room in five minutes. Just me, you, and Julie. We don't know who else we can trust.'
'Make it ten. Give me a chance to scrub the gas off before I get foot cancer or something,' I said quickly as the road-trip weary Hunters from Esmeralda's team began to pile out and unload their gear. I had to keep in mind that one of these people could be the traitor.
'Well, that was a waste of time,' Cooper said as he pulled a rifle case out of the back of the truck. 'Didn't even get to shoot any trolls.'
'You're such a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy,' his team leader said, stifling a yawn. Esmeralda didn't manage to look any more intimidating wearing all her gear than she did wearing a sweater with kittens on it. 'Think of that as a chance to drive around scenic Alabama.'
'It was dark. Then we stopped in the ghetto,' Cooper muttered. He was a relatively new Hunter, about my age, a few inches shorter than me and stocky, with square glasses and short dark hair. He had been an explosive ordnance disposal tech before joining us last year. He'd just gotten off active duty and gone on a road trip when he had encountered a winged terror eating travelers at a rest stop on I-15 in middle of nowhere, Nevada. The manner in which he'd shoved an illegal hand grenade down the creature's mouth had gotten him recruited. 'Yeah, that was awesome.'
Nate Shackleford unfolded himself out of the driver's seat. He was the junior man on the team, but men of our stature always got the front seat. I did not know Julie's little brother very well yet, but he really seemed like a likable, energetic, humble kid. Like Julie, he took more after Susan than Ray, though I could see the resemblance to his father, only without all the crazy. 'I can't believe that Milo took out the whole infestation.'
Cooper snorted. 'Infestation… It was one troll!'
'I warned you guys that eye witnesses always exaggerate,' Esmeralda chided them.
Julie joined us. 'The client was pretty excited on the phone.'
Esmeralda automatically lapsed into teacher mode. 'You never know what's going to happen when you meet a new client. Most of the time they're pretty normal, but every once in a while, one answers the door and tries to chop your head off with an ax.'
'Wow, has that ever actually happened?' Nate asked.
'No… but it could.'
Mosh was trailing along behind Julie, looking around in confusion at the paramilitary compound. 'Oh, man…' His jaw fell open when he saw our red and white MI-24 Russian attack helicopter parked in front of the hangar. I suppose that my workplace was a bit different than the average. 'You guys have a Hind?' He had always appreciated anything with an engine more than I had. 'That is so awesome!'
'That's Skippy's baby,' Julie responded.
My brother turned to the orc. 'Can I have a ride?' Skippy began to nod vigorously, eager to please the Great War Chief.
'Shhh…' Earl held up his hand. I couldn't hear a thing, but he was the one with the werewolf hearing, so I shut up. 'Chopper coming in.' He paused. 'Blackhawk.'
It could only be the government. With the huge debacle of the freeway explosion and the hundreds of witnesses to the oni there, I had been sure that the Feds would have been too occupied with damage control to dispatch new babysitters. Apparently I had been wrong. With Franks dead, I had no idea who they would send this time. Unfortunately, after my talk with the Englishman, I wasn't feeling real optimistic for the fates of those assigned to guard me.
It took another thirty seconds before anyone else could hear the Blackhawk. It came in low over the trees, circled the compound once, then set down in the parking lot in front of the office building. The blades kept turning as the door slid open. A Fed in a jumpsuit and helmet exited from the side. He positioned himself to help the next person out, which turned out to be a burly, older man.
'Oh crap,' I said. 'I forgot.'
'Dad?' Mosh asked in confusion.
My father had exited a few helicopters in his day, and even had one shot out from under him once in 1968. We had heard all of those stories as kids. He glowered at the agent attempting to assist him until the man shrank back under that intimidating stare. Keeping one hand on his head to keep his hat from blowing off, he extended his other back inside and-
'Mom?' My brother was really flustered now.
My mother was really excited to have ridden in a helicopter. We were far away, and the rotors were beating, so we couldn't hear her, but she was animatedly talking to the agent, probably about the weather, or her book club, or trying to find him a wife, or who knows what, because Mom was always talking about something. The agent actually took the time to snap a crisp salute to my dad. Probably a former military man himself, and everybody saluted my father once they knew who he was. Dad did one of those 'whatever' salutes in return, grabbed Mom by the arm, thereby interrupting her conversation-not that anybody could have heard her over the rotors anyway-and steered her away from the chopper. The crew began to unload luggage onto the parking lot.
Dad saw us and approached with that bulldog walk that only men with really thick necks and big shoulders can pull off and still look tough. Mom paused to point at the chopper as it lifted off because, despite the inconvenience of being evacuated from her home after a kidnapping attempt by rabid cultists, riding in a chopper is pretty darn cool any time you get to do it.
'Mom and Dad?' I think Mosh had been less surprised to have an oni dangle him from an overpass than to see our parents get out of that Blackhawk.
'Mom, Dad!' I waved.
'Oh, shoot. Your mother… oh, crud, I wish I had a chance to change,' Julie began to fidget. I thought she looked perfectly presentable, since she was wearing armor and carrying a sniper rifle, which I personally found to be remarkably hot, but women are weird like that. 'Why didn't you tell me?' She didn't add you insensitive jerk but I could tell it was implied.
'Lot of stuff on my mind,' I muttered out the side of my mouth.
'Like that's an excuse.' She was trying to decide what to do with her rifle. Finally she just slung it, and let it hang behind her. She always wore her long hair pulled back when she was working, but that didn't stop her from patting her head to make sure it was still there.
My parents stopped right in front of our group. Dad was angry. Of course, he had just shot four men and knew it was somehow my fault. Mom looked kind of confused. She pointed at my feet. 'Where are your shoes?'
'Uh…' With all of the weird things that were going on for them right now, that wasn't one of the questions that I had been mentally prepared to answer.
'You'll wear holes in your socks!' Mom had immigrated to the U.S. a long time ago, and you could barely hear her accent, except when she got excited. Apparently my socks were very exciting. My mother was white-blonde, pale, tall and, shockingly enough considering the man she had married and the sons that she had spawned, skinny.
Dad just scowled. His skin was dark, wrinkled and creased from years of sun and wind. His once-thick, curly black hair was gray. He was wearing a hat, mostly, I knew, because it hid his bald spot. That killer gaze swept over our crew. All of the miscellaneous Hunters took an involuntary step back, then quickly decided that they were better off unloading the rest of their gear later, and dispersed without further comment. Dad just emanated this attitude of the only reason I don't kill you all is because it would be illegal. Only Mosh and I were immune to The Look, and that was only because of overexposure.
'Boys,' Dad stated.
'Owen blew up my bus,' Mosh exclaimed, as if that explained everything. I had to remember that my brother hadn't actually spoken to our folks for several years, and their last parting hadn't been friendly. Despite Mosh's massive success, Dad had never approved of his decisions. This reunion had to be kind of awkward.
'The government blew up your bus,' I explained calmly.
Only Earl and Julie had stayed. Julie elbowed me in the ribs. I grunted, realized that I was supposed to introduce her, and stammered, 'This is Julie. My girlfriend. I told you about her… and stuff. I guess.' I had to remember that pretty much everything I had told my folks about the two of us had been fabricated, because, at the time, I had no intention of ever telling them how we had actually met or what we did for a living. This complicated matters.
'Yay!' my mother exclaimed, and immediately wrapped Julie in a hug. 'She's beautiful. Let me see the ring!
