“Rodgers,” Winnie gasped in a rush to hug her older brother. He let her, but didn’t return the embrace to comfort her.

  They agreed to meet outside the ASA office after they had both received the chilling phone call from Brenner telling them to come in as soon as they could. He didn’t give any details to either of them, just that they needed to come in quickly. He wanted to tell them what had happened in person, he felt like they were owed that much.

  “Do you know what’s going on? Did Brenner give you any details?” She pulled back and asked, searching her brother’s face for any sort of emotion.

  “No,” Rodgers replied shortly. He figured the less he said, the less she would be able to read into his thoughts.

  Winnie noted the bags under his eyes quickly and his short tone. While Rodgers typically didn’t say much to her, he would at least answer her in more than one word when they spoke in person.

  “You okay? Were you out late?”

  “Just worked a double,” Rodgers lied to her face with ease. Something she, herself, could never do. “Let’s just go in.”

  The building they stood in front of looked abandoned and unimpressive, one of those buildings people pass without a second thought because it wasn’t a towering skyscraper. It was Winnie that led the way into the adjacent parking garage, having been to this entrance of the ASA many times to meet up with their brother for lunch.

  Cars were parked here and there, signs of life in the private garage much unlike the building next door.

  They walked in silence until they reached an old, worn down door and, without hesitation, Winnie tugged it open, revealing the beautiful ASA lobby that was hidden within the abandoned building. While she usually took in the surroundings of the place, her eyes, instead, immediately fell on the now-empty glass office that used to belong to her brother. The lights were off and the windows were frosted over. Her heart dropped at the sight, her eyes glued to the office before Rodgers extended an olive branch to her by giving her a touch on her shoulder.

  The whole place felt frozen, like the agency itself had paused without Charlie, and for a moment WInnie started to put the pieces of this horrible puzzle together in her head.

  Brenner noticed them from his office just as they approached the front desk and he rose quickly, nearly jogging, to meet them. The now first-in-command agent approached the front desk just as Winnie and Rodgers’ temporary passes were being printed.

  “I’ll explain once we get you signed in, not out here.” Brenner spoke before Winnie could.

  She was annoyed to be silenced before she even had a chance to say hello but, given her surroundings, Winnie understood to a certain extent. She quietly followed Brenner up the couple of steps to his office as Rodgers trailed a couple of steps behind.

  Rodgers paused at the top of the stairs, looking over the lobby he rarely ever found himself in, before finally stepping past Brenner and into the office.

  “Take a seat, please,” Brenner closed the door and went to his chair. He sat as they got comfortable, pressing the button on his desk to frost his glass. He figured this was a conversation that would benefit from the privacy walls he rarely used.

  “You’re looking lovely today, your highness.” He looked at Winnie, smiling awkwardly.

  Winnie scrunched up her face as Rodgers raised a single brow out of suspicion. Brenner’s eyes flicked from the princess to Rodgers as he cleared his throat.

  “Rodgers.” Brenner greeted him, barely even wanting to draw attention to the boy in the room.

  Rodgers brought back his head slightly at this disdain, unable to stop himself from letting out a little chuckle even with the given circumstance he was pretending he knew nothing about.

  “Brenner, please, what happened to Charlie?” Winnie asked, leaning forwards in the chair towards him.

  “Right, well, let me put it to you this way. Uh,” He thought about how to start, tapping his fingers on his desk. Rodgers noticed that his hair looked slicker than what it normally did, like Brenner had been sweating nonstop since he had arrested Charlie, because he hadn’t.

  “Charlie is in a whole mess of trouble.” Brenner began, only glancing at Rodgers as the ex-prince rolled his eyes and just sank into his seat, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket.

  Rodgers could tell this guy wasn’t used to giving the bad news or press conferences, or maybe even talking, in general. He assumed that was more Charlie’s job while Brenner looked to be more muscle than carefully placed together brains.

  “I’ll just come out with it,” Brenner said, still tapping the desk for some form of comfort. “This morning, Aberneth was found dead in his home and foul play was almost immediately suspected.”

  Winnie listened intently as Brenner recounted the events as best he could. The call he made to Charlie, the file locking, and eventually the arrest warrant; Brenner told them everything he knew.

  The two of them hung onto each word in their own way at his retelling. By the end, Winnie sat pale at the edge of her seat and Rodgers sat still and stone-faced, still slumped down.

  When the two said nothing, digesting what had been relayed to them, Brenner only continued to where they were now.

  “We don’t know how to move forward yet. The team’s doing everything we can to get to the bottom of it. We aren’t allowed to see the case details, but there has to be a thread to pull somewhere. We just have to find it.”

  Winnie brought a hand to her lips as she thought things through. She looked to Rodgers, hoping for a reaction, but was met with nothing. Turning back to Brenner, Winnie spoke up for the first time since the events were told.

  “Can we see him?”

  “He’s still being processed, so, no, not at the moment.” Brenner shook his head, not softening the answer like Charlie or Jenna would have.

  “What's the name of the internal affairs man?” Rodgers finally decided to speak, wanting to ensure that what happened was indeed linked to what he overheard. He wasn’t about to go taking any chances if he didn’t need to.

  “Ralph,” Brenner answered, suspicion lacing his tone.

  “What’s he look like?” Rodgers remained expressionless, not caving to Brenner’s tone.

  “Skinny guy. Brown hair. Personality of a wooden plank,” Brenner replied curtly. He decided to press Rodgers, Charlie's final words to him ringing in his ears. “Why?”

  Rodgers shrugged, wanting to roll the accusations off of his back. He knew Brenner was smart enough to keep an eye on him for that question alone, but Rodgers wasn’t about to just hand over his secrets. “People frequent my bar, maybe he’s one of them. Just want to know who to look out for.”

  “Have you seen him?” Brenner didn’t lighten up.

  “Maybe.” Rodgers didn’t even shift at the questioning, “I need time to sort through my memories.”

  Brenner tightened his mouth and turned his attention away from the uncooperative twin brother. He had known only what Charlie told him, which were not great things.

  “What are the next steps then?” Winnie asked, noting that her brother’s question was strange being that he hadn’t said a thing before that.

  “It’s like I said; none of us even know where to start with no information.” He knew that wasn’t much of an answer, but it was the truth.

  “Right, well, who knows so far?” Winnie wanted to be sure that this was kept quiet for as long as it could be.

  “I took Charlie down through the back elevator. Minimal people saw but word will travel fast. Out of respect, I think it’ll stay within the ASA,” Brenner paused for a moment as he thought about it, changing his answer, “at least, I hope the Cloenian press doesn’t get wind of it before I’ve got answers.”

  While that wasn’t very encouraging to her, Winnie tried to remain positive. “Well, like you said, there must be something. Now that we're caught up, we can stick around to help.”

  Rodgers shook his head, but Brenner spoke first. “I think that’d raise too much suspicion. It’s best if you leave quickly and we communicate outside the office.”

  Both men stood, but Winnie stayed seated.

  “Absolutely not.” She protested immediately.

  “Winnie,” Rodgers said, tugging her up by the arm. “Let’s go. We can’t help much right now.”

  “He’s going to prison, Ro,” she firmly spoke but rose to her feet at his tugs. “A prison that he’s helped put people in. Who knows what’s waiting for him down there, they could kill him before he even takes the stand in court.”

  “Some are awaiting trial down there too. No one’s going to risk their chances of a good sentence by doing anything stupid.” Rodgers tried to reason with her.

  “And the others?” she asked, holding her ground.

  “He’ll be under close watch,” Brenner assured as Rodgers led her to the door.

  “Nothing will happen.”

  “So he has a cell to himself?” Winnie demanded, stopping in her tracks to stare at Brenner.

  Brenner’s face flattened at her energy and her sudden staring, not expecting her to be so direct.

  “Well, I haven’t checked, but I’m sure they wouldn’t put him with anyone he arrested.”

  Winnie wriggled free of Rodgers’ grasp as the agent spoke, stepping towards Brenner with purpose.

  “I want to see him as soon as I can. You owe me that if I’m not allowed to stay.”

  Brenner met her gaze against his will. He wanted to tell her Charlie probably didn’t want visitors, but he couldn’t. Not to her. Not when he knew about how she cared for Charlie.

  “I’ll message you when the time’s right.”

  “Good.” She left, feeling victorious and half nauseous.

  Her exit left Brenner and Rodgers standing alone in the office. Just as Rodgers turned to leave after his sister, Brenner took this time to call him out.

  “Why'd Charlie say to find you as I was handcuffing him?”

  Rodgers froze. His eyes widened slightly and, had he been facing Brenner, that probably would have given him away right then and there. He turned slightly back to the man, but not enough to meet his eyes.

  “Wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

  “He sure thought it was important enough to say.” Brenner stared him down, not caring what Rodgers’ status once was. Right now, Brenner was nearly sure he was a criminal.

  “I don’t have anything to help you. Now, If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my job.” Rodgers turned and walked out of the office, outwardly calm but spinning with nerves once again on the inside.

  While Rodgers was walking down the steps, Winnie was already handing back her badge to the front desk. Looking up, she watched her brother descend the stairs and come towards her before her gaze shifted to Brenner in his doorway. He looked displeased, staring at the back of the bartender’s head.

  ”What took you so long?” She questioned as her eyes stayed on Brenner before shifting them back to Rodgers.

  “Nothing, just didn’t storm out like you.” He yanked the badge off his jean jacket and handed it over.

  “I didn’t storm out.” She countered as they moved to walk out together.

  “You kind of did,” Rodgers muttered to her.

  “Agree to disagree.” Winnie pointed up her nose, walking in stride next to her much taller brother as if she was the same height.

  While headed for the exit, Rodgers passed a woman he could have sworn he knew. His head followed her as she passed him, those dark eyes and hair flashing him back to the night on the train that he could only just barely piece together in his faulty memory. Much to his own surprise, he stopped, and turned slightly towards her as she went to the desk.

  Winnie took notice of his behavior immediately. She craned her neck to watch the woman that caught his attention.

  “You know her?” Winnie questioned, studying her brother's face closely.

  “I don’t know,” he barely whispered, watching the back of the woman’s head from where he stood.

  “Let’s just get out of here,” He turned, gently placing his hand on Winnie’s back to force her to keep moving and not go after the woman he had just been staring at.

  “But–” She turned, wanting to stop and go speak to her but she did cave, allowing her brother to lead her.

  The two left the ASA, Rodgers nearly rushing them out of there once Winnie gave in. He didn’t want to stick around to see if the mystery woman knew him or not; not in there at least. If anything came out about him inside that building with Brenner so close, he was sure Brenner would use it as an excuse to arrest him right along with Charlie and he figured he would be led to questioning instead of a cell, first.

  Once back on the street, Rodgers’ guard dropped slightly while he turned to face his sister.

  “Alright, Winn—“

  She was standing there with her arms crossed and Rodgers froze for the second time. His heart rate immediately soared upwards to the point where it made him dizzy. She didn’t look too pleased with him and he felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

  “You need to follow up on whatever you were hinting at with that Ralph guy and whatever Brenner stopped you for,” she said firmly.

  “I don’t, It’s probably nothing.” Rodgers shook his head, trying to think of a quick lie and failing.

  “Stop,” she cut in, anger rising. “Whatever you know, I don’t care how you get the information to Brenner, just get it to him.”

  ”I have no information, Winnie.” Rodgers attempted to plead his fake innocence.

  “They know nothing, and I know you know something.”

  “I don’t know anything.”

  “If you don’t do this for him, Rodgers, I may never forgive you,” Winnie took a step forward, cutting him off. “I can forgive a lot of things; I can forgive your lies about your brew usage, I can forgive you never paying me back, I can even forgive you for leaving us, but if you let him rot in there for something we both know he didn’t do—“ Silence hung between them for a moment. It’s almost as if she didn’t want to say what she was going to say. “Then you’re dead to me. Forever.”

  That landed hard and she knew it by the subtle change on her brother’s face. There was some guilt that she had to swallow over what she had just said out loud, but she meant it.

  He’d flaked on her dinners, ignored her texts, rarely spoke to her in a nice tone, but she was the only family still willing to have him in her life. She wanted to help him instead of just shame him for his behavior. Rodgers knew that if he told her everything, she’d be the one to understand, to care. Winnie knew nothing of his life while he was missing and yet she still made it clear that she was there if he needed it, he just never took her up on it.

  “Do the right thing. Just this once,” she begged in a soft tone.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  When he finally got the nerve to look up from his feet, her eyes were still locked on him, unwavering.

  “Fine,” he muttered, not really feeling like he had much of a choice in the matter.

  She moved like she wanted to hug him, wanting to give him some comfort, but then she brought back in her arms and left him there without another word. All Rodgers could do was watch as his sister turned and disappeared into the sidewalk crowd, leaving him with his thoughts.

  Those thoughts that Winnie put into his head clouded him the entire subway ride to the bar. So much so that he didn’t even remember taking or delivering the first few orders upon his return.

  He was lost as he wiped down the bartop, a crumb on the far end catching his attention as the rest of the world faded away. He watched as it sat alone, the rest of whatever meal it belonged to was probably long gone. He had the bar rag in one hand, but he didn’t clean it. He only stared at it while his thoughts drifted to a plan forming at the very edges of his mind.

  He thought about the free clinic Giovanni had used to corner Rodgers in. The whole third floor of that building was just offices for the doctors but, more importantly, Giovanni’s locked office was there. He had thought about breaking in before, to get the deed to the restaurant and set them free. Ultimately, he decided against the plan due to its ramifications, as Henderson put it, and tucked the heist away in his mind.

  If there was any paper trail for this framing, it would have to be there.

  Only, Rodgers didn’t know anything about computers. While he could pick a lock with ease, his new plan stopped dead in its tracks with the computer. He barely knew how to work his phone.

  It was as if his ears were clogged, his brain pounding in his head as he thought of ways to outsmart everyone. Too bad he wasn’t smart or this would be a lot easier.

  “Kid!” Henderson boomed and Rodgers was drawn back into reality, spinning around to the kitchen window.

  “Jeez! I’ve been calling you for a minute now.” Henderson pointed his finger to the plates on the ledge, “table seven is ready.”

  “Okay, okay,” Rodgers threw down the rag into a bucket and scooped up the two dishes. Within minutes, the plates were put down with care at table seven.

  Rodgers immediately went back to the bar with that glossy look still stamped onto his face. He picked up the rag he had no plans on doing anything with as Henderson caught his attention once again.

  “Psst,” Henderson called to him through the window. Rodgers looked to his friend as he motioned his head for Rodgers to come to the kitchen.

  Annoyed, Rodgers pushed his way through the doors. “Listen, I just didn’t hear you. I’m not drunk—“

  “Is this about the other night?”

  “What?” Rodgers was taken off guard.

  “The other night, is all this,” he motioned to the entirety of Rodgers' body language, “about the other night?”

  “I mean, in a way,” he leaned against the counter next to the stove and rubbed his face.

  “What did the ASA have to say this morning? Was it about the horseman?” Henderson pressed him.

  Rodgers sucked in a breath, “Charlie was framed for murder and his partner was handed an arrest warrant from possibly the same guy that was in that booth with Giovanni. That’s what I was brought there for.”

  “Do they know he was in the bar?”

  “Not that I could really tell.”

  “Then I don’t know if that’s got anything to do with us, so long as they didn’t trace anything back here.” Henderson was quick with his answer.

  Rodgers’ face was deadpanned at his conclusion. He knew that the older man didn’t listen in on Giovanni’s meeting, but the other night was far different than any other meeting that they experienced.

  “A horseman was in our restaurant.” Rodgers desperately tried to get the chef to see his view.

  Henderson shook his head. “My restaurant.”

  “The first horseman of the apocalypse and a corrupted ASA agent was in—“ Rodgers emphasized his next word, “your, restaurant and you think that has nothing to do with my brother being framed for murder?”

  “Correlation, not causation.” Henderson went back to his stove.

  Rodgers flicked his wrist and shut the open flame down. Without moving his head, Henderson side-eyed the server.

  “Have some reasoning, Henderson.” Rodgers kept his angry voice low, “I have to tell Brenner what happened.”

  Henderson pointed the spatula at him. “He can sense the signature and come here after he figures it out on his own.”

  “They know nothing,” Rodgers begged again.

  “We know nothing either, remember?” Henderson countered.

  “They could never piece this together. A horseman, the first horseman, was in the restaurant; this is beyond us. You know as well as I do that Charlie was taken down immediately for a reason.”

  “So you think you can just swoop in and replace him?”

  “No,” Rodgers definitely did not want the responsibility of that, “but we have to help in any way we can. I’m certainly not fit to save the end of the world, he is.”

  “We,” Henderson motioned between the two of them, “aren’t going to be much help and, not to mention, we could incriminate ourselves in the process. Especially you, with your late night outings for him.”

  “I know the risks and I took those jobs out of desperation,” Rodgers spoke firmly, “but I’m not going to be able to stop whatever is coming. He could, his team could, we can’t.”

  “It’s like you said, those forums were all cult tactics. I see that now.” Henderson shook his head.

  “You’re not understanding the gravity of–” Rodgers was cut off by both their phones buzzing at the same time. They both reached for the phones, not knowing if it was Giovanni or worse.

  It ended up the latter: or worse.

  “Prince of Fisher Arrested for Murder,” Henderson read the news title out loud.

  “Cloenia knows,” Rodgers whispered as he looked over the article title and then back up to Henderson’s face. He could see it all sinking in on the chef’s expressions now.

  He waited a moment, letting Henderson read a little before the man clicked his phone shut.

  “You see?” Rodgers whispered, “This couldn’t have broken this fast if it wasn’t a set up. Let me speak to them.”

  Henderson looked to his stove, around his kitchen, then to Rodgers. He stared at him for a while, Rodgers not liking how intensely he looked at him, like he was viewing him for the final time. Eventually, after locking eyes with him, Henderson spoke.

  “We don’t know if this is even what they were talking about. If it’s unrelated and we go showing our hand, it could cause a bigger mess. You wouldn’t know that because you suck at cards and refuse to practice.”

  Rodgers shook his head, ignoring the card comment.

  “I listened in. This is related.”

  “Rodgers!” Henderson shouted and the restaurant went quiet. The chef quickly popped his head out the window, “apologize for that, folks.” Henderson pulled his head back in and went to an angry whisper, grabbing the ex-prince by his shoulders.

  “What is wrong with you? Are you trying to get us killed? I told you to cut that out and look at what you’ve done now.”

  “A horseman was here, Henderson, what did you want me to do?”

  “What I told you to do, not listen. It’s none of our business.”

  Rodgers wriggled free from his grasp. “I don’t take what I did back.”

  Henderson just shook his head and went back to his pan, as if he was too frustrated with Rodgers to speak. It didn’t last long, Rodgers shut the stove off with his powers again. He would demand attention if he wasn’t going to get it fairly. Henderson looked at him but before he could speak, Rodgers spoke first.

  “I had every opportunity to stop this from happening and I didn’t. Someone could still be alive if we did something, if I did something, but we did what we’ve been doing for two years. We stayed silent and we let the end of the world come crawling through our doors. We allowed the one team that could’ve saved this place to be crippled. There are a lot of things I regret in this life, but I won’t make this be one of them. We need to stop being cowards and finally rewrite what we’ve done.”

  Henderson grimaced at being called a coward for protecting his restaurant and Rodgers. “We did what we had to in order to stay alive.”

  “And the ASA will take that into consideration if we cooperate.”

  Henderson eyed Rodgers up and down. “You do what you want but leave me out of this. This is not my fight.”

  “I will,” Rodgers left before he could change his mind. He had hoped for an outcome that had Henderson by his side, but it seemed there was no changing the chef’s mind. Rodgers went back to the bar and took his phone out of his pocket. He was going to text his sister to ask what Brenner’s phone number was, but he was met with a text from her that already had it.

  No other pleasantries, just the phone number that was sent an hour ago.

  He plugged the number into his phone and shot out a text message. He had asked Brenner to meet him across the street once Rodgers’ shift ended. He saw chat bubbles appear from Brenner’s side, only to have them disappear, he got a thumbs up sent instead.

  It was about six in the evening when the patron bell rang out. Rodgers was handing off a plate to their only customer when he instinctively called out, “Welcome in. I’ll be right with you.”

  “Thanks,” Brenner’s voice replied and Rodgers snapped his head over to the door quickly. He really had to start looking before speaking.

  He excused himself from the customer before he rushed over to the side of the counter closest to the door. “What the hell? I told you after my shift.”

  “Yeah, well, we needed fresh air.”

  “We?”

  Justin came into the restaurant then, talking as he walked. “The meter already had a couple of minutes on it. Must be my lucky day.”

  Rodgers tightened his hands on the counter into fist. “Why are both of you here? I said after.”

  “If you have information, I want it when I want it, which is now.” Brenner informed.

  “This information comes from within these walls,” Rodgers motioned around, “think of the trouble I could get into for having two agents in here.”

  “Then I won’t be an agent for the next hour,” Brenner smiled and the two strolled past Rodgers, taking a seat at the bar.

  “Now we’re paying customers.”

  Rodgers’ eyes rolled, he was starting to reconsider his good deeds. “Not if I don’t take your order, you’re not.”

  “One beer you have on tap, any one, and,” Brenner looked to Justin.

  “One coke,” Justin ordered as he shifted in his seat.

  Rodgers stared at both of them for a long while. He wanted to kick himself for sending that text when he knew he should’ve waited.

  “Get to it,” Brenner waved him on.

  “Fine,” Rodgers took a deep calming breath in and a big breath out before moving to get them what they ordered.

  He put the beer down first then the coke, pressing his lips together. “There.”

  “Now talk,” Brenner pressed.

  “Nuh uh,” Rodgers shook his head, “we do this my way. My bar, my rules.”

  “It’s my bar and my restaurant,” Henderson corrected from behind the kitchen window. He had been watching since the two came in. He wasn’t pleased with Rodgers, and Rodgers could tell by the look on his face.

  “What a lovely bar it is,” Brenner gave him a half wave and a smile. Henderson kept his face blank.

  “He–“ Rodgers looked back to Henderson then back to the other two, “—would like to remain completely out of this.”

  “That’s fine, I can make that happen.” Brenner paused to take a sip of his beer. “So long as you’re helpful.”

  While Rodgers knew that remark was slightly threatening, he still was going to tell them what he knew for Winnie’s sake alone. He picked up his trusty washcloth and began to clean up. “Have you made any progress on the case?”

  Brenner caught the drift that Rodgers was trying to make it so they weren’t actually speaking. He turned to face Justin, “no, we haven’t. Not on Charlie’s or Zeken’s.”

  It was disappointing to Rodgers that America’s best ASA team had nothing at all. “Have you seen the man that did Charlie’s case around the office?”

  “Ralph?” Brenner sounded like his name was poison rolling off his tongue.

  “He’s been around,” Justin spoke to make it seem like he was talking back to Brenner. “Probably will stay around until the trial.”

  “Tell us what you want to tell us. Isn’t that why we came?” Brenner got impatient.

  Brenner didn’t agree with Charlie and Winnie just letting Rodgers back into their life as easily as they did, Rodgers knew that. Any time he had seen Brenner, he made it very clear that there was no trust or even a hint of tolerance between them.

  “May I remind you, Brenner,” Rodgers’ tried to relax his sharp tone, “I called you to meet after my shift ended. We could’ve had a normal conversation if you just did that.”

  “Just get on with it, spit it out.” Brenner sneered.

  “I might know where we can get the information you need to prove he’s innocent.” Rodgers knew Justin through the news, and he knew that Justin could get into that computer.

  Brenner and Justin stayed looking at each other, passing a quick uncertain look between them.

  “Continue,” Brenner muttered.

  “It’s risky and it’s not exactly going to be legal, but I can’t get in and get out without eyes on me and I don’t know how to get into the computer.”

  That was something the two of them had to think over. They could lose their jobs and Brenner wasn’t sure he wanted to put that much trust into the hands of someone like Rodgers.

  But, they were so desperate, they needed this lead.

  “I’m willing to take the chance. I can get you the eyes you need using my own equipment, not ASA tech, and I can download the data you need by walking you through it, you just need an earpiece.” Justin spoke first.

  Surprise struck across Brenner’s face as Justin was willing to throw his career away to get this information for Charlie without much thought. Justin was the only person on the team that Charlie, himself, had picked, not Abe. He worked hard to prove himself to everyone on the team but never Charlie; he had full confidence in him from day one despite his young age.

  “If we get caught, the evidence could be obsolete in the eyes of the law,” Brenner reminded. He hadn’t decided whether he was in or out yet.

  “Let me do the lifting, Justin do the looking, you, Brenner, do the driving. At the end, after we look it over and confirm he’s innocent, I will walk into the ASA and personally hand the data to Jenna or Chelsea,” Rodgers knew that this could cost him his freedom or even his life if Giovanni found out. Especially over what he was about to say next. “I’ll testify against them.”

  Brenner and Justin both snapped their heads over to Rodgers. Rodgers had even surprised himself by saying what he said. Maybe Winnie got to him more than he cared to admit. Rodgers continued to talk to get them on board together, “I’ll tell them everything I’ve witnessed and participated in leading up to it. I’ll even consent to being placed under a truth serum. I just can’t do it alone.”

  The wizards that worked for the ASA STEM department had made the serum a couple of decades ago. It lasted usually for one hour, allowing complete transparency in the courts. It was typically very difficult to get anyone to consent to it, especially criminals that were already hard to convince to take the stand. Plus, since it was in short supply, they typically only used it for bigger cases.

  “Why?” Brenner narrowed his eyes, “all this for someone you supposedly hate?”

  Rodgers' eyes finally moved to meet Brenner’s. His tone was serious, but a little cocky. “Two nights ago the first horseman of the apocalypse entered this very bar. You, and your team, missed the signature.”

  “That’s impossible, Justin?” Brenner looked to Justin to see if he knew about it.

  Justin slowly shook his head, looking concerned. “no, we didn’t catch it. This is the first I’m hearing about it.”

  Brenner closed his mouth into a tight line. He thought for a moment, his mind shifting to the hellhound.

  “I don’t fully believe you, Rodgers. I will be checking into this before I decide.”

  “I prefer that you do and that you have it on record. I don’t understand it all just yet,” Rodgers shook his head, “this guy, Ralph, he was here with Giovanni and the horseman. Usually we are required to drown out their conversation with some sort of hearing protection. Given who I was serving, I listened in.”

  “You found out the plot that way.” Brenner concluded. “Why didn’t you say anything to us?”

  “I figured you had the capacity to catch it without me having to incriminate myself, then Winnie had to go and make a big deal about telling you what I know. Plus, something isn’t sitting right, they wouldn’t need a horseman for just this.”

  “Winnie knows?” Brenner looked concerned.

  Rodgers shook his head. “She doesn’t, she only figured out that I wasn’t telling you everything.”

  Relief fell over Brenner’s face. He nodded, going back to pretending to converse with only Justin. “Then what’s your plan?”

  “I think the information we need is sitting in a free clinic on 5th and 127th street.”

  Confusion washed over the two agents’ faces as they looked at each other.

  “Isn’t that the free clinic run by a bunch of wizards?” Brenner said.

  “Giovanni’s main hunting ground, he’s the wizard that runs the place,” Rodgers explained, “It’s where he found the both of us.”

  “Both?” Brenner asked before looking at Rodgers, then to Henderson in the kitchen window. The chef didn’t pick up his head. “I’ve heard of him but it never came to our team to solve. Wasn’t credible information.”

  “I went for, um, some testing a couple of times. He made an effort to talk to me after my second time coming. I took some money from him.” Rodgers paused at remembering the disgust that could never quite wash off his body. He moved on, “Henderson had borrowed money to keep this place afloat. He matched us up to pay off our debts together with the restaurant.”

  “What does this hunting ground have to do with Charlie?” Justin asked, looking back to Brenner.

  “It’s where Giovanni has his main office. It’s on the third floor. I’ve been inside the office only once, when I first met Henderson and was told to stick with him.”

  “If there’s plans that link Giovanni to the horseman and Ralph,” Justin pieced together.

  “It’ll be there,” Brenner completed the thought, nodding to the tech specialist. “How do we get in then?”

  “I’ll go in for a test like I used to and lift the badge off the front desk admin’s shirt. I’ll wait for a couple of minutes before heading to the bathroom to change into scrubs that I’ll hide in their old toilet tanks. Once dressed, I’ll start to work my way up to the office. I’ll let Justin walk me through it from there.”

  “How do I know this isn’t for something else and this hasn’t been a lie?” Brenner didn’t seem to like this plan, it placed too much trust in Rodgers.

  As he turned from Justin to look at Rodgers, a glare shot his way from the bartender. Rodgers didn’t say a word, he was trying his hardest not to lash out at Brenner right then and there. With a breath, Brenner tried to reason to lessen the tension.

  “If there's something when we check the power signature, we’ll show. If not, we won’t. Just give me a time and day to show.”

  Upon hearing that Brenner was onboard, sort of, Rodgers tried not to let the relief show. “It has to begin at exactly 2:08 pm, two days from now; Sunday.”

  Justin scrunched his face up at the peculiar time, “Why 2:08?”

  “Giovanni picks up his granddaughter down the block at his son’s house, he leaves his office at 2pm. Typically doesn’t let anyone keep him and he’s out of sight eight minutes later.”

  “What’s his return window?” Brenner asked, once again facing Justin.

  “He usually spends the rest of his day with her, but it’s best to just get in and out.”

  “You’ll need tech a lot better than some random USB drive,” Justin shook his head in thought, “Instead of finding certain documents, copying the entire desktop leaves us with a better shot of finding everything. We can’t risk not getting everything.”

  “Do you have what we need?” Rodgers looked up from the bar top.

  “I do, look in your mailbox tomorrow after 5am. I’ll drop it off.”

  “I can send you my address—”

  “No need, I know where everyone lives.” Silence filled the three of them… Rodgers didn’t exactly like that answer.

  Brenner threw down his card. “Sunday, 2:08 pm. Get me my check.”

  “On the house,” Henderson spoke up from the kitchen but turned away immediately. Rodgers let a smile crack in the corners of his mouth. Maybe the old man was supportive after all.

  The card was placed back into Brenner’s wallet as he got up. “Appreciate the time.”

  “Have a good day.” Rodgers nodded and instinctively spoke.

  They were about to exit before Brenner turned around and came back to the bar top. This time he stood right across from Rodgers and leaned in. They were nearly nose to nose which caused Rodgers’ to lean back in fear.

  “No guns.”

  “What?”

  “No weapons, no guns, no powers—nothing. Clean, in and out. Do you understand?”

  Rodgers looked deep into Brenner’s eyes. They held each other's gaze for a while before Rodgers nodded his head silently and slowly.

  “Good,” Brenner pushed away from the bar. “Sunday, 2:08pm.”

  Rodgers lowered his shoulders as the two left. He looked back to Henderson in the kitchen window.

  “Don’t get yourself killed for this, kid.”

  Rodgers looked down at the same lonesome crumb he had yet to clean up.

  “I’ll try.”