Page 53 (1/2)

I grinned at that "I’ve been called worse"

We talked a little longer,s about boundary eles, though I had cleaned up more than one scene where soic It usually involved at least one dead trades witch

Katia toldweaker vampires--someone like Dashiell would be well beyond her abilities--but she could not, she said, do the big scarythe life out of huic "If I had the right supplies, perforoats," she said gravely "I have done this a few tih It feelstoo good I have never done hard drugs, but I iic flex just a tiny bit within h to know she wasn’t trying to perfor one, the way your hand auto on the phone

When her voice started to drift again, I shut up, letting her get some rest The woman had been dead only two hours earlier; she deserved some sleep

After nearly half an hour, Jesse came back into the room He lookedwell, nearly as tired as Katia But it was the bone-deep, my-soul-hurts kind of tired "We’re on," he said "I knohere the girls are"

Chapter 38

When you live in Los Angeles, you eventually accliside and within the fil s, complete with security and celebrities Actors are everywhere, and screenwriters fill every coffee shop and diner in the county It’s perfectly ordinary to have streets or businesses closed for filue code na, and to residents it becomes part of the landscape, like the skyways that connect buildings in don Minneapolis so residents don’t have to go outside in subfreezing te with Disneyreminds me that I live in a ain

Case in point? Forty-five minutes away from where we sat, there was a McDonald’s that didn’t serve food Did not, in fact, serve anything at all

"So it looks like a fast-food restaurant, but it exists just for fil?" I said skeptically

"No, it looks like a McDonald’s, coolden arches out front," Jesse corrected "Everything’s just like a regular restaurant, but it sits empty until the McDonald’s corporation needs to film new commercials It can, however, be rented out to other co Which is what Oskar did"

"That is just so LA," I said, shaking my head "And your new CI buddy told you this?"

He nodded "That’s where they drove Molly Oskar has no reason to suspect we’ve got an informant within the MC, so he also has no reason not to trust the these orders, and the rest of the gang follows theuy wasn’t actually there, but he called one of his friends and got the location out of him"

Ah I didn’t kno uy to h uns--or knives, in ured out hoe found them, the CI wouldn’t havewe could to prevent that

"What a weird fucking place to have your hideout," I said

Jesse shrugged "I checked a ood location for vampires--an office park wherethe security is pretty good, and if they need to filh-quality blackout shades"

I checked"If he’s as s to kill Molly at dawn," I guessed "Or kill her with the dawn That’s a little less than four hours frouys stayed at Mock-Donald’s?"

That got a little smile out of him "Four Plus Oskar, and God knoho else"

I laid a hand gently on Katia’s shoulder "Katia! Can you wake up for just a ain "Is Lex here?" she croaked

"Not yet But there’s so we really need to know Are you with me?"

She didn’t exactly sit up, but she shifted a little on the cot "Yes What is the question?"