“Sydney,” hemumbled.
“That’s the spirit,” I said,grinning.
Lassen spent the next hour or so following Sydney around and mindlessly supplying her with endless amounts of tokens. It had been a wise choice, indeed, because there was no way my friend could have survived the more physically demanding activities Riley was choosing, like Dance Dance Revolution and the Human HamsterWheel.
The one giant positive to being in a kid’s joint like this was that no one, and I mean no one, was expecting me to be in such a place. With a baseball cap pulled down over my forehead, I could have been any other dad chasing his kidsaround.
Vadim stood off to the side watching the proceedings, all while keeping a healthy distance away so as not to draw attention to me. Unfortunately that strategy backfired, as my security guy was targeted by a suspicious group of moms. I could see their point; he was definitely giving off a pervy vibe standing there in the corner by himself looking out over the crowdofkids.
The situation grew out of control faster than a brush fire fanned by the Santa Ana winds, and soon Vadim, an ex-Russian mercenary, was at the center of the firestorm. Moms with pitchforks closed ranks around him, demanding an explanation for his whole creeper-in-a-corner act. A pimply teenaged manager was called into action. He weighed all of a hundred and twenty pounds and shivered as he got his first look at Vadim in all his Terminatorglory.
“S…S…Sir do you have achildhere?”
Vadim didn’t answer. Nor did he even turn his head to acknowledgetheguy.
The rail-thin little manager reached his arm toward Vadim, possibly to lead him out of the establishment, but if he laid even one finger on my bodyguard, I was certain he’d be in a deadly chokehold in a matter ofseconds.
Sending Riley over to Lassen, I broke through the group and introduced myself. As I pulled my cap off, several people actuallygasped.
“Guys, it’s okay. He’s my bodyguard. Sorry if he startled you. He was just trying toprotectme.”
The manager’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t have been older than nineteen. I wondered what life skills this kid possessed to have been made manager of a Chuck E. Cheese’s, or to potentially handle a situation with a real pervert in theplace.
“I’d appreciate it if we could keep this quiet, so I can stay here a little longer with my niece andnephew.”
“Oh, yeah… Okay…uh…I… Sure,sorry.”
“We’regood,then?”
“Um…yes.” The man-child manager turned to the mommy gang and asked, “Are you all okay withthisnow?”
There was a collective head nod from the mob, and as they dissipated, I replaced my cap and grabbed Vadim’s arm, dragging him with me as I went back to the kids. Only I couldn’t find them. OrLassen.
“Shit, where are they?” I immediately felt a tightness in my chest. I knew better than anyone how quickly things could turnwicked.
Vadim went into mercenary mode. His body taut with purpose, he scanned the play area like it was abattlefield.
“Jake!” Sydney waved, calling out to me as she glided down the slide coming from the Sky Tubes. One kid,thankgod.
“Where’s Riley?” I asked, still trying to make sense of hisdisappearance.
“In the tubes, withLassen.”
All tension dissolved as I processed the words she’dspoken.
Gaping at her in surprise, I asked, “Lassen’s in thetubes?”
“Uh-huh. I think he might be stuck, though,” Sydney said, as if a man the size of Lassen stuck in a suspended hamster house was nobigdeal.
“Wait, Syd, are you sure he’sstuck?”
“Well, he’scrying,so…”
“Lassen’s crying?” The shock of what I was hearing was causing my headtospin.
“Actually, it was more like moaning.” She proceeded to mimic the sound he wasmaking.
“Oh, god, wherearethey?”
