"Why?" Tom asked, puzzled.
"Oh, hell. You guys are cool. It's like SF or a comic book."
"Except you could get hurt. Quickly," Tom said.
"I could get hurt very quickly anyway. Look, they knew you were my friend, they came to my house to get me. Surely that means I'm already not safe. I might as well help."
"Tom, he has a point," Rafiel said. "Kyrie's house is clearly not safe. Your apartment is destroyed. I doubt that Keith's apartment is safe. And I . . ."
"You?"
"I live with my parents," Rafiel said. "They know I'm a shifter. They help me if needed. It's convenient."
"I didn't say anything," Tom said.
Rafiel shrugged. "But I can't bring you guys there. If we're tracked . . . I can't risk them. Dad isn't doing so well these days."
"So you're saying you don't know where we can get together?"
Rafiel nodded. "Drop me off at home first. Then call Kyrie and tell her to meet you somewhere. Then pick me up in her car. We should leave this one in a public park or something. I don't think they'll report it stolen, but you never know." He drummed his fingers on the side of the wheel. "And then we'll figure out where to go. Perhaps a hotel room? A hotel would be good, wouldn't it? It's so public that I don't think even the triad would risk it."
Tom nodded.
"And I'm in? I'm in, right?" Keith asked.
"You're in," Rafiel said.
"There's a distinct possibility you're too addled to be left on your own," Tom said.
"Hey," Keith said, but he was smiling.
Tom felt odd. There was a weird camaraderie. He hadn't had friends in a long time. He hadn't ever had friends, truly. Not real friends.
He only hoped he could keep them all alive by the end of this.
* * *
Kyrie was standing at the counter, adding up her hours, when her cell phone rang. She dipped into the apron pocket, and brought it out. "Yes?"
"Kyrie?"
It was Tom. Until she felt relief flooding through her, she didn't realize that she couldn't be absolutely sure he was still alive till she heard from him.
She almost called his name, but then realized that Anthony was behind the counter doing something and that she didn't know if Frank was hanging out somewhere. So, instead, she said, "Yes?"
"Thank God it's you," he said. There was a sound like coughing. "You didn't say anything and I wondered if I'd done something wrong and called the police department in New Mexico."
"What?"
"Later. Rafiel said he'd told you that you might need to pick us up."
"Yes."
"Well, can you come? We're in the parking garage for the zoo. We've parked on the third level, and we'll come down to meet you up front. In front of the zoo."
"We?"
"Keith and I. We'll swing by Rafiel's place on the way, okay?"
"Sure."
She hung up and found Anthony staring at her. "Was that Frank?"
"No."
"Damn," Anthony said. "I don't know where he's gone. I'm going to have to stay here and wait for the day-shift people. Will you wait with me?"
"I can't," Kyrie said. "I've got to meet a friend."
"The guy you were talking to?" Anthony asked, gesturing toward the enclosure. "He looks an awful lot like Tom."
"It's his father," Kyrie said, as she headed for the door. She'd parked up front again. She didn't think she could ever park in the parking lot again. Not for all the money in the world.
"Oh," Anthony said, just as she opened the door and went out.
Kyrie realized a little too late that Anthony might think that she was having an affair with Tom's dad. But she didn't think so. Anthony was a rather conventional person, other than the bolero thing, and was more likely to have her engaged to Tom in his mind—and to assume that his father's visit had something to do with finalizing the arrangements.
The drive to the zoo wasn't long. Just a few blocks down Fairfax and then a turn into a tangle of streets named after presidents.
It didn't really matter which you took, since they were all parallel. Either Madison or Jackson took you to a sharp turn at Taylor and then up Wilson where the street namers had run out of presidents and offered, instead, Chrisalys Street, which in turn, exhausted by all these flights of fancy ended in Main Parkway, where the zoo, the library, and the pioneer museum were all located.
Finding Tom and Keith at the entrance wasn't hard either. She simply took a long turn around the parking lot, and—circling by the door—saw the two only people standing there, since the zoo was still closed.