King
“There’s a note here. To King,” she said as she studied it. “Is that you?”
“It’s possible.” Nova sounded disturbed at the reference. “What does it say?”
“It’s in an envelope.” She flipped it over. “It’s sealed.”
“Open it.”
Brianna slid her finger underneath the flap and pulled it open. She unfolded the letter and stared at it long enough that Nova growled in her ear, “Well?”
She blinked past the tears and finally read it to him.
King,
Endgame.
Protect my queen at all costs. I’m not you. I still need her to win.
Pawn
“Fuck.” Nova’s voice was tight, as if that note had cut him, but he didn’t want to acknowledge it. “Where are you, princess?”
“I’m in West Virginia,” she admitted with a wince.
“Of course you are.” He let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “It makes a special moment between us even more memorable. Gimme the address.”
Brianna read the address off the top of the hotel stationery and gave him the room number. Then she looked at the note, knowing it was code, one that obviously had to do with her, much to Nova’s displeasure.
“Do you know what it means?” Brianna understood part of it, but she’d never heard Tino talk about a king in chess until now. Queens and pawns, yes, but not a king, and something about it bothered her as much as it clearly got to Nova. “I know I’m probably the queen, but—”
“You’re a smart girl, Brianna,” he said rather than answer her. “You just sit there and wait for me. Don’t open the door. Don’t look out the window. You just sit.”
“For eight hours?”
“For as long as it takes me to get there.”
The phone went dead without an explanation.
Chapter Eight
East Harlem (El Barrio), New York
July 2002
“First rule, if you lose your king, it’s game over. You protect your king. If you leave him vulnerable, then that’s it. You lose.”
Nova set up the white chess pieces on Tino’s side of the board as the two of them sat at the table by the window of the two-bedroom walk-up they’d lived in since they were born. Nova took a drag off his cigarette and leaned down, blowing the smoke out the window, before he went back to setting up the board.
Tino stared at it uncertainly. “Isn’t chess about a queen or something? I never heard about a king.”
“You have to protect the king to win, but the queen is your most powerful piece. The game can be won without her, but for someone like you, I’d recommend keeping her safe.” Nova set his black pieces up in front of him, his right hand hanging out the window with the cigarette. “You have no chance of surviving an endgame without your queen.”
“I have no chance of surviving an endgame anyway,” Tino pointed out as he looked at his brother in annoyance. “Are you gonna let me win? At least go easy on me.”
“No.” Nova said it as if it was an insult to ask. “Is it gonna be fun for you to know I let you win? Where’s the challenge in that?”
“Casanova,” Tino said slowly as he raised his eyebrows. “I don’t wanna play your geek game. You’re not Romeo. You can’t make me do this.”
“This is good for you. It teaches you how to strategize. We can’t afford any more notes from school next year. You need to learn how to sit and focus this summer.” Nova gestured to the board with his cigarette. “This’ll help you.”
“You’re telling me what’s good for me?” Tino snorted and then coughed when smoke flew in his face. “Romeo’s gonna beat your ass if he finds out you’re smoking. In the house.” Tino took another breath and put a hand to his bare chest, doing a very good job of feigning a wheeze. “I think it’s giving me asthma.”
“Really?” Nova asked in disbelief. “We’re doing this again?”
Tino waved a hand in front of his face. “I need air.” He leaned over and pushed the window farther up. He took in a huge gulp of night air and made a move to crawl onto the landing, when Nova caught his arm.
“Hey, Tino!” his friend Paco called from the street despite it being past midnight. He had a basketball under his arm and held up his hand impatiently. Paco and Nova were the same age and had been in the same classes since kindergarten, but like most of the kids in their area, he got along better with Tino. “You wanna play a quick game?”
“Fuck off, Paco. It’s midnight,” Nova called out, but Tino was already halfway out the window.
Feeling the getaway in his bones, Tino used Nova’s distraction to punch him. It was mostly playful. They were both still in their karate pants from class earlier, so Tino thought it didn’t really count, except Nova’d been taking a drag when Tino hit him.
“Motherfucker!” Nova brushed at the spray of glowing ashes that hit his bare chest and then dived for the cigarette when it landed inside on the carpet.
“Ay carajo,” Paco said from below, and Tino agreed.
He cleared the window, nearly losing his pants when Nova tried to grab his ankle. Tino kicked back on instinct, catching Nova in the face.