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Unless you had a boat, traversing the barrier of rocks and riprap that et to the RG’s HQ Jonah had once hinted that the RG had just such a vessel, but they certainly weren’t sending it for , and it took precious ti to help with my punctuality proble chunks of concrete werepath To the contrary--anyonethe attehthouse itself was called a "spark plug," a shout-out to its slightly stumpy shape I climbed the rusty ladder that led to the main platform, wiped my dirty hands on my pants, and walked around to the red door that led inside

I waited for a hteousness I was going to need if there was going to be any headway Knockingthe partner I’d seen only once in a htened the hem of my jacket

Theythe door

Jonah greetedjeans and a dark Henley shirt, his hair tucked behind his ears "Come in," he said, and stepped aside

I walked into the room, which was heavy on the brass, nautical accents, and 1970s décor Half a dozen vampires were in the roonize many RG members weren’t in the sanize the man at the small table on the other side of the room--tall and thin, with pale skin, dark hair, and enormous, fuzzy sideburns Horace had been a soldier in the Civil War His girlfriend, a petite woman with dark skin and a cloud of dark hair, walked into the room, moved to stand beside him

It was common--hell, maybe even expected--for RG partners to date That was another bit of tension between irlfriend a couple of times but still hadn’t learned her name From the expression on her face, which wasn’t exactly friendly, I guessed I wouldn’t be learning it tonight

"You’re late," said a voice frolanced back Noah Beck, broad-shouldered, with pale skin and shaggy brown hair, his eyes bright blue, walked into the rooh School T-shirt, dark blue with a white spider icon across the front All RG h school; ore theether in public to help identify one another

Noah walked to the table, put a hip on the edge, crossed his hands in front of hi together to battle a common enemy Jonah stayed closer to me, but positioned so that I stood between hih that I wondered if he’d done it on purpose

The rooic, and none of it friendly

"I was at the House," I said "I cae" I let et here so quickly

"We haven’t seen you around much," Noah said "Except in the papers, of course"

"Then you know I’ve been busy," I said, then glanced at Jonah "And I haven’t been invited"

"And what brings you here tonight?" Noah asked

"A threat I take it you’ve heard what happened last night?"