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But that was behind him now. He was looking ahead, toward victory. It was so near, he could practically taste it on his tongue. “Good evening, Deputy Director Pike.”
    “Sir.” The Enforcement Agent cast a furtive look around him before he met Dragos’s gaze. “This is a … well, sir, it’s an unexpected pleasure to see you here in the city.”
    “Then why do you look as though you’re about to piss yourself?”Dragos replied, baring his teeth in a brief smile. Usually an unannounced, personal appearance from him meant a head was about to roll. “Relax, Pike. I’m here on pleasure tonight, not business.”
    “So, nothing is wrong, sir?”
    “Not at all,” Dragos replied.
    His lieutenant still didn’t look comfortable. He kept his voice lowered, no doubt afraid of being seen speaking too familiarly with him in such a public place. “But, sir, do you really think it’s wise coming into the city like this—or coming here, of all places? It was only last week that the Order sent two of their warriors into this club asking questions about you.”
    Dragos gave a mild shake of his head. “I’m not concerned about the Order. They have their hands full right now. I saw to that personally today.”
    Pike stared for a moment. “The rumors are true? The Order’s compound was uncovered by the hu—” Looking at Dragos’s two mortal companions, Pike abruptly cleared his throat. “They were found out by local police?”
    Dragos grinned. “Let’s just say Boston’s finest had a little help in that area.”
    The Breed male returned the smile, but his eyes kept straying uncertainly from Dragos to the pair of human females latched on to him from both sides. Dragos shrugged idly at the question in his cautious lieutenant’s eyes. “Speak freely, Pike. I fed them so much liquor and cocaine on the way over, they won’t remember their names in the morning. If I let them survive that long,” he drawled, leering at the young women he could hardly wait to sample.
    “Are you saying that the bombing downtown this morning and the police chase of the suspects that followed—”
    “That’s precisely what I’m saying, Pike.” Dragos watched the impressed expression of his lieutenant deepen. “From the orchestration of the explosion by the Minions I recruited to do the job, to the pursuit that led law enforcement right to Lucan Thorne’s front door. All of it was my doing.”
    “I hear one of the warriors is in police custody. Did they really arrest Sterling Chase?”
    Dragos nodded. The warrior’s apparent voluntary surrender was the one detail he hadn’t arranged or foreseen in this entire offensive strike against the Order. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but he’d sent his newest Minion servants to look in on the situation at the jail downtown. In fact, he should be hearing from the senator with a full report anytime now.
    “Word on the street says Chase is nearly Rogue,” Pike said. “Doesn’t surprise me to hear that, I suppose. After the way he came in here looking for you last week with that other warrior—the reports I saw about how many Agents he injured and the way he fought like a rabid dog—doesn’t sound like he’s got far to fall before Bloodlust claims him for good. Hard to believe he’s the same Sterling Chase of just a few years ago. Back then, it was accepted fact that he was headed straight for the top ranks of the Agency.”
    Dragos exhaled a sigh, instantly bored with Agent Pike’s pointless meander down memory lane. “Let the son of a bitch go Rogue or die in human custody—I could give a flying fuck. One less warrior to contend with is all that matters to me.”
    “Of course, sir,” Pike responded crisply. “I couldn’t agree more.”
    Dragos dismissed the fawning obeisance with a curt wave. “I need a table, Pike.” As he spoke, he reached out to pet the silky blond hair of one of his female companions. Not to neglect the redhead, he turned to her and