The voice went strange again. “No. The other drawer, dammit.”

Coop hung up. First me, then Morty, and now Giselle. Is there anyone I know who hasn’t been kidnapped yet? At least Mr. Lemmy was a pro. Whoever had Giselle, he hoped they took better care of her than the bathroom keys.

At the construction site, Steve looked at the woman’s phone. That Coop asshole actually hung up on him. Steve put him on his mental list, the one for when Caleximus returned. Put him right up there with the Abaddonians. We’ll see who’s a tough guy then, he thought. After the bathroom pit stop, they drove Giselle to a different work site, across town from the main one. Steve pulled the battery out of her phone.

“What are you doing? How can he call you now?” said Jerry.

“I don’t want them tracing the phone. And I can put the battery in every few hours to check for messages. Don’t worry, son. I’ve got this figured out.”

“All right,” he said and looked at the still unconscious Giselle. “Is she going to be all right?”

“She just got a little bump on the head. I had plenty of those when I was your age. She’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. I feel kind of bad about what we’re doing.”

“Don’t. These nonbelievers, tough guys, heretics, and thieves don’t matter dick compared to our holy work. And don’t tell your mother I said ‘dick’ in front of you.”

Oh, great. He’s really in Crusade mode tonight. “I guess you’re right.”

“That’s my boy. Hey, I had an idea on the way over here. We need a minion.”

“Who?”

“One of Caleximus’s minions. A demon boar.”

Jorge looked at Steve. “Do you even know how to control one of those things?”

“I’ve read the books. Haven’t you?”

“Sure, but the books never tell the whole story. I mean, a demon boar . . . that’s heavy stuff.”

“That’s why we’re going to need to take it for a test drive. I figure this Coop guy would make for a good one. How about you?”

Jorge grinned. Steve looked at Jerry. He smiled, too, but it was a little more forced and a lot more terrified.

“I’m going to need the silver blade for the ceremony,” said Steve. “Which one of you has it?”

“I thought Jerry still had it,” said Jorge.

“Funny,” said Steve, an annoyed edge in his voice. “He said you did. Jerry? Do you have any thoughts on the matter?”

Jerry looked at the floor. Even though he’d gone to the bathroom five minutes earlier, he felt like he could go again. “I lost it,” he said.

“You lost it?” Steve barked. Jorge said something fast in Spanish that didn’t sound even remotely like “Yay. We get to get a new knife.”