The Big Time

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

THE SMILE FLASHED BACK onto his father's face instantly.

"The idea of you," his father said, "of having a son. I told you. I always wanted that. That's all I meant, not that I knew you really existed. I thought a lot about having a son. Just the idea."

"Oh," Troy said.

Tate appeared, marching up onto the terrace and crossing her arms over her chest.

"How you two doing?" she asked, grabbing her soda from the table, cracking open the can with a hiss, and swigging some down. As she drank, she flashed a thumbs-up behind her back, a signal only Troy could see, that told him she'd done her job.

"Great," Troy's dad said, answering Tate's question. "One of those father-and-son talks."

"You want me to let you guys talk?" Tate asked. "I can."

"No, that's okay, Tate," Troy said. "We've got to get back anyway."

"You don't want to finish your sodas?" his dad asked.

"We can take them," Troy said, standing. "I know you've got things going on."

As if on cue, the glass doors slid open and someone Troy had never seen before, with tan skin and a pencil-thin mustache, stepped out onto the deck and shouted, "Edinger! We need you! The big man does!"

He disappeared back inside, and one of the guards from the front of the house came out, heading their way. Troy's dad gave him a sheepish look.

"Well," his dad said, "you're right about the business part of it. Okay, well, you two get back home. And, Troy, if I don't see you tomorrow, it's because your mom is being a crank and I might have to shoot back to Chicago quick to take care of some things, but don't worry. Everything will smooth out soon, and we'll be hanging out again. I'm not only your dad; I'm your lawyer. You can't go wrong."

Troy thought it sounded like his dad was trying to sell him a car, but he let Drew hug him before they stepped apart. The guard muttered to them that Luther had asked him to escort the kids to the front gate. Troy and Tate said good-bye to Troy's dad and followed the guard down a path that took them around the house instead of through it. When they reached the driveway, Troy looked back at the huge white mansion to see that two white stretch limos now waited in the glow of the lights right in front of the grand front steps leading to the door.

When the gates hummed open, Troy took Tate's arm and hurried her through. He said thanks to the guard, using all his determination not to break out into a full sprint and run away as fast as his legs would take him.

" I did it," Tate said before they had even rounded the corner.

"Shhhh!" Troy said, clutching her arm as the gates swung slowly closed.

"You're hurting me," she said under her breath.

"Don't run," he said, glancing back as they rounded the corner beneath the glow of a street lamp. "Nothing suspicious."

"When can we?" Tate said as they reached the next stop sign and a bit of darkness, where they could take another turn.

Just then Troy glanced back again and saw a man beneath the streetlight, wearing a dark suit and holding a radio in one hand, sprinting their way.

"Now!" Troy said, and they took off.