"Leo Miraval. Five foot seven inches. Blond hair, blue eyes. He lived at 144 West Yarfee Street in Noimoire." Jake flipped the dead deckbearer's driver’s license over and peered at the back. "Huh. He was almost forty."

Dania quirked her lips in a smile. "Ancient, huh?" she asked, pulling her eyes back to the road as she drove.

"Not really. That's like your age, right?"

"I am not forty!" Dania gripped the steering wheel and shot a momentary glare at Jake. "You're kidding me, right? I'm not even close."

"I don't know, you're older than me," Jake said with a grin. "Middle-aged, anyway."

"I'm twenty-eight!" Dania picked up the crumpled napkin that had held the sandwich she'd finished eating about half an hour ago and slung it at him, grinning as he giggled in response. Jake didn't laugh like a little kid much anymore, and she treasured the sound of it.

Jake stretched his arms up over his head then, letting out a satisfied groan. Dania glanced over once more, taking in the elongated line of his body. He was growing again. She'd have to get him new jeans soon.

"Oh, big stretch," she murmured, and he chuckled as he sank back into his seat.

"How much longer?"

"About two hours."

"Ugh," Jake said. "I'm bored. Can I drive?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Fuck, no. Why don't you take a nap, talk to Machairi, or play on the tablet or something."

"Machairi's looking out the window. Tablet's dead, and I'm not tired."

Bullshit, Dania thought, feeling her own growing fatigue. She'd slept well at the Haven, but she could tell that the last couple of days were hitting her hard, draining her energy.

Of course, Jake's got that teenage boy metabolism firing him up, so maybe he's actually not tired. Gods above and below, what I wouldn't give to have some of that vitality back. Middle-aged… huh. Sometimes I feel middle aged!

To pull herself from that depressing line of thought, she nodded at the ragged leather billfold that sat on the dash in front of Jake.

"Anything else interesting in there? Did ol' Leo have a stash of cash or anything?"

"Um…" Jake leaned forward and took the billfold, rifling through it. "About twenty-six dollars."

"Eh. That's lunch, I guess. Anything else?"

"Some old receipts and…" Jake trailed off, and Dania glanced over to see him unfolding a scrap of lined notebook paper.

"What's that? Leo's grocery list?"

"I…no. It looks like addresses." Jake’s voice had gone quiet and hard, losing all of its youthful banter."

"Addresses?"

"Five of them, I think. This one at the bottom is hard to make out. But the top one—40 State Road 512—Dani, that's us, right? That's the cabin's address."

"It was," she said, keeping her voice neutral and her eyes on the road… but she did glance over to see Jake looking at her in horror.

"Do you think this is his hit list?" Jake asked.

"I don't know what it is, Jake," Dania said. "But I know that obsessing over it is just going to distract us right now, and we can't afford to be distracted. We're going to get in to the city, go to the lawyer's, sign the paperwork, and get out. Keep our heads on a swivel and pay attention, right?"

"Right, but if these are other deckbearers…vulnerable deckbearers—"

"Jake," Dania let a little warning leak into her tone.

"I'm just saying—"

"I know what you're saying." Dania hardened her tone even further. "Listen to what I'm saying. These assholes sent Leo and another dude to our cabin to smoke us out and kill us, Jake."

"I know—"

"It's entirely possible they know where the lawyer's office is. We could be walking into a trap."

"I know—"

"We have to focus on the mission. Anything else could get us killed—"

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"I know! But what if someone is trying to kill other deckbearers like me!"

"They are."

Machairi's creepy, non-inflected voice acted like cold water on the growing flames of their argument. Dania glanced in the rearview at his shadowed face, and Jake turned in his seat to look at his companion seated between them.

"What? How do you know? Did Nyx tell you something?" Jake demanded.

"My mother does not speak to me any more than yours does to you," Machairi said. "But your guardian's deceased friend wrote a letter in which he explicitly said that the people who probably killed him are targeting vulnerable deckbearers. If Leo Miraval was one of them, then it is at least possible and more likely probable that the list you hold is a list of the addresses of his targets."

"See! Dani, we can't just do nothing!"

Dania tightened her hands on the wheel and clenched her jaw, forcing herself to inhale and exhale slowly.

"You're right, kid," she said quietly after a moment. "We can't. Your parents didn't raise you to be the kind of man to do nothing, and I'm not going to either. But we're still in danger, agree?"

She cut her eyes to see him nod sullenly.

"Okay," she said again. "So let's make a deal. We focus on our business with the lawyer first. Get that handled, and as soon as we're on our way out of town, we can drive by those addresses and check them out. Get the lay of the land, at least. If it looks quiet, then maybe I'll call that cop that Berto was working with. Sergeant Rhett something. I'll tell him what we've found and have him have the cops keep a lookout."

"Won't we get in trouble with the cops for killing Leo?"

"Dude attacked us in our home. We killed him in self-defense. If Sergeant Rhett something is after these card traffickers, this list will definitely be something he will want to check out. But first, we focus on keeping ourselves safe, all right?"

"Fine," Jake said slowly.

"I love you, kid," Dania said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence stretched between them. "You've got a good heart and good instincts, but if it came down to it, I'd sacrifice everyone on that list to keep you safe."

"I know."

"Because I love you."

"I know, Dani. I love you too." His words were conciliatory and his tone drained of the fire of a few minutes before, but Jake turned his body away from Dania and closed his eyes, leaning his head on the window.

Dania chewed on her lower lip and glanced over at him six or seven times, but couldn't think of anything else to say to make the situation better, so she stayed silent. Once, she looked up into the rearview mirror and met Machairi's eyes. The card nodded solemnly at her, and though she had no idea what that meant, she nodded back.

At least Jake's got Machairi looking out for him too, Dania thought. I just wish I could make him understand… she let out a gusty sigh and turned on the radio.

The sound of a classic rock guitar riff filled the car. It didn't exactly soothe the anxiety that grew in Dania's chest with every mile, but at least singing along gave her mind something to do besides brood.

An hour or so later, rain started to patter down onto the windshield. Dani hit the wipers and her lights and kept rolling. She glanced over at Jake. He still leaned his head against the window, but his mouth had fallen open slightly, and she could hear faint snoring when she turned down the music.

"We're coming into Noimoire," she said softly, meeting Machairi's eyes in the rearview mirror. "This is one of the outer suburbs."

"I am ready."

It should have been ridiculous, but for some reason, Dania found the companion card's calm words to be soothing. She gave him a smile and reached over to nudge Jake's shoulder.

"Mmmph."

"Jake. Wake up, kiddo, we're about ten minutes out from the lawyer's office. Need you to look alive, bud."

Jake shifted in his seat, sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face. Dania wordlessly reached for the unopened bottle of water she'd stashed in her bag on the floorboard and handed it to him. He grunted, twisted the top off, and chugged half the bottle before capping it and taking a deep breath.

"Thanks," he said.

"Feel better?"

"I guess."

"Still tired?"

"No."

Not tired, but not talkative, either. Fair enough.

"Okay," she said. "Here's the plan. GPS shows the law office in a kind of strip mall thing. We'll do a recon pass on the main road, circle the block, and come in from the side street here." She manipulated her phone's navigation view until she could show Jake what she meant and handed it to him.

"Keep your eyes and ears open, and let me know if you see anything that grabs your attention."

"What am I looking for?"

"Anyone looking too intently at us. Anyone who stands out or doesn't look like they belong or they're doing normal business. Most people move through the day with their eyes locked to their phones, so anyone who is looking around too much…that kind of thing. Trust your gut."

"Okay," Jake said slowly. "And if I see something?"

"Call it out. We'll assess and decide whether to proceed or wave off and call the lawyer to set up a meet elsewhere."

"Where?"

"I don't know, we'll have to figure that out."

"Okay." Jake let out a breath and sat up straighter in his seat. He shoved a hand through his hair, making it stand up in spikes, and grabbed Leo Miraval's wallet off the dash. He pulled out the list of addresses and took a picture with Dania's phone, and then put the phone back in the mount she'd secured to 8-Ball's air vent. Then he opened the glove compartment and put the wallet in there.

"Remind me to lock that," she murmured. "When we stop."

"Kay."

Still not talkative. But he's looking out and paying attention like I told him to. Ugh. I hate trying to read teenage minds. Why is parenting so fucking hard?

The rain continued as they drove further into the city. Dania kept the music turned down, and the swish, swish of 8-Ball's wipers provided a rhythmic counterpoint to the low guitar solos and rock drumming that slid from the speakers.

"That's it ahead on the right," Jake said. "I see the sign."

"Check the parking lot," Dania said. "Light's turning red at the intersection. Do your best with this rain."

"On it."

Dania forced herself not to smile at Jake's clipped "operational" tone. He'd certainly learned the importance of mission focus over the last few weeks. Far be it from her to undermine that lesson.

She rolled to a stop behind a late-model foreign coupe and took a look across the street to the left. Nothing in particular stood out to her, but the pounding rain significantly cut the visibility. She bit her lip and eased off the brake as the light turned green.

"See anything?" She hit her turn signal and glanced over her shoulder to change lanes.

"Nothing that stood out. The rain made it tough." Jake shifted in his seat, and Dania glanced down to see him adjusting the belt that held his concealed holster.

"Careful with that," she said lowly. "I want you to carry it, but you know you're too young to be legal."

Jake nodded, but didn't say anything else.

"How about you, Creepy?"

"I did not see anything suspicious."

"Okay," Dania said, flipping her turn signal on again and making the right at the next light to circle the block. "Then I guess we go in. Be ready."

"Always," Jake murmured, and next to him, Machairi nodded.