“Like a partnership? Why? I don’t understand—”
“The whole thing rests on a shine that Gunn has managed to make shippable,” I interrupt, excitement getting the better of me. “Agent Frain, he’s managed to do the impossible, and make shine last inside a bottle.”
“What?”
“It—I—they use magic to bind the bottle somehow. It prevents shine from turning back into water, somehow preserves its magic, so that it can be shipped up and down the coast.”
For a second I don’t hear anything on the other end of the line but Frain’s frantic scratching of fountain pen on paper. “My God, Alex, this is huge.”
“The first exchange is fifty gallons for ten thousand. And going forward, Gunn’s prepared to give D Street a monopoly on distributing the product, in exchange for D Street walking away from performance magic altogether,” I continue in a rush. “The Shaws will control all shining rooms in the city. They’ll produce the world’s only eternal shine, and D Street will be the sole distributor. A win-win.”
“Tell me more about this product, Alex, the shine that lasts.” Frain’s voice is almost quivering. And he should be scared. A product like this will take the underworld by storm. A product like this could turn this country upside down, if we don’t stop it first. But we will. “How’s it done?”
“Through magic, naturally—magic somehow spellbinding other magic,” I say. “From what I could gather, the shine gets cursed somehow by a spell, and the bottle gets locked.” I shake my head, trying to chase away the image of Joan on that stage, whispering, harming herself for the sake of the deal. “Gunn claims the dark spell is teachable, given certain considerations. Honestly, I’ve never heard of anything like it, sir.”
“If the spell is teachable,” Frain says slowly, “it’s imperative that we contain it, shut it all down now. Indict the entire troupe working in that Den.” He says what I was assuming he’d say. Then he pauses, and the scratching of his pen stops. “Is there a key sorcerer?”
You planned to give Joan up. You need to give her up. And yet as Joan’s name bubbles up from my core, my throat closes, and competing thoughts whisper, You were once as headstrong as Joan, thought the world couldn’t touch you. If someone had tried to stop you when you were working with your father, would you have listened? Or would you have needed a stronger sort of persuasion?
I picture Joan on our performance stage, under the magic-made stars of our performance space. In the Den’s dark corridors, and then in her bed, the moonlight stretching long across her limbs, that seductive smile of hers teasing me, all the while inviting me in. Am I really going to give up on her, and take her down, without a fight?
A plan comes to me, quick and loose, like a tangled knot of thoughts and images that I need to unravel: Gunn, Joan, her family, getting her out, walking away—
And I realize, right here and now, that despite everything else that I’m committed to doing, despite my mission, I have to find a way to save Joan too. I have to believe what we have will survive this somehow, that it won’t crumble despite the lies it might have been built upon. The Unit and I will still get our victory—but Joan and I can have each other, too.
“Alex, you still on the line?”
“Gunn’s smart, and cautious.” I close my eyes and plunge in before I can second-guess myself. “He explained the shine’s magic, but then he dismissed the crowd to keep the identity of his key sorcerer secret. I assume he took Colletto aside for a personal demonstration.” This is the last time I play outside the rules, regardless of who’s depending on me to do it. Besides, all I’m doing is stalling, just giving Joan a little more time to come around. It doesn’t change the endgame. “But it has to be a sorcerer from the Den. And everything I’m seeing, feeling, says there’s serious duress involved.”
“You mean he’s forcing the sorcerer to work for him?”
“I believe so, sir.” The last time—your days of lying, hiding, scheming—they’ve been over for a long time. “I was told to report to the Den tomorrow and be prepared to stay until the shipment is ready. I think the entire troupe is at Gunn’s mercy, that he’s using personal threats and violence to get his deal done. The sorcerers are pawns, sir, could even prove Unit assets going forward if we cut them deals.”
“My God, Alex, the man has no limits.”
“Colletto mentioned Thursday for the deal, as soon as the gallons are ready,” I continue. “So get a team prepared, be ready to bust the Den. I’ll call you as soon as I know more, and then I’ll get you inside. If we move in right at the exchange, we’ll get Gunn and his team, as well as Colletto and all of D Street. You make that call to the coast guard, too, and you’ll pluck McEvoy coming back from Magic Row.”