"Distract Ukiah away from Indigo."

Ru looked at the two, isolated in a universe of their own making. "How?"

"I want five minutes alone with her. Think of it as a challenge."

Ru scoffed at the idea. "You owe me."

Atticus watched as Ru got Ukiah's attention by touching the bare skin of his wrist. With a smile and a nod toward the Explorer, Ru suggested that Ukiah change his torn and bloody shirt and get something to eat. Ukiah wavered, the suggestion of food fighting with his desire to be with Indigo.

With a glance toward Atticus, Indigo let go of Ukiah's hand. "Go on; I want to talk to Atticus."

They watched as Ru got Ukiah to the well-stocked Explorer before Indigo turned to Atticus.

"What is it you want?"

Uh-oh, busted.

"I want to know—do you love my brother, or are you just using him?" When she didn't react, he added, "I can promise you, one law officer to another, that anything you say to me won't be repeated."

"Normally I would say, one law officer to another, that it's none of your business."

"He's my brother."

"That's between you and him," Zheng said in her calm, unreadable way. "But your brother asked me to marry him. Last week I told him I had to think about it. This week I've been praying that I would have a chance to tell him yes." She gave him her Mona Lisa smile. "That makes you my brother-in-law. I'm telling you because that's between you and me."

She was marrying his brother? "What the hell do you see in him?"

"Only people who don't know him ask that question."

"I don't know my brother."

"Obviously." She considered him with a level look not unlike Ukiah's. "I can outthink, outshoot, outfight, plain out-brass ball most men. But men have this unwritten rule: The only women who are allowed to be stronger than them are their mothers. If you don't do the mothering routine, then they call you a grade-A bitch. With most men you can see it in their eyes as they try out the labels: hot babe, possible mother, bitch."

No, we don't have issues, do we?"And Ukiah doesn't."

"When I first met Ukiah, he looked at me, and saw me.Not the babe, the mother, or the bitch, just me. And I was hooked. The more I got to know him, the more I wanted him. He's the gentlest, most compassionate, wisest man I have ever met."

"Ukiah?" Those were three words that Atticus wouldn't ever have thought to apply to his brother; nor were they words that described Atticus either.

"If you spent any time getting to know him, you would see that for yourself." She said it as if it were a challenge. I double-dare you.

"How did you end up spending time with him?"

"He saved my life," Indigo said, and explained no more, except to add, "Believe me, there is nothing sexier than having a man save your life and then never mention it."

"So it is the hot monkey sex?"

She actually laughed and then sobered. "Sometimes it's like dating the Dalai Lama in the body of a young god. There might be a lot he doesn't know about the world, but his soul is old and patient."

"If he's so great, why didn't you say yes?"

She looked away to hide the sorrow in her eyes. "For reasons that seemed so trivial when the cult killed him and took his body."

It made him uncomfortable that he understood too well the terror that held. Of all the people who were trusting Ukiah just because he was Atticus's brother, the one he worried about most was himself. Atticus's world was too fragile to entrust it to a stranger with dangerous connections—FBI fiancйe or not.

"I'm glad he went to you for help," Indigo said. "If he'd been here with the Pack, he'd have been arrested."

"He didn't want my help."

"Yes, he did; otherwise he wouldn't have come to you." Indigo reached out and took his hand. At the point of contact, Atticus felt Ukiah on her, but then lost the sense of his brother under his own touch—they were too identical for Atticus to keep separate. "And he needs you."

Atticus pulled his hand free. "I think you're confusing me with someone who gives a damn."

"Oh, this isn't the same man who no more than three minutes ago was asking if my intentions were honorable or not?"

Sometimes keeping silent was the only safe answer.

"He's about to collapse. You're hurt too. If we're to stop these monsters, I can't take time to care for him, and if I leave him alone, the Pack will take him."

"So? He's a Dog Warrior."

"And so are you." "

He glared at her, unsure of the truth. Was he?

Her eyes were gray as gunmetal. "He has a clean record, but if he'd come here today with the Pack, he'd have been arrested instead of praised. Please take care of him tonight."

All things considered, she was a good match for his brother in her ability to stare a person down.

"He can come with us. We've got an extra bed back at the hotel."

She rewarded him with a smile, and put away her steel-gray weapons. "Thank you."

***

Atticus decided they couldn't wait for food until they returned to the hotel. Changing shirts, they stopped at the first place at hand, a seafood place called Naked Fish on Totten Pond Road. Done in a decor of mustard yellow and splashes of purple, it featured Cuban cooking. The place was crowded with a wait for tables, but Ru—with the judicious use of a ten-dollar bill—got them seated immediately. Atticus didn't bother looking at the menu, knowing Ru would order for him. Ukiah scanned the menu with tired bewilderment while Kyle directed pouting glares at him. Obviously Kyle had also seen Indigo with Ukiah and wasn't taking the loss of his dream girl gracefully.

Ru looked up as the waiter appeared with a basket of rolls to take drink orders. "We know what we want. I'll take the crispy calamari salad, and they'll both take the empanadas criollas de carne, gambas al ajillo,the valencianapaella, and side orders of the plantains."

"They have plantains?" Atticus picked up the menu to scan it.

"What are plantains?" Ukiah asked.

"You'll like them," Ru reassured him, and ordered clam chowder and steak for Kyle. He finished with, "Two root beers, a Coke, and an iced tea."

The waiter eyed Atticus, who was clearly in pain, Ukiah on the verge of collapse, and Kyle pouting and then looked back to Ru. "Ooookay. I'll go get that order right in and bring your drinks, but we're really backed up. It's going to be a while."

Ukiah surrendered the menu. "What did you order us?"

"A beef turnover; shrimp; and a rice dish with shrimp, scallops . . . chicken and sausage and probably some stuff I've forgotten. Atty loves it; you should like it too."

Ukiah sighed, leaning his head against the wall behind him, eyes closed. "We don't have time for this."

"You're not up to anything but this," Atticus snapped.

After a long delay, Ukiah grunted, acknowledging it. He considered his bloodstained fingers. "I should wash. I have Ping's blood on my hands."

"I'll go with you—I need to go," Ru lied, probably guessing that in his condition, Ukiah would have a difficult time finding his way through the restaurant to the bathroom and back.

Atticus took advantage of their absence to fix Kyle with his gaze. "Kyle, I'm sorry about Indigo—but we've talked about this before."