I frowned. “After three days of uncontrolled burning, I can’t imagine there’d be much of the place left. And why don’t you just water bomb the entire area?”

“Believe me, we’ve tried, but there’s a magical barrier of some kind protecting that particular section. The water just sluices off it.”

“So what makes you think I’ll be able to do anything?”

“Intuition.”

“I have no knowledge of magic, Inspector.”

“Perhaps, but you have very intimate knowledge of fire. You can go places the rest of us cannot.”

“You’d still be better off calling in a witch.” They’d at least be able to circumvent the spell, even if they couldn’t entirely unravel it.

“We’ve tried that.” Frustration edged her matter-of-fact tone. “But the spell’s source is situated within Brooklyn. So again, we can do nothing more until you get in there and uncover what is going on.”

I blew out a breath. We really didn’t need additional work on top of everything else, but it wasn’t like we actually had a choice. I had no doubt the inspector would force us there at gunpoint if necessary. “What time do you want us there?”

“What time is your meeting with Rinaldo’s people?”

“Three.”

“It would be preferable if we could access the place at dawn. The cloaks are less likely to be active at that hour, but it will still be dark enough that we should be able to avoid overt interest from the public.”

Not to mention the press. Though I’d kept away from both the TV and newspapers over the last few days, I could imagine they’d had a field day speculating what had happened in Brooklyn. Especially since PIT wouldn’t have told anyone but senior government officials the truth.

But meeting the inspector at dawn meant leaving Rory unprotected for an even longer period, and I wasn’t willing to do that. I needed to check that he was safe, that he was refueling his spirit on the flames and his flesh on the food. And nothing, not the red cloaks or Brooklyn or even revenge, was more important to me than he was.

“I’m sorry, Inspector, but I can’t.”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “Why not?”

“Because of what I am, and because there are certain matters—certain responsibilities—I cannot escape.”

“Which tells me nothing.”

“It tells you more than you know.” And it was all I was willing to say. I had no idea just how much PIT knew about either Rory or me, or even phoenixes in general, but from the bits and pieces Sam had mentioned, it was obviously more than most. But I was betting what they didn’t know still far outweighed what they did, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Especially when I was pretty convinced there was a mole somewhere in their organization.