Three Part Harmony: A Bodyguards Story by J. V. Speyer

Author:J. V. Speyer [Speyer, J. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. V. Speyer
Published: 2023-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Once upon a time, Alex had entertained the idea that being a rock star would be fun. And maybe it was on some level—the guys from Atomic Waffle certainly enjoyed one another’s company, and they loved the music they made. That said, Alex already couldn’t tell the difference between one venue and another. The bus was becoming a kind of unchanging purgatory that smelled vaguely of sweat and occasionally pizza, and every hotel was exactly the same.

It was still glamorous to the part of him that was a ten-year-old kid working at his grandparents’ restaurant in St. Louis, but most things were.

The Des Moines venue was yet another giant arena, named for a bank that had been the subject of a scandal so big Alex couldn’t believe they were still in business. The greenroom backstage was no different than any other arena, with the slightly off-putting mural of American Gothic on one wall surrounded by corn on the other three.

Someone had done that. On purpose.

The crowd didn’t look all that different from any other night, not that Alex could get complacent. They had to stay alert because any of these mostly white suburban and rural kids could be one of Kovalev’s operators. Or just another delusional fan who thought they were Dave’s one and only, needing to rescue poor Dave from himself.

Alex sat through the band’s pre-show routine and read through the redacted information Gomes and Rourke had sent over, trying not to let the fake corn get to him. While Kovalev was using a “stick” approach with Dave, he had used a “carrot” approach with his previous victim, Todd Beringer, former lead singer of Ten Times Full and now Inmate 47241-902 at Federal Correctional Institution—Lee in Virginia.

Beringer, like many musicians, had a well-publicized drug habit. He’d tried to get clean a few times, but he’d always relapsed. Alex could understand it, in a way. Fronting a band was a high-pressure position, and even Alex’s small taste of road life was exhausting. A stimulant like cocaine would probably help a person get through it, especially if they had something in their backgrounds that made them a bit more susceptible.

But cocaine was a risky habit. Kovalev approached him at a party in Atlanta and made him an offer—all the coke he might need, from a trusted source, without having to send someone sneaking around to shady dealers. All he would have to do was help Kovalev out.

Beringer would have been a sitting duck for a guy like Kovalev. Cocaine was often tainted with levamisole, which caused tissue necrosis and also could be used to deworm barnyard animals, or fentanyl. The ability to get a guaranteed, safe supply would have been a godsend to him.

He hoped that Beringer was getting treatment in prison, although he knew better than to hold his breath. Lee was a high-security institution with a focus on organized-crime and terrorism convicts. Their resources were focused on security, not health.

He did have to wonder if Kovalev hadn’t maybe already made some inroads into the Atomic Waffle organization.

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