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said, and they executed a High Five. Then he quickly sobered at what that really meant. ‘What’s he like now?’
    ‘He’s sorta like when you’ve been up all night cramming for a test. There’s moments of brilliance followed by long stretches of totally zoned.’
    ‘That sucks.’ Peter rose, stuffing his phone into a pocket, eager to be on the move. ‘Remind me never to get reanimated.’
    ‘That’s two of us, dude.’

Chapter Five

    Riley grinned at the role reversal. ‘I could get used to this,’ she said as Peter wove his car between two horse-drawn carriages. ‘Usually I have to drive you around.’
    Her friend looked over at her, made a face at her disguise and then returned his eyes to the road. ‘Dad said I can borrow the car as long as I put gas in it. Which means I won’t be taking it too often if I want a new computer this year.’
    ‘Parents are devious like that,’ Riley said. ‘They give you something with one hand and then take it back with the other.’
    ‘Why do the hunters want you?’
    ‘I’ll explain later.’
    Peter gave her a worried look. ‘You never stall unless it’s something really bad.’
    ‘That would be right.’
    Belatedly, Riley realized the car was not heading towards her apartment. ‘Hey, where are we going?’
    ‘To the Holy Water plant we checked out the other day. We need to do a stakeout and see what’s really going on in there.’
    ‘What? I’m a fugitive from justice,’ she replied. ‘I do not have time to babysit some idiot building. I need to get out of this town.’ Before I lose my nerve.
    Peter shook his head. ‘That’s exactly what the hunters are counting on. They have to be watching every bus and train station. The airport too. And don’t even think about going to your apartment.’
    ‘I have to get my money. You know I can’t keep it in the bank, not with the debt collectors swarming around.’ Her mother’s death had left behind a sizeable loan for her medical care and now that Riley’s dad was dead she was the collectors’ prime target. If she put money in a bank account, they just siphoned it off.
    ‘If you run, they’ll just hunt you down like a rabid dog. You need leverage with these guys, something to bargain with, and if we can bust that scam that will be your ticket to freedom.’
    ‘But—’
    ‘I’m dead serious, Riley,’ he retorted, his voice rising. ‘Since you’re in my car, you’ll just have to deal.’
    She never heard Peter so intense before, and that told her he wasn’t taking her anywhere he didn’t want to go.
    I shouldn’t have called him. I should have just left town on my own.
    ‘We’ll do what we can at the plant,’ Peter said, quieter now. ‘If we’re lucky, we’ll get a break and then you can tell the hunters you busted the Holy Water scam.’
    Which would be a big clue Riley wasn’t on Hell’s payroll.
    The bogus Holy Water problem was a recent development. Someone was substituting tap water for the consecrated liquid. Good Holy Water allowed the trappers to capture Hellspawn, at least some of the smaller varieties. Bad Holy Water = dead trappers.
    ‘You’re not giving me a choice in this, are you?’
    Peter shook his head. ‘Got to keep you off the streets.’
    His friendship had always been rock solid. Would it survive once he knew about her and the angel?
    It took time, but Peter eventually reached the recycling plant in East Point and parked the car in what looked to be as safe a location as any.
    ‘If this ride gets trashed, I am so dead,’ he said.
    ‘We’ll keep an eye on it somehow.’
    Peter studied their surroundings. ‘That building looks to be the place,’ he said, pointing at a structure across the street from the recycling plant. It was abandoned, windows broken, the inside trashed. Perfect for their purposes.
    ‘Let’s check out the roof,’ he suggested.
    Claiming their gear, they trudged over to find the fire escape was missing. That wasn’t unexpected: metal was