George Martin - Busted flush

"My dolly has been very bad," Sprout said, looking up at me.

"Oh, what did dolly do?" I asked.

"She walked funny. See."

Sprout put the dolly on the floor. It got up on all fours and staggered around the room.

"What the fu-heck is that?"

"Uhm," Hoodoo Mama said.

I strode over to the dolly and picked it up.

"Oh, hell no," I said. "Joey, you can't let her play with zombie cats." I opened the door and dropped the cat in the hall.

"I want my dolly!"

"How about we go out shopping and find you a new dolly?" Hoodoo Mama said.

Sprout frowned. "But I want mine."

"Tell you what, I bet Michelle will make you some bubbles."

They turned back toward me with expectant looks. I gave Hoodoo Mama a glare, but I couldn't be mad at Sprout. She was sweet beyond all measure.

"Okay, Sprout," I said. "What kind of bubbles do you want? Soapy? Rubbery?"

"Balls!"

"Rubbery it is."

I made an assortment of bouncy, soft, moderately tough bubbles. Sprout giggled and began to chase them around the room. Ever since Noel had dumped her in our lap, we'd been trying to think of ways to keep her happy. And not scared.

Once Hoodoo Mama had realized that Sprout was a child mentally, she was pissed as hell at Noel. "Fucker just dragged that poor little girl into the middle of all this shit about to go down," she hissed at me.

"She's in her thirties," I said.

"That don't mean dick." Her hands curled into fists and her breathing was harsh. "You can tell by looking at her that she's special."

"Well, her father is at the center of all this mess," I replied. "If you're going to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at him. He snatched Drake and set all of this in motion."

Hoodoo Mama's eyes narrowed. "Don't think I don't know that. That fucker will be sorry he messed with any of this."

Her rage was so pure and clean. I envied it. But I was also trying to avoid spending too much time with her. We hadn't talked about what had happened in the warehouse the night of the hurricane. Just thinking about it made me feel queasy. And excited. And confused.

I didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't make love to other girls. I mean, girls other than my girlfriend. But Hoodoo Mama had needed me then. And I had wanted to help her, but then things got carried away. And… and I was making excuses.

I left Hoodoo Mama with Sprout and walked across the hall to Bugsy's suite. Since the rest of the Committee had shown up, we'd taken over the entire top floor of the Royal Sonesta. I could hear the arguing through the door, but I knocked anyway.

"…you bastard… Weathers…"

The door flew open. Bugsy had a pissed look on his face. Behind him it looked like an American Hero reunion. Except there were no cameras and no one was smiling. But the furniture was better. Nice Louis XVI-style couches and chairs. All done up in tasteful blues.

Drummer Boy was missing, though. I was still trying to decide if that was a good thing. He'd been an asshole during the show, but afterward, in Egypt, he wasn't as bad. And Curveball, Lohengrin, Rustbelt, Toad Man, and Brave Hawk were here in addition to my own team.

"Bad time?" I whispered.

Bugsy's body began to look fuzzy. He was going all insect-y on me. "It's not great," he replied.

Fortune was glaring at Noel. Curveball, Rusty, and Lohengrin were leaning against the far wall of the room. They all had their arms crossed and they looked pissed.

"I don't see what the big deal is about Weathers," said Gardener, leaning forward in her chair. "Between us, we can take him."

Noel rolled his eyes. "Honestly, John, where do you get these girls? TV? Weathers is terrifyingly powerful and completely mad-and he's been around longer than most of you have been alive."

Toad Man's tongue snapped out and popped loudly behind Noel's head. His tongue rolled back into his mouth and he morphed out of toad form. "You should really watch who you're being snotty to," he said. "Far as I know, you're a double-crossing, cross-dressing liar who shouldn't even be here."

I didn't say anything. Right now, Noel wasn't exactly on my Favorite People list. He'd been playing, well, everyone off each other. And Drake was in the soup because of him, no matter what excuse he gave.

Oh, and if my eavesdropping was accurate, he was also screwing Niobe. If he broke her heart, I would kick his sorry ass from here back to whatever warm-beer-drinking blood-pudding-eating dental-hygiene-impaired London borough he came from.

"Fortune," he said in his most supercilious voice, "you should be able to rein your people in by now. Regardless of their opinion of me, we have Sprout now and a way to retrieve Drake. So that should make me-what's that American expression? Your new best friend."

A groan ran around the room. Noel was about as popular with the rest of the Committee as he was with me.

"Everyone calm down," Fortune said. He was looking tired. Then he stopped and got all daydreamy-looking and I wondered what Sekhmet was saying to him. Then he said, "Noel's right. If it hadn't been for him, we'd have no leverage with Weathers at all."

"Oh, c'mon!" yelled Bugsy, jumping up from his chair. "Noel tried to cut my head off! I don't care how 'helpful' he's been. He's a menace."

I walked over to the side table where a coffee service had been set up. As I poured a cup and started loading it with sugar, I heard Curveball say, "Look, I know everyone's unhappy with Noel, but he really isn't the problem right now. We've got to figure out how to handle the Sprout/Drake exchange."

I glanced over my shoulder. Fortune was giving her a wan smile, but she didn't smile back.

"What I want to know is how we're going to make the swap," said Earth Witch. "I mean, if Weathers is as powerful as you say, he's going to be a bitch to handle."

Fortune rubbed his eyes, then took a pull off his coffee. "The swap team is going to be me and Michelle. Weathers wants me, so if I'm part of the swap he'll be thinking he's going to have a shot at me. And Michelle is there for two reasons. First, she knows Drake. And second, she can take almost limitless damage. Probably anything Weathers can dish out."

"You got any opinions about this, Bubbles?" asked Rustbelt in his flat Midwestern voice.

By now, I was sitting on one of the chairs next to the door. I was almost back down to my thinnest and had wanted to stay there until the PR part of the mission was over. Though it made me a little less able to kick ass right out the door, it was nice not to worry about the furniture when I sat down.

"If I'm the best choice for the job, then of course I'm fine with it," I said. I could feel my hands tremble, so I put my coffee cup down. "But we'll need a backup plan in case things go wrong. And do we hand Sprout over even if things start to go bad?"

"Of course we're going to have backup, Michelle," Fortune said. "Everyone else will be stationed around Jackson Square to keep things chilled out. Weathers is extremely dangerous, but he can't take all of us. And I don't think he'll do anything that'll put Sprout at risk."

Brave Hawk whispered something to Lohengrin, who nodded. I wondered what that was all about.

"Okay," Fortune said as he unrolled a map of Jackson Square onto the large coffee table. "Here's where I'm going to position each of you."

"Are we going to meet Daddy?"

"Yep," I said. "You remember what we said, right?"

Sprout smiled at me and tugged on my ponytail. "Yes, Daddy needs to talk to John Fortune before we can go home. I need to stay with you until Daddy and John Fortune are done talking."

I brushed back the fine tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid. She looked up at me with guileless blue eyes.

At that moment, I hated everyone who had put her and Drake into this position. Her father, Noel, and the rest of the assholes who thought that Drake was a pawn for their megalomaniacal dreams. And I really hated myself for helping them.