The Night Beat

careful.”
    “Always.”
    “No, I mean it. Be really careful. I feel like I should tell you to trust no one. Whatever’s going on, I think it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever dealt with. Not just me, but you, too. Maybe everyone. Watch your back.”
    “Will do.”
    “Promise me.” Ken sounded stressed and a little freaked.
    I decided to ensure relaxation. “I promise.” I looked behind me. “I’ll watch my back and trust no one.” Ralph glared, Freddy shook his head, and Sexy Cindy grinned.
    “Good. See you later, V-One-Nine-Six-Zero out.” My wrist-com went dead.
    “Ken’s really hurt,” Ralph said quietly.
    “Why do you say so?”
    He snorted. “That warning was for you alone, Vic. I don’t think it occurred to Ken that you had anyone else around, or that anyone else could hear him, even though he was talking to you through the wrist-coms. He doesn’t make stupid assumptions.”
    “True.” Very true. Oh good. More things to worry about.
    “Maybe he knew we were all here and is trying to create suspicion among the five of us,” Jack offered.
    Sadly, I knew that Ken didn’t need to do that -- we were all undoubtedly suspicious enough of everyone else already. Of course, he wouldn’t know that if he was the mole. But if he wasn’t, that meant he was hurt badly enough not to be thinking clearly, and that meant very badly.
    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Worrying about a mole was destined to drive me crazy. Maybe we weren’t infiltrated. Maybe we were. I’d worked for Necropolis Enforcement for a long time and it had never been an issue before. Maybe the best thing I could do was stop trying to find the mole and go back to business as usual.
    All this introspection had taken time and we were back at the outskirts of the Estates. Jack drove slowly and we looked for the servant’s entrance.
    “There it is,” Ralph said, pointing with his nose, possibly to get it right back by my face.
    But he was right. We’d missed it before because it was designed to be missed and we’d been looking at the Hellfire.
    “You sure that’s a road?” Sexy Cindy asked. “Looks more like a bike path.”
    “No, I see a road sign,” Jack said. “Workmen’s Access Road. Yeah, this is it.” He stopped the car. “But I still see the Hellfire.”
    “Yep.” I got out of the car. Ralph scrambled over the back of the front seat and came with me. I decided not to argue. “Good doggie, coming to protect Mommy-Dog while she puts out the nasty fire.”
    “Hilarious,” he growled. “I just don’t want you alone out here.”
    “Can’t argue with your judgment.” I lifted the trunk and got out the Savior Spray. We trotted over to the Hellfire and I looked for the right spot to spray.
    Hellfire was interesting in a variety of ways. For one thing, and against all human expectations, it didn’t burn hot. Until you were engulfed in it, you couldn’t feel that it was there. Once engulfed, it burned like ice. Nothing dusted you faster than Hellfire, though.
    Ralph and I stayed a respectful distance back from the burning. “How deep do you think it goes?”
    He sniffed. “Looks about ten feet, smells like less.”
    “Huh.” I couldn’t argue, that’s about what I’d come up with as well. I chose my spot and sprayed in the correct pattern. Nothing looked different.
    “No change,” Ralph noted.
    “No kidding.” Something wasn’t right. Savior Spray was designed to douse Hellfire. So, why wasn’t it working?
    Ralph whined and nudged up against me. I looked around to see a jogger coming down the access road.
    “Morning!” the man shouted cheerfully. “You folks having some trouble?”
    “Ah…yes,” I answered lamely, trying to come up with why I was holding a fire extinguisher and standing with what truly looked far more like wolf than hound.
    The jogger trotted blithely through the Hellfire and came over to us. “Engine fire?” he asked, seeming fully ready to pop the hood and take a look.
    “No. I…I saw a little fire here. From someone’s cigarette. But we got it, didn’t we, boy?” I ruffled Ralph’s head in that dog owner way.
    “Good thing you were looking,” the jogger said seriously. “Last thing we want is this beautiful place engulfed in flames. Whereabouts are you in the Estates?”
    “We don’t live there…yet,” I added to his look of disappointment and mild suspicion. “We’re still sort of…house browsing.”
    “Ah.” His eyes lit up. “I’m