The Brooch — Tuesday, 19 June 1990, 9:00 PM

Tue, 19 Jun 1990 21:00:00 +0000

Fifth Avenue Studio / Modius’s Mansion Gary, Indiana

Darius fed on Eddie Kowalski in the parking lot of Kiefer’s and the blood tasted like alimony and child support and the specific desperation of a man who does the math every morning and comes up short. Full tank. Thirteen of thirteen. The first time in days the hunger wasn’t a factor in his calculations.

The walk-up on Broadway was four blocks north of The Torch. Tapped power, a bare bulb on the second floor, and through the dirty window the silhouette of a man who couldn’t decide how to stand. Darius watched from the street and counted the cycles: shoulders up, shoulders down, hands clasped, hands loose, the body rearranging itself every few seconds like a radio scanning frequencies and never locking onto one.

The Debrief — Monday, 18 June 1990, 10:30 PM

Mon, 18 Jun 1990 22:30:00 +0000

Modius’s Mansion, Miller Beach Gary, Indiana

Darius sat in the armchair across from a prince who’d been reading people since Napoleon and told the truth. Most of it. The parts that served. The parts that bought time and goodwill and the specific currency of a neonate who solves problems his prince didn’t know existed.

He told him about the spirit and the boy and the sorcerer on Pennsylvania Avenue. He told him about the fire in the Wasteland and the sound the door made when it closed. He told him about the federal sedan on the lakefront road with the photographs and the notebook heading: WIERUS.

Act I — Forged in Steel on Chicago Chronicles

The Brooch — Tuesday, 19 June 1990, 9:00 PM

The Debrief — Monday, 18 June 1990, 10:30 PM