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Reyes evicted an accommodating lieutenant to give us an office in Containment, which was useful given the remodeling I’d done on mine.

It was small with no windows, but it had a couch for Iyoni to sprawl on, a little table, and Natalie had found us a map of New Providence which we’d taped to the wall, investigation style.

“Ninety-four raids in the last three months,” Kara said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ve no point of reference, but that sounds like a lot.”

“It seems feasible to me,” Iyoni replied. “With all the factions you have here, the size of the city, the escalating tensions …”

“We need to focus on raids targeting Dacien’s facilities,” I said. “Is there a way of filtering?”

“No.” Kara scrolled through. “By date, by team, by outcome. A lot of it is redacted, but some of these seem to have been non-events or failures.”

“Which would make sense too,” Iyoni added. “We can ignore all those that went nowhere.”

“Let’s start with what we know,” I said. “Is the one last night on there?”

“Yes, it’s top of the list.” Kara clicked in. “Warehouse raid … Monday, seventeenth November … successful outcome. Huh, it was Reyes and his team.”

“Any clues as to how they found out?” I asked.

“Not on the report. It’s redacted.”

“That’s not helpful. Well, we can ask him about it when we need to. Let’s first collate everything that could be a hit on Dacien, and see if there are any patterns.”

Iyoni tapped her fingertips against her lips. “Is there a reason you don’t ask Dacien for a list of what’s been hit?”

Kara and I exchanged a glance.

“My father isn’t very cooperative.”

Iyoni raised her eyebrows. “Even though you’re working to his interests?”

“I’ll ask him if I need to,” I said. “But let’s try to avoid needing to. Last time I tried something like that, he told me to ‘use my initiative’. Besides, I’m not sure he’d willingly admit to which facilities were part of his underground empire, even to me … or Kara.”

“I’ll take this one,” Kara said. “I’m going to split up these reports and send you each a batch.”

“Sounds like fun,” I said dryly.

We worked for the rest of the afternoon, and by the end of the day, we’d whittled the list down to fifteen likely candidates—warehouses, logistics depots, and two labs.

“Look at this,” Kara said as she pinned another raid report onto the map. “Another success from Reyes’ team. That makes them six for six.”

“And the other teams are managing what, one in three?” Iyoni asked.

“The data doesn’t lie. They’re being fed intel.” I voiced the obvious conclusion.

“So Dacien’s saboteur is in Reyes’ team?” Kara asked.

I waffled my head. “Not necessarily. It could be that they’ve been chosen to follow up by the saboteur because Reyes and his team are so effective.”

“It could be Reyes himself,” Iyoni mused. “That would complicate it.”

“Yeah.” I grimaced. I liked Reyes, and I didn’t want it to be him. But either way, he was connected.

“Every report from Reyes’ team has the sources redacted,” Kara said, running a comparison. “But only about half the other teams redact their information.”

“There’s nothing for it,” I said, pushing myself up. “I’ll have to ask him where the leads have come from.”

Kara and Iyoni rose too, like there was never any doubt they would come. Kara always wanted to stay close to me, and I wondered if Iyoni felt the same pull now that we were bonded.

We stepped out of the office and Natalie looked up.

“Do you know where Reyes is?”

“With the analysts, sir. He’s been in there all afternoon.”

“Show us, please.”

She led us through the network of corridors in Containment to a communications center filled with desks and screens covering the walls, then off into a connected room with a large conference table.

Reyes sat in the center of one side, slouched wearily in his chair, while a dozen analysts pored over papers and screens around him.

He tossed down the document he’d been reading and rose stiffly.

“Have you come for an update?” Some of the analysts glanced our way, and Reyes waved them back to work.

“Somewhere we can talk?” I said.

“Yeah.” He led us to a small room, ejecting the two people who’d been occupying it. “What’s up?”

“How are you getting on?”

“Slowly. I’m trying to reduce the list of suspects before we start interviews tomorrow morning, but … when I’m starting with everyone in SPAR, it’s taking a while.”

I didn’t envy him the task. “I’ve been exploring the raid info you sent me. Six of them your team did.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“High success rate.”

“Yeah.” He gave a tired grin. “What can I say, we’re good at our jobs.”

“Where did the leads come from?”

“Er … various sources. Mostly from tapping the network of informants we have.”

“That info is redacted on the reports.”

“Yes, that’s standard procedure. The assets tend to be nervous for obvious reasons, and their anonymity is a condition of working with them.”

“I understand that,” I said, “but I’m going to need the names of those contacts.”

His eyebrows rose. “Why?”

“Because they could help lead us to the bomb.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It looked disheveled, as though it wasn’t the first time he’d done that. “I guess there’s no way of avoiding it, but Farron’s gonna be pissed.”

“The elf?”

“Yeah. The contacts are his, and they probably won’t talk to him again after you’re done with them.”

I fought to keep my face impassive. “Are you saying that all your leads came through Farron’s connections?”

“That’s right. He’s been here a while and knows all the right people.” Reyes shrugged. “Or all the wrong people, I suppose, depending on your perspective.”

“Right. Well, we’ll be as discreet as we can be, but I need that list.”

“I’ll send it to you when I’m back at my laptop.”

“Thanks. Where’s Farron?”

“The whole team is out in the city, running searches for Firth.”

“Everyone else, too?”

“Not quite. Some are in the vehicle bay, some off duty—they’ve all been told they’re working overtime this week, but we still need to manage rest shifts.”

“Of course. Thanks, Captain. I’ll let you get back to it.”

“Yes, sir.”

We waited until he’d left, then Kara looked at me. “The coincidences are getting too big to ignore, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. It looks like Farron is our man, but I want to check the sources first. If we can get a name for Dacien, we don’t need Farron. I’m hoping whoever isn’t already deployed in the city might help us do that. Let’s go and try the vehicle bay.”

Every time we’d visited before, Humvees had filled the space, but now it was empty, showing the true magnitude of its cavernous area. A single vehicle remained, in the midst of some maintenance with two missing tires. One of the men working on it I recognized, and we headed straight over.

“Max?”

The tough fighter who’d been on the patrol with me was stripped down to the waist, his skin streaked with oil and dirt. He turned as I called his name, then braced to a stiff posture.

“Sir.”

“Good to see you here. I have something I’m hoping you can help me with.”

He cast a quick glance at the vehicle, then looked back at me. “Yes, sir.”

“This isn’t the time for a chat,” a voice barked out. “We need that vehicle.” A man walked over in a pristine SPAR uniform, hands clasped behind him. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Who are you?”

“Xan Sullivan, Assistant Director of Oversight,” I said lightly as his eyes widened. “I’m borrowing Max for a moment. If he can’t help me, you’ll have him back. If he can, you won’t.”

“The warlock,” the man said, managing to convey his disdain without quite crossing into insubordination. “I’m afraid I can’t let you take him. This vehicle is critical to operations.”

“Who are you?” I asked him, my voice cold.

“Lieutenant Smith-Barlow.” He drew himself up. “I’m the duty officer for the vehicle bay while Captain Reyes is otherwise engaged.”

“Well, Lieutenant, I have neither the time nor the patience to spend coddling your fragile sensibilities, and I’ve told you what’s going to happen. It will now happen. Max?”

I walked a brief distance away, Max following me with his face carefully reflecting nothing, the double-barreled lieutenant gaping at me while Kara grinned and Iyoni had her serene smile back in place.

“We need someone with a knowledge of underground contacts,” I told Max in a quiet voice as soon as we had space around us. “I have a list of people I need to find, and I’m hoping you know the local areas and where to start looking.”

“Yes, sir, I do,” Max said, eyes brightening in interest. “Especially if it’s around Downtown, Fox Point or East Providence.”

“Great, then you’re just the man I need. We have to find some people, and we have to do it fast.”

“Now?” Max asked.

“Now’s good.”

He looked me over, then glanced at Kara and Iyoni. “If you’ll forgive me for saying, sir, you’ll need to change.”

I looked down at myself. “Max, are you saying a top-quality white shirt and stylish blazer isn’t appropriate clothing for meeting with your more morally flexible sources?”

“Not at all, sir,” he said, lips twitching. “It’s the polished brogues that give you away.”

“Got it,” I said. I gave him a once-over in return. “Looks like you need to change too. How about we meet Downtown in … an hour?”

“Sounds good, sir.”

“Great. And Max?”

“Sir?”

“If we’re going to do this, you need to stop calling me ‘sir’.”

He grinned bashfully. “Sorry, Xan.”

*

We raced back to Kara’s apartment and changed into something more comfortable.

Iyoni didn’t have anything that wasn’t white—lacy black thongs not withstanding—but she borrowed some of Kara’s clothes, and they fit well enough. The two ladies were the same height, even if Kara was curvier in some areas.

Dressed against the cold in jeans, hoodies, and casual coats, we walked a few blocks to meet Max outside an Italian place he’d suggested. I was hoping it wasn’t for dinner.