He lifted his head up and looked at her. “I guess that depends on your point of view. I’m not going to justify everything I’ve done in my life. I’m not going to apologize for it, either. I’ve tried to keep anything over the line limited to the people who have decided that they want to be a part of the game, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job at that. That’s not an excuse, though. I’m not in the business of making excuses.”

“And now?”

His brow furrowed. “Now?”

“How ugly is this going to get?”

He breathed in deep and exhaled. “There’s no way to know. It’s not going to be good, though, you should know that.”

She nodded. “Will you look out for Buddy?”

“As best I can, but I can’t make any promises.”

“I know,” she acknowledged. “I don’t believe in promises anyway.”

“Smart girl.”

She stood up, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. “OK,” she said. “Thanks for the eggs. I feel better.”

She picked up her plate and took it over to the sink, rinsed it off, and put it in the dishwasher. She went back up to her room. Cormack didn’t move, and she could tell that he was still recovering from having had to sift through one of his worst memories. She felt badly about that for him, but not sorry. She’d needed to know, and he’d needed to tell her.

“You’re sure they know how to operate the missiles?”

T’phong Soh and Javier Carpio stood in the warehouse in Chelsea. The Stinger missiles were laid out on the table before them. Soh was calm, but he couldn’t ignore the sense of power that the weapons gave him, and he couldn’t escape the implications of what the Carpios had planned.

“They have drilled for a week, and they have more experience than all of your men combined,” Javier said. “Perhaps all but you.”

Soh nodded. It was true. Soh felt as though he’d been fighting gang wars his entire life, and he longed to have enough power to insulate himself from it. He supposed, though, that it was impossible. War would always rage. Particularly after tomorrow.

“You met with this policewoman and offered to turn on me?” Javier asked.

“I did.”

“Were you convincing?”

“I believe I was.”

“She will take care of O’Connell, so that he cannot interfere?”

“She will.”

“And she still doesn’t know the truth of our plan?”

Soh shook his head. “She still believes that our attack on the front of the courthouse will be the main assault rather than a diversion. She has no idea what is really planned. And she knows nothing of our inside man.”