Busted Flush

I walked around the statue, checking our position. Cameo and Earth Witch were sitting on benches near the entrance to the park. Hoodoo Mama had helped clear the usual street people from the square, so we didn’t have to worry about civilians getting caught in the middle should anything bad go down. I knew Hoodoo Mama was still somewhere nearby, but she was really good at hiding.

Bugsy was in swarm form. He kept making swooping passes around the square. And it was hard to hide Toad Man—Volkswagen-sized toads, kinda hard to explain. From the other side of the park, I could see Lohengrin’s armor shining in the sun.

I went back to Fortune and Sprout.

“Did you see anything?” Fortune asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet. I can’t believe he’s delaying this.”

Fortune shrugged and kept looking around. “My mother says he was bad news back in the day. He’s clever and more than a little nuts.”

Sweat began beading on my forehead and upper lip. It was muggy as hell, but I was also feeling nervous. I’d gone up against Golden Boy and gotten my ass handed to me. This Weathers guy was known to be unpredictable, and there was no telling what we might get. Those old aces were scary.

There was the whooping sound of a helicopter. I looked up. We’d talked to the local flight authorities, and they’d agreed to suspend all traffic over the Quarter for the afternoon.

A black helicopter appeared over St. Louis Cathedral, heading right toward us.

“What the hell?” Fortune said. “That can’t be Weathers.”

Then, over the sound of the blades, we heard, “This is William Ray, head of the Special Committee for Ace Resources and Endeavors. We have warrants from the United Sates government for the arrest of all Committee members. Surrender peacefully or we will use deadly force.”

Then the side door of the helicopter opened and I saw one ace fly out, swooping around the square. Ropes dropped and more SCARE agents slid down, landing about fifteen feet from us. I recognized Lady Black, Moon, and the Midnight Angel from Cross Plains. I figured the rest were aces, too. No one else could handle us. The helicopter flew off.

Billy Ray emerged from the midst of the aces wearing his usual pristine jumpsuit. He strode up to us followed by the Midnight Angel. I knew they were married now. Ink had said so in one of her e-mails.

Sprout gave a frightened cry and ran behind me. I understood why. Billy Ray’s face was a mass of scars. Thick pink tissue crisscrossed the suntanned planes of his face. His eyes were cold. But I wasn’t worried. He was strong, but brute force didn’t frighten me in the least. And I had the psychological advantage. I’d taken him once already.

I saw the rest of the SCARE agents fanning out across the park. Crap. This was not good. These SCARE jerks could hose our trade with Weathers.

“John Fortune, Michelle Pond,” Billy Ray said. “I am placing you under arrest.”

Sprout had wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my back.

“Are you insane?” Fortune asked. “Billy Ray, you have no jurisdiction over us. We’re part of the UN. And there was a no-fly order for this section.”

“I’m an agent of the United States government,” Billy Ray said, coming closer to Fortune. He leaned in until his spittle was hitting Fortune’s face. “You’re on U.S. soil. You’re U.S. citizens. Do I really need to draw you a map here?”

John’s forehead began to glow. Sekhmet was getting pissed.

“Look around, Billy Ray,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking with anger. This asshat had almost gotten Drake and Niobe killed. Not to mention that his Lady Black bitch had put a mad hurt on me. “You’ve got about a dozen aces. Not only do we have as many, but we’ve got a little extra somethin’ somethin’.” I pointed and Billy Ray turned around and saw what we’d been holding back for Weathers.

An army of zombies had suddenly surrounded Jackson Square. A lot of them had been floaters, which gave them a really horrible appearance. They stood there, silent, impervious, devoid of humanity.

I looked around, checking on our people. Earth Witch was flexing her hands, glancing around, looking for lines of sight. Cameo began to spin slowly, building up layers of dust. I saw a swarm of insects hovering near one of the SCARE aces, so I knew Bugsy was good to go.

Lohengrin was doing a propeller-fast pattern with his sword. The sunlight was glinting off his brilliant armor. Something small and lethally fast pinged into the dirt between me and Fortune and Billy Ray and the Midnight Angel. Curveball was making her presence known.

Noel was somewhere close by and I was hoping that Billy Ray would get the idea that this was a fight he didn’t want. Weathers was due at any moment, and the last thing we needed was a full-on brawl in progress when he showed up.

Fortune began to glow even brighter. Crap. I did not want Sekhmet appearing right now.

“Daddy!” Sprout cried. She let go of my waist and ran in front of me, flinging her arms into the air and dancing around with her head tilted back.