The two security men looked at Caldera, looked at Slate, and clearly and visibly decided not to get involved. “Caldera,” Slate snarled. “What the fuck?”

“Verus is my second,” Caldera said. “Not yours.”

People were still coming through the gate. There were a good fifteen security men with us now, but most had taken one glance at what was going on and hurried past to set up a perimeter. No Council auxiliary wants to get in the middle of a mage fight. “This is my case,” Slate said.

“No, the raid in Bank was your case. You don’t have seniority here.”

Slate glanced at Landis, who made a very small gesture to indicate that he wasn’t involved. “Look, maybe I can—” I began.

“Shut up,” Caldera and Slate told me at exactly the same time.

I blinked, and did. “Cerulean fingered him for Haken being MIA,” Slate said.

“Yeah, well, some new stuff’s come to light,” Caldera said. She jerked her head back towards the distant building. “Like the fact that Haken’s in there. You want to argue jurisdiction, or you want to get him out before Vihaela gets to work on him?”

Slate gave Caldera a hard look. His eyes flicked to me and back to Caldera, and I felt the futures settle. “He doesn’t leave my sight,” Slate said. “And I’ve got tactical command, not you. Got it?”

Caldera nodded. “Fine.”

Trask had appeared behind Slate, who turned to him. “Get on the com to Rain,” Slate said. “Tell him we want more backup, as much as he can scare up.” Slate raised his voice, addressing the crowd. “All right, ladies! Lock and load, we’ve got work to do!”

“Thanks,” I told Caldera quietly.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Caldera said, her voice dry. “Slate would have had you safe at HQ. Now you’re going to be leading the charge.”

“You going to tell them about Cerulean?”

“You do not want to make it your word against a Keeper’s.” Caldera looked around then headed towards Slate, giving me a last comment over her shoulder. “Don’t screw this up.”

All around us, men were organising, sorting into teams. “That was fun,” Luna said, walking over from where she’d been talking to Variam. Her eyes were bright and there was a spring in her step. “Thought you’d forgotten about us.”

“Just keep your head down and stick with Vari and Landis,” I said. “You’re still not supposed to be here. And be—”

“Be careful, I know,” Luna said, rolling her eyes. “Look who’s talking.”

“That pulse trick you used against that construct,” I said curiously. I’d never seen Luna use that move before. “Where did that come from?”

“Oh.” Luna shrugged. “Chalice showed me. Worked pretty well, right?”

I looked at Luna. “Yeah, it did.”

“Hey!” Slate shouted. “Verus! I said where I can see you!”

I sighed and gave Luna a nod. “Stay safe.” I walked to join Slate’s group.

Slate was with Trask and Caldera, and he was giving orders to a group of Council security. “. . . through the gap,” he was saying. “Once we’ve made the breach, I want two men on point. Stay in cover range for when things go wrong.” He beckoned to me and started walking. “Let’s go, fortune-teller. You’re finding us a way in.”