Blue Diablo

entertain. Since it was a good question, I slid the shirt from my shoulder, craned my neck, and examined the bite.

“Seems to be healing,” I answered after a moment. “Is there anything I should know about an undead bite? I won’t turn into a zombie by the next full moon?”

He actually gave a half smile. “Not as far as I know, but human bites are more likely to become infected.”

“Noted. I’ll keep an eye on it.”

I felt like I should say something more, but damned if I knew what, so I just nodded at him in thanks and made my way into the kitchen. Chuch, Eva, Chance, and Jesse sat around the table, like when we’d held the séance, except Chance was staring at a list. The top seven things on it had been crossed off, with eight more to go.

As I knew better than to interrupt, I stood quiet and let him work. Energy tingled in the air all around him, like a localized static electricity storm. Touching him at this moment would render a shock on the wrong side of painful.

The Ortizes acknowledged me with eye contact, but they too found themselves rapt in the face of Chance’s gift. Jesse simply gazed at me in silence, unsmiling. I suppose he had wanted to talk about things this morning, but if I wouldn’t with Chance, it didn’t seem fair to change the rules for Saldana.

I leaned in for a better look and found what looked like a roster of properties owned by Montoya. Go, Esteban! Chance went down the list, striking off five more locations with the pen in his left hand. The thirteenth, however—

“This is it,” he said, tapping the page. “He’s taken her there. I’m sure of it.”

We finally had a location. With his pet warlock dead, Montoya would have lost all ability to block Chance’s talent.

“I need to make some calls,” Chuch said. “Lay hands on stuff I don’t have in stock. I should be set within a few hours, though.”

Saldana didn’t say a word. He’d either silenced the cop part of himself, or he no longer cared about the law that had let him down so profoundly with his partner. I couldn’t worry about anyone but Min right now.

As part of my preparation, I wet my hair, braided it tightly, and then pinned the braids up. I couldn’t do anything about the color on such short notice, not that I wanted to. I liked being a redhead. With a sigh, I peered into my jumbled laundry and decided on black: black jeans, black hoodie, sturdy black shoes. It was the best I could do.

By midnight we had all the cards in play. Chuch had rounded up the last of his supplies and Booke agreed to scout for us. It was time.

I freshened Butch’s water, let him out in the yard, and then pushed him inside the front door. He stared at me with big, mournful eyes, but I didn’t think he’d be an asset to the mission. Then again, I might not be either.

“Sorry, bud,” I said. “Not this time. Wish us luck?”

He yapped once.

Good thing—we’d need it.

Montoya’s Mountain

We crossed the border in Jesse’s Forester. It made sense since we numbered six, plus all the gear. I huddled down in the back since I didn’t have a passport. If I lived through this, I’d have Eva cook me one. Luckily, Jesse being a cop meant they didn’t look too hard at any of us. Once we passed the second checkpoint, I sat up, uncovered my head, and leaned up against a duffel bag.

Nobody spoke much on the ride in, and I didn’t blame them. So many things could go wrong out here. Montoya might burn our bodies in a giant pile and nobody would ever know the difference. My nerves vibrated like violin strings.

The dashboard clock showed nearly two a.m. by the time we neared our destination. Early morning in Great Britain. I rang Booke.

The man really didn’t sleep. He sounded alert and eager when he answered. “I’ve had a chance to check out the location. I neutralized a few minor wards for you, but the man appears to rely on strength of arms and manpower for protection. I’m afraid you’ll have quite a fight on your hands when you get in there. There’s only one way up or down the mountain, unless you fly out.”

“What else can you tell me about the way up?”

“Five kilometers on, there’s a plateau where you’ll have to leave the vehicle and proceed on foot.”

That did it. When I got back to Mexico City, I was joining a gym.

Booke paused. “You will be careful, won’t you, Corine?”

“As much as I can,” I hedged.

“That’s all I could ask then.”

“Anything else you can tell me about the place?”

“Yes, actually.”

Dutifully I relayed Booke’s summary: gated entry, two sentries, more in the courtyard. Montoya’s hideaway resembled a Spanish-style hacienda with breezeways and open courtyards. Regular patrols in the corridors.

When I’d finished, he murmured, “Call me when it’s over?”

That too depended on the outcome, but it didn’t hurt to accede. I disconnected and put my phone away, rose up on my knees to peer out the back window. Out here there were no lights, just an endlessly dark sky and the shadow of the mountains in the distance.

The Forester shuddered as we left the highway and took the dirt road. We slowed because it was rough, and we didn’t want to break an axle. Hiking would take us all night. Jesse drove with both hands on the wheel, his expression grim. I caught myself studying him. What was he to me? Mentor? Friend?

“Glad we did some recon,” Chuch muttered.

“We will be fine,” Kel said calmly. “This is a holy cause.”

What do you say to that, really? Everyone sat in silence until Eva pointed to a slight widening in the mountain road. “That must be it.”

Well, it wasn’t what I’d call a plateau, but we climbed out of the Forester and divvied up the gear. We hiked upward in single file, careful not to speak above a whisper. The air felt thin and cold.

By the time the gate came into view, I breathed shallowly so as not to give away how much I wanted to huff and puff. Since I was the only panda among long, lean wolves, I didn’t want them knowing how out of shape I was.

To my surprise Chuch took charge. His hair bound back with a navy bandana, he seemed utterly at home. Maybe he’d led forces in Nicaragua too. At this point nothing could surprise me. “We need to get somebody inside quietly, someone who can kill in silence and open the gate for us without setting off any alarms.”

“That would be Kel,” I said at once.

God’s Hand drew his slender silver knife. “Watch the doors.”

The shadows took him. That’s the only way I can describe it, because one moment he stood there with us, and one moment he was gone. Eva shivered. “I think maybe el Señor did send him, but Dios, does he have to be so creepy?”

No more than five minutes passed before the huge iron doors swung open. We didn’t see Kel anywhere but that had to be our cue. Staying low, we clung to the walls and slunk inside, where we found him manning the sentry station. Kel pushed a button and the gate closed behind us while he wiped his knife clean against his pant leg.

“Good,” Jesse said. “No point in alerting them.”

Booke had said there were more guards in the courtyard but I didn’t see any. Chuch followed my gaze around the tiled square. Only the fountain broke the silence. “Did you kill them all, primo?”

Expressionless, Kel asked, “Would you like me to?”

Before Chuch could answer, a shout went up from a man on one of the balconies. Shit, we’d been spotted. As