At Your Service (Book Two)

Chapter 16 - To Find a Ballerina

The two boys departed back to the diner with each of their own vehicles. Swift rode a dirtbike while Tom drove a grey pickup truck. It took Swift less than ten minutes to reach the same diner. While he did, he contemplated how much better it is to use a vehicle to travel the same road he walked, a lot faster this way.

His body still felt sore like never before. What else did he expect from falling off a speeding truck? He still was shaken by the fact that he survived that. Barely, at least. The only that he lost from the chase instead of his life was his beloved gun. He wasn't too worried about it, though. He knows he'll get a new one. He couldn't tell how soon, however.

The second he was near the diner, he took a right turn in an instant, and he parked the bike in the middle of the lot, not putting the engine out knowing he won't be long there. It seems like he went far ahead of Tom as the pickup truck was far from Swift's sight. So he waited until the truck arrived.

Not longer than a minute later, Tom arrived in the same parking lot. Seeing the truck arrive through the window, the waiter, who's been waiting for its return, walked to the exit in order to greet Tom and make sure his car made it back in one piece. When the waiter walked out into the lot, Tom hopped off the truck after turning off its engine.

"Señor?" Tom slammed the door shut. "Here's your truck back." He throws the car keys towards the waiter, who catches it precisely. "Thanks again, by the way."

"De nada, muchacho," (Translation: Your welcome, kid.) "I knew you'd return it." The waiter said eagerly.

"Yeah," Tom slightly chuckled. "I almost didn't." He murmured, noting Swift's ego that could make him leave the truck behind.

"So... Why did he steal your bike?" He said, gesturing to Swift who was waiting for Tom without batting an eye at the two conversing.

"He, um... played a prank on me." Tom was so close to answering with a clear lie. His ability to make up stories to cover for extraordinary events or such unorthodox happenings was taught by Swift himself. "He always does that."

"Ah." The waiter nodded.

Tom's face turned more exuberant after a few seconds of inaction, "Anyways. We should be going now."

"Of course. Take care now, muchacho." The waiter said. With the car keys returned, he walks back into the diner and all the while Tom waved him goodbye. Swift, in the meantime, only listened to their little exchange. Tom noticed his impatient face and walked to him with a hesitant feeling.

"Can we get a move on?"

"On saving your girlfriend? Sure." Tom teased. "What's your plan now? Where can we find her?"

"Let's think for a minute," Swift leaned forward on the dirtbike. He knows for one that there's no way to track Vicência's phone, so he wanders for a much more complex question to find the answer to. "Where would Santiago take Vicência out of all places?"

"What do we know about the guy?" Tom asked.

"Here's the thing, I know he's a circus owner. One thing that I don't is that do circuses have... some sort of lair or something?" Swift speculated.

"Lair?"

"Y'know, circus headquarters or any kind of establishments to train their troops. Hang on a minute," He reached for his phone to search up Vanderbilt-related properties, maybe known establishments somewhere in the state.

When Swift went to turn it on, he noticed something off about it, only to discover something odd and foreign about it, almost like it was an entirely different phone than his. The weight and the dimension of it were dissimilar from the last time he held it.