I shook my head. “You’re poison. I don’t want you in my life.”
He raised his hands to the side. “Like it or not, I’m in it, sweetheart. Besides, you came to me—twice, now, isn’t it?”
I clenched my fists. He was right. Like a junkie I kept coming back. “Won’t happen again.”
“We’ll see.” He smiled. “Good luck with Dionysus. I’m sure that partner of yours won’t find watching your ass a hardship.”
The spike of jealousy in his words pleased me. “He hasn’t complained about it so far.”
With that, I turned the ass in question toward him and walked away. “Good-bye, psycho.”
“Good night, Kate.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
An hour later Gardner slammed down the phone and marched out of her office. Mez, Morales, Shadi, and I were gathered around the whiteboard in the old boxing ring. I’d posted a map with a big red X over the winery onto the board. While she’d been on the phone with Eldritch, I’d been telling them everything I knew so far, which wasn’t nearly enough to make this op a slam dunk.
“He can’t spare the backup,” Gardner said. “Some of Aphrodite’s girls are staging a protest at city hall and there’s a jumper on the Bessemer Bridge who’s got traffic backed up for miles.”
“Did you tell him this winery is the best and only lead we have on Dionysus?”
She shot me a give-me-some-credit look that prompted me to immediately mumble an apology.
“Okay, so we don’t have BPD backup,” Morales said. “What’s our play?”
Gardner scowled and looked down at the floor. After a few tense moments, she shook her head. “We can’t risk it.”
“Sir—” I began, but she cut me off.
“Save your breath, Prospero. I understand the risks involved. I also know how close we are to the Blue Moon. That’s exactly why I can’t send you in. This guy’s been one step ahead of us since the new moon.” She shot a grave frown around the circle. “He’ll for damned sure have the winery rigged in case of ambush.”
“But—”
“No,” she said. “He knew we’d eventually put this wine thing together. Didn’t you say they found a bottle at Owens’s murder scene?”
I nodded. On my way back to the gym, I’d called Val at CSI, who confirmed they’d collected a half-empty wine bottle from the scene with the same label. She’d tested it for the plant-based poison that had killed Owens. Naturally, it was a match. Since Aphrodite was their suspect, they’d used that information as justification for arresting her. But now that we knew the source of the wine, it was looking more and more like Dionysus had framed the Hierophant. However, even if Eldritch would listen to us, the fact remained that jail was probably the safest place for Aphrodite Johnson while Dionysus was still on the loose.
“Val said she’d take the information to Eldritch. But we still need proof Dionysus is the one who gave Owens that wine.”
“We still have two nights until Halloween,” Mez said. “We can go in tomorrow.”
I shook my head. Deep in my gut—down by the place I stored my resolve—the cop sensor that told me I was close to nabbing the bad guy flashed like a homing beacon. I knew I was asking Gardner to ignore her own instincts to protect her team. I knew I was putting us all in danger. I also knew I didn’t deserve their trust. But that’s the part they didn’t know.
So it was difficult to find the words to convince them to trust me. “Sir, may I speak with you a sec?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Speaking to me in private won’t change my mind on this, Prospero. I won’t let you get hexed again.”
Panic pressed like icy air against my sternum. “I’ll wear a protection amulet,” I blurted. “And use Mez’s new magic sensor.”
The entire team looked at me like I’d just sprouted horns and a tail. I crossed my arms. “What?”
“But you never voluntarily use magic,” Mez said.
I forced a casual shrug. “Whether I want to or not, the Blue Moon makes me twice as vulnerable to getting hexed, as we learned last night.”
“You won’t have to worry about it at all since I’m not signing off on this raid,” Gardner said in her favorite because-I-said-so tone.
I looked her in the eye and went for her jugular. “If we do not stop Dionysus you can forget the team’s safety, because the entire city will be on its knees. And it will be your fault.”
She jerked back like I’d struck her. “You are out of line, Prospero.”
“No she’s not, sir.” Morales stood. “She’s right. It’s our safety versus millions. We have to do this.”
Thunder rolled behind her eyes. “You’re going to risk your life based on evidence that is circumstantial at best?”
He shook his head and glanced at me. “No, I’m putting my life on the line because my partner believes it’s the right play.”
Gardner looked at the others to gauge their reactions. Shadi nodded that she was in, too. Mez sat back and hooked his elbows over the back of his seat. “Now or never.”
My gut shriveled with doubt. They didn’t know they were putting their faith in a liar. I opened my mouth to say—
Shit, I didn’t know what to say. They’d just given me the answer I wanted. I couldn’t very well try to talk them out of it now. Still, a small cluster of synapses in the back of my head was urging Gardner to pull the plug and send us all home.
She looked around the circle at all of us. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but the tension between my eyes told me I was failing. She walked over to the whiteboard and studied the map for a moment. Her shoulders were tense, and her hands clasped and unclasped at her side like a beating heart.
With her back to us, she finally spoke. “You will wear every anti-Arcane weapon at our disposal.”
My heart lurched and then broke into a gallop.
“You will not split up. You will not be out of radio range for even a moment. You will abort the mission the instant there is a sign of trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” Morales said in a strong, true voice. Thank God he had one because I suddenly had a fist blocking my throat.
She turned to address us like a general speaking to troops. Her eyes burned with determination and something hotter than fear. “You will find this asshole. And if he makes one off move, you will shoot to kill.”