The colder months were coming. We were already in a bad spot, but if infrastructure was stressed or disabled… the costs and loss of labor would have an immense impact.

“This is the war. We’re being attacked,” I said.

“Undermined,” Nursery said.

They were going after the weak points, hitting them again and again, so the cracks would fan out. Something would give.

“Can you give us the details on these attacks so we can confirm that ourselves?” Capricorn asked. “There might be a lead we can chase.”

“Possibly, but not now,” Nursery said. “I have to talk to people before I share our sources, and some don’t like your team very much. It may take convincing.”

Capricorn nodded.

Nursery had been tied into Prancer’s group by some fashion. There would be some upset people.

“Are these the same people we’re after?” Sveta asked me. “It’s similar M.O.s. They’re hurting us by attacking the city.”

“Maybe,” I said. “If so, they have an uncanny ability to hide their activities and hit the city where it hurts.”

“These people,” Lord of Loss said. “Am I right in guessing you’re after the culprits of the portal attacks?”

Damn it. It wasn’t a hard conclusion to draw, but it put us in an awkward spot.

“Yes,” Capricorn said. “Yeah, you’re right.”

I really hoped Lord of Loss and his trusted people weren’t on the enemy’s side, or we’d tipped them off, and they were now covering every base.

Capricorn nodded. “We have reasons to believe you weren’t directly involved. One of those reasons is that we have pictures with their faces.”

“You’ll recognize one,” I said.

He held out his hand in Lookout’s direction. She gave him a phone, the screen glowing.

Capricorn found what he was looking for. “These are the ones we have so far.”

The others approached Marquis, who took the phone and held it in a position where most of the others could see it. I hung back a bit.

It was unnerving. I didn’t trust myself like this.

“That looks like Kingdom Come,” Nursery observed. “That’s the one I’m meant to recognize?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That was my thought. You’ve worked with him. Can you point us in his general direction?”

“No. He didn’t share much. Not location, not what he’s doing now that the community center is done. I saw him four times at one place where villains meet, and he turned down five jobs in that span of time. He’s picky about picking jobs that don’t weigh on his sense of morality.”