Surprisingly, I got back to the apartment first, finding Emmy practicing her guitar in the living room when I walked in.

“Have you had lunch?” she asked, setting down her guitar to get up and give me a kiss.

“No, have you?”

“I was just thinking about making myself a sandwich,” Emmy said. “Would you like one as well?”

“I’m surprised Angela didn’t get home before me,” I said. “She left Temecula at least twenty minutes before I did. She’ll probably want lunch when she gets home, too.”

“Should I wait until she gets here?”

“Yeah, probably,” I said. “Hey, what are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?”

“I do not have any plans,” Emmy replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Angela is gonna want to take us out for a drive in her new car, but it only has the two seats. Do you want to go first, or should I?”

“I do not think Angela would really care to show off her new car to me,” Emmy said. “I believe that you are the one she will want to take for a drive.” Her saucy grin let me know that yes, the double entendre was intentional.

Angela got home roughly an hour after I did, long after we’d given up waiting and had our sandwiches. Her first words when she came in were, “Oh, my god! I love that car!”

She grabbed me in a big hug, which basically meant that since I was sitting down, she smashed my face into her boobs.

“Thank you for arranging everything for me! I love it!” she said.

Disentangling myself, I asked, “So, what do you think? Do you like the car?”

“I love it!” Angela said, smashing my face into her boobs again while Emmy just laughed.

“Emmy! Come down and see my new car!” Angela said, giving me the opportunity to laugh at Emmy’s predicament.

“Yeah, Em. You guys should take the car out for a spin,” I said, smirking at my wife.

“I would love to see your new car, and go for a ride,” Emmy said, graciously.

Expecting to have at least an hour to myself while they were gone, I went out on the balcony to call Michael and ask about the email he’d sent me earlier. I was increasingly concerned that Chicago might turn ugly and wanted a bit more context than his reports had really given me.

“My queen,” Michael said when he answered his phone. “Thank you for calling.”

“Hey, Michael. Explain to me a little better what’s going on there.”

“As I explained, there seem to be a fairly large number of Night Children here, and in the nearby cities, that are all associated into what some of them have called ‘the Underground.’ It seems to be run by a local figure that few have actually met. Most refer to him in vague terms, calling him simply ‘The Boss.’ It seems this Boss figure has a number of subalterns who do all his dirty work for him, which is apparently mostly extortion and coercion of the local Night Children.”

“You say that you’ve talked to some locals who want to get away from this guy?” I asked.

“Yes. The Boss is not loved, but feared. A large number of the area’s Night Children would leave the Underground, but are afraid of what would happen to them or their loved ones if they tried.”

“This guy sounds like a real piece of work,” I groaned. “What will it take to get rid of him?”

“I don’t believe he will ever willingly relinquish control of his domain. I fear that he will not be reasonable.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Set up a meeting anyway. Maybe we can convince him that his life would be better living legitimately,” I said, but doubting it could ever be that easy.

“I will do that,” Michael said. “But I am concerned that violence may be his response.”

“All of the team there, you guys have all worked with Grant Henry, right? You’re all capable of defending yourselves?” I asked, just to confirm that what I’d ordered had actually happened.

“Yes,” Michael said, and I could hear the hesitation in his voice.

“But?”

“I'm not really a fighter, my queen. Eddie is, of course, and a couple of the others are better at it than I am, but I would say that of the six of us, only three could really be considered dangerous,” Michael explained.

“Yeah, I understand that,” I said with a sigh. “Just make sure that you stick together and nobody wanders off alone, all right? I don’t want you or any of the guys caught off-guard.”

“We are being very careful, my queen. This place feels very dangerous to us- we are well aware that we do not have the upper hand here.”

“What do you think about calling in a few more hands? Who else do we have that knows how to handle themselves in a fight?” I asked.

“We simply do not have such people in any numbers, my queen.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. All right, then. You said there are a lot of Night Children in the area. How many are we talking about?” I asked.

“By the sound of it, as many as fifty or sixty, but it is hard to know. The Boss tries to keep them from each other, not allowing a real community to form.”

“And how many, um, henchmen does he have?” I asked.

“The most reliable estimates range from half a dozen to as many as ten or fifteen. I think the higher numbers are unrealistic, though. I would expect that the number is probably closer to ten at the very most, more likely six or seven.”

“All right,” I said. “So if Emmy and I count among our combat-capable, this Boss guy might not have much of a numerical advantage, even just counting the three in the team that are fighters.”

“I believe that to be true,” Michael said. “But I also do not believe that Queen Emmy should involve herself in any fighting.”

“I’d rather she didn’t, too,” I agreed. “But the truth is, we both know she can do it if necessary.”

The sigh at the other end served as all the agreement I needed. “So we’ll fly in the Thursday night after this next one. Set up a meeting on Friday if you can. We’ll see if we can have a civil discussion with this Boss character, and if not, maybe we can scare him off.”

“I will set it up,” Michael said.

After that call, I called Grant Henry.

“Hey, Leah,” he said when he answered the phone.

“Are you in the loop with what the guys are running into in Chicago?” I asked.

“Michael asked me for advice, so yeah, I guess I have an idea,” Grant replied.

“It looks like it may come down to violence, if this Boss guy won’t play nice. Do we have any other guys I can send Michael that are ready to play?”

“A couple of the guys up in Vancouver might be handy in a fight. They’d be solid against anybody untrained, but I wouldn’t want to stack ‘em up against any real opposition. Other than that, I wish I could say I had more for you, but really, all I’ve been teaching any of the Night Children is basic self-defense and situational awareness.”

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “I never really wanted to train up an army, you know? I just didn’t really see any organized opposition like this ever being an issue.”

“I’m not really clear on the politics, and haven’t wanted to ask,” Grant said. “But is it possible to get some soldiers from Emmy’s parents? They’ve gotta have some, right?”

“I’m sure they do,” I agreed. “But the impression I’ve gotten from Emmy is that she doesn’t want to ask for their involvement in our affairs here in North America, because it would serve as an admission that we can’t handle our shit on our own, you know?”

“Yeah, I figured there was something like that going on,” Grant said. “And I suppose this would be a bad time to bring up firearms training again, wouldn’t it?”

“We’ve had this discussion,” I replied. “Silence is a real cultural thing, and I don’t want to be the one that instigates an arms race. I’m perfectly happy to not have to worry about a bullet from the shadows taking me or Emmy out, you know? If we introduce guns, pretty much immediately everybody else will ditch the old ways and get their own guns, too.”

“I’m not gonna say I disagree with your thinking,” Grant said. “But what happens when a knife fight starts going against you? It sure could be a literal life saver if you could reach back into your concealed holster and start shooting.”

“I don’t disagree, to be honest. I’ve been thinking that maybe Emmy and I should think about carrying just for last-resort situations.”

“Anytime you’re ready, I’ll get you guys set up and trained,” Grant said. “In the meantime, you want me to head to Chicago?”

“It’s probably a good idea, but I want you to stay behind the scenes. Don’t interact with any of the local Night Children, and don’t be seen in public with our guys. I want you to be my ace in the hole, and to help Michael with strategy.”

“I’m on it,” Grant said. “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks, Grant. After Chicago, we’ll be heading to New York for a couple of days. You can go with us if you want to visit Mia.”

“That’d be great,” he said.

Thinking about what the two had said, I lost myself in thought about Chicago, the possibility of some sort of Night Children war, and how that could even happen. It would be a mother of a challenge, hunting down opponents who could disappear into the environment the way they could.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would be nearly impossible to bring the fight to the enemy in a situation like the one in Chicago. Maybe we could get intel on The Boss’ hideout, but that would be a lot to expect. More realistically, we’d be chasing figurative shadows all over town and getting nowhere, except maybe ambushed.

I was visualizing different scenarios when Emmy and Angela came back to the apartment.

Emmy gave me a quick kiss and disappeared into our bedroom, but Angela joined me on the balcony after getting herself a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Leah, I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “I’m serious. This is a really big deal.”

“Hey, just helping out a friend, right?” I shrugged, trying to make light of the whole thing.

“It’s… well, it means a lot to me,” Angela said. Then, her brow wrinkled up, she asked, “What are you doing out here? You looked lost in thought when we came home.”

“Thinking about yachts,” I said, giving her a wry smile.

“I swear, some day you’re gonna actually buy a yacht, and your teasing me will come back to haunt you,” Angela declared.

“If I do, I’m gonna name it ‘Angela’s Dream’,” I said.

“What is Angela’s dream?” Emmy asked, now dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a T shirt of mine, which was huge on her.

“A yacht,” I said.

“I have dreamed of having a yacht, too,” Emmy confessed. “But I know nothing about the sea. In fact, I have never been on a longer boat ride than when Leah and I had our honeymoon in Key West.”

Rolling my eyes, I groaned. “What a disaster that was,” I said.

“Your honeymoon was a disaster?” Angela asked, curious.

“About half of it was a disaster. The first half was great, the second half, not so much,” I replied.

“I got a terrible sun burn and became very ill,” Emmy explained. “I could barely get out of bed for days, and could not leave our hotel room.”

“Seriously? That sucks!” Angela said, commiserating. “I got a bad sunburn when I was little and got a fever from it, so I know what you mean.”

“It was horrible,” Emmy confirmed.

Later that night, as we relaxed on the balcony sipping wine in front of the fire, I mentioned to Emmy that I’d invited Teddy Bear and Stephen to dinner on Wednesday night.

“That will be great!” Emmy said, enthusiastic. “I liked both of them at your birthday at the track- they seem like intelligent men, and both are good conversationalists.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting to know them better,” I agreed.

“I have been enjoying our Wednesday dinners,” Emmy said, sipping her wine. “It has been nice, spending time with friends.”

“Yeah, me, too,” I agreed. “Even when Jenna was roasting me about being an exhibitionist and demanding to see me naked.”

“That was hilarious!” Emmy said with a laugh. “I wonder what she would have done if you had taken off your clothes?”

“I never would do that to Andy,” I said.

“To Andy? What do you mean?”

“Well, turning his fiancée into a lesbian just wouldn’t be fair to him, now would it?” I asked, smirking.

“No, it would not,” Emmy agreed.