Booker didn't want to talk about the details in the bar. He said even walls had ears. Blake thought that he was being overly careful, given that they were alone with the bartender, who was sitting in one of the booths, earphones in and was watching some movie on his phone. He did not look like someone who was spying for whatever threat Booker was afraid of, but Blake let his friend have his way.

The garage Booker now owned didn't change much. The "office" in the back was a little, windowless room with boring grey walls, a desk, two old file cabinets and an even older, battered sofa in the corner. The old boss, Tony Moretti used to take his afternoon naps on it.

They sat at the desk.

'What I'm about to tell you is a secret. Nobody knows, not even Booker Jr, only me and Deja. Shit, I'm not sure if I…'

'It's okay, Booker. I want to help,' said Blake.

Siren cut through the silence of the night somewhere close. It sounded like an emergency car, but a different type of siren was following: police. The usual noises of Brooklyn.

The big man took a deep breath.

'Yeah, I know, I just… Shit. Okay, listen. If you hear something, like, about crime, do you have to report it?'

'I'm on a leave, Booker,' answered Blake. 'I don't have to do anything, but as a MAGE agent I have the right to interfere if I encounter something,' that was true: since the agents usually had a lot of free time between missions, the MAGE encouraged them to find noteworthy cases to help out. Blake himself liked to stay away from local problems as much as he could, but Sarah's first trip was always to the nearest police station to see if she could pick up a missing person case. She had a knack for them, but even so, Blake couldn't understand why she liked to solve them: an old case about a missing person rarely ended well.

'And you don't have to arrest someone if you hear that they did something, right?' asked Booker.

'No, I get to decide that, by my best judgement, but listen, brother, you have to pick a lane here. You need to decide whether you trust me or not. I get it, I was a cop, I am a different kind of cop now, it's weird.'

Booker sighed and leaned back on his rickety office chair, making it cry out for help. The sirens outside slowly faded away.

'It's not like I don't trust you…' the big man said. 'It's just hard to talk about this. You know me, I always took care of my own problems. But this shit… It's too much for me.'

Blake nodded.

'Just tell me. Did your son get in trouble with the police?

'He did, but that's not the biggest problem. He is involved with the Demigods,' answered Booker.

'Shit,' said Blake. Demigods was a local gang. They were mostly interested in drugs, they were ruthless and they only recruited sorcerers. They were around for a while now, even Blake's mother used to fight them back in the day.

'I know it's a shitty situation, man,' said Booker. 'I don't wanna use you or anything…'

'It's okay,' said Blake. 'So what, did they recruit your son?'

'They tried, C.J. said no. They weren't really keen to have him, thank God. But the little jerk has a secret girlfriend, well, not that much of a secret anymore… He said he was in love. Stupid little kid, only 16, he knows nothing about such things…'

'You were 16 when you started to date Deja, brother,' pointed out Blake.

'Yeah, but those were different times. Shut it, little man, I said they were different!' he raised his finger because Blake wanted to interrupt. 'The girl joined them, she isn't that smart either, I guess. You know the drill, dad left, mother is an addict, she needed money, the usual story. Then she lived to regret it, very soon. My stupid son, like the hero he is, went head first to the Demigods, demanding that they let out his girl. Now I ain't saying I'm proud of him, but he managed to beat up a few of them before they got him. He looked like shit after, but he got himself a deal: they said they see he has balls, so if he goes to steal something for them, they will let his girl go.'

'And the police caught him red-handed,' nodded Blake.

'Fucking idiot started to run… You never run, every brotha knows that, you stop, you shut up and you don't move. Not my idiot son, he ran for it, almost got shot but somehow escaped. Do I need to say that Demigods haven't released the girl? C. J. did good for them, they want him to break in again… Plus the pigs… Sorry, the cops are after him, too, they've got his description. It's a matter of time before one of the two groups will kill him,' by the end of the sentences Booker talked very fast, as if he wanted to be over it.

'I can help with the police… I can say he was helping me, they won't question an agent, and even if they follow up at the Agency, I can say he is my source against the gang…'' said Blake slowly, deep in thoughts. 'Demigods… That's the problem. Can we buy what they want? I have some money saved…'

'It's not about what they want,' shook his giant head Booker. 'Nah, you know those fuckers, if they got you once, they won't let you go. I guess old Emerson is still angry 'coz back in the day, after Mr Moretti retired I didn't sell the garage to him. He wanted it to be a front, or to repaint stolen cars, I dunno,' he sighed. 'Maybe I should have said yes. Does your MAGE have one of those witness protection programs? I don't wanna leave and it would fuck up the university for Booker Jr, but I don't see what else we could do.'

'We could take down the Demigods,' said Blake quietly.

'Yeah, sure,' scoffed Booker. 'Nobody could beat them in the last 40 years, not the police, not the fucking FBI, not even superheroes, but we will, an old car mechanic, an ex-cop on vacation and a stupid kid,' his grin slowly went away as he was looking at his friend. 'Hold on... Fuck, you not kidding, are you?'