that Brandon could put it in place.

With a grin of his own, Brandon lowered the chain over Chase’s head, and then stepped back to admire the gift as Chase turned around. It complimented Chase’s golden tan skin, just as he’d imagined. “It’s a tiger’s eye from Australia.” Brandon said, shifting his gaze to stare into his boyfriend’s even more alluring blue eyes.

“I love it, and it’s so perfect. Thank you,” Chase replied with a warm smile, looking down at his chest and his fingers caressed the smooth stone.

Reaching for the last present, which stood propped against the pole of the closed umbrella which protruded from the center of the table, Chase pulled the wrapping paper off, only to stop and stare as he read the cover of the book it contained. “Interior decorating ideas?” he asked in a confused voice.

Steve looked at the ground as he shrugged. “We picked it up at the gift store here in the hotel. We really had no idea what kind of stuff you liked, so...”

Jon rolled his eyes, but remained silent. Chase looked at the book again, breaking into a grin and erupting in laughter, as he said, “It’s cool. Not really my thing but who knows, I might learn something. Thanks.” Chase hoped that his lighthearted response would cool the tension he’d noticed between Jon and Steve.

Looking at the gifts spread out in the hot sun, and with the electronic ones foremost on his mind, Jon decided to kill two or more birds with one stone and said to Brandon and Steve, “Hey, could you guys help me get this stuff into the pool house? It shouldn’t be left in the sun.” Helen, sitting beside Barbara and mainly keeping their own company, nodded in assent. Steve’s nod of assent was a little less enthusiastic, accompanied as it was by a quick glance in Wilde’s direction.

Gathering up everything except the necklace which remained in place around Chase’s neck, the three guys carried Chase’s presents into the pool house, depositing them on a small glass table which stood near the door. Jon fished out the bottle of whiskey, intentionally taking a swig himself, then handing it to Brandon. Brandon took a drink, and then handed the bottle to Steve, as Jon had intended.

Jon watched closely as Steve hesitated for a brief moment, before taking a drink from the bottle. Handing the bottle back to Jon, Steve smirked. “That wasn’t the most subtle test I’ve ever seen: you wanted to see if I’d drink from the same bottle as Brandon. I told you before, this isn’t personal, I just have some professional concerns. Hell, I could have gotten out of the drinking easy enough, all I had to do was go get the other bottle and say I preferred it to whisky, but I didn’t.”

“What other bottle,” Brandon asked, with a trace of concern.

Steve shrugged, walked across the small room, and withdrew the other bottle from its hiding place. “Tequila,” Jon muttered, the fear evident in his voice. “Oh...”

“... Shit!” Brandon said, exchanging a worried look with Jon.

Steve returned the bottle to its hiding place, turning to face Brandon and Jon, a puzzled look on his face as he asked, “What’s up?”

“Eric... Eric goes freaking nutzo when he drinks tequila. We’d better find him, fast...” Brandon said, only to be interrupted by a startled shriek from outside.

Looking out of the pool house windows, the three guys saw their friends frantically dashing around in a hail of water. Dashing outside, they looked up, finding the source of the sudden storm laughing from the rooftop, three stories up, with a fire hose under his arm. “Eric, get down from there!” they heard a dripping wet Helen yell.

Eric looked down at the mayhem he’d caused, happy to see that most everyone was laughing. All he wanted to do was liven things up, and he congratulated himself on having done so in his usual style. The glare of reflected sunlight drew his attention to the rooftop at the opposite side of the pool. Seeing a member of their constant nemesis partially hidden behind a chimney, Eric leaned back, arching the steam of water from the fire hose through the Phoenix sky, bringing the torrent cascading down on the man behind the tripod. Eric laughed as the tripod and the camera it held fell backwards, right next to the sprawling paparazzi. Playing the fierce stream around for good measure, Eric eased off, looking to make sure the intruding shutterbug was out of business for the day. His good deed done, Eric turned, following the fire hose down through the roof access door and shutting it off at its root. Climbing back up onto the roof, Eric stood on the edge as he heard Helen yell again; “Get down from there.”

Waving at her, he yelled back, “Your wish is my command. Here I come.”

Helen felt the chill of fear run down her spine as she watched Eric jog back from the roof’s edge, disappearing from her view. She inhaled to yell a warning, but before she could utter her cry, she saw a blur of tan skin and black shorts fly past the roof edge, sailing towards the water three stories below. Halfway down, it occurred to Eric that he’d forgotten to see which end of the pool was the deep one.

Stunned, Brandon watched as Eric tucked into a ball just before slamming into the water. Recoiling from the enormous splash, Brandon looked again as the pool surface settled, seeing Eric’s twisting shape under the water. Diving in, Brandon grabbed Eric and pulled him to the surface. As soon as they reached air, Eric spat out a mouthful of water and yelped, “Oww, my back...” as he grimaced in pain.

Pulling his friend gently to the pool edge, Brandon asked, “Did you hit the pool bottom?”

Still grinding his teeth from the sting, Eric replied, “No, I didn’t think so, but my back stings like hell. I think I landed on it.”

Glancing at the fading angry red skin on Eric’s back, Brandon chuckled, “Yeah, a three-story cannonball will sting like hell. Good thing you landed in the deep end, but you’ll be fine, at least until Helen gets you.”

As the pain faded, Eric thought of a way to evade Helen’s certain wrath. “Somebody better call hotel security; there was a paparazzi on the roof opposite me. I blasted him pretty good but he’s trespassing up there.”

Halting in her advance towards her intended victim, a drenched Helen paused to take care of business. Detouring to a hotel phone, she dialed the front desk and reported the intruder. “...you can’t miss him, just look for the fully dressed soaking wet guy with a camera,” she concluded, her voice rising in exasperation. Hanging up the phone, she glared at her original target, “Eric, what the hell were you thinking?”

Eric looked up from the edge of the pool to reply, “I just wanted to liven things up.”

Jon walked over, interposing himself between Helen and Eric. With his back to his brother, he mouthed “tequila” and stood aside.

Helen paced over to glare down at Eric. In an effected sweet voice – one which scared Eric more than her yelling – she said, “Eric, honey, you really shouldn’t jump off multi-story buildings when you’ve been drinking...:” raising her voice to a growl, she added, “We will talk about this later. You could have been killed jumping off the roof like that. If I ever catch you with tequila again, I’ll break the bottle over your head, understood?”

Clambering out of the pool, Eric padded over to the three shocked Shadows. Zeke, his eyes still open wide in astonishment, shook his head slowly as he said, “Dude, you are insane.”

“That was actually pretty mild, for me,” Eric chuckled, taking a chair beside Zeke. “I’ve done lots worse. So, are you guys still stressed about Brandon and Chase?”

Steve shrugged. “Not as much, they seem pretty normal. You, on the other hand...” Laughter resulted, and at last the ice began to break between the two groups. The other members of Instinct strolled over to join in the fun. The remainder of the party exhibited a much friendlier tone, and when it was time to go, the two groups parted as friends. Eric took one last glance back at the three musicians, feeling that they were not hiding anything bad, but certain, now, that they were hiding something. He even had a pretty good idea as to what.

The one thing that saved Eric from the full weight of Helen’s wrath was the paparazzi; the hotel security had caught the guy, and Helen had the pleasure of seeing the photographer being stuffed into the back of a police car.

As they approached their own building, with Brandon walking by his side and carrying some presents, Chase had an idea on how to get a little revenge for being thrown in the pool. Suppressing a grin, he leaned over and whispered in Brandon’s ear, “Dude, you look so hot in that suit, but as soon as we get inside, I’m getting you out of it. Then I’ve got all kinds of ideas on what happens next.” Brandon’s eager grin preceded his embarrassment by only moments.

Rushing to shift the gifts to cover the front of his tightening Speedos, Brandon increased his pace, muttering to his laughing boyfriend, “You did that on purpose, I know you did...” To Brandon’s relief, he and Chase were far enough ahead of the others so that no one noticed. Chase, for his part, made good on his promise the moment they were back in his suite.

The following morning Helen woke everyone early, reminding them all that the tour buses would be there within the hour to take them to Las Vegas. Brandon’s first steps onto the band’s tour bus left him speechless. Climbing up the steps, Brandon took a look around, first in the forward lounge area. The chairs looked to him to be more like leather armchairs than the airline seats he’d imagined, and every surface was either wood or black glass. He found no connection to the driver’s compartment, just a wall with a huge plasma-screen TV. Walking back, he passed through the bunk beds, entering a small office area complete with a refrigerator. In the rear of the bus, he found a well equipped selection of video games and to Brandon’s amazement; there was even a satellite Internet connection for both the games and the computer stations. Standing in awe, looking around with a big grin on his face –he’d long dreamed of riding on a tour bus– Brandon was nearly knocked off his feet as Eric dashed for the fridge, scooping up some snacks before settling in for some gaming. Brandon laughed at Eric’s haste, as Jon flipped open a laptop computer to do some browsing.

Brandon and Chase took seats near a window, watching through the black glass as the bus pulled out and left the hotel behind. Chase could see how happy Brandon was, like a little kid at Christmas. “Welcome to the tour bus, Brand. We call it ‘The Cave’. Eric named it, said it makes him think of the Batcave because of all the high-tech stuff. So, what do you think of it?” Brandon’s wide-eyed smile was the only answer, but it said it all. Within minutes, the bus was on the freeway, where they were joined by the buses carrying the crew, with Vegas seven hours away.

Chase wasn’t the only one to notice Brandon’s reaction to boarding the tour bus. Jon, Eric and Helen noticed too. Helen sat back to let him enjoy the moment. Jon and Eric did too, though soon they were talking to each other in the back of the bus, and between them, they came up with a plan.

* * *

The Scar fed the last of his papers into the flames as Dimitri approached, with the new gunsmith in tow. The Scar nodded a faint acknowledgment at the new man as Dimitri pulled the block of high explosive from his pocket. Holding it in front of the puzzled man, Dimitri asked, “You know what this is, I trust?” Dimitri cracked off a small chunk and handed it to the gunsmith. The new man examined it, giving it a quick sniff before he announced, “It appears to be RDX, with a stiffening agent added.”

Dimitri nodded, and casually tossed the large chunk of high explosives into the fire. The Scar and Dimitri watched the clean-shaven, aging man expectantly, taking note of the man’s bemused look. A look passed between Dimitri and his employer; the new man had passed their first test. Most people would assume that tossing a block of high explosive into a fire was suicidal, and only those with a working knowledge of high explosives would know that it was perfectly safe, so long as a detonator was not attached. The explosive would burn, not explode, absent the intense shock provided by a detonator. What Dimitri had done was quite safe, yet he had known it would send an uninformed man diving for cover.

The Scar made his decision. “Go and see Vladimir. If he approves of you, you will be his assistant for preparing the device, and we will pay you what you have asked.”

Watching the gunsmith depart in search of their engineer, The Scar remarked to Dimitri, “Tomorrow, our plutonium arrives: time for a little road trip.”