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Unless you counted Kevin

Kevin Prentiss was seated at the table like an equal member of the war council, and next to him sat Cherise My best friend wasn’t a Warden; she ay cool of course, but controlling the ele So I had to wonder what she was doing in such a high-powered inner circle

She caught ed "Don’t ask me," she said "Leanted everybody here Kevin ith " The subtext was that nobody had wanted to piss Kevin off by deirlfriend step outside He was , but I suspected he’d always have ressive attitude he was known for He was at that startling age when the changes co out, developing into a fairly impressive chest under that battered black T-shirt He avoided my eyes, but then, he always did We had shared so et too cozy It had been a big step for him to spend time with Cherise (and coincidentally with noring me the rest of the day I’d returned the favor

Kevin was here because he was a seriously talented young man Not trained, not restrained, buttalented

And nize that there was a Djinn in the rooant legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, displaying lethally gorgeous shoes I hadn’t seen Rahel since the earthquake in Fort Lauderdale, so it struckthese days She’d taken a beating at the hands of a Deo; for a while, we’d been worried she wouldn’t recover

When she turned her head slightly, I could see the scars on the right side of her sharp-featured face - etched grooves, as if she’d been clawed I nodded to her She inclined her head, and her thousands of tiny black braids slithered over her shoulders with a dark rustling sound like old paper on stone

She was sticking with purple again for her outfit It looked good on her

Lewis got me and David seated at the table, and didn’t waste any more time He hit a control inset in the table, and a projector beamed a picture onto a screen at the far end of the roorainy surveillance video, and it tooklot, in front of ot ot out of a dark-colored panel van and jogged up the steps toward the second floor Lewis froze the picture "Ring any bells?" he asked me I studied the face of the man on the screen, but it was an awful picture I shook my head Lewis released the freeze frame, and I watched the delivery box in his hands When he caetting into his van and driving away It was the kind of thing that happened a dozen ti that would alert anyone to potential trouble "License plates?" I asked

"Covered with ers down the table - Sasha, his nauy with a ready ser because he worked with Marion Bearheart, and was part of the unofficial police force of the Wardens When someone broke the codes, Sasha and those like him took it on I didn’t much care for the system - it bothered me to have so much power in the hands of so few - but most of them were honest More of them were honest than the rank and file of the Wardens, to be fair "We’ve been in contact with every delivery service None of them had drop-offs at your apartment that day"

"Which leaves us with?" Lewis asked For reply, Sasha appropriated the controls, bringing up another video on the screen This one was better defined, but at an odd angle One of the traffic cameras, maybe

"We tracked the delivery van back, but we lost it in the warehouse district They were damn careful It took hours to trace theet much farther, not with these methods If they’re smart - and I think they are - they’d have had Earth Wardens ready to reduce the entire truck to slag and spare parts in a few uess, I’d say we ought to be looking for warehouses rented out in the last two months"

"Put somebody on it," Lewis said

Sasha folded his arms and sat back with a cocky smile "Already done"

Lewis turned his attention to another Earth Warden, young but sharp Heather sos "What about the package itself?" Lewis asked her

Heather ducked her head shyly and studied her interlaced fingers "Still analyzing," she said, so softly I could hardly hear her "But there is definitely a high decay rate to what’s inside It’s dangerous, most certainly"

"But not a bomb"

She looked up at him, then at us, wide-eyed "Oh yes," she said "It had a delivery systee, it would have gone off and spread the contents"

"And the contents are?" David asked, in that cool, controlled voice so at odds with the look in his eyes

"Anti with any kind of etic reaction The by-products are - "

"There was a trigger?" I asked "What kind of trigger?"

Her gaze slid away from mine, toward Lewis, and then back, as if she’d been seeking approval "It looked as if it was adapted fro approach Ti in the anti it out into the world"

"Not a skill you pick up at your local corunted

"Unfortunately, it’s not exactly rare, either And with the Internet so helpfully offering tutorials for this kind of thing, it will be hard to track"

"The paper?" Lewis got us back on track "The wrapping, the card?"

Heather brightened immediately "That’s a possibility, " she said "If the Djinn can help us, we may be able to trace the card’s history back and find out who came in contact with it"

But that experiht in the card - in a heavily shielded container, since it was saturated with radiation - and presented it to Rahel, she just shook her head "Nothing," she said "I see nothing at all"

It was the sa alarm He’d dismissed all this at first, but there were too many of us now, and ere too credible The Djinn had to believe us - but believing us s Heather, disheartened, reclaian to have it carted back to the lab for more tests

I stopped her "Can I see it?" I asked She looked surprised "Well, it was addressed toothers don’t"