Your son for Mine

chapter 1

Mario scanned the crowd looking for his new client. The new client had texted him saying something came up and he couldn't meet him at the condo and would be at this address after nine. Mario was going to wring said new client's scrawny, freaking neck.
Mario thought back to the file he'd received:
Lucas Dupont, Twenty-four years old. Six foot eleven, black curly long hair, blue eyes.
Attended Columbia as an undergrad and graduated with honors. He then moved back home to Chicago, where he bought a condo in the Loop and was studying the medical field at Southwestern. His parents were Mathew and Diana Dupont. His father was an English professor at the University of Chicago. Diana was a federal judge.

"And that's where the trouble started."

Judge Dupont had held her position for twenty years. She was respected by most of her colleagues and had the well-earned reputation of being a hard-ass. She rarely showed leniency to those who were found guilty in her courtroom. Over the years, she had received her fair share of "fan mail". Letters that would threaten her safety in one way or another. All the letters had been investigated and dealt with by the authorities.

The content wasn't what the judge worried about. It was the fact that these letters had arrived at her home, not her office where letters from other fans had been sent. Security had been heightened around the judge. Alarm codes changed armed escort to and from work, and cops made drive-by throughout the night. All standard protocol. Then one​day another envelope arrived. The contents of this one had shaken the judge.

"Your son for Mine."

With the note, they were also pictures of Lucas in various places in the city. In the parking garage by his apartment with his lovers. Walking into the meds school. Picking out foods at the supermarket. In each photo, a big red X was drawn across Lucas's head.

They had to take drastic measures, so they called the FBI to check into it. They took the letters and questioned the judge, her husband, and her son. No one had noticed anything out of the ordinary. The FBI told the judge that the Chicago PD would add her son's address as a scheduled drive-by, but neither the agency nor the police department could offer round-the-clock protection. No one had been harmed, and Lucas was not a federal employee, therefore he was not eligible for protection unless an attempt to harm him was made. They were told to lay low, remain vigilant, and call if anything seemed suspicious. When Judge Dupont protested the lack of protection immediately one of the agents gave her a card and referred her to Mario's agency.
She'd made the call immediately. And Mario went out to meet the woman and her husband at their home in Chicago. Lucas wasn't there for the meeting. His parents were apologetic. Mario was irritated, though he did his best not to show it.

"How was he supposed to protect a man who couldn't be bothered to show up to meet him?"

Professor Dupont explained that Lucas had something pressing at the meds school that he was unable to get out of. The three of them went over the details, everything that was known. The judge had more than her fair share of people who might want to harm her, so the suspect list was still relatively long, though the FBI was chipping away at it and had given assurances that it would remain a priority. After they exchanged information about how to reach one another, the judge assured Mario that she would call Lucas and tell him to expect a call and to be home
by eight so Mario could meet him at the condo. They shook hands and Mario left. Once he reached his car, he exhaled loudly and let his shoulders slump. Extreme wealth made him nervous, his skin itching. He could probably fit four of his small Naperville home into one of the Dupont large houses. He'd gotten in his beat-up SUV and headed back to the city.
Mario figured that Lucas was going to be a challenge. The picture in the file had shown a handsome young man in a well-cut grey suit, white shirt, and purple tie, standing in front of a late model silver Audi. Like the car, the man in the photo was sleek, lithe, and exuded confidence. He was attractive and knew it. He also had little concern or respect concerning the threats against him, demonstrated by his reluctance to wait at the condo for Mario, and not bothering to show up as his mother had originally requested.
There was one other thing that Mario knew that hadn't been included in the file. Lucas was gay.
Mario knew immediately what he'd find when he saw the address in the text. A former lover had liked dancing and the nightlife and
Mario had found himself in this same club more than once before. And like before, the bodies were hot and crowded. He was sweating and gyrating on the dance floor to the ever-present thumping bass that pounded out of the speakers. Finding Lucas here, having never met him, would be a feat in and of itself. But when Mario found him, and he would find him, he was going to strangle him, and then he would have a long, detailed, and professional conversation with the boy about the definition of

"laying low".

The lights on the ceiling swung around, illuminating various areas of the crowd in their bright colors. Beyond the dance floor, to the left, there were a few cages up on a platform with twinks dressed in leather trying to attract a daddy for the night. Opposite the cages was a runway-like platform with three steel poles running to the ceiling. One of the spotlights had zeroed in on the center one. Bodies on the dance floor slowly migrated and turned to watch whoever was currently putting on the show. Mario started to move through the crowd, ignoring the grabbing hands and slurred come-ons threw his way. He should have left his leather jacket in the car. beading on his neck and dampening the back of his navy button-down.
He was nervous, he didn't know why he was nervous, it was not like that was the first time he was doing his job. But deep down in his mind, he knows this is going to be a long night and a great adventure to come.

Continue.....