"The same reason they hid it from me. I broadcast and Samuel was reading you. Either one of us would have given away the plan." The thin voice caused all of them to jerk around, but Bishop was the first one to reach Hollis's side.

"Hey, boss," she said, her voice still weak. She was lying as she'd gone down, motionless. But her eyes were openand were their normal blue color, if a bit darker than usual.

"Christ, Hollis," Bishop muttered.

"Another fun new toy for me." She winced and closed her eyes. "Sorry busy now"

All Sawyer could think to say was, "What the hell?"

Resting on one knee beside his team member, Bishop explained, "Some mediums are healers." The relief in his voice was obvious. "The energies here must have triggered it in Hollis."

"Good thing too," she murmured.

"Will she be okay?" Sawyer asked.

"I think so." Bishop put a hand on her shoulder for a moment and then rose to his feet. Leaving Quentin to work on extricating Galen from the Jeep's unloving embrace, he turned to face LeMott. Both men were expressionless, but the whitened scar on Bishop's cheek was as good as a neon sign.

"Senator, two people died today, and neither one of them had to. What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"I'm sorry for them," LeMott said, his tone flat. "Especially Officer Keever. She was only supposed to relay information, you know."

Sawyer took a step toward him, conscious once again of rage. "Information? You were paying Robin to spy for you?"

"She had dreams of leaving this small town life." LeMott shrugged. "Dreams cost money. And I convinced her it was her chance to help you, Chief. To put Samuel away, once and for all. So she called me last night. To tell me what would happen here today."

"You son of a bitch," Sawyer snarled.

Bishop said, "I'm sorry, Sawyer. We were all but certain that he had eyes inside your department. We just didn't know who it was."

Sawyer turned his head to look toward Robin's lifeless body, then felt a hand slip into his. Tessa.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, her other hand still holding Ruby close to her side. "We knew he'd go after Bishop and after me once he saw me with Ruby, but we didn't think he'd see anybody else as a threat. So we weren't protecting her. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah." His fingers tightened on hers. "So am I. You said something about trophies?"

"He kept them in a space underneath the baptistery," she said. "Where he left Ruby."

"Awful things," the little girl with eyes that were old now said gravely. "Locks of hair, bits of clothes and stuff."

"DNA," Bishop said. "With that, we can nail him."

Senator Abe LeMott laughed. "You mean put him in prison? Allow him to live?"

"Justice," Bishop said.

"You were willing to destroy him."

"Yes," Bishop admitted evenly. "I was. And if in destroying his abilities we had killed him, I wouldn't have lost a night's sleep. But this way is the right way. His abilities are gone and he'll live the rest of his life in a cage. That's good enough for me."

"But not for me." LeMott turned his head to look at the broken remnants of the man who had been Adam Deacon Samuel and said simply, "Viper."

Still cradling Samuel's head against her, Bambi used her free hand and drew from underneath her long, prim skirt a gleaming knife. Without a moment's hesitation, she plunged it to the hilt in his chest.

Gazing steadily into his infinitely surprised eyes, her own icy, she said, "Say hello to Lucifer for me. And tell him a whore never forgets how to fake it. You should know that. Right, Sammy?"

Samuel died without making a sound, his life taken by a woman very much like the one who had given it.

Bambi pushed herself away from his body. She left him lying there in the rubble as she got to her feet, saying calmly to Sawyer, "It was self-defense, you know. Any jury will believe that."

"I'll make sure they do," LeMott said. He looked at Bishop. "I was afraid that, in the end, you wouldn't be quite as ruthless as you're often painted, Bishop. So I had a backup plan."

Epilogue

TESSA EASED Sawyer's office door closed and joined the others in the conference room of the police station. "Ruby's asleep. Worn out." Hollis shifted in her chair to look at a clock high on the wait murmuring, "God, it's only a little after five. This day's gone on for a lifetime." She was pale and obviously still in pain, but just as obviously well on her way to completely healing the damage Samuel had inflicted.

"On the plus side," Quentin pointed out, "you emerged with a fun new ability. Thank God. Be honestdid you know about it when you decided to face off with Samuel?"

"Wish I could say yes. It would have saved me a lot of being, you know, scared half out of my mind. But, no. When I hit the ground, I thought I was dead. I didn't even know what I was doing, until I actually started to feel bones knit." She paused and frowned. "Which is a very creepy sort of feeling, I have to say."

"Creepy, maybe. But useful in our line of work." It was Quentin's turn to frown. "And maybe that explains all your near-death experiences so far."

"Probably," Bishop said. "Medium-healers tend to have an incredibly strong will to survive."

Quentin said, "I think it was the medium part that tipped the balance. It shook Samuel just enough to give Tessa and Dani the time they needed to get into position. Nice going," he added to Hollis.

With a grimace, she said, "Yeah, well, he called my bluff."

"You were bluffing?"

A soft laugh escaped her. "Had to. Either all the energies out there weren't enhancing my abilities for once, or the spirits decided to stay out of it. Either way, I was sooo bluffing. Hard as I tried, I could not open a door."

"Damn," Quentin said blankly. "I mean damn, Hollis. Thank the universe for that new ability and the will to survive."

"Yeah. I really did."

Tessa shook her head wonderingly, then looked at Sawyer. "Speaking of the will to survive, what's going to happen to Ruby?"

"I don't know. Her mother and so many of the others seem almost catatonic now. I wonder if, in the end, Samuel will have as many living victims as dead ones."

"Bailey will do what she can up there," Bishop said. "The guardians in the SCU are, among other things, psychologists or counselors. And we have others on the team who can help."

"Can they?" Tessa asked steadily.

"Some. I don't know how much, to be honest. Samuel was a wholly destructive force."

"Will he destroy Bambi?"

It was Sawyer who answered, with a faint grimace. "If Senator LeMott buys her the best defense money can buy, I doubt she'll spend a day in prison. The bastard was abusive, and most of his followers look and sound dazed at best and brainwashed at worst. Hell, I didn't want to have to put her in my jail. Even if I did see her kill him with my own eyes, I'd defend her in court."

"I think we all would," Bishop said. "Even Reese."

"How long will he stay at the Compound?" Hollis asked.

"Probably not long, if I know him. He'll make sure there's someone to run things up there, assuming the congregation wants to continue. He and Galen will make certain all the evidence Tessa found is collected. Not that we need it for a prosecution, but perhaps for Bambi's defense. And to tie up a few loose ends for us."

"You know," Quentin said, "we still have a few unanswered questions." He realized he was being stared at, and qualified, "Even more than usual, I mean. Like, who was Andrea, our spirit who told Hollis where Ruby could be found?"

"Why did Samuel have an obsession about buying up mostly worthless property?" Hollis added. "And did he really intend to destroy the world?"