“It’s not just me,” I said. “Eventually my Department’s going to figure out that I’m helping you, hiding you. It’s just a matter of time and what I’d love out of you is some…I don’t know…grandiose gesture that’s going to put you in good not only with me but with them as well.”

I knew I was being manipulative-partly because I needed answers about Tamara and Irene, but also on a personal level. I liked Jane more that I felt was right, and I would love to feel like it was justified.

Jane fell quiet so I pressed on. I needed something that could help me gain the upper hand in our fight against Bane and the corporate headhunter he had sent after her.

“Give me something, Jane,” I said. “Help out an underpaid psychometrist with bills to pay. Prove you’re on my side. I need a break if I’m going to help you or make any headway on the case I’m working on. Didn’t you tell me that the Sectarians were obsessive about their record keeping? Get me inside the Sectarian Defense League.”

Jane looked at me like I was crazy. “You want me to go back there?” she said. She looked like she was going to argue, but she stopped herself. “Fine. If that’s what it’s going to take. I can probably find something on that fish you asked about in my old records.”

“I don’t think they’re going to let us just walk right in, Jane,” I said.

“You don’t have some brilliant plan?” she said, smiling for once.

“No,” I said, “but clearly you do. Why don’t you tell me whatyour plan is?”

“We’ll need to get past building security first, so we’ll wear all brown,” she suggested, perking up. “Jumpsuits maybe. With matching baseball caps.”

The twinkle in her eye made Jane look like she was Wile E. Coyote, Supergenius, hard at work at the drawing board. “Or blue. Doesn’t matter.”

I looked at her skeptically. “And this will help how…?”

“Delivery people,” she said. “Does anyonereally pay attention to delivery people? No. It’s always someone dressed in a jumpsuit or some kind of generic-looking outfit. You never remember the person. All you see is a blur of ho-hum colors and a hat.”

Jane was right. I couldn’t remember what any delivery guy I had ever encountered looked like.

“Won’t they route us to a mailroom or something?” I asked.

Jane shook her head.

“No,” she said. “One of the great things about being cultists is that trust is always an issue with them. They route everything straight through to their office. They’re so not going to risk the chance of the Mask of Yojeeti or the Basket of Sepiroth going missing at the hands of a mailroom clerk. As if!”

Several hours (and one trip to K-Mart) later, we breezed past check-in at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Empire State Building. Security barely gave us a glance as we signed the building register. My bat was hidden discreetly in a flower delivery box, underneath an all-too-pricy cover of roses. I fully intended to give them to Jane if we made it out alive. I also intended to expense them.

We made our way up to the thirty-third floor. It was after normal business hours, but to be safe, Jane kept the brim of her hat pulled down low in case we ran into anyone she knew. Luck, however, was on our side, and we arrived at the door without a single run-in.

“Most girls get dinner and a movie,” Jane said as we stood outside the now familiar glass doors of the Sectarian Defense League. “I get breaking and entering.”

I adjusted my gloves as I looked at the dripping red letters on the door and then at Jane.

“Complain much?” I said.

Jane smiled sweetly and shook her head. Her blond ponytail bounced from side to side, and for a second I did feel like we were out on a date instead of hell-bent on infiltrating her old workplace. I eyed the keypad at the side of the double doors.

“What are the chances that your old pass code still works?” I said.

I had come prepared to try my hand at lock picking, but an electronic lock was beyond my abilities. I supposed there was always the bat, though that might not be the subtlest entrance.

“Worth a shot.” Jane shrugged and punched her old number in. The red lights turned to green and the unit chirped a happy signal of approval. I gave her delivery hat a playful push down onto her head and she giggled. Connor would never have let me do that to him.

However, Connorwould kill me if he knew what Jane and I were up to, but hopefully it wouldn’t matter if the two of us actually succeeded.

I pushed at the door and it gave way. “That was easy enough. Makes me a bit nervous, though.”

“Getting past the door really wasn’t my concern, Simon. It’s what might be on the other side of it that worries me.”

We moved quietly through the door and into the darkened lobby of the Sectarian Defense League. I hoped my eyes would adjust quickly to the half-light. As I edged forward, I was relieved to see that the room was silent and there was no hint of motion. I felt Jane’s arm press against mine, and though for a second I thought she was trying to take my hand, I realized quickly that she was trying to stop me.

“Wait,” she said with a squeeze. “Look.”

I came to a halt in the middle of the lobby, and as my eyes finally grew accustomed to the darkness, I realized we weren’t alone. The desks around the outer rim of the reception area were filled with dark figures. I slowly crept forward to examine one, and was relieved to see that they did not react to my presence.

Zombies. After work hours, they were almost motionless as they clacked softly away at the keyboards before them, no longer working at the pace I had seen them filing and typing on my first visit here. It made perfect sense that they were still here. At the end of the workday, where did these corporate zombies have to go, really? They didn’t have homes, and without a single working brain among them, they would sit there silently until their masters returned in the morning. Their faces reminded me of so many I saw among the commuters here in New York-lifeless and slack-jawed. Even though I’d been known to take my bat to rotting zombie flesh from time to time, I felt sorry for the restless souls that remained trapped in these rotting corpses. I reminded myself to talk to Davidson about zombie rights if Jane and I made it out of here alive.

I moved back to Jane.

“Won’t they start craving the taste of our yummy, yummy human flesh?” I whispered.

Jane covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. When she regained her composure, she said, “I’m pretty sure they’ve been fed for the evening. Last thing Mr. Bane wants is for them to start wandering the building in search of…snacks.”

I shuddered at the thought. I wonderedwhat exactly they had been fed earlier, but Jane cut me off before I could ask.

“Relax, Simon. They don’t normally feed them on human flesh anyway. The building would be empty in a week! It’s mostly cow brains and entrails. They also seem partial to hot dogs from street vendors.”

“Well, that’s of some comfort,” I said.

“Besides, human flesh is an occasional treat…like catnip for cats,” she said with a wink.

I wasn’t sure if she was pulling my leg or not, but now was not the time for a lengthy discussion of the culinary habits of the undead. I pushed it all out of my mind and smiled. “Lead on, milady.”

I kept close behind as Jane led, none too curious about what might happen if I should stray. We made our way out of reception and down a short hall that opened into a large bullpen. I was relieved to see that there were only two zombies in sight. Jane stopped at a door bearing her name and swiped a card at it. It clicked open and we stole inside quickly, shutting the door behind us.

She flicked the overhead light on and I stood there momentarily in awe. Her office washuge. It was littered with ultramodern Norwegian furniture that was so nice it made me want to burn down the next Ikea I saw. It sure beat the shitty secondhand desk I had been assigned back at the D.E.A. Jane’s hand brushed against my cheek and I mistook it for affection until I felt her lift my jaw back into place.