We get to Reynolds’s condo after dark. It’s in a nice suburb of Austin. He gives me a big grin at the door as he lets me and Ross inside. He reeks of cologne. He’s just as creepy as before, only this time he’s trying to be charming.

The interior is sparsely furnished. There’s a black leather couch in front of a giant flat-screen with a couple of game consoles and a workstation off to the side. Books and magazines are piled up in the corner. The place smells like pizza and sweat.

Reynolds is all smiles. “You didn’t tell me you had rich friends.”

Yeah, asshole. You didn’t mention your integrity came with a price tag. The professional side of me keeps my sarcasm in check. “Lots of people are very concerned by this case and want to do what they can to help.”

He leads us over to his computer. “The website and back end is run off of a remote server I rent. I’ll provide your people with access to that. As part of the arrangement, I’m supposed to provide you with any help you need for the next forty-five days.”

An hour ago he was staring down the federal government in a defiant political act. Now he’s giving us tech support. Agent Ross sits down to look at the website.

I’m polite and cordial. “Thank you, Liam. Dr. Ailes will have some more intelligent questions for you. One of his people will be calling in a minute or so.” The real reason I came over, other than to make sure Reynolds hadn’t been strangled to death, was to ask about his blog post. “Um, about that blog post you mentioned?”

“Deleted,” he replies as if he was doing a charitable act. “Part of the agreement is that we make this change in ownership a stealth transaction for now. I’m dying to tell my friends I’ve been bought out. But I agreed to wait until the end of the forty-five days.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that. I assume that if you had made any recordings, those would be deleted too?”

Reynolds hesitates. “Yes. Of course. So what do you guys plan to do next?”

He seems eager to help now. “The computer forensics will be handled by Quantico. They’re going to want to look for suspicious IP addresses. Anything that stands out. Like how you discovered I accessed the site from the FBI jet. If you can think of anything else offhand, it would be a big help.” I only tell him what we’ve already asked him for. There’s no reason to risk our plans for setting up a honeypot by sharing them with someone whose loyalties can change so quickly. Especially given the Warlock’s loyalties.

“I’ll take a look.” He still has that grin on his face. How much did Damian pay him?

Once again I decide to play to his ego. “If you have any ideas, we’d love to hear them.”

“I’ll think about that. Um, by the way. I’m sorry if I was a little abrasive earlier. That was just business.”