Oh, I'm so proud, Owen.' Apparently Mom didn't even notice that Julie was dressed for combat. She was probably just glad that I had found a girl at all. She had certainly hounded me enough on that subject my entire adult life. Mom had probably been suspicious that Julie was imaginary, and I had just made her up to stop the nagging.
Dad scanned Julie once and nodded in approval. 'M14. Nice rifle.' My father was a practical man. Then he gave Earl The Look. Earl didn't flinch. That alone should have alerted Dad that Earl Harbinger wasn't actually human anymore. Dad stared at my boss for a long time, bit his lip, looking confused for a moment, almost perplexed, like a bullfighting bull that just got poked and was trying to figure out whom he needed to gore. Mosh and I glanced at each other. Dad perplexed was scarier than normal Dad. 'Do I know you?' the senior Pitt asked.
Earl shook his head. 'I don't believe so.'
'Yeah… yeah I do.' Dad was positive. 'But it can't be. You're too young. Was your father in Vietnam?'
Earl paused for a long moment. 'No,' he said calmly.
'You wouldn't happen to be related to some guy who worked for the CIA, went by the name… what was it… Mr. Wolf?'
Mr. Wolf? If that was one of his pseudonyms, it was pretty damn lame.
Earl frowned slightly. 'Never heard of him.'
'Good, because he was a real jerk-off. But damn if you're not like his twin. Good thing you're not, 'cause me and him have a disagreement to settle.' Dad was obviously suspicious. Mosh, Julie, Mom, helicopters, compounds, assassination attempts, everything else was forgotten as Dad focused in like a laser beam on Earl. 'What's your name, buddy?'
'Harbinger. Earl Harbinger. Your son works for me.' He stuck out his hand to shake. My father took the smaller hand in his catcher's-mitt-sized paw and I knew that Dad was going to try and crush him.
'Auhangamea Pitt,' Dad said as he squeezed. 'This is my wife, Ilyana.'
Earl smiled slightly and squeezed back. Dad's brow furrowed and I could tell that he wanted to cringe. Most normal men would have. Earl let go and nodded. 'Nice to meet you, Mr. Pitt. I'm sure you've got a lot of questions for your boy that I'm sure he's just itchin' to answer. I can assure you this inconvenience will be temporary. We'll find you a room and get you settled in for your stay. Welcome to Monster Hunter International.'
The best available room at the compound was on the first floor of the main building, near the stairs to the basement and the archives. It had been set up for clients and VIPs, but since visits like that were extremely rare, the room, though nicely furnished, smelled a little musty.
'Beats a hotel,' I suggested helpfully as I put Dad's suitcase on the bed. I still stunk of gas and had quite a bit of my own blood dried on my clothing. Dad just glowered at me.
Mosh was getting cleaned up. It had been about fifteen years since we had last been forced to share a room, but it was either bunk with me, or sleep in the barracks with the Newbies. He'd dealt with enough weirdness so far that the last thing I wanted to do was stick him with a bunch of really gung-ho, brand-new Hunters.
Julie had tagged along. My mom hadn't stopped talking to her since she'd gotten off the chopper. Julie had dropped her vest and rifle behind Dorcas' desk, so now she only had her form-fitting and, in my opinion, very flattering, Under Armor shirt on. Julie was nodding her head patiently as Mom continued to ramble on about her day's adventure as she carried more bags through the door. She gave me a patient look that basically said you weren't kidding about your parents.
Dad waited until all four of us were present. His deep voice indicated that he wasn't messing around. 'All right then, I want some answers, and I want them now. There's some strange business going on here. First off-'
'How did you two meet?' Mom asked, clapping her hands together excitedly. Dad rolled his eyes and groaned.
Julie gestured toward me. 'Well, we had a contrived story to tell you, but I guess we can tell you the truth now. We work together. The first time Owen and I met was when I interviewed him for this job.'
Mom covered her mouth, like me dating the boss' great-granddaughter was the most scandalous thing ever. Hell, like Mom even knew what I did for a living. 'You're his supervisor?'
'Technically, yes, but he doesn't take well to supervision,' Julie laughed. Mom laughed. Mom began to ask Julie for details. They both plopped down on the edge of the bed. Dad and I exchanged glances. He signaled for me to pull up a chair to the side so we could address man business.
Mom was so personable that when she entered a room, she created her own gravity field that dominated everything. Once free from Mom's sphere of influence, my father turned stern. 'I killed four people today. I haven't done that for a while. I'd like to know why.'
'So the last guy died too?' I had really been hoping that the Feds could have gotten something out of him.
Dad shrugged. 'Looked like a liver hit. I'd be amazed if they got him to the hospital before he croaked. I'm getting sloppy in my old age. Mozambiqued the other assholes. Don't dodge my question, boy.' He glanced at his watch. 'I'm missing a fishing trip today because of this.'
'Okay…' I had thought about this moment, and the best way to convey it, for a long time, but all of my practiced lines were forgotten under the stare of those hard eyes. My entire life, this man hadn't ever really approved of me. He had always been gruff and cold. The closest we had ever come to bonding was him teaching me to kill stuff. Well, when all else fails, go for brevity. 'I'll get right to it. Monsters are real. I'm one of the people who hunts them.'
Dad nodded slowly. 'Pay good?'
'Pay's awesome.'
'Monsters?' Dad took off his hat and set it on the small table between us. He scratched his bald spot. 'All right then. I'm glad we got this all cleared up.'
That's it? He showed no emotion. That wasn't one of the outcomes that I had imagined. 'Uh… cool. Any questions?'
He intertwined his fingers, put his elbows on the table, and studied me silently. I never could read him, and now was no different. It was like being under an electron microscope as he stared right through my facade of confidence. This man could read me like a teleprompter. 'Oh, I got questions-lots.' Then he went back to glaring at me. It was extremely awkward. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
I've died twice, traveled through time, stopped an alien invasion, and battled just about every terrible being that hell could puke onto the surface of the Earth, but despite those facts, this man could still make me feel like a pathetic fat kid. It really pissed me off. My entire life I had striven to make him proud. I had failed every step of the way. No matter what I did, I would never measure up to his impossible ideals of what it meant to be a real man.
But no more. I knew what I was. And I didn't have to take his shit anymore. I was going to make him understand. He was on my turf now. 'Listen, Dad,' I said as I reached across the table and grabbed him by the arm. 'I-'
Black energy crackled inside my skull.
'Damn it, boys. That was pathetic,' I shouted at my sons as I threw my own pack down. Personally, I was exhausted, but I wasn't about to let them know it. They could never see weakness as an option. The boys were big and strong for their ages, but I had overloaded their bags on purpose. I knew that they had to be hurting bad by now. 'That was slow.' I made a big show of looking at my dive watch. 'We only averaged thirteen minutes a mile. Thirteen!'
'It was straight uphill!' Owen protested. He had to pause, pull out his asthma inhaler and take a deep puff. He didn't use it nearly as much as he had when he was younger, but we were several thousand feet higher in elevation than he was used to.
'And the ground was all loose,' David whined. 'My feet hurt.'
Damn right their feet hurt. My feet were killing me, and I had done forced marches most of my life. They were only fourteen and eleven. Their pack straps had probably abraded right through the skin of their shoulders by now. 'You think if the enemy were right behind us they'd be complaining? Hell no, they would've chased us down, raped us to death, then cut us into steaks and eaten us.'
'But ‘the enemy' aren't chasing us, Dad. This was supposed to be a camping trip.' My oldest gestured around the mountainside. He had always been a smartass. The kid was incapable of knowing when to shut up. Despite how I was always farming him out to the neighbors for adult-level manual labor, and he was strong as hell, the boy was
