Alex went still as he took in what this meant. So this was what Willow had been going to tell him. “She’s really mastered it?”

“Once you’ve got it, I guess you’ve got it.” Seb grimaced as he kicked at the concrete. “And I know she’ll tell you this if I don’t,” he added gloomily. “She’s better than me at getting details from people. If both of us went to the cathedral, you’d have a lot better chance of getting what you need – unfortunately.”

Alex saw that in this one thing at least, he and Seb were totally united – neither of them wanted Willow exposed to any danger. He pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing he could just not tell her about the plan. He couldn’t even use the possibility of someone recognizing her as a reason to keep her away now; Kara had been disguising herself with wigs and make-up every day to get in there.

Somewhere in the darkness, a cricket was creaking. “Maybe I’m wrong, and she won’t want to do it,” ventured Seb, not even sounding like he believed it himself.

“Oh, she’ll want to do it,” said Alex.

Seb exhaled. “Yeah...I know. God, I should just search the office – she couldn’t help much with that; she doesn’t speak enough Spanish to read the documents.”

Now, that was appealing. But he couldn’t let Seb take that kind of risk unnecessarily – and it was true that if Willow helped, they’d have better luck in getting what they needed. No matter how fervently he might want to, he couldn’t put his girlfriend’s safety over that of the entire mission; not if there was a reasonable chance she’d be all right.

Reasonable chance. Fear lurched through him; he pushed it away. “We’d better go and talk to Willow,” he said finally. “Come on, let’s get the bike inside.”

Seb detached himself from the Shadow and flipped up the kickstand. “At least this isn’t as dangerous for her as the Council attack,” he muttered as he wheeled it over to the back door. “When that happens...”

Alex had just been moving to the step to help lift the bike through the doorway; now he stopped in his tracks, his spine stiffening. “The Council attack?”

Seb looked at him in surprise, then shook his head with a soft snort. “Hombre, how well do you actually know your girlfriend? I know you’re not psychic, but come on – you have to realize what she’s been thinking, don’t you?”