The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark by Orest Stelmach Read Free Book Online Page A

“There’s nothing else. No other reason why you think . . .” She eyed his duffel bag. “We’re going to have to run.”
    Bobby shook his head. “That’s it. Someone knows about the formula. There’s going to be competition for the formula. We’re going to have to run.”
    Nadia smiled. “Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Tokyo is one of the most crowded cities in the world. We’ll be okay. But you can take your duffel bag if it makes you most comfortable.”
    Bobby nodded at her suitcase. “You should switch to a bag like mine. There’s still time.”
    Nadia laughed. “Thanks but I’ll be okay.”
    Her cell phone rang. She answered it, thanked the person on the other end, and hung up.
    “Our car’s here,” she said. She turned and grabbed her suitcase. “Let’s go to Tokyo.”
    They took the elevator to the ground floor. The doors opened. Two men stood in front of the front desk speaking to the doorman. One was lean with gray hair. He wore an expensive blue suit and tie. The other was bald with cinderblock shoulders. He also wore a fancy suit. It was black with narrow white stripes, and stretched taut against the giant’s frame, looked like designer prison wear.
    Bobby studied the older man. Sunken cheeks and square jaw. Distinctly Slavic features. They were Russian or Ukrainian mobsters. Bobby had seen enough of them during his childhood in Ukraine to know the look.
    “ Chorty ,” Bobby said.
    Nadia frowned. “What?”
    Chorty was the Ukrainian word for devils . The front desk was twenty feet away and the men were standing sideways. They were in the middle of an animated conversation with the doorman and weren’t paying attention to the elevator. Bobby grabbed Nadia by the lapel of her coat.
    “They’re here for us,” Bobby said.
    “Who’s here for us?” Nadia’s voice trailed off as her eyes went to the men. Bobby could see the recognition in her eyes. Two Slavic-looking mafia types at her apartment building. It was too much of a coincidence.
    “Freight elevator,” Bobby said.
    They slipped out of the elevator and hurried down the corridor to the side entrance. Nadia said hello to the doorman who accepted deliveries and stormed past him out the side door. Bobby followed. She took a hard right onto the sidewalk on Eighty-First Street. They hurried to the end of the block. Took a left turn onto First Avenue and hustled forward another half block. Ducked into an alcove in front of a giant day care center for dogs.
    Nadia pulled out her cell phone and called the car service. “I had to drop my dog off at the day care center,” she said to the operator. “Would you please tell the driver I’m sorry for the inconvenience and ask him to pick me up a couple of blocks away?” She proceeded to give directions to their current location.
    Bobby peered around a wall at the sidewalk behind them to see if anyone had been following them. He didn’t see anyone suspicious.
    “There may be more men,” Bobby said. “In a car. Watching our car.”
    “That would not be a good thing. Even worse would be if they figure out we’re going to Tokyo.”
    “Don’t worry,” Bobby said. “I packed for misdirection.”
    Nadia frowned.
    A black Lincoln Town Car pulled up. The name Tesla was handwritten on a sign in the front windshield.
    “That’s a slight giveaway,” Bobby said.
    Nadia swore under her breath. “You think?”
    The driver stored their luggage in the trunk. He took the sign down from the windshield and tossed it in the passenger seat beside him.
    “What terminal at JFK?” he said.
    “Terminal one,” Nadia said. “Did the doorman from my building come out to see who you were picking up?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did he ask what terminal?”
    “No. One of the other guys did.”
    “What other guys?”
    “There were two guys in suits with him. They looked like security. The way they asked, I thought they were coming with us in a backup car. For a minute there, I thought