I shook my head, smiled. “One of these days I’ll remember how good you really are. No way am I betting against you again.”

Paul simply grinned.

“Wait,” I said. “How are you going to pay for it?”

He gave me an unmistakably withering look while Bryce choked on a laugh.

I lifted my hands in surrender. “Forget I asked. Holy shit, but I’m glad you’re on our side,” I said, then a slow smile spread over my face as a plan came together in my head. “Hang on.” I scribbled an address on a sticky note and gave it to Paul. “Have it delivered there instead of here.”

I quickly laid out my clever, and actually quite simple, plan to sneak Bryce and Paul away. We’d have the SUV delivered to the back lot of an out-of-business furniture store, which was a five mile drive from my house via the highway, but only about a half mile trek through woods beyond the back fence of my property. I had no gate or driveway there, and the woods were heavy enough I figured the chances were exceedingly slim that Farouche would have people watching along the fence line.

Bryce listened carefully, then had Paul call up a satellite photo of the area. “You’re right,” he said as he noted the clever shortcut. “He wouldn’t have people watching the middle of the woods. That should work.” To my relief, no one else found any glaring problems with the ruse either.

Mzatal nodded, face serious and focused—in other words, utterly Mzatal-like—then exited the room. Bryce and I followed him out, though Mzatal continued on outside and to the mini-nexus, while we two humans stopped in the kitchen. Bryce’s gaze followed him.

“I’m having a hard time seeing him in a car for eight or nine hours,” he murmured with a frown.

I winced. “I imagine we’ll be taking a lot of breaks.” Crap, this road trip would probably end up taking closer to ten hours. “We’ll be getting to Austin after dark. I’ll get Eilahn up to speed and have her watch for anyone tailing us then hook up with us once we’re clear.”

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“Pack snacks,” I replied. “Jekki can help you. And get all of Paul’s stuff charged up.”

He gave a crisp nod, smiled. “Munchies and power for Paul. I’m on it.”

Chapter 32

The next hour turned into a flurry of activity as humans and demons scurried about to get everything ready, though I had a brief setback when I caught Eilahn by her motorcycle with an empty cat carrier, a colorful tangle of bungees in one hand, and duct tape in the other. For the next ten minutes I waged a grim war to convince her that Fuzzykins could not come with us. I made a little headway with the fact that Fuzzykins would be miserable cooped up for hours in the carrier on the back of the motorcycle. I lost ground on the alternative of the back of the SUV, then reclaimed some advantage with the assurance that Zack would take good care of Fuzzykins here, and of course Eilahn could call her as often as she wanted. Yet it wasn’t until Fuzzykins stalked off the porch, wound around Eilahn’s ankles and apparently told her, “No, I do not choose to go this day as I am certain the motion will upset my digestion,” that Eilahn finally put away the duct tape and bungees.

Ludicrous as it was, in that one shining moment, I loved that stupid cat.

With the Fuzzykins crisis dealt with, I went back inside and ran through my mental checklist of things to do. Jill stepped through the front door, looking relatively well-rested after her night in her new place. “What’s going on?” she asked after a few seconds of watching our frenetic activity.

“We got a hot lead,” I told her as I threw stuff into a bag. “We’re going to Austin to follow up on it.”

She backed to the wall and put her hand over her belly as Jekki scurried by, rolled her eyes and smiled as he chittered to her in passing. “Looks like you’re leaving any second now,” she observed. “You already tell Ryan, or you want me to let him know when he gets home?”

“Crap.” I grabbed for my phone. “I want both Zack and Ryan here to watch over you, and yes, I know you’re tough and you have a demon guardian now,” I said with a smile, “but I still want them here, ’cause you never know.”

“I’m tough,” Jill agreed with a steely glint in her eye. “But everything is different now because of the bean.” She laid her hand on her belly and her expression softened. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“Damn glad to hear it,” I said, then quickly called Ryan, filled him in, and dutifully agreed to text him when we arrived and if we had any problems. Next, I called Zack and got his assurance that he’d keep an eye on the house, Jill, and Fuzzykins.

After I hung up, I grabbed a pile of Tracy’s notebooks and journals, stuffed them into my bag and zipped it closed, then went outside to where Mzatal sat cross-legged on the mini-nexus. “Boss? We’re hoping to get going pretty soon. You ready?”

He drew a deep breath. “It is far to travel from this place.”

I knew he meant the tacit security of the mini-nexus. “I wish there was a faster way to get there and back that was feasible,” I said with a small sigh. “But driving makes the most sense. We’ll get there a little after dark and should be back by midday tomorrow at the latest.” I didn’t add if all goes well. Didn’t want to jinx things.

“I am sufficiently prepared,” he said.

I laid my hand against his cheek. “You’ve been on Earth a couple of days already. You sure you have the reserves to do this?”

He covered my hand with his. “I am faring well, zharkat,” he told me. “I have used the mini-nexus to greatly slow my potency depletion, and without undue expenditure will be able to maintain perhaps another five days.”

I peered at him, felt his reserves and smiled. “Excellent. I’ll go finish getting our stuff together.” I gave him a quick kiss, then made sure everything we needed was packed up and ready to go on the back porch.

Paul leaned out the back door, as excited as a kid going to Disney World. “The Escalade will be there in about twenty minutes,” he announced.

“Thanks for the update,” I said. “We’ll leave here in five.”

He disappeared back inside as Bryce stepped out with a small duffel bag in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

“Will Paul be able to work on the road?” I asked him. “We need to check out Rasha and her connection to the ring, and see if she had anything to do with the flow-disturbing event, but also really need to keep digging into the rest. I hate the thought of waiting until we get back.”

Bryce clucked his tongue at me. “Have you learned nothing about Paul? He can do pretty much anything as long as he can get a cell phone signal.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “I will never doubt him again.”

A few minutes later we assembled on the back porch, made a final headcount, then started out across my yard toward the back of my property, like a bunch of Sherpas about to tackle Everest. I heard a soft patter of feet behind me and glanced back to see Jekki eagerly trotting along in our wake. Oh, damn.

“Jekki.” I grimaced in apology. “I’m so sorry, but you can’t come with us.”

He stopped, sat up on his two back feet and peered up at me, looked at Mzatal’s retreating back and then to me again. “Why, Kara Gillian? Mzaaaatal walks.”

Sighing, I crouched. “You’re beautiful and colorful and very unique,” I told him. “And if anyone beyond this property saw you, it would draw a lot of attention which could jeopardize everything. I’m very sorry.”

He chittered in distress as Mzatal stepped onto the trail through the trees. “Dahn dahn dahn! Who tends Mzatal?”

Boss, I need your help here. “Eilahn and I will tend to him to the best of our ability.”

Not at all mollified by my assurances, Jekki continued to chitter, then ran to Mzatal as the lord turned back. I stood and moved toward them, silently cursing myself. I should have foreseen that the devoted little faas would want to come along.