“Yeah,” she acknowledged him. “I don’t think anyone has satellite footage that’s worth three fucks, yet.”

I pressed, “They were armed and ready for a small war. This isn’t limited to the guns people brought with them and the rifles they had for hunting. There were assault rifles and whole groups with a matching gun in each person’s hand.”

“I bet if you asked them, they’d say it was a good thing they were armed and ready, since a small war came to them,” she said. When she saw my expression, she added, “I’m anticipating the responses we’ll get, that’s all.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Do you have any questions? Do you need anything?”

“Do you want your phone back?” she asked.

I started to approach, and she tossed the phone my way. I had to fly a bit to catch it one-handed.

“We’ll let you know what we decide,” Gaymon said.

I turned to walk away, and Gilpatrick told his peers, “I’ll be right back.”

He walked with me, as I walked up to Sveta and Chris, put a hand on Sveta’s shoulder, and had us all walk over to where Jester was talking to Ashley. From there, I indicated we should walk a little further away for our pow-wow.

“Sorry,” Gilpatrick said. “That is how she operates.”

“She make a lot of friends with that ‘function’ of hers?”

“No,” Gilpatrick said. “I’d never pretend she has many allies or friends. She was New York PRT, and if you ask the New York PRT, they’ll say—they would have said that they were the best in the country.

“A few PRT teams would have said that,” I replied, with a sigh. “Does she live up to her own hype?”

Gilpatrick gave me a one-shouldered shrug. “Her ass is so covered it’s bulletproof, and that’s a skill a lot of people overlook. People who matter trust her when she talks because she is very good at explaining things to people who know nothing. Again, a skill.”

“That definitely doesn’t make friends if she wins important people over to her side when multiple others try and fail,” I said.

“I won’t comment,” Gilpatrick said, in a conspiratorial way I wasn’t sure someone else would catch. I was right. It was something that had happened.

“That’s politics. Is she good at her job?”

“Depends on what you see as her job. I’d like to think I’m a better teacher and shaper of our youth. She’s better at going after the bad guys.”

“Worrying.”

We met with Ashley, where she’d found a rock to lean against. Jasper put the phone down beside her, then walked over to stand by Gilpatrick. I really wondered what he’d been talking to Ashley about, and why he’d even gone to talk to her in the first place.