Redemption Alley

“Don’t declare war on the cops.” It came out harder and faster than I intended, and Gil stiffened slightly, his wiry shoulders coming up. “The last thing we need is a bloodbath in the barrio.” He shrugged, the kind of evocative shrug street kids learn early. I pressed a little harder. “Do not fire on the cops.” Why do I feel like a den mother?

The kid seemed to feel comfortable enough in a room full of Weres, and had only given Leon the same passing glance he gave me—measuring, calculating, and not frightened at all. Curiouser and curiouser. “I take it to Ramon. He decide.”

Good enough. Ramon’s smart enough to keep things quiet down there—I hope. “Can someone go with him?”

Two of the Weres—a lean cub whose face looked very familiar and a bird Were with sleek black feathers knotted in her straight dark hair—volunteered for the job. Gilberto left without a backward glance.

“Nice kid,” Leon said, sarcasm tinting his tone.

He’d just as soon kill someone as look at them. Nice kid my ass. Still, Gilberto was smart enough to see my point about firing on cops. And if the 51s had sent him here, he couldn’t be entirely lacking in brains or discretion. Still.… “How much does he know about the nightside?”

“Enough, Jill. They all know enough, down in the barrio.” Theron folded his arms, leaning against a table. “You want to tell me why there’s hellbreed swarming your house?”

I suppose I should be grateful he held off grilling me for this long. “If I knew enough to fill you in, I’d be gu

“Not a whisper. We cleaned them out.”

Thank you, God. “Did we lose…”

“Two more.” Theron’s jaw firmed, and a rumble swirled through the assembled Weres, drained away.

Goddammit. Futility clawed acid at the back of my throat. Two more of my Weres dead, and I didn’t even know their names. “Were there hellbreed there? At the warehouse site?”

He shook his dark sleek head. “Not a one. We would have held back and waited for you awhile if there had been.”

So the smell of ’breed up in the office had been after the fight? I chewed at my lower lip, considering. The cold dread had turned into a hard rubber ball in my stomach, and the smell of food taunted me. No Were strategy session is without munchies, but if they were closing down Micky’s and feeding people for free the situation was dire indeed.

Weres can eat a lot.

I stared at the stack of paper on the table as if it might tell me something I didn’t know instead of just taunting me with half-seen co

Which meant only one thing. I expected serious trouble and didn’t want anyone else to get burned. In other words, war. A fresh tension spilled through the Weres, a tautening of attention.

Good allies to have, Weres. But if something bigger than a talyn was coming down the turnpike, it might be time to evacuate them.

Deal with that when the time comes, Jill. For right now, get going on what you know you have to deal with. I glanced up to gauge Theron’s reaction. He nodded. Then I dropped the bomb. “Tell the 51s we want a meet with the gang that opened fire on me. If we can find out who el pendejo gordo is I’ll feel a lot better about this.”

Of course he didn’t think much of the idea. “Oh, for Chrissake, Jill, the barrio—”

Shut up, Theron. “You’ll be standing in for me, I’m not going into the barrio again. Leon and I are going to make a run on this airfield where they transport the organs out. There’s bound to be something out there.”

“We’ll go—” the Were began, but I shook my head, silver chiming. Rested my fingers on the butt of a gun.

“No, you won’t. No Were will get within ten miles of that place. It’s hunter business, Theron, the kind that doesn’t mix with Weres. There’s rumor of a hellbreed involved with this.” More than a rumor. This has sticky little hell-fingers all over it.

Theron digested this, looked up at the other Weres. “Maybe that bastard that runs the Monde?”

They were quiet, watching us. Apparently Theron had been elected to talk to me about that. “Not him.” Of that much, at least, I was reasonably certain. “Another hellbreed. Seriously bad news, if the sources are right.”

Which was the understatement of the year. My brain returned to the problem, probing at it like a sore tooth. There is a strict hierarchy in Hell, and we usually only saw the lower orders, it being too goddamn hard for the biggies to come through into the physical plane. The biggest we usually see is a talyn, and they’re mostly insubstantial anyway.

Except Perry, who might or might not be one. Which I didn’t want to think about right now. He couldn’t be a talyn, he was all-too-substantial on a daily basis.

I didn’t want to think about that either.

If half, or even a quarter, of what Hutch had in moldy books about this Argoth was true…

“Leon and I will take care of it.” I even said it with a straight face. “But I need every Were watching the city. Keep the barrio from boiling over, and see what you can do about finding out exactly which cop gave the kill order on me. Got it?”

“I don’t like this,” Theron said. “You should have backup.”

Shut up. “I have backup, Theron. He’s standing right here. What I don’t need is you second-guessing me.”

Another rumble rippled through the Weres. Theron tried again. “This is Lone Ranger shit, Jill. You know how—”

I interrupted him, rude by any standard but especially by Were etiquette. “Shut up, Theron!” I rounded on him, both hands loose, and felt the tension in the room tip and shift. “Leon and I will handle it. You have no idea what’s about to go down, goddammit, and I need my city kept safe while we avert a goddamn apocalypse or two!”

The Were studied me for a long moment, orange light shifting in his eyes. Dressing down a cat Were in public isn’t a safe thing to do.

But goddammit, this wasn’t a democracy. Weres function by cooperation and consensus—they have to. But when the city’s under fire, with scurf and ’breed and God knows what going on, it’s the hunter’s call.

Still, Theron was my friend. And good backup. I shouldn’t be taking out my frustrations on him.

The Were slumped, his shoulders going down. “All right.” It was a submission, a virtual baring of the throat. “You got it, Jill. We’ll keep the city together.”

Leon was downing his third beer. I considered telling him to take it easy, decided not to. If the quick, strung-out jerkiness of his movements was any indication, he felt exactly how I did about this whole thing.

“Good deal.” I pointed at the ledgers and the file. “Keep that for me, will you? I don’t know where else to put it.”

“Anything else?” He was suddenly all business. I didn’t blame him.

“Just keep Santa Luz on the map and spi

We got almost to the door before Theron spoke again. “Jill.”

I didn’t turn, but I did stop. Don’t hassle me now, furboy. Just don’t do it.

“We can’t afford to lose a hunter.” Which is as close as he would ever come to telling me to take care of myself. And Leon, for good measure.