I went rigid, my hands spasming on the steering wheel.

Kai’s eyes widened. “You just got back?”

“From a business trip, yeah. I got in two hours ago, so I didn’t know my car was gone. I’m reporting the theft, so tell me where—and don’t you dare freakin’ tow it.”

Kai’s jaw tightened. “Fine, man. I’ll leave it till this afternoon. Do what you gotta do. It’s parked behind the Palm Springs High School.”

“Palm Springs?” Leon swore. “Damn punk teenagers! I’m dealing with it. Don’t touch my car.”

The line went dead.

Kai lowered his phone. I swallowed hard, my gaze darting between him and the road.

“The sorcerer is back in town,” he said quietly. “The tracking software confirmed it.”

“Two hours … Is that enough time to turn in their catch to the MPD?”

“More than enough.”

Silence stretched between us.

“They must’ve caught their original target and left early,” I mumbled. “They beat us here and probably already turned Zak over.”

“He’s in MPD custody now,” Kai agreed.

I stared straight ahead, scarcely seeing the other vehicles on the road. We’d gotten here as fast as we could—but we were too late. It was only a matter of time before MagiPol figured out who they were holding. The Ghost was mysterious, with little known about his true identity, but MagiPol wasn’t the FBI. They had far better tools—like telethesians, telepaths, psychometrics, and who knew what other sorts of mythics—to help them unravel a criminal’s secrets.

And once they unraveled his secrets, they’d unravel ours next.

“Now what?” I whispered, my knuckles white as I gripped the wheel. “If MagiPol finds out about us through him … and if they investigate Ezra …”

Kai closed his laptop. “We’re already here. How far are you willing to go?”

I pulled my attention off the traffic to glance at him. “Are you asking if we’re bad enough to bust a rogue out of mythic jail?”

“That’s exactly what I’m asking.”

Well, shit.

Chapter Five

“This won’t work,” I muttered under my breath, my back pressed to the alley wall. “It definitely won’t work.”

Beside me, Kai pulled on a black ski mask, the knitted fabric covering every inch of his head except for two eye holes and a slit over his mouth.

I tugged mine down over my face, making sure all my hair was tucked up inside. “We look like cartoon burglars.”

“Better to attract attention than have anyone from MagiPol see our faces.” Kai adjusted a buckle on his black combat vest. “I’m just hoping they don’t have any telethesians on staff. Shaking a tail will be tricky.”

“Telethesians can track people by their brainwaves or something, right?”

“More like a psychic scent trail, but yes.”

I fidgeted with the straps of the heavy backpack on my shoulders. I was wearing it so Kai could go all Bruce Lee without a bulky bag restricting his movements. “How do you lose a telethesian?”

“I know a few tricks. They’re all inconvenient.” He passed me a pair of thin leather gloves before donning his own. “You ready for this?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know.” I concentrated on breathing as I slid the gloves on. “We’re about to break into an MPD office and spring a rogue from prison.”

“This isn’t a regular office. This is the largest precinct on the west coast.”

“Oh god. This is a terrible idea.” Wilting against the wall, I peered at his covered face suspiciously. “Is it just me, or are you not nearly freaked out enough about what we’re doing?”

He snorted.

“Kai.”

“What?”

“What’re you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

I folded my arms and waited.

Slipping past me, he headed toward the bright, sunny street at the end of the alley. A stealth infiltration in broad daylight, but we had no choice; we had to get Zak out of there before the agents took a close look at their new detainee.

Kai peeked around the corner, then ducked back and repeated, “I’m not hiding anything. It’s just that I’ve never gone up against the MPD head-on like this, and I’m kind of enjoying it.”

My mouth hung open behind my ski mask. “Huh?”

He checked around the corner again. “The goal is always to avoid drawing MagiPol’s attention. This is the opposite.”

I dragged my jaw back up to where it belonged. “Oh.”

“A lone agent just crossed the street.” Another peek. “He went into the restaurant. Let’s move.”

He darted out of the alley and I followed on his heels, painfully aware of my “look, I’m up to no good!” ski mask. Kai zipped between parked cars, homing in on the small building across from the precinct. “Restaurant” was a stretch; it was a colorful burger joint with bright murals of food spray-painted over the sides and enough floor space for three two-person tables.

Dinky it might be, but we’d spied on a dozen people who’d exited the MagiPol building, entered the gaudy shack, and returned to the office with a to-go bag five minutes later. The precinct was single-handedly keeping the place in business.

Our unlucky target had already disappeared inside. We zoomed past the small parking lot, getting as close to the door as possible, and ducked behind a car.

“Ready?” Kai whispered.

I nodded bravely. Yes. Totally. No doubts here, oh no.

One minute dragged past, then two. My nerves wound tighter, adrenaline pumping.

The burger joint’s door jangled loudly as it swung open. A man stepped out—Hispanic, average height, reasonably fit, dress shirt and slacks, rocking a wicked law-enforcement mustache. He crossed the sidewalk, heading for the street.

Kai sprang from our hiding spot, and I was right behind him, my hand clenched around a small object, its leather tie looped over my wrist. The agent looked up at the sound of our steps, saw two masked strangers charging him, and stumbled back in shock.

Going from a sprint to a low kick with perfect grace, Kai swept the agent’s legs out from under him. As the man pitched over backward, Kai caught his shoulders so he wouldn’t split his skull on the sidewalk.

I jumped on the guy’s chest, ramming all the air out of his lungs, and slapped my ruby crystal against his face. “Ori decidas!”

The man slumped bonelessly. Kai heaved him up, a hand clamped over the agent’s mouth. I snatched up his dropped food bag while holding the artifact to his cheek.

Kai dragged our victim behind the restaurant and into the shadowy gap beside the dumpster. The man grunted and squealed unintelligible words against Kai’s hand, his eyes showing white all the way around.

I glanced at the street, waiting for the outcry. We’d just abducted a man in broad daylight.

And it had worked?

“Hurry up,” Kai whispered.

Right. Keeping my fall spell pressed to the guy’s face, I lifted my other hand, the tie for a second crystal looped around my wrist. I laid it on his forehead. “Ori ostende tuum pectus.”

The poisonous-green crystal shimmered and the man’s face went eerily blank, his eyes staring at nothing. I shuddered, remembering what it had felt like to be under the interrogation spell’s power. I really hated this spell.

Kai lifted his hand off the man’s mouth. The agent blinked slowly.

“Are you an MPD agent?” I asked in a firm whisper.

“Yes. I’m an auditor,” he droned. “I’ve worked here for eight years and I don’t like it much but I’m hoping to finally get promoted to—”

“Were any rogues booked today?” I interrupted, remembering the black-magic artifact’s side effect: unrestrained babbling as you spilled your heart out to your questioner.

“They booked six rogues since my shift started. We don’t usually have that many in one morning, so Annie was talking about that part, but what had everyone gossiping were the two druids. I’ve only ever seen one druid before, and today a guild dropped off two. Everyone is talking about it. And then we heard that—”

“What do you know about the two druids?”

“Only what Enrique told me. He said one is the Sand Druid, wanted for selling fake fae artifacts on the black market, but Enrique said he isn’t a very good druid and maybe he’s actually a witch faking it, but we don’t know yet if—”

“What about the other druid?”

“Enrique said he hasn’t been identified yet, but everyone is curious because he hasn’t said a word and we can’t find any record of him and—”

“Where are the druids?”

“In the holding cells. The Sand Druid is in regular holding but they put the unknown druid in solitary because we don’t know if he’s dangerous or just unregistered but Enrique said he has a dangerous look about him so—”

“Where are the holding cells?” I asked as Kai shifted impatiently beside me.

“In the basement. They’re much nicer here than the ones at the precinct in San Diego, where I used to—”

“What’s the best way to get into the holding cells?”

Glazed eyes staring, the agent described the various routes to the basement. I asked him about security, safeguards, and possible traps, and he blurted everything and more. Damn, no wonder this spell was illegal. I felt bad for the guy, knowing that, while he babbled on without a care, on the inside he was screaming at himself to shut up—but no amount of internal resistance would dull the magic’s compulsion. I knew from personal experience.

“Is that everything?” I whispered to Kai, palming the agent’s ID card.

He nodded. “We need to get moving.”

I pulled my gun from the built-in holster on my belt. The agent’s hazy eyes widened with muted terror.