Reece had not seen Lonnie Ward since the night they’d taken Tyra Norris, but his eyes had the same eagerness, and his face the same misshapen cast. “Did you bring everything I asked?”

The big man shrugged the first bag off his shoulder. “Sony DXC-1600 Trinicon tube handheld color camera, paired with a Sony BVU-100 U-matic-S Professional Portapack VCR color videocassette system, state of the art and fully portable at four ounces under fifty-five pounds.”

“And for editing? Splicing?”

“Second bag. Lighting, too.”

“Good, good. Thank you.”

“So?” Lonnie put down the second bag, his eyes on Chance. “We killing this kid?”

Reece said, “It’s complicated.”

But the big man was clearly puzzled. The boy was bound and silent; they had this quiet place. “So what are we doing here?”

“Waiting.”

“For what?”

“Him, actually.” A sound rose in the street, and Reece twitched the curtain, staying in the shadows as a second car pulled to the curb.

The big man peered over his shoulder as a teenager stepped onto the sidewalk. “Another kid?”

“Not just a kid,” Reece said. “A lever long enough to move the world.”

For Chance, it played out like a dream. He heard every word, but couldn’t hold them in his head. He saw the men separate, but didn’t understand the reasons. The small one stood behind him, and the other disappeared deeper into the house.

“Yo, Chance.”

Gibby had said as much a thousand times in a dozen years. Chance wanted to call out, to say, Run, damn it, run, but the small man had a blade against his throat, his mouth so close to Chance’s ear that his breath was damp and warm.

“Tell him to come in.”

The blade was fire on Chance’s skin.

“Go ahead, son. It’s okay.”

“I’m in here.” Chance closed his eyes to wish it away. “The living room.”

The front door closed with a click of steel. “Gibby in the house!”

He’d said that a thousand times, too. Three footsteps, and then six. By the time he reached the living room door, Chance was broken all the way through.

The line of fire …

This thing he’d done to his friend …

Gibby rounded into the room, and froze in disbelief, his eyes flicking from the blade to the man who held it, both hands fisting as his jaw tightened into a dogged line. One full second. That was the tick of the clock. Then the shaggy giant stepped near-silent from the hallway, and dropped Chance’s best friend with a single blow.