As we approached the swinging door into the café, the buzz of conversation grew louder. Men and women talking and laughing, forks tinkling against china, mugs clanking against tabletops.

“It’s going to be okay, miss,” Curry whispered again. “Just stay calm and don’t panic, whatever happens.”

From the tremor in his voice, I wasn’t the one who needed the reassurance. Kaufman waved me up beside him. Adam put his arm around my waist. Casual. Just act casual.

Kaufman pushed open the door. We stepped out. And twenty “patrons” leaped to their feet, guns pointed at us.

TWENTY-TWO

“You bastard,” I snarled as I spun on Curry. “You set us up.”

“I’ve got kids, miss. I—”

I sent him flying with a knockback spell. As I turned to confront our ambushers, Adam grabbed my arm and whispered, “No.”

He was right. Kaufman had his hands raised and he looked two seconds from throwing up. He was a dead man. If he’d thought he had a hope in hell of fighting his way out of this, he would have, but he raised his hands and said, “I want to speak to Sean Nast. This is his sister—”

“You bought that line of bull, Captain?” An officer stepped forward. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“No, she is his sister,” Curry said. “Her blood opened the security gate. She’s a Nast—”

A rap at the front door. The shades were all drawn, including the one over the door. A louder knock.

The lead officer waved for his people to move out of the way, walked over, pulled the shade back a few inches, and yelled, “We’re closed.”

An ID badge slapped against the glass. The lead officer winced and mouthed a curse.

“An intra-Cabal security team,” he said. “Everyone maintain position, but lower your weapons.”

He opened the door to admit a grizzled, thickset man. Two others followed. All wore suits and looked more like FBI agents than security.

Curry whispered, “That’s what I meant, miss. I told the Nasts. I had to. I’ve got kids. Helping you escape—it’s treason. But I made sure you’d be safe. That’s why I called the intra-Cabal office. I sent Sean a message, too. He’ll know what happened. You won’t go back to the cells. They’ll have to do this fairly. You’re okay.”

I glowered at him. “I’d be a lot more okay if I was in a cab right now.”

“I—I’ve got kids, miss.”

“Stop whining,” Kaufman hissed. “Sean trusted you, Frank, and you screwed him over. Do you think you’ll get your golden handshake now? Both sides will consider you a traitor.”

Curry paled. I turned away from him. The grizzled man in the suit walked over to us.

“Miss Levine? Mr. Vasic? Bo Stein. I’m going to accompany you back to Nast headquarters for a proper hearing into these allegations.”

“That’s funny,” Adam said. “I could swear that was where we were headed twenty-four hours ago. Before we got locked in a filthy cell with no bed and a pail to piss in.”

Stein’s lips tightened. “Those allegations will be heard as well, sir. I’ve been told the Cortezes have also been notified and they are on the way with their legal team. This will be handled properly from now on.”

“We’re not going back into a cell of any kind,” I said.

“You won’t. We’ll be with you until—”

“And I want my mother.”

Stein stared at me, as if the shock of my incarceration had scrambled my brain.

“Eve Levine was with us,” Adam said. “Captain Kaufman can attest to that. She was brought over from the afterlife. Manifested.”

Kaufman nodded. “It’s true, sir.”

I said, “I haven’t seen her since we were put on the plane in New Orleans. I want her found. If they try to say she passed over again, I want Jaime Vegas of the interracial council brought here to make contact.”

“We’ll begin investigating—”

“Before we take one more step we also want to speak to Lucas Cortez,” Adam said. “You say you’re with intra-Cabal security, but I don’t know you.”

Stein handed Adam his cell phone. Adam passed it to me.

I called Lucas. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said.

A pause. Then a sigh, so soft it was more a whisper. “Savannah. Since you’re calling on Agent Stein’s line, I presume the extrication attempt was thwarted.”

“It was.”

“We’d hoped otherwise. Sean only learned of Frank Curry’s intentions thirty minutes ago, making it too late to warn Captain Kaufman. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. So’s Adam, though they beat the crap out of him when we were arrested. Mom’s missing, but they say they’ll look into that. Stein’s okay, then? We can go with him?”

“You’ll have to, I’m afraid. But yes, he is a legitimate representative of the intra-Cabal agency. We’ll have this mess sorted soon. Sean is already on his way. He was staying near the airport, so I had him take the jet. I’m following with the legal team on a commercial flight. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

And that was that. Nothing more to be done except submit to Nast custody and trust that this time we’d get our due process.

They took us back to headquarters. To the executive board-room, no less, where Stein said we’d rest—under his guard—until everyone arrived for the hearing.

While we waited, we were allowed to take showers in the executive wing. Then a Cabal doctor tended to Adam’s injuries and confirmed that, yes, his ribs were cracked, but already healing nicely. We were back in the boardroom, getting ready to eat, when the guards brought Mom in.

She walked in with her usual confident stride, her hair sleekly brushed, the sword on her back, gaze fixed on me, her smile genuine. When I hurried over and hugged her, she didn’t wince, gave no sign she was hiding injuries.

“Hey, baby, you okay?”

I nodded. “You?”

“Better than you, I bet.” She kissed my cheek, then checked out my rumpled clothing and shot a glare around the room. “Seems the company advisers decided that while they weren’t convinced of my angel-hood, it was best not to take any chances by mistreating me. They locked me up in a lead-lined cell, but I was comfortable enough. I think they were hoping the Fates would spirit me back and they could wash their hands of the matter.”