Garner working as a waiter at an upscale restaurant with a growing attraction to a man named Alonzo, who always asks to be put in his section for dinner. One night after work, the man is assaulted while trailing Garner. Garner goes to his aid, but is shot for his trouble.<br><br>Taking time off from work to recover, Garner is resting on a park bench when Alonzo suddenly appears at the other end of the bench. Garner never saw him approach. He asks why Alonzo is trailing him.<br><br>After some hesitation, Alonzo explains he wants to recruit Garner to help fight against others who systematically hunt people like himself. Garner isn’t inclined to get involved in anything dangerous, but he does finds Alonzo more and more attractive, so he agrees to consider the idea. As he learns more about Alonzo’s bizarre and dangerous subculture, what Garner really wants to know is whether Alonzo is romantically interested in him at all.

Call to Love

But the man also seemed startled as well, so Garner struck again with the brick.


And was blocked again by the man’s arm.


And so it went, Garner using his brick with increasing desperation, while his opponent defended himself and at the same time tried knock said brick from Garner’s hand. Neither gained the ascendency, and Garner was increasingly surprised that none of the others joined the fray against him. Were they hesitating? Or perhaps it wasn’t needed, he thought as he felt himself beginning to tire, increasingly short of breath and with a leaden feel in his limbs.


He was just beginning to feel desperate, aware that soon he would be easy prey, especially if one of the others came in more or less fresh, when the man he was battling stepped back and shouted a single word of command—which Garner didn’t catch.


Chapter 49