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that morning as she
     purred next to me on the couch. I felt a little sick. My scorn for Bellmonte hardened,
     reminding me of how much I hated monsters.
    Cooper could take care of himself. Others I loved could not. I had to focus on them
     right now. I had to keep them safe.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Thin early morning light dressed the city with the fresh hope of a new day as I watched
     a hoverbus glide past on the street outside Falcon's shop. The side of the bus was
     decorated with a poster announcing a new terminal coming soon at the edge of the city.
     The picture of the smiling, sharp-featured, middle-aged man responsible for this wonder,
     Jacob Laswell, seemed to watch me with hard eyes. I pulled deeper into the shadows
     of the recessed door to a shop. I felt stupid for thinking he could actually see me.
     On the other hand, with practitioners, you could never tell.
    My friend's place of business, Magical Gadgets and Bits, looked like the freakish
     result of an illicit affair between an antique store and a new age shop. Elaborate
     grates covered the glass front, the metal designs a complex weaving of mystical symbols
     both common and uncommon. A sign across the door warned patrons not to stare at the
     barrier too long unless they wanted a blistering headache for their trouble.
    Behind me, close to the wall, my cat carrier rocked and rustled as the only family
     I had tried to get into a more comfortable position. Wizard gave a huff of annoyance
     at the confinement and then settled down.
    "It's for your own good," I whispered to the fluffy tabby. "She'll spoil you rotten.
     You'll love it."
    Across the street and to the left, Ms. Fairview, a slender middle-aged woman with
     short grey hair, relaxed outside a small coffee shop. She sipped from a ceramic mug
     like she didn't have a care in the world while she watched the sparse clientele come
     and go. Once Bellmonte's secretary, now Cooper's assistant, I'd only seen her flustered
     once.
    Today, like most days, she looked neat and orderly in a classic tweed skirt and conservative
     cream-colored blouse. Whether it was testifying in court or enjoying a society tea,
     Ms. Fairview looked ready for anything. I happened to know that she was also a crack
     shot.
    Two stores down, a man with a newspaper leaned against a lamp post. Half a block up,
     another man pretended to admire a display of second-hand kitchenware in the window
     of a pawn shop. They oozed FBI agents trying to blend in. Great.
    I pushed the cat carrier tighter into the corner. Pulling my non-issue iC from the
     front pocket of my jeans, I keyed in a number and a message. Across the street, Ms.
     Fairview retrieved an identical black iC from the oversized purse next to her. She
     read the message and then stared expectantly to the right and down the street. Points
     for her.
    The man with the newspaper and the admirer of vintage pots immediately became alert.
    I slipped from my hiding place and ghosted from shadow to shadow until I was four
     stores beyond the gadget shop in the opposite direction from where Ms. Fairview had
     pretended her contact was coming. What I was about to do was insanely risky, but it
     was the only way to make sure Bellmonte didn't hurt Wizard.
    I checked the straps of my holster to make sure the Browning was secure and took off
     running down the middle of the quiet street like the devil was on my tail. I knew
     the FBI agents would spot me and I knew they'd chase me. 
    I also knew that Ms. Fairview would calmly get up once they were gone, get Wizard
     and take her to a safe place that even I wouldn't know about. I'd told her that the
     fewer people who knew, the better, and she agreed. My cat would get the best of everything
     and when this was over, she'd come home five pounds overweight and even more full
     of herself than usual. As long as I never had to see her skinned and tortured body
     hanging from the fire escape outside my apartment window, I was okay with that.