A familiar black car pulled up to the curb, and the door opened to reveal Steve, implacable and hulking as ever. “Miss Mason,” he said, with a nod in my direction.

One corner of my mouth curled upward. “Nice to see you, too, Steve. What’s our plan for the afternoon?”

“I’m your escort to the Assembly Center. The convoy leaves for the hall in ninety minutes.”

“That doesn’t leave much time.” I grimaced, grabbing a suitcase in each hand as Steve got out of the car and moved to start hoisting our equipment. Senator Ryman was giving a keynote speech to the California Republicans, and it promised to be the sort of evening that resulted in lots of sound bites, accidental quotes, and competitive reporting. We all needed to be on our game. I’d been hoping to manage it with more rest and less caffeine, but you can’t always get what you want. “Thanks for coming to meet us.”

“Of course.” A second car pulled up behind the first, Carlos getting out and joining in the collection of luggage. Our keepers—the unfortunate Andres and a blank-faced woman named Heidi, who I suspected had only been assigned to accompany us because my eyes meant I would have to go for a private security screening, and they didn’t want “private” to mean “away from our guards”—joined him, first in moving the luggage, then in his car. I suppose a night at the airport with the three of us had rather soured them on our company.

“Ready?” asked Steve.

“Ready,” Shaun confirmed, and we piled into the car, where blessed air conditioning washed over us. Steve glanced in the rearview mirror to be sure we were wearing our seat belts before turning on the flashers and pulling away from the curb.

I raised an eyebrow, and Shaun, taking his cue like a pro, asked, “We expecting trouble, sport?”

“There are a great many politicians in town,” Steve said.

I knew what that meant: It meant Senator Ryman was concerned that whoever had been responsible for the attacks on his campaign was here in the city and would try to take care of unfinished business. They only got Buffy on their first try, after all. I forced the jet of fury rising in my chest down, refusing to let myself get riled. He didn’t know the snake was in his camp; he didn’t know it was Tate he needed to be watching out for. So why the f**k did he let us fly commercial?

Shaun put his hand on my arm, seeing my sudden tension. “Easy,” he murmured.

“Hard,” I said, and subsided.

In the carrier Rick was clutching, Lois yowled. I knew exactly how she felt.

Our diminutive convoy cut through the airport traffic in a bubble of open space created by the flashers, heading for the outskirts of town. Once, Sacramento was known for hosting the state fair, along with various rodeos, horse shows, and other large outdoor gatherings. After the Rising made those impractical, the city found itself missing a lot of vital revenue and it started looking for another way to make money. Several local taxes, a few private donations, and several major security contracts later, the fairgrounds reopened, given new life as the Sacramento Secure Assembly Center. Open-air, with standing structures and mobile home hookups for traveling convoys, a four-star hotel, a conference center and the country’s largest outdoor space certified as safe for public assembly. If you wanted to see a candidate speak outside, looking heroic and all-American against a blue summer sky, you did it in Sacramento. Presidencies were made there; no matter what your politics were or how clean a campaign you ran, it all came down to how the people reacted when they saw your silhouette against that sky.

According to the itinerary, Senator Ryman and Governor Tate were going to be spending the next seven days in Sacramento, giving speeches, meeting the press, and getting endorsements from California’s political leaders. Not just the Republicans. My notes indicated that several prominent Democrats and Independents would be coming to have their pictures taken with the man many were beginning to suspect would be our next president. Assuming the scandal when we outed Tate didn’t kill his career, of course.

“Jesus,” said Rick, whistling as the fence around the Center came into view. “You people don’t do anything small, do you?”

“Welcome to California,” I said, rolling up my sleeves. Shaun was doing the same. Rick glanced at us, wincing, and I smiled. “Don’t worry. They’ll leave you a little bit.”

After four blood tests and a call to the CDC databases to confirm that my retinal KA was legitimately registered and not a recent affliction, we were permitted to move into the Center. From here, blood tests would be required if we wished to enter a standing structure or leave the grounds; we’d also be subject to random testing by the Center’s staff, which could happen as often as twice an hour or as rarely as once a week. Shaun made a game of pointing out the security cameras and motion detectors as we drove toward the spot assigned to the convoy.

“Start moving like a dead thing and they’ll be on you in less than a minute,” he said, with some satisfaction.

“Please tell me you’re not speaking from experience,” Rick said.

“I’m smarter than that.” Shaun tried to sound affronted. He failed.

“Someone else got there first,” I said. “How long did he get in state prison?”

“Two years, but it was for science,” said Shaun.

“Uh-huh,” I said. I might have gone on, but the car was turning, pulling down a narrow drive whose signpost identified it as “Convoy Parking #11.” I sat up straighter, resettling my sunglasses. “We’re here.”

“Thank God,” said Rick.

The Sacramento sun hadn’t gotten any cooler during our drive. I shed my jacket and grabbed my laptop bag, scanning the assembled vehicles and trailers until I spotted my objective. A slow smile spread across my face.