“Mr. de Montes?” Luisa asked. “I really need to move on to the next applicant. Is there anything else?”
He turned back to her. “No. I’m sorry.”
“I understand.” Her face visibly relaxed, and her hand moved away from something.
A small button. How close did I come?
“You can reapply after five years,” Luisa said, “so maybe when your daughter is older—”
“Yes, thank you.” He stepped away from the window and scanned the room. The Asian man had left. Daniel rushed to the exit as the public address system announced a newly opened window.
The streets of downtown Mexico City were even more packed than usual. The world-famous actor Kai Ripsen was in town for the regional premiere of his latest film, and the avenues were clogged with his mostly teenage fans. Barricades rerouted traffic, turning the block into a gigantic plaza.
As Daniel emerged from the Methuselah Office, he caught a glimpse of the Asian man in the crowd, moving away. Daniel struggled to pick his way through, trying to avoid the bodies darting in front of him. A number of the teens wore tiger masks in the style of Kai’s cranial art. It made Daniel feel as if he were surrounded by monsters.
He called ahead, trying to attract the Asian man’s attention.
What did he mean about Estrella’s situation not being completely hopeless?
Daniel called again, trying to make himself heard over the din. Loudspeakers blared nearby, rising above a thousand conversations in a hundred languages. The Asian man was heading toward the theater, weaving through the throng of underdressed, tiger-masked teen boys and girls. Daniel nearly tripped over a fallen girl who was far too young to be out in this kind of crowd—of course she reminded him of Estrella. As he helped her up, he was jostled from behind and had to catch himself from being knocked over and trampled. By the time he steadied himself, the Asian man was gone.
Suddenly the crowd around Daniel erupted with deafening cheers and high-pitched screams. They stood in front of the Cine Del Rey near the epicenter—the red carpet walkway—where the biggest movie star in the Western Hemisphere had just arrived.
Kai Ripsen emerged from his limousine escorted by a young man and woman each around seventeen years old. They wore swaths of metallic blue fabric around their hips, the girl with an additional strip around her bosom, and gilded laurel wreathes in their honey-blond hair. Kai, holding their hands in his own, stopped to spin each in a pirouette before pulling them into an embrace and a deep kiss.
The fans screamed in approval calling, “Kiss me, Kai!” and “Me next!”
Kai was dressed in an electric-blue suit with black tiger stripes running up the lapels. His face looked as freakish in real life as it did on film: a fully realized tiger’s head on a man’s body, flush, orange, and wild.
“Hello, Mexico City!” Kai roared, and his fans shouted in return.
Watching the famed actor walk up the red carpet, Daniel was struck by a new possibility to save Estrella. Kai had been a recipient of Methuselah some eighty years back, and rumor had it that those “in the club” held a measure of sway over new selections. There was a small chance he could help.
Not just small, minuscule…but better than nothing.
Daniel took out his photo of Estrella and pushed his way through the teenagers, ignoring their protests. He reached the metal barricades that separated the crowd from the red carpet walkway.
Kai slowly made his way up, trailing leisurely behind his body-perfect escorts. Every so often he would stop to greet one of his fans hanging over the railing, usually in the form of an openmouthed kiss.
“Kai!” Daniel called, his voice drowned by the rest. He would just have to try harder. “Kai, please—I need your help!” he shouted.
Kai hadn’t seemed to notice, but he did draw closer, spending some time on one side of the carpet and then wandering to the other.
“Kai—!”
He was coming closer now, but…no, he veered off toward the far railing.
Daniel couldn’t let him get away, not without pleading his case. Estrella’s life depended on him. “Wait—!” Daniel pushed against the top of the railing and vaulted himself onto the red carpet.
In a flash Kai’s dates—the nearly nude boy and girl—revealed themselves to be bodyguards. They grabbed Daniel and pinned him against the steel rail. The girl touched one of the leaves on her laurel crown.
Probably a security alert. Only have a few minutes.
“Kai,” Daniel yelled, but the boy slammed Daniel’s back against the railing.
Kai, however, had noticed the commotion, and he came over to investigate. Seeing Daniel and the photograph he held, his tiger head smiled, revealing sharpened teeth.
“It’s all right. He’s not going to hurt me. Autograph?” Kai indicated the picture. “Or did you want to kiss the tiger?”
The bodyguards let go of Daniel’s arms, allowing him to hold the picture out to Kai. “Mr. Ripsen, I need your help. My daughter is sick. Dying. She needs Methuselah. Please. I know you can talk to someone. I know how powerful you are.”
Kai took the photo and held it up.
He laughed. “Too young. Even for me.” He tore the photo in two with razor nails and shoved the pieces into Daniel’s hand. “If she lives, bring her to me at fourteen. I’ll make a woman out of her.” He leaned in to whisper. “And don’t you worry, Daddy. I’ve had my tubes tied, so the only thing I’ll leave her is whimpering for more.”
Daniel felt years of despair, frustration, and guilt for not being able to save Estrella boil over in a heartbeat. He exploded and lunged for Kai’s muzzle.
The bodyguards were fast but not quick enough. Daniel got his free hand on Kai’s right-side whiskers. Kai leapt back and the hairs ripped free, coming loose in Daniel’s fist.
“Kill him,” Kai snarled, holding his hand to his face.
Daniel spun around with both fists clenched—one holding the ripped photo of Estrella and the other the whiskers from Kai’s monstrous face—breaking free from the bodyguards’ grasps.
Daniel struck the boy with a right cross. He fell back against the railing. The onlookers behind it gasped and screamed.
The girl backpedaled, a hand on her wreath again. Kai kept his distance, apparently waiting for the cavalry to arrive. Daniel couldn’t let himself get caught. The Methuselites were protected, and attacking one was a capital offense.
I have to get out of here.
He ran down the red carpet toward the street. On both sides the barricades gave way as the crowd pushed through, or hopped over, trying to stop Daniel and win favor with their idol. Other fights broke out along the barricades as people pushed into one another, scrambling to get involved.
I’ve started a riot!
Daniel managed to get clear of the red carpet and across the street into a crowd that hadn’t witnessed the fight. Behind him, the incoming wails of sirens were slowed by the multitudes.
As he raced on, Daniel could feel the brawl spreading behind him, close at his heels. He slipped inside an alley and found relief from the panic and confusion.
As he recovered his breath, Daniel heard footsteps from behind.
That’s it. I’m done for.
When he turned, instead of the black-jacketed officers he expected, he found the Asian man from the Methuselah Office.
“Mr. de Montes? We need to speak,” the Asian man said. “Given the police are searching for you now, we must do so quickly.”
Daniel felt enraged. “I was trying to talk to you! Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“We couldn’t risk this conversation too close to the Methuselah Office. They have cameras everywhere. I expected you would follow me, but then it became necessary to follow you.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Who I am isn’t important. You only need to know that we want the same thing—the salvation of your child.”