A hint of strain etched Anson’s distinguished features, while Richard looked pissed. As usual.

Henry held a laptop in one hand as if he were about to place it onto a table. “I guess I can’t put that back anymore.”

Steven fist-pumped the air. “Forty-seven seconds. Got it.”

“Yeah, and they know you’ve got it,” Josiah muttered.

“My debt to you from years ago is now paid,” the Djinn said to Richard. Then it vanished.

Richard glared at the space where the Djinn had stood. “Do you know how fucking rare it is to get a favor from a Djinn—for a human to get a favor from a Djinn? I was trying to hold on to that.”

“Bitch later,” Josiah said grimly. “Get in the damn SUV.” He spoke into the mic again. “All the eggs are in my basket.”

They poured into the car Anson had stolen just for that evening’s work. As Josiah drove sedately away, Maria replied, “Good to hear. I’m headed out.”

“Meet you at the rendezvous.”

Ten minutes later, they converged behind the darkened building of a chain store that had gone out of business eighteen months previously. While Richard wiped down the interior of the SUV, Maria hugged them. She hung on to Steven for several moments.

The sense of something malicious and ugly still hovered at the edge of Josiah’s senses. “Do you feel that?” he asked Maria, and she nodded, her gaze hard and shiny with visions. “Do you know what it is?”

“Some kind of demon, I think. But I don’t believe they have a fix on us. Our obfuscation spells held.”

He turned his attention to Steven. “You know that whatever team they’ve got guarding those off-site servers are working on that malware spell.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Steven gave him a sunny smile and snapped his fingers. “I’ve already got it, baby. Even as we speak, a shit-ton of their info has bounced through a half dozen IP addresses and is downloading onto my server. Of course, it’s going to take me a couple of days to break through the encryption.”

“Everyone’s clear we can only pull this kind of stunt once, right?” Josiah arched an eyebrow as he looked around the group.

“I’m just glad we lived through it this time,” Maria said softly.

Josiah was too. He said to Steven, “First priority is a list of their clients. I want that as fast as you can get it to me.”

Henry said, “A close second—get me their financials.”

Steven bounced on the balls of his feet. “You got it.”

After that, they split up. Total meet time: less than five minutes. Josiah went through the laborious task of winding his way back to his Audi and eventually back to the apartment. He was too wired to sleep for a long time afterward.