Chill Factor Page 0,102

then he was gone.

Alice gave me a wide-eyed regretful look, shrugged, and skipped off into the shadows.

So much for Djinn loyalty, apparently.

"Fine. Me and Rahel." I leveled a finger at Lazlo, who was conferring quietly with two more of the Ma'at. "Yo! Laz!" He didn't respond immediately. When he did, he turned toward me with a genteel frown, as if I'd made some sort of rude biological noise. "I'm going after Quinn. Who have you got?"

"Chill Factor"

"I'm going," Marion said immediately. "You'll need me."

"You're in. Thanks." I waited for Lazlo to step up to the plate. "C'mon, man. He's your guy; don't you think you ought to at least come along? Maybe present a nice distraction while I find a way to take him down?"

Lazlo retained his dignity, even in the face of my sarcasm. I didn't consider that a positive.

"Detective Quinn has been of assistance to the Ma'at from time to time, but only as an associate," he said. "We encountered him several years ago when he helped save one of our members. Since then, he's been very useful to us in keeping tabs on the movements of Wardens through this area, and also in locating and freeing Djinn from imprisonment. But he's got little or no power of his own, and we don't see him as a functioning member of our organization."

"Really." My voice had gone flat. "Don't hurt yourself, covering your ass like that. The Ma'at are in this up to their necks. Sure, Quinn was in with Chaz, smuggling drugs, back in the day, but then Quinn discovered something more interesting. How much would a Djinn in the bottle be worth on the black market, Laz? Millions, to the right rich bastard. Even a regular human can use them-not as effectively as a Warden, but they'd be pretty damn cool toys." I glanced over at Kevin, thinking involuntarily of his stepmother. "You guys made him your enforcer, right? When you heard about Djinn that you might be able to retrieve and set free, you sent him out to 'rescue' them. How often did he fail?"

Lazlo looked unsettled. "Failure was expected. No one can retrieve every-"

"How many times did he come back empty-handed?"

Silence. And then Ashworth said, "At least twenty in the last few years."

Marion indicated Lewis. "What about the ones Lewis took when he left the Wardens? Where did they go?"

Left was euphemistic, at best. Escaped with his life might have been a little more accurate, but I held my tongue. Wasn't Marion's fault that she had the job of getting rid of the Wardens' most dangerous problems. In fact, I was happier that she had it than anyone else I'd ever met; at least she was fair, gentle, and strong. Nobody liked an incompetent executioner.

"Freed," I said on his behalf. "Lewis set them free himself because he doesn't believe in keeping Djinn as slaves."

And then I realized what I'd just told her. What she'd witnessed, here in this room.

She knew that Djinn could exist outside of the bottles, now... that they could live on their own terms, with power and significance. That they could interact with us freely.

Just what I didn't want the Wardens to know.

Only Marion hadn't exactly looked shocked.

"You already knew about the Free Djinn?" I asked. She inclined her head. "How?"

"I'd be a fool if I didn't."

"Does anyone else-"

I got her warm smile. "There are many fools wearing the symbol of the Wardens. You ought to know that, Joanne. Truthfully, they're so caught up in their own lives, I doubt they notice much else. The world is full of secrets, anyway. Most people see what they want to see, and nothing more. I sometimes think it's the secret to sanity."

The Ma'at were buzzing around me. Lazlo was saying something, fairly loudly, about the Ma'at not being soldiers, which was true enough; I didn't hold it against them. Besides, I wasn't absolutely sure I trusted any of them to have my back, not against Quinn. He'd been part of their organization for too long for them to disavow him now.

Rahel was watching me, arms folded. Smiling.

"Well?" I asked. "Just the three of us?"

"Four," said a new voice. Lewis levered himself out of the chair, took a second to get his balance, and walked toward us. Around him, the Ma'at's frantic discussion fell silent. "I'm going."

"You can't-" Charles Ashworth began querulously, then shut his mouth with a snap when Lewis cut a look his way. "Fine. Kill yourself, then. For my part, I'm finished