Pacific Fire by Greg Van Eekhout

Author:Greg Van Eekhout [Eekhout, Greg Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429945691
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

ELEVEN

Daniel and Moth entered the lobby of the Ministry of Water and Power, Los Angeles headquarters. Gabriel Argent had done a nice job on the place. Waterfalls cascaded down the four-story atrium into a reflecting pool. The air echoed with the sounds of water trickling over rocks and pleasant rain. This was still the kind of place where you took a number and sat in a chair until summoned to a customer service window, but you could fool yourself into thinking you’d come here to enjoy the scenery instead of waiting to ask a question about your bill.

Daniel walked up to one of the service reps.

“I don’t have a number,” he said, preempting the obvious question. “I want to see Gabriel Argent. My name is Daniel Blackland. Tell your supervisor and pass it up the chain. I’ll be right over there.”

Without waiting for a response, he took a seat on a nice leather couch and skimmed a pamphlet about water conservation.

“We should go see Cassie after we’re done here,” he said.

Moth glowered. “No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“By no, I mean the customary thing usually meant by no.”

Daniel tried again. “We need to talk to her—”

“You want to talk to her. That’s not the same thing.”

“—to see if she knows anything about the kids. If the boy made it here, he might have gone to her.”

“Then I’ll go and ask. But you’re not seeing her. Not now.”

“Look, she and I are totally cool. You know how well we still worked together after we broke up. I’ve even talked to her on the phone a few times the last couple of years, just to check in and catch up.”

“And after this job is over, you can go check in and catch up and even hold hands at the malt shop. But not until after.”

Daniel needed to stop talking. He didn’t want to start raising his voice in Gabriel Argent’s stronghold.

“Moth, what’s your—” He cut himself off and tried again with less volume. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem is that if you go see her now, when there’s stakes, when she sees you’re in trouble, then she’s going to want to help you. And you’ll try to talk her out of it, you’ll say it’s out of the question, you don’t want her involved, yadda and so forth. But you won’t mean it. You’ll think you’ll mean it, but not enough to turn down her help.”

“I can turn down her help.”

“You didn’t turn down mine.”

“I … I just want to check with her about the kids.”

Moth sighed. “Okay, I’ll try something else.” He held up his left hand, fingers splayed out. “See this?”

“It’s kind of in my face and super huge, so, yes.”

“Chopped off by a helicopter rotor last year.”

“I don’t even want to know.” Daniel turned the page of the water-conservation pamphlet. Apparently you could save entire riparian habitats by putting a brick in your toilet tank. “Fine. Tell me. What was your hand doing in a helicopter rotor?”

Moth made a fist. “That’s beside the point.

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