"Naw, man." Carlos said, sitting back in his chair. "That's a problem. Yonnie can't be seen helping us do something that, clearly, his management is against. If they're blocking premo venues, then obviously they don't want us to get the message out. We have to go to a Guardian spot for this, and I don't care if it's a joint with sawdust on the floor. To do this thing like Damali is saying, we gotta be in friendly territory. Go to one of my old joints that's now loaded with vamps and whatever else ... the second Mar poured libations, it would be on."
Father Pat looked up from his plate at the other clerics who had remained unusually quiet. He wiped his mouth and set down his napkin beside his glass of lemonade and sighed. "We can't get you into the big televangelist theaters or on their networks, due to your lyrics and some of the, uh, explicit content... but we do have to ask you to move as quickly as possible on this leg of the plan."
All eyes went to Father Patrick.
"My buddy, Duke - ex-Hell's Angel and a helluva Guardian brother," Rider said, glancing around the table. "Y'all remember him from the battle at la casa - big, burly blond biker."
"Oh, man," Jose said, "How could we forget? The guy has mad-crazy moves and uses a pump shotgun like it's his right arm."
"Yeah, well," Rider said, his expression somber, "he lost one of his best friends out there, Joe. The brother is still shook behind it, never got his piece of justice in a way he could see, feel, and touch it, ya know?"
Everyone around the table fell silent, remembering all the Guardians who had been lost at Morales.
"Well, this type of situation would be perfect for what's left of his squad," Rider finally said. "They have this bar ... on the wrong side of town in Death Valley. They left Texas resettled right in the middle of the hot zone, suicidal, after what happened. Wanted to be where there were no civilians and the joint has sawdust on the floor, with rednecks to go with it - but if you need a spot, all I gotta do is make a call, and Duke will line up the act, have his bouncers in place, and if I know him, will be taunting vamps the night before just to stir up some action."
"Sounds like my kinda joint," Big Mike said with a smile.
"Sounds perfect to me ... we can take a nice drive on over, do the thing, and clean out a nest or two while we're at it," Damali said with a stretch.
"Well, this needs to happen quickly, as Father Patrick suggested," Rabbi Zeitloff said, leaning forward to peer around bodies to better see Father Pat. He hoisted up his short frame in the chair and blinked quickly behind his thick, round lenses, folding his hands before his plate, res olute.
"There is no time like the present," Monk Lin said in a gentle voice, his aged eyes sad, which made his dignified face and small, sinewy frame seem older.
"There is indeed no time like the present," Imam Asula agreed quietly. He rubbed a large, rough palm across his dark, walnut-hued face as though chasing sudden fatigue. "I know it is hard to break up family togetherness ... but..."
The team fell quiet again as Monk Lin averted his eyes. Father Pat nodded and let out a long, weary sigh.
"The scientists have been bombarding the atmosphere again," Father Pat said, shaking his head as he dragged his fingers through his thicket of white hair. "They'd ceased for a while and have recently begun doing things that disturb the electromagnetic integrity of the planet. The technology advancement groups you met with on the way to Tibet are not responsible, and have been aiding us, worldwide, to hunt down these rogue elements. But they move like air - you can't get your hands around them." Damali briefly shut her eyes. "We saw what can come out of Nod."
"Yeah, well, that little fawn that went AWOL on Hubert, Sedgwick, and Sara, washed up on the beach by the hotel, half-eaten by Harpies, we thought, but who knows if anything from Cain's old troops may have stayed stateside." Carlos rubbed the tension from his neck.
"Oh ... no ..." Marlene whispered. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because you guys needed at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours to