Author: John Van Stry
Date: 2016-12-18 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Urban Fantasy
Description: Being on loan to the FBI has its advantages, and for the first time in far too long, Mark is taking a few weeks off with his family. But he's barely gotten started when he finds his brother unwittingly entangled in a mess that can be traced directly back to an attempt on Mark's life some months ago. An attempt that left something unexpected behind. And now that one loose end has started to fray into many and Mark must hurry to tie them all up, before unscrupulous drug dealers, power hungry witches, and even unwitting competitors of his brother's biotech company, unleash a power that could dest

Loose Ends

(A Hammer Commission Novel)

Published by John Van Stry

Copyright 2016 John Van Stry

Copyright John Van Stry 2016

Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author.

Any resemblance between characters in this story and people living or dead, or other actual organizations, companies, establishments, places, or things, is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction created by the author and the author retains all rights to the material in this story.

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or copies given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

P84203

Hammer Commission Series:

The Hammer Commission

The King of Las Vegas

Wolf Killer

Loose Ends

Portals of Infinity Series:

Portals of Infinity: Champion for Hire

Portals of Infinity: The God Game

Portals of Infinity: Of Temples and Trials

Portals of Infinity: The Sea of Grass

Portals of Infinity: Demigod and Deities

Portals of Infinity: Reprisal

Portals of Infinity: Kaiju

I would like to thank the following people for their support:

Sean Kennedy via Patreon

Andrew Waters via Patreon

Chad Glidden for his support with everything else

1: Brookhaven, Long Island, New York

2: Undisclosed Location

3: Thomas's House, Brookhaven New York

4: LevGen Labs, Brookhaven, New York

5: Mom's House, Brookhaven, New York

6: Portland International Airport, Oregon

7: Somewhere west of St. Helens, Oregon

8: NE Stark, Portland

9: FBI Offices, Portland

10: Outside Klamath Falls, Oregon

11: Enroute to Klamath Falls, Oregon

12: Pack Outfitters, Oregon

13: Lake Steak House, Klamath Falls

14: Fremont National Forest, Oregon

15: Bly, Oregon

16: Route 97, Oregon

17: 20,000ft over Oregon

18: Route Twenty-six, Government Camp, Oregon

19: Route Twenty-six, West of Mount Hood, Oregon

20: FBI Field Office, Portland,, Oregon

21: Central Valley, Northern California.

22: BioGenTek, Northern  California

23: San Benito, Guatemala

24: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

25: Guatemala City, Guatemala

26: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

27: Drug Processing Facility, Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

28: Drug Processing Facility, Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

29: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

30: San Benito, Guatemala

New York

1: Brookhaven, Long Island, New York

The phone rang and grumbling Mark opened his eyes and grabbed it off the nightstand.

"Hello?" he said as Hope mumbled something in her sleep and snuggled up against him.

"So, have you told your mother yet?"

Mark yawned, "Judith, it's six in the morning, on a Saturday no less. Couldn't you have waited?"

"Oops, sorry, Mark, I still get the time zone thing mixed up. But as long as I have you, have you told your mother yet?"

"You know, it's not really any of your business," Mark sighed.

"Yeah, but you know how I like to make things my business," Judith laughed on the other end of the phone. "So, what's it going to be, are you going to show up? Or do I have to make a phone call?"

"You don't even have my mother's number," Mark said, "so I'm not worried."

"This is your last warning, Mark!" Judith teased. "I have your mother's number right in my hand, and I'm more than willing to call her, this instant."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Mark yawned and hung up on her.

Sitting up, Mark stretched and put his hand on the receiver for the landline sitting on the nightstand. The instant he felt it shiver he picked it up and put the receiver to his ear.

"Why, hello, Judith! How nice of you to call," he snickered.

"You're at your mother's house, aren't you?" Judith laughed.

"Yup."

"Did you tell her?"

Mark looked over at the bed, Hope, Faith, Charity, and Helena were all there, Helena had her eyes open and was looking at him curiously.

"Tell her what?" Mark teased back.

Judith sighed, "Well obviously she didn't take it too bad, if you're all staying at her house. Wait a second, she's not in the hospital, or dead, is she?"

Mark laughed, "No, she was a little shocked at first, but she figured if the Church didn't fire me over it, it must be okay."

"What did she say about the kids?"

"We showed her some pictures, I didn't want to turn this into a mob scene," Mark confessed, waving at Helena to go back to sleep.

Helena yawned, nodded and curled up against Charity.

"Well, at least she knows about them. So, was she mad at you for not telling her?"

"Yeah, a little. But well, she understood that I was just a little bit afraid of what she would think."

"What did the rest of the family say about it?"

"Eh, my sister isn't here, she's off working on some fashion shoot in Milan, but I think my brother might be just the tiniest bit jealous."

"Isn't he the rich one with his own company?"

"Yup, I think he's now working on his second hundred million dollars," Mark chuckled. "So, how are the new recruits working out?"

"Pretty well, actually. You know, it's kind of funny to be considered an 'old hand' already. They even have me teaching a few classes."

"Well, you helped me kill how many devils? Odds are they'll never meet anyone with that level of experience."

"Until they meet you, of course."

"And who knows when that will be? It's always best that they learn from someone who's been there. And you've been there.

"Anyway, I'm going back to bed. Bye, Judith."

"Bye, Mark!"

"Aren't you glad you beat her to the punch," Hope mumbled and put an arm around Mark's waist. "Now come back to bed."

"Eh, I'm not tired."

"Neither am I," Hope purred.

It was a couple of hours later when Mark padded into the kitchen, wearing only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Faith was cooking breakfast and his mother was sitting at the table talking to Helena.

Mark smiled, it was nice to see his mother was taking well to the girls, he'd worried about this day for so many years, and now that it had come, well his mother was dealing with it a lot better than he had thought she would.

"Morning, Mom," he said and bent over to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You look cold," she said to him.

"Eh, I'm okay," Mark said sitting down and taking the plate Faith handed him.

"Where's the other two? Hope and Charity?" she asked him.

"Oh, they're in the shower still, they'll be here in a few minutes," he smiled and started eating.

"Well obviously you're able to keep them all happy," his mother said, causing him to choke on his food as Helena laughed.

"Mother!" Mark complained getting his food back under control.

"What, you think you invented sex?" she said with a smirk.

"Well, no. Still, it's not exactly something I expect to hear from you!"

"Eh, you're a married man now. I was a bit worried when you came home with four wives, but from the sounds of things this morning; you're definitely not having trouble pleasing them."

"I'd have thought all the children he's given us would have proved that," Helena pointed out.

"Don't encourage her," Mark sighed to Helena.

"Well, you know what they say," Mark's mother said, smiling, "hearing is believing!"

Faith started to snicker then as Hope and Charity came into the kitchen, dressed the same as Mark was.

"What's funny?" Charity asked.

"Apparently we were just a little bit noisy," Mark sighed.

"I thought my daughter was a loud one when she came here with her husband," Mark's mom continued, "but you two put her to shame."

"That's 'cause Mark's the best," Charity said without batting an eye and taking a plate of food from Faith and sitting down at the table.

"Yup, you definitely should be proud of your son," Hope said taking a second plate and sitting down as well. "No way would a single woman, or even two, be able to handle a man like him!"

Mark could feel his face burning and wondered if hiding under the table was an option as Helena looked at him and snickered loudly.

"Hey, Mark! You ready to go?"

Mark sighed as his brother Thomas came in the front door.

"Saved by the bell," he smiled, then raised his voice, "Just a minute Thomas, let me get changed."

Standing up he gave his mother a hug, then each of the girls a kiss.

"I'd ask you all to stay out of trouble, but I suspect that's hopeless," Mark said shaking his head.

"Try not to make your brother jealous," his mother told him.

"How could I? He's richer than I'll ever be."

"Don't be too sure about that," she said motioning to the girls, who all beamed rather happily at the compliment.

Mark chuckled as he went to go change his clothes. She may have had a point at that.

"So, what's it like working for the FBI?" Tomas asked as they drove to his office.

"They definitely get a lot nicer toys than I get working for the Church, that's for sure," Mark chuckled.

"I saw that press conference you did, that was pretty impressive. And that case you worked on? I had no idea you got involved in murder cases."

Mark shrugged in his seat, looking out the window at the traffic as they went down the road. It was a lot more built up here than in Oregon, but a lot less than in DC.

"Eh, I get sent all over the world on all sorts of things."

"Still, you wouldn't believe the phone calls I got from all my old school friends from back in the neighborhood. Quite a few of my employees were also pretty impressed.

"I mean really, how many people take down a serial killer?"

"Well, it is a little different being in the public spotlight for a change," Mark admitted. This was probably the first time he'd ever seen his brother impressed by anything he'd done.

"So, you how long are you going to be working for the FBI?"

"I honestly don't know. Mostly I'm there for political reasons, but the truth is they do need my help. I suspect they'll hold onto me for as long as they can."

"Really?" Tomas said and glanced at him, "I'm kind of surprised by that, I didn't think the work you had been doing before was all that important."

Mark chuckled, "Yeah, but the folks at the FBI know better."

"So, if they want you so much, why not go work for them, instead?"

"Really want to tell your friends that your brother is a fed that badly?" Mark teased.

Tomas laughed, "Well, it sure beats telling them that he recovers stolen goods for the Church. I'd think the pay and the retirement would be better too."

"Well, the pay might be, not the retirement though," Mark replied. "And the death benefits are amazing," he joked.

His brother looked at him a bit puzzled for a moment, then shrugged and continued on.

"So, four wives? Four? How in the world did you manage that? And all sisters no less! Hell, when Christie sees them," Thomas snickered as he mentioned their older sister, "she's gonna freak!"

"Hey, you got the money, she got the looks, I got the big family, it's all good!" Mark chuckled.

"Yes, but they're all almost as good looking as she is and they don't even use makeup. I don't know if she'll try to kill them or hire them."

"Hire them?" Mark asked surprised.

"Yeah, she's started up her own modeling agency," Tomas turned into a parking lot for an impressive and rather large building.

"So, here we are. Like it?"

Mark was impressed, the building probably covered a good five acres and had grey metal walls that went up for probably two stories, but for all of that it looked rather nice instead of looking oppressive. Whoever the architect was, they'd done a good job.

"So when did you move in here?" Mark asked, he'd been to the old location, three or four years ago. Or was it five?

"Almost two years now. We got the last of the labs moved in eight months ago and the old building is being razed to build an office complex I think."

"Impressive," Mark said, nodding as his brother pulled into a reserved parking space. The rest of the lot was mostly empty, but there were still a dozen or so cars there.

"Come on in, let me give you the three dollar tour," Thomas said smiling.

Mark smiled back and got out of the car with his brother and followed him into the building. He could see his brother wanted to show off for him, and honestly, Mark was perfectly happy to let him. He'd stolen a little bit of Thomas's thunder last night showing up with his wives and all the pictures of his kids. But Mark didn't begrudge his brother or even his sister their pride in their accomplishments. Both had worked hard for years to get where they were today, where he really had just sort of fallen into his life by chance.

"No guards?" Mark asked, surprised as his brother led them into the building.

"Not on the weekends, we don't get that many people in here then, and the security to get into the labs in the back is pretty tight. It's all facial recognition type stuff with man traps and we have an offsite security company that monitors the cameras there twenty-four-seven. If anything happens, they'll call the police."

"Still, I'd think you'd want armed guards out here, or something."

"Yeah, I wanted to for the labs, but the town got all bent out of shape at that though. They said it would only attract problems."

Mark shook his head and sighed.

"What did the police say?" Mark asked him.

"That if I bought them some nice gear and sent their guys to training they'd guarantee me a short response time."

"So, did you?"

Thomas nodded, "It's the price of doing business out here, Mark. Everyone always has their hand out. Still, now when I get pulled over for speeding it's 'Why hello, Mr. Levin! Please drive slow, Mr. Levin! Have a nice day, Mr. Levin!'"

Mark laughed, "So, no more speeding tickets?"

"Nope, and if the kids get in trouble they get a ride home in the back of a squad car and Jeri hasn't had to call for triple-A in over a year. I'm very popular now with the chief of police."

"Well, I hope that's a good thing," Mark said and followed his brother as he led them down into the guts of the building.

"Here, let me get you scanned into the system, and I'll show you the labs."

"You can do that?" Mark asked.

"Easily, we're tied into law-enforcement and you're with the FBI now, so you'll be in the database. Just hold your ID up for the camera here."

Mark nodded and did as he was told, and sure enough, five minutes later his brother was showing him each of the labs where they were currently making medicines for a number of new treatment therapies. Some of which were for some fairly serious diseases and conditions.

Mark was impressed.

"I'd take you down to the research labs," Thomas told him as they went back to his office, "but the security on those is pretty heavy, due to the decontamination protocols."

"Stuff back there is that dangerous?" Mark asked walking into his brother's office. It was a corner office of course, on the second floor, with a rather commanding view of the surrounding area.

"Not dangerous, so much as sensitive. Four years ago we had an experiment corrupted by a visitor, and it took us six months to realize the damage and cost us over two million dollars in lost research and opportunities."

"Wow, I had no idea. Was it espionage?"

Thomas shook his head, "I don't think it was, but it still cost us a fortune. So we wrote up a bunch of new policies and there are no exceptions, not even for me."

Mark watched out the window as a van pulled up in front of the entrance out front and five men in swat gear piled out of the back and charged the front door.

"I think you have visitors," Mark said as one of the lead men pulled out a shotgun and then they disappeared beneath him out of sight.

"What?" Thomas said coming over and looking out the window.

Mark heard a couple of gunshots, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

"What's going on?"

Mark pulled out his cell phone and dialed the office in Washington. "I'd say you're being raided."

"What!" His brother said and started to run for the door. Mark grabbed his arm and hauled him back.

"Special Interstate Affairs Division, Agent O'Brien speaking."

"Denise, Mark here. I gotta talk fast; I'm at my brother's office, LevGen Biotechnologies in Brookhaven, New York. We're being raided. I'll leave this line open, alert the locals, and mute the line.

"You got it, Mark," Denise said and Mark set the phone on the desk, tossing a piece of paper over it.

"We've got to do something!" Thomas said.

"We, don't. I will," Mark said looking into his brother's eyes. "Now, hide under your desk, don't say a damn thing, and call my wives at home after they've left."

"Wait, what?"

Mark dragged his brother behind his desk and pushed him down under it. He could hear boots coming up the stairs.

"Quiet, they're coming. No matter what you hear, don't make a sound." He said and letting go of Thomas he quickly pulled his official ID out and hung it around his neck and tucked it under his shirt. He didn't want to lose it, if he should have to change. Then he walked around the desk towards the door to his office, which flew open as someone kicked it in.

"What is the meaning of this!" Mark said, looking outraged. "I didn't call for the police!"

"Are you Thomas Levin?" The first man into the room asked. The second stopped just inside the doorway, scanning the room.

"Of course I am!" Mark said loudly, "Now, explain yourself! I have a lot of work to do today, and I don't have time for these kinds of interruptions!"

"You sure that's him, Boss?" The second man asked, "He doesn't look exactly like the picture."

"What? Do you want to see my license?" Mark snarked at the guy, "Who the hell else would be in my office, on a Saturday? And I was just down at the station last week! What picture are you even talking about?"

The guy got flustered and shut up, but the guy in front, the 'boss' had now let his weapon drop.

"Come with us, Mr. Levin."

"This is preposterous!" Mark said. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"You're coming with us," he said and grabbing something off of his belt he whipped it around and hit Mark in the side of the head with some sort of expanding metal rod.

Mark stumbled to the side away from it. It stung a little, but he knew most humans would be laid low by a hit to the head like that, so he stumbled and started to fall.

The boss stepped forward and grabbed his right arm, while the other man grabbed his left and turning around they quickly hustled him out of the building, dragging him down the hallway.

"All of the other offices are empty," one of the men said coming back up to them.

"Good. What about the labs?" the Boss asked him.

"They're behind a security door, like our man told us."

"Good luck getting in there," Mark said, faking a groan.

"It's your company, you can open the doors," the Boss said from Mark's right, where he still had him by the arm. Mark was 'stumbling' along now, instead of making them drag him.

"Of course I can," Mark said, "but the people who watch the cameras will call the police when they see all of you. If you were the police, you'd know that! So who are you?"

Mark got a smack to the back of the head, "None of your business. We're not going into the processing labs; we're going into the research labs. No one works there on the weekends, no one will see us!"

Mark shook his head, "Those labs are sealed on the weekends. I can't even get inside!"

"Liar!" The Boss said and smacked Mark on the back of the head again.

"You'll see," Mark said and started to wonder about these guys. They seemed professional enough, but their intelligence seemed to be rather lacking.

The hauled him up in front of what he assumed was the entrance to the research area.

"Open the door!" The Boss said and pointed his pistol at Mark.

Mark shrugged, put his hand on the glass scanner, like he'd seen his brother do at the other labs, and then looked at the camera that did the recognition.

"Access denied," a voice said from the ceiling, and the terminal by the door simply said 'Levin - access denied.'

"Should we blow it, Boss?" One of the men asked.

"Well, that would be stupid," Mark said and ducked as the 'Boss' tried to hit him again.

"Look, right now you've got what? Kidnapping? And no one even knows you're here. You set off a bomb in here, and you'll set off all of the fire alarms, contamination alarms, you'll have the police, the fire department, and they'll all call it terrorism and call in the FBI and the National Guard.

"You'll be in jail before the twelve o'clock news."

"He's got a point, Boss," number two said as the boss swore.

"Damn, I'd been hoping for that bonus. Well, at least we got him, let's go boys!" The boss said and one of them pulled out a bag and put it over Mark's head and this time they really did just drag him out of the building.

The tossed him in the van, none too gently, and then all piled inside and drove off.

2: Undisclosed Location

They went through his pockets, looking for his phone apparently. They tossed his wallet, keys, and even his spare change into a bag from the sound of it. Mark was surprised that they didn't look through his wallet. Then again, he kept his license tucked in the back, so unless they pulled out the cards in it, they wouldn't realize they had the wrong guy.

He just laid there on the floor as they drove. He was surprised that they hadn't tied him up at all, but when he reached for the bag over his head, he got a light kick from one of them and was told to 'leave it.' Other than that, they didn't talk at all.

Best as he could tell, they got on the highway, which probably meant the expressway this far out. All in all, it was pretty boring, so Mark closed his eyes and took a nap.

"Hey! Wake up!" Someone said and nudged him.

Mark was awake instantly, and noticed that they were moving slowly, then they stopped and someone got out of the van.

"How can you sleep at a time like this?" The same voice asked.

Mark ignored the voice and sat up. No one pushed him back down and he heard the sound of a garage door opening, then the van moved forward for a few seconds, and then stopped again.

Mark heard the garage door closing as the doors to the van opened and the others started to get out. Someone grabbed his arm and helped him out as well.

"So, this is the illustrious Mr. Levin," he heard a new voice say. "Were you able to get any samples from his lab?"

"No, it was locked down for the weekend, and even he was unable to open the lock," the voice of the one they'd identified as their boss said.

"Well, we have him, that's all that matters," the new voice said.

"And you would be?" Mark asked, from under his hood.

"Oh, don't worry, Thomas, we'll have a lot of time to get better acquainted soon enough."

Mark pulled his arms down, breaking the grip of the one man holding him, as he ripped the hood off of his face with the other.

"How about now?" he said while looking around. All of the 'swat' team members were no longer wearing the ski masks they'd been wearing earlier and he got a good look at all of their faces as they all turned to look at him in shock.

"You idiots!" The man who had obviously hired them said. Mark noted that he was tall and dark, possibly Hispanic, and looked to be in his late twenties. "That's not Levin!"

"Oh, I'm Levin alright!" Mark growled staring the man down, "I'm Mark Levin. Thomas's brother who works for the FBI. And you are all under arrest!"

They all went for their guns, which was what Mark expected. The problem was, they'd all left their nice semi-auto AR-15 rifles and shotguns in the van, and it took them an instant to realize that.

The 'Boss' of the team still had his pistol however, and he pulled it and started shooting almost immediately as Mark grabbed one of the other team members and pulled them between himself and the boss

From the way the guy was jerking, Mark got the impression that the body armor they were wearing was just a prop. He threw the now twitching body at the boss, knocking him down, then snatched grabbed the guy next to him by the neck and threw him at the two running for the van.

The new guy, had a gun out now as well, and he shot Mark twice, causing Mark to swear rather loudly. Mark dove for the van himself then, as the new guy fired several more shots, but none of them hit Mark.

By the time Mark got one of the rifles, two of the original five were also trying to get in. Mark butt-stroked one in the face hard enough that it shattered the stock on the AR-15. The other one he shot in the chest, then dropped that rifle as it jammed and picked up a second one.

The one he had shot was down, screaming on the ground. The one he'd butt-stroked was unconscious, another one was down, apparently dead from being shot in the back, and the one who had been the 'boss' had a single bullet wound to the head, the body of the guy Mark had thrown at him was still on top of him, probably dead as well.

He heard the sound of a car door slam, followed by a starting engine. Jumping back out of the van and into the garage he saw a large while impala, which reversed and backed through the closed garage door.

Running after it, Mark brought the AR-15 he was holding up, and fired several shots into the windshield and side windows before it too jammed as he ran after the car.

As soon as the impala was back out into the street, the driver looked forward, and Mark could see the look of shock on his face when he saw Mark charging the car. He put the car in gear and slammed down hard on the accelerator, heading straight for Mark, apparently hoping to run him over.

Tossing the jammed gun to the side, Mark jumped onto the hood and grabbed on to the windshield wipers and the end of the hood.

The guy driving started weaving the car violently back and forth, trying to dislodge Mark, who wasn't having a lot of success in holding on, ripping off first one wiper, and then the other. The next time he went hard to the left, Mark started sliding off to the hood of the car to the right, and the driver then locked up the brakes, throwing Mark to the ground.

Kicking off his shoes and undoing his belt, Mark shifted as he dove at the car, the driver now trying to speed off. Smashing his head and upper body through the passenger window, Mark dug his claws into the seat and the dashboard and started to pull his body into the car.

The driver looked over at him and rather than seeing Mark, he saw a bloody, snarling, mountain lion instead. He slammed the gas peddle back down to the floor, and turned the wheel back hard to the left as Mark's claws started to shred the interior as Mark continued to pull himself all the way into the car. Mark had just dragged a paw across the steering wheel, trying to grab it with his claws when the man driving looked up and screamed. Mark saw it at that instant too; a telephone pole.

Mark tried to push back out of the car as the guy driving hit the brakes, but he was too late and the car hit the pole dead center, burying it in the hood almost up to the windshield. The airbag on Mark's side deployed, and while it kept him from getting injured any more than he already was, it still hurt.

But Mark's claws had cut in deep enough into the steering wheel that the driver's side airbag exploded in a burst of shredded material, hot gases, and metal particles, doing nothing to stop the driver, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, from going through the windshield of the impala.

Growling, Mark extracted himself, carefully, and then shifted back to human, hissing in pain as his cuts and broken bones continued to heal. His shredded shirt was still on him; his official ID and badge were still hanging around his neck, and his pants he could see were about a hundred yards back, with his sneakers.

Pulling off the shirt he walked around to the other side of the car to look at the driver. He was still alive, but Mark didn't think he was going to be that was for very much longer.

"What ... what ... are you?" the man gasped, eyes wide in either shock or fear. There was too much blood now for Mark to smell which.

"Pissed, that's what," Mark growled. "Now, listen up. You're dying. You've obviously done a lot of nasty and bad shit in your life, well guess what? Fess up now and tell me who hired you, what you were after, and what this is all about, and I'll put in a good word for you with the judge. Maybe you'll get lucky and he won't send your ass to hell."

"Chupa Meu Pau," he gasped at Mark.

Mark shrugged, "Have it your way," and he started limping back to his pants. He could hear the sounds of police sirens drawing near as he retrieved his pants and quickly put them and his sneakers back on. By the time he got back to the wrecked car he'd used his shredded shirt to soak up a little blood from the now dead perp that he artfully applied to his own body, then put the remains of the shirt back on so he looked like he had been in a wreck.

That was the problem with being a lycanthrope; you always looked way too healthy after being in any kind of a fight or accident.

"Hands up!" The officer called out, approaching Mark carefully, while calling for backup on his radio.

"FBI!" Mark called out holding his ID above his head. "Call the local office, Agent Mark Levin. Tell them I have two crime scenes to secure here!"

Mark watched as the officer stopped, looked at him, and then carefully repeated what Mark had told him. A moment later he re-holstered his pistol.

"Agent Levin, there are a lot of people looking for you."

Mark nodded, "No doubt. Where are we, anyways?"

"Welcome to the glorious six-nine in the heart of Canarsie!" the officer sighed and shook his head. "Trust me; this isn't even the worst call I've had today."

"Let's go check on the other perps," Mark said and started to walk, slowly and making sure to limp as well.

"What about him?" The officer asked pointing to the body half out of the windshield.

"He's dead. But some of the others were still alive, I'd like to try and keep them that way."

"Hop in, I'll drive you," the officer said as another police car pulled up and stopped by the wreck, light's flashing.

"Tell them not to touch anything," Mark grumbled and got into the car.

"Sure thing, Agent Levin," The officer said and then backed them up down the narrow road until the reached the busted open garage. A number of people were starting to mill around, but when the police car screeched to a stop in front of the smashed door, all of them scattered or pulled back.

Two more cars joined them as Mark made his way back inside. The guy he'd shot was trying to crawl away, holding a hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. The one he'd butt-stroked was still unconscious. The rest appeared dead.

"Better call an ambulance," Mark said looking around.

"What happened here?" A police officer wearing sergeant stripes asked coming up to Mark.

"They turned on each other," Mark said looking around. "Anyone got a phone I can borrow? I need to call my office."

"Who's in charge here?"

Mark held up his ID, "Mark Levin, FBI, Interpol. Now, a phone?"

The Sergeant shrugged and passed Mark a cell phone, "Here, use mine."

"Thanks," Mark said and taking the phone he dialed the Washington office.

"Agent O'Brien," Denise said, answering.

"Hi, it's Mark. The police are here and it's all over but the shouting. We've got a couple of dead bodies and a couple that are going to the hospital. I'm going to need someone to come down here and take over the crime scenes."

"Yeah, we got the report from the New York office; they've got a team en route to your location, the local police called it in. How secure is this phone?"

"Not very, belongs to the local PD," Mark said. "I'm not sure that any of this is really in our bailiwick anyway. I just got in the middle of an attempted kidnapping of my brother."

"Well, that still makes it an FBI case, Mark."

"Yeah, but not our division."

"Any idea why they wanted your brother?"

"The one guy, who I think knew, is now dead. Anyway, let me call the family and let them know I'm okay. I think I see the local FBI guys pulling up now," Mark said as a number of black SUV's pulled up outside of the garage.

"Okay, bye, Mark."

Mark hung up and looked around the garage, there were police giving first aid to the guy he'd shot, the one he'd hit in the face, as well as the one who had been shot in the back. So apparently that one wasn't dead, at least not yet.

Mark dialed his own number then as a group in FBI blazers got out of the SUV's and headed over to him.

"Hello?" He heard Helena's voice.

"Hi, Hon. It's me, I'm okay. The police and the local FBI are here. How's everybody?"

"Well, your brother is looking rather shocked, there are police here now, and I gather at your brother's house and his office as well. You mother is okay and I'll tell everyone you're okay."

"Thanks, Hon. Give everyone my love and I'll call back as soon as I can. Hopefully from someplace more private. Bye!"

"Bye, Mark!"

He heard Helena tell everyone he was okay as he hung up the phone and passed it back to the sergeant that had loaned it to him.

"Agent Levin?" the man leading the group of FBI agents asked, coming forward.

"Yup, that would be me." Mark said and shook hands. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra jacket or something I could wear, would you?"

"Sure, I'm Agent Bill Frey," the agent he was shaking hands with said and turned to the guy next to him, "George, get Mark here one of the windbreakers out of the back."

George nodded and went back to the SUV's.

"So, what are we looking at here?" Bill asked Mark.

Mark motioned with his head and led Bill away from the Sergeant and the other officers, who took the hint as four other FBI agents came in and started to take over the scene.

"Failed kidnapping attempt. They were after my brother, and I was lucky enough to be there when they showed up. We look enough alike, so I took his place. When they got here and found out they grabbed the wrong guy, it got nasty and the guns came out.

"The dead guy in the car is the one who hired them. The dead guy there," Mark pointed to the boss, "was the guy in charge of the kidnap team. They all acted pretty professional, but there are a few things that don't really add up."

"Do you need a doctor?"

Mark shook his head, "Most of this blood isn't mine."

"So, just who is your brother?"

"A very rich and successful owner of the biggest biotech company out on the island," Mark said. "And I'm not sure that this was just a grab for a rich man's ransom. This might be industrial espionage as well."

Bill nodded, "I'll keep your name and your brother's name out of it. We'll say it was a drug deal gone bad, lord knows we have enough of those around here, and that an undercover FBI agent was involved."

"What about those three?" Mark asked nodding towards the wounded.

"By the time they get to talk to their lawyers, the press will have moved onto another story. So no one's going to care what they have to say."

Mark nodded and George came back in and handed him one of the windbreakers, so Mark put that on.

"So, any idea on how the hell I'm going to get back home?" Mark sighed walking over to the van and starting to look around for the bag that had his wallet and keys.

"I'll have one of the guys drive you back to the local office, and after you type up your report, I'll see to it."

Mark nodded, "Throw in a couple of sub's and a beer and I'm all in."

"Sub's I can do. Not so sure about the beers though," Bill chuckled.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be on vacation," Mark said finally finding his wallet. "And I'll even pay!" He said waving his wallet in the air.

#    #

Mark sighed and leaned back in the passenger's seat as they headed back to his mother's house. It was late, after ten pm. He'd taken a shower, gotten a clean pullover shirt from someone at the local FBI headquarters in Brooklyn, successfully avoided any questions about not being wounded or cut up and even managed to type up a report that was fairly true and avoided mentioning that he'd been shot twice, thrown a grown man ten feet with enough force to knock another one down, or grabbed a third by the neck tight enough that he'd actually broken the guy's neck.

Then there was the guy he'd butt-stroked in the face. That guy was in a coma and they weren't sure he was going to live; apparently Mark had hit him very hard. Mark sighed again thinking about it. He was used to dealing with supernatural creatures, devils, demons, not humans. With the adrenaline flowing, he'd apparently used a lot more strength than he should have.

At least the one he'd shot was still conscious and was able to answer a few questions. They had been able to ID all of the perps quickly; they'd all had their wallets and driver's licenses. The 'boss' had been one David Rochell, a man with a very lengthy record for all sorts of nasty stuff. But mostly takeover robberies, armored car heists, and kidnapping. As well as suspected of a hell of a lot more.

His number two man, the one who Mark had shot, was one Jeffery Zucker. He had a long association with David, and about the same track record. But the other three men, none of them had records for anything more than petty crime, one of them was an actor in an off-Broadway play of all things! He was the one with the fake body armor. Bill's general thought was that David didn't really expect much in the way of resistance, so he just wanted bodies, guys who would work cheap, not experienced pros who would have cost him more.

Both Mark and Bill Frey found it very interesting that David's employer shot him in the head before trying to flee the scene. Bill's boss had immediately assigned a team to get a search warrant and go to David's apartment, as well as through his bank accounts. Seeing as David was now deceased, having died in the commission of a capital crime, the warrant had been granted rather quickly.

As for David's employer, that was one Raul Silva, current address, unknown. Current employer, unknown. In fact, they weren't even sure that Raul Silva existed. They were still running his prints and dental records when Mark left. The car Raul had been driving was a rental, and the credit card Raul had used was fairly new as well. None of this had made Mark happy; apparently his brother had come to the attention of some well-funded and not very law-abiding people.

He'd be having words with Thomas, and while he didn't think his brother was involved in anything illegal, at least not knowingly, they still were probably not going to be very polite words.

The driver left the expressway and turned off the service road when they came to the exit for his mother's house. The ride had mostly been in silence, as Mark was reading through the copies of the reports that Bill Frey had given him and thinking about what had happened today.

"Here we are, Sir," the driver said, stopping in front of his mother's house.

"Thanks," Mark said opening the door and getting out, "I appreciate the ride. Have a good night," he said and closed the door. Turning he walked up to the front door, where he was met by Hope, the others waiting at least until he got inside before they mobbed him.

"Where is everyone?" He asked, after kissing each of them hello.

"Well, your mom went to bed an hour ago," Hope told him. "Thomas went home hours ago.

"So, what happened?" Hope asked.

"Someone tried to kidnap Thomas, but I'm not sure why," Mark sighed and told them the whole story, not leaving anything out.

"Let's worry about that tomorrow," Charity said, taking Mark by the arm, "it's been a long day for you, let's go to bed. You can have it out with your brother in the morning, after church."

"You're going to church with me?" Mark chuckled and looked at the expressions on his wives' faces. They weren't big on crowds, and church here in Brookhaven promised to be just that.

"Your mother was really excited by the idea," Charity said smirking at the others, "so they all agreed."

Mark laughed and let Charity lead him off to the guest bedroom they were using. Obviously someone had used a little force on the other three to get them to agree. Normally he would have suspected Helena, but from the look on her face apparently it had been one of the others.

3: Thomas's House, Brookhaven New York

Mark's brother Thomas was scowling at him. Mark had literally dragged him away from the barbeque that they were all having at his brother's house, and upstairs into his brother's private home office.

"What are you doing, Mark?" Thomas asked, not sounding very pleased.

"I want to know why some very nasty and bad people wanted to kidnap my younger brother," Mark said, pushing his brother into a chair and looking down at him.

"I'm rich, they wanted money. That's all," Thomas said.

Mark shook his head, "No, Tom. They weren't after your money. They were after you, and they were after something in one of the research labs."

"What?"

"No idea."

"Well, have you tried asking them?"

Mark sighed and looked at his brother, "They're dead, so they're not going to be talking anytime soon."

"Dead?" Thomas said, looking at him in surprise.

"They had guns, lots of guns. What did you think was going to happen when they suddenly discovered that instead of an award winning and very rich biochemist, that they instead had a very nasty and dangerous FBI agent?"

"But, you're alright! You're not even bruised! I thought that the rest of the FBI showed up and they just arrested all of them!"

"How would they have even known where I was, Tom? Magic? No, by the time the police showed up, it was all over and done. Unfortunately the guy in charge was killed fleeing the scene."

"You, killed him?" Thomas said, looking shocked.

"No, he drove his car into a telephone pole. As he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and his airbag failed rather spectacularly, he didn't last long."

"Was he the one who kicked in the door?"

"No, we met him when the guys who had been hired to kidnap you got to the handoff."

"What happened to those guys?"

Mark sighed and started to pace back and forth in front of his brother. "Raul, the guy who was paying for all of this, he tried to shoot me, along with the guy who kicked in the door. Unfortunately a few of the other guys got in the way. So after missing me a few times and shooting the others, Raul shot the guy in charge, killing him, then ran.

"It took me a few moments to subdue the ones who weren't shot, and then I went after Raul. He panicked, we wrestled over control of the car, it crashed, my airbag deployed, his didn't."

"Wow, I had no idea you were such a badass," Thomas said shaking his head.

Mark stopped and rolled his eyes, "I would think the whole four wives thing would have given that away!"

Mark shook his head as Thomas snickered.

"So, Tom, what's in the research labs?"

"Some new treatments we're working on, but it's all still in the development stages. We're not even ready for preliminary tests, much less any kind of trials."

"What kinds of treatments?"

"They're all company secrets; I can't share that with you, Mark."

"Thomas," Mark sighed and looked down at his brother, "I am perfectly willing and able to pin you to the floor and sit on you until you talk."

"You wouldn't!"

"Of course I would," Mark smiled slowly, "you're my little brother and it is perfectly within my rights to torture the hell out of you."

"I'll tell mom!" Thomas said, looking shocked.

"And I'll tell her, as well as Jeri, that it's for your own good, because I'm trying to protect you, and them from some very bad people. And they'll believe me. Because I work for the 'good' guys."

Mark took a step closer and stopped smiling as he looked down at his brother. "Now, are you going to tell your brother who almost took a bullet for you, what you're doing?"

Thomas sighed, "We've got four things in development. The newest one is a treatment for dementia patients, to try and stop the decline.

"Next is a radical new therapy for people with myopathy...."

Mark interrupted him. "Myopathy? What's that?"

"It's a muscle wasting disease, it strikes more women then men. It has multiple causes that have been identified, and more that haven't. But the end effect appears to be the same in all cases; your muscles just inflame and weaken. Eventually, they waste away. It's slow and painful and there hasn't been much success in treatment. Well, we stumbled across something recently and we think it has promise."

Mark nodded, "Go on."

"Well, the third one is a new approach on autoimmune diseases. It's mostly government grant money that's driving it. Nothing really earth shattering there. The fourth is a refinement of our line of diabetes medications."

Mark nodded. "So, just those four things?"

"Well, we're reconditioning two of the labs for new work, as we just released one new product into advanced efficacy trials, so it's been moved into one of the production labs. The other one didn't pan out, so we dropped it."

Mark 'hmmed' a bit and went over to sit on the edge of Thomas's desk and think about things.

"You wouldn't have really pinned me to the floor, would you?" Thomas asked, half jokingly.

"In a heartbeat," Mark said still thinking about this whole situation. Obviously something in one of those four lines was worth kidnapping his brother over, and probably picking his brains as well. But which one?"

"Tomorrow you can show me what's going on in those labs, and I'll see if I can't figure out which one is so important that someone would want to kidnap you."

"Wait, what? I can't do that! The shareholders will have a fit!"

"And what do you think Mom will do to me if you get kidnapped? Especially now that I'm involved and everyone knows I work with the feds?" Mark shook his head, "Sorry Tom, but that's the way it's going to be. I don't like it anymore than you do, but something drew these people in, and I don't think they're going to just fade away because I stopped their first attempt.

"Oh, one other thing," Mark said, looking up at him.

"What?"

"Hire some security, some good security. Get a bodyguard, get a bunch of them, armed ones. Put them on your wife, your kids, and yourself. And put armed guards into the building as well."

"What? Bodyguards? Are you serious?"

"You don't think they won't try to snatch your kids or Jeri next? Or maybe Mom?"

"The town will kill me!"

"The town will shut up and not say boo. I'll have the boss at the FBI talk to your congressman and your senators. You bring a lot of tax money and prestige in. Trust me; they'll roll over so fast that you'll feel a breeze.

"Now, let's go back outside and enjoy some charred hotdogs and a few beers, while your sons all drool over my wives in their bikinis," Mark said standing up.

Thomas blinked and stood up slowly, "You dump all of that on me, and now you just want to go out and drink some beers?"

Mark shrugged, "Right now the feds and the local police are watching you like a hawk. I don't expect anyone to try again for at least a week or two, probably longer. That gives you time to get your security updated and me to find out just who is behind this."

"You're looking into this?" Thomas said, sounding rather surprised.

"Unless my boss specifically orders me not to, of course I'm looking into this," Mark said. "You're my brother and my family. We're a very family based organization after all."

"Huh, I never thought of the FBI like that," Thomas said as they walked towards the door.

"Who's talking about the FBI?" Mark chuckled, "I'm on loan to them, I don't work for them."

"Oh!"

"Yeah, Oh. And start going to church again, Okay?" Mark said with a smile.

4: LevGen Labs, Brookhaven, New York

Mark didn't get to his brother's company until after ten. He'd had to drop Helena, Charity, and Hope off at the airport to fly back home. He wasn't the only one who was worried about what their children just might get up to, if left unsupervised for too long. They were his kids after all.

Faith was staying with him for now, and with any luck he'd be heading home with her for a well-needed vacation in a day or two.

Mark parked the rental car in the 'visitor' parking spot and walked up to the front doors, which were currently being replaced by a couple of workmen. Slipping by them, with Faith following him, he came up to the guard sitting behind the desk.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"Yeah, please tell Thomas that his brother is here," Mark said looking around. Other than the front doors, the damage had been fairly minimal.

"He's in his office; someone will be down momentarily to show you up. Could you both sign in please?"

Mark nodded and signed the logbook, then let Faith do the same. By the time they were done a young woman had showed up and led them down the hallway and up the stairs to Thomas's office.

"What kind of a mood is my brother in today?" He asked her.

"Excuse me?" She asked, looking a little surprised.

"He's making me come to him, that means he's either feeling slighted, or looking for a fight," Mark said with a smile. "So which do you think it is?"

"Maybe he's just busy?" she said looking a little embarrassed.

"Uh-huh, sure. Which is it?"

"Umm, there's a guy from the FBI up there, as well as the company's lawyer and two members of the board."

Mark smiled, "Thanks," and walked inside the office as she opened the door.

"Mark," Thomas said and the stood up as he saw Faith enter the room, "Faith! I thought you were going home with the others?"

Faith laughed, "And leave him all alone? Then who knows what kinds of trouble he'll get into."

Mark looked around the room; Agent Bill Frey was standing up, plus three other men that Mark didn't know.

"Agent Frey, this is my wife, Faith," Mark said, introducing his wife. He turned to Thomas, "Could you introduce us all to the others please, Tom?"

Mark smiled as his brother flinched a little at the use of his more familiar name, Mark usually only called him Tom in private.

"This is Todd Sutherland," Thomas said coming from behind his desk. "He's our head corporate lawyer. This is Scott Patrick, he's the company vice president and on our board, and this is Jack Smith, he's also on the board and deals with outside appropriations for us.

"Gentlemen, this is my brother Mark, and his wife Faith," Thomas said, completing the introductions.

"Great," Mark said and smiled at all of them. "Now, how about we all go downstairs and check out those labs?"

"Mark, I told you that the board and our lawyers weren't going to allow that," Thomas said, looking at him.

Mark nodded, "Yes, and if you hadn't involved them, they'd be none the wiser. But now that you have, I guess they can tag along as well."

"Mr. Levin," Todd, their lawyer spoke up, "this is all highly irregular! You don't have a warrant; you don't even have grounds for a search!"

"A team of men break in here over the weekend, try to kidnap my brother, your President and CEO, in order to pump him dry about something going on in one of your research labs here, possibly killing him in the process, and you're not interested in why?" Mark asked.

"You don't know that for sure," Todd said defensively.

"Actually, I do," Mark replied. "And honestly? Even if you don't care. I do. Thomas is my brother and I need to find out what he's gotten himself into."

"But you can't just waltz in here and demand to see our confidential labs!" Scott Patrick said.

Mark smiled, "Actually, I can. And I am. After all, who is going to stop me? You? Hardly. Your lawyer? Nope. I don't think you gentlemen," Mark favored them with his best evil smile, one of the ones he used to practice in the mirror for use on lesser demons who were usually fairly easy to intimidate. He'd found over the years that it worked equally well on most humans, "understand that this isn't about the law. This is about family. I'll just use the law as a club to beat to death whoever is behind this mess."

They all flinched back, rather satisfactorily at that, Mark was pleased to see he hadn't lost his touch.

"Agent Frey!" Todd said, "I must protest! You have to stop this! It's illegal!"

Bill laughed, "I saw what he did to those guys who tried to kidnap your brother, four dead, one in a coma, and another in ICU with a gun shot wound from his own gun? You heard him, this is family." Bill shrugged and smiled, "Not my jurisdiction, the FBI doesn't do domestic disturbances."

"Really now, Thomas," Faith said taking Thomas's arm and leading him towards the door, "do you think your own brother is going to steal your secrets or something? What would your mother say? You should be ashamed; especially after all he went through saving your life!"

Mark watched as Faith led his brother out of the office and down the hall towards the stairs. The others probably couldn't tell that Faith was actually manhandling his brother, who was much larger than she was. The look of confusion on his brother's face as Faith dragged him off was pretty funny, as were the threats of getting their mother involved. Thomas may be an adult, but even Faith had twigged to the fact that Thomas was still something of a mama's boy, having been the youngest child, and lived in fear of making their mother mad at him.

"Well, gentlemen, you can either come, or stay here. I honestly don't care." Mark said and turned towards Bill Frey. "Bill? Long as you're here, you might as well come along."

Bill nodded and followed him out of the room, the other three getting up and trailing along as well. Both Todd and Scott looked rather upset, Jack just looked annoyed.

When they got to the entrance to the research labs Thomas stopped and looked at him, "Mark," he warned angrily.

Mark nodded, "Yeah, I know. You're mad at me, I'm off the Christmas list, blah, blah, blah. I don't care Tom; I don't care if you never speak to me again, just as long as you're still here to keep being mad at me for another fifty years and get to dance at your daughter's wedding."

Mark tried not to smile as his brother flinched at that. Just because he didn't like bullying his little brother it didn't mean he had forgotten how to do it.

"Now open the door or I'll get a crowbar and rip it off."

Thomas grumbled but put his hand on the scanner the door while looking at the camera there and door opened.

Mark smiled and walked inside, pulling his credentials out and flashing them at the camera. Hopefully that would keep the security company from calling the police, who were still sitting outside in a patrol car while the door was being fixed.

The door led to a short passage which opened up into a rather large lobby area with what appeared to be two labs to either side, and another two on the far wall.

"Okay, this is the lab where we are working on the dementia drug," Thomas said and brought them all up to the first door set next to a glass wall on the left side of the room that looked into the large laboratory.

Mark could see there were about a dozen people working inside. They were all wearing 'bunny' suits, booties, gloves and facemasks.

"Are they working with open samples?" Mark asked. He'd seen enough lab work from all the criminal labs he'd been to over the years.

"No. Everything is in the glove boxes. But these are high security labs with extreme anti-contamination measures. That's part of the reason why I don't want you in here! You go in there and you could contaminate everything!"

"You have extra suits, don't you?" Mark asked, looking at him.

"That's millions of dollars of work in there, Mark. I can't afford you messing it up!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tom," Mark sighed. "Now, show me where the suits are so I can go in and look around. Call whoever is in charge inside there; tell them to give me the full tour."

Thomas grumbled, but he led Mark through the door while the others watched from lobby outside. The door led into an airlock, of sorts, where there were extra sets of white coveralls, boots, gloves, facemasks and head coverings that everyone wore inside.

Thomas helped him dress, then got dressed as well, and led him through the system that cleaned off the outside of the suit using air jets and UV lights, and then into the lab proper.

Mark spent the next thirty minutes looking at samples and hearing about the research that they were doing. Most of it he didn't understand, and he got the impression his brother was enjoying Mark's ignorance every time he asked a stupid question.

Mark found the whole setup very interesting however. Everything was very orderly, very clean, and very structured. The samples were kept in glove boxes that were attached by sealed conveyors. If something had to come out, it was sealed in a container not much different than a pressure cooker, and then put into a decontamination chamber, before coming out.

When they finished, Thomas led him back out the way they had come in.

"We can't just go into the next lab?" Mark asked.

Thomas shook his head, "No, all of the labs are physically separate from each other. The only way in, once a lab is active, is through the airlock."

Mark nodded and took off the suit, "Well, let's see the next one."

The next lab was the one where they were working on improving their current diabetes line of drugs. That was even more boring than the previous one, but it was faster at least.

"This is where we're working on the myopathy treatment," Thomas said as they went inside the third lab which was one of the two on the far end of the lobby. Four of the researchers working inside were leaving to go take lunch as they entered. The doctor in charge of the lab however stayed to give them the tour.

Mark was listening to the doctor in charge going over the status of their testing, they'd been working on this research for almost a month now, and they'd been having some truly amazing results.

"We've found that the chemical agent we've been gathering has a fairly energizing effect on muscle cells," the doctor was telling him, "it's incredibly complex, far beyond anything we've seen in nature before." The doctor then motion towards his brother Thomas, "It was your brother's pioneering work that unlocked the chemical's properties, he's the head researcher on this project."

Mark nodded, he knew his brother was a genius, he'd put up with him as a child after all.

"And just where are you getting this agent from?" Mark asked and the doctor steered him over to one of the glove boxes.

"This biological sample we discovered has been generating it," he said as Mark looked through the glass and into the box. "Again, after your brother unlocked the method for getting it to produce more than just trace amounts."

Mark could see a large glass dish, with a large piece of what looked like black flesh. Not black as in a person's skin either, black as in the black of night.

Mark could feel his hackles rising.

"How do you keep it from growing?" he asked the doctor, who looked rather shocked.

"How did you know about that?"

"Answer the question, please," Mark said, looking at the piece of flesh. It was probably a good twelve inches long, but only two wide.

"We trim off the excess with scalpels."

"And what do you do with the excess material?"

"Well, we set up two extra cultures at first. But now we just incinerate it."

"You still have the ash?" Mark asked, looking up at him.

"Of course! That's biological waste. It has to be processed carefully. We're still working on the process for that."

Mark nodded and sighed.

"Where did you get this from, Thomas?"

"What?"

"Where did you get this sample from?"

"Why?"

"Because right about now you're looking at a dozen felonies, long jail terms, and enough fines that you'll be buried in an unmarked grave in potter's field." Mark looked at the now speechless doctor. "You too, Doc."

"Mark, I...."

"Can it, Thomas. It's damage control time. Tell me what you know, and I mean tell me everything you know. This is dangerous stuff you have here. State secret stuff. The kind of stuff people will kidnap and murder you for."

"Jack got it. He has some people who he pays to look for interesting biological specimen and samples. They find stuff from all over the world and send it to us, along with the reasons for why they think it's interesting. Usually we get plant samples from things witchdoctors and shaman's use in spiritual rituals or medical potions."

"What was the note with this one? What made it interesting?"

"They found it in a jet engine."

Mark swore, it couldn't be, could it?

"A jet engine on a plane that landed at a military base in Utah?"

Thomas looked surprised, "How did you know?"

"How was it removed from the custody of the Air Force?"

Thomas shrugged, "As far as I know, it wasn't. A private contractor was brought in to service the engines and replace them. One of the guys rebuilding the engines saw the flesh samples and thought they looked strange, so he boxed them up and sent them to Jack's people. They sent it to us. Most of it was dead, but there were a couple of cells still living, and we cultured that off of it," Thomas said, nodding towards the sample in the glove box.

"Do you know what it is?" Thomas asked Mark.

Mark nodded, "Yeah, trouble. Now, let's see just how much trouble we're in here. Where are all of your research findings stored?"

"On a server, here in this room," Thomas said, pointing to a small computer in the corner. "We utilize the physical security of the labs to secure our research servers as well."

"Does that have outside access?"

"Only to certain researchers, and everything is logged. You're not allowed to copy anything off of it."

Mark nodded, "Okay, go isolate that server so no one can access it from outside of this room. We'll have someone go through the logs and check to be sure nothing was removed. Doc," Mark said looking up at the head researcher, "gather all of the live samples into that one chamber."

"What are you going to do?" Thomas asked, coming back over after physically unplugging the server from the network.

"Clean up this mess of course," Mark said and walked out of the lab, taking off the headgear as he did.

"Found something?" Bill asked as he came out, still dressed in the white cover all.

"Yup," Mark turned to Faith, "Go get the small bag out of the trunk of the car and bring it here."

Mark turned back to Bill. "Take him into protective custody," he said and pointed towards Jack Smith, "on a forty-eight hour hold. No phone calls, he talks to no one but me or whoever I bring in. Got that?"

"What!?" Todd said, jumping up to his feet, "You can't do that!"

"Actually, I can, he's now a material witness in a capital case." Mark said and turned to Scott Patrick, the VP next. "I need you to find everyone who has worked on this project to any degree and bring them all together in a secure conference room."

"Mark?" Faith said in a voice that got Mark's attention immediately.

"What?" Mark said turning to look at Faith. Jack Smith had taken a hold of one of Faith's arms with one hand, and had a pistol in the other.

"I have a better idea!" Jack said, "How about me and your little wife here leave while the rest of you stay inside?"

Mark sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger as he shook his head.

"Jack! What the hell are you doing?!" Thomas said in shock.

Mark noticed that Todd and Scott had both carefully moved away from where Jack was holding Faith. Jack had his eyes on both Bill and Mark, figuring that they were the only two with guns in the room.

"Stand down, Bill," Mark said and shook his head. "You set up the kidnapping, didn't you?" he asked looking at Jack.

"Let's just say I helped."

"Jack, how could you?" Thomas said shocked.

"Sorry, Thomas. But I don't think you understand what's involved here," Jack said, starting to make his way to the exit with Faith.

"Put the gun down, before you get hurt," Mark sighed. "Come clean, turn state's evidence, and we'll go easy on you."

"Even I know it's gone too far for that!" Jack snarled. "I have a hostage, and I'm not afraid to kill her. You will all just wait inside here until I'm safely away, or she gets one to the head and two to the chest. Understand?"

"Fine, we won't be taking you alive," Mark said and shook his head. "Go, I'll catch up with you in a few, Faith."

Mark watched as Jack and Faith left the room, Jack had stuck the gun in his suit jacket pocket as he hustled Faith along.

Faith was looking rather annoyed.

Mark pulled out his cell phone as the door closed; he noticed it had zero signal.

"He's got Faith! We have to do something!" Thomas said.

"Calm down, Thomas. Why won't my cell phone work in here?

"The labs are shielded. Aren't you afraid? He's got your wife!"

"No, I'm not worried at all. Now, where is there a phone I can use? I need to make a phone call."

"Mark! He's got your wife! Do something!" Thomas yelled at him.

"I already did, Thomas. Now, I need a phone."

"You already did? But, I didn't see anything!"

"I told her she could kill him. He'll be dead the moment they're alone. Phone. Now."

Thomas looked at him, almost in shock, and then led him over to a phone on the wall, still looking a little dazed. He picked it up and dialed 'nine-one' and handed him the handset.

"You can call anywhere now,"

Mark nodded and called Manresa. He'd call Woods at the FBI next, and get all of that rolling, but first things first, he needed a priest.

He turned towards the others while dialing, "Give it about five minutes for Jack to meet his fate. Scott, go round up everyone who has worked on this program, like I asked. Thomas, send everyone else home for the rest of the day, this place is going to be crawling with FBI and everyone else in an hour. Best not to have anyone in the way."

The other end of the phone picked up then and he was a little busy talking after that.

Five minutes later and he had a promise of a team of priests to be there by sunset to bless everything and was on the phone to Agent Woods.

"Hi, Chief," Mark said.

"Mark, is this about the kidnapping?" Agent Woods asked.

"I found the root cause, Chief. It's not pretty and it falls into your jurisdiction. Mine too for that matter. I'm gonna need some computer specialists up here pronto to check some machines and remove some data. Also going to need a couple of field agents to secure the scene for a day or two and ask some questions."

"I'll have Haines and Chance on a jet within the hour," Woods told him. "I'll call the New York office and have them send out some of their computer geeks, they got the best. When can I expect your report?"

"As soon as I have the time to write it. I got an agent Bill Frey with me here; he's from the New York office. Okay if I read him in on this?"

"Only if you have to, keep it to a minimum. Where are you at? The phone says LevGen or something."

"My brother's biotech company."

"Ouch, I bet his lawyer is about to come unglued!" Woods laughed.

Mark glanced over at Todd, and saw that was not far from the truth. "Yeah, you got that right."

"I'll have legal get involved. I want a preliminary report before six, got that? You can send me the full thing by nine."

Mark sighed, "Yes, Chief," and hung up the phone.

The others were still standing around looking at him.

"This is an illegal search!" Todd started up as soon as Mark looked at him. Mark figured he'd been spending the last five minutes trying to figure out how to best protect the company.

"We're cooperating fully, Todd." Thomas said. "Jack just walked out of here with a gun to the head of my sister-in-law. You either cooperate, or you're fired." Thomas turned to look at Scott then.

Scott held his hands up in the air, "No need to yell at me Thomas, I'm onboard, I get it."

The doctor from the lab had come out and joined the rest of them at that point, looking a little confused.

"Is it okay if I go get lunch?" he asked.

"Sure," Scott said, "In fact, come on up to my office and I'll have them send up whatever you want." Scott looked at Mark, "Is that okay?"

Mark nodded, "Sure. Come on Bill, let's go find my wife and see what's left of Jack."

Mark and Bill found Faith pacing around the outside of a car, at the end of the long driveway into the parking lot. There was quite a bit of blood on her clothes, and she did not look at all happy.

"You okay, Hon?" Mark asked getting out of the car and walking up to her. Faith was growling, and he noticed she was walking around a little stiff legged. Obviously she was still winding down from the fight.

She looked at him and grumbled, loudly.

Mark held his arms open, "Come here, Hon. Everything is fine."

Faith almost sidled over to him, and then leaned into him, putting her face against his neck and slowly started to relax as Mark held her.

"What the..." Bill exclaimed and Mark looked up to see Bill was looking in through the driver's window, "what did you do to him?"

"I ripped his face off," Faith growled softly. "And then I shot him. Two to the chest and one to the groin."

"I thought he said head?" Bill said standing upright and looking back at Faith, who was holding onto Mark tightly now.

"Big head, little head, what's the difference?"

Bill's eyes got wide and he laughed loudly at that, surprising Mark. Even Faith raised her head up and turned to look at him.

"Sorry," Bill said, still laughing, "but that was funny. He just got the last surprise of his life."

"So, now what?" Faith asked.

"Well, you need to go home and put on something less bloody. I need to tell the arriving agents what to do. I also have some Commission business I need to take care of.

"What about him?" Faith said and nodded towards the car. Mark noticed that there really was quite a bit of blood splattered on the inside window near the driver.

"He's not going anywhere. We'll lock the doors and put a guard on it for now I guess."

Mark led Faith over to the car and almost had to pry her off, she was definitely being very grabby.

"You okay, Hon?" Mark asked in a soft voice.

"Think you might want to come with me?" Faith asked in a voice that was a lot lower than her normal voice and rubbed up against him in a way that his body was not willing to ignore.

Suddenly Mark had a pretty good idea of just what Faith wanted.

"I have to do a few things here, and then I will be home," Mark said softly and suddenly rather tempted to toss it all in Bill's lap and leave.

"Then I'm staying with you, until you leave," She said in a soft growl.

"Okay then," Mark smiled, "let me get that bag, and then it's back to the labs."

They hopped into the rental car and drove back to the front door, then got back out. Mark walking back into the labs with Bill trailing him, and Faith under his arm. The door was now locked open and people were all leaving the building. Bill told one of the cops that were now in the front lobby to have someone sit on Smith's car as it was a crime scene.

Mark was sure he was drawing looks; everyone knew something had happened, and they also knew Mark was a fed. Plus both he and Bill had their badges out.

And Faith was covered in blood, even if it was drying. Working in the medical field, most, if not all of these people knew exactly what blood looked like.

When they got to lab three, Mark just opened the door and walked right in, not bothering with the isolation protocols.

Setting his bag down he opened it up and took out the bottle of holy water and a cross. Then as Faith and Bill watched he went over to the glove box and simply ripped the gloves off of it. Sticking his hands inside, he doused all of the samples with holy water while blessing it all with the cross.

The effect was educational. It all caught fire and shriveled up rather quickly, giving off a fair deal of a black oily smoke.

"What the hell was that?" Bill asked, stepping back as the smoke was sucked up into the ventilation ducts."

"Pretty much just that," Mark sighed.

"Huh?"

"That was flesh from a devil summoned from Hell. Yes, devils are real, yes most upper levels in the FBI know about it. No, you can't go telling everyone."

"And you are?"

"A member of an organization that goes around dealing with them. I'm on loan to the FBI, to help train them on some of this," Mark said and motioned to the glove box which was no longer venting smoke. He leaned forward to look into it again, there was only ash remaining now.

"So, that's why you have the Interpol badge as well?"

Mark nodded, "Exactly. Now let's go see what we have to deal with in the way of witnesses."

Mark led them back up to his brother's office. There were several police cars outside now and more showing up by the minute. Mark grabbed one of the officers who looked to be in charge that he found talking with his brother.

"There will be a bunch of priests showing up. When they do, take them to lab three, and then leave them alone and see that they're not disturbed."

The cop looked at him and blinked, "Are you for real?"

Mark showed him his FBI ID, "Yes, I'm for real. There are going to be a bunch of agents showing up soon as well. This is an FBI crime scene. Do not let any press on the property; Agents Haines and Chance will be taking control once they show up."

It took Mark about ten minutes after that to find Scott Patrick, the vice president. He was in his office and there were eight others in the room.

"Okay," Mark said looking around. "I am Agent Mark Levin of Interpol, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is agent Bill Frey. The sample in lab three that you were working on was a purloined piece of highly restricted military hardware from the bad old days of biological warfare.

"I don't think I need to tell any of you what that means legally?"

Mark saw all of their faces pale.

"Exactly. Each of you are going to be questioned, separately. You will be asked to sign a few things to insure that you do not discuss this ever again. Even among each other, okay?"

Mark looked around and they all nodded.

"You will be asked about what you observed, what you learned, and anything else you feel was significant. While we don't believe any of you intentionally broke the law, or even knew of the origins of the sample, there are still questions that might be asked.

"As for what you learned, well there will be experts in a number of fields going over your reports and your findings. Your work is not going to be buried. So take a little pride in what you did and tell us what you found. If it turns out you found something new and important, you might just find yourself asked to work on the kinds of things that most people in your field only dream of.

"Now, have a good day, wait here, and don't talk to each other."

Mark turned to Bill, "Keep an eye on them, when the debrief team shows up, make sure they milk them for all the science that they can get."

"Where are you going?" Bill asked, surprised.

Mark looked down at Faith who was almost glued to his side at this point, and had a look in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a good long while.

"Pressing personal issues," Mark said and left the room causing Faith to start to purr softly at that point.

5: Mom's House, Brookhaven, New York

Mark yawned and looked at the clock; it was almost nine, in the morning. Faith was still wrapped around him like she was painted on. He remembered that he sent out the preliminary report to Woods, but told him that he had pressing family issues to deal with. He'd then turned off the phone and spent the next twelve hours concerned with Faith and absolutely nothing else.

Faith nuzzled him and then yawned.

"So, what set this off?" Mark asked. "And don't tell me it was killing that guy,"

Faith smiled and pulled herself up a bit to give him a kiss. "It was completely that guy," she purred.

"I find it hard to believe that killing someone would put you in heat, Faith," Mark sighed.

"Weeeelllll, truth is, now that you're going to be around for a while, I thought that it might be a good time to have a few more kids," she said and looking away, blushing. "Killing him just sort of set me off a few days earlier than expected. I was hoping to have you back home when this happened."

"Uh-huh. And what did Helena say about this?"

"This is just between you and me, Love. She doesn't know."

"I thought she was in charge?" Mark asked, a little surprised. He knew that they'd all coordinated with Helena on their second and third litters.

"She would have said no," Faith growled, "and then there would have been a fight, and it would have gotten ugly. I only have three cubs! I want more! We're getting older, Mark! I want at least one more litter before I can't have anymore!"

Mark sighed and hugged her close. None of his wives had ever even hinted that they wanted more children. Of course Charity and Hope each had five, and Helena had four. Faith had been kind of short changed; only having one cub in each litter.

"You should have told me, I thought you were happy with just the three."

"I'm sorry," Faith said.

"I'm sorry I didn't know sooner," Mark said and kissed her. "Next time, ask me, don't ask Helena."

"Thank you, Love," Faith purred and started to kiss him again. Mark reached over to the nightstand and picking up his phone he turned it back on. He didn't doubt that there were a lot of people looking for him this morning, but these last few years he really hadn't been paying his family the kind of attention they deserved, so the others could all just go pound salt until he was ready.

Sure enough, he had six voicemails, and a dozen pages. Shaking his head he dialed Helena. It was six am in Oregon, so he was pretty sure she'd be in bed.

"Yes?" she said, and he could hear her yawning.

"Hi, Hon. Not sure when I'll be leaving here yet, things kind of blew up and I'm still sorting through a bunch of it."

"And you woke me up for that?" Helena complained.

"Faith is pregnant, and you will not give her any grief about it at all, or I will be very upset with you, understand?"

"What?"

Mark chuckled, Helena didn't sound very sleepy at all anymore.

"There was some violence yesterday and it sort of set her off. Now, I need to go put out some other fires, as much as I'd like to linger in bed."

"She, I, ... I didn't know, Mark."

Mark was surprised; Helena was not one often at a loss for words.

"She was afraid you'd say no," Mark said, and gave a little growl.

"Well, I am the alpha, Hon. You know that," Helena said, sounding rather apologetic.

"And I'm yours," Mark reminded her. "Some decisions are mine to make, understand?"

"Yes, dear," Helena sighed in a way that let Mark know there would be a discussion about this later.

"Hopefully I'll be home in a few days. Bye, Hon."

"Bye."

Mark hung up and then sat up on the bed, dragging Faith along with him.

"I need to shower, eat, and then check all of these messages," Mark told her.

"But it's so nice and warm in bed!" She leered at him.

"And tonight we can pick up where we left off this morning. However I have a job to do, and if you're not pregnant by now, I've got other problems." Mark snorted.

"Yeah, because they're all going to be going into season as soon as they find out you're more than willing to father some more cubs!"

"And here I thought seventeen would have been enough," Mark sighed, but he still couldn't help but smile. More kids, yeah, he was such a sucker for his wives and children.

"You have seventeen, I just have three. Helena only has four; I'm surprised she hasn't ambushed you already."

"I think she feels like they're all hers as well," Mark said and shrugged. "I need to get up and get around, you can go back to sleep if you want."

"I'll go make you breakfast, now go shower."

By the time Mark got to his brother's office, he'd listened to all of the voice mails and read all of the text messages. One of the voice mails was from the monsignor of the local church, letting him know that they'd taken care of everything. One was from Woods, letting him know that he was now officially off the case, Haines and Chance had now taken over from him and he could tell them what he knew, then go and enjoy his vacation.

Then there was one each from Jeff Haines, Thomas, Bill Frey, and his partner Michael. Michael's was about the barbeque in Oregon next week, so Mark just texted him back a reply letting him know things were still on. The others just wanted to talk to him about the details of the case before he left.

When he got to the lab, he went and saw Haines and Chance first, they'd set up an office in the building, as they were still interviewing people and going through the archives and other records.

"Jeff, Rich," Mark said walking into the office and shaking hands with agents Haines and Chance, "Find anything interesting?"

Haines shook his head, "Not really, Mark. As near as we can tell so far, this Smith guy bought his way onto the board about three years ago after making some major stock purchases. He had a couple of small herbalist companies that import stuff from all over the world, and he got a contract to supply a few of the large beverage companies, which is where he got most of his money from.

"According to your brother, he had started bringing them interesting samples about five years ago, and had a lot of worthwhile connections with people working in the rain forests in South America. So when he suddenly bought in and wanted a spot on the board, no one thought twice about it."

Mark nodded. "So what do we know about the guy?"

"Well, he's been doing business with a few NGO's in South and Central America. He's had a couple of run-ins with customs, both ours and a few other countries. Nothing much really, until last month.

"What happened last month?" Mark asked.

"Last month he got a large safe for his house, and a bunch of biological gear," Chance said with a sigh. "We searched his house last night, and found the safe full of gold, and a sample of the culture from the lab."

"And we think that he had more samples, we just don't know how many," Haines finished.

"That's not good. Did you destroy the sample you found?" Mark asked.

"Yes, we had it blessed and all of that. Woods says that these are samples of a devil you killed on a jet?"

"They got sucked into a jet engine," Mark said, nodding. "I just never expected any of them to survive that."

"Who would?"

"So, how did this stuff get from that engine to my brother's lab?" Mark asked.

"We're still working on that," Chance said. "I called Hill Air Force base an hour ago, they said that the airline simply trucked in the replacement engines, hired a local outfit to swap them, then trucked the broken engines off to one of their repair shops. I got a few agents poking around quietly to see if they can find just where those engines went. We don't want to scare anybody off."

Mark nodded, "Any word on the kidnappers? Have you been able to tie Smith to them?"

Haines shook his head, "That's been kind of strange. We haven't been able to draw any direct connection at all. Agent Frey is heading up the investigation on that, and so far nothing points to Smith. Also, why would they want to bust into the lab and get a sample if they worked for Smith? Smith already had a sample."

"Huh, I hadn't thought about that," Mark replied. "Did any of the workers here have anything in the way of intelligence on the case?"

"No, most of them didn't even know who Smith was. They don't pay a lot of attention to the board members who aren't scientists or researchers here."

"What about science data?"

"Oh, they got quite a bit of that. Woods isn't sure how much of it he wants to send on to the DOD or the CDC. Apparently there is some concern about sharing information on devils with people who just might try to make them," Haines said shaking his head.

"Yeah, I can understand that. What's been done with the data so far?"

"Well, we had our geeks purge it from all of their servers and made sure that there was only one copy made, which we sent on to Woods after making sure there was nothing relevant to the case in it."

Mark nodded again. "Okay. I'll sit down and write up a detailed report in a few hours, I need to talk to my brother next. I may go take a look at Smith's house as well."

"You know, you're supposed to be on vacation," Haines said, "Woods even told me you're off the case."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But my brother and my wife were involved, so I just want to take a look around before I head out of here. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting, I should be out of your hair tomorrow."

Haines nodded, "Take your work laptop with you, I'll send you copies of the reports. You're still the originating agent; I'll keep you in the loop."

"Thanks, Jeff," Mark said and heading out of the office, went in search of his brother.

He found his bother in his office talking to several of his researchers, one of which Mark recognized as the doctor who'd been in charge of the lab they'd just shut down.

"Come back in an hour, I need to talk to my brother," Thomas said as Mark came into the room.

They all nodded, got up and filed out of the room.

"So, how's everybody taking it?" Mark asked.

"Some are pissed, some are scared, and the rest are both pissed and scared," Thomas sighed, "We just lost about four million dollars worth of time and effort, and that's not counting the money we would have made, if the research had panned out."

"That's a pretty big if," Mark pointed out, "and seeing as what the stuff you were working on was, the chance of unexpected side effects was pretty good."

"Just what was that stuff, Mark?"

"Well, I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you," Mark chuckled sitting down on a chair across from his brother's desk.

"I just had someone try to kidnap me; one of my now dead coworkers actually did kidnap my sister-in-law, and got killed for it. Then the FBI as well as a group of priests descend on my lab, question half my people, and go through all of my records.

"They did have warrants; by the way, Todd was very happy.

"So, anyway, I have all of this happen and you're worried I'll believe you? It's obvious that the government believes in this, and believes in it pretty seriously."

Mark nodded, "That's a fair point, but still, you'd be surprised. So, you know all that stuff they taught us in Sunday school? About Heaven and Hell, and devils and all of that?"

Thomas nodded, "Yeah, sure, what of it?"

Mark smiled, "It's all true."

"What?!"

"Well, maybe not all of it, things always get a little confused in the retelling and stuff. But the big parts are true. And that specimen came from a devil that was sucked into the engine of a jet airplane as it tried to murder me a couple of months ago."

"You're not joking, are you?" Thomas said.

"Nope."

"So that job you do for the Church?"

"Is just a cover for what I really do for the Church."

"Which is?"

"I investigate reports of devils and demons. I deal with any that are found. I deal with the people who summon them. I also deal with other supernatural affairs, from time to time, but normally only if the Church gets involved."

Mark watched Thomas as he shook his head, sighed, and then shook his head again.

"As much as I want to say you're full of it, the weight of the evidence tells me that you're not. So what happens next?"

"Well first of all, have you hired some bodyguards and private security?"

Thomas nodded, "Agent Haines recommended a reputable firm and they're sending out a team of people sometime today. I'm also installing twenty-four hour armed guards on the campus. You were right about the town rolling over. Of course the story that the press ended up with was more than enough to shut them up."

"Oh? What story was that?"

"That a South American drug lord tried to infiltrate the labs and use them to make illegal drugs, and when discovered by the FBI died in a desperate shoot out."

"Shoot out?" Mark said surprised.

"I saw how much blood was in that car; Faith really did a number on him, didn't she?"

Mark laughed, "Yeah, Faith is a tough one all right, shot him with his own gun, quite a few times."

Thomas nodded, "So, again, what happens now? Are these people still going to be interested in me? In the lab?"

Mark shrugged, "I'm not sure, honestly, but I doubt it. There was obviously a big event here, and that brought the government in. Further, the guy behind it all is dead and has been labeled publicly as a criminal. However," Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a memory stick and tossed it on to Thomas' desk. "I need you to copy all of the files from your research on that project onto that memory stick."

"Mark, they erased all of it last night. The purged all of our data."

"Sure they did," Mark chuckled, "I know you Thomas, you had a hidden backup someplace and they never found it."

Thomas blushed, and picked up the memory stick.

"Take it to the pastor at your church, tell him it needs to go to Manresa, he'll take care of it. As for the data, don't let anyone else look at it, and be careful what you do with it yourself. I suspect once the folks back at Manresa get done looking it over, a couple of them will come out here to talk to you about it.

"But remember, that piece of flesh came from a creature from hell. It was evil."

"Okay, I can understand that, but the chemicals it was making, those were just chemical compounds, I don't see how they could be evil."

Mark shrugged, "I have no idea, it may be possible, for all I know they may even have been magical. Just don't let anyone else see the data or do any research on that stuff until the people who know about this crap have talked to you."

Thomas sighed, "I guess I can do that. Last thing I want is more trouble with the feds or the church."

"Yeah, especially as they'd send me here to talk to you. And remember, go to church, they not only helped pull your butt out of the fire, via me, but they're going to be keeping an eye on you for some time to come."

Thomas nodded, "That'll make Mom happy at least, she's always harping on me to start going again."

Mark got up, "Well, I have a few more things to look into, and then Faith and I are going to catch a plane back home. Any questions before I go?"

"Yeah," Thomas said, "Just how did Faith beat up Jack? He was almost twice her size!"

Mark chuckled, "Well, you don't think a badass like your brother would marry four normal women, would you?" and left his brother, who just snorted in disbelief.

Oregon

6: Portland International Airport, Oregon

Mark waved to Michael as he walked out of the passenger's only section of the airport in Portland. As Michael waved back and headed over towards him, Mark was surprised to see Agent Denise O'Brien was with him too.

"Michael," Mark said nodding hello, then he turned to Denise, "Denise, I must say I'm rather surprised to see you here," Mark said as he then led them out to the passenger pickup area, where he'd left his car.

"It's those damn Marines and their wolves," Denise grumbled.

"What?" Mark asked looking over at Michael who was snickering.

"Steve and Mary got an invite to a big barbeque up at Zeke's last week, and both have since called in to say they're taking a couple weeks off."

"You're kidding!" Mark said rather surprised.

"Apparently Zeke was in the Marines, and well, they all bonded or something."

"Yeah, 'or something,'" Denise sighed.

Mark nodded, "Okay, so what does that have to do with your being here, Denise?"

"Mary called me last night, she told me that compared to the guys we'd been dating in DC, that the wolves had them all beat, hands down."

"And?"

"She said I should come here, and quote 'see if any of his kids are as hot as their old man.'"

Mark shook his head and laughed, "Really?"

"And then she made a few crass remarks about me being chicken if I didn't go find out."

"I'm surprised you didn't go visit her up at Zeke's, then."

"Let's just say I'm more of a cat person than a dog person," Denise sighed.

They came out to the car, and Mark's eldest, Dave, jumped out and took their bags and put them in the back.

"Michael, Denise, this is my oldest son, Dave," Mark said introducing them. His son David was about as tall as Mark was, but he was a just a little heavier built than Mark, and favored his mother Charity's looks, with the same tawny colored hair and light brown eyes.

Mark watched as Dave first shook hands with Michael, then took Denise's hand and looking down at her, he slowly smiled.

"Well hello, Denise. It's so nice to meet you."

"Umm, hello yourself," Denise said looking up at Dave a little surprised.

"Damn, that didn't take long," Michael chuckled. "I think I'll grab the front seat."

Denise scowled at Michael for that remark, but allowed Dave to show her to a seat in the back, Dave then going around to the other side of the car and sitting besides her. Mark watched the two of them in the mirror a moment as Michael started talking. David was definitely putting the moves on Denise, and she wasn't balking at all.

"So, I hear you had some excitement back at your mom's place?" Michael asked as Mark drove away from the curb.

"Yeah, you could say that," Mark said navigating his way out of the airport. This time of day the highway would be a mess, it was easier to just take the road by the river to go west. He had a ways to go, and avoiding the ever-increasing traffic around Portland would make the trip a lot more enjoyable.

"So, what happened?"

"My brother's biotech company got their hands on part of a demon and they were culturing it in one of their labs."

"Seriously?" Michael said surprised, "How the hell did they get that?"

Mark shrugged, "That's what we're trying to find out. Or rather Haines and Chance are trying to at this point. I'm supposed to be on vacation."

"Un-huh," Michael chuckled. "Send me the case files?"

"You're supposed to be on vacation too, I seem to recall."

"No, I'm here so your wives can set me up with one of your daughters," Michael laughed. "Assuming that they live up to all the hype that Helena and Hope have been feeding me."

"I'm afraid to ask," Mark chuckled.

"Eh, I grew up in the Midwest, the types of gals I meet in DC really aren't from my background. They're all city kids and stuff. Besides, Helena isn't the only woman trying to marry me off to one of her daughters; half my mom's friends try it every time I go home for Christmas."

"Yeah, but this is a bit different," Mark pointed out.

"Yeah," Michael laughed, "your daughters are all a lot better looking than the gals my mom's been trying to hook me up with."

"You know what I mean," Mark said trying not to roll his eyes while driving.

"I've seen you, and I've seen you with Helena and Hope," Michael said looking over at him. "I've seen how they are with you. That's a pretty convincing argument, Mark. Along with the increased odds of coming home alive each night."

"Yeah, well remember, I didn't ask for this."

"But you'd still do it again, if you had to live your life over."

"Don't be so sure about that," Mark warned.

"Mark?"

"What?"

"You know that lying to the FBI is a felony, right?" Michael snickered.

Mark could feel his face warming up, Michael was right; of course he'd do it all over again. Yeah, he knew there were people who would frown on him setting up Michael, and probably Denise now, to be changed. But as far as he was concerned, it was their decision.

And honestly? They were both good people, and like any father, he wanted to hook his kids up with good partners. Besides, they knew the risks a lot better than most.

The rest of the drive was mostly small talk, with Mark pointing out a few points of interest on the drive. He was staying at Charity's this week, as it was her 'turn' to have him apparently. As Dave was one of Charity's kids that was the reason why he'd dragged him along to help. Looking back up in the mirror he wondered if they'd have to make arrangements for a room for Denise to sleep in, or if she'd just end up in Dave's. Dave had left a trail of broken hearts behind in high school, but he'd been told rather firmly by his mother, Helena, and Mark that he couldn't change any of those girls. Of all of his sons, Dave had been the biggest Romeo; then again he'd been quite the jock in school. But unlike the late and unlamented Gregory, his mother and Mark had never let it go to his head.

Charity's house, like all of the girl's houses, was far out of town, bordered by timber company lands on almost all sides, with only a couple of neighbors in the area. Mark drove down the small access road, then turned down the long driveway, and pulled up in front of the nice, but simple, ranch house with a large pole barn across the driveway from it.

"Wow, this is really out in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?" Denise said from the back of the car, looking around. The sun was setting; it was getting near time for dinner.

"Care to go out and look at the stars later?" Dave asked her. "This far out, there's no light pollution, and you can see everything."

Mark tried not to laugh as Denise smiled.

"Oh, I'd like that," she said.

"Dave," Mark said.

Dave sighed heavily and looked up at him in the mirror.

"Yes, Dad?"

"Denise knows exactly what you are. Okay? So you don't have to hide anything from her. Furthermore, she's an adult, so whatever the two of you get up to, that's your business, and not mine, understand?"

Mark saw his son's eyes widen a bit and he looked at Denise who was smiling at him.

"And you're not allowed to bite her unless she agrees to it, got that?"

"Uh, what?" Dave said looking momentarily lost.

"Simple, Denise is in the market for a husband and you're on the menu. Good luck."

Mark noticed that Dave got a rather curious expression on his face, a cross perhaps between hope and fear. Denise was leering at him however.

Michael was laughing, "I think your work here is done!" he said.

Mark smiled, "Yup, let's go inside and see what Charity's made us for dinner."

"So, send me those files?" Michael asked.

"I have a lot of daughters," Mark joked, "think you'll have time to even look at them?"

"The barbeque isn't until tomorrow, so I think I'll have tonight at least," Michael chuckled.

"I'll send them," Mark agreed and went and helped Michael get his bag. Denise and Dave were still sitting in the car, flirting apparently, though at this point he couldn't tell who was chasing who. He left them to it and brought Michael inside to introduce him to Charity, who he hadn't yet met.

"How old is Dave, anyway?" Michael asked as they went inside.

"Nineteen. How old is Denise?"

"Twenty-three, a year younger than me."

"She's younger than you?" Mark said surprised, "I thought she was more experienced?"

"Well, she did time with the military police in the army before joining the FBI," Michael said with a shrug.

Mark stopped and looked at Michael, "Denise was an MP?" He said, holding his hand out at about chin height, which was where Denise came up to on him. In Mark's experience, all MP's came out of a test tube and were over six feet tall.

Michael laughed, "Dude, don't ever piss her off! She's vicious! Even Patrick is afraid of her! Hell, I'd put money on her against anybody in a fight, even your son out there, werecougar or not. She grew up with five older brothers and her father owns a chain of martial arts schools. Mary might look like the tough girl in the unit, but Denise is the one who'll clean your clock"

"I had no idea," Mark admitted.

"Why do you think Woods has her on the team? She only looks harmless," Michael laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind. Now, this is my wife, Charity," Mark said, introducing her. They showed Michael which room he'd be sleeping in, and then they all sat down to dinner. Thankfully Charity had warned the older kids off, to give Michael a chance to relax before the barbeque tomorrow. Denise and Dave did join them for dinner, but that was the last Mark saw of either of them that night.

#    #

Mark grumbled as his cell phone rang. Picking it up he looked at it and saw it was Agent Haines calling.

"Hello, Jeff, what's up?" Mark asked, stifling a yawn.

"We found out where that sample came from."

"Oh?"

"The airline sent the engines to a repair facility in Portland, where the plane is based out of. They have a contract with a shop that rebuilds the engines for them out by the airport."

"Makes sense," Mark said, and this time he did yawn. "Do you know who inside the company sent it out?"

"No, not yet. Woods doesn't want to send a regular agent in there. Whoever did it may not know what they found, or then again, they might. So he wants someone from the team to look into it."

"Me," Mark said.

"Exactly. Besides, your partner is out there now too, isn't he?"

Mark chuckled, "He's around here somewhere. I think I'll have to track him down."

"So, umm, if you don't mind my asking," Haines said in a lowered voice, "is he furry yet?"

Mark almost burst out laughing at that, "What?" he snorted instead.

"Oh, come on, Mark. We all know why he's out there, and word has already spread on Steve and Mary. I think they're planning a double wedding or something next month."

"Jeff, I honestly have no idea if he's gone 'furry' yet or not. Or even if he will. Though it will be kind of strange if my partner also ends up as my son-in-law."

"Whoa, I hadn't thought about that," Jeff confessed. "I don't know if I'd be able to handle working with one of my daughter's husbands!"

"That bad?"

Jeff laughed, "Oh come on, fathers are supposed to hate their daughter's husbands. It's traditional!"

"I'll keep that in mind. So, where is this place that rebuilt the engines?"

"I already sent you an email with all the details. I also sent you the number for the local office and Woods let them know we have a couple agents working in the area, so they won't be surprised if you show up or call for assistance."

"Thanks, Jeff. I'll head over there in a few hours."

"Sure thing, oh, just a warning."

"What?" Mark asked a little concerned.

"We're going to prank the hell out of Michael when he gets back, don't take it personal, okay?"

Mark sighed, "What, you going to put a litter box under his desk or something?"

"Oh! Good idea, we missed that one!" Jeff laughed, "Thanks!"

"Bye, Jeff." Mark said and hung up the phone. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or not that Jeff was finally warming up to him. Apparently agents Haines and Chance were quite the practical jokers and had only ignored him so far because they considered him an 'outsider'. Mark suspected he was going to miss that.

"Did I hear that right?" Charity yawned, "You have to go to work?"

"Well, it is Monday," Mark said.

"Still, I thought you were on vacation until next week?"

"Yeah, but it involves family, so I need to go look into it. Any idea where Michael is? I haven't seen him since Saturday when the girls dragged him off to go clubbing in Portland."

"Still, I think Hope has plans for you later this week," Charity snickered.

Mark rolled over and looked at her, "Really? But she already has five kids!"

"This is Hope you're talking about, Dear. If you're willing, she is going to be ready!" Charity grinned.

"What about you?" Mark asked rolling over on top of her and looking down into her eyes.

"I'm actually rather happy with five. Trust me, three of your sons were more than enough!" she said with a smile.

"I'm surprised Helena isn't being more militant," Mark confessed.

"Oh, not after you put her in her place she isn't. The only reason she's not making plans is that she feels guilty about having held the rest of us back. She didn't realize you wanted more kids."

"It's not that I want more kids," Mark smirked, "it's just that the whole reason I'm even here was to give you children. The fact that I enjoy it is just one of those little side benefits of the whole deal."

"That and having four wives," Charity snickered.

"Well, it's a hard job, but I'm more than willing to do it!" he grinned.

"And definitely up to the task as well," Charity purred. "So, what are you going to do about Helena?"

"Hmm?" Mark said. It was only seven, he had a few hours before he needed to start looking for Michael, and he knew just how to spend them.

"She wants more kids, Dear, and she's not going to ask you."

"And?"

"Do I really need to remind you of your job?" Charity purred a little louder as Mark started kissing her.

"Oh, I like the sound of that!" Mark smiled.

7: Somewhere west of St. Helens, Oregon

Mark caught up with Michael before lunch. It turned out that he was at Hope's house.

"What's up?" Michael asked, stumbling rather tiredly into the kitchen, wearing just a pair of jeans.

Hope handed him a cup of coffee and he started to drink it immediately.

"They got a lead on my brother's case here in Portland that we need to go track down. Go shower, I'll fill you in on the rest while we drive."

Michael nodded, "Where are my clothes? Hell, where am I?" he said looking around, yawning.

"My house," Hope said smiling.

"Ah, thanks, last night was a bit of a blur," Michael yawned, "your kids are deadly, you know that?"

"Blame him," Hope said and pointed at Mark, smiling.

"Uh-huh," Mark chuckled. "Shower's that way, Michael. I brought your stuff over so we can leave as soon as you clean up and get dressed."

Michael nodded, "Right, shower," and headed off down the hall, still drinking his coffee.

"What did those girls do to him?" Mark asked Hope.

"More like, what didn't they do to him," she laughed. "But I think it's down to Jess and Gail now."

"All the other's bailed?" Mark asked, curious.

"Well, Lisa, Maureen, and Dianne told me that while he's nice, they just weren't interested, and the rest are all too young still. But Gail and Jess? Yeah, they're interested, really interested, and he seems to like them too.

"I just hope it doesn't get nasty," she added with a sigh.

"Well, I'll play the concerned father and question him in the car on the way into the city. See which way he's leaning." Mark said. Jess was Hope's oldest daughter, Gail was Charity's. They were both the same age and had been best friends almost since the day they were born. Competing for the same male however, could turn them against each other. If it looked like it might turn nasty, he'd take the two of them aside and have a few words.

"Where's Denise?" Hope asked, "I haven't seen her since the party on Saturday."

"I think Dave got her," Mark smirked.

"What? Dave? You're kidding me! She's like four years older than him!"

Mark shrugged, "Michael's like five years older than the girls, I don't see anyone worrying about that."

Hope blushed, "Yeah, well, that's supposed to be okay."

"Helena is older than me," Mark said, grinning.

"But that's only two years!" Hope protested.

"Uh-huh. Look, if anyone is gonna rein Dave in; it's going to be Denise. She's not shy and she's pretty tough."

"What does Charity say?"

"I don't know, haven't asked. I figure if it's important, she'll tell me. How's Clem doing?"

"He says Europe is nice, but it's cold, and while the girls are all very friendly he hasn't met any female were's there yet."

"Well, he said he wasn't looking to get married for a while," Mark pointed out.

"I think he's just getting used to just how uncommon we are in most places. Dianne is thinking of joining him, if things work out okay there."

Mark nodded; Dianne was always fairly independent and strong willed, whereas Clem was just stubborn as a mule.

He spent a little more time catching up on his kids with her, before Michael came out, dressed and ready to go.

He gave Hope a kiss and then went out and they got in the car and drove off.

"So, where are we going?" Michael asked.

"The company that rebuilt the jet engine that the tissue samples came out of."

"Do we have a warrant?"

"I don't think we'll need one," Mark said. "We just want to talk to whoever rebuilt the engine is all. Besides, if we have to tell a judge just why we need a warrant, well I don't know if that would go over all that well."

"It would make it a lot easier on us," Michael pointed out. "How did you and your previous partner work it out?"

Mark laughed, "Jake was very charismatic. He could talk anyone into pretty much anything, and often did. We had the whole 'good cop bad cop' routine down to a tee."

"And you were the bad cop, I presume?"

Mark nodded, "Of course, I'm an American, so in Europe they all just assumed I was a homicidal gun crazed maniac automatically. And the monsters, well they're used to reasoning with humans, so they knew as long as Jake was talking, I wouldn't be hurting them."

"I'm surprised that they were that afraid of you. Are were's really that badass?"

Mark shook his head, "It wasn't just being a were, thought that helped, so much as being a monster who worked for the authorities."

"Why should that matter?"

"Well, most monsters have a radically different view of how society works, it's all 'might makes right' and 'the strong survive'. They know, instinctively, that governments are strong and powerful. Because they've got all these people and things in them. You see, to a monster, there are only two things more powerful: a bigger monster, or a large group of monsters. That's what most of them believe."

"So, governments are powerful, because they're made up of a large group of people?"

"Exactly."

"So it's all just a bluff then?"

Mark shrugged, "They 'know' that a monster wouldn't willingly work for humans unless it was being compelled by a more powerful group or monster. So, unless they're completely evil or insane, or have no real intelligence to speak of, they're going to want to start off easy and feel you out.

"If what you want isn't too big a deal for them, they'll most likely go along, after some poking and prodding and maybe a little bribery or some threats, rather than attract further attention. And if it comes down to a fight, well, we are pretty tough, and we're fast, and we're trained. A lot of monsters aren't trained beyond their natural ability, and most would rather try and get away, once they realize that they might lose."

"That's a lot to think about," Michael admitted.

"Well before you feel too sorry about it, think of all the poor guys out there who aren't monsters who have to face them down without any of those benefits."

"Hey, I'm one of those guys!" Michael laughed.

"Not for much longer though, I'm thinking. I hear it's down to just two of my daughters?"

Michael blushed a little and sighed, "I guess you could say that. They're all really nice and all, but Jessica and Gail are a lot more my speed."

"So which one are you setting your sights on?"

"That's the problem! They're each into all of the same things as the other, so of course there is no easy way to decide! Plus I've known them for what? Two days? Kind of hard to make that kind of decision in such a short time. Hell, it's only been just the three of us since last night.

"And that's not the worst of it," Michael sighed.

"Oh?" Mark looked over at Michael for a second, he looked a little dejected.

"It's obvious that they're best friends, and that I'm coming between them. I've already had words with them over it, told them that if they can't play nice together I'd kick both of their asses out and go sleep by myself. Last thing in the world that I want is to start a feud between the two of them. Told them they needed to get their priorities straight."

Mark nodded, "I'll have a talk with them when we get back."

"So, what's up with Denise?"

Mark shrugged, "I haven't a clue."

"Knowing her, she's probably holding your son at gunpoint and making him swear his undying love," Michael half-joked.

"Hey, that's how his mom got me," Mark joked back.

"Wow, just think she could end up your daughter-in-law! Think she'll call you dad around the office?"

"I don't know," Mark turned and ginned at him, "Son."

"Oh man, that was harsh!" Michael laughed.

"Yeah well, she could end up in your sister-in-law as well."

"Hey, no need to kick me while I'm down, Mark!" Michael joked back. "Damn, this is just going to be strange, and we haven't even gotten to the supernatural part yet."

"At least I'm only on loan, so eventually I'll be able to escape it," Mark chuckled. "You however will be stuck working with your sister-in-law."

The ride to the company that had rebuilt the engines took another half-hour or so, which Michael spent going over the rest of his emails on his laptop while Mark drove. The place was in one of the older industrial parks that were located near the airport. From the looks of the place, they had apparently been here for some time.

"Well, let's go inside and see what they say," Michael said opening the car door and getting out.

"Maybe we'll even get some answers," Mark said getting out of the car and following him.

"Think so?"

"Nah," Mark said. "It's never that easy."

The door to the shop was a fairly heavy metal fire door with the name of the place stenciled on it. Opening it they went inside, they were in a small lobby with a teller like window with a button next to it and a door to their left.

Michael pressed the button and a buzzer went off in the back someplace.

After a minute, Michael leaned on the buzzer and just waited until someone showed up.

"Hold your horses! I'm coming already!" An older woman said coming up to the window from the other side.

She looked at the two of them, "What do you guys want?"

"To talk to the owner," Michael said.

"We don't do no fundraising here," she said.

"This is a criminal investigation," Michael said pulling out his badge.

"We don't talk to the police either," she replied.

"Talk to us, or the FAA will be down here tomorrow to pull all your certs," Michael said holding his ID out for her to see. "We're the FBI and we don't play games."

Mark almost laughed at the way her eyes got wide.

"Now, would you be so kind as to let us in?" Mark asked.

"Unnnn," she said looking back and forth.

"Now," Mark growled, and the door to their left buzzed suddenly and opening it, Mark led Michael as he went inside.

"Chris!" the woman yelled out.

"What? I'm busy!" A man's voice yelled from the back.

"The FBI is here, and they want to talk with you!"

"Dammit! What the hell trouble did Tommy get into this time?"

Mark looked at Michael who shrugged, and then they both looked at the woman.

"Tommy is his grandson, he's a free spirit," she offered with an embarrassed smile and a small shrug.

A moment later a much older man, Mark would have guessed that he was in his seventies, came out of the back. He was dressed in work pants, and a heavy tan button up shirt. His hair was short, grey, and thinning.

"What has my ass of a grandson done this time to get the FBI on my case?"

"Actually, Sir," Michael started off, "this isn't about your grandson. I'm agent Michael Sykes, this is my partner, agent Mark Levin. We're investigating a problem surrounding a couple of engines that were rebuilt here."

"Oh my god!" The old guy said, his face turning white, "There hasn't been an accident, has there?"

"No, Sir," Mark said stepping up. "Right now, your company does not appear to be in trouble for anything; however, we do have some questions as to how these engines were handled, and who rebuilt them."

"Oh, thank god," he said looking noticeably relieved. "Which engines are these? Do you have the serial numbers?"

"These were the jet engines that where on the airliner that landed at Hill Air Force base in Utah," Mark said.

"Oh, yeah, the one that flew through a flock of geese. That must have been some ride, losing both engines like that. Come on back to my office, I'll pull up the records."

Mark and Michael both nodded and followed him back into the building, and into a large office that sported a large window looking out into the work area where there were at least a dozen people working on a number of large jet engines that were mounted on stands in three rows.

"I like to keep an eye on things," the man said nodding to the window as he sat down behind his desk.

"Sure thing, Mister...?" Michael prompted.

"Kruze, Chris Kruze. With a K." he replied typing on the computer terminal there.

"Ah, here they are. One of them was refurbished in just a couple of days; that one was worked on by Emily and Travis. The other one, that was a real mess, lost a couple of turbine blades. The whole motor was pretty badly chewed up, took over a week to fix that one, had to order a lot of parts. That one was Tommy, my grandson. Kid may be a pain in the ass, but he's one hell of a mechanic. I thought we weren't going to be able to fix that one ourselves."

"So," Mark asked, "where can we find them? We need to interview all three of them."

"Well Emily and Travis are right out there on the floor at stand six, rebuilding that Rolls-Royce. But Tommy hasn't been around in several weeks. Typical, he just hares off on something and doesn't bother to tell anyone where the hell he's off to!" Kruze grumbled.

"Do you have his address?" Michael asked, pulling out a pad and pen.

"Sure, he lives over on North East Stark. Has an apartment in a house there," and he rattled off the house and room number.

"Did you notice anything special about the engines? Anything out of the ordinary?" Mark asked.

"Let me look at the notes here," Kruze said, going through the files on his computer for a couple of minutes.

"Ummm, the first engine just had some charred remains, but the second one still had some animal flesh in it. Quite a bit from the notes it seems. That one must have sucked up a few birds as it was still spinning down."

Mark nodded, "Okay, thanks. We'll go talk to Emily and Travis and try to make it quick."

"Sure," Kruze said, "Oh, and when you find my idiot grandson, tell him if he isn't going to come into work, he should at least call us up and let us know!"

"We'll be sure to do that," Michael said, as they left the office.

Mark waited until they were out on the shop floor, where it was a lot noisier and out of Kruze's earshot, "Sounds like Tommy is our guy."

"Probably," Michael nodded.

"Well, let's see what the other two have to say."

Mark and Michael made their way over to the two mechanics, showing their badges and ID as they came up to them.

"Hi, we're agents Levin and Sykes; we're from the FBI and have a few questions, if you have a minute?"

"Yes?" the woman, Emily, asked turning to look at them.

"The engine from the aircraft that landed in Utah after ingesting those birds, did you find anything strange in it?

"Not really," Emily said shaking her head.

"Other than a lack of feathers," Travis, the other guy said.

"A lack of feathers?" Michael asked.

Emily shrugged, and the guy nodded. "Usually we find a few in the engine, but we didn't find anything in that one."

"What about the other one? The one that Tom repaired?" Mark asked.

"Oh man, did he bitch about that one!" Travis laughed. "He said he found like half a pound of cooked flesh. It did smell pretty bad around his workstation. He was wearing a mask until he had it all cleaned out. I guess the flesh rotted or something on the trip here from Utah."

Mark nodded.

"Where is Tom?" Michael asked. "Kruze told us he hasn't been around lately?"

"Eh, he's the bosses' grandson, he gets to do crap like this all the time," Travis complained.

Mark looked at Emily, "Is that true?"

"Well," she shrugged, "it used to be, but he's been clean and sober for over a year now. Ever since he hooked up with some wiccan gal from Klamath Falls, he cleaned up his act and started showing up on time. I don't know if they broke up and he fell off the wagon, or what."

"What's her name?"

"Beth. I don't know what her last name is. Pretty gal, but a bit of a hard case."

"Hey, she got Tommy to quit drugs," Travis said. "I'd heard her read him the riot act once, about a year ago, when we went out for drinks after work. But he liked her, so I wasn't going to say anything about it."

"Yeah, he needed a strong hand," Emily said with a laugh, "and she sure had one."

"They married?" Michael asked.

They both shrugged, "No idea. He never said," Travis said.

Mark nodded, "Any idea what he did with the rotted flesh he found?"

"Probably just threw it in the trash, why?" Emily asked.

"Avian flu," Michael said. "We're tracking a possible outbreak, and we want to make sure it was disposed of properly."

"Oh, well, guess you'd have to ask him," she said.

Mark nodded, "We will. Thank you both for your time."

"Sure, no problem," Emily said and Travis gave a small wave as they both when back to work.

"So," Michael asked as they walked back out to the car, "Tommy's house?"

Mark nodded, "Yup."

"Got a map? I notice you don't have GPS in this thing."

Mark chuckled, "Don't need a map, this is Portland."

"So?"

"Everything is laid out on a grid. All the streets have the same name from east to west, and they're alphabetical south to north. North east means he's in the northeast quadrant, and the house numbers are assigned by what square you're in."

"Sounds weird."

"Yeah, but once you're used to it, it makes finding places a breeze. Let's go."

8: NE Stark, Portland

They parked in an open spot on the street a couple of houses down. They weren't in a marked vehicle, and Mark had no desire to get either ticketed or towed, it was Charity's car and she'd be pretty upset with him if he did.

Walking up to the house, Mark noticed it was a pretty quiet neighborhood, all of the houses here were old and fairly large. There were three mailboxes over by the front door, one for each of the apartments that the house had been divided into. Mark could see from the driveway that one of them was stuffed full of mail and figured that wasn't a good sign. Tommy lived in number three, which was apparently the upstairs. They walked up the driveway, the entrance to the basement was along side it, and they found the stairs up to Tommy's apartment were in the back of the house.

Going up the stairs, Michael knocked on the door and then pointed to the doorknob that had rattled as he knocked, it was obviously broken.

"Someone forced their way in here," he said.

Mark nodded, "I think you're right."

"Scene of a possible crime, you know what that means?" Michael asked, pulling his badge out and hanging it out of his front pocket, then pulling his gun out next.

"What?"

Michael smiled, "We don't need a warrant."

Mark nodded and got out his own badge and attached it to the cord around his neck, but he didn't bother to pull his own pistol.

"Well, no one is answering, let's check it out," Michael said and turning the knob he pushed the door open and called out: "FBI, is there anyone inside?"

They waited a moment; Mark didn't hear anything coming from inside and told Michael.

"Let's go in," Michael said and led the way, with Mark following.

The apartment was a one bedroom, with a kitchen and a large living room. It probably was fairly nice, normally, but there was stuff strewn all over the place. All of the cabinets were open, as were the closets and all the drawers, stuff was dumped out and tossed everywhere; even the bed's mattress had been flipped.

"Someone was looking for something," Mark said.

Michael nodded. "Look around for any signs of violence, try not to mess things up too much, I'll call the crime lab to come down and process the place after we've given it a quick look."

Mark nodded and went and looked under the mattress first. He didn't smell anyone, but it was still best to check. He went through the bedroom closet next; everything in it had been pulled down or tossed into the room. The dresser and nightstand were also a complete mess, with the nightstand on its side on the floor.

"Find anything?" Michael asked, as Mark joined him in the living room.

"No," Mark said. "I'd guess they came here while he was out."

"Can you tell how long ago he was here? And with who?" Michael asked him.

"I'll have to shift to figure that out."

"I'll go stand by the door to make sure you're undisturbed and call the local office while you search."

Mark nodded and quickly stripped down as Michael went out the door and stood on the deck outside the door to call it in.

Shifting he went to the bedroom first. There were two strong scents here, a man's and a woman. He found both on what were some dirty clothes by a dumped out hamper. He suspected those were Tommy's and his girlfriend Beth.

Going through the rest of the apartment, Mark became fairly sure that was who those two scents belonged to. He also found about a dozen weaker scents, both men and women, but he didn't know if those were the people who had tossed the place, or were just friends of Tommy and Beth. None of the scents were fresh enough to tell, this had all obviously happened over a week ago.

The only other thing of interest he found was a false floorboard in the living room, Tommy and Beth's scents gave it away, and it took him a minute to puzzle it out. Shifting back to human form he opened it and found it empty. But the faint traces of devil made it clear what had been stored here.

"So, how long since they were here last?" Michael asked, coming in as Mark got dressed.

"It's been well over a week, I can't really tell for sure, but either whoever tossed the place grabbed them, or they saw the mess and took off."

"Or they went missing and someone came and searched when they didn't show up somewhere," Michael suggested.

"I found where they hid the sample," Mark said and pointed to the open floorboard in the living room.

"Anything in there?" Michael asked.

"A sample had been in there. There's some faint traces, but nothing else and it's empty now."

"And it wasn't opened when we came in, so whoever searched the place didn't take it."

Mark nodded.

"Well, let's go canvas the neighbors while we wait for the crime scene guys to get out here and look for evidence."

"Breaking and entering is hardly a federal crime though," Mark pointed out.

Michael nodded, "But kidnapping is, and we have one confirmed missing person. So for now, we treat it like a kidnapping case. We've got a person of interest in another kidnapping case disappear and there is evidence of possible violence at his home," he said, waving at the mess around them. "It's enough to get started on without having to go into too many details with the locals."

"Okay, so where do we start?"

"Let's ask whoever lives downstairs if they heard anything."

Mark nodded and followed Michael back outside.

Mark looked at the three mailboxes as they walked up to the front door of the main floor of the house. The one stuffed to overflowing was the one for apartment three, so he pulled all of the mail out and started going through it as Michael knocked.

"Find anything?"

"Well, first of all, Tommy's last name isn't Kruze, it's Bayer."

"I guess he's one of Kruze's daughter's sons then.

Mark nodded, "It would seem so. Beth's last name is Moonwing."

Michael turned and looked at him, "Seriously?"

Mark shrugged, "She's from Klamath Falls, and you heard the gal back at the shop describe her as a wiccan. There are a lot of wiccans in Klamath Falls, has been for ages. She may have changed her last name, but I wouldn't count on it."

Michael knocked again, but no one answered.

"Must be at work," he said.

"Well, it's almost five; hopefully they'll be home soon."

They spent the time talking to the immediate neighbors, several of which were home. No one had seen anything of interest, and they were not at all familiar with the people living in the house Tommy lived in.

The crime scene people showed up a little after six, Portland traffic sucked even for them. The other two tenants showed up not long after that and were rather shocked to find out that Tommy and Beth had gone missing. But neither of them really knew anything. The guy and gal living in the apartment under them just figured they'd gone away for the week.

"I think they broke up," the guy's girlfriend said.

"What makes you say that, Miss?" Michael asked.

"Both of their cars are gone. If they went someplace, they'd have only taken one, right?"

Michael nodded, "Any idea where Beth worked?"

She shook her head, "Some holistic new age shop I think."

"Okay, thanks!" he said and they both left.

"So, now what?" Mark asked.

"Why you asking me?" Michael said, surprised.

"I've never worked a kidnapping or missing person's case."

"Oh, yeah. I can see how that would be. I've worked one before, but I wasn't the lead investigator, just one of the guys on the team. I'd say tomorrow morning we go into the office and have them dig up all the information on Tommy and Beth. Known associates, all that kind of stuff. From the sound of Mr. Kruze, Tommy's been in trouble before, so the police should have a file on him."

"And then we go beat the bushes," Mark said, nodding slowly.

"Yup. You want to write today's report, or should I?

"I'll do it," Mark said and smiled, "I figure you're going to be busy, once we get back to Hope's."

Michael looked rather embarrassed suddenly.

Mark dropped Michael off at Hope's place, the headed back to Charity's, pulling out his phone when he got there, he called Jeff before getting out of the car. He had a suspicion that there were going to be family issues, because he could see Jess and Gail were sitting on the front porch.

"So, find anything?" Jeff asked picking up the phone.

"We found who got the sample from the engine while rebuilding it," Mark told him.

"What did they say?"

"I haven't been able to question them yet, both him and his girlfriend have gone missing and someone broke into their apartment and searched it."

"Foul play?"

"Maybe," Mark said. "We didn't find any signs of violence, but we called in the local crime scene unit and they're looking at the place. We'll check out their report in the morning."

"Any idea how many samples the guy had?" Jeff asked.

"No, but he had a lot of material to start with from the sounds of it. What's the word on Jack Smith? Any idea how many samples he had?"

"We're pretty sure he had four, he bought enough stuff to keep and transport that many. But it looks like he only got one from your guy in Oregon. The four samples he had were all removed from the labs. We found out he was bribing a couple of people on staff to get access and steal samples."

Mark sighed, "Wow, Thomas must be pissed."

"Yeah, he fired all of them and is suing them into total bankruptcy. Course, we arrested all of them on conspiracy charges, so he'll have to wait until we're done with them first."

"So, where are the samples?"

"Well, one is the one we found in the safe. Two others we managed to seize in shipping houses that handle biological specimens. Both had been sold to other labs."

"And the fourth one?"

"We're still looking. But we did find out that Smith had been selling company confidential information to some rather bad people in Central America. Apparently some of the drug dealers have upped their game now, as they've been investing in some rather high-grade labs."

"What would drug dealers want with this?" Mark asked, confused.

"No idea," Jeff admitted, "well, not yet at least. We're thinking that Smith was going to sell that last sample to them, and they decided to just cut him out of the equation by taking your brother and stealing a sample directly from the lab.

"Might be why they weren't too gung-ho over getting the sample when they tried to grab him. Probably figured they'd just get the one from Smith then."

"So you go an id on that Raul Silva guy then?"

"Partial, he's come up in a couple of Interpol database searches and the CIA said they have a file on him that they're sending over. I'll let you know when we get it."

"Okay, I'll keep you up to date on what we find here," Mark said. "Bye."

"Bye."

Mark put the phone away and got out of the car, walking over to his two daughters.

"We were told to talk to you," Jess said, looking down embarrassed.

"By who?" Mark asked.

"Our mom's," they both said.

"And why would that be?" Mark asked looking from one to the other.

"We got into a fight," Gail sighed.

"A big fight," Jess said, sighing as well.

"Michael?" he asked.

They both nodded, rather sullenly.

"You both like him that much, don't you?"

They nodded again.

"Okay, I have a tough question for each of you, and I don't want to hear your answer now. I want you to think about it. I want you to talk to each other about it, first, before you come to me with your answer."

Mark squatted down in front of the two of them, so he was at eye level, and looked them each in the eye.

"How the hell did you let this happen to the two of you? If you can't work this out, and stay just as close after Michael, as before, what makes you think you'll be able to deal with being married and having a husband, a family?

"You both need to figure this out in a way that makes you both happy, and that keeps your friendship alive. Otherwise any relationship with him is going to be doomed before it even begins."

"Can we talk with him about it?" Jess asked.

"You can talk to anyone you want about it, except for me. And don't make him be the one to pick, that'll lead to even more hard feelings.

"Now go, work this out, maybe Michael just wasn't meant to be."

Mark stood up and went inside.

"So, what do you think they'll do?" Charity asked.

"I have no idea," Mark said shaking his head. "Any sign of Denise and Dave?"

Charity giggled, "They're in the den, why don't you go say hello?"

Mark sighed, "Sure."

Mark walked into the den and there were two cougars lying on the floor. The larger one was Dave, the smaller female was obviously Denise. They looked rather comfortable together and were both smiling at him as he came in.

"When did this happen?" He asked.

"Two nights ago," Dave said, speaking in the cat tongue. There weren't words for things like 'Saturday.'

"Well, I'd ask who caught whom, but I'm not sure I want to know," Mark smiled.

"Denise, call in work and tell them you're taking two weeks off, and for those two weeks I expect to see the two of you together, every moment, of every day, got that?"

Mark could see Denise roll her eyes at him while Dave nodded yes. She hadn't learned how to talk yet, like everything else, that was a learned skill.

Mark looked down at Denise and shook his head, "You're my daughter now, and don't think I'm not above dragging you outside by the tail and whupping your butt. My family, my rules. Don't think that Charity won't tar your hide either if she catches you by yourself. Then we'd go tan Dave's ass for not keeping an eye on you.

"It was a couple of weeks before they were sure I wasn't going to freak out and have to be killed, and that's the only guide we have to go by."

Mark noticed her eyes got wide as he said that.

"Hey, you were warned," Mark said. "Not that I expect you to have problems. Now let me go see what your mother is making for dinner."

"Well?" Charity said as he came into the kitchen.

"I guess we need to plan a wedding," Mark said.

"You're not happy?" Charity asked, looking over at him.

"I'll be happy once I'm sure she's not going to freak out or go crazy," Mark said. "Now I know why you were all so nervous about me."

"You were a lot more stressed when we got you," Charity said coming over to him and giving him a hug. "She's already very comfortable with her new self. Now, help me with dinner. Helena's coming over in a little while."

"To terrorize Dave and Denise?"

"No, just you," Charity giggled.

9: FBI Offices, Portland

"So, here are the files on your two missing persons," Agent Jen Towers said dropping two folders on the table Michael and Mark were sharing. One of the folders was pretty thin, the other, was maybe a half-inch thick.

"Thanks, Jen," Michael and Mark both said.

"So, you guys have some experience with our Tommy?" Michael asked picking up the thicker folder, which had Tommy Bayer's name written on it.

"Us? No. The Portland police and the local sheriff's office? Quite a bit. Oh, minor stuff really. Couple dozen drunk and disorderlies, one DUI, bunch of arrests for fights, and vandalism, though none of those went to court. I didn't dig too deeply into it; you can always go talk to the sheriff's office if you want to know more. He's just another local troublemaker. Or used to be. Nothing on him in the last couple of years."

"What about Beth?" Mark asked picking up the thinner folder.

"All we got was the local financial and IRS employment data. We know she came here from Klamath Falls, but if you want to know more, call the police down there. Nothing's in the system, so if she got in trouble at all, it wasn't put in the records."

Mark and Michael both nodded, "Okay, thanks."

Mark looked through Beth's file; it had the picture from her driver's license, her address here in Portland, a list of previous addresses in Klamath Falls, her parent's names, which were Jebodiah Sundancer, and Kelly Nightwind. Definitely a couple of 'free spirits' he figured.

It also listed her current place of employment, as well as her last six. One of which was rather curious.

"Apparently Beth used to be an exotic dancer," Mark said to Michael.

"Really?" Michael said, looking up from Tommy's records. "It says that?"

"Well, it just says 'Dancer', but I know the bar in question. It's all strippers and rather good looking ones too."

"What was a married man like you doing in a strip club?" Michael asked.

"Eh, how do you think the girls raised the money to buy those houses? If you think regular girls can slink, you haven't seen my wives."

Michael laughed, "Oh trust me, I've seen your daughters, I believe it."

"So, how's that battle going?" Mark asked curious, looking up at Michael.

"Umm, let's just say that they're not competing against each other anymore."

Mark shrugged, "Just as long as they're not fighting, I'm happy."

Michael looked embarrassed for a moment, then changed the subject.

"We have a list of known associates here for Tommy," he said picking up a couple of sheets of paper in the folder.

"Well, let's go see if they can tell us about him," Mark said.

"Did you talk to the motor pool here about borrowing a car?"

Mark nodded, he'd taken care of it while Michael was talking to Jen about getting the files they needed printed out.

"So, where to first?" Michael asked.

"Stanich Burgers," Mark said.

"A food place?"

"One of our guys works there, besides, they're the best burgers in town and it is almost time for lunch."

"You're going to order from a guy after we question him?" Michael said looking rather skeptical.

"No, I'm going to question him after we eat," Mark smiled.

"Oh, that sounds a lot better then," Michael agreed.

Mark found a good spot to park their SUV that wasn't visible from the windows and then they got out and went inside.

"Mark!" The guy behind the bar said, "Long time, no see!"

"Hi, George. Yeah, home on vacation."

"Still doing the church thing?"

"Eh, on loan to the feds. Tell whoever is working the grill that I'll have the usual, and the same for my friend here," Mark looked around the place, it was a little after eleven and the lunch crowd was starting to roll in. "Let me find a table, you look like you're about to get busy."

"Sure thing, I'll send Grace over with a couple of beers."

"Thanks!"

Michael looked at Mark, "You know the people who work here?"

Mark smiled, "Yup, this is my favorite burger place in town. If you like Mongolian I'll take you to Chang's for dinner sometime."

Mark led them to an open table and sat down; a woman came over and set two beers down at the table.

"Nice to see you back in town, I bet the girls must be happy!" she said with a smile.

"Ecstatic, thanks, Grace."

"Umm, we're not supposed to drink on duty," Michael said as Grace walked away.

"Well, first off, I don't work for the FBI," Mark smiled and picked up his beer and raising it briefly to Michael, he took a drink. "And second off, you're on vacation. Besides, alcohol burns through a were's system rather quickly."

"Yeah, but I'm not one yet."

"I'll tell them we were undercover, if anyone finds out," Mark smiled.

Michael shrugged and picking up his beer he had a drink.

"So, the waitress knows about your family?" Michael asked.

Mark nodded, "Yeah, this is pretty much a family place; almost everyone who works here is a member of the Bear clan. Bears are really into good food, always run some of the best restaurants in town."

"So they're all weres in here?" Michael asked leaning back in his chair and glancing over at the bar. Mark noticed that he didn't seem too concerned, and wasn't looking around.

"I thought there weren't any were's in the area?" Michael asked, looking a little confused.

"Oh no, there are quite a few were's around here. The Pacific Northwest is rather full of them. There just aren't any cougar clans between here and the coast, other than mine now that is. The nearest one is five hours to the south of here, and it's pretty small as well."

"Why is that?"

Mark shrugged, "Most of them are well north of here, Canada, the mountains around northern Idaho. I think all the logging and gold mining and hunting around here made it too dangerous in the eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds to raise cubs, so no one settled here, and if there were any here before that, they either died off or were killed."

"I thought were's were supposed to be tough," Michael said, shaking his head.

"The adults can be. Our cubs? Some are hardier than others, and while adult cougars are pretty damn tough, the cubs are anything but." Mark shrugged, "I think it's a bit of a tradeoff, everything has its weak point, otherwise they'd overrun the world."

"I'm surprised there aren't more living here, now that you've got such a large family."

"Well, word travels slow among the lycan clans. It's not like there's a news letter or a facebook site," Mark chuckled. "Part of why Helena wanted to touch base with her relatives back in West Virginia."

The burgers came then and they spent the next several minutes eating.

When they finished Mark paid the bill and then grabbing Michael he led him back towards the bar.

"So, what's up?" George asked from behind the bar.

"I need to speak to Kenneth. Is he working today?"

"What's this about?" George asked, brows furrowing.

"Apparently a friend of his got tangled up in something bad. We don't think his friend did anything wrong or broke any laws. But there are some people after him, and he's gone missing."

"And you're looking into this, why?"

"Because he's working for the FBI," Michael said and discretely flashed his badge.

"Is Kenneth in trouble?"

Mark shook his head no, "But we think his friend might be."

"Fine, go on back and talk to him."

"Thanks, George." Mark said and he headed into the kitchen with Michael in tow.

"Ken!" Mark said as they came up to the large grill that a young man was working.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Levin. What can I do for you?"

"We're looking for Tommy Bayer, any idea where he is?"

"Ummm," Kenneth said looking back and forth between Mark and Michael.

"He's not in trouble with the law," Mark said. "But he is in trouble."

"Why are you looking for him?" Kenneth asked, sounding just a little nervous.

"I'm investigating a crime for the FBI," Mark said and showed him his badge while Michael did the same. "It involves an engine that Tommy rebuilt. But Tommy's missing and his apartment was trashed by someone looking for something. Beth's missing too."

"Beth left him," Kenneth sighed.

"She did? Why?"

Kenneth shook his head, "I don't know, he didn't say. Just that they had a fight and she left him, and two days later he comes back to his apartment to find it trashed and some guys have been asking around about him. So he took off."

"Where can we find him?"

Kenneth sighed.

"Ken? Want me to drag your father back here?" Mark warned.

"He's in Astoria. He's staying with Curt, an old friend from school."

"Got an address? A last name?"

"Scheckly," Kenneth said, and then gave them an address.

"He's not going to go to jail, is he?"

"No, he's not in trouble with us. Though he is in trouble with someone, and those are the people we're trying to track down."

Kenneth nodded.

"Just out of curiosity, how'd you end up with a human for a friend?" Michael asked, surprising Mark.

Kenneth shrugged, "We became friends in school, back in the third grade. He was always up for running off into the woods for a day, or playing hooky. As we got older, we became drinking buddies. He used to love tinkering on stuff; he fixed the old Harley I bought with a blown engine. Rebuilt my car and half of my friend's cars too, always there if you needed him."

"Does he know about you?"

Kenneth shook his head no, "Tommy's a great guy and all, but he drinks too much and isn't very good with rules or secrets."

Michael nodded.

"Don't tell him that we're coming," Mark said.

"Of course not, Mr. Levin, I wouldn't dream of it."

"Thanks, Ken."

"Think he'll warn Tommy?" Michael asked as they drove out of the parking lot and headed off towards Astoria.

"Nope, he figures I'd tell his dad or worse yet, tan his hide myself."

"Would you?"

Mark laughed, "Hell no! But I can't let him know that. Might as well call the office and let them know we won't be back tonight. By the time we leave Astoria it'll be time for home.

"Where's Astoria at?"

"On the coast, where the Columbia comes out. You can plug the address into the GPS if you want. There's only one-way for us to get there really, but I don't know my way around the town that well.

Two hours later they turned onto the street that Tommy's friend Curt lived on.

"You know, this was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Mark said, parking a couple of houses down from the one they were headed to.

"Only because you knew someone," Michael pointed out. "If we had to cold question all of those people, we might have gotten lucky and gotten the information we wanted. But even if we did, at least one of those people would have called him and told him we were looking for him."

"True. Well, let's go up to the house and see who's home."

Walking up to the front door, Mark noticed it was a small but sturdy built house. It got pretty windy out here, so there weren't a lot of windows, and even the picture window wasn't all that large. Opening the unlocked screen door he knocked on the wooden front door.

"Who is it?" he heard faintly from inside, but rather than answer he just knocked on the door again.

"I said, who is it?" Came from the other side of the door.

"Curt, it's Michael," Michael called out with a smile, "I got those beers I owe you."

"Curt's not home! Leave them on the steps!"

"And have some kid steal them? Open up man! It's two cases and this shit is heavy!"

Mark shook his head and looked at Michael who was grinning.

"Dammit!" Came from inside and Mark heard the deadbolt unlock, and then the door opened.

"Just put it...."

Mark recognized him from his license picture. It was Tommy.

"Hi," Mark said sticking his foot in the door and flashing his ID, "FBI, got a minute or two to talk, Tommy?"

Tommy's eyes got wide and he turned to run. Pushing the door open, Mark jumped forward and grabbing Tommy by the left shoulder he yanked him back.

"You're not under arrest, but if you don't sit down and talk to us, you will be."

Tommy stopped and turned to look at Mark.

"I didn't do anything illegal!" he said.

"No, you didn't. But we have a few questions to ask, and we're also a bit curious about who broke into your apartment and trashed it."

"This is about that stuff I pulled out of that wrecked engine isn't it?"

"Why would you say that?" Michael asked.

"Because up until I found that stuff, everything was going just fine. I had a hot girlfriend who cared about me, a nice apartment, and a decent job. Now I'm hiding out at a friend's house, too afraid to go anywhere."

Mark let go of Tommy's shoulder and pointed to the couch, "Sit down and tell us what happened."

Rubbing his shoulder Tommy went and sat down, looking up at them, while Michael closed the door.

"So, we get these two engines in that were KO'd by a couple of birds they say. One of them isn't bad, but the other has some serious damage to it, and there's even flesh still in it, big stinky pieces of it too."

"Maybe it was rotting?" Michael asked.

"This time a year? Its too damn cold out for that. Besides, I've see lots of engines after they've taken a bird. Even after a couple of Canadian geese. That engine wasn't taken out by a bird. I don't know what the hell it was, but it definitely wasn't a bird."

"Okay," Mark said, "So, you've got an engine full of what you know isn't a bird. What happened next?"

"Well, I scraped out all of it, and tossed it in a plastic bag and sealed it to cut down on the smell. It was pretty rancid. Well, years ago, when I used to go out east and go digging for truffles, I met this guy looking for stuff in the hills. Said he was a collector of rare plants, fungi, and anything else like that. Said he worked in medical research and that they're always looking for stuff, and that they pay. He gave me his card and I stuck it on the mirror at home."

"So you called him?"

"After I got home and found the card, yeah I did. He had a courier there the next morning with a couple grand in cash."

"So, you gave it all to him?"

"No," Tommy sighed, "I gave him half of it. I kept the other half and hid it."

"Why'd you do that?" Michael asked.

Tommy shrugged, "I donno, I just thought maybe I could find another buyer, and you know, double my money? I figured I'd start calling around research places and see if I got any interest."

"And that didn't work out?"

Tommy shook his head again, "Beth wanted it. She said it was magical and had magical properties and she wanted to take it back to her mother's coven in Klamath Falls."

"And you said no," Mark said.

"Of course I said no! I mean, I respect Beth's religion and all that, but magic? Really? Come on now! I wanted to see if I could get another couple of grand out of it. Pay off her car so she wouldn't have to go back to stripping. That new age store she was working at really didn't pay squat."

"So, big fight?" Michael asked.

"Heh, epic fight is more like it. She ended up by packing her stuff, grabbing the bag, and leaving after I'd gone to bed. I woke up to a note saying 'good bye' and not much else. Hell, half of her stuff was still in the closet."

"So, what happened next?" Mark prompted.

"Well, things just continued along. I finished rebuilding that motor, it was seriously busted up inside, but I got it right and working again. But a couple of guys come to the door one night after work and asked if I had any samples for sale."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them that I didn't know what they were talking about. They got a little pushy, so I waved a gun in their face, and they left. Next day after work, I'm driving home and someone tries to run me off the road and takes a couple of shots at me. I lose them, thinking it's just some skinhead tweaker, but when I get back to my place I find it trashed.

"So I grabbed a backpack, threw a bunch of stuff in it, and left."

"Why didn't you call the police?" Michael asked.

"I did, they laughed at me," Tommy grumbled.

"Why'd they do that?"

"I umm, I pranked them a few times, and well, I guess they thought I was pulling another one."

"Can you describe the two who came to your door?" Mark asked.

"Sure, one of them was a tall dark Hispanic guy, probably late twenties; he spoke like he had been to college. The other was a little younger and shorter, heavily built Mexican guy. He didn't say much."

"Hold on, let me get my laptop," Mark said, "I might have a picture of that first one."

Mark ran out to the SUV, got his laptop out and coming back inside he booted it up and called up the picture of Raul Silva from the morgue shots.

"Is this one of them?" Mark said and turned the laptop around.

"Ye...yeah, that's him, the older one. What's wrong with him?"

"He's dead," Mark said.

"Dead?" Tommy said and gulped, "From what?"

"From trying to kidnap a federal agent," Michael said. "Was he the one in charge? Or the other guy?"

"I, I don't really remember," Tommy said.

"Where do you think Beth went?" Mark asked.

"Her parents, I would guess. That's where she wanted to bring the stuff."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"She won't answer," Tommy sighed. "But I did leave her a message warning her that somebody came looking for the stuff and she better watch out and be careful."

"Okay, I think that about does it," Mark said and looked at Michael, "you got anything?"

Michael shook his head.

"Hey," Tommy asked, "when can I go back home?"

Michael took out his card and handed it to Tommy, "It's probably safe to go home now. If anybody was watching your place, they saw the FBI go through it yesterday."

"You went through my house?" Tommy said, looking a little shocked.

"Well, you are a person of interest in a kidnapping and murder case, and we were worried someone might have killed you as well," Michael explained. "Don't worry about getting in trouble over anything found. As we didn't have a criminal warrant, you can't be prosecuted on anything. Not that I heard they found anything illegal."

"Well, that's a relief," Tommy grumbled. "Hopefully I still have a job."

"Un-huh. Call us if you remember anything else."

"Can you answer a question for me?" Tommy asked.

"Probably not," Mark said.

"Well, what was that stuff that everybody is so interested in it?"

"No idea," Mark told him. "That's not our department. We're just tying up loose ends. We're as surprised about this as you are."

"You're sure they're gone?" Tommy asked again.

"Well," Michael said, "one of them is dead, and I suspect the other one is hiding someplace. But if you want to hang out here a few more days, that's completely up to you. If you want, call us when you head home and we'll assign someone to watch your house."

"You'd do that?"

"Well, just as long as you don't play any pranks on him," Michael said.

"Thanks!"

They shook hands and left, heading back to the car.

"Are you really going to have them put somebody on the house?" Mark asked.

"I already asked them to do it, in case he came back home. Once we write up the description of the other guy, I'll just ask them to watch for him instead. Might be our only way to catch this other guy."

Mark nodded as they got into the SUV and buckling their seatbelts he started it up and drove off.

"So now what?" Michael asked, "Klamath Falls?"

"Looks like. We're going to have to get someone at the office to buy us tickets. I really don't feel like spending a day driving there."

"I'll call the office and have them set it up while you drive. Got a preference as to what time?"

"Get us on an early flight."

"Don't want to see if we can catch a late one tonight?"

Mark shook his head, "They've had that sample for well over a week now. Any trouble they're going to get in, they've already gotten in it."

10: Outside Klamath Falls, Oregon

Beth sighed as she pulled up in front of her parent's house, it had been a long drive and going through the mountains at night wasn't always the safest. You never knew when a sudden storm could blow up and cover the road with snow, even this late in the spring. Thankfully she hadn't needed to use the chains. Chains which were sitting in the closet back at the apartment because she'd forgotten to grab them. At least she'd grabbed her heavy jacket, it was definitely cold enough this early in the morning.

Damn that Tommy! She sighed and swore again as she parked the car. Why couldn't he just do what she told him to? He'd given up drinking and drugs for her, why the hell wouldn't he have given her this as well? She liked Tommy, he was a good guy, and since they'd met two years ago when she was dancing at that club, things had been pretty good.

She'd found out early on that he had that same physical kind of magic like her father did. Oh, they couldn't feel it, and in her dad's case they didn't believe that they had any power at all. But their power was nature and magic at its most basic: the power to do.

Tommy was a great mechanic because he could do anything with his hands that he set his mind to, just as long as it was on machines. Her father's talent lay with wood, and the working of it.

But unlike her father, Tommy wasn't an old broken down hippy living in the middle of nowhere and eking out a living making custom furniture and fittings for the poor people in a small town. Tommy worked for his grandfather at a very successful company with a lot of well paying contracts for the airlines. A company that Tommy was set to inherit, and all the money that came with it.

Beth liked money, and she liked the power that came with it. She'd spent the last two years straightening Tommy up, and getting him firmly under her thumb.

She glanced at the cooler in the back seat as she turned off the car and opened the door. She could feel its power, there was magic in there alright. She wondered briefly if it was Tommy's coming in contact with it, that gave him the power to stand up to her gentle persuasions, and even harder pushing? She didn't have a problem with him sending off half of it to that guy he knew back east, the money they got for that was a nice bonus after all.

But she wanted to experiment with the rest of it. There was power there, and Beth wanted it. She had always hated the fact that she could sense the power, but she had so little of it herself. Her mother had even less than she did, but had always been happy with it, but then her mother had always been willing to settle for less. But not her! No, she never settled for less than her due, and after giving Tommy two years of her life and spending all that time improving him, he owed her this!

Sighing loudly she grabbed the cooler and getting out of the car she walked up to the front door. She'd called her mother last night to let her know she was coming home. Opening the door and going inside she set the cooler down.

"Mom?" she called out.

"Beth! Is that you?"

Beth's mother, Kelly Nightwind came into the room. Beth sighed and smiled, her mother's powers might be small, but her mother was still lovely, and always welcoming. She could have done so much better for herself than her father. Beth honestly didn't know how they came to be together, or why her mother continued to turn down all others to stay with him.

"Hi, Mom."

"What happened? Where's Tommy?"

"I told you, Mom, we had a fight. He found something, something powerful, and he was just going to sell it all."

"And you left him over that?" her mother said, looking rather shocked.

"Mom, it's power, real power. I've never felt anything like it before! I let him sell half of it, but after two years, dammit, he owes me a little something! So I took it and left."

"Beth! You don't throw over a good man like that! Tommy is warm and kind and very generous. He's been very good to you and he's let you into his life and shared it with you. You had balance with Tommy."

Beth rolled her eyes, her mother just didn't understand sometime.

"Mom, with power like this, once I learn how to use it, I can get any man I want, I'm sure."

"But they'll only want you because of the power, Bethany," her mother warned, using her full name, which she only did when she was getting cross with her. Of course her mom getting cross was about as far as it ever went. She never raised her voice, or even swore.

"Mom," Beth sighed, and decided to placate her, "once this is all over, I'll call him and apologize and make it up. It's not like he's going to find anyone else in a week or two, or even a month."

"Fine," her mother said, taking Beth's word for it. Beth had to admit, her mom had a point. She already had Tommy under her thumb, and he was going to be rich one day, probably one day soon. Why should she look for someone else? Once she got the power, she'd go back to him. One way or another, she'd have him back. Once she got whatever power she could of course.

"Now, show me what you found," her mother said looking just a little bit eager herself.

"We better take it outside, this stuff stinks something fierce. Tommy found it in a jet engine. So it's a bit burned up and rotten."

Her mother nodded and led the way out to the backyard. Beth picked up the cooler and followed her through the house and out into the yard.

"Where's dad?"

"He had a delivery to make this morning, so he left about an hour ago, around eight."

Beth nodded and set the cooler down.

"Don't lean in until after it's been open a little bit, it really is pretty nasty.

Her mother nodded, and Beth pulled the top off, leaning away from it to avoid catching the worst of the smell.

"Wow!" her mother said, waving her hand before her face, "That is pretty bad alright, dear."

"Yeah, I guess getting sucked into a jet engine did a number on it."

"What kind of bird was it?"

Beth shrugged, "I have no idea. It's wrapped in plastic, so you can touch it, without getting any of it on you."

Her mother nodded and kneeled down next to the small cooler; she put her hands to either side of the cooler first. Beth watched as her mother concentrated for a moment. Her mother wasn't as powerful, or as sensitive, as Beth was. But she was still stronger than any of the others in her mother's coven, which is why her mother led it.

"I can feel it already," her mother said. "You're right, this is strong, I've haven't felt anything even close to this, since the time I was in Cairo."

"You were in Cairo?" Beth asked, surprised. She'd never heard her mother speak of that before.

"That was where I met your father, dear."

"I thought you met him at a Dead concert?"

"Yes, that was where it was. Now give me a moment to concentrate."

Beth watched as her mother put both of her hands into the cooler, to either side, coming close to, but not touching, the plastic wrapped black flesh sitting in the bottom. It wasn't very big, maybe a quarter of a pound, if that. It was the second largest whole piece that Tommy had found.

"Yes," her mother said pulling her hands out and sitting back on her heels, "it is powerful alright, very powerful. It feels a little chaotic, but that may be just because whatever it came from is dead now and died violently."

"How can you tell it died violently?" Beth asked, a little surprised by her mother's insight.

"Well how else would you describe getting sucked into a jet?" her mother replied, looking at her with a smile. "Really Bethany, I would have thought that would be obvious!"

Beth sighed and shaking her head, she put the lid back on the cooler.

"So, what do you want to do with it?" her mother asked.

"I want to convene a coven. Not the full one, the special one, the one you use to do your magic. I want to see if we can extract this power and use it," Beth said looking at her mother rather hopefully.

Her mother put her hand under her chin in obvious thought. Beth watched her as she just sat there over a minute, thinking about what, Beth had no idea. But her mother knew a lot about ritual magic, she'd had to learn all about it, as her own powers were so weak.

After a couple of minutes her mother stood up and looked down at her.

"There is a full moon coming soon, and the stars will be aligned rather favorably that night. I had already planned to work some rituals that night to see if we could do something for Elksong, he's getting old and starting to feel it in his bones.

"But I think we'll see what we can do with this, if we can gain any power from it, not only could we help Elksong with his troubles, but we might be able to do something for Moonwinter's daughter."

"What's wrong with Carol?" Beth asked.

"She has cancer. We tried to help her, but we're just not powerful enough to tackle something that strong, so they've been forced to rely on modern medicine and it's bankrupting them."

Beth nodded, "Okay, but that's over a week away! Why so long?"

"Because I need to study the rituals and see what I can learn. I've never done anything like this before. I'll have to be careful. Power is a dangerous thing, Beth, a very dangerous thing, if you don't learn how to control it and how to use it."

Beth nodded.

"And you're going to have to help me with all of this. You're more talented than I am, dear. So you're going to be going over all of this with me, so I can make sure we do it right, understand?"

"Yes, mom," Beth acquiesced. She knew her mother wouldn't let her do this if she didn't take the time to go over everything beforehand. She was okay with that, the last thing she wanted to do was to make a mistake and lose her one chance at finally getting her hands on some real power!

Beth stood up and took her mother's hand when she offered it.

"Thanks, Mom," Beth said and smiled.

"I want the best for you Beth, you're my only child. You will be able to do so much more good in the world with this than I ever could. Just promise to be careful."

"I promise, Mom."

Kelly Nightwind smiled at her headstrong, but gifted daughter. Beth was often a trial, but she was strong, and she was stubborn. She had faith that she'd be able to do great things one day.

Beth smiled back at her mother; she was one-step closer, and only a few steps away.

11: Enroute to Klamath Falls, Oregon

Mark sighed and leaned back into the nice leather seat of the small corporate jet. When Agent Woods, their boss, had heard of their request for airline tickets he'd squashed it immediately and gotten them one of the FBI owned and operated corporate jets. Woods figured that they may need to bring back things, or even people, that were best kept out of public view.

Looking at Michael, Mark was pretty sure that Woods was right, just not in the way that he thought. When he roused Michael this morning, he'd found two things. The first was that Michael had gotten bit. The second, and more interesting, is that both of his daughters had bitten him.

Apparently his little lecture had got them thinking and as they both quickly pointed out, he'd done well with four wives, so they figured Michael would do okay with two.

So a rather exhausted Michael was asleep on a couch with Jess and Gail on either side of him. There was no way Mark was going to let Michael go running around without at least one of them by his side now, and both girls had made it rather clear that they weren't letting him out of their sight right now either.

Mark was just surprised that they had couches on corporate jets.

He'd decided to draft Denise as well, which meant Dave was there too. They were sitting next to each other and chatting quietly, though every time Denise glanced over at Michael she couldn't help snickering.

So it was quite the family gathering.

The nice thing about having their own jet was Mark even got to bring along some of the more interesting hardware he'd acquired back years ago when they'd gone after that vampire. Oregon was very forgiving on gun laws, and so he had brought a few things, just in case. He'd also stopped by church on the way out of town and took care of a few things there as well.

He had no idea what kind of situation they were walking into, and whatever it was, he was sure it had some time to develop into something difficult. That girl Beth had run off with that sample of devil flesh almost two weeks ago now, and even if it was all dead, the remains still had quite a bit of nastiness in them, and that stuff could take years to fully degrade, not unlike the half-life of most radioactive elements.

One of the pilots came back to talk to him, dubiously eyeing the odd assortment of people with him.

"We'll be landing in fifteen minutes, Sir. You might want everyone to get ready."

Mark smiled, "Thanks, and call me Mark. I'm not much of one for formalities, especially as I'm supposed to be on vacation."

"Is that why you have all of these civilians with you?" he asked.

"Actually, Michael and Denise," Mark said pointing them out, "are both agents. The other three are actually here for support reasons, which generally boil down to 'you're not taking my fiancé away a week before the wedding when you're all supposed to be on vacation!'" Mark said with a grin.

The pilot looked at the others, and then back at Mark, "Couldn't they have gotten someone else to do this then?"

"Unfortunately, no. This is all rather classified, and we're specialists."

"Including the civilians?"

Mark chuckled, "Including the civilians. How do you think they met in the first place?"

"I don't know...."

Mark shrugged, "If you're worried about it, just include it in your report. My boss and his boss both know what's going on. Don't feel like you have to cover for me if you're afraid it will get you in trouble."

The pilot shrugged and went back to the cockpit, closing the door behind him.

"What was that all about?" Denise asked.

"Oh, the pilot was wondering about you and your boy toy," Mark smirked.

Dave snickered and Denise scowled.

"No, really, what did he want?"

"We're landing in fifteen minutes."

"I heard that part," Denise said, "I was just wondering about the rest of it?"

"Oh, he's worried that we're abusing agency property, probably just wants to know what to say if anybody asks him about the extra passengers. Originally they were told there was only going to be two of us."

Mark turned to the three on the couch.

"Wake Michael up, girls, we need to get ready."

Jess shook Michael awake and they all sat up as Michael stretched and yawned.

They taxied the jet to a parking spot that was fairly close to the general aviation terminal. Mark had called a local car rental agency and had them dropping off two rather large SUV's with four-wheel drive. Denise and Dave would take one, Mark and Michael the other, with Jess and Gail going with them.

"How long do you need us here, Mark?" the pilot he had talked to asked, while the other one was shutting down the jet and taking care of whatever it is pilots took care of.

"Until we leave," Mark told him. "Hopefully, we'll be out of here tonight, but I can't be sure. Give me your phone number and I'll give you a heads up. For now, I'd say button up the plane, go rent a car and burn up your expense account. I'll let you know if you need to rent a room and spend the night."

"What he's saying," Michael said coming over, "is that we'll sign your expense account requests, just don't put down that you were stuffing twenties in a stripper's g-string."

"Yeah, call it something else," Mark smiled.

"Sounds good to me!" the pilot smiled and gave them his phone number.

They grabbed their bags then and headed for the terminal, Mark could see the SUV's parked next to it, and someone from the rental agency waiting next to them.

"Two cars?" Michael asked.

"Six people in one car would be crowding, especially if we have to haul someone back with us," Mark pointed out.

"Makes sense, so what's the plan?"

"You and I will head over to Beth's parent's house and see what we can learn. Denise and Dave, see if you can scare up someone from the local wolf clan and see if they've heard about anything strange going on in town."

"How am I supposed to find the local wolf clan?" Denise asked.

"Don't worry, I can handle that," Dave grinned.

"Dave's been here before," Mark said, "just try not to get into too much trouble; this is work, not play. Got that?"

"Yes, Dad," Dave said.

"Remember, most covens like to do their rituals out in the forests, find out from them where they go to do them. We'll probably have to go and check those places and see if we can figure out just what they did."

"Got it," Denise said.

Mark walked up to the gal from the rental agency that was standing there in a company jacket and holding a clipboard. He showed her his FBI ID, signed the paperwork, took the keys and gave one set to Denise, then led them all over to the cars and loaded everything up and headed off into town while Michael programmed the address into the GPS.

"Think they'll be alright?" Jess asked from the backseat.

"Clem's not here, they'll be fine," Mark said.

"I'm not sure Denise is an improvement over Clem," Jess chuckled.

"Clem something of a hell raiser?" Michael asked.

"Clem never starts anything," Jess said.

"Yeah, he just finishes it!" Gail laughed.

"That sounds like Denise alright," Michael chuckled.

Mark sighed and hoped he wouldn't have to bail anyone out this time.

The trip from the airport wasn't a long one; Klamath Falls wasn't that big of a town. They pulled up in front of a ranch house in a neighborhood on the edge of town. Nothing fancy, but still in decent shape.

"You two wait here," Mark said to Jess and Gail as he parked and opened the door to get out.

"I thought we're supposed to stay with Michael at all times?" Gail said, smiling sweetly at him.

"I'll be with him, and that's good enough," Mark growled, "now don't sass your old man while he's working."

Mark got out and closed the door, then looked at Michael as he came around the SUV.

"Both, Michael? You had to take both? Really now," Mark said shaking his head.

Michael blushed, "Don't look at me, it was their idea! Not that I mind of course." Michael smiled rather happily then, "Actually, I kind of like the idea now that I've had some time to adjust."

"Yeah, well. Good luck with that," Mark said walking up to the front door.

"What? You married four! Compared to you, this should be easy!" Michael teased.

"And notice I don't let them live together. It's bad enough when two of them decide to gang up on me."

"Well, let's see if anybody is home," Michael said and knocked on the door as they both took out their badges.

Michael was about to knock a second time, when the door flew open and a man looked at them, eye's wide.

"FBI..." Michael started.

"Blessed be, you're here at last!" he said, motioning for them to come inside.

"Come in, please, come in!" He said, turning and going back inside.

Mark looked and Michael and shrugged, then followed the man inside, looking him over as he did. The man was a little stooped over, which considering how tall he was, easily a good six inches taller than Mark, was probably the result of having to stoop to go through doorways all of his life. He was a thin gangly man that looked maybe fifty, with long stringy blond hair. The scent of incense in the air was fairly strong, but not strong enough to cover the smell of marijuana in the house. He was wearing a vest over an old Grateful Dead shirt for the Europe seventy-two concert, old blue jeans, and sandals.

"I called the police three days ago, and they told me not to worry, that they probably just lost track of the time and not to worry about it!"

"Sir, if you could start at the beginning, please?" Michael asked as the guy walked over to an old easy chair and dropped into it. Mark looked around the room; it reminded him of one of his high school friend's bedrooms. There were old posters of rock bands, other mystical looking pictures that probably meant something to wiccan's, and a series of paintings that were all rather good and signed 'Nightwind'.

"Have a seat," he said, motioning to the couch behind a rather well made oak coffee table.

"Sure thing, Mr. Sundancer, correct?"

He nodded, "Call me Jeb."

"So, tell us what happened?"

"Well, Beth came back from Portland, she had something special and she said it was magical, real magic, powerful stuff. Not the weak stuff Kelly had to deal with all the time."

"Could you tell if it was magical?" Mark asked.

Jeb shook his head, "No man, I don't have the sight. It just looked like spoiled meat to me, and smelled like shit. But Beth, Beth has the sight! She can feel things, she can tell. Just like she knew that she had to go with that mechanic guy she met in Portland. She knows!

"So, Kelly and her, they decide that they're going to do some high magic, pull out what's in the stuff Beth brought home, and do some real magic! That they're gonna harness it all, and put that power to use!"

"Use doing what?" Michael asked.

"Hades if I know, I don't know magic. I work with my hands, man.

"So anyway, they put together a group of the more powerful people from Kelly's coven and they drove up to their special place on the mountain, where they do their rituals and their magic.

"But they haven't come back! They should have been back by now!" he said and jumped up and started pacing back and forth.

"Something's wrong, man. Something is just wrong."

"When did they go?" Mark asked.

"Thursday. Friday was a full moon and they said the stars would be right. They should have been back Saturday, Sunday at the latest!"

"Where is their place on the mountain?"

Jeb shrugged, "I don't know. They didn't go to the usual place where we have our usual ceremonies. I drove up there Monday to check it out, just in case they ended up there. But nobody was. So I came home and called the police."

"Who around here would know where this special place is?" Michael asked.

Jeb shook his head, "I don't know man, I just don't know. Most of the serious witches in the coven are up there with her. The others? I don't think they know where it is. If you're not in the inner circle, you don't know where it is. It's for serious magic and they don't want anyone messing up and hurting themselves."

Jeb stopped and looked at the two of them, "You believe, don't you? You're not like the state cops around here, or the forest rangers. They laugh at us. But I can see, you're not laughing."

Michael shook his head, "No, Sir, we're not laughing. That's why we're here."

"Can you tell us where your usual place is, Jeb?" Mark asked. "So we don't waste time going there, if you've already checked it out."

"It's in the Lakeview State Park," he said and started pacing again.

"Do you know the names of the people who went up there with your wife and daughter?" Michael asked.

"Elksong, he's about sixty; Sarah, she's his woman, she's about thirty; Danielle Shadowmist, she's also in her thirties, she's from the reservation up north; Howard Rossman, he's in his forties I think and lives a few blocks from here. Oh, and Crystal, she's in her mid twenties."

Mark watched as Michael pulled out his pad and wrote all that down.

"Do you know what kind of car they took? That might give us an idea of what kind of terrain they were expecting to cross," Michael asked.

"They took my wife's forester," Jeb said.

"Do you have something you wife has worn recently?" Mark asked, "Something you haven't washed?"

"Why?" Jeb asked, looking at him, "You're not gonna get a bunch of those blood hounds, are you?"

"Like calls to like," Mark said. "If the place isn't too heavily warded, we might be able to find it that way."

Jeb's eyes lit up, "Oh! Right! I've heard Kelly talk about that. Just a minute!"

"Like calls to like?" Michael whispered as Jeb left the room.

Mark shrugged, "If I end up having to track her, I sure would like her scent, but with all this incense in here, I can't pick up anything."

"Other than pot," Michael snickered.

"Eh, it's legal here anyway."

Jeb came back into the room with a t-shirt.

"Here, she wore this the day before she left. I haven't done the wash yet, so it should be good."

"Thank you," Mark said, taking it.

"How long do you think it will take to find her and Beth?" he asked, looking rather hopeful.

"I can't make any promises, Jeb," Mark said. "But we'll do our best."

"Go with the goddess then, and blessed be," Jeb said, shaking hands with both of them.

"Have a good day, Sir." Michael said and handed him his card, "Call us if you hear anything."

"I will, officers!"

They left, closing the door behind them and went back to the car.

"So, what did you guys learn?" Jess asked.

"That they're a bunch of hippies playing at magic," Michael said.

"Oh, I don't know if they were playing exactly," Mark said. "Beth must have some talent to have realized what that bag meant. But most humans don't have a lot of talent, and the ones that do, well they tend to hide it."

"Why's that?" Michael asked.

"Because in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is beaten to death," Mark replied wryly.

"So, how do we find where they went?"

"We ask the wolves of course. Any people gathering in the mountains around here has definitely had to have come to their attention."

"Is that why you sent Dave to go talk to the wolves, Dad?" Gale asked.

"Pretty much. Let's go check into the local police station and let them know that we're here. Then we'll call Dave and Denise and see if we can all meet up for lunch someplace."

12: Pack Outfitters, Oregon

"Pack Outfitters? Really?" Denise said, looking at Dave as the pulled into a parking space in front of the store. They were in the middle of a strip mall in the heart of downtown Klamath Falls.

Dave laughed, "Yeah, some wolves aren't the most imaginative. But you have to admit that if anyone is going to know the territory for a hundred miles in any direction, it's going to be the local wolves.

"Besides," Dave grinned, "it's not like any of the humans out there are going to realize what it means."

Denise shook her head, "All these years and all of this was just under my nose."

"And now it's under me," Dave said with a wink, causing her to blush. Dave could be quite the gentleman when he wanted to be. He could also be as rude and crude as the worst of them, in short, he reminded her of everything she loved about the army, and even the FBI. So it wasn't any surprised that she fallen in love with him.

The fact that he was positively ripped didn't hurt either. He was even better put together than his old man, which was saying something.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing here!" a young man said, coming up to them as they entered the store.

"Heya, Chuck, how's it hanging?" Dave said grinning.

"You got some nerve coming in here, after the last time!"

"Aw come on! That was just Clem having fun, and you know it. Besides, he's not here."

"Who's the girl?"

Denise looked him over; Chuck was a little taller than Dave, but thinner.

"His wife," Denise growled putting her hands on her hips and looking him up and down.

Dave laughed, "Denise, this is Chuck. Chuck, this is Denise, and better mind your manners. You think Clem was tough? She'll clean your clock in less time than it takes to talk about it!"

"Right, like a small girl like that could take me down!" Chuck sneered.

"Put up, or shut up," Denise said staring him in the eyes. She had to look up of course; he was at least six inches taller than she was.

"Looks like you just got called out, Chuck," Dave smirked.

"Like I'm afraid of a little girl!"

"Okay then," Dave said and took a step back, "On three!"

Denise looked at Dave, who just winked at her and pointed to Chuck.

"One," Dave counted, "two, three!"

Chuck reached for her, and Denise grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her, then cranked his arm around, as she stepped into him and using a simple hip throw she threw him down onto the ground, rising up onto her toes a little bit to get that extra leverage that made him come down so much harder.

Keeping hold of his arm, she kicked him in the armpit, then stepped on his shoulder and wrenched his arm to the point of almost dislocating it.

Denise smiled as he gasped in pain.

"Warned you, Chuck. She can even beat me up! I don't think Clem would even win against her. Now I suggest you yield before she rips your arm off and beats you to death with it!"

"What the hell is going on over there!" A man yelled from the back of the store, Demise was almost sure she'd heard that voice before.

"Kyle! Help! Dave is back and he brought some sort of demon with him!"

"Kyle?" Denise said and turned around to look, and sure enough, she had.

"Kyle you son-of-a-bitch!" Denise said and letting go of Chuck's arm she charged him, launching herself at him from a good six feet away.

"Denise!" He laughed and then 'oofed' rather loudly as she knocked him onto his ass.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kyle laughed as she tried to get him into a submission hold.

"Trying to finally beat your ass up! That's what!" Denise laughed.

Kyle grunted and got her in a scissor lock, trying to do the same to her.

"Hey, you've changed!" He whispered as they scrabbled on the floor of the shop. A couple of customers stopping to watch what was going on.

"Now I know why I could never beat you," She grunted back in a low voice, "but now I will!"

"Dear, people are beginning to watch," Dave said walking over to the two of them as they wrestled on the ground.

Denise and Kyle stopped wrestling and looked around, embarrassed. All five customers in the shop were now watching them.

Dave reached down and helped Denise up as she brushed herself off.

"So," Kyle said getting up, "from the commotion my little brother started up front, I take it that you're either Dave, or Clem?"

Dave smiled, "Dave, I take it you know my wife Denise then?" he said while sticking out his hand.

"Wife?" Kyle said shaking hands and looking at Denise. "Well, that explains a few things then."

Denise smiled and leaned into Dave.

"You know her?" Chuck said coming over.

"Yeah, she was in my military police group in the army. Craziest and toughest bitch in the unit. I've seen her take down men twice her size." Kyle looked back at Denise, "You mustered out the same time I did. What brings you here?"

"I work for the FBI now," Denise said in a lowered voice as the onlookers went back to their shopping, having realized that there wasn't going to be anything more interesting going on.

"Let's go talk in my office," Kyle said. "Chuck, take care of the customers, okay?"

Chuck nodded and walked off, rubbing his shoulder as he worked his arm a little from where Denise had kicked him.

Once inside, Kyle showed them to a couple of seats as he closed the door.

"So, as this isn't a social visit, what brings you here?"

"I work with the FBI's paranormal group; we're part of interstate affairs division. We're on a case involving a young female wiccan by the name of Beth Moonwing who got her hands on some remains from a devil while she was living up in Portland. We believe she brought them back here to experiment. So we're trying to recover it, before anything bad happens."

"And how does the local wolf clan fit into this?"

"Simple," Dave said, "my dad wants to know where all of their ritual sites are, so we can go check them out."

"What does your father have to do with any of this?" Kyle asked.

"He's on loan to my group at the FBI," Denise said, and then smiled, "that's how I met Dave and we mated."

"Damn, Mark Levin is working for the government now?" Kyle shook his head, "My old man is going to have a fit when he hears about that!"

"Why?" Denise asked.

Dave coughed, "Dad has a tendency to go a little overboard if someone messes with his wives or us kids," he said, smirking a little bit, "And well, me and Clem got in some trouble here a few years ago."

"And his father damn near beat three of the wolves in the clan to death. For a turned, he's one tough bastard. Everyone thought that story of him and that bear were just a load of crap. Then he takes out three of the clan's toughest, and suddenly everyone realizes that you do not mess with old man Levin," Kyle said.

"Hey, if it's any consolation, he beat the two of us to within an inch of our lives and then grounded us," Dave said with a shrug and a laugh. "We weren't allowed out our cages for the rest of the summer."

"Cages?" Denise said and both she and Kyle looked at him.

"Yeah, he built two of them, just special for us and tossed our asses into them. Said if we were going to act like stupid animals, we should live like them too. At least it was only for a month!"

"That's harsh," Denise said shaking her head, "I don't even want to know what you did to earn that!"

"Yeah, we were getting a little out of hand. But that sure reined us in. Dad's still got some anger issues, mom says it's from what happened to him in the war when he killed that vamp," Dave shrugged, "all I know is you see him truly angry at you once, you never want to see it again."

"So, does this mean that the local alpha won't help us?" Denise said, turning back to Kyle.

"Oh, my old man will help; he'll have to, to save face. Ya' see, Mr. Levin came down here afterwards and apologized to my father in front of the whole clan for both his actions, and that of his kids," Kyle nodded towards Dave. "He didn't have to do that, so it really made a big point with my father. Earned his respect."

Kyle shook his head, "So, the feds know about us now?"

Denise nodded, "From what I gather, they always have, they've just kept it quiet and let the different religious groups and the clans deal with the problems as they came. But a couple of years ago they decided to stop depending on others. Still, it's not common knowledge and they plan to keep it that way."

"That's good to know," Kyle said and taking a card out of his desk he wrote something on the back and handed it to Denise.

"My cell number is on the back. I'll go talk to my dad and find out when and where is a good time to meet. There have been a few strange things going on in the last few days, and my dad's been wondering what to do about it. Call me in a couple of hours."

"Okay," Denise said and both she and Dave stood.

"And congratulations on finding a mate. My brothers might think your husband there is a bit of an ass, but the girls all liked him and said he was rather sweet."

Denise sighed and shook her head as they shook hands with Kyle, "And now I know why he got in trouble. Well, at least he's off the market now."

"Yup," Dave grinned, "she'll beat me to death if I so much as look at another woman!"

"Sounds like you two were made for each other," Kyle snickered and they both blushed.

"Here's my card," Denise said and handed hers to him as they left the office, "don't be a stranger, Kyle."

"Bye!"

"Bye."

13: Lake Steak House, Klamath Falls

Mark stood up when Walt, the Klamath Falls pack alpha came into the room. They were having dinner in a private room in the back of a rather nice steak house that Walt's son Kyle had told them to be at, at five.

It was quarter past five now, Mark figured that Walt wanted to make it clear to everyone that Mark wasn't in charge here. For Mark's part, he was okay with that, this was Walt's hometown and Mark would rather put the incident of a few years ago behind them.

So he stood up, and the others did as well, as a sign of respect.

"Thanks for helping us with this, Walt. I appreciate it," Mark said with a smile and shook hands with him. Mark assumed the young man with him was his son Kyle who hadn't been here the last time Mark had been in town.

"Well, Kyle here tells me you are trying to find a young woman?" Walt said.

Mark nodded, and introduced the others in his group, then sat back down as Walt and his son Kyle each took a seat.

"Her mother is the leader of the local wiccan coven. I talked to Jeb Sundancer this morning. He told me they went up into the hills, to some special altar or place they have there for their more powerful rituals, not their usual place out in the Lakeview State Park. That was on Thursday night, and they were going to do their experiments Friday night, under the light of the full moon."

Walt nodded, "And now it's Wednesday and they're not back. That doesn't sound good. Being up in the hills this time of year, it can still get pretty cold. At least it hasn't snowed or rained in the last week."

Mark nodded, "So, I'm asking for your help, and the help of your clan. From the sounds of it, this Beth girl had some minor talent for a human. So it's possible that they might have unleashed something dangerous, or at the very least, gotten injured or sick."

Walt sighed, "I know Jeb, and I'm familiar in passing with many of the members of the local coven that his wife runs. They're one of the more laid back ones in the area, and they're pretty respectful of things, so we tend to give them their privacy and respect their ways."

"So, does that mean you'll help us?"

Walt nodded, "I'll have Kyle here take you to the place I think they were using. One of my nephews saw them heading out to a special place they use up on a hilltop to the east of here a ways. Like I said, we give them their space, because they respect the forests around here, and well," Walt shrugged and suddenly grinned, "sometimes they can get pretty freaky out there, and it's the last thing I want any of the kids to see, so the rule is you stay away, well away, when they're doing their magic. But my nephew Scott told me that he heard some strange noises coming from there late Friday night, well after midnight, when he was out for a run.

"Saturday night he called me again and said there was a foul odor coming from the hilltop and it sounded like some kind of beast was up there. I told him to stay away and I've been gathering up a bunch to go take a look at it myself. But now that you're here," Walt said looking around, "are you all with the FBI?"

"Denise and Michael are," Mark said motioning to the two of them. "I'm just working with them on loan from my usual job."

"I'm surprised you turned them," Walt said, motioning to Michael and Denise as well.

Mark chuckled, "I didn't. Their new mates did. Helena has been trying to line up spouses for the kids for a while now, and well, they were interested in meeting the family and some match making took place. Being as they already know about us and have worked with a number of lycans before, they weren't bothered by the idea."

"Still, I am surprised, and I don't know if I like the FBI knowing about us."

Mark shrugged, "It had to happen sooner or later. Most European countries have a group that deals with us. It's just our country's turn to get involved. My advice to you is the same I give to everyone else: If you have some kids who want to get involved in law enforcement, get a job with the FBI. I'll even help, as will Michael or Denise here. As long as there are enough of us working there, they won't abuse us."

Mark watched as Walter pondered that advice for a minute or two.

"You have a good point there, Mark. I think I will talk to some of the others about this, including some of the other clan heads in the area.

Walt sat back and smiled, "Well, now that we've concluded business, how about some dinner?"

Walt raised his hand and beckoned to the waitress who had been standing on the other side of the room. Mark had already noted that she was a werewolf; he suspected that the place was probably owned by one of the members of Walt's clan.

"Dinner sounds good to me," Mark agreed.

Mark was following Dave and Denise's SUV, Kyle was in their car and was giving them directions to where the suspected site of Friday night's ritual was. They'd been driving for almost an hour, this place was definitely well out of town, and they were driving on forestry roads now. He'd called the pilots before they'd left the steakhouse, once he realized that they probably weren't going to be leaving until tomorrow.

"You don't think any of them are alive, do you?" Michael asked.

Mark shook his head, "Not really, not if they've been up in the hills for this long."

"Well, we're in a national park, so it's federal land and if we're the first on the scene, that puts it in our jurisdiction if we want it and takes it out of the locals," Michael said.

"Really?" Mark asked surprised.

"Yeah, we share jurisdiction on the parks. So whoever starts the investigation, they own the whole thing. We don't have to involve the locals if we don't want to."

Mark nodded as they followed the other SUV onto an even older and narrower dirt road than before. He hoped they didn't scratch up the cars, last thing he wanted to do was file a damage report with the insurance company.

When Dave and Denise stopped and turned off their headlights, Mark did the same. He got out of the car as Kyle hopped out of the other one and walked back to where he was standing.

"It's about a quarter mile to the site from here. Do you want to drive up, or walk up?"

"Drive, anyone up there has probably already heard us coming, and if there's something wrong, the cars will give us at least some protection until we either deal with it, or just turn around and drive off. But let me get a few things out first, just in case," Mark added and walked around to the back of the SUV and opening up the rear he took out the larger of the two bags he had brought along. Unzipping it he started to pull out several small guns.

"Are those MAC-10's?" Kyle asked, surprised.

"Yup, full auto, and silenced. The ammo's all been blessed and has crosses carved in it. Here, take one for Denise as well," Mark said and handed him two.

"How many of those do you have?" Kyle said, surprised.

"Five, and I got tax stamps for all of them, all nice and legal. Set me back a pretty penny, but they're machine pistols, so you can carry it concealed with a CCW in Oregon. Pretty neat, huh?" Mark chuckled.

"Why do you even have them?" Kyle asked, looking at the two in his hands.

"Vampire in Portland," Mark said and handed him a couple of extra magazines. "This was how we took out his followers and slowed him down long enough for me to kill him. Just be careful with these, they're pretty light, so they have a tendency to jump when you fire them."

Kyle nodded and Mark took out the other three, passing them up front to Michael, Jess, and Gail, while grabbing his machete and a two-liter soda bottle full of holy water for himself, as well as a large cross he'd had specially blessed back at Manresa years ago that he always kept at home.

"Okay, let's go see what we're dealing with," Mark said and closing the rear door he went back up front and got in the driver's seat.

They drove the last quarter mile with the lights off, even with the trees; they all had good enough night vision as lycans with the moon out that they didn't need them to see where they were going at this slow a speed.

When the road they were taking opened up, Dave pulled over to the side, and Mark pulled around him. There were three cars parked on the right side of the road, the first was an old Subaru forester. Mark drove by them slowly. There was an old four-runner parked behind the forester that had all of its windows smashed and the smell of blood and corruption got rather strong as they passed it.

"Ugh, that's nasty!" Jess said from the back seat.

"Quiet please," Mark said, "And roll your windows down, I don't want to pay for any broken glass if you have to shoot anything."

Both girls nodded, doing as they were told, Michael already had his own window down and the tip of the machine pistol pointing out of it.

About twenty feet past the forester, the road opened up into a large clearing. Mark saw that there was an old tree stump almost dead center; it was easily twelve feet across, probably old growth that got logged off a hundred years ago. Someone had flattened it and smoothed it out, making it into an altar of sorts. It looked like there were candle stubs around it, as well as a bunch of now dead Coleman gas lanterns spread around the perimeter of the clearing with some sort of hoods over them.

But what caught Mark's eye was the dead body on the altar, and the four scattered around it.

"I count five bodies," Michael said softly. "Shouldn't there be seven?"

"I think there was one back in that four-runner," Gail said.

"Still missing one," Mark said. "Keep your guns up; you see anything that isn't human, empty the magazine in it."

"What if it is human?" Jess asked.

"Use your best judgment, but if I say fire, you fire. Understood?"

"Yes, Dad."

Mark started to drive slowly around the edge of the clearing, with Dave following behind.

"Michael, Gail, keep your eyes in the woods. Jess, watch to see if any of them are breathing."

Mark split his attention between what was in front of the car, as well as what was on his left inside the clearing. He couldn't make out the fine details with his normal night vision, he'd have to use a flashlight, but first he wanted to make sure there weren't any immediate threats.

He stopped as he came back to the road, and turned the SUV off.

"Keep your eyes and ears open. Girls keep your eyes on the tree line and keep your muzzles on the trees. Now everybody out, Michael, give Dave your gun and let's grab a couple of flashlights."

They all got out, and Mark got a couple of flashlights out of the back, as his kids spread out to keep an eye on the edge of the clearing.

"Don't touch anything," Mark warned. "Not until I've put some holy water on it and waved the cross at it first. If you're wearing a cross, now would be a good time to pull it out."

Mark knew his kids all were, he made them put them on before they'd left the house this morning. Surprisingly Denise had one too.

Mark turned on his flashlight and started to walk around the clearing a second time, though this time he started playing his flashlight around, looking for the wards. He came across the first one as he came to the eastern part of the clearing. It was about twenty feet from the altar; all of the bodies were closer to the tree stump than that.

"What's that?" Kyle asked.

"Ward," Mark answered, "There should be four of them, one at each of the cardinal compass points. They're to protect and seal the circle, keep out any unwanted influences, that kind of thing." Mark looked at the burned out candle in the silver candleholder in the center of a rough drawn circle in the dirt to mark the ward's location.

"Doesn't look like it helped them none," Denise said, looking at the bodies.

"Well, if you end up summoning or creating something evil, it won't stop that, because that's what you're calling. It just keeps anything else from interfering. Or it's supposed to. Once we finish going over all of this, I'm going to need one of you to grab the camera in my bag and take pictures of everything. I don't recognize the marks on that candle holder, so I'm going to have to send all of this back to Manresa so they can give me an idea of what we're dealing with here."

They nodded quietly and Mark continued around the outside of the circle.

The next three wards all appeared to be the same, though Mark noted each of the candles were a different color and contained a different mix of ingredients, at least according to his nose. He also noticed that there hadn't been any kind of wall or circle drawn to connect the wards. They were definitely using a ritual or rite that he wasn't familiar with.

"Okay, let's go in and take a look," he said and moved over to the first of the three bodies.

"That doesn't look good at all," Michael said.

Mark nodded; the body was that of a woman, though Mark couldn't tell much more than that. The body was desiccated, the skin was black, and a faint odor of foulness was coming from it.

She was dressed in robes; they all were from what he could see. No doubt ceremonial ones for the rituals there were practicing.

"She's wearing moccasins," Denise said, flashing her light over to the woman's feet. "Didn't you say that one of them was from the reservation?"

"Just because she's an Indian, it doesn't mean she goes around in moccasins all the time," Kyle scoffed.

"For a ritual like this she might," Denise said and flashed her light to the feet of the other bodies on the ground, then the one on the altar.

"None of the others are wearing moccasins, they're all wearing slippers," she said.

"I think Denise is right," Mark said.

"I just noticed something," Michael said, looking around.

"What?" Mark asked.

"There is the body on the altar, one to the south of it, facing north, then there is one on the north side, one on the east, and another on the south. There isn't one on the west side."

Mark stopped and shined the light around each of the points, starting with the north and working around clockwise, "Earth, Air, Fire," and as he came to the one on the west, "Death."

"Huh?"

"In most magical rites, each of the wards is associated with an element: earth, wind, fire, and death. Depending on the ways and the rituals being followed, they start at one and go around to each in turn. Most start on the east and end on the north."

Mark looked at the three bodies of the 'circle'. Each was about five feet from the stump, and from the look of things, had been facing torwards it, when whatever had killed them, had killed them. Walking over to where the death guardian would have been standing, he shone the light on the ground. There were marks on the ground, whoever had been standing there had turned rather suddenly and run to the west, where the cars all were.

"It was a death ritual," Mark said, shining the flashlight up towards the four-runner.

"Why do you say that?" Denise asked.

"Because death protected its guardian. As it came from inside, the others never had a chance, assuming that they had the power to."

"They came up here to do a death ritual?" Kyle asked, sounding rather shocked.

"If they'd come up here to do that on purpose, whoever was standing for death wouldn't have run," Mark pointed out.

"Let's check the other two guardians," Mark said, heading to the body at the northern point.

Both of those bodies died the same way as the one at the first point to the south. He then went and looked at the one on the altar, it was an old man. His body was not desiccated like the others.

"Single stab wound to the heart," Michael said.

"This one has multiple defensive wounds and several stab wounds as well," Denise said looking at the one by the altar. "I think she bled out."

"That's Kelly Nightwind," Kyle said, shaking his head. "The old guy on the stump, that's Elksong. He used to be a big time Elk hunter around here, used a bow, as I understand it. After he retired from that, he spent all of his spare time helping kids and anyone else who needed it. Everyone in town knew him."

Mark nodded, and shined his light around the rest of the stump, or altar.

"Anyone notice what's missing?"

"No, what?" Michael said, shining his light on the surface as well.

"Our demon flesh. I think I smell traces of it, but that's all. Everyone spread out around the stump here and use your flashlights to look, carefully. See if you can find it.

Michael, Denise, and Kyle started to slowly search the ground, along with Mark.

Ten minutes later Mark sighed, "It's not here."

"Maybe death has it?" Kyle asked and shined his light towards the four-runner.

"I doubt it, but let's go take a look."

As they headed over towards the truck Kyle suddenly spoke up.

"That's Elksong's truck."

"You sure?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, I recognize the mismatched hood."

Mark nodded, "Well, Elksong is on the stump behind us, so I guess this is his girlfriend Sarah."

They stopped next to the driver's side door, the window had been smashed and from here they could see that the inside of the car was splattered with blood. The body of the young woman inside had been torn up pretty badly.

"Whatever killed her, had some very serious claws," Kyle said.

What's that on the floor?" Michael said from the other side, shinning his light into the passenger's side foot well.

Mark looked down, and covered in blood was what looked like an old colt 1911, with the slide locked back, empty.

"Everyone, look around for a blood trail," Mark said shinning his light carefully around the interior. "I don't think that smell is coming from her body, I think it's from the blood of whatever she shot."

"Let me shift," Kyle said, "I'll see what I can pick up around the car, and see if I can find a blood trail."

"Sure, you've got a better nose than any of us," Mark agreed.

"What's that there?" Michael said, shining his light on the door, he'd been looking in, on the passenger's side.

Mark walked around, as Denise continued to look in the broken driver's side window.

Michael was shining his light on the door.

"I thought it was just blood at first, but I see it's the wrong color."

Mark nodded, it wasn't black like the blood of a devil, but it was far too dark to be regular human blood, and was smeared around the door handle. Whatever had killed Sarah had closed the door behind it as it got out of the car, the kind of thing a person would do.

"Kyle, over here. We found a place for you to start," Mark called and a very large wolf came trotting over.

"Damn, dude. You're huge!" Michael said, looking at him.

Kyle made some noises then and Michael shook his head, "I don't speak wolf, sorry man, I'm still learning cougar."

Kyle looked at Mark.

"Nope, never had the time to learn," Mark apologized. "Get the scent, see where it came from, where it headed off to, then come tell us. Don't go more than a hundred yards from the clearing."

Kyle ducked his large wolf head and started to do that as Mark and Michael walked back to the SUV Mark had been driving.

"Think she killed it?" Denise asked.

Mark shook his head. "Wounded it, I'm sure. Killed it? I don't think so. I'm just confused by the method of death. I also want to know where Beth is."

"Why are you confused?" Denise asked.

"Well, Elksong was killed by a dagger to the heart, it was probably instant. Kelly was killed by multiple stab wounds, but none of those were instantly fatal, almost like whoever it was, didn't want to kill her."

"That or they were really angry with her," Michael pointed out.

"Good point," Mark said and then motioned back to the four-runner, "and Sarah there was torn apart by something with claws. Now, I'm willing to guess that the sacrifice of Elksong is what caused Sarah to run. Maybe that's what caused the others to die or maybe they died because of the sacrifice."

"Maybe the person who killed Elksong killed Kelly, while whatever it was that got summoned killed Sarah in the car?" Michael said.

Mark shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't see anything that looks even remotely like a summoner's circle, so I'm not sure anything was summoned."

Mark went to the back of his car and pulled out his digital camera.

"Who wants to take pictures?"

"I'll do it," Denise said holding out her hand, "I've photographed murder scenes before."

Mark nodded and handed the camera to her.

"Start with the bodies. After you do each one Michael can check for ID and see if we can find out who they all were."

"What are you going to do?" Michael asked.

"Well first I'm going to sprinkle holy water on everything and each of the bodies, just in case. Then I'm going to shift and see if I can figure out where Beth was, and where she went. I know what she smells like from her and Tommy's apartment in Portland."

"Ah, okay," Michael said with a nod.

Mark grabbed the two-liter bottle and spent a couple of minutes flicking some water on each of the bodies, then the altar, then back to the four-runner to get Sarah's body as well. Interestingly enough, there was no reaction, which meant any evil here was now mostly likely gone.

Going back over to SUV Mark stripped down quickly and after shifting he went over to the forester, figuring Beth had come up with her mother.

Sure enough, he picked up her scent at the passenger's door. He tracked her around the clearing several times, obviously she'd been all over it. Coming back to the stump, her scent was all over that as well, as was her mother's of course.

Going back to the edge of the clearing, he circled it, twice, and other than finding where she had been going to the bathroom, he didn't find any signs of her leaving.

"I found the murder weapon!" Michael called from the clearing, over by the stump, so Mark turned and trotted back to where he was, as Kyle came out of the woods and joined them.

Padding up to Michael, Mark looked at him.

"I found this knife under Kelly's body," Michael said. He was using plastic bag over his hand to protect himself from touching it, holding it by the blade. Mark leaned in close and sniffed at the handle.

Beth.

Mark's eyes got wide and he took a couple of steps back and shifted.

"What?" Michael asked, surprised.

"She killed her own mother!" Mark replied, shaking his head. "Beth's scent is all over that knife. She must have killed Elksong, and then killed her mother next."

"What would possess her to do such a thing?" Kyle asked, standing naked next to Mark as he had shifted back as well.

"Why does anyone murder someone else?" He sighed, "Power. It always comes back to power." Mark looked at Kyle. "Did you find anything?"

"I found a trail, leading away from here, by whatever it was that bled on the door. The funny thing is, it smells a bit like the handle of that knife."

"How far did you track it?"

"Not that far, I didn't want to get out of earshot. Whatever it was, it stopped and rested for a while, and when it got it again, it was no longer bleeding."

Mark nodded.

"Okay, Kyle and I will track whatever it is, and see where it goes. The rest of you, head back to town. Michael, call Woods as soon as you're in cell range and tell him what's happened here, and ask him to send help.

"Denise, load all the photos up onto your computer and send a set to me and another set to Woods as soon as you get back to the hotel."

"Hotel?" Denise asked.

Mark turned to his son Dave.

"Dave, find a good hotel and get rooms for everybody. We'll call you when we have something," Mark said walking over to the back of the SUV and pulling out what looked like a small set of saddlebags.

"What are those for?" Michael asked.

"Carrying stuff. Let me put a few things in it, then after I shift you can put it on me."

"That looks pretty neat," Kyle said. "Where did you get those?"

"Petco," Mark grinned. "They're for dogs. I got an extra one here if you need it."

"Sure."

14: Fremont National Forest, Oregon

Beth ran through the woods enjoying the strength and power that now thrummed through her body. She'd gotten rid of the robes her mother had loaned her a couple of days ago, the blood on them had been scaring off all of the animals. At least she'd had enough forethought to grab the bag she had her change of clothes in; otherwise she'd be running around naked.

Not that she was afraid to do that now, not with her new powers!

Who would have known that life could be this good? Or taste so delicious?

She felt bad about her mother, she'd given her a choice, but she had gotten in the way when Beth had gone after that Sarah chick, and well, she'd stood against her! Beth, her own daughter! And why? Just to save some cheap floozy who had been shagging that old man?

The ritual had been going well, except her mother wouldn't allow her to be the one on the altar, she put that old man up there first, to try and help with some problem he was having. He was an old man! Of course he was having problems! This was her find her magic!

When she felt the power start to rise, she could see what was happening, she could see that it wouldn't find a home in that old worn out husk of a man. It didn't like him, it wasn't made for him. The power came with a bargain, and he was resisting that bargain. But Beth wouldn't! She saw it right away while the rest all started to look concerned and her mother's leadership of the circle had hesitated for just a brief instant.

And Beth had struck, picking up the athame she quickly plunged it into the old man's heart, killing him instantly. The power had flowed into her immediately and in an instant the pact had been made, the bargain sealed. The only thing she had said no to was the death of her mother, as the power surged during the transfer and lashed out in that initial moment, draining the life from the others in the circle who had joined their wills to her mother's.

Except that Sarah floozy. Something had protected her and she had run off, when Beth had moved to follow her mother had stood in her way and yelled at her! Actually yelled! She had demanded to know what Beth had done and what was she doing now! She'd even told her to stop and tried to block her!

Beth really had no choice, and the power was ringing in her ears, the voices in her head told her not to suffer such insults. So she'd used the athame to stop her mother from interfering, then dropping that she'd run after Sarah.

And that worthless piece of trash shot her! Not once, but eight times! Eight!

Maybe she could have drained the life out of her, like the power had done to the others, but using her new magic she'd made her fingers as hard as stone and ripped the girl to shreds, enjoying her screams until she succumbed.

She'd been worried at first that she might die, but the voices had told her what to do, and that she'd be okay. Sure, she used up some of the power in her body back then, but she'd spent the last several days running down deer and even smaller animals. Once she had them in her grasp, she could suck the life energy out of them, and use it!

And she was so strong now! And she could run so fast! It was amazing this new power of hers.

She wondered where she should go next? She had a firm grip on her power now, and what she really needed was to establish her own domain, her own place where she could settle down and use her powers to subvert the will of the lesser mortals, so she could live the life of comfort and power that had always been her due. She wouldn't have to dance for them anymore, or sleep with anyone to gain control over them.

No, now they would dance for her, and if she liked them, she'd use them. If she didn't like them, well, she'd use them for something else, wouldn't she?

Beth laughed and looked around the small shack in the forest she'd found. It was probably some hunter's place, where they could lay up during the nights of deer season. It really wasn't fitting for her anymore however. Not now that she knew how to use her new body, and her new powers.

Besides, her poor father was probably worried sick that she hadn't come back yet, after....

Beth stopped and thought about that, how many days had she been gone? She dug her cell phone out of her pocket, but found it dead. The screen was cracked and the phone looked to be broken. That or the battery had died. No matter, she'd get another one.

She looked out the small single window in the shack; it would be dawn in a few hours. If she got started now, she bet she could be in town by noon. The voices in her head, the ones that had taught her what to do, and how to do it, they liked that idea. Lots of people meant lots of power, and of course, lots of food as well.

15: Bly, Oregon

"So, how bad is it?" Woods asked Mark.

"Right now? Plenty bad, Chief. We found the shack she was staying in, some small one-room cabin hidden in the forest. By the time we got there, she'd been gone for hours. My guess is she's heading back to Klamath Falls."

"I've got Walters and Timms on an Air Force cargo plane with a bunch of equipment, I've also called in several of the officers from the Portland office to go down there and support you. They've not been read in on any of this, they've just been warned that there is something sensitive going on, and that it's a matter of national security. They'll keep their mouths shut. It's up to you what to tell them.

"Are Michael and Denise up to working yet?"

"I've got them on a leash for now, so I don't think we'll have to worry about it too much."

"Well, don't put them through anything they're not ready for yet. I admit that I have no idea what they're going through, just don't do anything that'll make it harder for them to adapt, or whatever the hell it is they have to do."

"Sure thing, Chief," Mark agreed.

"So, any idea what she did, or what she can do now?"

"Apparently she can suck the life out of any living thing."

"She's a vampire?" Woods sounded pretty surprised by that.

"Not exactly, she doesn't drink any blood that I can tell. Some how she just seems to be able to extract the life force from her victims. We found quite a few animals she killed in the forest while we were tracking her. We also know she was shot several times with a forty-five and that didn't kill her. My best guess is that she made a deal with the devil, or something close to that."

"How in the hell does that work? Literally?"

Mark sighed, "I have no idea. I need to call the folks back at the Commission. I think they accidentally created some sort of link to the underworld when they did their ritual. She either was possessed and went crazy or she's always had a lust for power. In either case, she killed all of them, even her own mother."

"So how do we take her down?"

"Drain her power, somehow, and then cut her head off, Chief," Mark said.

"Somehow I get the feeling that's your answer to everything," Woods chuckled.

"Hey, I stick with what works. I'm going to call out for some priests to go up to that site and bless everything, by the way. I'll send them up with Walters and Timms, once I meet up with them."

"Yeah, probably a wise idea. Last thing we need is another evil portal like we had in West Virginia."

"Any word on that Raul Silva guy that died in the car?" Mark asked, changing the subject.

"Well, the CIA has gotten involved, they told us his real name is Luis Gutierrez, he's a Brazilian national, wanted there for drug activity. Apparently he's some kind of a chemist or something. They're still tracking down who he's working for now, and where they're at. I gathered that he left Brazil some years ago and has not been back since."

"Okay, I'll try to get a report to you sometime today, but I need to keep up with this situation. We'll be heading back to town in a few minutes."

"Okay, do what you have to do, talk to you later, Mark."

"Bye, Chief," Mark said and hung up his phone.

"Ready to go?" Kyle asked.

Mark nodded and stood up. Kyle had taken them to the house of a pack member that was in the vicinity, and they'd offered to drive the two of them back into town.

"You call your dad?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, I told him what we saw too. He said he'll tell everyone to keep and eye out and to keep far away from Beth. Personally, with the way she smells now, I don't think any werewolf in their right mind is going to get near her.

"I wonder if it's strong enough that humans will be able to tell?"

"I think we'll be finding out soon enough," Kyle said.

"And that's what worries me," Mark agreed.

Mark called Manresa next as they went out and got into the car and warned them that he was going to need a couple of priests to go bless a site, He had to talk fast as they left the town, before they lost cell coverage on the road through the hills back to Klamath Falls. He also told them he'd have some files and pictures to send them, and did anybody there know anything about power rituals using demon flesh?

He lost his connection before anybody had the chance to answer that one.

When they got into town, Mark called Michael and got directions to the hotel they were staying at, and he got dropped off there, as Kyle headed for home.

"I put your bags in our room," Michael said, inviting him inside. "I didn't know when you'd get here, and I wasn't going to leave them in the car."

Mark nodded. "Tell Denise to take Dave and go meet Walters and Timms at the airport. They can take them out to the crime scene and deal with that. Remind them to pick up a couple of priests on the way to bless the site and the bodies, just in case. I'll text them the address as soon as I hear from Manresa."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go talk to the police, let them know we're investigating a major crime, contact Walt Morris and find out if there are any lycans on the police force that we can take into confidence. Use the national security story Woods told us, need to know and all that. Make sure they understand they are to call it in if they see Beth. They're not to follow or engage her, no matter what she does, got it?"

"Sure, what are you going to do?"

"Contact Manresa, send them all the pictures Denise took, then take a shower and a short nap," Mark looked at the clock; it was only about seven am.

"Come back here at nine, I'll be ready by then. Bring a bag full of burgers with you too."

Michael nodded as Jess and Gail came out of the bathroom, each giving their father a hug as he got out his laptop and sat down to get to work.

"Take the guns with you, girls."

"Is that wise?" Michael asked.

"They've got permits, and they're with you. Besides, around here? No one is going to care. Just keep them under your jackets, and no one will be the wiser."

The girls nodded and picked up the machine pistols and slung them, before putting on their coats. Then the three of them left while Mark took the file with the pictures that Denise had sent him and forwarded all of it, along with his observations to the people back at the commission.

After that, he took a quick shower and lay down to nap for an hour. Last thing he needed was to be fuzzy headed in the middle of all of this.

*   *   *

Beth walked into town about an hour before noon. She had thought about calling a taxi, but remembered her cell phone wasn't working. She thought about hitchhiking, but right now she wanted to think about what she was going to do when she got home.

Her father would want to know where her mother was, and what was she going to tell him? She couldn't tell him the truth of course, and while she had at first thought about just killing him for his power, her father had always been there for her, and had always helped her.

Yeah, her mom could have done better, lots better, but dad had always helped her, and even had sided with her against her mom a few times. So she really didn't want to kill him. Well, at least not yet anyway.

So that meant she'd either have to come up with a good story for him, or she'd have to just not go back there.

On the one hand, it was the house she grew up in, and she had her clothes, her car, and her stuff there. But on the other, she hadn't lived there for years now, and well, the clothes and the car were all easily replaceable. Still, it might not be bad to figure something out.

She'd think about it. Later.

Right now, she was getting hungry. She hadn't eaten food in days, and with the power she had inside her now, she could probably forgo any food for a few more days, but that would mean killing someone and draining their life away. Which might not be the best thing to do, this early in the morning. Besides, she looked a mess, she was dirty, and her clothes were dirty. She needed a shower and a change of clothing.

She had her credit card, and she had some cash.

Well, there was a Mickey Dee's by the old short stay hotel she used to let her dates take her too, back when she was dancing here. She could get some food there, take a shower at the hotel, and maybe even catch a nap. With that run into town after all the excitement she was starting to feel a bit tired. She hadn't slept well in days, a bed, even the cheap beds at that hotel, would work for now, while she figured out her next step.

She got some looks at the McDonalds when she came in and got some food. She sat down to eat some when she heard someone call her name.

"Beth? Is that you?"

Beth looked up, it was Steve Cole. He was one of the guys who used to come and watch her dance. He was an okay guy, had an okay job, an apartment, nothing really exciting to say about. He was okay in bed and had always had a thing about her; he'd given her enough of his money after all.

"Steven?" She asked, remembering to look surprised.

"What happened to you?"

Beth sighed, "I came down to visit last week, and I drove out to an old friend's house a couple of days ago. On the way back," she shook her head, "I ran off the road dodging a deer and got stuck in a ditch. I spent the night in my car, and all morning walking back to town."

"Why didn't you call somebody?"

"Broke my phone in the accident," she lied.

"Didn't anybody stop?"

"I was off on a side road. Nobody came by all night, well not while I was awake at least, and well," she shrugged again, "No one offered me a ride into town. I think I've been walking since like, six?"

"Wow! Well, I can give you a ride home if you'd like."

Beth smiled at him; he really was making this easy on her.

"What I'd like," she said softly, "would be to find a nice hot shower to get clean in, and then a nice handsome man to get all dirty again," and she winked at him.

Steve smiled and nodded, "Well, come on back to my place then, and I think I can help you out."

"Why Steven, I'd love to."

Beth stretched and yawned, Steve's bed was really comfortable. He'd complained a few times while they were in bed that she must have gotten something on her, because she had a faint scent that reminded him of something foul.

She experimented a little with some perfume that someone had left here in the past, and found that it had only taken a small amount to hide the scent. Once she was sure that it worked, she had sex with him one last time.

And then she killed him.

She had smiled at the look on his face as she had put her hand on either side of his head and drained the life out of him. He tried to resist, to push her away, but she had her legs wrapped around him, and with her new strength, he was going nowhere.

"Calm down," she whispered to him, "I gave you your last request, sex with a goddess."

He'd passed out then, and died a couple of moments later. She'd rolled his body up in the bedspread, it did smell a little nasty now, and she stuck it outside on the balcony for the apartment. With this weather, she doubted anyone would be opening their windows to smell it. Then she'd raided his closet for another bedspread, and taken a nice long nap.

Looking at the clock, it was after seven and it would be starting to get dark out soon, which would make things perfect. She'd tossed her clothes in the washing machine back when she first got here. She'd thrown them in the dryer later, and now it was time to go out and do a little cruising around. She had Steve's car and apartment now, and anything else he had lying around. Maybe she'd stop by and see her father, she'd figured out a good story to tell him, might as well go see if it worked.

But first, maybe she should pick up a new outfit? While her current outfit was clean, it had spent too much time out in the woods and looked it. She'd already thrown out her top and had resorted to one of Steven's nicer t-shirts.

As the stores here closed notoriously early, she'd have to be quick about it. Fortunately one of her favorites was rather close by.

Grabbing one of Steven's big jackets, the last thing she wanted right now was for someone to recognize her and want to talk; she took his car keys and left the apartment.

*   *   *

"We just got a hit on one of her credit cards!" Denise said, hanging up her cell phone.

Mark looked up from his laptop; he was in an online chat with several of the Commissions researchers, going over every detail of what he had witnessed so far. They were using a room in the back of the local sheriff's office. They'd been more than happy to comply when a dozen agents had descended on the town. Two of those were Walters and Timms, they'd brought along four of the FBI's SUVs with them, as well as some rather impressive armament, including a dozen machetes.

Apparently Woods was learning, Mark thought with a smile.

The other ten agents had come down from Portland. They had left last night and driven here immediately. It might make things a little difficult with the other agents around, they weren't really cleared to know about what was going on, but they were still helpful and several of them had gone out to the crime scene to help Walters and Timms process the site.

"Where at?" Mark asked.

"A woman's fashion store over on the west side of town," Denise said looking at her pad. "Twenty minutes ago, let me put it on the map."

"Well, we know she's in town now."

"Yeah, but how is she getting around?" Denise asked. "Her parent's house is closer to the site than that store is. Why didn't she go there first and get her car?"

"Probably doesn't want to tell her dad that she killed her mom," Michael said.

"After killing her mom, I'm surprised that she's all that worried about killing her father," Mark said.

"Well, maybe like most girls, she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and figures she can lie to him and he'll believe her?" Denise said looking at the two of them. "I mean really, Mark. You let your daughters marry the likes of him, against your better judgment, right?"

Mark laughed, and Michael scowled.

"Okay, you just may have a point there. Of course, my daughters are all perfect little angels, only my sons are inconsiderate slobs and troublemakers."

Denise chuckled, "I rest my case."

"Okay, so give the crew watching the house a heads up. Remind them that if they see her, they are to call us immediately and that they are not to make contact."

"Will do," Denise said and picked up her cell phone and made another call.

"What are we going to do, once we catch her?" Michael asked.

"Kill her, of course," Mark said. "Those animals Kyle and I found? If she can do that to them, she can do that to us. Even you and me, or anyone else."

"Yeah, but how? That gal in the pickup shot her eight times with a forty-five, and that didn't stop her."

"It wouldn't stop you or me either," Mark pointed out, in a carefully lowered voice. "What we need is to pump a lot of bullets into her. Everything takes damage, Michael, everything." Mark paused a moment, "Well, except for most devils. Regular bullets seem to just pass right through them."

"And just where did she get her new powers from?" Michael reminded him.

"Which is why I had those two priests come over from the local church and re-bless our guns and ammo, as well as bless everything that Woods sent us."

"Still, I'm concerned," Michael said with a sigh. "I remember that guy in the cave. He was pretty damn tough. Do you think cold iron will help?"

Mark shrugged, "I don't know. That's why I've got the guys from my organization researching everything. This can't be the first time this has happened. Somebody, somewhere, sometime, had to have dealt with this before. It's just a matter of time until we get some answers.

"But until then, we stick with what we know. Lots of bullets, lots of damage, don't let her get her hands on you, and once she's down, hack her head off."

Denise hung up her phone again, "I share Mike's concerns," she said to the two of them, "however, I agree with the approach. We know she had to take some time to heal after getting shot. I just don't like the idea of having to take her down in town. A massive firefight like that? Too many chances of stray bullets and injured civilians."

Michael looked over at Denise, "I didn't know you cared!" he said with a grin.

"Oh push off. I don't mind smacking them around a bit, if they deserve it, but people will recover from a couple of love taps. Bullets? Not so much."

Mark looked at his laptop, nothing much but a few more questions. He typed in a quick answer and told them to call him if anything important came up, and then shut down the machine.

"Well, we better go grab one of those SUV's and head in the direction of Jeb's house. If she does show up, we're the three best suited to confront her."

"What about Dave and the girls?" Denise asked.

"I'd rather not involve them. Too many people would ask questions out in public like this. Plus, the two of you are a lot better trained for this."

"Also, you don't want to risk your kids," Denise said.

"I'd rather not risk my new son or daughter in-law either," Mark pointed out. "But I can't get in the way of you doing your jobs." Mark grinned, "Well, at least not yet I can't."

"Well, let's get going," Michael said, standing up. "I'll drive."

Mark nodded and the three of them grabbed their coats and Mark let the agent coordinating their interactions with the sheriff and the local police where they were going as they headed out the door.

"Damn, it's cold out here tonight," Michael said.

"Give it a month, it's only May still."

"Should we call any of the wolves?" Denise asked, as they got into unmarked SUV.

"Yeah, call them and warn them."

*   *   *

Beth pulled in the driveway and flipping up the hood of the large jacket against the cold, she got out and went around the back to go inside. Typical for eastern Oregon, they were having another cold snap. At least the jacket she had grabbed was warm!

Going in the back door, she called out, "Mom! Dad! I'm back."

As she suspected her father came running into the kitchen and hugged her tight. "I'm so glad you're okay! When you didn't come back, I thought the worst had happened!"

Beth sighed and shrugged, and looked down at the floor. "Well, Mom and I had a fight, so I left Friday after the first ceremony. I've been staying over a friend's house, but I realized I should come home and apologize to her."

Her father looked at her. "Your mother's not with you?"

Beth looked at him and opened her eyes wider, "No, I said I left her and the others late on Friday. We had a fight. Why? Isn't she here?"

"Oh, dear goddess!" her father said, looking down at her worriedly. "She hasn't come back! I don't think that any of them have! I tried calling Howard, I've tried calling Elksong, I even tried calling you!"

"My phone's dead," Beth said looking back at him, feigning a worried look of her own. "Did you call the police?"

Her father nodded, "I called them on Monday. They sent a couple of guys out to investigate yesterday, but I haven't heard from them yet."

Beth nodded slowly; most of the people in town knew what her mom did, so she wasn't surprised that the police waited until sending someone out. More than once her mom had stayed out for a couple of days on what was supposed to be an overnight affair. But her mom's special site, that was a well kept secret, so until someone stumbled across it, no one would know what had happened.

Why, if she was lucky, some coyotes and other scavengers might make off with the bodies long before they were even found. Then it would become just another one of the many Oregon mysteries.

Her father grabbed her shoulders, "Maybe you could take them up there, help them find her?"

Beth blinked, "Take who up where?"

"The police, the two men who came here, looking for her."

"What did you tell them dad?" Beth asked.

Her father shrugged, "Just that you all went up to Kelly's special place, and that I didn't know where it was. You'd found something, something that might be important." He shivered then, "You don't think anything bad happened, do you, Beth?"

Beth shook her head, "I don't see how anything could. Nothing happened up there. I wanted to try something different, mom said no. We argued and I left.

"Maybe I should have stayed...."

Her father shook his head vigorously, "No, no Beth. It's bad enough that your mother is missing, but if something was to happen to the both of you," he shook his head again, "I don't know if I could bear it."

Beth nodded.

"I'll call the police again; you can take them up there, with you."

"Umm, Dad? If mom's okay and I show up at her special place, she'll never talk to me again," Beth said. Which would be the truth, if of course her mom was still alive.

"I'll deal with it, don't you worry, Hon. Your mother will listen to me. I'll tell her I made you do it."

"Well, maybe," Beth said, hesitating. "Do you know who the officers were?"

"I have one of their cards, here, see?" her father held out a business card to her. Taking it, Beth looked it over. It said 'Agent Michael Sykes, Federal Bureau of Investigation.'

"Dad, those guys were feds!" Beth said looking up at him.

"Well, most of the land around here is BLM, so I just figured they sent them."

Beth looked at the card. How had the feds gotten into this? This wasn't good. Especially in a small town like this. If she had to talk to them, they'd figure out something was up. And there was no way she'd be able to hide from them until she built up her powerbase or found out just what her powers could do when she was fully sated.

She debated a moment what to do. If they came back, her father would tell them that he had talked to her. She couldn't leave him here for the FBI to talk to.

Looking up at him, she felt a moment of regret. Her father still cared about her, that was obvious, but the sad truth was, she couldn't afford to let him live.

"Dad?" she said, putting her hands up to either side of his head.

"Yes, Beth?"

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, Hon."

He bent over and she kissed him on the cheek. Using her strength to hold him there, she drained him, drained him dry. The look of shock on his face made her feel a moment of sadness and regret, but she was surprised at how much power her father had in him.

Perhaps that was why her mother had stayed with him all these years? Beth wondered if perhaps her mother had been doing a little power tapping as well. If so, then maybe she had doubly deserved what Beth had done to her for abusing him all these years.

She carried his body into the bedroom, and placed it on the bed. There weren't any marks on the body, so they'd probably figure he died of natural causes. She took a moment to position his hand over his chest, like he'd been in pain. Hopefully they'd just think that with all the stress, he'd had a heart attack. Heading for the back door she hesitated, she had brought a lot of her things back here with her, including her car.

But she realized that if she took those with her, they'd know she had come back here. Better to just take Steve's car and go.

Pulling her hood back up, she went back outside, closing the door behind her, and getting into Steve's car she backed out of the driveway and left. It was time to head back to Portland. Tommy would take her back in, she'd apologize and cry and he'd forgive her. Then she could start building her powers and if worse came to worse, she could hide and in a city that big they'd never find her. Then once she had things the way she liked them, just let anybody try to take her down. Even the government wouldn't be able to touch her!

*   *   *

Mark pulled up next to the stakeout car and rolled his window down.

"Anything?" Mark asked.

Both agents shook their heads, "Not really, a couple of visitors have come and gone, the last was just about five minutes ago."

"You're sure none of them were Beth?" Mark asked.

"We've run the plates on all of them, the last one was Steve Cole, here's the list," the agent said and passed Mark a sheet of paper.

"You get pictures on everybody?" Michael asked from the other seat.

"Of course," the agent said, the other agent in the passenger's seat holding up a camera with a large telephoto lens on it.

"Upload them to the case files, I'd like to take a look," Michael told them.

"Sure thing."

"We'll be down the block, she's in the area, keep your eyes open," Mark said and rolling up his window he drove around the block, parking down around the corner, out of sight of the house and shut the engine off.

"So, how long do we wait?" Denise asked.

"I'd guess if she hasn't come here by eleven, she's not showing," Mark said and looked at the clock on the dashboard, "it's nine now, so two hours?"

Michael had his laptop open and was looking through the case files.

"Anything interesting?" Denise asked.

"Just looking at the people who showed up, and comparing their names to their drivers' license info."

"Why?"

"Because I was taught to, that's why," Michael said. "I don't know the guys from the Portland office, so I don't know if they double-checked everything. Besides, maybe one of these people knows where Beth might go, if she didn't want to go home."

"Good point," Denise nodded and pulled out her own laptop and turned it on. "I'll start at the end of the list. How many are on it?"

"Eleven. Apparently Jeb is a very popular guy, though this first one looks more like a customer, he showed up with a couple of large pieces of wood."

"Hey, look at this," Denise said a couple of minutes later.

"What?" Mark asked turning around to look at Denise in the back seat, as Michael did the same.

"This is Steve Cole, the guy who was just there."

"So?"

"How many guys do you know who put the hood up on their jackets?" Denise said.

"Hold on a second," Michael said, and typed in something on his keyboard, then read if off, "Steve Cole, height, five foot, eleven. Weight, one-hundred and eighty pounds. Brown hair, green eyes."

"Whoever that is, they're not five eleven," Denise said, "and look at those pants, those aren't guy's pants!"

Mark turned back in his seat and started up the engine. "I think we need to go have a talk with Jeb."

"You think he warned her?" Denise asked as Mark drove around the corner and down to the house.

"What could he have warned her about?" Michael said, "We never told him why we were there, he just assumed it was because of his missing person's report."

"Well, we can ask him that too," Mark said and stopping in front of the house he shut off the SUV and they all piled out and trotted up to the front door.

Michael knocked on it and they waited. After a short wait he knocked on it again, "Jeb! Are you in there?" Michael called out.

"I don't hear anything," Denise said.

"Yeah, me neither, try the door," Mark said.

Michael grabbed the doorknob, "It's unlocked."

"Yeah, people don't lock their doors around here," Mark said. "Let's go inside."

"Umm, warrant?" Michael said.

"We know she's killed one of her parents already," Denise said, "This goes under probable cause."

Michael nodded and pushed the door open and they all went inside.

"Lights are on in the kitchen," Michael said.

"And the bedroom," Mark said walking into it as Michael went to check the kitchen.

"Found him."

"Is he?" Denise asked, coming into the room.

"Dead," Mark said and leaned over and took a sniff, "Yup, she killed him. Has that same smell of corruption on the body."

"I found something on the floor of the kitchen," Michael said coming into the bedroom.

"What?"

"My card. The one I gave Jeb there after we interviewed him."

"So she saw the card, and panicked, and killed him?" Denise said.

"Makes sense," Mark said. "He's the only one who knows she's alive, and she knows he talked to the police. So she kills him, brings him in here, and takes off..."

"And with no marks on the body, hopes people thinks he died of natural causes," Denise finished for him.

"Exactly."

"He's a pretty big guy, at least one-hundred and eighty. She carried him all the way in here?" Denise said looking around.

"Probably got super strength along with the death touch," Michael said. "But I have a more important question."

"What?" Mark asked as he and Denise both looked at him.

"What happened to Steve Cole?"

Mark swore, "We better get over there, right now, in case she's headed back that way!"

Running out of the house they jumped into the car.

"Denise, call the stakeout team and tell them to lock down the house, that it's now a crime scene. Michael, you got a current address on this Cole guy?"

"Putting it in the GPS now," Michael said.

Mark looked at the screen; it was on the west side of town, not far from the store Beth had been shopping at.

"Call our guy at the station and tell them we need them looking out for that car."

"Odds are she's on the highway out of town already," Michael said.

"I bet you're right," Mark said, pulling out his cell phone, "but we better check to be sure." Dialing the pilots as he drove he told them to go warm the jet up, they'd be leaving within the hour.

"Where do you think she's going?" Denise asked from the back.

"Portland. Lots of people, easy to get lost in the crowd," Mark said.

"Lots of food you mean," Michael said, finishing up on the phone with their man at the sheriff's office.

"Yeah, that too."

16: Route 97, Oregon

Beth looked at the gas gauge on the car as the light by it came on, she hadn't thought to check the gas before, it must have been low when she left. She had no idea what kind of mileage that Steve's car got; it was some big custom mustang, so she suspected it wasn't all that good.

She started watching for a gas station. Though it wasn't likely she'd miss one, as there wasn't much else on the road. The biggest problem would be finding one still open this late at night.

When she saw the truck stop, she pulled right in and up to the pumps, and taking out her credit card she got out and gave it to the attendant at the pump who swiped it and then handed it back to her and started to put gas in the car as she stretched her legs.

"Wow, nice car!" A guy said coming up to her while the attendant filled the tank.

Beth almost rolled her eyes, and then remembered the heavy coat she was wearing; the guy might actually not be coming on to her.

"You like it?" She said and turned to look at him, letting the unzipped jacket fall open as she did.

"Oh yeah," he said, and then looked at her, and she watched his eyebrows go up and the smile form on his face. "What's young woman like you doing with a car like this?"

"Oh," Beth said giving a shy smile, "I like my cars like I like my men, big and powerful."

"Still, a car like this must have set you back, quite a bit," he said moving closer.

Beth noticed he wasn't terribly attractive, but he was pretty large and looked to be strong. She wondered what he was doing out at the station this late at night? The attendants had to be here, of course.

"Oh, I'm a stripper," Beth said and watched as his smile got even larger, "I can afford it."

"I'm Bill, you work around here?" he asked eyes on her now, and not the car.

"Beth," she said and gave him another smile as she considered him with a hunger much different than the one he was. "I work in Portland; I was just home to visit the family."

"Kind of late to be making that trip, isn't it?"

"I work late hours," Beth said, "plus there's less traffic, less people around."

"Yeah, there is, isn't there?" he smiled, "You know, I'm heading to Bend, any chance I might get a ride with you? I can chip in for gas."

"Oh, I don't need no gas money," Beth said and unconsciously licked her lips, "go on and hop in the passenger's seat."

Beth watched as he did just that, with a look on his face that made it clear just what was on his mind. The gas station attendant finished filling up her car, and closed the tank, giving her a look like he thought she was crazy.

Beth just laughed and got in the car and drove off.

The moment the gas station was out of sight, Bill turned to her, "So, do you do anything other than dance?"

Beth smiled, "Oh, I do all sorts of things."

"I bet you do. How about we pull over someplace up ahead and you can show me?"

"What's the rush?" Beth teased, "Bend is still a long drive away."

"Oh don't worry, baby, we're going to have a nice long night, you and me. And if you're good, real good, I'll even take you home with me."

Beth pulled the car over; he had a knife out and a rather feral expression on his face.

"I love a man who takes control," Beth smiled and unfastened her seatbelt.

He grabbed her and pulled her to him, dragging her over the console. She swore a little, it wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Boy, you are one ugly bastard," she laughed and put her hands to either side of his head as she brought her face close to his.

"What did you call me?" he growled at her and she could feel the tip of the knife pressing at her belly.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll like it," she told him, enjoying the confused expression on his face as she used on him the same line he undoubtedly had planned to use on her.

Then she drained him.

He tired to push away from her; surprisingly he dropped the knife and screamed as he pushed against her with his hands. But he was no match for her new strength and she held him firm. She even kissed him as he struggled, taking a moment to savor his life's energy before letting him slip into unconsciousness.

Once she'd drained him dry, she got out of the car, went around and opened the passenger's side door and dragged him out of the seat.

Looking around as she relieved him of his wallet, she didn't see much beyond the trees, so she carried him over into the woods a few feet, and then just tossed the body into the brush and returned to the car.

Smiling she looked in his wallet, he had eighty dollars and a condom. She took the money, threw the rest of it out the window and then pulled back out onto the road.

"Guess you chipped in for gas after all, Bill," she chuckled.

She stopped again in Bend, to get something to drink and to use the lady's room. She met Shelly there. Shelly was into girls and wondered if Beth would like to come back to her house?

Beth left Shelly's body in a drainage ditch on the side of the road. Shelly had tasted good, but different. And she hadn't had as much power as Bill did, or come to consider it, as much as Steve or her father. While food was food, Beth decided to stick to men, at least for now, as Shelly had really whetted her appetite. She'd taken four people's energy so far today and she could feel it, she could easily take more, lots more!

She wondered if it was possible for her to eat her fill? And she wondered what she would feel like once she did? Would it take ten people? Twenty? A hundred? That would be something! A hundred people, all of their power inside her! Six felt wonderful and amazing, but how would it feel to finally by full of this new power?

She started to hum to herself happily as she thought about it, making plans for which of the people she'd eat and which she would let live. She'd have to find a better way of dealing with the bodies too. The last thing she wanted was to clutter up her living space with stinky dead bodies!

She stopped in Madras for gas, just to be on the safe side when going through the pass, and also because she figured she could pick up another guy at the gas station to drain.

Sure enough, all she had to do was leave her coat in the car and act like she was freezing and some lowlife offered to 'warm her up.' He warmed her up alright! Just not in the way he expected, she was sure.

She'd dumped his body on the reservation, throwing him off a bridge and into the river below. He'd made a nice splash when he hit, then she got back into the car before any traffic came by.

She debated if she should stop at Government Camp, she might pick another, but then again it was pretty cold up there and even with all this power, she really would rather avoid that. Besides, she'd be back at the apartment in a couple of hours. She started thinking about how to handle Tommy once she got back. She'd show him the broken cell phone when he asked why she hadn't called, tell him she was crying and going to call him and she dropped it.

Yeah, he'd eat that right up.

She'd have to dump the car of course. Then she'd have to make up a story as to what happened to her car.

Whatever, she wasn't worried, she'd think of something. Tommy would be so happy to have her back, she was sure he wouldn't be asking too many questions. Besides, if he got too difficult and she couldn't use her power to handle him, she'd just get rid of him too.

17: 20,000ft over Oregon

Mark leaned back in the seat on the jet and studied the reports coming in on his laptop. They'd found Cole's body wrapped in a comforter out on the balcony of his apartment. Forensics had just reported that he'd had sex just prior to his death, but Mark had already figured that out, the poor guy was naked after all and had Beth's scent all over his body.

If he hadn't known that she'd already killed both of her parents, her father in cold blood, he would have been surprised. But now? Now he was getting a little worried. This gal was pretty cold-blooded and apparently completely ruthless and as hard as nails. He just wondered if she was like this before? Or if it was the corrupting influence of the powers she'd gotten from the devil?

Odds are he'd never know, because word had come down from the special court the government maintained on these affairs that she was to be killed on sight. At this point that order was being kept only to this team, the powers that be recognized that a single officer with a gun wouldn't stop her, and they were still trying to keep operational security on the whole affair.

If she made it to Portland however, well, that could change a lot of things.

The phone by his chair beeped then, Mark picked it up hoping this was the people at Manresa getting back to him. He'd texted them the number before they took off, and other than Woods, they were the only ones with it.

"Hello, this is Mark," he said answering it.

"Ah, Mark. This is Father Aimes," the man on the other end said, introducing themselves. Father Aimes was the Commission's archivist and head librarian, Mark had worked with him before and rather liked him.

"Father Aimes! It's good to hear your voice. Please tell me you have something for me?"

"Yes, I do Mark. However, it isn't very good."

Mark sighed heavily, he had been afraid of that. "Well, tell me what you found."

"This has happened before, but only once that we can tell. However when you consider the ramifications, that once was more than enough. It was in Switzerland, about five hundred years ago."

"What happened?"

"Some minor noble who dabbled in the black arts and was jealous of his older cousin's position found a way to do what you believe this young lady has done. He too made a deal with the devil and got many inhuman powers through the use of the flesh of a devil and an arcane ritual. Best we can tell, he killed an entire village, and then holed up in a large mountain keep after killing most of the people who lived in it.

"One of the nobles who was in the Church's favor marched on the Keep and attacked it, losing almost the entire force he'd sent in. From what the survivors told the Commission members sent out to help, holy items had no special effect, and neither did holy water, prayers, banishment, or any of the other things that work on devils."

"So, nothing that we use will work?"

"Holy weapons or blessed weapons will only do normal damage. But unblessed or non-holy weapons," Mark heard Father Aimes sigh, "they have about as much effect on the changeling as they would on you."

"What about silver? Or cold iron?"

"Again, no effect. Only weapons that have been blessed will have any effect, and as the changeling can drain power from anyone they grab, they can fix that damage quickly."

"Any other bad news?"

"The more power they gain, the more things they can do, feats of speed, strength, healing of both themselves and others. They can sway the unfaithful and the mentally weak with their words, and do magic, major magic, Mark. If your changeling knows or learns any of the major arcane rituals, they will be able to do them."

Mark shook his head, "Ritual Magic? This just keeps getting better and better. How did they kill that guy?"

"Basically they starved him out. They attacked with cannons and other artillery, from as far away as they could. Destroyed the keep and chased all the surviving wildlife away, and killed everything and anything in the area. When winter came, they used their cannons to cause avalanches in all of the passes leading to the area, as well as around the keep itself.

"By the time the next summer came, their changeling was down to much more human abilities as he'd run out of food to eat, as well as people to drain. Eventually they just wore him down enough that they were able to hack him to death, when they finally sent soldiers in to fight him."

"How long did it take?" Mark asked.

"Two years, and it looks like close to six thousand dead."

"So if we let her get into a major urban population center, we're screwed," Mark said.

"While not the words I would have used, Mark, the sentiment is correct."

"And we have to bless our swords, knives, bullets, everything that hits her."

"Correct," Father Aimes told him, "And have your guns blessed as well. Even the magazines, or clips, or whatever you use. I'm not sure if it matters, but this isn't something you want to take chances on."

"I won't, Father. Trust me; I won't take any chances at all. Any idea why we haven't seen any of these before?"

"Yes, it is a very difficult ritual, and a number of factors have to be present, as well as a person with the correct affinity. These things were not common in the past and are even less common today."

"Okay, thank you, Father Aimes."

"You're welcome, Mark. Bless you and go with God. I fear you will need his help and blessings very much before you are done with this."

Mark hung up his phone and sighed.

"None of what I heard sounded good," Michael said to him.

"Yeah, none of what you didn't hear was any better. I better write this up and send it out to everybody," Mark said, pulling out his laptop. "This just got a whole lot worse."

"What did you mean just now on the phone when you mentioned ritual magic?" Michael asked him. "You've mentioned magic before, just what exactly is it?"

"The word 'magic,'" Mark began, "is really more of a catch-all to describe a number of things that defy either rational explanation or the common understanding of the world around us. I'm sure you've heard the expression 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic', right?"

"So you're saying its advanced technology?" Michael said, looking puzzled.

"Not advanced, so much as different. Life begets power, power begets life. That may sound a little biblical, but your new ability, your new strength, those can be considered magical, and to an extent perhaps they even are. But that power comes from you, your life. Lycanthropy is really something of a disease or a condition, when you get down to it. It harnesses the body's natural power in a different way than that of a normal human.

"However, while it gives you things you may consider gifts; it also comes with shortcomings as well. Even if you don't view them as such.

"Now, Beth's magic, or her power, is different, because of where it comes from. It's not a disease, as she cannot spread it to others; also it's not one of the powers of life. It comes from the underworld, so it is probably based on one of the powers of the spirit world, which are either incredibly weak or just non-existent in the average person these days. But because she used the flesh of a demon, which innately has this power because it comes from the spirit world, she was physically altered just enough that she can now suck the power that comes with life from people and use it to improve her own new magical abilities, which we know so far to be strength, speed, healing, and some level of physical invulnerability."

"So you're saying that she's not human anymore?"

Mark nodded, "Just as you and I are not human anymore. But where we have become monsters, or lycanthropes to be more specific," Mark said and winked at Jess who was giving him one of 'those' looks, "she has become something devilish, or some might even say demonic."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, devils come from Hell. Demons tend to be evil creatures that have not come from Hell, but which have come from other places. Beth may be devilish now, because she has bonded to the flesh of an actual devil, but she herself did not come from there, she started out as a human, just as you and I did."

"So, just as we're not true lycanthropes, she's not a true devil," Michael concluded.

"Exactly. But lycanthropes and lycanthropy depend on the power of life, just as humans do. So being compatible, we get most of the powers of a lycan because of that. But not Beth. A devil's powers come from the spirit world, Hell in particular. But she can't use that power, because she's based on the power of the living. So, in order for her to get power, she has to steal it from something she is compatible with, namely other living creatures."

"Okay," Michael said, nodding slowly, "I think I get it. She can't use the powers a devil has, so she takes people's life energy and uses that to do things a devil would."

Mark nodded, "Yes, she uses it to do things a devil would. But, devils can't channel that much power from the spirit world into this one, so their powers are very limited in this world."

Michael's eyes widened, "But Beth can get all of the power she wants. All she has to do is kill people!"

Mark sighed heavily, "That appears to be the case. Beth's existence is exploiting a loophole. Humans normally do not have, and cannot have, much in the way of innate magical power. Because they need that power just to continue living. It's why human sacrifice has power, because you release it in that moment. It's also why people who sacrifice themselves to save others from impossible situations are often successful, because they unconsciously transfer their life's energy into the power to get that task done."

Michael pondered that a minute.

"So, what is ritual magic then?" Michael asked, going back to his original question.

"Ritual magic is a method and a means to increase the effect of a body's natural magic in order to do things normally you could not. The ritual is like a chemical equation, where you bring things together in a certain sequence and shape to try and do something that would normally take stronger magic."

"Like using a lever to move a rock, instead of just trying to push it by hand," Michael suggested.

Mark nodded, "Just so. Also, a ritual lets you combine the magic of more than one person, so a well-trained group can do more than a single person. Or it lets you harness the force of some magical flow, like the one we saw in that cave back in Virginia."

Mark shook his head and leaned back in his seat, "What this all comes down to, is that Beth will not only be able to gather far more magic than even a powerful human or monster can, but that she will be able to do magical rituals of immense power. Thankfully, because no one has ever done those before, that we know of at least, they're not written down anywhere. She'll have to discover and develop them herself."

"Which will take time," Michael pointed out.

"And lives," Mark added. "This is probably why she wants to head to the biggest city in the area."

"Just what kinds of things can ritual magic do?"

Mark shrugged spreading his hands in frustration, "I don't know. As I said before, there are a lot of different things that get called magic. I don't know if her power will be based on the power of life, or on the power that corrupted her, or perhaps some combination of the two, not unlike herself. The only thing we can be sure about, based on her actions, is that it will be used for evil and not for good."

Michael and the others in the cabin all nodded quietly in agreement. No matter what Beth may have once been, what she had become was painfully clear to all involved.

Ten minutes later Denise spoke up from her seat behind them.

"Got another hit on her credit card!"

"Where?"

"Pilot Travel Center, in Chemult on highway ninety-seven. It's about fifty miles north of Klamath Falls."

Mark nodded, "There's two ways to Portland from there."

"I'm looking at the map now," Denise told him. "Just outside of Bend, she either goes west or keeps going north to route twenty-six."

"I'm betting on north," Mark said. "This time of year, snow is still a threat in the hills. Twenty-six gets a lot more traffic, so they keep it clear."

"I'll get on the phone to state police," Michael said, looking at the map on his laptop as well. "We can have them set up a watch on both routes, and see which one she takes."

"Just make sure they understand they're not to stop her, no matter what," Mark told him.

"Got it," Michael said and picking up the phone in the jet, started to make some phone calls.

"Okay, that's done," Michael said ten minutes later, after he'd hung up.

"Good, now the next problem," Mark said.

"Which is?"

"How do we stop her, and where?"

"Why not borrow a helicopter from the guard base and just light her up with a machine gun?" Dave said from his seat over by Denise.

"Because it's an air rescue wing. They're unarmed," Mark said. "Besides I don't think they'd lend us one."

"Oh, once Woods sees your report, they'll lend us one," Michael said. "What are they flying?"

"Black hawks," Mark said.

"I'll call Woods," Michael said, picking the phone back up.

"Then what? So we have a helicopter?" Denise said. "Picking her car out of the others, at night, isn't going to be easy."

"Yeah, but this opportunity to get her out in the middle of nowhere may be the last one we get," Michael said from the phone as he got Woods on the line.

"Once she gets to Bend, it's a three to four hour drive to Portland," Mark said, thinking about the problem. "We land at midnight, so once she hits Bend, we have about two hours to get into position."

"We could have the Portland office send out a couple of undercover cars, to watch for her. They could tail her at a distance, once she goes by," Denise said.

"Yeah, but how do we spot them?" Mark asked.

"Oh, that's easy, we have them spray-paint a white cross on the roof of their cars, we should be able to spot that easily enough, even at night," she said.

Mark nodded, "That's a good idea," Mark turned to Michael who was still on the phone with Woods. It had to be at least two in the morning back in DC; Mark was beginning to wonder if Woods ever slept. "Michael?"

Michael nodded, "I'll ask."

They listened as Michael relayed the idea to Woods, who approved it and said he'd roust the Portland field office immediately.

"Okay, so we have a helicopter and a way to find her in the mountains," Mark said. "What next?"

"Get the police to block the traffic coming from the opposite direction," Michael said. "That'll cut down on civilians."

Mark nodded, "And we can have the FBI guys turn on their lights and block traffic behind her, so at least no one is going by, once we light her up."

"What do you want us to do?" Dave asked.

"You and the girls are not coming with us."

"What?" Dave said, looking a little surprised.

"You're civilians, we'd have even less chance of explaining why you were there, plus you're not trained for this, Michael and Denise are."

"But..."

"No," Mark said staring at his son, who sighed and nodded after a moment.

"And you two?" Mark asked, looking at the girls.

"You won't get any argument from us, Dad," Jess said.

"Good, because we may need someone to come and pick us up."

They got the pilots to drop them by the flight line for the National Guard base. The rescue group was actually an Air Force reserve unit, and due to their mission, there was already a crew there ready to go by the time Mark, Michael, and Denise showed up. Mark told the pilots to taxi over to the general aviation area to drop off Dave, Jess, and Gail after dropping him off. Charity had said she'd send someone to pick them up.

Mark was carrying a duffle bag he had taken from the supplies Woods had sent them back in Klamath Falls; it contained the weapons and ammo they were planning to use. He was also wearing his MAC-10 under his jacket, hanging on the strap around his neck.

Agents Levin, Sykes, and O'Brien?" A Major in a flight suit asked, coming up to them.

"Yes, that's us," Mark said showing his identification as the others did the rest.

"Good, come with me please," he said and led them towards a building right off the flight line.

Once inside he turned to them, "I understand we're supposed to be flying you someplace, for some urgent mission?"

Mark nodded, "That's correct, Major?"

"Nelson, Jim Nelson."

Mark nodded and had already noted the pilot's wings on his flight suit.

"Will you be our pilot?"

"Yes, I will. Where exactly are we going?"

"We're not sure yet, we need a place to sit down and access our laptops and find out the current location of our target."

"I see, well come to my office and you can set up there. I was told this is a classified mission?"

Mark nodded, "Yes. Lead on please, Major."

"Call me Jim, you're not soldiers."

"Eh, old habits," Mark said as they followed him into the building and down the hall.

"Air Force?" Major Nelson asked.

"Army, infantry," Mark admitted.

"And you two?"

"Army, Military Police," Denise said, which earned her a bit of a surprised look.

"Just a civilian," Michael said.

They went inside and Michael and Denise immediately pulled out their laptops and powered them up as Major Nelson closed the door and went to sit behind his desk.

Mark set the duffel bag he was carrying down with a clank and then took off his jacket and tossed it on one of the chairs. Major Nelson's eyes widened just a bit as he noticed the machine pistol hanging around Mark's neck.

"So just what is this mission, anyway?"

"Seek and destroy," Mark said. "Beyond that, there isn't much I can tell you."

Mark turned to Denise, "Any report on her last location?"

"She left Bend heading north about fifteen minutes ago. Weather in the mountains is good, so she'll be starting up into the mountains in about two hours."

Michael picked it up then, "The guys from the Portland office are already on their way up the western side of the pass, they should be in position to watch for her in about an hour. I got their numbers and radio frequencies. They say they have the ability to talk to the rescue helicopters here, they've done it before."

Mark nodded and turned back to the Major. "Got a map of the area just east of Government Camp on route twenty-six?"

"Sure, I'm familiar with the area too; we occasionally have to do med-evacs from the mountain."

"How long will it take us to fly there?"

"From here? Thirty minutes, once we're in the air. The airport is closed to airlines this time of night, so there's little to no traffic in the area."

"Great, go get a map and I'll show you were we want to go," Mark paused a moment, "oh, you got any bungee cords?"

"Yeah, we got lots, why?"

"Grab me a bunch please? Ones you could wrap around your body without too much discomfort."

The Major gave him a look, but shrugged and left the office. Mark looked at other two, "Have either of you ever practiced fast-roping out of a helicopter?"

They both shook their heads.

"Me neither," Mark sighed. "Guess we'll be doing it the hard way."

"What's the 'hard way'?" Denise asked.

"We jump."

"Won't that kill us?" She asked, looking at him.

"Anything less than fifty feet will just hurt, more than that, you may break some bones. I wouldn't recommend anything over a hundred and twenty or so, personally."

"How are we supposed to do anything, if we break our bones?" she asked looking at him.

"We'll heal in moments," Michael said to her, "remember when he used that gun on himself?"

Denise paled a little.

Mark chuckled, "Yes, it hurts, but I'd think you'd have the least problem with that of all of us, Denise."

"I'm used to hurting people," she admitted, "not getting hurt myself."

Michael rolled his eyes and shut down his laptop. "They'll call us when they pick her up. They figure they'll be able to set up about forty-five miles east of where we want to take her down."

Mark nodded and Major Nelson came back with a topographical map.

"I have a soldier rounding up a bag of bungees for you to choose from," he said laying the map down on his desk.

"Now, what is it you want me and mine to do?"

Mark found the spot on the map he was looking for; there was a large gravel pit off to the south of the road.

"Okay, this is going to be where we will ambush our target. We'll pick them up about fifteen miles east of this point. We should have at least one car trailing them. Once we find that car, we'll just work our way forward."

"How are you going to find that car?"

"We had them paint a white cross on the roof," Denise supplied.

"Okay, we have IR gear on the helo, that should make picking it out fairly easy. Then what?"

"We find the car we're looking for, get ahead of it, and when it gets to this point, you come down as low as you can. We'll shoot it up with the rifles we brought, disabling it, then go get our target."

Major Nelson nodded, "I think we can do that, those gravel pits are big enough to land in, and close enough to run over there quickly. What about other cars?"

"We'll have the police close the highway to all east bound traffic once we head out. By the time we get there, it should only be the cars around her, which hopefully won't be that many this time of night."

"Okay, we should probably prep the aircraft in about an hour. Once that's done we can mount up and orbit just east of the airport, while we wait for you to get the call."

"Sounds good to me, how many people do you need to fly that thing?"

"Well, me, my co-pilot, and the crew chief. Though we usually bring a couple of corpsmen along, we have some highly trained medics."

"No, just the three of you will be fine," Mark said. "The less people that know about this the better."

Ninety minutes later they were sitting in the helicopter as the crew started it up. Beth probably wouldn't be at the ambush site for another ninety minutes, but Mark would rather be there early than have an unexpected problem and show up late. Taking off his jacket again, he put the MAC-10 behind his back, with the sling still around his neck, and then used a bungee cord to secure it, with the clips hooked together on his chest. Then he stuck his machete under the cord and added a second one lower down to help secure it as well.

"What's that for?" Michael asked him.

Mark leaned in close and lowered his voice, so the other crewmembers wouldn't hear him, though with the noise in here, that probably wasn't much of a problem.

"So when I shift, I won't lose them."

"What about your shirt?"

"I don't care about my shirt," Mark laughed.

Michael looked at him, then looked at the Uzi he had brought along and did the same as well with that and the machete he was carrying. Denise quickly got the idea and followed suit.

"What is that for?" Tech Sergeant Hernandez, the crew chief asked as Mark re-donned his headset and jacket.

"So we don't drop them," Mark told him, then opening up the duffel bag he pulled out the three rifles they'd brought along. He passed an AR-10 to Denise, along with a bandolier full of magazines, and a second AR-10 to Michael with another bandolier. Then pulled out an M249 light machine gun.

"What the hell is that for?" The crew chief said and Mark noticed Major Nelson looking up into a mirror to see what was going on in the back.

"From this point forward, everything you see or hear on this mission is classified, top secret, national security," Mark said as he pulled out a two hundred round box of ammo, and hooking the box up to the bottom of the M249, he pulled the belt out and loaded it. Then checked to make sure he had the belt locked in correctly.

"If you talk to anyone, about anything you are about to see or hear, I can guarantee you that you'll be on the next flight to whatever place the Air Force sends people for their careers to die, got that?"

"Understood, Agent Levin," the major said.

"Got it," said Captain Towns, who was the Major's co-pilot.

"God, I hate Greenland," Sergeant Hernandez said. "My lips are sealed."

"Great," Mark said as Mark and Denise taped a pair of thirty round magazines together, reversed, and then loaded their weapons.

As soon as the black hawk climbed to fifteen hundred feet, Captain Towns did a communications check with the FBI agents on the ground waiting for Beth to show up.

"What kind of car will we be looking for, Mark?" Major Nelson asked him.

"A light blue two-thousand and twelve super snake mustang with white racing stripes."

"Wow, nice taste in cars," Sergeant Hernandez said.

"Yeah, the guy she murdered really had some taste," Denise replied rather snarkily.

"I think I'll just shut up now."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea Rick," Major Nelson grunted as they started to head out towards Mount Hood, gaining altitude rather quickly.

"How about we make a pass or two over the area, so you can get familiar with it while we wait?" Major Nelson suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Mark agreed.

An hour later after checking out their target site several times the FBI agents called and said she'd just gone by them, and that they were pulling out to follow. Major Nelson took them up a bit higher, and then shut off all navigation lights as they just hovered there, waiting.

"Target in sight," Captain Towns said about twenty minutes later. "Yup, I can see your guy's car about a quarter mile behind.

"How can you see anything this far out?" Denise asked.

"We have an enhanced infrared camera with a special imaging system attached. We use it for search and rescue in the mountains. Plus it's three am, how many cars do you think are on the road tonight, much less mustangs?"

"Good point," Mark said. "Well, let's practice it like we rehearsed it."

Michael laughed, "We didn't rehearse a damn thing, Mark."

"Well, how about we all pretend?" Mark grinned back. "Tell the guys following to back off out of sight and to shut down any traffic."

"Roger that," Captain Towns replied.

"Okay, here we go," Major Nelson said and banking around he started a fast descent.

Mark charged his machine gun as the Sergeant opened the door on the left side and then got out of the way. Shouldering the weapon Mark aimed out the side as he looked down the road, there was only one car, and it quickly passed under them as Major Nelson got them down to thirty feet above the road.

"The second we depart the aircraft," Mark said, "beat feet out of here and don't come back. We'll stop by tomorrow to pick up our stuff, got it?"

"Wait, what?" Major Nelson exclaimed. "I thought we were landing!"

"And remember, anything you see, especially from this point on, isn't anything you ever want to talk about."

Just then a car came around the bend in the road. They were high enough that the headlights weren't blinding them, and Mark could see it was Beth's Mustang. Just then the crew chief turned on a spotlight, lighting up the car as if it were daytime. Mark could even see the surprised expression on Beth's face from here. Pulling the trigger he opened up on the car, aiming not for the engine, but for the driver.

18: Route Twenty-six, Government Camp, Oregon

Beth glanced at the corpse in the seat next to her. She really wanted to dump him out of the car, but since she had started up into the mountains, there'd been way too much traffic. Though it had been starting to thin out for the last few miles now. She'd picked him up when she'd stopped to use the bathroom. He'd asked for a ride back to Portland, and she'd figured he was just another guy looking for an easy score like the previous two men had been.

Well, maybe not this last one, he hadn't talked much and never once made a move on her, but she was curious as to how much power she could hold, and well, he made his contribution to the cause, good guy or bad. She was still sure that she wasn't full, and wondered once again what it would feel like once she was. The power was just rolling through her body now, it felt amazing and it felt soooo good. Oh the things she was going to do once she got to Portland. There were lots of people who would never be missed, and she was going to start with them until she really was a goddess.

Then she'd start recruiting her followers of course, with the power she had, there would be more than a few 'miracles' that she'd be able to show them! She finally had the power she'd always wanted, and soon she'd have the adoration that was her due.

There really wasn't going to be any stopping her!

She came around the corner then, and looked up above the road in surprise, something dark was above the road, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust, she simply had to think about it, and the power made what she was looking at, clearly visible in the darkness.

It was one of those large army helicopters she saw at the airport all the time.

Suddenly she was looking at the sun! Closing her eyes didn't seem to help, she hesitated a moment between hitting the gas or hitting the brakes as the windshield suddenly exploded in front of her and she screamed as every part of her body from her chest up felt like someone had dipped her in molten metal.

*   *   *

Mark watched as the car went out of control, turned sideways suddenly and started to tilt up on to the two left side wheels as it slid. It suddenly flipped over and rolled once, ending back on its wheels, and then spun around twice more before coming to a stop. Hitting the release on his seatbelts Mark moved towards the door. There were a couple of cars that had seen what had happened and all had wisely stopped and started turning around on the shoulder.

"Kill that spot light and once we're out, leave. That's an order!" Mark said and jumped out of the open door, the headset being ripped off his head as the cord went taut. Landing heavily on the hood of the car he pointed the machine gun at the body slumped over the steering wheel's deflated airbag and pulled the trigger, unloading the remaining hundred or so rounds into Beth's body.

Michael and Denise landed to either side of the car, and they both opened fire until their bolts locked open, then swapping over magazines they let Beth have another thirty rounds.

As soon as the shooting stopped Beth screamed and looked up at them.

"Holy shit!" Denise swore. "She's still alive after that?"

Mark noticed the dead body sprawled in the passenger's seat.

"Apparently she's been eating," Mark said.

Beth screamed again, in incoherent rage and quickly ripped the seat belts off of her body. She then started to crawl out through the smashed windshield towards the man standing on the hood of her car. She'd eat him first, that bastard! How dare he!

"Keep firing!" Mark said as he reversed his grip on his now empty machine gun and started to beat Beth over the head with it, moving back as he did to keep away from her touch.

At first, it was like beating on a brick wall, the stock broke, and then the metal on the butt end of the gun started to bend. But he could see that Beth wasn't able to walk, both of her legs were broken, but they were healing now that she was out of the car, and healing fast.

He jumped off the hood as she continued to come at him, hitting her again and again. When she finally got to her feet, he hit her in the side of the head with the gun, using it like a baseball bat. She might still be immune to the actual damage, but physics was physics, and with Mark's strength applied to her light body, she went a good five feet to the right. As Michael and Denise reloaded, Mark struck again. Beth lunged at him, and she was fast, but not as fast as he was, and again, she was light enough that when he hit her, she got knocked onto her side yet again.

Denise and Michael each put another thirty rounds into her body, and she got to her feet a lot slower this time.

"She's weakening!" Mark said.

*   *   *

Beth couldn't believe what was happening to her, they were shooting her! A woman, a lady! They were shooting her again and again and they wouldn't stop! She went after the bastard on the hood, but she was having trouble getting out of the car, her legs didn't feel right, and they hurt, oh how they hurt! And all the time that bastard was beating her with the rifle, hitting her on the head again and again and again!

As soon as she got out of the car, the pain in her legs intensified for a moment, and then just like that, they felt fine. She jumped off the car hood, standing up to attack the bastard who was beating her with that rifle and he hit her in the side of the head with a surprisingly painful blow, and sent her flying! But at least the bullets had stopped.

Getting up she almost growled as she jumped at him, but he smacked her again with that rifle, moving faster than any man had a right to move!

The bullets started again, and if they had hurt before, they really hurt now! And she was hungry! Oh so hungry!

"She's weakening!" she heard him yell, and the voices in her head started telling her to run, to flee, to get away from these monsters before they killed her!

So turning, she sprinted off into the woods and off into the safety of the dark. She could hear them running after her, but after she ran past the trees on the edge of the road, she couldn't hear them any more. Except for the sound of her own labored breathing and the sounds of her own feet as she ran, she couldn't hear anything.

Her night vision returned as she ran, making it easier for her to dodge the trees and run faster, the cold wind whipping past her face. When the ground started to climb, she realized that she had gone the wrong way, but right now that didn't matter so she turned to her left and started to run in that direction. Maybe in a couple of hours she could go back down hill and find the road again? Maybe find another car and another meal?

The thought of eating made her suddenly feel rather ravenous. She still had power, she could feel it, but she didn't have the kind of power that she'd had just before those, those men had attacked her! How dare they! Didn't they know who she was? What she was? She was a goddess! She was their goddess, and it was their purpose in life to serve her needs!

She'd have to find an animal or something soon, to feed off of, it wouldn't be as good as a man, but it would help. But for now, she had to keep moving and put more distance between her and those attackers. She still couldn't hear them behind her, and she didn't hear any thing flying overhead. But she wasn't going to stop just yet.

She ran and ran until the shadows started to lighten, it was hard to judge time here in the mountains, the sun probably had risen by now, on the other side of the mountain, but it could be another hour before it really got bright out. Stopping in a small clearing she took stock of herself. Her jacket, the one she'd taken from Steven, was in tatters. It was nothing more than a bunch of rags! She looked down at her body as she pulled off the remains of the coat and saw that her top, the nice one she'd just bought had also been torn to shreds, along with her bra!

Had they really shot her that many times? Enough to ruin her clothes? When that slut of Elksong's had shot her, she'd hurt and had to rest for hours before she could move on again. But she'd just been shot hundreds of times, and she'd been able to run off! She'd crashed a car, broken bones, been beat on with a club, and it hadn't stopped her at all!

She laughed, oh how surprised they were all going to be after she got to Portland! Machine guns couldn't stop her! Nothing could stop her! She had power now! Real power! The kind of power that others, like her mother, had always feared and always shied away from. But not her! Not Beth! No, she was going to be someone they'd remember, always, they'd write stories about her, she'd become a legend!

And in a few hours when she got to Portland, she'd have it all!

Looking around she tried to get her bearings. Uphill was still on her right, down on her left. She tried listening for traffic on the road, but she couldn't hear any over the sound of the light breeze blowing through the trees. But the road should be downhill of her, so she started off, downhill, but at a slower pace now.

She needed to find food, and while a couple of people in a car would be best, an animal would work just fine, so she started looking around, trying to find anything to sate the hunger she was now feeling.

When she came across the small herd of deer, she smiled, and started carefully stalking closer to them. Halfway there, a loud snarl of some sort of cat spooked them however, and they all took off like a shot, heading away from her.

Swearing loudly, she took off after them too, and when one dodged the wrong way around a tree she got her hands on it!

Throwing it bodily down onto the ground, she put her hands on the sides of its head and just as she started to drain it, a shot rang out and the deer spasmed suddenly, and died.

Screaming her rage, she jumped to her feet and looked around her, but there was nothing to see among the trees.

Another shot rang out then, hitting her in the back! Without hesitation she started running again, running downhill, running for the road. Someone had managed to follow her, to find her. How she had no idea, but she knew she couldn't stand up to the kind of gunfire they'd hit her with before.

She needed a car, and she needed food.

And she needed it now.

She saw it then suddenly as she came out of the trees into a small clearing, a house! A house meant people, meant food! She even heard a dog starting to bark, somewhere not too far away.

And then she was hit from behind, something was on her back, grabbing at her neck, clawing at her!

Falling from the surprise and weight of the attack, she rolled over, and managed to break the grip on her neck, coming face to face with a mountain lion! Reaching up she grabbed its head with her hands and tried to drain it. It seemed to resist just for a moment, and then someone shot her in the side of the head!

Crying out in surprise at the unexpected pain, the mountain lion got away from her, and staggered away from her, shaking its head. She stumbled after it a moment and her body lit up in pain as someone shot her again, not once, but many times!

Looking up, there was a naked man standing there, with a small gun of some kind, a machine gun. She turned and ran from him, straight for the house; it was close now, only a dozen yards or so.

She got hit then from the side by a naked woman, who punched her in the face and then shot her point-blank a dozen or more times, until her gun stopped working. Beth backhanded her, and sent her flying, then started for the house, going for the window, screw looking for the door, there was food in there and she had to eat! Now!

Diving for the window she crashed through, and grabbing the frame she started to pull herself inside when someone grabbed her legs and ripped her back out and threw her back, a good twenty feet, to hit the ground and slide across the cold ground.

"You bastard!" she screamed at the naked man who was standing between her and the house. But he didn't have a gun in his hand anymore, just a machete.

She smiled at him as she scrambled to her feet, this would be easy!

Charging him, she hardened her fingers into claws once more, and attacked.

*   *   *

Mark readied himself as she charged. If she got inside that house, got to the people inside, he had no idea if he'd be able to stop her. Worse yet, if he wasn't quick about this, whoever was in there would see a man fighting a woman, using a blade, and would probably attack him as well.

She was still fast, almost as fast as he was, and she fought like a devil, her fingers curled as she wielded them like claws. She hit him twice, as he started to hack at her with the machete, leaving shallow wounds, but not drawing any power from him. He wasn't sure if he was immune, or if it took time for her to drain her victims, and he wasn't going to take the time to find out. He just thanked the Lord for small favors and continued slicing and stabbing her as they fought.

Denise joined him first, and attacked Beth from behind using her machete as well, but Mark wasn't even sure Beth felt it, as she continued to concentrate on Mark, trying to get around him, trying to get into the house. By the time Michael joined them as well, apparently having shaken off whatever it was she had done to him; Mark's healing was starting to slow down as Beth's attacks did more and more damage to him.

Seeing his dilemma, Michael started to move towards him, allowing Mark to move to his right, putting Michael between the house and Beth, but Beth shifted, focusing solely on Mark now, as she snarled and cursed, the look in her eyes completely feral and insane.

Mark started to back away, slowly, and Beth followed, as he slowly led her away from the house, his own fight becoming purely a defensive one, his arms and chest covered in his own blood as she pressed her attack.

Both Michael and Denise took full advantage of her rage and her focus, hacking and stabbing at her with all of their might, causing her to stumble at times, from the shear force of it. Mark was starting to wonder just how much longer she could take this kind of abuse, when Beth finally started to bleed from their attacks.

Seeing this, Denise came in low and attempted to hamstring Beth, but wasn't successful as Beth suddenly turned and kicked Denise in the face, knocking her backwards.

Mark took advantage of her unprotected back and stabbed her, sinking his machete several inches into her left kidney as Beth screamed and turned back to face him once more, ripping the machete out of his grasp and forcing him to start blocking her attacks with his own arms now.

Michael started slashing at her back, doing more and more damage, and Denise came back and tried to hamstring Beth a second time, only this time it worked and Beth collapsed down onto one knee.

Michael stabbed her in the back then, running his blade right through her body as Mark staggered back, panting from all the damage he had taken.

Beth screamed again, and Denise kicked her in the back of the head as Michael pulled his machete out and stabbed her a second time from behind, right through the heart. Beth collapsed face down on the ground then as he pulled his machete clear.

They could see she wasn't dead yet, she was still gasping and was clawing at the ground, trying to get up. Putting a foot on her back, Michael pushed her flat to the ground and bringing his machete up, he swung down hard, decapitating her with a single stroke, and then quickly kicked her head away from her body.

"Damn," Michael swore, panting now as well, "are they all this tough?"

Mark went over and retrieved his machete from where it had fallen on the ground, bending over to pick it up it as his body slowly started to heal.

"Some are worse," he said.

"So, now what?" Denise asked, looking at the decapitated corpse and the head a good twenty feet away.

"First we need to move her body and head back into the woods before somebody comes and investigates. Then, we need to burn the head and the body, but if we do it here, we'll probably have the forestry service on our ass," Mark sighed. "So, I guess you two will have to run back to where we dropped our clothes, find something we can put the head in and something else to put the body in, then we'll have to pack it all out of here."

Mark looked around, then picked up Beth's body and started to drag it back into the cover of the trees.

"We're off some sort of road, so that shouldn't be too hard. Look around and see if you can figure out a street name or something before you leave, then call Dave and the wonder twins once you get back to where we left our stuff. I'm sure they'll get here pretty quickly."

"The wonder twins?" Michael asked, laughing.

"Yeah, they hate that," Mark said with a grin.

"You know," Denise said, "it's cold standing out here, buck naked."

"Yup, which is why I'm putting my fur coat back on while you two go get our stuff. Did you get through to anyone before you caught up with us?" Mark asked Denise. He'd told her to call the guys in the car that had been following Beth and tell them to come up and clean up the crime scene when they'd briefly stopped to strip down before shifting.

"Yeah, and from the sounds of things, the road's open again."

"What about the house?" Michael asked, going over to retrieve Beth's head.

"Either no one's home or they sleep like the dead," Mark said. "In either case, I'm more than happy to leave well enough alone. I'll make sure nothing disturbs the body, now go," Mark said and shifted back into his cougar self. It was pretty damn cold out and it felt a lot nicer to be covered in a thick coat of fur again instead of standing around in his birthday suit.

19: Route Twenty-six, West of Mount Hood, Oregon

Mark sighed and leaned back into the seat, Helena had shown up in her big ass extended cab Dodge Ram four-by-four truck about four hours after he'd sent Michael and Denise back. They'd brought some heavy duty plastic bags back for the remains, and Beth's body, along with Michael, Gail, and Jess who were cuddled up together, was back in the bed under the camper shell while Denise and Dave cuddled on the back seat, while Beth's head sat on the floor, also wrapped and sealed in several heavy duty plastic bags.

"Here," Helena said and passed him a paper sack full of hamburgers.

"Ah!" Mark said and took out a dozen and passed the sack back to Denise. "This is how I know you love me," he said and smiled at Helena, starting in on the first one.

"Un-huh," Helena smiled. "I figured after all night running around in the mountains you'd be starving." She looked up in the mirror at Denise, "Don't forget to pass some back to Michael."

Denise just nodded and handed the bag to Dave and let him open the pass-thru to the back. She already had one burger stuffed in her mouth and was working on the unwrapping a second.

"So," Helena continued, "what do we have to do with your little friend in the plastic bag there?"

"Burn it. We'll burn the head first, then the body."

"Don't you need to bless it first, or any of that?" Helena asked, curious.

"I don't think there's anything we can do for the likes of Beth at this point," Mark said and started in on another burger. "However," he said and swallowed, "I think I will have someone come out and bless the pile of ashes that are left, just in case."

Helena nodded, "Dave?" She said.

"Yes?"

"You're on fire detail."

"Yes, Mom," Dave said.

"I thought Charity was your mom?" Denise asked between bites.

"She is, it's just easier that way, plus they don't like being called 'aunt'," Dave said grinning, and then pulled his hand away as Denise quickly slapped it as he reached for one of her burgers.

Mark snickered as he saw that, Denise was learning quickly.

"So," Mark said looking over at Helena, "Why are you here? I was sort of expecting Hope to be the one to pick us up."

"Hope went into heat late Wednesday night," Helena told him.

"Oh!" Mark said.

"And now it's Friday afternoon. If I'd let her come up here, the kids would be getting the kind of show I don't think any of them need," Helena said with a smirk. "Not to mention the fact that she's really unhappy that you're not home, seeing as you are on vacation and had dropped hints about wanting more cubs."

Mark heard Denise snicker in the back of the truck.

"Don't worry, Denise," Helena said with a grin, "your time will come!"

Mark head Dave laugh and turned to see Denise hiding behind another burger as she blushed rather furiously.

"Speaking about times coming," Mark said looking back to Helena as she drove, "when are you due?"

Helena glanced at him and didn't say anything.

"I'm waiting, Helena," Mark said with a bit of a growl, though he was smiling, Charity had told him what he was sure now Helena wouldn't.

"Four's enough," Helena grumbled.

"Sure it is. Now when?"

Helena sighed, "After telling the others not to bother you, I can hardly bother you now myself, now can I?"

"Helena," Mark said in a very soft and low voice. He noticed the two in the back were suddenly being very quiet. "Did you ever think that maybe I wanted more children with you?"

Mark almost laughed as Helena turned the brightest shade of red that he could ever recall seeing her blush.

"Ummm..." Helena said eyes focused on the road, "soon?" she said, her voice almost a squeak.

Mark smiled and put his hand on her arm. He'd get closer but the console was in the way and she was driving, "Love you, Hon."

Helena purred almost the entire drive back to Hope's house.

"I expect to see you the moment you go in," Mark said and leaned over to give Helena a kiss as he opened the door to get out. He looked at Denise and Dave, "Get that stuff burned, and don't let the head anywhere near the body."

"You got it!" Denise said and Mark hopped out of the truck and let himself be dragged off by Hope who had come out and grabbed his arm and was pulling him back towards her house.

"Where the hell were you!" She growled.

"Sorry, Dear, work stuff."

"Don't you ever do this to me again, understand?" she growled.

Mark smiled and scooping her up, he threw her over his shoulder and ran for the door. Hope got very militant when she was in heat, unlike Helena who became a complete creampuff.

"I love you too," he chuckled and going inside, took her to the bedroom, before she decided that any place in the house was good enough, now that her mate was here.

#    #

Mark yawned and stretched as Helena and Hope cuddled up against him, one on each side. It was nice to be home again, he was going to have to talk with both his boss, Father Otto back at Manresa, as well as Agent Woods back in Washington. He'd been away too long, and the urge to stop running around was starting to get rather strong, especially now that he didn't have Jake around to always egg him on. He'd done his part and they were training up a bunch of new recruits anyway. Maybe it was time to pass on the torch and let the others handle things. Or at least stick to one continent, so he could live at home again.

He looked at Hope, who was half-awake now and smiling and gave her a kiss. Helena was still out like a light. Apparently 'soon' had meant 'Saturday' and Helena had showed up in serious full-blown heat. Mark hadn't dealt with two of his wives like that since back when he'd first been turned when Faith and Hope had both hit at almost the same time.

Either he was getting stronger with age, or they were mellowing out, because he was still conscious.

He smiled at that, Hope and Helena didn't often end up in bed together with him. Part of that was because Hope rarely argued with Helena and usually did what Helena told her too, and when she didn't, well Helena looked the other way. But with them in heat, and the way it affected them each so differently, it had been a rather interesting affair. Hope had ruled the bedroom all weekend, and Helena hadn't minded one single bit.

Once again Mark was reminded how lucky he was that none of his women fought with each other. Oh, they had their minor snits and arguments, but they never really fought or really got mad with one another. The same couldn't be said about his daughters, sadly. While Jess and Gail were like sisters, Karen and Christine hated each other and Melanie didn't seem to care much about any of her sisters, half or full. At least Melanie got on great with her brothers as well as her mothers.

Picking up his phone Mark turned it on and checked what day it was, the clock said it was only seven in the morning, but he had no idea if it was Monday or Tuesday. He'd had his mind on 'other' things.

"Going somewhere?" Hope growled playfully and latched on to him tightly.

"Just seeing what I missed," Mark said and yawned again. He'd have to see about some food soon as well, his stomach was starting to growl rather loudly.

"I've heard that line before," Hope said.

"Me too," Helena said yawning as she woke up.

"Yeah," Mark agreed, "but I've been thinking."

"Of what?" Helena asked and pulled his head down for a kiss.

"Of working out of Portland," he told the two of them.

"Really!" they both said together, getting rather happy looks on their faces to Mark's surprise.

Mark set the phone back down and wrapping and arm around each of them, pulled them close. "I've got cubs on the way, I'll need to be home more to help keep them out of trouble, plus, after all this time, I think I've paid my dues. I think I've earned this."

"What if they say no?" Helena asked.

"They won't say no," Mark smiled.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll quit."

Mark was suddenly inundated with kisses from two very happy wives.

Breakfast was obviously going to have to wait.

20: FBI Field Office, Portland,, Oregon

"Ah, Mark. Nice to see you're still among the living," Agent Woods joked as they all gathered in a secure conference room. Agent Woods had flown out to Oregon to meet with Mark, Michael, and Denise to go over the events of last week personally, rather than debrief via conference call, or even a secure teleconference.

Mark smiled and shrugged, "Hey, Chief, I'm a family man, what can I say?"

Woods chuckled and motioned to Michael and Denise, "So, is it safe to assume these two are doing okay then?"

Mark nodded, still smiling, "Yup, though in the case of Denise I think perhaps it's my son Dave that is the one having to do the most adjusting."

Denise snorted at that and Michael did his best not to laugh.

"Well, that's good. I've been going over your reports; I noticed you left a few names out?"

Mark nodded, "I still think it's best if we don't put the names of any friendlies into the system. Politics change, as we both know, and these people aren't going to want to keep helping us if they start getting approached by regular humans, especially if those humans have government written all over them. Plus, let's be honest, how secret is anything in Washington once it gets passed around to all the other agencies?"

"Agreed, and it enhances our position if people have to go through us, and not around us, or should I say, you?" Woods asked with a questioning look.

"You have to understand my position here, Chief. Because of who and what I am, I have responsibilities to the other lycans out there that I deal with. They are willing to work with us, not only because I'm a lycan like them, but because they know I won't out them, or let them come to the attention of others in the government. They don't trust the government, because they don't trust humans all that much. It's a paranoia that's pretty ingrained in all of us, along with the desire to not come to the public's attention."

Mark shrugged, his hands in the air, "That may change in time, but the only way to get there is to earn it."

Woods sat back in his chair with a thoughtful look, "I understand, and it's not like they're breaking any laws, or are even a threat. Still, I would love to recruit more of them for the agency, and not just because having more lycans in my group would help with the mission. Henry and the oversight committee have been becoming really impressed with the rather strong commitment lycans seem to have to law and order as well as their extra abilities."

Mark thought about that a moment, in a way it made sense, but lycans were primarily committed to their own laws and following them first and foremost. Then again, that was from his more feline influenced perspective. From what he'd seen, wolves were very much about rules and teams, even the bears he'd met seemed to feel that way. Unlike say the cougars he knew who were more about just staying out of the public eye than following the laws, actually he was pretty sure that applied to most of the feline lycans.

"I'd tell them not to rush in on that," Mark said, thinking of some of the stunts his own kids had pulled. "But I will do what I can to encourage those who I believe would do well in law enforcement jobs to apply."

Woods nodded, "I'll pass on your recommendation, you're still our only real expert on the subject." Woods picked up the file on the desk before him, "Now, let's go over the case. I see where the local team went through the surveillance footage of the two gas stations she stopped at and identified two more victims?"

"Yes," Mark said, nodding. "Plus the one in the car, Mr. Cole, her father, mother, and the others at the ritual site."

"Do you think that's all of them?"

"I don't know for sure. There's the possibility she may have picked up another hitchhiker or two on the ride here, and there is also the possibility that she might have gotten someone, somewhere else that we missed. The only thing we can do is to keep an eye on missing person's reports and the reports on any discovered dead bodies."

"What did Walters and Timms tell the folks down in Klamath?" Michael asked.

"We came up with a story of a ritual gone bad. That they were experimenting with some mind enhancing drugs and that one of them went into a psychotic rage, and killed the others. Then the next day when they realized what they had done, they committed suicide," Woods told them.

Michael nodded slowly, "Not like anyone is going to say otherwise."

"Exactly," Woods agreed, "also, they were experimenting with things better left untouched."

"I do wonder," Mark said, "if that girl Beth was like that at the start, or if she was corrupted by the power because of where it came from?"

"That is the timeless question," Woods agreed. "Does power corrupt? Or does it just show us the true nature of the people who get it? Still, from what we've managed to learn by digging around and asking a few questions, it seems she was the kind of person who liked having power over others. Her high school records were a rather interesting read."

"What about the Air Force guys?" Mark asked. "I don't know how much they saw, and I have no idea what they thought about it."

"I talked to them yesterday, actually. I borrowed a high ranker from over in the Pentagon who is in the know and we de-briefed the three of them individually yesterday."

Woods smiled, "I think they quickly realized that when a general is asking you questions and telling you to forget what you saw, that forgetting is a really good idea. The only things that seemed to stick in their minds about that night are that you jumped out of a helicopter that was fifty feet above the ground with a machine gun. Other than that, they were more concerned about getting back home and following orders."

Michael spoke up again, "Do we have any more information on the guy who was with Luis Gutierrez when they tossed Tommy's house?"

"On him? No, but we have a few suspicions. It turns out that Haines and Chance have made a lot of progress on that end of the case."

"Really?" Mark asked.

"Besides the ones that Smith was bribing, we found another inside man at your brother's labs; one of the janitors who worked there. He came up in a general background check when they found he had more money than he could account for. Turns out he was feeding information to one Carlos Santiago."

"That name sounds familiar," Denise said, sitting up.

"It should be," Woods told her, "he's one of the people the DEA has been after for years now. I think you helped them take down a few of his mules back before you came to work for me."

Denise nodded to that.

"So, who is he?" Mark asked.

"He runs a major drug lab for Manuel Guaviare in Guatemala. We've been trying to get our hands on him for years now, but he hasn't set foot in the USA for over a decade, that we know of at least. As far as our CIA brethren can tell us, recently he's started to diversify his lab's efforts from refining existing drugs into discovering and producing new ones.

"Needless to say, his involvement in this situation has a lot of people worried, especially those who know just what those samples were."

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Mark asked.

"We? Nothing," Woods told him. "It's not in our jurisdiction. But there's still that one missing sample that Haines hasn't been able to track down."

"So, Smith was working for this Carlos then?" Mark asked.

Woods shook his head, "Not that we can tell. From what we've been able to determine from emails we recovered in Smith's system, he was working a deal with Carlos to sell him the sample that we found at his place. Smith had a much better idea of what that stuff was than we realized and was talking it up quite a bit with Carlos. He had apparently heard some of the rumors surrounding the emergency landing of the airplane in Utah and when that mechanic contacted him with the remains, he put two and two together and correctly came up with four. Then armed with the results he was seeing from your brother's lab he decided to squeeze Carlos for whatever he could get.

"Carlos, we think, decided to try and do an end run around Smith, who was asking for a lot of money. So he sent Luis up here, I guess to investigate or negotiate a better deal. Luis found out about the mechanic somehow, and tried that route, when that didn't pan out, we're guessing he decided to kidnap your brother and just steal a sample from the lab. I guess he figured if he couldn't get the sample that way, he'd just pay Smith's asking price.

"So why did Smith pull a gun on us and try skip out with a hostage? He hadn't committed any felonies at that point, had he?" Mark asked.

Woods leaned forward in his chair putting his folded arms on the table as he continued.

"Well, he'd already been selling Carlos information on the lab's procedures and processes for some time, including some very confidential data on research your brother was doing. That not only made him a co-conspirator, but we suspect he believed that if Carlos was going to try and squeeze him out he might just decide to kill him and take the sample, rather than pay for it. Plus if we took him into protective custody he undoubtedly felt that Carlos would figure it was only a matter of time until Smith sold him out, and Carlos has a long list of people he's had assassinated."

Mark nodded slowly; it made sense, sort of.

"So if the one missing sample wasn't sent to Carlos," Michael asked, "who was it sent to?"

"We suspect it went to another lab, one here in the States."

"And you don't have any email on this?" Mark said, rather surprised.

"Oh, we have some emails, but whoever they were, they were using some fairly high-grade encryption. We've passed it on to the NSA spooks, and are just waiting for them to crack it for us."

"I'd like to go on that raid, when it happens," Mark said.

"We'll see," Woods said. "If you're close enough to get there on time, we'll call you in. After seeing what happened here, we're not going to hesitate once we find out where it went."

Mark had to agree with that, the Church's records had made it fairly clear that they'd narrowly avoided a nightmare scenario on this. If Beth had dug her heels in and tried to make a stand back in Klamath Falls, or had even stopped in Bend, the body count would have been astronomical.

"There is one thing I'd like to ask for, Chief," Mark said.

"What's that?"

"I'd like for the group to set up an office here in Portland, to cover the west coast. It would give you quicker response times, and if you want to outreach to the local lycans to bring them on board, well, this would be a good place."

"Tried of traveling?" Woods asked with a smile.

Mark nodded, "A bit. I'm going to talk to my boss at the Commission and ask to be permanently based here. I think they'll agree, and well, if I'm here, it would make even more sense for you to have an office here for when you need my help, once this loan business runs out."

"And if they fire you or you quit, that would make it easier for me to hire you on directly," Woods stated bluntly. "I'll run it by Henry, but I think you have a good idea, plus Washington is too visible for something that really is supposed to be out of the public's view. I've actually already started pushing on moving our headquarters to Atlanta, its close enough to Washington that I can commute to any oversight meetings I may need to attend."

Mark nodded, "Well, that went easier than I thought it would."

"Oh, you'll still need to come back to Washington for another month, I want you to pass on whether or not Steve and Mary are fit to go back to work, same as Michael and Denise here. Also, as our resident expert, you may find yourself pulled into the occasional meeting with other agencies, or even a private hearing or two with the oversight committee."

Mark shook his head and sighed, "I'm not very good at politics, Chief."

"Yes, I know," Woods agreed, and then smiled, "however, you don't work for us, and you're just on loan. So you can speak your mind without and fear of losing your job or not getting promoted."

"So, what happens now?" Denise interrupted. "If there's nothing else, I have a husband to get back to and a wedding to plan."

"And you Michael?" Woods asked looking at him.

"Yeah, me too. And before you ask, yes, it's complicated."

"I think that about wraps it up for me, I'll see you all back in Washington in about a week. I'll let you know the status on getting an office set up here by Friday, after I discuss it with Henry and the Director."

Mark nodded and getting up shook hands with Woods, "Thanks Chief, see you later."

Denise and Michael got up as well and they all filed out of the room to head back to Charity's house where Michael and Denise were currently staying.

"Just where do you live, anyway?" Michael asked when they finally pulled into the driveway at Charity's.

"Oh, I have a condo outside of Portland, a couple of miles to the west."

"I haven't seen you spending anytime there," Michael pointed out.

Mark nodded, "I only stay there on occasion, normally I stay with one of the girls."

"And who decides which one?" Denise asked from the back seat.

"I have no idea, I just do what they tell me to," Mark chuckled. "So what are your plans tonight?" Mark asked the two of them.

"Dave's going to teach me how to hunt deer!" Denise said with a grin.

"The girls want to go camping," Michael said. "I think they may have similar plans about teaching me how to hunt as well."

"Well, just keep this in mind, the both of you. You're going to want to find your own places, and soon. Denise, Dave will probably take the lead on that, he knows the area and probably already has an idea.

"As for you, Michael. The girls will undoubtedly have an idea on that as well, but understand that they're both probably going to have their own territories, thought they'll be side by side."

"What about me?" Michael asked.

"Yours is going to be both of theirs; just like mine is all four of my wives'. But the thing you need to decide, right up front, is do you want them living together in one house, or separately in two?"

"Like you have all four living separately?"

"That wasn't my idea," Mark admitted. "They already had their own homes when I met them. However Faith and Hope have their houses less than a quarter of a mile apart, so if I'm with one of them, odds are the other is there too.

"The point I'm making is that, whatever is decided now, you'll have to live with it. So best think about it, and make sure you get your way. This is going to be one of those decisions you have to make, not them."

Michael sighed, "I'm going to be in for a fight, aren't I?"

Mark laughed, "Probably, and knowing those two, no matter what you choose, they'll want to do it differently."

"Why's that?" Denise asked.

"Because they want a strong male, why else?" Mark chuckled. "And don't think I haven't heard of your little stunts and putting Dave through his paces!"

Denise grinned, "Guilty as charged, but it sure was fun!"

"Well," Michael said, "now at least I know why they want to go camping."

Mark went back to Hope's after he had dropped them both off. Helena was still there, and Faith was there now as well.

"So, when's Charity due to get here?" Mark asked, after kissing each of them hello.

"What makes you think she's coming?" Helena asked with a grin.

"Because I can tell when I'm about to get ganged up on," Mark said smiling and went over to sprawl on the large couch in the living room. "So, what do you all want this time?"

"Oh, we just want to make sure that you really do call up and talk to your bosses about working from home," Hope said and glided over seductively to join him on the couch. Helena and Faith were not far behind.

"Well, they won't be open again tomorrow," Mark looked at the clock on the wall; it was already past four, "until eight hours from now. Give them an hour to get settled and I should probably call in about one or two am."

"Oh, whatever shall we do to pass the time?" Faith purred.

"Whatever indeed?" Helena laughed.

Nine hours later, after watching the latest version of the Jungle Book, the original Lion King, Disney's animated Robin Hood, and several of the girl's favorite old Bug's Bunny cartoons, Mark called Father Otto. Apparently movies with anthropomorphic characters were big favorites with most lycans, and after two decades of being one himself, Mark was starting to understand why.

"Yes, Mark my son, what can I do for you?" Father Otto asked when Mark finally got him on the phone.

"Well, Father. It's like this..." Mark started and explained everything to him. When he finally finished he was rather relieved to have Father Otto agree with him. While Mark could quit, he really didn't want to.

"It's okay, my Son," Father Otto told him. "In all honesty, I was beginning to worry about you a bit when I found out you had a family, yet spent all this time traveling for our work. After all you've done, I don't think anyone will have a problem with you working from home."

"Thank you, Father."

"You're welcome, Mark. Bless you and have a good night."

Mark then got jumped by all four of his wives, all of whom now had other ideas on how to celebrate, which didn't involve staying up late and watching old movies.

California

21: Central Valley, Northern California.

Carlos watched from the co-pilot seat of the helicopter as they flew over the building. It was a pretty large installation, but it was set just off the highway in the middle of the central valley, miles from any major town. It would take the police many minutes to respond, once someone managed to call them of course.

"Their phones are now jammed," Juan, the man sitting behind Carlos said into his headset. Juan had a box they had bought from a company in China that jammed all cell phones and several other radio frequencies. The internet was such a useful thing these days.

As they circled the building, six sedans pulled up around the building, one at each of the exits, and a large van pulled up in front of the main entrance. Thirty well-armed men piled out of the vehicles and charged the building, shooting the locks off the doors and going inside.

The men from the van had come up from Guatemala with Carlos to lead this operation. The others were local gang members who worked for Carlos' boss, Manuel Guaviare. Manuel had been more than happy to loan Carlos some of the soldiers that ran and protected his distribution business in the United States. Carlos really didn't care what they did, or who they killed, they knew enough to listen to him and his men. Other than that, they were here to keep the other people out of the way, and to help him make a clean getaway.

"The building is ours Carlos," Juan said a couple of minutes later. "They have one of the company's techs opening up the secure areas for us now."

Carlos nodded and pointed to the convenient landing pad on the roof.

"Land us there," he told the pilot.

Less than a minute later, Carlos was walking into the facilities special secure labs. He'd had to step over a few bodies, but from the way the short bearded technician who was leading his man around was trembling, Carlos could see that he'd already pissed himself, those deaths had quickly encouraged the rest to do as they were told.

"Where is the dark flesh?" Herman, one of European mercenaries who worked for Carlos was demanding in a thick accent from one of the scientists.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" the man yelled.

BANG!

Herman shot him in the head and turned to another scientist, this one was female and she was crying.

"Where is it?"

"I... I can show you all the samples!" she cried, hysterically. "Take whatever you want! I don't care! Just don't kill me!"

"Have her show you, Herman," Carlos said. "She may not understand."

Herman nodded, and both he and Ricky, who was one of Carlos's own lab people and who had a good idea of just what it was they were looking for, started to ransack the laboratories.

Carlos almost laughed as Herman shot several delicate pieces of equipment to keep everyone scared and compliant. Herman loved shooting things, especially people. Carlos had picked ten as the number of people Herman would kill in the betting pool. Herman didn't know about the pool of course, or he'd pick a high number and make sure he shot and killed that many people.

That was just the kind of man Herman was, and why Carlos appreciated his skills so much.

They found what they were looking for in the second lab, and in a rare show of compassion from Herman, he only shot the woman helping them in the knee. Checking his watch, Carlos saw that they'd been here ten minutes now; it was time to get going.

"Tell everyone to withdraw," Carlos said, and headed back to the helicopter on the roof, all four of the men who had come in the van were evacuating with him. The van was rigged to explode remotely; they'd blow it as soon as they were far enough away. That was both to destroy evidence as well as to give everyone something else to think about.

"So, getting soft are we?" Carlos teased Herman as they went up the stairs to the rooftop landing pad.

"I rub my bullets with dung, you know that!" Herman laughed, "She'll be lucky not to die from the infection!"

Carlos chuckled and shook his head as they made for the helicopter still running on the roof.

"You are a man of rare talents, Herman."

Getting in they flew off to the local airport, Carlos had a jet waiting there all ready to fly them out of the country within minutes of landing. He turned to look back at Ricky and the specimen box he was holding.

"How does it look, Ricky?"

"It looks good, Sir. Very good. I set up a growth solution for it back in the jet, based on the information Mr. Smith got us from the other lab. I'll transfer it to Doctor Huffman's lab as soon as we land back home."

"Excellent, Ricky. Juan, once we and our helpers are clear, trigger the van."

"Yes, Sir!" Juan said and got back on his radio as the helicopter flew off, climbing out quickly. This whole operation had ended up costing Carlos a lot more than he would have preferred spending, but the half-assed one his assistant Luis had set up in New York had turned into a complete fiasco.

It was good that Luis was dead, or he would have had to kill him himself. Not only had they not gotten the sample or the original researcher, but they'd lost Smith. Smith may have been a bit greedy, perhaps too greedy at times, but he had always come through for Carlos, and the information he'd sent them on setting up and running a biotech laboratory had been worth far more than they had paid for it. But Luis had leaned on Smith too aggressively and after the failed kidnapping, which Luis had unwisely involved Smith in, Smith had panicked and gotten himself needlessly killed by the police.

The truth was, as his father had always told him: If you want something done right, you must do it yourself.

An hour later they were relaxing on his private jet and flying south towards the border.

"Hey, Boss, we made the television!" one of his men said.

Turning to look he could see a live feed from a circling news helicopter of the BioGenTek building that they had just attacked. The bomb in the van had blown out all of the windows and collapsed the front lobby. There were people and ambulances everywhere.

"Guess they'll remember us a long time now, won't they?" Herman laughed.

Carlos smiled, "Yes, I guess they will."

22: BioGenTek, Northern  California

Mark looked around at the wreckage and the carnage; he'd grabbed the next flight out of Portland to Sacramento within an hour of hearing about the attack. The local FBI office in Sacramento had arranged for a helicopter to pick him and Michael up at the airport and fly them directly here to the scene.

Mark had told Woods he was coming, to see if this was where their last sample had ended up. After six weeks he'd been starting to worry that it might never turn up, all of the FBI's efforts to date had turned up dead ends. Whoever had bought that last sample, obviously had expertise at doing things undercover and out of sight, and had obviously engaged in a great deal of effort to remain undiscovered by avoiding the usual channels. None of the emails, once decrypted, had named the buyer, or the process of shipping.

Mark had only just returned to Portland from DC a few days ago as they started the process of moving some of the office staff and functions out to the west coast. After the entire 'Bethany issue' as the case had now come to be known, both the Director and the oversight committee had agreed on a west coast office and the moving of the main office to Atlanta. What had surprised Mark, and apparently Woods as well was that they wanted a third office in the northeast and were willing to fund it.

Woods just didn't know how he was going to staff it yet, but appeared pleased that his budget had been increased and some of his concerns had been addressed.

"Wow, what a mess," Michael said looking around as the helicopter that had deposited them took off. "I wonder how many died?"

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Mark said and looked up as a man in a dark suit with a very harried expression walked up to them.

"Agent Morrison," he said shaking hands with them, "Agents Levin and Sykes I presume?"

Mark nodded. "I need to go and see the lab that they were interested in. I also need to talk to everyone involved in that lab, as well as the company president."

Morrison nodded, "This way then," and led them around the side of the building and in through a door that had obviously been shot up.

"What exactly happened?" Michael asked.

"From what we've put together so far, a large force showed up, shot their way in, and killed a bunch of people for no apparent reason. A smaller group of four shot their way into the secure research labs where the company keeps its special projects, killed a couple of researchers and shot a couple more, then stole some test samples and left."

"Why'd they shoot there way in?" Michael asked. "Were there armed guards here?"

"Fear," Agent Morrison said with a distasteful expression on his face. "There was no way anyone here could resist the attackers. The wanted everyone cowed and compliant. Plus I think they were just sadistic bastards who liked killing."

"What happened to the front of the building?"

"They set off a large car bomb when they left. Thankfully most of the people here were still hiding under their desks, but that still killed several people in the lobby and wounded dozens more."

Mark looked around as Morrison led them down a hallway, one end of which ended in the now collapsed lobby of the building. There were several cloth covered shapes back there, and the hallway itself contained a few chalk outlines with spent bullet casings littering the floor.

"Smash and grab," Mark said looking around. "These weren't military and they sure weren't your every day criminals."

"It was a drug cartel hit," Morrison said, glancing back at them.

"How do you know that?" Mark asked, but he was already certain that this was the same crowd as the one Luis Gutierrez had come from.

"Several of the survivors noticed that a lot of the young men who were involved were tatted up with gang logos. We know they work for one of the cartels, plus they have a reputation for needless violence."

Mark nodded as they came to the entrance of what he took to be the special research wing. There was a guard's station with a lot of blood on the floor, and what look suspiciously like brains spattered on the wall behind it. The door leading into the lab was laying on the floor, with enough bullet holes in it that Mark was surprised it was still in one piece. Spent cartridges were everywhere.

Stepping over the mess, they went inside.

Unlike his brother's setup, this was a long hallway with all the labs on the left side, all of which were behind heavy plastic or polymer windows that went from the floor to the ceiling. Several of them had been shot, but the bullets had just left divots in them.

"This is the lab," Morrison said, walking up to the second lab. There was a large sign above the doorway that denoted it as 'Research Lab Two.'

Mark nodded and went inside, there was enough blood in here to show that someone had been shot, but not enough to make him think anybody had died here.

Looking around, it didn't take Mark long to find a couple of smaller samples that had been overlooked. Pulling out a knife he cut off the glove on the glove box the sample was in and reaching inside he picked up one of the samples and brought it a little closer to his nose. The scent of all the blood, as well as the burnt nitrocellulose from all the gunshots fired was making it hard to smell.

He wrinkled his nose and made a face putting it back down.

"Is that it?" Michael asked.

Mark nodded and pulling out the small bottle of holy water he'd brought with him, he sprayed it on the sample, saying a simple blessing and watched as it shriveled up.

"Seal the room, no one is allowed in here without my or my partner's say-so," Mark said, turning back to Morrison. "I'll have a few people here in a few hours to clean this up."

"What is it?" Morrison asked.

Mark shook his head, "I can't tell you that."

"Really?" Morrison said, looking rather surprised.

"It's need to know," Michael said.

"Well, now at least I know why the place was raided," Morrison said. "Still, you'd think they would have had more security laid on, working with something this secret."

"The sample was stolen and no one knew where it had ended up," Mark said. "We've been trying to track it down for over a month."

"Is this related to that incident back east in New York a couple of months ago?" Morrison asked him.

Mark nodded, "Yes, and we suspect the same people were behind it. Now, where do you have the president of this place holed up? And have your people find everyone who worked in this lab and isolate them from the rest of the folks here. We're going to need a search warrant for each of their houses, to make sure they didn't make any copies of any of their research documents."

Morrison nodded, leading them out of the lab again.

"One other thing to consider," Michael said.

"What's that?"

"The other lab had a mole for the drug cartel working in its janitorial staff. You might want to round them all up and question them, as well as look at their financial records."

"Good point," Morrison said, and pulling out his cell phone he called someone and passed that information on, then relayed Mark's request as they walked back down the hallway they'd come in, and he led them into a small conference room that contained several men and women in rather expensive suits. The effect was ruined however by the tears in the expensive clothing they all wore, and the dirt, blood, or bandages, on all of them.

"What happened to them?" Mark asked Morrison.

"Their offices were near the lobby, when the car bomb went off, they were all injured by flying glass."

Mark nodded.

"Okay," Mark asked looking at the seven people in the room, "Show of hands, who here is involved with what was going on in lab two?"

"What do you mean by 'involved'?" one of the men asked.

"Exactly that," Mark said and pointed at him, "Who are you, what do you do here, and what do you know about what was in that lab?"

"I'm Richard Spencer; I'm the head of legal affairs and the corporation's lawyer. I'm not involved in the research here, per se. I advise on legal issues and see to the company's legal interests. Who are you?

"I'm agent Mark Levin," Mark said looking around, "I work for a number of organizations, the ones most relevant here are Interpol and the FBI. This is my partner, FBI agent Michael Sykes."

"Now, quit stalling, you all know you're in trouble, so tell me what I want to know."

"I must protest! We've done nothing wrong!" Spencer said, standing up as the others all started to talk.

Michael put a hand on Spencer's chest and pushed him back into his seat.

"Listen up!" Michael said, raising his voice. "We all know that the sample that was stolen from your laboratory today was stolen from another laboratory on the east coast!"

"Are you accusing us of corporate espionage?" one of the other men, who had a bandage around his head spoke up looking outraged. "That is hardly a federal affair!"

Michael smiled, "It is under the Federal Economic Espionage act, but then there is also the small matter of conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to murder a federal agent."

Mark spoke up again, "Those of you involved in this affair know that the sample involved in today's attack was illegally obtained from LevGen. You also undoubtedly know that LevGen was attacked, an attempt to kidnap the president took place, and several other crimes were committed, which resulted in multiple deaths. And now you have ended up with a sample which we know came from those labs."

"Looks to me," Michael said, "like you all were involved in those crimes in order to get your hands on that sample. I see a long jail term in your future, ladies and gentlemen. Very, very, long."

"Hold on a moment," the man with the bandaged head said, raising his hand, "we had no part in any of that."

"Then maybe you should start answering my questions," Mark told him.

"Are you by any chance related to Thomas Levin who owns LevGen labs?" he asked.

"My brother," Mark said. "And you would be?"

"Anthony Reese, I'm the company president. And I must protest your being here! How do we know that you won't steal our secrets and give them to your brother!"

Mark stared down at Reese, looming over him. "You mean, like you stole from him? Just to be clear, I'm not the officer in charge of the investigation, however I am the officer that they tried to murder and did in fact kidnap by mistake.

"So while my involvement may be just a tad personal, it's not for the reasons you imply," Mark said, almost growling. "Now, who are the others?"

"Janet Stapleton, my secretary," Reese, starting to look a little worried said as he pointed to a serious looking younger woman sitting next to him. "Rebecca Nash, head of marketing, Chris Lloyd, my vice president, Chester Mackay, our CFO, and Donald Wong, head of research."

Mark nodded to each of them, "Thank you. Now, which of you don't have direct knowledge of the stolen sample, and by that I don't really care if you know how it got here."

"Why do you wish to know that?" Reese asked, curious.

"It's an old cold war era bio-weapon," Michael said, sticking to the line that the government had decided to pursue. "It was stolen and sold to LevGen under false pretenses. So we're dealing with a matter of national security. The kind of matter," Michael turned and faced the company lawyer then, "that can cause people to disappear for a very long time."

"What!" Reese said, looking shocked. "I, we had no idea!"

"Neither did my brother," Mark told them, "but he's still having his background gone over with a fine tooth comb, his company records audited, and will be kept an eye on for many years to come. The person who you got the sample from however, he knew exactly what it was, and where it came from."

"Well, why don't you go after him?"

"We did," Michael said, "he's dead now."

"I was involved with the research," Donald Wong volunteered suddenly, raising his hand. "We were given some preliminary results which I would now guess came from your brother's lab. I personally had no idea where the sample or the results came from."

Mark nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Wong. We will have a few of our experts out here in a few hours to debrief you, your team, and to go through all of your records to make sure anything sensitive is expunged."

Mark looked at the rest of them, "Any others?"

Chris Lloyd raised his hand, "I saw the initial reports, as did Tony here. Also both of us and Richard there knew were it came from."

"Chris! What are you doing?" Reese yelled at him, while Richard shouted for him to not say another word.

"Oh, can it, the both of you!" Chris yelled back, "I told you I wasn't crazy about dealing with that Smith guy, but you both vetoed my objections and threatened my job if I didn't play along! Well, now it's bit us in the butt. How many of our people are dead out there today?" he asked while motioning to the hallway with his hand.

Mark noted that Reese looked rather stricken, while Richard shut up and the rest of the people in the room turned pale.

"Flat out Tony, I'm calling the board and I'm going to ask them to fire you the moment I get to a phone. Same for you, Richard. This one is on the two of you and I can just imagine what the board is going to do to all of us when they find out."

Mark turned back to Morrison who had been following things closely and was looking a little shocked, probably by the bio-weapon revelation.

"Take those four," he said and pointed to Reese, Spencer, Wong, and Lloyd, "and hold them each in isolation, separately, until the debriefing team from Washington shows up. The others," Mark looked at them, "can go."

"What do we need to be debriefed about?" Wong asked.

"We need to know what you discovered about the sample," Michael told him. "We need to make sure you all understand the severe legal penalties that you will be subject to, should you discuss it with anyone, ever again, even each other.

"All of your research staff involved with that project will also be debriefed, and we'll have a cyber team out here to verify that nothing of it is left in your records."

"Did LevGen get the same treatment?" Lloyd asked, looking up at Mark.

Mark nodded, "Yes, but unlike you folks, I simply had to sit on my brother and threaten to punch him in the nose if he didn't cooperate." Mark smiled then, "And because he's my little brother, he had to do it, or I'd sic our mother on him. So LevGen rolled over for the government completely and has agreed to cooperate. They didn't even make us get a search warrant."

"So, what about the people who did this?" Janet Stapleton asked in a soft voice. "Do you have any leads?"

"We can't discuss that with you," Michael told them.

"But if we could," Mark said looking around; "we'd tell you some people aren't as protected as they think they are."

Mark was sitting at a large table next to Michael; they were at the local FBI offices, sitting in a secure conference room, talking to Woods on a secure line. They had dossiers on several of the attackers who had been identified by the survivors, as well as from some security footage from one of the hidden cameras that hadn't been destroyed. Several of the men had quite a history and after reading through their records Mark wasn't looking forward to having to deal with any of them.

"The folks at the CIA have all but confirmed it," Woods said. "It was Carlos Santiago. He flew in this morning, bribed his way past immigrations, met with his crew that had flown in two days ago to set it all up, and then they all flew out of the local airport within minutes of the attack."

"How the hell did they know about this place, when we didn't?" Mark grumbled.

"I'm guessing that Carlos has people embedded in all of the major labs now. We're going to have to alert each of them to possible security holes and have them tighten down their own hiring procedures."

"So, what's our next step?"

"It's out of our hands now, Mark. It's out of the country."

"You mean it's out of your hands," Mark sighed. "I'm with Interpol. It's still something I'm going to have to deal with."

"Normally I'd complain about that, but I saw the casualty count," Woods said with a heavy sigh. "I've gotten the initial reports from the debriefing team, and the Department of Justice is looking to prosecute on the espionage charge."

"We didn't read them their rights on that," Mark said.

"Doesn't matter, that Lloyd guy has rolled over completely. He's pretty upset over all the people who got killed and blames himself as well as the other two."

"What about the others?" Michael asked.

Woods snorted loudly over the phone, "I think they're more upset over their own injuries and what this is going to do to their stock options."

"Any idea what the government's reaction is going to be? Are they going to send someone in to bomb the place or something?"

"We're on good terms with Guatemala, where they're operating out of, so any kind of bombing mission is out. Right now I understand that there are a lot of diplomatic messages flying back and forth, but as far as I know, it's all deadlocked at the moment. It'll probably be weeks before anything happens."

"A lot can happen in a couple of weeks," Mark complained.

"True, but didn't your people say that doing another ritual like that Oregon woman wasn't very likely?"

"Pretty much," Mark admitted. "But I'd still rather not chance it."

"I'd still love to know why they did it," Michael asked. "What possible use could they have for the stuff, anyway?"

"It enhances muscle tissue," Mark said. "That was why my brother was looking at it, to help people who'd lost most of their muscle tissue and strength. It would help re-grow the lost tissue and build up its strength so those people could function again."

"And?" Michael prompted.

"Remember how strong Beth was?"

Michael swore.

"Exactly, just think of a drug lord with an army of super-strong soldiers."

"That's not a pretty thought," Woods said from the phone.

"No, it's not. And being as it's all coming from something inherently evil, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it would have mental effects associated with it as well."

"Yeah, but those guys are already evil," Michael sighed.

"Trust me, they can always get worse."

"Well, I don't have anything further for you two, finish up your reports and go back to Portland. I'll talk to you tomorrow if anything new comes up."

"Yes, Boss," Michael said.

"Sure thing, Chief," Mark said and turned off the speakerphone as Woods hung up.

Mark looked at the paperwork on the table before him. It was a list of identified suspects and their dossiers. Another list was of the people who had been murdered, complete with pictures. All of them had been shot in cold blood, some apparently for no reason at all. Then another list of the ones shot, but not killed, again with pictures, and again apparently just for the hell of it. Last of all were the statements from the survivors in the labs on what they'd seen and heard.

"Let's get out of here," Mark said, gathering up all of the documents and leaving the table. He'd read it all again later, when they got home. It was senseless and it was brutal and he could see that even Michael had been affected.

Later that night as they were flying back to Oregon, Michael suddenly looked at Mark and said, "I'm in."

"What?" Mark said.

"Whatever you're going to do, I'm in. I want to help."

Mark looked at him, "What makes you think I'm going to do anything?"

"Never try and bullshit a bullshitter, Mark. You've had that look on your face since we left the office. You're thinking about doing something. They attacked your brother, and both Jess and Gail have made it pretty clear how you feel about family."

"He's not your brother," Mark pointed out.

"What was that, dad?" Michael said with a smirk on his face.

Mark snorted, but couldn't hide his own grin.

"So, why the sudden desire to help?" he asked Michael.

"Because the idea of that stuff getting into the hands of the local gang-bangers scares the hell out of me?" Michael said, and then shrugged, "Or maybe the thought of what my own wives are going to say if I let their father run off on his own and something happens to him.

"But let's face the facts here, Mark. I actually have the power to do something about it now, and walking around that place," Michael sighed and shook his head, "I could smell the fear on everyone, and the blood, and yeah, even all of that death. Ever since Jess and Gail made me start going to church again, I've been thinking, with great power comes great responsibility. What was done there was wrong, evil even."

"Is that all?" Mark asked.

"Well that and I don't want to turn into another Beth!" Michael said and actually shivered in his seat. "Denise and I have had some pretty serious conversations about it; we even talked with Steve and Mary when we were back in DC. We've been given a gift, and one that's meant to be used. But we need to be damn careful how we use it, lest we start abusing it."

"So, what you're saying is, that you want the opportunity to kick ass and take names in a manner that won't get you in trouble, and will do a world of good?"

"Well, yeah," Michael laughed. "Isn't that what you're already doing?"

"So just what are you going to tell Woods?" Mark asked.

"That I'm going on my honeymoon while you're off and other wise engaged."

"I think your going to Guatemala would be kind of a give away," Mark said. "Plus I don't know that there are all that many resorts there."

"Guatemala, not really," Michael agreed, "but Belize is rather nice, plus it's the off season."

"Been there before?"

Michael nodded, "Last year, and I've wanted to go back. So hopefully that won't raise any alarms."

Mark nodded, "Well, we'll have to see what we're dealing with. Let me call my office tomorrow and see what Interpol has on this, and what the Commission's stance on all of this is going to be."

"You don't think they wouldn't want it dealt with, do you?" Michael asked.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't," Mark admitted, "but I need to check with them first, I do work for them, and besides, if they're backing it, they have to pay for everything."

Guatemala

23: San Benito, Guatemala

Mark was sitting in the pastor's office in Santa Elena's with Judith. After some discussion it was agreed that he'd go under his diplomatic identification, this would keep it out of Interpol's jurisdiction and would also be less likely to bring him to the attention of the Guatemalan government. Considering the amount of crooked and corrupted officials in the later, it was considered to be a good idea. Enough people flew in on church business every year that no one would even look twice at Mark.

"So, what have you got for me?" He asked her.

Judith pulled a file out of her briefcase, which had been marked as diplomatic papers, so no one at customs had been able to look through them. Then again, as it was marked 'Vatican', few really cared to see what was inside it. Church business all being so dull and boring.

"The lab is to the northwest of here, about fifty miles; it's inside the boundaries of a national park called 'Tiger Lagoon', or Laguna Del Tigre." Judith looked at him and shook her head, "What is it with Latin Americans calling every cat a tiger, anyway?"

Mark shrugged and picked up the satellite pictures, "Don't ask me, I just work here."

"Do you have any better photos than this?" He asked her paging through them. They showed a series of twenty long buildings linked together in two rows of ten, with a square building across from them. He wasn't sure of the exact scale, but he'd guess they were maybe a hundred feet long each, the square one being a hundred feet on each side.

"No, sorry. I pulled those from Interpol's general files. Any higher definition ones would have to be justified, as they're confidential. Did you think about asking your friends at the FBI to reach out to the CIA and get something better?"

Mark shook his head, "It didn't even occur to me. They'd probably have them, too."

Judith nodded, "Undoubtedly."

Mark looked over the maps, "Well, it looks like we can just drive to this area," he said tapping a spot on the map, "hide the car off the road in the woods and then just continue in on foot over these hills the last ten miles or so."

"What are you planning on doing there, exactly?" Judith asked him. "The place has got to be full of guards, workers, men, and who knows what else. And there's just you and me, a couple of handguns, and some holy water."

Judith shook her head, "That's hardly enough to take down a drug lab run by a major drug cartel."

"You brought Clem along, like I asked you to, right?" Mark asked.

"He's still in training, what good is he going to do? Plus getting him to follow orders sometimes..." Judith sighed shaking her head.

Mark chuckled, "Yeah, he's got a bit of a stubborn streak, he'll mellow out once he fits in with the rest of the organization. But don't worry, he'll listen to me."

"Okay, so now that's three of us."

"Four," Mark corrected, "my son-in-law should show up tonight. I have to go out and pick him up when he gets here."

"Son-in-law?" Judith said, surprised.

"Yeah, he's also my partner at the FBI currently. Seems he hooked up with two of my daughters. He wanted in on this, and well, I thought it would help."

"Okay, so four. But still, we can't just walk in there and take them all on, and I don't think they're going to look kindly on any requests to inspect their laboratories and shut down any demonic cultures that they might happen to be growing."

"Oh, we're not going to have a stand up fight with them, not that I don't think we can't win, we're monsters after all. No, I have a much better idea," Mark said and gave Judith a truly evil grin.

"We're going to terrorize them."

Mark pulled the old Land Rover he had rented off the road and parked. It was well past midnight, and he'd told Michael where he wanted to meet him, and had even given him some rough coordinates. Michael wouldn't be carrying much; it wouldn't look good if anyone spotted a cougar crossing the border with a pack on its back. It was about eighty miles from where Michael and the girls were staying in Belize, but Michael felt that they could drive close enough to the border so that they'd only have to cover about thirty miles.

Thirty miles through a rainforest wasn't something most people would want to try, especially at night, but as a cougar, nothing really would want to bother Michael, in fact most things would be more than happy to leave him alone. The only thing a cougar had to worry about down here would be a jaguar, and other cats tended to leave werecats alone.

Still, he was a little surprised when Michael came padding up to the Land Rover with two slightly smaller cats in tow, namely Jess and Gail.

"I thought I told you two to stay back in Belize?" Mark growled at them, leaning out the window to do so.

"Stuff it, Dad," Jess said, shifting back first, followed immediately by Gail and a somewhat embarrassed Michael.

"We didn't want him getting lost, or hurt," Gail said. "He's never been out in a jungle by himself before."

"Neither have you," Mark pointed out, a little angry with their tagging along.

"All the more reason for us to come," Jess smiled at him. "Besides, we just got him and we're not going to let you get him killed."

"Don't you start with me," Mark warned.

"Or what?" Jess said, hands on her hips, "We're adults now, Dad. If Michael's going into trouble, we're going too. You may be our alpha, but we're a family now, the three of us, and we get to make our own decisions!"

Mark growled and looked at Michael, who just shrugged, "Sorry, Mark. But I have to side with them, I may not like it, but push comes to shove, I'm backing the two of them over you, they're my wives now. Like she said, we're a family."

Mark sighed heavily, "I don't like it, but I can't do anything about it now. Get in the car."

"Did you bring any clothes?" Gale asked, as the three of them were all standing around naked.

"For Michael, yes. For you two? No."

"Oh well, we can buy something tomorrow," Gale sighed and the two girls got into the back seats as Michael opened the passenger's side door and started putting on the clothing that Mark had brought along for him.

Getting in and closing the door after he'd finished dressing Michael looked at Mark and shrugged, "Sorry."

"Eh, don't be," Mark grumbled starting the Land Rover up and pulling back out onto the road. "I'm not happy about them being here, but at least it's nice to see that you defended them. I can't whip their asses if I don't whip yours first, and well, I don't think we have the time for that."

"Honestly, I'm glad they came with me," Michael said and turned in the seat to smile at Jess and Gail. "Going through the rainforest was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be."

"Why's that?" Mark wondered out loud.

"Too many distractions," Michael laughed. "I'm still pretty easily distracted by things going on around me."

"Attention deficit disorder, a cat's biggest enemy," Jess giggled.

Mark looked in the mirror at the two in the back seat, "And let me guess who was doing all the distracting," he snorted, shaking his head.

"Which is why we left last night, so we could have some fun," Jess said, and giggled again.

"So," Michael asked, "what's the plan?"

"Let's wait until morning. Clem got in a few hours ago. Once everyone's had some rest and we've gotten some clothing for the wonder twins back there, I'll go over it."

Mark looked up in the mirror again at his daughters, "I'll even let the two of you help, as long as you do exactly what I tell you to."

"Oh please, Dad." Gail started.

"Gail, dear," Michael said turning around in his seat.

"Yes, Michael?"

"You will listen to your father or I will put you over my knee and spank you," Michael turned and winked at Mark, "again."

Mark laughed as Gail got very quiet and sat there fuming, as her face got very red.

"Some dominance issues?" Mark chuckled.

"Let's just say that I now understand exactly what Helena meant when she was talking about two-by-fours back in Washington."

"Just wait until you have kids," Mark smirked, "it gets worse."

Judith had been appropriately shocked when Mark turned up with two naked daughters and had gone out shopping with them the next morning, after loaning them a few things so they wouldn't draw any looks of course.

Clem and Michael had spent that time getting acquainted. Mark was happy that he didn't have to go bang on any heads; Clem took an instant liking to Michael, which was good, because Clem could be surly if he didn't like someone, and was often rather slow to warm to people.

Then again, as Jess was Clem's sister, Mark figured that might have helped as well. Jess had a way of getting even with Clem if he annoyed her. It usually happened when he was asleep.

"So," Mark said as they all gathered around the table. "The plan starts off with us first doing a reconnaissance of the entire place. We'll do this in the middle of the night, as cougars. Watch out for any guards, those people are trigger-happy and have machine guns and who the hell knows what else.

"I want to know what we're up against, before we start in on them."

"Okay," Clem asked, "and once we know what they have, and how many of them there are, then what?"

"We start picking them off, one by one," Mark said, looking around the table. "I don't mean killing them either. Beat them up, maul them a bit, hurt them and injure them. Chase a few off into the forest. We'll start with the guards, after a night or two of that; we'll start infiltrating the facility and start going after the workers.

"Sooner or later, I suspect either most of them will be laid up with injuries, or they'll have run off into the woods. These people can be pretty superstitious, and a lot of them are probably sampling what they're cooking, so they should be easy targets."

"How long are we going to be out there?" Judith asked.

Mark shrugged, "Four, five days, maybe longer. Why?"

"Where am I supposed to stay? I'm not furry like the rest of you."

"I could fix that," Clem said, grinning at Judith.

"Not in your wildest dreams, kitten," Judith said making Clem scowl and the girls laugh.

"You can come back here," Mark told her. "Just come out once a day, to check up on us, and when we're ready to go in, we'll let you know."

"What happens if they don't scare off so easily?" Michael asked.

"Then," Mark said looking around the table at all of them, "I start killing them."

Mark was surprised that there weren't any shocked expressions on anybody around the table.

"These aren't good people, and they're responsible for at least fifteen dead back in California, and only the Lord knows how many they've killed around here. We do what we have to do, and if it comes down to you or them, make sure it's them."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"What about guns?" Michael asked.

"Oh, that's easy, we take theirs."

24: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

They left the house that had been rented for them about three hours prior to sunset. Judith had said she wanted to spend the first night with them, and would drive back in the morning. This way if there was something that they decided they needed, after doing their reconnaissance, she could go and get it for them.

The ride out wasn't too bad, for the first forty miles, the road was actually paved rather well with a fair amount of traffic on it. But when they turned off of that, they ended up on a much more poorly maintained road, and while there was less traffic, the going was still slower because of the condition of the road. When they turned off of that road, as they got closer to their destination, the road quickly became dirt, or to be more precise: mud. The rainy season had started back in May and there was now a small creek running down the middle of the road. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of traffic on this road, so it wasn't too badly chewed up, but they were still slowed down quite a bit.

The sun had set and it was quickly getting dark when Mark found a good place to pull the Land Rover off of the road and drive it into the brush, far enough away to not be easily seen from the road. They'd even brought a long a small camouflage net to help with that.

"Okay, we're here," Mark said to the others. "Let's get everything together and get a move on. It's ten miles and I'd like to get there before midnight."

Everyone looked outside; it was raining again, but not as heavily as it had been earlier. They all stripped down and handed their clothing to Judith who put it in a large duffle bag, and then after they all shifted she came out into the rain with them and put a set of small saddlebags onto the back of each one of them. They had packed them before leaving, a simple set of clothing for everyone, plus a few things they might need.

"I don't think anyone is going to mistake you for pack-llama's!" Judith joked, standing back and looking at them.

"I'll send the girls back in the morning to let you know if we need anything," Mark told her, "as well as to let you know how things went."

"Okay," Judith said to them.

The others all looked at Mark.

"Yes?" he asked.

"She speaks cougar?" Clem said.

"Yup, very well too."

All of Clem's facial fur suddenly puffed up.

"Has my son been saying things around you that he shouldn't be?" Mark asked Judith.

Judith laughed, "Oh has he now! I was going to wait to spring it on him later, but now is also a good time.

Mark sighed and cuffed Clem with a paw.

"What was that for?" Clem asked, shaking his head.

"I'm sure you deserved it. I thought we'd taught you some manners."

"But I didn't think she could hear me!"

"And you wonder why you're always getting in fights," Mark said shaking his head. "Let's go."

Three hours later and they made it to the edge of the drug processing laboratory. Taking a few minutes to find a safe place to put their bags for now, Mark then led them all on a slow circuit around the outskirts of the facility.

There was a six foot high barbwire fence around the entire installation, however it was not in a very good state of repair, and they had only cleared the trees and brush back about ten feet from the fence, which was just wide enough to drive a vehicle around the outside of the perimeter.

The twenty, one-hundred foot long, buildings were all there, as the picture had shown, lined up in two rows of ten, across from each other with a dirt road in between the two rows. They all appeared to be made out of cinderblock, and each set of ten were connect to each other at the front by a short enclosed hallway. Each building was set about ten feet from the one next to it, and the two rows were set about thirty feet apart.

The square building at the end of the two rows was three stories tall, and while the top floor had windows and looked like an office of some sort, the bottom appeared to be a warehouse or garage. Possibly both.

He noted the four guard towers as they circled the installation, they weren't terribly high, and each only held one man. There were lights on them, but they were all off.

"Ugh, they're processing cocaine in there, alright," Michael grumbled as the wind shifted.

"How can you tell?" Jess asked.

"That smell, they use a lot of different solvents, but the smell the leaves give off as they process them, it's pretty unique."

"I'm surprised it's not better lit, there's only a few lights scattered around."

"They don't want to stand out too much; also those engines you hear running are their generators. Smells like diesel from here. They're not going to waste electricity on light, that could be used making product," Michael told her.

Mark led them around to the front then, there were three more buildings here, that weren't on the photo he'd seen, but the trees spaced tightly around them probably explained it.

"Those two are obviously barracks for the guards and the workers," Mark said, motioning with a paw to the buildings on this side of the road that came into the camp through the single closed gate. "What do you think that other one is?"

"Find out when we get to it," Michael said with a shrug.

When they came to the road leading up to the front gates, Mark had them dash across, one at a time.

"What's the rush?" Clem complained, "It's dark out, they can't see us, and we're a hundred feet from the gate."

"Because I told you to," Mark said.

Michael went first, followed quickly by Jess, then a minute later by Gail. Sure enough, Clem just walked slowly across the road. Then jumped and fell to the ground as a rather loud gunshot rang out.

Mark swore as Clem lay there, twitching a few times, then suddenly froze.

"Don't," he heard Gail tell Michael, who Mark could see from this side of the road had approached the edge of the tree line and was looking at Clem lying in the road.

Looking back towards the gate as he heard it open, Mark noticed a man was coming out with a flashlight, and was holding a rifle in his other hand. It had one hell of a big scope on it too.

"Hey! I got a big one!" The man yelled back to the others at the gate in Spanish. "I bet he'll make a nice coat!"

"Get back," Mark said in a soft voice and moved back in the brush further himself.

Hunkering down Mark watched as the man came up and nudged Clem with the rifle, then turned back to the gate, "Bring the car! This one is...."

He never finished that sentence as Clem jumped up suddenly and grabbing him by the shoulder he laid into him with all of his claws and shredded his back and sides severely as the man screamed and fell to his knees, dropping both the flashlight and the rifle he'd been carrying. Clem let go then and dashed into the trees out of sight.

Someone from the gate opened up with a fully automatic rifle, shooting at the spot where the wounded man was, and missing horribly as people started to yell. The moment the shooting stopped Mark dashed out, grabbed the rifle in his mouth and ran into the woods, passing the others and moving a good hundred yards away from the road.

Dropping the rifle he turned around and walked over to Clem who looked about as embarrassed as a cougar could look.

"I'm sorry, Dad. How was I to know that they had night scopes?"

"Clem," Mark said in a low voice.

"Yes?"

"You have two choices, you either do as I tell you, or you walk home."

"But that's sixty miles!"

"Home to Oregon," Mark growled.

Clem ducked his head, "I'll listen."

"You better. This isn't a game, and while a gun shot from a normal rifle won't kill you, don't you doubt that they have bigger weapons that will."

"Well, at least we can get a better look at what's inside, before we go in," Michael said and shifting he picked up the rifle and aiming it back at the camp turned on the night sight, Sweeping it back and forth once, he took a quick scan and then turned it back off, noticing that everyone in cougar form had their ears down and were grumbling.

"Damn, I had no idea those things were that loud," Mark said.

"It can't be too loud, we didn't hear it from a hundred feet away," Clem said.

"Oh, I'm sure we all heard it, but none of us knew what it was, so we ignored it, that or the noise from the generators covered it," Michael said.

"I wonder how many of them they have?" Mark said as Michael shifted back.

"They're pretty expensive, so I wouldn't expect them to have a lot of them," Michael said. "I guess we know who we're going after first?"

Mark nodded, "You could say that, now let's good look at that other building. Clem you can carry the rifle."

They padded around towards the last building, and it became obvious, as they got closer, that it was the mess hall. A flat bed trailer parked behind it had four diesel generators on it, three of which were currently running, and a large fuel oil truck was parked next to it, obviously to keep the generators supplied.

"Okay," Mark told them, "the rest of you head back to where we dropped the packs and look around for a good spot to set up camp for the night about a five minute walk away. I'm going to nose around inside and see what I can find."

"Let me go with you," Michael said.

"Why?" Mark asked him.

"Because I know a lot about how cocaine is produced," Michael said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So I'll be able to tell you which buildings don't have what we're looking for."

Mark nodded, it made sense. "Okay, but be careful. Anything happens, bolt for the fence, and don't get tangled in it. Just remember, take it slow, and stick to the shadows. Their sense of hearing isn't that good, their night vision sucks and they can't smell a damn thing."

Michael ducked his head in a nod.

Mark led Michael under the fence at a spot by the flatbed with the generators, padding between that and the fuel truck as he looked around. There were very few lights on, so shadows were everywhere, and other than the guards in the towers and the ones at the gate, there weren't that many people around.

Of course, Clem's mauling the one guard had changed that. Three men came out of one of the barracks, two of them looking rather tired and all three sounded upset. They went and got a pickup truck from the group of vehicles parked over by the barracks buildings and then drove out of the gate.

Mark figured they were going to retrieve their wounded comrade, and with all the commotion focused on the front gate, he and Michael moved back towards the rows of parallel buildings, going towards the north end first, as that was were the big square building was.

They couldn't go around it, as one of the small guard towers was between it and the perimeter fence, but from here Mark could see that the front had two large roll up doors and a regular door between them. Sniffing at the doors he could smell a lot of different chemical smells.

"Supply warehouse," Michael said, sniffing at it as well. "Lot's of solvents I think."

Mark nodded, "Well, let's go check the others."

Turning they padded down the road between the two rows of blockhouses. Each one had a metal rollup door, and a regular door next to that. The ones on the left looked newer than the ones on the right.

"This one is doing cocaine," Michael said, nodding to the one on the right he was in front of.

"Hear anything?" Mark asked.

"No, it sounds quiet."

Mark nodded and padding over, he balanced on his hind legs and grabbing the doorknob opened it and went inside.

"What?" Michael asked, following him.

"Easier to check from in here," Mark told him.

Inside they found a number of grinding machines, and stacks of empty bags, as well as ones full of coca leaves.

"This looks like a pretty serious operation," Michael said, and looked at the hallway that opened into the next building.

"Let's take a quick look," Mark said, and they both padded down the hallway, going from the first building to the next, and the next after that.

The first two were for grinding the leaves. The next four seemed to be filled with acid baths of some sort and drying equipment. The last four were all chemistry labs, high-end ones, with sophisticated processing equipment.

"This is a pretty advanced facility," Michael said as they went back to the door they'd come in.

"I think I'm starting to see how they got involved in the biotech industry," Mark agreed. "They upscaled to improve production and along the way they started to learn about other things."

"Well, let's see what's on the other side," Michael said.

Mark nodded and when they got back to the door they'd come in through he stopped as he opened it a crack. He could hear men talking.

"What do you mean, 'It nearly killed Jose?'" said a man's voice in Spanish with a thick eastern European accent, Mark couldn't tell if he was German or Czech, his ear for accents wasn't the best. It was even worse when they weren't speaking English.

"Jose shot a cat! A big one! And he went out to get it, but it wasn't dead, and it attacked him and ran off into the woods! He's lying in the canteen now, on a table! The doc isn't sure he'll live!" A second man, sounding more like a local, jabbered back quickly in Spanish as well.

The first man laughed, loudly, then said, "Serves the idiot right! You are not supposed to leave your posts during guard duty! And you shouldn't be hunting! Not on duty! It's probably laying dead in the brush somewhere. Take a few men in the morning to go look for it, if you still want it that badly! I'm going back to bed!"

"Yes, Herman," the other man said.

Mark waited until he heard a door close, and then the other man walk off, muttering something about Europeans.

"I think we found Herman," Michael whispered in his ear.

"You speak Spanish?" Mark asked, surprised.

"These days, you have to, if you want to work in the FBI," Michael said.

"Interesting," Mark said, "I wouldn't have expected to find him here. Carlos doesn't live here, he just visits."

"Maybe he's here to keep an eye on their new project?" Michael suggested. "This is a pretty religious, as well as superstitious land. If Smith had a better idea of what this stuff was than what he told your brother, it may well be he shared that information with Carlos before he died."

Mark nodded, and then they slipped out the door and padded over to the building across from it, and slipped inside that one.

"Whoa," Michael said looking around.

Mark had to agree. This looked like one of the labs in his brother's building, and there were three of them set up, from front to back.

"Well, I guess we now know where that new flood of designer drugs is all coming from," Michael said looking around.

"Let's check out the next one," Mark said.

The next two proved to be exactly the same, but the hallway connecting to the fourth building had a door and it was locked and had a keypad next to it.

"I think we found our sample," Michael said.

"Let's not be hasty, there are six more buildings, let's see which other ones are locked as well."

Going back outside, they carefully checked the remaining six. They were getting close to one of the guard towers now, so they had to be careful and stick to the shadows. But they found that the door to each of the remaining buildings was locked and had an identical keypad next to it.

"So, one in six chance," Michael said as they made their way back to the spot they'd snuck under the fence.

"Tomorrow, we can sit up in one of the trees outside the perimeter and watch who goes in where, and see if we can figure it out then," Mark said.

"Just as long as they can't see us, I don't feel like getting shot!" Michael growled.

"Eh, we'll make Clem do it," Mark chuckled, "as punishment for not listening to what I told him to do."

"You know, if they do go looking for his body tomorrow, we really should stage a surprise," Michael said with a purr.

Mark almost laughed, "That sounds like a very good idea indeed."

When morning came Mark sent the girls to tell Judith that they didn't need anything and to come back at noon in two days. Next he sent Clem up a tree to keep an eye on the buildings he was interested in. Then he and Michael went off to wait and see if anyone came looking for the cat they shot last night.

Mark watched as the four men came out of the gates, each carrying an AK rifle, scanning the road side to side as they came.

"Notice anything," Mark whispered.

"What?" Michael said.

"They're not looking up," Mark grinned.

Mark had taken the time to kill a rabbit a few hours ago, and made a nice little blood trail into the woods. As the men drew closer, he and Michael quickly climbed up into two different trees, and waited well up above the ground.

When they came to the blood marked spot on the ground where their buddy had been attacked, they started to look around. Within minutes one of them found the blood trail that Mark had left, and they started into the trees single file.

Mark motioned for Michael to take the one to the rear, and then he just dropped out of the trees onto the second one in line, screaming 'Death from above', which of course to the men on the ground sounded like a rather loud cougar scream that was quickly getting closer.

By the time they looked up, Mark and Michael had both landed on their targets, claws out, and started tearing into the men around them. Neither one was trying for a kill; they just wanted to injure them enough that they'd not be able to work for a while.

It took Mark about three seconds to do a nice fillet job on the man he'd landed on, though getting hit by almost two hundred pounds from above probably had broken a few bones as well. The man behind Mark brought his gun up but got hit by Michael as Mark dodged. He must have had his finger on the trigger, because as he went down he shot his friend, the man who was first in line and who had been turning around to bring his gun to bear in gut about twenty times.

Someone had obviously left the select fire switch in the wrong position.

Mark grabbed the weapon of the now dying man, as Michael did a quick job on the one who had shot him, then ripping off his bandolier of spare magazines; Michael followed Mark deeper into the forest.

Circling back to camp, they dropped everything with the rifle they'd liberated last night, and then snuck off to a rise to watch the drama unfold in the camp below.

As they watched, Herman came out and organized twenty of the men and took them down to where the attack had gone off and went into the brush. Ten minutes later they came out with the four men, and brought them into the camp, where someone came out and started to dress their wounds, except for the one who had obviously been shot, they just left him to lie there.

When they came to one of them, Herman came over and waved the doctor or medic away, and pulling out his pistol he shot him in the head.

"That is what you get for shooting your own man!" Herman yelled out to the onlookers, who were shifting back and forth nervously. "Now, get back to work!"

"Wow, harsh," Michael said.

"Very," Mark agreed.

"What do we do next?"

"Let's watch and try to get an idea of how many people there are here. Then tonight, maybe we should stage a few more surprises. Show them that they aren't as safe as they think they are."

"Sounds like a plan."

25: Guatemala City, Guatemala

Carlos sighed and hung up his phone. The supervisor of his lab had called up very upset. Two days ago one of his men had been badly mauled by a puma. The next day several more had been ambushed in the forest and one of his men had shot the other by accident, killing him, and then Herman had killed that man in front of everyone for his mistake.

Then, last night, some pumas had gotten into the camp somehow and run around attacking people and causing all sorts of mayhem, throwing the camp into chaos. This morning he had ten more men mauled badly enough that they'd need to go to the hospital, twelve more enough so that they couldn't work.

But as if that wasn't bad enough, three people had been shot in the confusion during all of the gunfire, and two of the four generators had received enough damage from stray bullets that they needed to be replaced!

He couldn't shut down the cocaine laboratory, he needed that to stay up and running to meet demands or Manuel would be upset with him. Carlos' lab had been so successful that it was the only operation that Manuel ran now, which allowed him that much more profit as he only had to bribe a few government and local officials to keep the police out of his business.

But without all four generators Doctor Huffman couldn't continue his experiments and try to work on production of the experimental strength drug that Smith had told him about. The supervisor had assured him that the sample wasn't in danger; however, they no longer had the power to run everything and Huffman was quite upset, so could they send out some replacements?

Carlos shook his head, and picking the phone back up he called Herman. He'd left him out there to keep an eye on things, and because with the attack last week, the last thing he needed was for Herman to be seen walking around in public. Right now the media and several intelligence agencies were all abuzz with what had happened way up north and frankly, Herman stood out in a crowd, what with his accent and his short blond hair and Aryan looks.

"Yeah? What do you want?" Herman answered the phone.

"Herman, this is Carlos. Just what is going on out there?"

"Oh, Hello, Carlos," Herman's tone softened, Herman did understand who paid his salary after all. "It's nothing much. We've just had a run in with some wild cats. I think the guys stirred them up or something when they shot one of them."

"Herman, they're not people, they're stupid animals. Dangerous, sure, but they do not get 'stirred up'; now tell me, what happened?"

"Well, last night, after midnight, two of them got inside the wire; there was a hole by the generator. Big ones from the size of the prints they left. I guess the guards spooked them or something because they went after the guards. Then some idiot set off the alarm and everyone thought we were being attacked and ran outside with their guns shooting at shadows and making things worse. By the time I got down to the front gate, the cats were gone and the damage was already done."

Carlos swore, "They came in by the generators? Is that why the generators got shot?"

"Hell, Carlos, I have no idea on that. No one will admit to shooting at them over there, so I don't know how that happened. Like I said, it was all over when I got down there."

"What happened to the pumas? They were pumas, right?"

"I guess so; everyone said they were kind of brown and all."

"You didn't see them?"

"They were gone by the time I got there."

Carlos sighed, "Let me get this straight, we have fifty men out there, and not a single one managed to kill either of those cats?"

"Nope."

"I can not believe that!" Carlos said loudly.

"Yeah, well maybe you need to hire better people? And definitely not let the workers have any weapons! They were running around like the chicken with its head cut off! They were actually shooting each other!"

Carlos sighed, Herman had a point, many of the workers sampled the product, which he allowed because it kept them working long hours. But they weren't the brightest or most disciplined of people. "Take away the guns from anyone who is not working on security, we do not need more of our people shooting each other."

"I'll take care of it, Carlos."

"As for the pumas, does anyone know why they even came into the camp? Does anyone even know where they came from?"

"Well, Ricky thinks they were attracted to the trash behind the kitchen. There was a pig carcass in there from dinner a couple of nights ago. He thinks the scent of the meat attracted them. As for where they're coming from?"

Carlos heard Herman pause for a moment, and then he continued.

"The men say that local legends say this place is the domain of the cats, and that maybe they're unhappy with us being here."

"Please do not tell me you believe in that kind of superstition!"

"No, Carlos, of course not. I'm just telling you what they are saying."

Carlos sighed into the phone, "Well, I'll have them send two more generators immediately; they should be there in a few days."

"You might want to send some men along too," Herman told him.

"Why?"

"Half of the men here are too injured to work, and ten of those are the men who work on the coke production line. We've got some other men filling in, but that meant pulling men off of guard duty, so I had to raid Huffman's staff, he was very angry and upset."

"Oh? Just how angry?"

"He yelled at me," Herman laughed, "I never knew he had the nuts!"

"Doctor Huffman is very dedicated to his research, when anything gets in the way of it; he has a tendency to lash out at those around him."

"Well he best not lash out at me," Herman warned.

"Don't hurt him, Herman. He's a brilliant man and would be very hard to replace. Just be wary around him when he's upset. He has a tendency to stab people."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh, and Herman?"

"Yes, Carlos?"

"If this keeps up, I want you to mount a hunting expedition and track down these pumas and kill them."

"I'm not a big game hunter, Carlos!" Herman protested.

"You are there, earn your pay," Carlos warned. "I'll be up there soon enough to check on progress. Goodbye," Carlos said and hung up.

Carlos shook his head, in the seven years his lab had been there; they'd never had a problem with the local wildlife. Well, not after they'd put up the fence at least. From the sound of it, things had gotten too lax. Holes in the fence? A pig carcass laying around for a couple of days?

It was times like this that Carlos wondered if he'd made the right choices in his life, leaving the respectable, if poor, family business of running the nickel mine for the far more lucrative illegal drug trade. But he'd gone to far to change now, of that he was sure. He turned his thoughts back to the lab and the homicidal maniac he'd left up there. If there were problems, leaving a heavy-handed man like Herman alone might not be the best idea.

Perhaps it was time for him to fly up there and take a look at things himself.

26: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

"So, now what?" Michael asked Mark as they looked out over the installation.

"I'm thinking we need some more ammunition so I can get one of the girls to take out the other two generators tonight," Mark said. He'd had Jess shoot up the first two, but she'd run out of bullets in the hunting rifle before she'd been able to destroy another one, and the bullets in the AK's just weren't powerful enough. Though Gail had managed to shoot several men in the legs last night during the confusion, while he, Michael, and Clem, were running around the installation.

"And then?"

"Then we'll see if those doors unlock when they're not powered."

"Why don't we just grab one of the people who know the code?" Clem asked.

"Because I'd rather not advertise to the world that we exist," Mark sighed.

"I think your son has a point," Michael said.

"Really?" Mark asked and even Clem looked surprised.

"We incapacitated half of their people last night; they're going to have to send in reinforcements. I don't think they'll get here today, but tonight might be our last night to get in there easily and deal with them."

Mark sighed and nodded, "I think you may be right. I just didn't expect us to do as much damage as we did last night."

"They were pretty pathetic," Clem laughed, "they didn't even manage to hit a single one of us."

"That's because the guards didn't want to accidentally shoot each other after Herman's little lesson yesterday, and the workers were too coked up to shoot straight," Mark said. "Whatever we do tonight, however, expect them to be a lot better prepared."

"Umm, Dad?" Jess said padding up to the three of them.

"Yes?" Mark said, backing away from the rise they were on top of and turning to face his daughter.

"There's someone back at the camp I think you need to talk to."

"What?" Mark said, surprised. "At the camp?"

She ducked her head in a nod.

"Clem, keep an eye on things, Michael, come with me."

Mark trotted back to their camp, with Jess and Michael in tow. Jess didn't sound upset or scared, so he wondered just who it was. It couldn't be Judith; she wasn't due back again until tomorrow.

Coming into the area where they'd been sleeping Mark saw a rather large jaguar sitting in the camp, quietly waiting while Gail watched him. He looked up as Mark padded into the area and said something that Mark didn't quite follow.

Shifting back to his human form Mark looked down at him.

"I don't speak Jaguar very well," Mark said in Spanish. "What do you want?"

The jaguar shifted and Mark was suddenly looking at a rather large and strong looking man. He had brown skin and looked very much like a lot of the indigenous people Mark had seen while they were here, except for being a little taller than Mark and being of a much stronger build.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. "Why are you here? And why are you causing problems? What are you doing here?"

"That will take a few minutes to explain, I'm Mark. This is my daughter, Gail, and my daughter Jess. This is their mate and my son-in-law Michael. The other male with us is my son Clem. I apologize for intruding on your territory; I didn't know there was a clan in the area."

"I'm Estuardo. Now, why have you come here and stirred up the drug makers?"

"Because they have stumbled onto something that it is best for all of us that humans do not deal with," Mark said. "I'm here to stop them."

"We do not get involved with the humans and their things. We do not bring attention to ourselves or get involved in their affairs. We do not want to bring more guns and fighting here, to our home. You should leave."

"Yeah, about that..." Michael started, but Mark held up his hand, stopping him.

"I would speak with your clan leaders about this," Mark said. "This is not something any of us can ignore."

"They will not see it that way," Estuardo replied.

"I would still talk with them," Mark said.

"And if I should refuse to allow it?"

"I am my clan's alpha," Mark said with a hint of a growl, "and I will kick your ass into next week if you do not take me to talk to them."

Estuardo paused a moment and looked at Mark and the many scars covering his arms.

"It would be unseemly for us to fight," he said after a moment. "Come with me, I will take you to them."

"Thank you," Mark said. "Girls, Michael, you stay here. Keep an eye on things."

Michael started to say something, but Jess nudged him and he shut up. Mark shifted and looked at Estuardo, who then shifted as well and led him off into the forest.

It took them over an hour to get to Estuardo's village, or at least the village where his clan alpha lived. After they had shifted back to human form and Estuardo had loaned him a simple loincloth to wear, Mark looked around, impressed. He'd seen towns before where lycans were the majority, but he'd never been to a place before where it was only lycans.

True, the village was a small one, and in many ways a rather simple one. But everyone looked healthy and rather content. Mark suspected it probably drove any anthropologists crazy if they came through here. These people were not living in modern society and apparently hadn't embraced any of it at all. Mark doubted however that they were as 'backwards' as they might appear. Choosing to live a simple life did not mean that one was simple. Sometimes it meant that you just had a different set of priorities.

"You are surprised?" Estuardo asked, as seeing how Mark was looking around.

"Yes, actually. How do you get them to leave you alone? The ones who would come in here and 'help' you?"

Estuardo laughed, "My grandfather got them to declare our culture 'endangered.' So rather than trying to help us, they now seek to 'protect' us."

"Your grandfather sounds like a very smart man," Mark said.

Estuardo nodded and led Mark to a hut in the center of the village. There was an old man sitting out in front of it, holding an ipad and reading something.

"Grandfather, this is Mark, he is the one leading the cougars who have been harassing the drug lab."

"I thought I told you to run them off, Estuardo."

"He challenged me, said he would talk with you."

Estuardo's grandfather set down the ipad and looked at Mark, noticing the scars on his arms and upper body then turned to his grandson Estuardo. "He beat you?"

"I decided not to give him the chance, and brought him here instead," Estuardo said with a smile.

His grandfather laughed, "I see you are learning. Sit, both of you, be comfortable," he said and motioned to one of the hand made benches that were placed by the chair in which he was sitting.

"I am called Javier, Mark. So what is so important that you would disturb our lands, start a war with the drug lords, and stand up to my rather impressive grandson?"

"What do you know about those who hunt devils?" Mark asked him, going straight to the point.

"I have heard some of the other clan leaders discuss it, when I was a younger man. They said that in the big war across the ocean that the man who led the German nation called upon many of them. But that was many years ago."

"Yes, but the people who hunt them go back many years, and still hunt them today," Mark said. "It's just not common knowledge, and the governments and religions prefer to keep it that way."

"So, I am to assume then, that you are one of those people? That hunts these things?"

Mark nodded, "Yes, I am. These scars on my arms, I got those in a fight with a vampire and his minions, all of whom I killed, before I was changed by my women."

"And those ones that look like the claws of a bear?"

"A werebear who would not respect the laws," Mark said.

"So, why do you hunt these devils?"

Mark shrugged, "Because someone has to? Because I wanted to gain the protection of the church for my family, should we ever come to the attention of the humans? Because I hate vampires?" Mark paused and looked Javier in the eyes, "Or perhaps because I am good at it."

Javier nodded and sat in thought a few minutes.

"So," he said, "If you hunt devils, why are you bothering those at the laboratory? There are no devils there. We would have taken their scent if there were."

"Several months ago a man recovered some of the flesh of a couple of devils who had been destroyed in a fight. Using new technology, some of those pieces were kept alive, other pieces made it into the hands of those who would use them to gain power over all."

Mark sighed, "We have spent months tracking down all of those pieces and destroying them. The last of them are here, in that laboratory. They are using them to create drugs that will give humans many of the powers that we enjoy."

"I can see where that would concern the humans," Javier said, "but I do not see why it would concern us."

"The power comes from the devil, as with all things from the devil, I do not doubt that it has strings attached, or that it will warp the minds of those who use it. Do you think that they would leave you alone?"

"We live a simple life, compared to the humans. Assuming they could find us, why would they even be interested in us? We have nothing that they want, as long as we leave them alone, they will leave us alone. They will continue to see us as a simple people, not worth their time."

Mark sighed and threw his hands up in the air, "I'm not asking for your help, I'm just asking for you to let me do what I must."

"Yes, but you wish to do it on our lands," Javier pointed out.

"The flesh can grant the powers of death magic," Mark said, hoping that maybe this would sway him, "if the proper rituals are performed!"

Javier shrugged, "The ancient Mayans who once lived here performed many such rituals, and not only did they leave us alone, they worshipped many of my own ancestors and treated them with respect."

Growling, Mark jumped to his feet and glared down at Javier, "Fine, how about we fight for the leadership of your clan then?"

Estuardo started to stand, but Javier waved him back down.

"You would fight me; take the leadership of my people, solely to continue your fight against the drug lord?" Javier asked, looking up at him.

"If that's what I must do, I will do it!" Mark growled.

"Why?"

"Because they are a threat, because what they have endangers us all, because the flesh came from devils sent to kill me."

"And?"

"And what?"

"There is something else, isn't there?"

"They attacked my brother and his family; I do not doubt they will attack him again, when they can not find the answers they seek, answers that my brother has already discovered."

"Ah, so this is a matter of family then, of clan," Javier said nodding. "That is different, much different. Sit, sit," he said waving Mark back into his seat, "and let us discuss what we are going to do."

27: Drug Processing Facility, Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

Herman set the phone down and scowled. Carlos was not a happy man, that was obvious. It was also obvious that Carlos blamed him, him! For what had happened here last night.

Herman didn't care for that; he didn't like taking the blame for things that were not his fault. The men here, they were not professionals; they were just thugs and hoodlums from the streets and slums of Guatemala.

Well, there was no use in crying over things in the past, there was only the present, the now.

Getting up, he went and got his web belt with his pistol, canteen, and his jacket with his gear. After putting that on he grabbed his custom AR-15. While the AK-47's were dependable, they were heavy and terrible when it came to accuracy. He wished he had brought one of his sniping rifles, they had a lot more power, but they were heavier as well and if he was going to spend the day trying to hunt down a couple of overgrown housecats, the last thing he wanted was to be carrying an extra ten pounds.

He looked around the living room that he shared with Jorge, the facility supervisor, Huffman and his three assistants. It was actually a rather nice place they lived in, way better than the barracks that the regular workers were in. They even had a couple of rather attractive whores living with them to take care of their 'needs'. Oh, sure, they were supposed to be maids and cooks, Huffman and his assistants didn't eat in the regular chow hall with the rest of the men, but they sure didn't resist Herman's advances, or that of the good doctor's assistants either.

Heading out he put his hat on and went and tracked down Jorge, who was talking with someone on a satellite phone about delivering the new generators.

"Where are you going?" Jorge asked, looking Herman over.

"I thought I might get a little hunting in," Herman grunted. "Carlos wants all of the regular workers disarmed, he doesn't want anymore of those cokeheads shooting up the other workers."

"Already took care of it," Jorge said. "Just wish one of us had thought about it sooner! Jose, my best mechanic got shot in both legs! Without him, there's no way I can get these those generators fixed!"

"When are the new ones coming?"

"Day after tomorrow, soonest," Jorge sighed. "They have to ship them all the way up from the city, and the drive alone will take two days."

"Yeah, well you might want to push them a little harder, I think Carlos is coming out here to take things in hand, personally."

Jorge shook his head and sighed heavily, "I take it that is why you're going hunting?"

"Yeah, maybe if I can bring back a couple of rugs he'll lay off the both of us."

"That's a good idea, you ever hunt puma before?"

"Hell, I've never hunted anything other than men before," Herman laughed.

"One moment then, I really can't spare him, but Samuel over there," Jorge pointed to the single guard on the gate, "is a pretty good tracker. Take him with you."

"You sure?" Herman asked, he knew that the guards were spread thin today, with so many of them working in the coke processing labs.

"If you can bring down those pumas, it will make both our lives a lot pleasanter having something to show Carlos when he gets here."

Herman nodded, Jorge had been with Carlos for longer than Herman had been, and if he was worried enough to short himself a man, then Herman wasn't about to turn down the help.

"Thanks Jorge," Herman said and went over to Samuel.

"Sam, Jorge wants you to help me hunt down those cats."

Samuel looked up at Herman, then at Jorge over by the generators who nodded, and then back at Herman.

"Finally! We do something!" he looked at Herman's weapon. "Would you rather use my rifle?" Samuel asked him.

Herman shook his head; he'd had a borrowed gun jam on him once, because it hadn't been maintained properly. Ever since then, he took his own weapons if he had the choice.

"You carry it," Herman told Samuel. "If fact, if you manage to shoot them before I do, I'll give you five hundred American!"

Samuel smiled at that.

"Great! Let us be going then!"

Herman nodded as it started to rain, again. He hated the rainy season in Guatemala, but he'd been in worse places, and at least his hat kept the rain from running down his neck.

"Won't all this rain make it worse?" he asked Samuel.

"It makes it hard to tell individual pugmarks, but the softer ground means we will find more of them."

Herman nodded and motioned for Samuel to get started, and they headed for the section of fence where the cats had been seen last.

*   *   *

Michael came up to join Clem, after Mark had left. Laying down next to him and peering over the top of the rise and through the trees and the rain he saw the shapes of two men, moving slowly through the trees, outside the perimeter fence.

"What are they doing?" Michael asked.

"Tracking us," Clem said.

"What?" Michael asked, surprised.

"They came out of the gate not long after you and my dad left, and went over to where we went in under the fence last night, now they're slowly back tracking our trail."

"You'd think after everything we've done to them so far, that they wouldn't have the nerve," Michael said.

"I think one of them is that Herman guy, the one who shot his own man yesterday."

Michael growled a little at that. Several people back in California had been killed by Herman, that they knew of, some for little to no reason, and he'd even shot a woman in the knee after she'd helped him.

"What are you thinking?" Clem said, looking at him.

"I'm thinking I'm not in the US and I'm not a cop right now," Michael admitted.

Clem's feline face smiled suddenly, "Well, with the old man gone..." he said, trailing off.

"Don't sell your old man short, I think the only reason he hasn't killed anyone here is because he doesn't want to make a bad impression on his kids."

"I thought he only killed devils and demons and such?"

"Yeah, so did I. So, what are we going to do about this?"

"Wait, what?" Clem said looking surprised.

"The hunters down there, what are we going to do about them?" Michael said, nodding towards the two men.

"Oh, that's easy. Dave and I used to mess with hunters all the time, let's see just how good they are first, if they can't find our trail back to the camp, it'll make things a lot harder."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Send them on a wild goose chase," Clem grinned. "Maybe even scare the hell out of them. They think they're tracking some dumb animals, so the last thing in the world they expect is to be set up."

"I think I have a better idea," Michael said with a growl.

*   *   *

Herman looked at Samuel, who was shaking his head and muttering to himself. They'd been on the trail for a couple of hours now, and had been moving deeper into the forest for at least half of that time, heading farther away from the labs.

"What?" Herman growled.

"This doesn't make sense!" Samuel said.

"What doesn't?"

"These tracks! There are too many of them! We saw what, two pumas in the camp last night?"

"Yeah, so?"

"There look like at least three sets here, maybe more. I can't tell, because the rain has started to wash it away."

"Didn't you say there were tracks in both directions?"

Samuel nodded, "Yes, they came and left here."

"Well, maybe they went back and forth more than once before they found a way inside."

"Then they'd be more muddled," Samuel pointed out.

"Well, maybe it's a group of them, a family or something."

Samuel shook his head, "Pumas don't do that, not after they're gown, and none of these are cubs, they're all adults. See that?" Samuel said and pointed to one of the pugmarks that were in fairly decent shape still.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"That's a female's footprint."

"So?"

"We only saw males in the camp last night!"

Herman shrugged, "Don't lions live in prides?"

"These aren't lions! I tell you, there is something strange here."

"Look, I don't care. I just want to find them and kill them and go back inside where it's dry," Herman grumbled. "Besides, if we kill one or two of them the others will probably run off."

Samuel nodded slowly, "There is that. Remember to keep looking up into the trees as well as on the ground."

Herman nodded, and continued to follow Samuel, keeping a careful watch as they traveled further into the forest. Under all of the trees, the rain wasn't as bad, but between the trees and the clouds, it was almost as dark as dusk.

Twenty minutes later they came to a clear spot by a large tree that had been clawed heavily.

"Looks like a scratching post," Herman observed while Samuel poked around, it was obvious to even Herman that the cats had spent some time here. There were several large bone fragments on the ground that Samuel said were probably from some sort of deer.

"It is exactly that, look at this," Samuel said and pointed.

"What is it?"

"These tracks are fresh; see how they haven't filled with water yet?"

Herman nodded; there were two sets of tracks, side by side.

"Keep your rifle ready, we are getting close."

Herman nodded and double-checked his safety was off, and then unbuttoned the flaps on the pockets he had the two spare magazines in.

They moved forward slowly as Samuel checked the prints every minute or so.

"At this rate, we'll never catch them," Herman grumbled.

"Quiet, sound carries in the forest," Samuel said in a soft voice, "when they stop to rest, we will catch them."

"If they stop to rest."

"Pumas always stop to rest."

Herman didn't say anything, Samuel was the expert and he'd gotten him this far after all. At least the rain had stopped.

The next half-hour or so had them winding through trees and twisting about. Herman was getting ready to pull his portable GPS unit out of his jacket; his sense of direction was totally screwed up at this point.

When Samuel stopped and swore an oath, while crossing himself, Herman squatted lower and scanned the vicinity, both high and low.

"What is it, Sam?" he asked.

"They have led us around in a big circle!" Samuel said softly, his own gun out at the ready now.

"How do you know that?" Herman asked.

"Take a look yourself."

Herman moved up then and saw it, the pugmarks joined another trail, a trail that had both his and Samuel's boot prints all over it.

"Madre de Dios!" Samuel suddenly shouted and started shooting back the way they had come, as fast as he could work the action on his hunting rifle. Herman turned quickly and fired a short burst in the same direction.

"What?!" Herman asked.

"I saw one of them! I..." and just then the biggest damn cat Herman had ever seen outside of a zoo suddenly appeared out of the brush from the left and charged Samuel.

Samuel got off one shot, but Herman wasn't sure it hit, as the puma quickly closed the distance. In his hast to chamber another round, Samuel's gun jammed, and the puma was on him. Herman stepped to his left, to get a clear line of fire and was raising his own weapon to fire on the puma when suddenly he felt something pull at the back of his jacket and a huge paw reached over his shoulder from the left side and ripped his AR right out of his grip flinging it into the woods!

Herman quickly jumped forward, trying to get away from the puma that was obviously behind him, while Samuel screamed loudly and the puma that was now on him knocked Samuel off his feet and back into the brush.

Rolling over and scrambling to his feet, Herman could see the second puma, which had attacked him from behind was growling and hissing at him, meanwhile Samuel was still screaming and now there were two more pumas watching him while the one that had tackled Samuel savaged his body.

Herman was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them. Backing away, he quickly turned and ran, back in the direction he thought that the camp was in, crashing through the underbrush and trying to get away. His only hope was that they were far too interested in Samuel, who he could hear screaming behind him as he fled.

Then just like that, the screams stopped and something hit him in the side and knocked him to the ground.

Rolling to his feet, he pulled his pistol, but there was nothing around. So he started running again, but within moments, another puma charged out from behind a tree. He took a wild shot at it, causing it to veer off, as he changed direction as well.

By the fifth time one of them had appeared from behind a tree or out of the brush and charged him, he suddenly realized that they were herding him away from the camp and deeper into the woods. Stopping, he took a knee and raised his pistol, looking around for the one that had just ducked into the trees after he shot at it. When nothing came, he stood up to move over to one of the trees, figuring he could use the trunk for at least some cover, when he was suddenly struck hard from behind and sent flying, dropping his pistol as he hit the ground.

Scrambling back to his feet he saw a young man was standing there, scowling at him, naked. He wasn't one of the locals, or a native, he was a white man.

"You're a very bad man, aren't you, Herman?" the man said to him in English his hands out in front of him, knees bent.

Herman drew his belt knife, the young man was perhaps a little taller than he was, but he wasn't as heavily built as Herman. Also he was unarmed and nude. Herman smiled, this would be easy.

"Who are you? Nature boy?" Herman mocked as he closed, "This is not some comic book fantasy!" he laughed and thrusting up low from the hip with the knife in his right hand, Herman lunched forward.

The young man knocked his hand to the side and punched him, dead center in the chest, knocking the breath out of him, and making him stumble back.

"I have some questions for you, Herman," the young man said to him.

"I have nothing to say to you!" Herman growled and bending his knees to come in lower, he charged the young man, keeping the knife close to his hip. He might be stronger than he looked, but Herman had killed over a dozen men using only his knife.

Almost faster than Herman could follow, the young man dodged to Herman's left, and kicked him in the stomach with enough force to knock him on his butt.

"Which of the labs has the sample you stole from California?"

"I will tell you nothing, freak!" Herman said, swearing as he rolled back to his feet and came at the young man again.

Instead of dodging, the young man collided with him this time, and his left hand seized Herman's wrist with a grip too strong for Herman to break. Head butting him, Herman momentarily saw stars; it was like hitting a wooden plank!

He bent over then in pain, as he took a knee to the groin, and suddenly his arm was wrenched violently around behind him, his wrist twisted as it was forced up, a thumb finding the pressure point and forcing his hand open as he gasped in pain and dropped the knife.

"Which building, Herman?" the young man whispered in his ear, and then Herman found himself being picked up off the ground, and hurled into a tree! Gasping in pain as he slid down to the ground, he saw it then, his pistol. It was laying just a couple of feet away.

Herman looked up at the young man who was standing there, looking down at him.

"Which building?" the young man growled.

"The two new ones, closest to the guard tower!" Herman yelled, grabbing his arm to make it look like he was in pain.

"See? That wasn't hard, was it, Herman?" the young man said in a mocking voice.

Herman rolled away from the tree then, rolling over the pistol and grabbing it as he did, then coming up he shot the young man once, twice, then a third time in the chest.

But he didn't go down, instead he lunged forward and dropped to his knees, one on Herman's arm, the other on Herman's chest as he seized the pistol and tore it out of Herman's grasp as if Herman was no more than a child.

But worse than that, his chest was right in front of Herman's face, less than a foot away, and as he watched, all three bullets popped out of the young man's chest, one after the other, covered in blood, and landed on Herman's jacket, the bloody wounds sealing before his eyes.

"Damn, they're right, that does sting," the young man said and taking the pistol he put it to Herman's forehead.

"One last question, Herman, what is the combination to get inside the lab?"

"What, what are you?" Herman asked, looking up from the wounds into the young man's face. Herman shivered, for the first time, in a long long time, he was scared, he knew fear. This man, this thing, whatever it was, it wasn't human.

"I'm agent Michael Sykes, of the FBI. Now, answer the question."

"FBI?" Herman looked at him, then laughed! It was the FBI! They couldn't kill him! They couldn't even arrest him! He was saved!

"This isn't America, freak!" Herman laughed, "You can't arrest me!"

Michael sighed and put the gun to Herman's head.

"You're right, this isn't America," Michael said, thinking about the woman Herman had kneecapped, the researcher he shot in the head for no reason, the others Herman had killed there and who the hell knew where else as his finger tightened on the trigger.

"Wait! What are you doing! No! St...."

*   *   *

"Is he?" Jess asked Michael as he padded up to her and Gail. He'd told Clem to drag the guide down closer to the installation, so that when he regained consciousness he'd be able to crawl back and get treated.

Michael sighed and nodded, "Yes, I shot him in the head. Twice."

"I don't think our father is going to be very happy with you," Gail told him.

Michael shrugged, "I'll deal with it. That man was scum; he killed a lot of innocent people, and would have killed a lot more."

"Let's head back to our camp, and meet up with Clem," Jess said, coming up and rubbing against his side.

Michael nodded, "Sure. At least the rain's stopped."

"For now," Jess agreed.

It didn't take long to get back to their makeshift camp, Gail darting off into the brush to bring back their packs from where they had hidden them.

"What's that?" Michael said, looking up towards the leaf obscured sky.

"Sounds like a helicopter."

28: Drug Processing Facility, Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

Carlos looked down at the facility as his pilot flew over to the landing pad that was on top of the warehouse and living quarters. He could see that there were less guards than normal manning the front gate, and there were only three in the four towers. Also the bus used to move workers between Flores and the work site was missing.

Jorge had told him he'd sent the worst of the injured into town, to see a real doctor and to be treated in a real hospital. Seeing as they were all torn up from an animal attack, Carlos wasn't worried that there would be all that many questions asked. Or at least he wouldn't have to float any extra bribes.

He waited for the pilot to shut down the motor, and once things were secured he got out and opening the hatch on the roof he climbed down the ladder into the upstairs apartments where Doctor Huffman and Jorge lived, as well as their assistants and for now, Herman.

"Carlos!" Huffman said, coming out of his room and shaking hands with him, while smiling. "I'm so glad that you are here! Maybe now I can get the power I need to continue my experiments!"

Carlos nodded, "Jorge tells me that it will be perhaps two days before he can restore full power, but I'm here to see what can be done before that. How are you progressing?"

Huffman scowled a little, "I have the test growth chambers all set up, and the samples are doing quite well. If the notes I received are correct, we should be able to move most of them into the full size growth vessels in the three unused labs next week. However..." Huffman said, voice trailing off.

"However, what?" Carlos asked.

"The chemical compounds that we're looking for, the ones that make up the drug. We're not seeing them in other than trace amounts. The notes you gave me do not seem to cover the method used to stimulate production. I have tried several of the more standard techniques, but I have yet to find the one that will produce the desired results."

Carlos sighed to himself, but didn't let his reaction show to the Doctor.

"Anything else?"

"Well, without the proper amounts of the compounds to work from, I haven't been able to produce any of the drug. There appears to be some information from that procedure missing as well. But I'm not worried, once I have enough to experiment with, I'm sure I can figure it out."

Carlos nodded, "How long will it take you?"

Huffman shrugged, "I can't say for sure. We still have several promising techniques to try, if those don't work, well we'll just have to go through the full range of experiments. If I could see what was left out of the notes that I have, I could start turning out useful amounts of the drug for testing within a month."

"Are you sure it will do what they claim?" Carlos asked.

Huffman shrugged again, "The initial results are promising, Carlos, and the compounds we're getting, while small, are performing as claimed. As to how well it works?" Huffman smiled then, and Carlos noticed that his smile was about as friendly as many of Herman's were, "Well, it's not like we're lacking in test subjects, now is it?"

Carlos nodded and smiled, yes, around here, he could find all of the test subjects he wanted, willing or otherwise.

"I will see about getting my hands on the rest of the information for you, Doctor," Carlos smiled.

"It would be a great help," Huffman said.

Carlos thought about that, and nodded. Surely there was a researcher he could bribe, or maybe he could just kidnap someone with the knowledge he needed? He'd already committed one major act of terrorism on American soil this month, why not a second one? Besides, the sooner he started producing, the sooner he could build his own little personal army. If this worked as well as Smith had promised, then maybe it would be Carlos running the show, rather than Manuel.

Carlos nodded again, "I will see what I can do."

"Thank you, Carlos," Huffman said, smiling happily.

"Now, I have other things to attend to, have you seen Herman around?"

Carlos noticed the slight look of distaste on Huffman's face.

"No, I haven't seen him since this morning."

"Well, then I will ask Jorge, thank you, Doctor."

It took Carlos ten minutes to track down Jorge, and when he finally found him, the man was hard at work overseeing the men working in the labs. Herman had told Carlos that they'd moved half of the security forces into the buildings to work on producing product. What he hadn't told Carlos was how much supervision the men obviously required.

Carlos had to admit, Jorge was no slacker. Then again, Jorge knew the price of failure probably better than most of the people who worked for Carlos.

"Carlos!" Jorge said, coming up to him as soon as he saw he was there. "I did not know you were coming!"

"I wanted to see how things were for myself," Carlos told him. "I can see you've got things well in hand however."

Jorge shook his head and sighed heavily, "Not as well as I would like, Carlos. I need more men, either guards or experienced workers. I'm not comfortable with so few men standing guard outside, and while the men won't complain about double shifts now, eventually they will.

"And then there is Doctor Huffman! I can't divert power from the main production lines until I have those generators replaced. Maybe if my mechanic hadn't been shot, I could get one of them back up and running before the replacements arrive," Jorge shook his head again, "I asked my man Juan to see if he could find a good diesel mechanic, or at least find some generators to bring back from Flores after taking the men there."

"I'm sure he will find something," Carlos said, happy to see that Jorge at least understood what was important.

"Where is Herman? I did not see him in his room."

"He went out hunting," Jorge looked at his watch, "about five hours ago. I sent one of my men with him, Samuel. He's an experienced tracker. I'm surprised he hasn't come back yet. What did the guard by the gate say?"

"I haven't asked them yet," Carlos said. "I'll go and check with them now." Carlos looked around at the men who were taking the leaves and running them through the grinders. It was by no means the orderly operation that Carlos normally saw when he came here.

"You stay here and keep an eye on them; it looks like you have your hands full already."

Jorge nodded and looking at a couple of the men who seemed to be having issues with dumping the shredded leaves into one of the mixers where they were treated with solvents, he quickly moved off to deal with them, yelling and shouting as he did.

Carlos left him to it and went outside, heading off to the front gates. There was only one guard there, but at least the gate was closed. He could see there were several men working in the mess hall, preparing food for the workers, and they were all armed. With the mess hall so close to the gate, Jorge must have figured the men inside could back up the gate guard, should any trouble appear.

Not that it was likely this far into the park. Carlos kept everyone well bribed and he hadn't had a problem here in many a year. He just wondered what had drawn the cats here, now, and if they would be coming back. It would not surprise him if the cats had been sneaking in for a while and preying on the leftovers in the trash and had just finally been caught in the act. Probably they had been spooked, maybe even shot at, and that was when all hell broke loose.

He'd have to talk to Jorge about it later.

"Sir!" The guard at the gate said, when Carlos walked up to him, setting his rifle aside and giving a small bow. "How can I help you, Sir?"

"Please, call me Carlos. It's Juan, isn't it?" Carlos said. He had no idea what the man's name was, he'd never seen him before. But Juan was always a good guess, and if he got it wrong, they still thought that he did know who they were, was just having a little trouble remembering.

"Yes Sir!" the man said and beamed.

"Juan, has Herman returned yet?"

"No, Sir. I mean, no, Carlos. But I heard several gunshots about twenty minutes ago. So I would expect him and Sam to return soon."

"Gun shots?" Carlos asked, concerned.

"Oh, it wasn't like a firefight, Carlos, it was single shots, most of them were a minute apart. I bet they shot a couple of those pumas and are now probably skinning them!"

Carlos nodded, "Okay, Juan. When Herman comes back, tell him I would like to see him."

"Yes, Sir, Carlos!" Juan said, and picking his rifle back up, he returned to watching the road.

Carlos turned and walked towards the two barracks buildings. As long as he was going to have to wait for Herman's return, he might as well go look in on the wounded. It would help morale if they thought he cared about their welfare. But between the wounded in the barracks and the ones sent to town for treatment that was almost half of the men here; it took nearly thirty men just to run the cocaine production line, the four labs in which they did the new designer drugs that Huffman had developed were mostly automated, and Huffman's assistants ran those.

The injured men were split between the two barracks, and all seemed in good spirits, though all of them were bandaged up heavily and the 'doctor' that worked here treating them had all of them on antibiotics for the claw wounds. Carlos noted that the usual guns that could be found lying around were now nowhere to be seen, Jorge having locked all of the men's guns up in the small armory in the warehouse.

By the time dinner came, Carlos was starting to wonder just what had happened to Herman. It was after six and it was starting to get dark out, and there had been no sign of him, or the other man, Samuel. The bus had come back from the hospital, the driver had been somewhat successful and had found several generators, and while they were not as powerful as the ones that had been broken, it looked like they would supply enough power for Huffman to use at least some of his equipment.

"So, Doctor," Carlos was saying to Huffman as they walked from his lab back to their quarters above the warehouse, "will that be enough to keep you busy, until the new generators arrive?"

"Yes, Carlos. I'll start the large-scale culture vats tomorrow, that process doesn't need much power. I'd been putting it off until I'd figured out the other production problems, but if I can't use my main lab, this will at least let me make some progress."

"Well the sooner you can start producing the strength drug, the better. Are you sure you can't come up with a date for me?"

Huffman shook his head, "It could be months, how long did the original researcher take to figure it out?"

Carlos considered that a moment, if he was going to kidnap somebody, maybe he should go after that one, instead of just anybody.

"If I had him here, the original researcher, the man who discovered how to make it all work, how long do you think it would take?"

"Even if I had to send for additional equipment, I'm sure I could have test samples coming out within a month. With the vats starting up tomorrow, it would simply be a matter of setting up the production line after that."

Carlos nodded, "I will need a list of questions from you, which you need answered. I don't know if I can bring him here, but I'm sure I can get access to him long enough to get you the answers you need, Doctor."

"Are you sure he'll cooperate?" Huffman asked.

Carlos laughed, "Don't worry yourself; you know I have very persuasive methods at my disposal. He will talk, sooner or later, they always talk. It will just be a matter of you finding out if he is telling us the truth or not."

Carlos noticed Huffman looked a little concerned there for a moment. Huffman might not have issues with the way his test subjects or even his assistants were treated, but he didn't extend those feelings to his colleagues. Carlos suspected that Huffman felt if he did not treat them that way, then should situations ever change, they would not do those things to him.

It was nice to see that Huffman drew the line somewhere.

They had almost gotten to the door to go inside when Carlos noticed a large number of men come running around the building. He recognized them immediately; they were all indigenous natives, from one of the tribes that lived in the area. They were swarming the place, quickly overpowering the few guards on the grounds; he quickly noticed that the guards in the towers were nowhere to be seen.

How they had gotten into the compound, he had no idea. Why they were here, he also had no idea. They had never been a problem before, but they were attacking now!

He dodged several of the tribesmen and pulling his pistol he shot two more that got in his way as he yanked open the door to the building. But he had come to the attention of the others now, and a white man dressed the same as the local tribesmen turned and came at him. Carlos took a shot at him, and then ducked inside the doorway of the warehouse, locking the door and quickly running up the two flights of stairs to the living quarters on the top floor. Huffman was in front of him, moving a lot faster than Carlos would have thought possible.

Panting, he came out into the main room with Doctor Huffman, as the Doctor's assistants and the two women who cooked and cleaned for them gathered in the living room looking rather worried. Jaffe was nowhere to be seen, but he then heard the sound of his helicopter starting up on the roof. Jaffe was a good pilot and a smart man. Smart enough to know what would happen to him if he returned to Guatemala City without Carlos.

"What's happening, Carlos?" Huffman asked, panting heavily and looking very scared.

"I am leaving, now," Carlos said, trying to catch his breath as he went over to the ladder that ran up to the roof. He could hear his helicopter up there, running, waiting for him.

"Take me with you! You must take me!" Huffman said, panicking and grabbing at Carlos.

The gun in Carlos's hand went off with a very loud bang as Carlos shot him. He pushed Huffman away as he fell to the ground, eyes wide open in shock.

"Stay back, all of you!" Carlos said and then sticking the gun in his pocket he climbed up the ladder and out onto the roof as the sound of pounding footsteps of someone running up the stairs followed him.

Running over to the helicopter, he got inside and started to buckle the seatbelts, Jaffe taking off the moment Carlos's butt was in the seat.

Panting, Carlos looked out of the window as the helicopter started to rise off the roof, the emergency floodlights were all on now and the grounds below were in complete disarray, all of the guards were down, with the local tribesmen holding them at gunpoint. Others were being marched out of the lab buildings, also at gunpoint. A couple raised their guns to shoot at them, but then stopped.

"Madre de Dios," Jaffe said looking out the window.

"Yes," Carlos said still panting, "that was a close one," and he shook his head. That had been close, very close. He wondered what had gotten the locals upset enough to attack?

Herman, it had to be Herman. He must have shot a couple of them or something, and now they were taking it out on him!

Shaking his head slowly, Carlos wondered if maybe it was time for a change, all of this blood, this carnage. He wondered then just how he'd gotten to this place in life? He had a wife, he had children, and yet he had more blood on his hands than a man would think possible.

Just then, the helicopter shook.

"What was that?" he exclaimed, looking at Jaffe.

"We have an unwanted passenger!" Jaffe said and flying away from the building, he started to shake the helicopter from side to side.

29: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

Michael looked up at Mark as he came into the camp.

"Who are these people?"

Mark smiled, "The local jaguar clan has decided to help us with our task."

Michael looked at the men gathered around their small camp; they all looked very imposing, even if they were all unarmed.

"We'll go in at dusk," Mark told Michael, "we'll destroy the labs and leave."

"All of the labs?"

Mark shook his head no, "Just the ones we're concerned with."

"You sure about that?" Michael asked.

Mark nodded, "We're not here about the drugs, and honestly, the clan leader is worried that if he takes out the drug production, he'll have a war on his hands with the local drug cartel, and even maybe some of the government.

"Not all of the tribes around here are lycans; they would be exterminated if a war was to take place."

Michael nodded slowly, "I guess I see your point, and we don't have to live with the results of what happens tonight."

"Exactly, we take out those labs, we tell them it was a perversion of nature, or something like that, and hopefully that will be the end of it."

Michael, Jess, Gail, and Clem all nodded.

"So, what happened to Herman?" Mark asked, looking around the four of them.

"I did that," Michael sighed. "He came out to hunt us with another man, and well, it didn't go well for them. I just wanted to question him about which building had the stuff and what the codes were to get in."

"And?"

"And I thought about what an all around scum he was, and as he'd already shot me several times and realized something wasn't quite right," Michael shrugged, "I killed him."

Mark shook his head and sighed, "I can't say he didn't deserve it, because he did. But you're supposed to be a fed, Michael."

"Not in Guatemala I'm not, I'm not even here legally. You read the file they gave us on him, besides, if I'd let him go, he would have just come back with a more powerful weapon."

"What happened to the other man?"

Clem spoke up, "I dragged him back near the gate, in the underbrush. He's just unconscious; he's not in any danger of dying. I figure when he comes around, he can just drag himself back."

"Well, go keep an eye on him, so nothing decides to make him its lunch."

"I will send one of my men," Estuardo said, "I'll have them blindfold him and tie his hands. We can bring him into camp after we have taken it over. Just how bad a man was this Herman?"

"Very," Michael said.

"We can tell them he shot one of our people then," Estuardo told them, "it's not like it hasn't happened before. It will make them less likely to strike back if they think we were provoked."

"So, why'd they agree to help us?" Clem asked.

"Because it's the alpha's job to remove threats to his clan," Estuardo said and nodded towards Mark. "Javier, our alpha knew that your father would not stop until he'd removed the threat to his brother. Destroying this lab will do that."

"As simple as that?" Michael asked.

Mark nodded, "Just wait until you have kids, Michael. It changes you."

"But your brother isn't one of us."

"But he is still family, and that is all that matters," Estuardo answered.

"This is another one of those lycan things that I'll grow into then?"

Estuardo smiled, "I would think the very fact that you are here, shows you've already done that."

Michael frowned and thought about that for a moment, Estuardo had a point.

Mark grinned at Michael, "Now, let's go over our plan, before it gets dark."

Mark waited with the others until the sentries in the towers had been taken out. Estuardo's people had a proclivity for the sling that was quite impressive. They used these heavy balls of rubber made from a local tree sap wrapped around a smooth rock that would knock a man senseless, without killing him, and it was impressive to see them take out the three men in the watchtowers without a sound.

Then they'd used something as common as a pair of wire cutters to open up a large hole in the perimeter fence, on the far side of the compound from the front gate, behind the buildings that housed the cocaine labs.

Mark had gone in first with Javier and Estuardo, climbing up on top of one of the lab buildings, along with a dozen other men. The rest slowly assembled into a group that would come around the south side of the labs and swarm the barracks as well as the rest of the guards. A second group would secure the labs and those working inside them.

Mark and the others moved quietly across the roofs to the front end of the buildings, then laid down to look over the lab entrances. Surprisingly, there were no guards there at all. Mark was just about to signal them to start when two men came out of the building on the end where the demon flesh was housed and started walking towards the living quarters above the warehouse. Mark had already noted the helicopter parked up there that they'd all heard come in earlier. Someone important had come to inspect the damage he figured, which made their striking tonight all the more important.

Mark could hear them talking, one was obviously the man doing the research; the other was just as obviously his boss. Apparently they'd run into problems, just like the ones back at the lab in California.

When they started talking about kidnapping his brother, Mark almost growled!

Then they both came close enough for him to see that one of them was Carlos! Carlos definitely had the means, as well as the ability, to kidnap his brother. When he hinted at torturing him, he turned and gave the signal to attack.

Mark waited just long enough for the men on the ground to charge around the buildings and start attacking the installation, then he jumped down from the roof and went after Carlos, who had just realized that something was very wrong and pulled out a gun as the other man ran inside the building.

Carlos shot two of the tribesmen who were running by him, then he noticed Mark and shot him, hitting him in the chest as Carlos ducked inside the doorway. Mark could hear the helicopter on the roof, winding up for take-off.

"That bastard!" He growled. He wasn't letting Carlos get away, not with all he had to answer for!

When he got to the warehouse he found the door locked, it took him a moment to force it with his strength, thankfully it wasn't as heavily built as the ones on the labs. As he ran inside the building he heard another gun shot from somewhere up above as he started up the stairs.

He heard Carlos yell at the others, and when he got to the top of the second flight he saw that the man who had been talking to Carlos outside was now lying on the ground in a quickly growing pool of blood. There were several women and young men also in the room, but they were huddled on the far side of the room, eyes wide in fear.

Mark spied the ladder to the roof then, just in time to see Carlos's foot disappear. He ran straight for the ladder, leaving the others behind. He wasn't going to let Carlos get away; he wasn't going to let him hurt his younger brother.

Mark climbed up the ladder to the roof, just as the helicopter lifted off, the pilot swinging the tail around, either trying to knock Mark over or kill him with the tail rotor. Quickly ducking under it, Mark ran forward and leaping up into the air, he grabbed one of the landing skids and pulled himself up onto it, still focused on one and only one thing: getting Carlos.

He could feel the helicopter shifting violently from side to side, the pilot must have realized Mark was holding on to one of the skids and was trying frantically to dislodge him, as they flew quickly away from the compound, before any of the attackers below opened fire on them.

Mark got his legs wrapped around the skid, and pulling himself around and on top of it, he grabbed the step that protruded from just below the door with his left hand, and reached for the latch to open the door, as the craft shook violently from side to side once more.

On his fourth try he grabbed the handle and opened the door, coming face to face with a pistol. Ducking his head as the gun went off he felt the burn of the bullet as it entered his right shoulder, from the top, his hand momentarily going numb as he lost his grip on the door.

The gun went off a second time, and he felt a pain in his thigh, as Carlos leaned out and shot him in the leg and the pilot shook the helicopter a second time trying to dislodge him.

Carlos flailed for a moment, as the helicopter shook and Mark reached for the gun, his fingers still numb as he fumbled for it, Carlos leaning back in and forcing Mark to grab Carlos's leg instead as he tried to pull himself further into the cockpit.

Too close to get a good shot, Carlos struck him on the top of the head with the pistol's butt, on the third try Mark lunged forward and grabbed Carlos's wrist with his mouth and bit down hard. He might be in human form, but Mark could taste blood and he heard Carlos swear as he tried to pull his wrist away and the gun went off.

Mark got his hand on the seatbelt then, and tried to pull himself further into the cockpit as the helicopter started to spin.

That was when he noticed that the pilot was dead, and had collapsed against the far side of the cockpit.

He heard Carlos swear again, and he turned to shoot Mark again, this time in the left shoulder. As the gun went off, Mark swore and grabbing the seatbelt it came undone and he started to fall back out of the helicopter as his left hand momentarily lost its grip.

But without the seatbelt, Carlos was also thrown towards the open door and Mark wasted no time and grabbing the belt of Carlos's pants he pulled Carlos towards him, and they both fell out of the helicopter, which was now spinning wildly out of control.

Falling away from the helicopter Mark shifted, and grabbing Carlos with his claws he flipped him face down as Mark put Carlos between him and the ground. Carlos might survive the fall, but he wouldn't survive a two hundred pound body hitting him after he did, and if Mark was going to die, he'd make damn well sure that Carlos did as well.

After a moment, Mark realized that they hadn't hit the ground yet, and looking over Carlos's shoulder he could see that the forest's canopy was coming up fast. Obviously they were a lot higher than he had realized.

This was definitely going to hurt.

They hit the trees then, the branches helping to slow them down as they crashed through them, and ripping away Mark's already torn clothing. Carlos however was faring even worse, breaking bones and getting cut repeatedly as they crashed to the earth below.

Then they hit it was with a loud thud, and Mark passed out.

When Mark regained consciousness, he was in pain, a lot of pain. Of all the stupid things he had done, this one might very well have been the dumbest. Turning his head to look at Carlos was an exercise in pain, but he could see that Carlos was most definitely dead. Somewhere on the trip through the branches, he'd lost an eye and his skull was now cracked.

Mark tried to roll over, but from the pain he felt as he did so, he suspected that all four of his legs were broken, several of his ribs, and he could feel a lot of cuts and gashes as well. But he wasn't healing, at all. That confused him, sure he'd taken a lot of damage, but why wasn't he healing?

He wondered then, suddenly, if he was dying? Maybe he'd pushed his body past the point of no return.

"No, you're not dying," came a voice he'd only heard once before, but he remembered it still.

"Lucisignious," Mark grunted, or tried to. He was barely able to speak, "What are you doing to me?"

"Saving your life, you fell over a thousand feet. You should be dead."

Mark sighed, and laid there a minute, he'd been in pain before, fairly often actually, but right now, he couldn't remember ever being in this much pain. Mark coughed then; he could taste the blood in his feline mouth. He was too seriously wounded to even try and shift back to his human form, and he hurt over every square inch of his body.

After a couple of very long and painful moments, Mark felt it then, his body was starting to heal, but slowly, very slowly.

"Well, that is all I can do," Lucisignious said, "and I've probably done more than I should have."

"Thank you," Mark sighed.

"Oh, don't go thanking me yet, Mark," Lucisignious warned. "What you did today, that was a step too far, even for you."

Mark blinked, it was about the only thing he could do right now that didn't hurt. What did he do wrong?

"You didn't need to go after him; you especially didn't need to kill him."

"What?" Mark gasped, "But he would have gone after my brother!"

"Not without any samples he wouldn't. There was no longer any point to it."

"Oh," Mark said and coughed again, some more blood coming up as he did, but at least the pain in his chest was slowly diminishing, his broken ribs where starting to heal.

"Does that mean we got it all?" Mark asked, hopefully.

"Once you deal with everything in the camp down there, yes."

"Thank you, Lord," Mark said reflexively.

"You shouldn't have killed him, Mark."

"I, I didn't mean to. I thought I'd just force them to go back and land."

"Really, Mark?" Lucisignious said, moving around now into Mark's line of sight. Mark was a little surprised. The last time he'd seen the angel, he'd been dressed in a fine Italian silk suit, with matching shoes and a very stylish fedora parked on top of his blond curls. He'd looked rather dapper and stylish. But this time, he was wearing robes, and even had something of a glow to him, and his wings were on full display. Just like the angels you saw in the paintings.

"Okay," Mark said, trying not to cough, "I wasn't thinking beyond anything but stopping him. However, it wasn't my fault he killed the pilot."

"You're still in trouble, Mark."

"I love you too," Mark sighed Lucisignious may be right, maybe he did go to far. He'd gone to far back when Clem and Dave had gotten in trouble, but at least no one had been seriously hurt or even killed. But still, if he didn't protect his family, who would?

"Still," Mark continued, "he wasn't a good man; in fact I think we can all agree that he was a rather bad one."

"But he was no longer a threat to you. Or your family. You are a knight, Mark. Of the order. You are held to a higher standard," Lucisignious sighed and shook head, "You have sinned, Mark. You will need to atone for this sin."

Mark nodded, and then gave a soft growl of pain, his neck was still healing.

Mark heard it then, someone, make that several someone's were approaching. He heard them all stop, then gasp.

"I must go now," and with that Lucisignious vanished.

A moment later, they ran up to him, Estuardo, Michael, and two others from Estuardo's clan that Mark did not know.

"Was that..." Michael asked, looking down at him.

"An angel," Mark groaned as things in his body started to shift and bones started to knit. It hurt even more now than it had before. But at least he was healing.

"We thought you were dead," Estuardo said. "You fell from such a great height. But an angel, it came, it saved you!" Estuardo crossed himself, and the other two did as well.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked, as Mark groaned again.

"I will be, I'm still healing."

"What should we do with the body?" one of Estuardo's companions asked.

Mark shifted back to human form, which hurt and left him panting on the ground. "Give him a Christian burial," he told them.

"Are you sure?"

"Maybe it will do him some good in the afterlife," Mark sighed as Michael and one of the others helped him rather painfully to his feet. Looking down at himself he saw that he was covered in blood and dirt. On top of that he could barely stand and was feeling as weak as a newborn child.

"Anybody have some clothes I can wear?" He asked looking around.

When they got back to the compound, Mark found that Javier's people had everyone kneeling, facing the barracks, while several of his men covered them with guns they had picked up off of the ground.

"There was a man wounded up in the building," Mark said, motioning to the warehouse. "Did anyone help him?"

"He was dead by the time we got to him," Javier told him. "He was the one running the research you were concerned with."

"Where are the others who were with him?"

"Your son and two of mine are holding them over by where they were working."

Mark nodded and went off to find the others, with Michael and the other man all but carrying him, as he had an arm over each of their shoulders. Estuardo and the other one stayed behind and talked to his grandfather in hushed voices.

"You okay?" Michael asked him as he was still having trouble walking.

Mark shook his head, "I think I fell about a thousand feet, and right about now, I could eat a cow. Let's get this over with and go find some food."

Michael nodded and didn't say anything else.

When they came around the corner, Clem was there with two of Javier's men.

Gathering himself up, Mark looked at the three men and the one woman, who all looked like college types. They all looked shocked, and the woman was quietly sobbing.

"Open it up," he told them.

One of them stepped up and keyed the pad, causing the door to unlatch.

"Okay, I want you to show me where each of the samples are."

The four of them nodded, and took Mark to each of the testing areas, where he used the holy water that Clem had brought down from the campsite. Mark had put several bottles in each of their bags, in case any were lost.

Next they took him to the small culture vats, where he destroyed all that was in them, and then they showed him the large culture vats, which were not yet in use.

Mark sprayed them with holy water as well, just in case.

Once he was done he had Clem and Michael smash the computers with a couple of axes they found, making sure to pay special attention to the hard drives, and then burn all of the notes that had been made.

"Okay, you can go join the others," Mark told them.

"They'll rape me!" The young woman blurted out.

"You should have thought of that, when you went to work for them," one of Javier's men said.

"I, I needed the money!"

The other man sighed, "I will take you to the cars. You can pick one and drive off before we let the others go."

"You're just going to let us go?" one of the other lab workers, a young man, asked.

"We don't care about the drugs, we only cared about this," Mark said and motioned to the labs they had just gone through, and then turned and left, heading back to their campsite, as Michael and Clem followed.

30: San Benito, Guatemala

"Mark."

Mark looked up from the bar he was sitting at. He had been staring into his beer and thinking about something that had happened when Judith and he had stopped at the local parish office.

He'd touched a silver cross, and it had burned him.

"Hi, Jake," he said, looking at his former, as in dead, partner. Jake was dressed as fine as ever, and he still had the wings, which Mark had to admit, really did make him look good.

"You are dreaming," Jake said in his heavily accented voice and sat down next to Mark at the bar. This time they were sitting in a public house just outside of Norwich that they'd both been rather fond of.

"They took away my immunity to silver," Mark sighed, shaking his head.

"Yes, you are being punished. It will be a while, for zhere are zhings you must do."

"Such as?" Mark asked and took another drink from his beer.

"Confession for one. How long has it been, Mark?"

Mark sighed and hung his head, he hadn't gone to confession since his confessor and mentor, Father Gregory had fallen into a coma, almost two years ago now. And with his passing earlier this year, Mark should have found a new one.

"Still, Jake, I don't see what they're so upset about? So I killed someone? It's not like I haven't done it before. Yeah, I don't do it often, but that Carlos guy; tell me he didn't deserve it?"

Jake shrugged, "It is not as easy as all of zhat. Some zhink that Carlos may have just put his first foot on zhe path to redemption when you killed him."

"Well, if he was sincere, then he will be judged appropriately, won't he?" Mark asked. "Besides, I don't see them getting all upset about the one my son-in-law killed."

"Yes, you should talk to him about zhat, make sure he understands the need for atonement. But I would not worry about him much."

"So," Mark sighed, "am I still a knight of the order? Or should I pack my things and go?"

"Well, zhat is up to you Mark, what do you wish to do?"

Mark shook his head, "I don't know Jake, I've got kids on the way, and I do want to be home more, but I'm good at this. Me and you, we put down how many devils? Dealt with how many demons? Besides, even if I do leave, I don't want them mad at me. I don't want to be tossed out and be fair game to the other side either. I've lived up to my side of the bargain after all."

"And zhat, my friend is zhe problem," Jake said, leaning in a little closer.

"What?" Mark said, focusing in on his former partner.

"It is simple, is it not? You remain loyal, you do not sell out, and no matter what, you go to heaven, no?"

Mark nodded, "And I haven't sold out, I haven't changed sides, I'll never do that. I will stick to my oath and my word."

"Yes," Jake nodded, "And zhey know that."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Zhe problem is, if you start killing people, because you feel it is justified, zhey will have to let a murderer, a man who would otherwise be condemned, into heaven."

It might have been a dream, but Mark would have sworn that he could feel the blood drain from his face.

"Oh. Shit." Mark swore.

"So, you see zheir point, yes?"

Mark nodded slowly. "I see their point. But I don't think I crossed the line with what I did to Carlos."

"No, but you were, how does zhe song go? One toe over zhe line?" Jake shook his head, "Zhey are worried, Mark. I am worried. You are on probation, you might say. You could retire, and as long as you never had a problem like zhis one again, no one would find fault. But,"

"But they don't want me to go just yet," Mark sighed.

"And neither do you, am I right?"

Mark smiled wanly, "Yeah, Jake. You're right."

"So, go to zhe order, confess your sins, do whatever penance zhey assign for you, and zhen be sure to stay out of trouble."

"The wives are going to kill me for not coming right home," Mark sighed.

"Zhey will understand. Zhey married you, did zhey not?" Jake laughed.

"Yeah, after they all take turns making me feel guilty as hell," Mark sighed. "Thanks Jake. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome, my friend."

Jake disappeared from his dream then, and Mark fell into a deep sleep. But when he awoke the next morning, he knew he'd be accompanying Judith on her flight back to Manresa.

END

If you enjoyed this book, I would ask that you please rate it. As an author, reviews and ratings are my lifeblood, with 4 & 5 stars being the most important.

Remember a good rating and a good review is the best thing you can do for an author whose stories you like, (after buying it of course!). Even if it's just to say 'I liked this book'.

Thank you,

John Van Stry
www.vanstry.net (more of my work, and some other things)

email: vanstry@gmail.com

Mailing list signup: http://eepurl.com/2qrO9

My Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/vanstry