Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

for wires. Blindfold me if you have to. I'm basically off-the-reservation here. My boss is demanding I tell him how I knew about the two agents who were on security. I should have gone to him the second your call came in, but I didn't, and I still haven't because I don't know who to trust anymore beside myself. I am already in deep shit, and I could lose my job."
    "At least you wouldn't have to worry about money."
    "No but I would have to listen to my ninety-year-old grandmother lecture me about how I should have gotten my MBA and how now I've wasted all my good years on the FBI. I'll pass. Please, let me talk with Gerald face-to-face. My ass is on the line, too."
    "No one has tried to beat you to death."
    "Yet."
    Sebastian looked Agent Kim over. He looked tired, he looked frustrated, he looked his age, and he looked honest. "Come with me and we'll make a call."
    "Thank you."
    "Don't do that, yet." Sebastian slipped out of the booth and Agent Kim followed. He swung his arm low around Agent Kim's waist and pulled them hip to hip while walking them out the back door into the parking lot. Agent Kim kept looking at him sideways, but didn't try to run or grapple with him. Sebastian steered Agent Kim around until his back was against the car where he performed a very slow and thorough pat-down that would probably look like something entirely different to anyone glancing their way. He didn't find a wire; he did find an ankle holster. He slipped the weapon into his left pocket.
    "You know, normally I have to buy someone dinner to get this kind of treatment." Sebastian could hear the slight nerves in Agent Kim's voice.
    "Don't flatter yourself, you're not my type. Get in the car." Agent Kim got in, and Sebastian slid in beside him. "Your phone, please." The slick little piece of technology was placed in his hands. It looked like something he'd expect Daren to own. He flipped it around a few times before he figured how to slip off the back, pull out the battery, and slide out the SIM card.
    Agent Kim watched him disassemble the phone with a cringe on his face. "I'm never going to be able to get that back in."
    "Would you like me to just smash all the bits?"
    "If it'll make you feel better."
    Sebastian put the bits in his inner coat pocket before taking out his own phone and stepping out of the car. "Stay here."
    On the other end, Rachael's phone rang once before she picked it up. "Hello."
    "It's me."
    "Color of the day?" she asked.
    "Purple." Sebastian was supposed to say any other color if something was up.
    "Word of the day?"
    "Paladin."
    "Go ahead."
    "I've got a contact here who wants to come in for some negotiations."
    "And how good are you feeling about that?"
    Agent Kim was looking at him through the window. "Not one hundred percent, but it's not up to me in the end."
    "Encountered any other targets?"
    "Negative."
    "I'll ask." Sebastian waited, trying to make out what was being said in the background. "I'm told to bring him in."
    Sebastian was surprised. "Copy that. I'll travel via the Khyber Pass." That was their code for the long way home.
    "See you then."
    Sebastian hung up his phone and got back in the car. "Okay. Take off your tie and put it around your eyes." Agent Kim didn't move. "Want me to tie up your hands, as well? Just play ball here. And if I get even half a sense that we're been followed or tracked I'm dumping you on the side of a dirt road."
    "What if someone sees us?"
    "You're old enough to be my father and I picked you up at a gay bar. I'm sure we could think up something." Agent Kim did up the tie, then put on his seatbelt by feel. Sebastian gave him credit. He either really wanted this, or he was really committed to his cover.
    Sebastian drove out of the parking lot, heading in the opposite direction of his place.
    About twenty minutes over the surface streets and Agent Kim started speculating out loud. "So, spend a lot of time at the Blue Dragon?"
    "Don't even bother, Agent Kim."
    "Just trying to make conversation. I have a feeling it's going to be a long drive."
    "You want conversation? Okay. What was the name of your band?"
    "Rainbow Grunge."
    " Rainbow Grunge?" Sebastian tried not to laugh.
    "Our drummer was Indian, our bassist was Cuban, and our second guitar player was African-American."
    "Rainbow Grunge. Got it."
    "Hey, the grunge scene was very ethnically monochromatic. We were trailblazers."
    "Were you any good?"
    "No. And two months ago our drummer found some old pictures of the band and put