It felt like someone died in front of me.
Kessler cleared his throat. "Well, that's that. What do you think he meant?"
I shrugged. "Haven't the foggiest. But someone better get on any leads regarding any place Faraday called home in his time here."
"On it," Flask said. "I'll have Records run the search and have my boys check out any pertinent hits."
"Just make sure you keep me in the loop, Flask. I need to know if something pops."
"I'm running this as a police operation, Mick — or Mike, or whoever you are. That means information is on a need-to-know basis. And right now, I don't think you need to know."
"You forget one thing, Flask." I held the drive in front of his face. "I'm the one with the key to the door, wherever it is. You don't get access without me."
His mouth thinned. "This place is surrounded by badges, Mick. I'll have no problem with arresting you and taking the drive. You should know how it works by now."
"Maybe in the past, Flask. But that's not gonna happen this time."
"Really? Why's that?"
I snatched the Mean Ol' Broad from her slip and aimed in the general direction of his face. "Because you'll be dead before you can make the call."
His eyes widened in outrage. "What the hell, Mick?"
"I'm not kidding, Flask. I don't have time to play your games right now. We've wasted enough time here, and I can't cool my heels in a meat locker while your button boys trip over each other and get nothing done. What's gotten into you, anyhow? I thought we were on good terms last time I checked."
"We were. But you changed." He gestured at the gun pointed at him. "As you can see. Now, you can lower the piece because we both know you might as well write your obituary if you pull that trigger."
My teeth gritted together. "Might be worth the trouble, depending on my mood. Which right now is as foul as it gets."
Kessler cleared his throat. "Hate to break up this display of machismo, but in case you missed it: we have a common enemy, one that requires we all work together. Like it or not, we're the best chance this Haven has of stopping Kilgore."
Flask's gaze flicked over to Kessler. "Why's that? You have a Kilgore-proof trap set up or something?"
"You might say that. In Los Nuevos, I worked with a Nimrod squad to bait Kilgore to a fight on a rooftop, where an anti-aberrant field was activated, sapping him of his metahuman abilities. He was still an Elite super-soldier, but he was human, at least."
"How human?"
"Enough that one member of the squad gave him a good fight. He was wounded, but that just made things fair. I checked out the video feed afterward. She nearly had him on the ropes."
I glanced at him. "She?"
"Yeah. Trigger Happy, or Happy for short. Of course, you'd know her by her real name: Maxine Winters."
I lowered the Mean Ol' Broad, lightheaded all of a sudden. "Maxine? You saw her?"
"I did. She wanted to kill me at first, but we worked it out. I understand the two of you have a history."
I swallowed hard, throat suddenly constricted. "History. Yeah, you can say that."
"Well, I'm pretty sure she wants to kill you. She was taking out all the former members of the Youth Program before she hooked up with the Nimrod squad. That's all beside the point, though. She took it to Kilgore, toe-to-toe before he managed to get the upper hand and escape. The anti-aberrant suppressors worked then, and I believe they'll work now."
They continued talking, but the sounds faded away, drowned out by the sound of my pulse pounding like a jackhammer right between the eyes. Maxine. Kilgore hadn't been lying after all. I remembered her voice like it was yesterday, the hesitancy when she gazed into my eyes and asked a simple question…
"Do you think it will always be like this?"
I turned away from peering through the window blinds. "What will?"
Maxine looked at me, a crooked smile on her lips. "You know — you and me. When this job is over, will this thing … is it just the moment, or do you think we actually have a shot at something?"
I bent over, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I'm putting my life on the line for this, Max. What does that tell you?"
"Tells me something is wrong."
"What?"
"Your face — I can always tell when something is bothering you."
I sighed, turning toward the window again. "It's just last-minute jitters, I guess. Where the hell is Kilgore? He should have made contact by now."
"There you go again with the Kilgore stuff. I told you — he's dependable. I give the orders, he follows them. Simple as that. There's no need to be jealous, Mike."
The apartment was small but comfortable, modestly furnished and pleasant smelling: citrus and honeysuckle from the fragrance plug in the wall. Maxine lay across the bed, propped on her elbows, dark hair fanned across her face. I sat on the edge of the mattress, feeling as uncomfortable as she was relaxed.
"I just don't trust him, Max. You need to be careful."
"Careful about what? He's been by my side the entire time, risking his life for the cause the same as me. We've been in the trenches together. He's solid, Mike."
"I don't know…"
She placed a hand on top of mine. "Look at me, Michael."
I looked at her, face softening. She had that effect every time, practically hypnotizing me with her liquid gaze. She smiled as if reading my thoughts.
"Do you trust me?"
"You know I do."
"If you trust me, you can trust Kilgore. Okay?"
I hesitated.
"Okay?"
I nodded reluctantly. "Okay."
I clamped a hand over my mouth as my vision blurred with imprisoned tears. When my memories merged at Hunter's place, the ugly recollections of what happed to Maxine surfaced as well, so dark and guilt-ridden that I'd instantly smothered them again. I thought she was dead, thought I was party to her murder, however coerced it was. But she was alive…
"Mike?"
I glanced up. Poddar, Kessler, and Flask stared at me with diminishing degrees of concern. Kessler raised an eyebrow. "Kinda lost you for a minute."
"I'm fine. Heard everything. You're going with Flask to Central Core to see if the suppressants you brought can be inserted into the weather system. Since it rains all the time, it should be easy — so long as the suppressants activate at just the right time, since the supply is limited. Our job will be to flush Kilgore out and get him to an open environment so that his abilities get shorted out long enough for us to take him down. Should be a walk in the park. That about cover it?"
"Pretty much, except for the walk in the park. I'm headed to Central Core with Captain Flask. I'll keep in touch and keep you posted if surveillance gets a hit. Meanwhile, you work things on your end, and hopefully something shakes loose."
"HSSC Agent and Police Captain working arm and arm? Good luck with that. Me and Poddar are going to the mattresses in the meantime. See ya on the other side."
Poddar glanced at me as we went back up the stairwell, where the rain greeted us with wet slaps to the face. "Going to the mattresses?"
I tilted the rim of my Bogart over my eyes. "Yeah, Poddar. We're going to war with the skels that sold the explosives Kilgore used to blow up that building. Figure they might know a little more about him, like where he's laying dormy right about now."