Skin Trade

73

GRIMES DIDN’T LIKE me going in, and he sure as hell didn’t want Rocco to go in with me. Edward didn’t like me going in without him. But we had the arguments in the cars, so we could argue on the way and make the half-hour deadline.

“Lieutenant,” Rocco said, “I can say the spell that will banish the jinn, and Anita can’t.”

“I know her pronunciation isn’t good enough.”

“I speak Arabic,” Edward said.

“But you’re not a practitioner, and we need a little magic with the words,” Rocco said.

“What aren’t the two of you telling me?” Grimes asked.

We both fought not to look at each other, and it showed. “What are you planning to do in there?”

“The phrase you’re looking for, sir,” Edward said, “is plausible deniability.”

Grimes frowned at us. “Are you planning to do anything illegal?”

Again, we fought not to look at each other. “No, sir,” Rocco said, “everything will be perfectly legal.”

“Promise,” Grimes said.

“It’s legal,” I said.

“But I don’t want to know anyway, is that it?”

“What answer will get me in there with Sergeant Rocco?”

“Well, at least that’s honest. Max’s inner room at Trixie’s interferes with electronics.”

I didn’t ask how he knew that, just accepted it as true. It didn’t surprise me; as Vittorio said, the hooks in the ceiling for hanging people up had been in the ceiling when he got there. I was betting this was where Max did some of his dirty work.

“So you’re going in there with no way to call for help,” Grimes said.

“If we need to call for help, Lieutenant,” I said, “you won’t be able to get to us in time.”

He studied my face. “I think you mean that.”

“I do.”

“You seem calm.”

“I’ve got my goals.”

“Your objectives,” he said.

“If you like.”

“And they are?”

“Rescue my friend before he gets more hurt. Save all the civilians. Send the jinn back to where they belong. Rescue Max and his charming wife, their bodyguard, and any other weretigers who are good guys. Oh, and kill Vittorio before he can manifest enough power to make a nuclear explosion over Vegas look like the better idea.”

“Is he really capable of that much damage?”

“Think of an army of the things that killed your officers loosed on the city. Think of Vittorio able to broadcast his mind control over the populace.”

“You think he’s that good?”

“Not yet, and we have to keep it that way. I believe that we have to do everything within our power to make certain he dies today.”

“You might be interested to know, Marshal Blake, that the governor signed off on the stay of execution for the vampires at last night’s club.”

“That’s good, Lieutenant. I mean that; they don’t deserve to die.”

“Your report carried weight.”

I nodded, but was already looking up the street to the police cars, the barricades, and the next fight.