The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark

CHAPTER 10

Bobby rehearsed his plan as he approached the restroom entrance.

“Hey.” A young man in a New York Rangers hockey jersey stepped forward. “You’re that hockey player from Fordham. The one that beat Gaborik in that race in Harlem. Your name is Bobby…” His voice trailed off as he tried to remember Bobby’s last name.

“Sorry, man. You must have me confused with someone else.”

The man’s jaw dropped. He looked as though he wanted to say something else but wasn’t prepared for Bobby’s answer.

Bobby bolted into the restroom, found an empty stall, and locked himself inside. He tried not to slip on the floor, which was wet and disgusting. The hook on the back of the stall door had been ripped off. Just like Ukraine. He wiped the toilet seat with a handkerchief and rested his bag on top of it. He was wearing jeans, a button-down shirt, the navy sports jacket Nadia had bought him in Alaska, and black loafers. He hated those clothes. Nadia said they made him look respectable but they felt stiff and wrong on him. They made him look like someone he wasn’t, an entitled prep school kid with rich parents. That made them perfect for misdirection.

He swapped the sports jacket for a forest-green fleece with a high collar and exchanged the loafers for his hiking boots. He put on a black cap with flaps that covered his ears. Ran his hand along the back and stuffed his long black hair under the cap. Lifted the collar to cover his neck. Donned a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses. Zipped his bag shut and left it on the toilet seat.

Then he jumped up, grasped the top of the door with both hands, and vaulted into the air. He lifted one leg over the door to straddle it, swung the other one over, and jumped down to the ground.

Most of the other men stood at urinals with their backs to Bobby. One man was washing his hands at a sink. He stared at Bobby’s reflection in the mirror. Another traveler stopped in his tracks. Bobby sauntered past them toward the exit. The man at the sink turned his attention to his hands. The one who’d just walked in headed for an empty urinal.

This was New York. It was an airport. People did strange things all the time. Maybe the door to the stall was locked because the toilet was out of order. Maybe Bobby needed to go so badly he’d jumped the wall to use it. No one cared. Everyone had an agenda. No one wanted any trouble.

Bobby paused behind the line of men using the hand dryers. One man finished and started to leave. Another one did the same. Instead of stepping up to use one of the machines, Bobby lowered his head and followed the two men outside.

The man in the Rangers uniform stood to his left as he exited the restroom. Bobby circled to the right of the other two men, looked down, and powered past them. He marched back down the corridor away from the high-numbered gates toward security. He stopped near a cluster of pay phones in a center aisle and slid into one of the cubicles. Glanced back toward the restroom.

The man in the Rangers uniform was still standing near the door waiting for Bobby to come back out. A moment later, a young woman in a similar jersey emerged from the women’s room. They fell into conversation and walked away.

Bobby headed back toward the waiting area. He hugged the right wall to remain hidden from view. He spotted the Slavs. One was still seated behind Nadia. The other had moved across the corridor so he could keep an eye on the men’s room. He clearly hadn’t recognized Bobby when he’d come out.

Bobby ducked under the rope and walked up to a pair of agents at gate nine. One of them smiled and chatted with a customer, while the other banged away at her keyboard. Bobby chose the latter. She had an air of authority about her.

“This station is closed,” the agent said. “Would you wait in line behind the others, please?”

Bobby kept his head low so she couldn’t see his eyes below the bill of his cap. “Help,” he said.

“Yes. The agent to my left can help you.”

“No.” Bobby lowered his voice to a desperate whisper. “I mean, help.”

“Excuse me?”

“I just saw a man pull two guns from under the seat of the pay phones. They were taped to the bottom.”

“Could you repeat that please?”

“There are two of them. They said something about taking care of business. They’re here near the gate. They’re near the gate, do you hear me?”

“Where are these men? And could you look up as you speak to me, please?”

Bobby described the Slavs and their precise location. “I think they’re going to kill someone.”

The agent hesitated. Bobby couldn’t see her face but he could sense she was evaluating the risks of taking action or doing nothing. She picked up the phone, dialed three numbers, and turned her body away from Bobby and the other passengers. She whispered something, listened, and hung up. Then she put the phone down.

“You wait right here,” she said.

She turned and bustled toward a man in a suit and tie standing near the gate to the airplane.

Bobby took his phone out of his pocket and dropped it on the floor. He fell to his knees to pick it up. He scooped the phone up, kept his body bent, and ducked out of sight behind a group of passengers. Followed them back toward the restroom.

An unmarked door burst open along the wall. Two uniformed policemen emerged. One held a two-way radio close to his mouth. The other held his hand on the gun in his holster. They hustled toward gate nine.

Bobby marched past them into the men’s room.

A businessman with a briefcase was trying to open the stall Bobby had locked from the inside. Then a toilet flushed, a man stepped out of an adjacent stall, and the businessman took his place.

Bobby hoisted himself to the top of the door and climbed into the stall. His bag was sitting on the toilet seat exactly where he’d left it. He took off his cap, let his hair fall to his shoulders, and changed back into his original clothes. When he was done, he pulled out his cell phone and called Nadia.

“Where are you?” she said.

“Men’s room.”

“I thought so. I saw you go in but I didn’t see you come out.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, good.”

“I’m confused. All hell’s broken loose here. First a couple of cops showed up. Then six guys in suits joined them. Had to be TSA or Homeland Security or something like that. They broke into two teams of four and guess what they did?”

“Arrested the two guys?”

“They took them away. I’m guessing someone managed to accuse them of a crime of some sorts and they were hauled away for questioning. Is this your handiwork?”

“Nah. I’m just a constipated kid stuck in the bathroom.”

“You want to tell me how you managed that?”

“Later.”

“Two more Port Authority cops showed up at gate nine. They talked to an agent — a large woman, looked like she was in charge. Then they went around the waiting areas — with the agent — as though they were looking for someone.”

Bobby looked down at his bag. His green fleece protruded from a gap in his duffel bag. He stuffed it inside and zipped the bag shut.

“They’re looking for someone who doesn’t exist.” He checked his watch. “Our flight is boarding. Meet you on the plane.”

The two Port Authority cops and the agent from gate nine were searching for him in the corridor, shops, and waiting areas.

None of them even noticed the well-dressed young man that walked by them. He looked like an entitled rich kid from Manhattan, not like a con artist’s son from Chornobyl.