“Cèsar killed her in self defense, Fritz. She was a half-succubus. She attacked him,” Isobel said. “Erin Karwell and her coworker, Thandy Cannon, were Gray planted at The Pit to watch the OPA.” A smile flashed over her lips. “You’re going to have to find another bar to hang out at after work.”
Fritz looked disappointed. “I’m going to miss dollar rib night.”
I was going to miss living a normal life where I thought I could trust people. But you know, priorities. “Where’s Joey? Agent Dawes?”
“He’ll be arrested by now. Another unit went to his house at the same time this one moved in on Costa.”
Guess I should have felt relieved about that, but I was too exhausted. “So…what now? What about Agent Takeuchi? She didn’t have anything to do with Erin or the Needles. Her only crime was being unlucky enough to work for the OPA.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll make some calls,” Fritz said.
He whipped out the Blackberry and walked off again.
Isobel reached out, grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Cèsar.”
The memory of her kissing me in the RV flashed through my mind, shortly followed by the memory of Fritz kissing her. I got up and abandoned the wine bottle on the table between our chairs. “I’m gonna get some air.”
“Thank you for saving me. Again.”
The way she said that turned my guts to hamburger.
Not going to think about it.
I managed to tear myself away from Isobel. Walk through the swarm of OPA agents moving in and out of the building. Bump past a photographer.
Domingo was sitting outside The Pit on the tailgate of a black SUV. He was smoking again, and he hadn’t smoked since getting married. When he saw me, he offered the cigarette in my direction. “Better not,” I said. “I think I’m technically on the job right now.”
“Your loss.” He dragged deep. The end flared with light. As he blew smoke out of his nostrils, he nodded toward the window. Isobel was on the other side talking to Fritz. “That’s the woman, huh?”
I sighed. “Yeah. That’s the woman.”
“And that’s your boss, isn’t it?”
“Yup.”
“Tough cookies.”
My thoughts involved a lot more expletives than that, but he’d gotten the gist of it. I sat on the tailgate next to him. “Your spell sucked. Everyone woke up.”
“Your friends broke the circle.” He patted the SUV. Its tire straddled the salt line.
I wasn’t sure I’d call the union “friends.” Even if Eduardo and Joey had been double agents, I wasn’t feeling real warm and tingly about that particular arm of the OPA at the moment. On the other hand, every scrap of brotherly rivalry I’d ever felt about Domingo was suddenly magically forgotten. “In case I forgot to tell you earlier—thanks for coming out to help me.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
Fritz and Isobel emerged from The Pit. “Ready to go?” he asked.
I stood. “Where?”
“I’m making a new task force specifically for internal investigations and special ops. You can select an agent you trust as your partner. I assumed you’d pick Agent Takeuchi. Unless there’s someone else you’d like to nominate?”
“You assumed rightly, sir,” I said. I glanced at my brother. “You good here?”
“I’m fine,” Domingo said, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. “Go play secret agent man.”
I was waiting for Suzy when she emerged from the union detention center. It was in an underground bunker in the middle of the Mojave, probably an hour of driving from the nearest highway on narrow dirt roads. The entrance was hidden inside a big pile of black rocks. Suzy emerged looking disheveled and annoyed. Her suit was rumpled, tie loose around her neck, hair in a messy ponytail.
She stopped a few feet away from me with a dubious look.
“Hey, Suze,” I said. “Bad day?”
“I’ve had better,” she grunted.
“You’ve been declared innocent and the bad guys are dead. What could be better than that?”
“Not being detained in the first place,” Suzy said.
“Good point.”
But she perked up a little. “So they’re dead, huh?” She didn’t give me a chance to explain. She didn’t seem to care. “What the fuck happened with my Glock?”
“It was a mix-up,” I said.
Anger flashed over her features. “Hell of a fucking mix-up.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “It’s not your fault.” She tugged the rubber band out of her ponytail. Fine black hair fell around her cheeks. “Fuck, I need a shower.”