George Martin: Busted flush

She took my hand, and we went back into the living room where Fortune and the others were waiting.

John Fortune, Sprout, and I were standing in the middle of Jackson Square. We'd done a pretty amazing job of getting some of the Quarter back on its feet. Though the lamps on the gate were shattered, the square was looking remarkably good. Gardener had replaced the trees and other plants that had been destroyed. And the statue of Andrew Jackson was unchanged. We stood at its base.

My clothes felt tight. Before coming for the meeting, I'd had one of Hoodoo Mama's zombies pound on me a bit. I still wasn't big, exactly, but I wanted some firepower, just in case.

We were in a good tactical position. On all four sides we had a clear sightline. Odds were that no one was going to sneak up on us here.

"Where's Daddy?" Sprout asked.

"He'll be here soon, honey," I replied. "Why don't you stay with John Fortune for a moment and I'll see if he's coming."

I walked around the statue, checking our position. Cameo and Earth Witch were sitting on benches near the entrance to the park. Hoodoo Mama had helped clear the usual street people from the square, so we didn't have to worry about civilians getting caught in the middle should anything bad go down. I knew Hoodoo Mama was still somewhere nearby, but she was really good at hiding.

Bugsy was in swarm form. He kept making swooping passes around the square. And it was hard to hide Toad Man-Volkswagen-sized toads, kinda hard to explain. From the other side of the park, I could see Lohengrin's armor shining in the sun.

I went back to Fortune and Sprout.

"Did you see anything?" Fortune asked.

I shook my head. "Not yet. I can't believe he's delaying this."

Fortune shrugged and kept looking around. "My mother says he was bad news back in the day. He's clever and more than a little nuts."

Sweat began beading on my forehead and upper lip. It was muggy as hell, but I was also feeling nervous. I'd gone up against Golden Boy and gotten my ass handed to me. This Weathers guy was known to be unpredictable, and there was no telling what we might get. Those old aces were scary.

There was the whooping sound of a helicopter. I looked up. We'd talked to the local flight authorities, and they'd agreed to suspend all traffic over the Quarter for the afternoon.

A black helicopter appeared over St. Louis Cathedral, heading right toward us.

"What the hell?" Fortune said. "That can't be Weathers."

Then, over the sound of the blades, we heard, "This is William Ray, head of the Special Committee for Ace Resources and Endeavors. We have warrants from the United Sates government for the arrest of all Committee members. Surrender peacefully or we will use deadly force."

Then the side door of the helicopter opened and I saw one ace fly out, swooping around the square. Ropes dropped and more SCARE agents slid down, landing about fifteen feet from us. I recognized Lady Black, Moon, and the Midnight Angel from Cross Plains. I figured the rest were aces, too. No one else could handle us. The helicopter flew off.

Billy Ray emerged from the midst of the aces wearing his usual pristine jumpsuit. He strode up to us followed by the Midnight Angel. I knew they were married now. Ink had said so in one of her e-mails.

Sprout gave a frightened cry and ran behind me. I understood why. Billy Ray's face was a mass of scars. Thick pink tissue crisscrossed the suntanned planes of his face. His eyes were cold. But I wasn't worried. He was strong, but brute force didn't frighten me in the least. And I had the psychological advantage. I'd taken him once already.

I saw the rest of the SCARE agents fanning out across the park. Crap. This was not good. These SCARE jerks could hose our trade with Weathers.

"John Fortune, Michelle Pond," Billy Ray said. "I am placing you under arrest."

Sprout had wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my back.

"Are you insane?" Fortune asked. "Billy Ray, you have no jurisdiction over us. We're part of the UN. And there was a no-fly order for this section."

"I'm an agent of the United States government," Billy Ray said, coming closer to Fortune. He leaned in until his spittle was hitting Fortune's face. "You're on U.S. soil. You're U.S. citizens. Do I really need to draw you a map here?"

John's forehead began to glow. Sekhmet was getting pissed.

"Look around, Billy Ray," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking with anger. This asshat had almost gotten Drake and Niobe killed. Not to mention that his Lady Black bitch had put a mad hurt on me. "You've got about a dozen aces. Not only do we have as many, but we've got a little extra somethin' somethin'." I pointed and Billy Ray turned around and saw what we'd been holding back for Weathers.

An army of zombies had suddenly surrounded Jackson Square. A lot of them had been floaters, which gave them a really horrible appearance. They stood there, silent, impervious, devoid of humanity.

I looked around, checking on our people. Earth Witch was flexing her hands, glancing around, looking for lines of sight. Cameo began to spin slowly, building up layers of dust. I saw a swarm of insects hovering near one of the SCARE aces, so I knew Bugsy was good to go.

Lohengrin was doing a propeller-fast pattern with his sword. The sunlight was glinting off his brilliant armor. Something small and lethally fast pinged into the dirt between me and Fortune and Billy Ray and the Midnight Angel. Curveball was making her presence known.

Noel was somewhere close by and I was hoping that Billy Ray would get the idea that this was a fight he didn't want. Weathers was due at any moment, and the last thing we needed was a full-on brawl in progress when he showed up.

Fortune began to glow even brighter. Crap. I did not want Sekhmet appearing right now.

"Daddy!" Sprout cried. She let go of my waist and ran in front of me, flinging her arms into the air and dancing around with her head tilted back.

We all looked up. Coming down out of the sky at an incredible rate was a bright yellow streak. Then the streak landed, and a bare-chested man dressed in low-slung, faded bell-bottom jeans appeared. He had sun-streaked hair that fell halfway down his back and a peace medallion around his neck. He was holding Drake tucked under one muscular arm.

Fortune grabbed Sprout and pushed her toward me. I folded her into my arms in a hug.

"I want Daddy," she said, pouting at me.

"I know, sweetie, but remember what we talked about."

It was getting hard to look at Fortune now. An aura surrounded him, bright gold.

"Let the boy go, Weathers," Fortune said.

"Oh, The Man wants me to let the boy go," Weathers said in a nasty voice. He flexed his biceps, squeezing Drake. But Drake didn't start crying. I wanted to bubble the hell out of Weathers.

"The Man's got to control all the power in the world," Weathers said. It was freaky how persuasive he suddenly sounded to me. "Can't let anyone else use any power."

"Let the boy go," Fortune said again. "Sprout wants her daddy."

Weathers glanced at me and Sprout. His face softened and you could see that he loved her. He dropped Drake, who landed hard on his hands and knees.

"Drake," I said in as calm a voice as I could. "Come to me."

"Let Sprout go," Weathers said.

"Not until Drake is over here." I stared right into Weathers's face. I knew he had a lot of power, but I also knew I wasn't going to let him intimidate me.

Drake scrambled to his feet and ran to me. As soon as he touched my hand, I let Sprout go.

She ran to Weathers and they embraced. Their golden heads bent together. Family reunion.

After Weathers checked Sprout and saw she was okay, he looked back at the rest of us. The expression on his face was pure, mad hatred.