“There’s one in the hall closet – I saw it the other day.” Alex went to the hallway and dug it out. “The Shadow’s parked out in the courtyard.”

“There’s not enough light out there now, though,” said Willow. He held back a smile; he could see she was itching to start tinkering. “Could we bring it into the range, maybe?” She smiled. “You can be my able assistant. And there’s something I want to tell you – we can talk while I fix it, okay?”

The desire to pull her into his arms was almost overwhelming. Alex managed to restrain himself, and squeezed her hand instead. “Okay, I’ll be in with it in a minute.” He glanced at Seb. “Can you give me a hand?”

Seb’s brown eyebrows rose, but he nodded. “Yes, sure.”

Out in the dimly lit courtyard, Alex briefly explained the situation. He spoke in Spanish – Seb’s English was good, but he wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings about this. As the moths battered against the bare light bulb overhead, he could hear the sound of a TV from one of the nearby houses.

“What do you think – will you help us?” he finished finally.

Seb was lounging against the Shadow with his arms crossed over his chest; Alex could see a long, thin scar on his forearm. Seb gave a wry smile. “Yeah, I’ll help, but I hope I can get the information psychically – ’cause I really can’t say I like your backup plan very much. Search the office with twenty angels hanging around outside? Amigo, you have got to be kidding me.”

“No, I’m not kidding,” said Alex. “But yeah, I’m not crazy about it either. Look, what I need to know most is what time the private audiences are going to be at the celebration and where exactly on the fifty-fifth floor, so that we can head straight for the Council once we’re in – if you can get that from the preacher, then forget about breaking into the offices. Do you think you’ll have enough time?”

“Yeah, hopefully,” said Seb thoughtfully. “I mean, it’ll probably be on his mind anyway, so with any luck—” He broke off. A troubled look flickered in his eyes; he went silent, frowning.

“What?” asked Alex sharply.

“Oh, hell.” Seb rubbed at his stubbled jaw. “Willow.”

“What about her?”

“She’s going to want to come, too.”

Alex shook his head, picturing the ornate cathedral with its crowds of people; the cruising, feeding angels. “I don’t want her anywhere near there. Her aura’s way too distinctive with so many angels around.”

“Believe me, I don’t want her anywhere near there either. She’s told me about how those Church of Angels cabrones want her dead. But her aura’s the whole point. She finally learned how to disguise it today.”