“It’s the one you get. I’m not leaving that kid in your hands regardless. He’s better off in prison than with you.”
“I somehow doubt that he will agree. Agent Hauser, you have me here now only because Alex wanted to give you a chance,” Lorelei explained. “You used force against me in spite of his cooperation. Do you sincerely believe you will have his trust now?”
“I doubt he’ll be so interested in you anymore after what he saw,” snorted Hauser. “He’s a twenty-year-old kid and you’ve led him around by his dick for a month. Maybe he’ll wise up now that he’s seen what a fuck-ugly hag you are underneath your magical illusions or however it is you create that face. If he talks and you don’t, then I’ve got no reason to give you any breaks at all.”
Lorelei smiled. Hauser didn’t like it. “What?” he asked.
“You mock and deride me for my appearance. You presume to split lovers apart because you do not approve of their relationship. You bargain with the freedom of others to serve your ambitions. Perhaps you have not considered this, but to wear the righteous armor of faith, one must actually be righteous.
“Bring forth your little trinket and pray at me again, o’ mortal man. Let us see if you still wield the same power you did mere minutes ago… or if you have already cracked that armor you wore so confidently.”
She gazed intently at him as she spoke, watching his face for any sort of tick or tell, and then she saw it: his narrowed eyes twitched just a bit with sudden realization.
“Tell me, Agent Hauser,” Lorelei asked in tones that might have been soothing in another context, “do any other sins weigh upon your conscience?”
Rachel gave her shoulder a slight squeeze. “You’re good,” she breathed.
“Uh-huh. Guess we’re already at an impasse,” Hauser sighed. “It’s natural for a suspect to get combative once she realizes she’s cornered. I’ll let you chew on this for a bit.” He rose from the table. “Think it through. There’s no way I could let you go even if I wanted to, but if you cooperate we can make all this easier on you.”
He opened the door to leave, with Nguyen and Bridger following in his wake. The pair of angels beside them also withdrew. Sergio’s gaze stayed on Donald rather than Rachel or Lorelei.
“He blinked,” grinned Rachel.
“He did,” nodded Lorelei, “and he did not. He knew I would not crack in his first attempt. Leaving me here to think on his offer was always part of his plan.”
Rachel came around to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“It is as he said. I never wanted either of you to see me like that.”
“You know I don’t give a damn.”
“No,” Lorelei nodded quietly. “Not you.”
* * *
Outside in the hall, with the doors secured and several paces away, Hauser and his team regrouped. Keeley appeared from another room to meet with them. “The mics picked up just fine,” he said. “Nothing seemed distorted. I’ll have to listen again to be sure it recorded, but I don’t think we had any interference.”
“She didn’t pull any magical tricks on us, either,” Bridger nodded. “Nothing that I could spot, anyway. And now that I know to look, I can still see the wings and the horns and such. And the tail. I don’t know how we can secure a tail, but I don’t think she can reach anything useful in there with it and even so I don’t know how prehensile it-“
“Yeah, good,” Hauser grunted. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then his eyes. “I figure that went about as well as could be expected.”
“You okay?” asked Nguyen.
“Fine. Just irritated. First those two punks, then I thought I was getting somewhere with Carlisle, and now…” He jerked his thumb at Lorelei’s room. “We’ll break her. I don’t care if she’s a demon or if she’s from Mars. We’ll get there. Anyway, how’s Maddox? She holding it together?”
“Just making a written report while it’s still fresh,” nodded Keeley. “Why?”
“We need to put all four of those guys in a room and confront them together, Paul. I need you to do that.”
The other agents looked at one another with obvious surprise. “Uh, Joe,” Keeley said, “none of them have actually confessed. Why would we put them in the same room where they can-?”
“Look, I told Carlisle that he could see them,” interrupted Hauser irritably. “If she’s right, and I think she is, I gotta make good on that. Otherwise I’m lying and that might be a weakness if I flash the rosary again.”
“Joe, where did you even get that thing?” asked Nguyen. “Why didn’t you tell us? What do you know that we don’t?”
“I knew we’d be facing a demon, so I went to a church,” Hauser snapped. “You need to know more than that? Is it time for us all to have a sit-down chat about our religions? I had an idea and it worked. What more to you need to know?”
Keeley and Nguyen frowned, both glancing at Bridger. The occultist shrugged. “It’s possible Lorelei’s right. Confidence is a huge factor in matters of magic and… well, faith. If Hauser doubts his ability to keep Lorelei in check, then he won’t be able to do it. Even if she’s lying,” he added pointedly.
“Joe, this is a bad idea,” Keeley pressed. “Jones has been a brick wall and Reinhardt just treats all this like it’s a game. You put the two of them together with the others and it could be a disaster.”
“So don’t let it happen!” snapped Hauser. “They’re all loyal to each other, right? Use that.”
“You don’t want to be in the room to do it?”
“No. I’ll watch. I’m in no shape to do a second interrogation right now. We’ll have Amber with me so she can corroborate anything they say, but it has to be you.” With that, he stomped off down the hallway.
Nguyen threw Keeley an uncomfortable look. “At least he knows his limits,” Keeley shrugged.
Chapter Fifteen: Alea Iacta Est
They sat Alex down in a new chair and a larger room with a large conference table at its center. Like the rest of the building, Alex saw signs of disrepair and age. Someone had drawn the curtains back from the window, allowing for some natural light and a view of the trees. That alone made the room nicer than his improvised cell, which was little more than a cot in a locked closet.
Getting handcuffed to yet another chair wasn’t so nice.
They left him in the room with a single agent, who sat at one end of the conference table with his laptop open. His jacket hung from the back of the chair. His tie, loosened but still hanging from his open collar, looked like a hated nuisance. Alex watched him. The man didn’t look up from his work.
“Please tell me you’re writing an angry blog post about how my civil rights are being violated,” Alex said.
“Mm-hm,” the agent murmured.
The door opened. A uniformed guard came through, leading in two familiar faces and a couple more men in suits.
“Hey, guys,” Alex sighed grimly.
“Oh, man, I plead the Fifth on anything this fool says,” Drew announced as he stepped through. He still wore the same suit from the party, minus the tie. His hands were cuffed behind his back.
“Your mom pleads the Fifth on anything I say,” replied Alex.
Drew paused and blinked. The guard behind him pushed him along as Drew muttered, “Can’t believe you finally got me.”
“Aw, y’all wanna have us a group discussion now?” said the other prisoner. Like Drew, Wade still had his Halloween clothes on, though the gears had been stripped from his outfit and his hat and belt were gone. Also like Drew, he was still cuffed.
“Hi, Wade,” Alex said.
“Alex.” He looked over his shoulder. “Hey, if y’all’re gonna do ‘im like that, you oughta go all the way an’ get him one a’ them leather masks. He’s a biter.”
“Just sit down, all of you,” said the agent at his computer. He gestured to seats at the table, to which the guards guided their prisoners. With the group seated, the agent who had led them in found himself a spot at the end of the table.
“You guys okay?” asked Alex.