“I SUPPOSE THIS shoots-to-hell any chance we had to keep a low profile,” Prehler said while twisting a newspaper between clenched fists.

I retorted by taking off my shoes and hurling them across the room.

“They knew I was there. How?”

Prehler scowled. “I told you they have their ways, not that they need help if you’re going to beat up Dukane’s employees in the middle of the street! You couldn’t leave well enough alone?”

“They had it coming. I’m not going to just sit there while they steal someone else.”

“LET THEM!” Prehler’s face went red. “Steve, don’t ruin this by turning into what you hate the most.”

I stared him in the eye. “What exactly do I hate the most?”

“The sanctimonious,” Prehler replied. “The holier-than-thou who have superior positions based on nothing more than an accident of birth. They take all the risks, but never pay up if they lose, for they never bet their life, they bet yours. Has it occurred to you that your sweet victim wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass if you’d been taken? Would she have even bothered to call 911 before sinking back into her phone? Of course she wouldn’t. You know no one would ever do the same for you because no one ever has done the same for you. So why did you help her?”

I looked straight at him.

“Because no one was ever there to help me.”

Prehler huffed. His cheeks turned a puffy red as we stared at each other. He finally sat down with a hand over his face. Our living room had a wide selection of comfy chairs circa 1970. They went well with crumbling plaster walls and stained hardwood floor. Nothing in this house was less than four decades old, especially the mildew.

Nevertheless, the aroma was a distinct improvement on the last three holes I had laughingly called “home,” so I didn’t complain.

Prehler eventually emerged from his stupor.

“What color did you say she was again?”

“Aquamarine.”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “Pfffft. Self-centered entitleds. Aquamarines love to pamper their Incarns, stacking the deck to give them advantage. They’ve never had a bad day in their whole sanitized life, but it comes at your expense. Who exactly do you think they have to sabotage to get that advantage? You. They’ve thrown everyone under the bus to get where they are, and you ought to know that better than anyone else.”

“I thought the Stygians threw me under the bus.”

“THEY ALL HAVE!” Prehler jumped with arms high. “None of them would give a glass of water to a drowning man! Fact is, Mr. Kinder, getting iced by Dukane might have been the best thing that ever happened to that woman. It might have finally given her the gift of perspective, to bite into the cold heartlessness that the bottom 1 percent wallows in every day. To learn, that for all her meteoric incarnation, she hasn’t experienced one inkling of real life at all.”

Prehler swiped an extra-large Mountain Dew from a counter and chugged it in one long gulp. The anger in the room settled down.

“Fine,” I stated flatly. “Next time I see a helpless woman about to be assaulted, I’ll just turn around and whistle. Or maybe you can finally tell me the next step of our master plan. When are we going after Dukane?”

Prehler threw away his bottle and grabbed another. “Actually, we can start whenever. I was just hoping to go more than four hours at a time without a thrilling action-filled escape sequence.”

“I’m ready to leave whenever you are.”

“I didn’t mean now!” Prehler sighed. “For God’s sake, we just moved in. Give a man a chance to make a few dozen pancakes. And by ‘start’ I meant the electronics I asked you to make. Build my device and then we go. But don’t dillydally. With this little fracas we’ll need to accelerate our schedule.”

Yes, I suppose Dukane wouldn’t take this little interruption lying down.

“Sure, I can build it,” I offered. “But you never told me the old schedule, let alone the new one. If you want me to finish this nefarious device of yours, I’ll need a timetable. I’ve made a good start and can be done pretty quick, but if you push me too fast, I’m likely to screw up.”

Prehler frowned, and I just shrugged. Actually, with the progress I already made this project wouldn’t take long at all. I might even finish up overnight, but I wanted Prehler to dish up some information in return. So, I pushed a little.

“That assumes, of course, that I’m not in any imminent danger of being shanghaied by catsuit commandos in the middle of the night. I need to know that I’m safe here.” I waved at our new home. “Am I? How does Dukane keep finding us? How in the name of hell—”

“How does Dukane keep finding Incarns to kidnap?” Prehler interrupted as he slammed the refrigerator door, now munching on a huge bowl of pickles.

“Yes! How does he even know about us at all? He’s just a human.”

I paused on that statement, as until only a few weeks ago, just a human was all I thought that I was.

Prehler thought for a moment, then gave in. “Sure, I can tell you.” Prehler walked to a ratty couch and flipped on a TV as he continued to munch. “He has a humongous icicle prison filled to the brim with victims, so he obviously has no trouble finding us wherever we are. How does he manage it you ask? Well, once I tell you it’ll be perfectly obvious. Have you heard that old proverb what is the only way to catch a gypsy?”

Yes, I had heard it. Another gypsy. The implication was obvious.

“He’s got an Incarn working for him,” I said. “Someone who can see us for what we are.”

Prehler frowned as he stuffed his face. “Well I wouldn’t use the word ‘working,’ and I’m not sure she’s an Incarn either. I’m not quite sure what she is. Nevertheless, she’s locked away in a vault even tighter than the one you were in.”

“Well, where is she?”

“Who said she was a she?”

“You did, just now.”

“I guess I did. Yes, it’s a ‘she.’ I’ve seen her once, briefly. Make no mistake, she’s in a living hell. At least time didn’t pass when you were frozen, but she doesn’t get to sleep. Her sole purpose in Dukane’s empire is to search for people like you, and when she finds one…”

“His mercenaries bust down their door,” the memory of my own experience still made my angry parts ache. “So, where is she? I presume she has a special room in yet another nefarious mountain lair?”

“That’s one more wrinkle,” Prehler said. “She could be anywhere in a half dozen places. Actually, your little adventure today might have been informative, as it showed that she is a lot closer to finding us than she has any right to. So if you’re serious about needing your peace and quiet, then we have to find where Dukane has her squirreled away, and take her out.”

I groaned. “Break into a top-secret hideout guarded by the very people we’re trying to stay away from?”

Prehler shrugged. “Sounds really easy doesn’t it? But that’s the only way to stop the black vans once and for all.”

I sighed. Well, that was what I had asked for.

“So, how do we find out where she is?”

Prehler ate a whole pickle in one bite. “I think it’s time you met someone.”