"Hey!" shouted Jeremy at one of the soldiers as he got into the camp. "The fuck is goin' on?"

  Everyone seemed to be in a panic—or rather, the civilians were in a panic, while the soldiers were simply very active. The man he'd shouted at skidded to a halt in the mud, recognizing Jeremy from the last time he'd been in camp. He even saluted, which was definitely a first.

  "EMP, sir. Or something like it. Even knocked out our shielded gear."

  "I need escorts for these three prisoners," said Jeremy, pushing Felix forward roughly. Mud kicked up as Felix stumbled a little, but Jeremy definitely did not care. "High-value prisoners. The motherfucker's inner circle."

  "Yes, sir." The soldier glanced around and started shouting at a few of his squad for assistance. So many of them were already tied up, trying to get the humvees moving, taking apart and rebuilding radios, anything they could do to get power again. "Anything else?"

  "Yeah. Where's Captain Hoskins?"

  "Command tent. We'll be taking the prisoners that way, sir."

  "Let's go, then," growled Jeremy.

  Within moments, the soldier had a team assembled, and they were moving. Stebbins and Jackie stuck to Jeremy while they stomped through the mud. The rain was actually letting up in earnest now, to his relief. Unlike Hailey, he couldn't make a magic shield to keep himself dry. Coulda given us somethin' to stay dry after all that…

  Hope she's doin' okay. Fuck… She knows exactly what she's losin' by ditchin' the trial, and she's still out here.

  They found Hoskins—not in the command tent, as expected, but just outside. A humvee had been rolled nearby, and a team of mechanics were digging through the engine block. As Jeremy walked up, Hoskins whistled, and the entire crew stopped.

  "Agent Ashe?"

  "VIP prisoners," said Jeremy with some relish. "Brian Hendricks' inner fuckin' sanctum. This asshole," he added, shoving Felix forward again, "is the goddamn mastermind behind his publicity. Award-winnin' journalist turned terrorist."

  "In the tent near mine," said Hoskins to the soldier escort. "Don't put them with the main group."

  The soldier escort saluted and hurried off. Jackie went with them, muttering something about not leaving things unfinished, and Stebbins followed—leaving just Jeremy and the Captain.

  "This is magic, right?" asked Hoskins, watching as the team started ripping out the spark plugs. "You're the expert."

  Jeremy snorted. "Fuck if I am."

  "We're supposed to be shielded against anything short of a serious nuclear blast… at which point we'd all be dead anyway." Hoskins frowned. "Besides, the electronics aren't fried. They just… don't work." He shrugged, and turned to Jeremy in earnest. "You find him?"

  "Yeah."

  "Got away?"

  "...More or less," said Jeremy.

  "Meaning?"

  "His daughter helped him escape."

  "His…" Hoskins scratched his head, confused. "Thought his daughter was just a little kid."

  "She is." Jeremy sighed. "You met her."

  "I met… oh," said Hoskins, as realization dawned on him. "Linnethea is his daughter?"

  "And the most powerful fuckin' awakened on the planet short of Grey-eyes herself." Jeremy shook his head. "Couldn't stop her if we wanted to."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Not that Hailey wanted to… Fuck. I don't blame her, but we shouldn't've let Brian go. Man's gotta answer for all the shit he's done. And what if he gets loose? He's still way too influential.

  "Well…" said Hoskins.

  "Yeah."

  "You got one, at least."

  "...More than one," Jeremy pointed out.

  "No, I meant one of the two people you were sent after." Hoskins glanced at the command tent. "Lani Makaio's inside."

  Jeremy glanced at it. "In the command tent?"

  He shrugged. "There's nothing really valuable in there anyway, and he's restrained. We were going to transport him out today with some of the troops, but… well…" Hoskins glared at the humvee, as if it had personally insulted his mother. "Now this."

  "What's the plan here?"

  "I have a couple runners making for Olympia," said Hoskins. "Besides that… the humvees are diesel engines. In theory, we could get them working again. It'll be even worse than usual to drive, but it's something."

  "And the guns?"

  "Still good," said Hoskins. "Most of our sights don't use batteries. Radios are dead, but we'll make do."

  Don't expect another attack anyway… since the two biggest leadership pieces of the whole damn group are out of commission. Jeremy glanced around at the bustling camp. Though the failed awakenings and the lack of electronics were certainly noticed, it wasn't actually that big a deal to these people. After all, they had magic, and most of them were expecting to be off the grid anyway. Business carried on, and those who had awakened still wanted to dive into their new abilities.

  The magical world survived.

  "He's awake, if that's what you're wondering," said Hoskins, obviously mistaking Jeremy's curiosity about the camp for Lani. "Go see him, if you want."

  Fuck it. Why not? I've got nothin' better to do, and I'm sure as hell not goin' anywhere til they fix one of these heaps of metal.

  Hoskins had already turned back to the humvee, rejoining his mechanic crew. Jeremy went into the command tent, and there he was: Lani Makaio, his erstwhile partner, sitting on the tent floor in one of the corners with his hands folded in front of him. As soon as Jeremy walked in, Lani looked up—and immediately away in shame.

  Yeah. That's right.

  Jeremy didn't say a word. He just walked over, took one of the folding chairs, and sat it down in front of Lani.

  "She's still out there," Jeremy said shortly, surprising even himself. Am I sayin' that to comfort him, or to rub it in since she ditched? Hell, I'm not even sure…

  "Riley?"

  "Whoever the fuck she is." He shrugged. "Last I saw, she was attachin' herself to Natalie."

  "...Oh," said Lani quietly. "That's good."

  "So what happens now?"

  "...What do you mean?"

  "Lani," said Jeremy exasperatedly, "you turned your back on the Bureau. You think Aderholt was mad at me? He's gonna have your head on a goddamn stick."

  "I was trying to help…"

  "You were head-over-fuckin'-heels," said Jeremy. "'Least have the balls to admit it."

  Lani took a deep breath. His dreadlocks were caked in mud, between the rough treatment from Brian's people and the night spent in the embattled camp. He let it out, and finally looked Jeremy in the eye.

  "I was."

  Jeremy nodded. "About damn time."

  "I'm so sorry."

  He shrugged. "It's over, Lani. You're caught, you know how this goes."

  "Yeah…" Lani looked down again. "How's Maddie?"

  "In D.C.," said Jeremy with a shrug. "Bein' a goddamn politician."

  "Are you two—"

  "No, we ain't fine. She's got her own shit to answer for, too," said Jeremy. "Everyone's done a whole lot of goddamn stupid shit this last month. Fuckin' exhausting."

  "You found Jackie," said Lani.

  "She found me," said Jeremy. "Always was the better half of our partnership."

  The implication hung in the air, and Lani took it hard. He fell completely silent, staring at the ground. Jeremy was torn between relishing in long-awaited justice, and not wanting to beat a man while he was already down. Mercy won out—he's just a kid, in the end. Only twenty-six. I was that stupid at his age, I just didn't have anything near as huge worth pursuin', or as much pressure on my thick skull.

  "Look," said Jeremy. "You're an idiot, but you ain't bad. I'm not lettin' you face all this shit without backup."

  Lani looked up, confused. "But I stabbed you in the back."

  "And don't you ever fuckin' forget it," Jeremy growled. "I'm still your partner on paper, and I'm supposed to mentor you or some shit, so here's some goddamn mentoring: face the fuckin' music, and I'll make sure you don't go down hard."

  "...Why?"

  "'Cause we don't turn our backs on each other when we're down, no matter how stupid we get along the way," said Jeremy. He held out a hand. "Sound good?"

  After a great deal of hesitation, Lani shook it. He smiled, ever so slightly. "Thanks."

  "The fuck was I gonna do? Leave you to Hendricks?"

  Lani sighed. "I'm such an idiot."

  "How the hell did you get picked up?"

  "Riley left me at our camp, said she had to go do something." Lani shook his head. "And I was stupid enough to try and follow her. Ran into an ambush."

  How long til you realize that bitch is the cause of every damn problem you've got? "Well, you made it out."

  "'Cause of you," said Lani. "...Thanks."

  "Don't mention it." Jeremy shook his head. "Don't mention any of it. That whole mission was a terrible fuckin' idea. I was so obsessed…"

  "Where is he now?" asked Lani.

  "Hell if we know. With Natalie somewhere. She broke him out of there."

  "...Maybe…"

  A thrill of excitement in Jeremy's veins. "What?"

  Lani glanced at the tent entrance, making sure nobody was near, and lowered his voice.

  "She's got a castle."