“I know,” I said.
We were silent for a few seconds, looking out into the gray. I could smell Midian’s weird, cold nonscent. He shifted, crossing his ruined arms.
“You did a hell of a job, kid,” Midian said. “I mean I wouldn’t make a habit of this, but for improv, you’re doing great. And…hell. I know I came down on you pretty hard after the whole thing went south last week. I didn’t mean to kick your ass.”
“We were all stretched a little thin,” I said. “No harm, no foul.”
“Good.”
“You think Eric would have done it this way?” I asked.
“Hell if I know. He wasn’t the kind of guy you could predict. Always something going on in his head. Why? You worried about it?”
“I’m worried about pretty much everything,” I said. “It’s just that you knew him. I think everyone here knew him better than I did. He was just this force for good that swooped into my life when things got bad and then swept back out again. And then I find out about the money. And then you and riders and magic. And…and it just seems like every time I turn around, there’s more.”
“No one knew Eric,” Midian said. “You saw part of him. I saw part of him. The three musketeers saw part of him. No one was in on the whole show. It wasn’t who he was.”
“I guess,” I said.
“You miss him?”
“I miss the part I knew,” I said. “I just regret that I didn’t meet the other parts.”
“Deep,” Midian said. “You should write a poem.”
“Smart-ass.”
“Glad you noticed. A lot of the time my sense of humor goes unappreciated,” Midian said. “So look, I’ve got the fridge pretty much filled. There’s dinners in the freezer. If you need to hole up for a few days after this comes down, you’ll have something decent to eat. I wrote out instructions on how to reheat it all and what goes together on the tinfoil. Just look for things written in the same color pen. That way you know it’ll all fit. I leave you poor fuckers to yourselves, you’ll have all the starches in one meal together.”
“Thank you,” I said. And then, softly, “Ah, fuck.”
“Yeah,” Midian agreed. “This is pretty much good-bye.”
“We don’t know that,” I said. “This whole thing with Coin may work. You get away, I break Coin. Maybe we’ll meet up again sometime. Down the road.”
“I don’t think that’d be such a good idea.”
I shifted to look at him. The desiccated flesh of his face and neck, dark as old meat. The white shirt and high-waisted pants. He hitched up his shoulders in a pained shrug.
“Don’t fool yourself, kid. This has been great. We’ve been friends. But next time you see me, we aren’t going to be on the same side. I’m one of the bad guys, remember? People like you and Ex and tofu boy? You hunt down things like me. Like Coin.”
“Yeah,” I said. I could feel tears coming into my eyes. The rain pattered hard against the pavement, thousands of tiny gray explosions like something from Fantasia. “You’re right.”
“Don’t take it hard,” he said. “It was good being friends. So it didn’t last. So what? It’s not like it ever really does, you know?”
“I know,” I said.
A thin, wasted hand rested on my shoulder for a second, squeezed gently, and moved away.
Twenty-four
A little before six thirty, the rain stopped. By seven, the clouds were breaking apart, a sky of fresh-scrubbed late summer blue showing for the first time all day. Aaron handed me a ski mask and I folded it into my pack. Chogyi Jake and Midian were in their riding outfits. I nodded to them both as I slipped my backpack over my shoulder. I couldn’t deal with any more emotional good-byes.
“Are we ready?” I asked.
“Guns are in the car,” Aaron said. “We’ve all got masks, right?”
“I’m ready,” Kim said. She looked perfectly calm. I had the feeling I could have known her for years without learning how to read her expressions.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
Candace and Kim took off in her car first. Aaron and I followed about five minutes later. The traffic was thicker than I’d pictured it, but Aaron seemed pleased. We parked on the street near the Marriott on California Street, then went to the Starbucks for overpriced lattes and down to the bar. I turned on the laptop, connected to the network, and started up the chat program under a screen name I’d built just for this. True to form, Extojayne was on and waiting for Jayneheller to show. It was seven forty. He wouldn’t have to wait long. We were three longish blocks from the convention center. MapQuest said it was about a third of a mile. It felt like a thousand miles away until I imagined Coin there. Then it seemed way too close.
Ten minutes later, Candace called.
“He’s there,” Candace said. “We’re by his car. I saw him going in.”
“Did he notice you?”
“No,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “Hang tight. We’ll be right there.”
I dropped the call and dialed the house. Chogyi answered before I heard it ring.
“Jayne?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Spark it up. I’m pulling the trigger now.”
“I understand.”
“Chogyi?”
“Yes?”
“Live through this, okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” he said, and hung up. I put the cell phone in my backpack and signed on as Jayneheller.
JAYNEHELLER: Ex! Are you there?
EXTOJAYNE: Yes. I’m here. What’s up?
JAYNEHELLER: Change of plan. Coin’s at the convention center right now. We’re going with plan B. The U- Haul with the fertilizer bomb is on its way. We can take out his house now while it’s unprotected. You should meet us at the airport ASAP. We’re scrambling now.
EXTOJAYNE: Wait. I don’t think this is a good idea. Can we talk about it?
JAYNEHELLER: No time, babe. Fortune favors the bold.
I closed the laptop, took a deep breath, and nodded.
“Hornet’s nest now officially kicked,” I said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Aaron actually grinned and slammed down the rest of his coffee. I put my cell phone in my backpack and left my cooling latte untouched on the table. We walked fast out to the Hummer. The stolen Hummer. With the rifles. I had to pull myself up into the passenger’s seat. Aaron started the engine. I put on the seat belt like I was strapping in to drop from a plane.
If I’d guessed right, there were about a hundred things happening right now. Extojayne, whoever he was, was raising the alarm about an imaginary truck bomb cruising toward Coin’s house and the enemy-meaning us- meeting at the airport. Whatever resources the Invisible College had watching for Chogyi Jake and Midian were also getting action for the first time, the two of them heading fast in opposite directions. And, with any luck, someone was calling Coin.
We pulled out into traffic. I plucked my cell phone out of my pack and called Candace. Kim answered.
“They’re out,” Kim said. Her voice was a tight whisper. “They’re getting into the car now. I think it worked. It’s just the two of them. Coin and the other one. The driver. The driver’s huge.”
