The booth seats we squeezed ourselves into smeared sticky...who knew what all over my hands. I rubbed my palms down the legs of my jeans while searching the dark club for Hill. He'd sent me a text hours ago for me to go to my post at 131st and Chestnut at 9:45. It was 9:38 now.

Paige leaned in to me to shout, "Interesting place, huh?"

"Yeah," I said. "Great."

The strobe lights spun across her face and hair at a dizzying speed. She looked otherworldly. ...