Mad Lizard Mambo by Rhys Ford Page A

laughs.”
    “Yeah, it’s called weird.” I let myself have one last bite, then folded the chocolate back up and put it back into the compartment. “You can’t wave at someone else’s kids. It’s weird.”
    “Well, it’s wrong. And don’t forget that there or it’ll be gone,” Jonas warned. “Tell me what you think about someone offing the fake elfin. I’m waiting for some of us to be tapped by the Post for street recon. Not like the San Diego Finest are going to go down under here with anything less than a tank.”
    “Like I’ve ever forgotten chocolate,” I scoffed.
    “We’re here,” Jonas said, pulling up in front of an old closed-up garage. It didn’t look like much, more of a relic from a time when the city’d been interested in providing cell recharging throughout the lower levels, but much like the sun lamps, that plan fell into disrepair soon after. Jonas’s frown was not comforting, and he peered at the darkened windows. “He should be here. I called him a couple of hours ago, and he promised he’d—”
    “Wait, I know this place. Didn’t this guy used to run with Dempsey a long time ago?” I tried to recall the man’s face from the ocean of people Dempsey probably screwed over. “Doesn’t like elfin. Or at least didn’t like me.”
    “We’ll just park here for a little bit, and I’ll ring him up. He knew I was bringing you,” Jonas assured me. “Said it was okay. Even asked about you. What runs you made and everything. Didn’t sound like one of those crazies cutting ears off of kids or anything.”
    “Yeah, sometimes it’s the ones who sound excited to see me are the ones I worry the most about,” I said. “I’ve got to admit, the kid in the sewer’s a worry. I’m hoping someone’s not picking off some of Bennett’s Diamond Kitty freaks.”
    “Could be some idiot trying to bring back their glory days during the war. Plenty an asshole made a bounty or two on scalping elfin ears.”
    I didn’t need that explained to me. I’d met a few people who’d told me I’d have been ripe for a killing if only the war hadn’t ended. For all of the truces, love fests, and human-elfin sing-alongs on the beach, the three races still hadn’t quite buried the hatchet. “Brent’s heard people are jumpy because a few unsidhe have slipped in from Tijuana.”
    “God, the last thing we need is the unsidhe slithering up into San Diego. Ryder would be out there recruiting them to that Court of his. Some of those guys from TJ would murder their own mothers just for their teeth.”
    “Not the first time those bastards have come knocking on our back door. Hold on a second. I’m going to go park over there under the light. Kind of dark in this corner.” Jonas started the Rover slowly across the intersection, narrowly avoiding a blue cab edging in the lane. “Been a long time since they’ve come up to the city to snatch kids for their Court, but doesn’t mean they’re not desperate. I’d skin anyone—human or cat-bastard—that came for my own, but I’d take my time with those damned unsidhe.”
    There was a two-second beat; then I got what I was waiting for.
    “That… um… cat-bastard thing,” Jonas mumbled. “That wasn’t about you, boy.”
    “Yeah, I know.”
    “I’ve got to work on that. I’m going to work on that.” He straightened up in his seat. “I’m better than that, and you deserve better than what I’ve been giving you.”
    “You’ve given me a lot, man.” I patted the glove compartment’s hatch. “And sometimes… well, a lot of the times… I kind of agree with you about the elfin.”
    “Maybe you’ve got to work on that too.”
    “Probably,” I admitted. “Actually more than probably.”
    Any promises to work on our mutual prejudices were lost in the whine of the minirocket launched straight at Jonas’s Rover. I couldn’t see where it’d come from, not really. I only had a split second of sound. and then my focus shifted, falling on the