so he’s helpless. He struggles, but he’s not going anywhere.
“Now,” says Vince to us, ignoring the thrashing guy. “What I’m about to show you will shock you. But I think it’s in all your best interests to see this yourselves. I want you all to hear the story from the horse’s mouth.”
The boy starts shouting, but I think he has a gag in, as he lets out only a muffled sound.
I would honestly give anything to be somewhere else right now.
“Are you ready?” asks Vince.
Everyone nods.
Vince goes up to the boy and pulls off the burlap sack. His face is covered in dried blood, and the skin around one of his eyes is purple and puffy. I was right before: He has a balled-up cloth in his mouth.
Holy shit.
I recognize him.
He’s one of Barbie Barker’s rent boys.
The one who checked me out on the night I met Jason.
What’s he doing here?
“Does anyone recognize this man?” asks Vince. He puts his hands on the guy’s shoulders and scans the crowd.
I look into the guy’s eyes. They’re wide with fear.
They find mine. A flicker of recognition.
Crap.
Nobody says anything. And I’m not about to admit that I recognize him. He’s a gay sex worker. If I point out that I know him, people will ask questions. More than that, though, I don’t want anything to do with what’s going on right now.
I can’t help him.
I want to, but there’s nothing I can do.
I look into his eyes, and at least try to convey that I’m sorry. I hope he gets it. I hope he knows that if I had my way, this wouldn’t be happening to him. That I hate this stupid war and the way that my family can do this to someone.
“He used to work for Barbie,” says Vince, then he slaps his face.
The boy growls, baring his teeth.
“But that wasn’t why he came to the bar.”
“Who is he?” asks Luke.
“I could tell you myself, but I think it’d be best to hear this from him.”
Vince reaches down and pulls out the gag.
“HELP!” shouts the guy, but his voice is hoarse. I don’t think it carries very far. “SOMEONE HELP ME!”
Silence answers him.
He changes tack.
He looks at me.
“Please, help me. One of you must have a heart. Please. I have a family. My mom, I’m her favorite. You can’t let him kill me, I—”
“Quiet,” says Vince. He presses the flat of his blade against the guy’s throat. He falls silent.
“Good lad. Now, talk. Tell them what you told me.”
He shakes his head.
“Come on now, play fair,” says Vince. “We had a deal, remember? I won’t hurt you … as long as you behave.”
Vince moves the blade in front of the boy’s face.
He stares Vince down. “You can’t make me.”
“You want to bet on that? I already know, this is just for dramatic effect. Either way, they’ll know everything. You may as well save yourself the pain.”
The guy looks down, clearly thinking hard.
“Too slow.” Vince grins, and moves closer, raising the blade.
“Stop!” he shouts. “I’ll talk, just don’t!”
“Then do it, and make it good. You’ve wasted enough of our time.”
The boy looks up. He can’t be that old, midtwenties at the latest. Vince pats him on the head, smoothing down his matted hair. He looks totally beaten down, defeated. There’s this desperate look in his eyes.
I think he knows he’s going to die.
He must.
I guess he’s just trying to decide how much pain he’s going to go through before that happens.
This is monstrous.
I can’t be here. I can’t be a part of this.
I turn to leave, but Luke’s hand ends up on my shoulder. He presses down. The message is clear: Stay.
“Tell them what you told me,” says Vince.
“I don’t work for Barbie,” he says. “Not really, anyway.”
“Go on.”
“We were losing the war, so my aunt came up with a plan. The idea was to infiltrate your ranks, posing as your friends, your allies. We wanted to learn how you work so we could take you down from the inside. We called it the Friend Scheme.”
He takes his gaze to the floor.
“This is their plan,” says Vince. “This is why they’ve gone quiet. They’re trying to break into our ranks and destroy us from the inside. They could be anyone, someone at your school, someone who cuts your hair, a passerby who has taken an interest in you. Anyone. They might seem like your friend, but all they want is to know our secrets. You must be extremely wary of anyone new