Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6) - Jim Butcher Page 0,101

someone has to do something. And we're the only ones around. Either we choose to take a stand now or we choose to stand around at all the funerals regretting it later."

"Yeah," Murphy said. She took a deep, almost meditative breath. "I guess I needed to hear that said out loud." A small but violent light flared to life behind her eyes. "Let's go. I'm ready."

"Murph," I said.

She tilted her head and looked at me. My lips suddenly felt very dry.

"You look good in the dress."

Her eyes shone. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah."

The eye contact got dangerously intense and I shied off. Murphy let out a low, quiet laugh and touched the side of my face. Her fingers were warm, the touch light and delicate. "Thank you, Harry."

We came up to the second level of the garage together, walking with businesslike strides. The lights were out. In the depths of shadows I could see two vans parked side by side. The first one was a beat-up old fossil of a vehicle, born in an era when people would have thought it absurd to make a van "mini." A Red Cross decal on the driver's door proclaimed its identity.

The second was a white rental van. We approached, and Kincaid slid the side door open. I couldn't see him very well in the shadows. "Didn't take long," he commented. "You walk fast."

"Wheelman's here," I said. "He's coming up in an old Ford truck in a minute. Wanted to let you know first."

Kincaid glanced at the ramp and nodded. "Fine. What do we know?"

I told him. He took it all in without speaking, glanced once at the map Bob had drawn me, and said, "Suicide."

"Eh?" I said.

Kincaid shrugged. "We go in there guns blazing, we're going to get burned two feet from the door."

"I tried to tell him that," Murphy said.

"So we get a plan," I said. "Any suggestions?"

"Blow up the building," Kincaid said without looking up. "That works good for vampires. Then soak what's left in gasoline. Set it on fire. Then blow it all up again."

"For future reference, I was sort of hoping for a suggestion that didn't sound like it came from that Bolshevik Muppet with all the dynamite."

"Check," Kincaid said.

I peered at the van. "Hey. Where are the Red Cross people?"

"I killed and dismembered them," Kincaid said.

I blinked.

Kincaid stared at me for a second. "That was a joke."

"Right," I said. "Sorry. Now where are they?"

"On their lunch break. They somehow got the idea that I was a cop and that they would interfere with a sting if they went into the shelter. I gave them a C-note and told them to go grab lunch."

"They believed you?" I asked.

"They somehow got the idea that I had a badge."

Murphy eyed Kincaid. "That's the kind of thing that's illegal to own."

Kincaid turned to dig in the white van. "Sorry if I came afoul of your sensibilities, Lieutenant. Next time I'll let them walk in and get killed. I added the hundred to your bill, Dresden." A dark jacket with the Red Cross logo on the shoulder flew out of the van and hit Murphy in the chest. She caught it, and a second later caught the matching baseball cap that followed. "Put them on," Kincaid said. "Our ticket to get close enough to get the drop on them. Maybe even get some walking targets out of the way."

"Where did you get those?" I asked.

Kincaid leaned out of the van enough to arch an eyebrow at me. "Found 'em."

"Kincaid," Murphy said, "Give me the keys to the Red Cross van."

"Why?"

"So I can change," Murphy said, her voice tight.

Kincaid shook his head. "You got nothing everyone here hasn't seen before, Lieutenant," he said. After a moment he glanced at me and said, "Unless??

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth. "I've seen that sort of thing. It's been a while, but I dimly remember."

"Just checking," Kincaid said.

"Now give her the damned keys."

"Yassuh, Massah Dresden," he said laconically, and tossed a ring with only two keys at Murphy. She caught it, let out a growling sound, and stalked over to the Red Cross van. She opened it and climbed in.

"Not bad," Kincaid said, low enough that Murphy wouldn't have heard him. He kept rooting around in the minivan, evidently without feeling any need for a light. "Her in a dress, I mean. Makes you notice she's a woman."

"Shut up, Kincaid."

I could hear the wolfish smile, even if I couldn't see it. "Yassuh. Now don't look. I'm getting dressed and I