Fair Game

‘Right,’ A

She let her voice linger while she timed the footsteps (not Charles’s) that she heard outside the conference room door. It might have been some hotel guest wandering the halls, but there were two men walking with purposeful speed that was just a little too fast to be comfortable, the way men who are competing with each other sometimes do.

The door popped open. Leslie’s attention diverted from listening to A

‘Jim. So they’re letting you out with the big boys now?’ Leslie’s tone was dry. A

‘Leslie!’ the younger man exclaimed with a real smile. His body language said he liked the FBI agent, whatever she thought of him. ‘Special Agent Fisher,’ he corrected himself. ‘Good to see you. I am one of the big boys and have been for a long time. This is Dr Steve Singh.’

Leslie reached out and shook the hands that were offered her.‘And what does Homeland Security want with a serial killer? That’s for the local cops. The only reason this one is FBI is because our killer’s been traveling across state lines for years.’

Homeland Security. There was supposed to be only one person from Homeland Security. A

Singh didn’t say anything, just studied the FBI agent’s face before moving on to A

‘We heard that there was going to be someone higher up speaking for the werewolves on this,’ answered Jim Nolastname, apparently oblivious to the staring contest his partner had engaged in with A

Only a subtle tightening in the FBI agent’s back told A

‘And why are there two of you?’ Fisher asked. ‘The request was for no more than five people. Two of us, two from Cantrip, and one of you.’

The FBI agent had known why Homeland Security was checking out the werewolf, A

‘We leaned on Cantrip a little,’ said Jim. ‘They owed us.’

It shouldn’t really matter that Fisher had made this an us-against-them kind of thing. They were all on the same side in the end – catching the villain. It might have been something as simple as departmental rivalry: FBI versus Homeland Security. A

Jim had a freshness about him that gave him some charm. A

He was one of the ones who sat in the back and watched their packs, letting matters work out as they would until they veered too far from where he wished. Then he’d pounce with a brutal efficiency that meant he wouldn’t have to move again for a while. He’d noticed what Fisher had done, all right, but his relaxed shoulders told A

The door opened abruptly and another man came in. A

Slight and almost frail in appearance, the newcomer glanced at them all with cool gray eyes. His suit was off the rack and looked a little wrinkled, but its blue gray color matched his eyes and complemented the fringe of trimmed dark hair that narrowly circled the top of his head.

His eyes looked older than his body, and if he was more than five feet tall, it wasn’t by much. The paleness of his skin added to the effect, but he moved easily, like a ru

He frowned at the two men.‘Homeland,’ he said in a neutral tone, then looked at Leslie. ‘You must be Special Agent Fisher. I’m Special Agent Craig Goldstein. Introduce me, please.’

She did, starting with the Homeland Security team. Jim Nolastname, A

‘And this,’ said Agent Fisher with only a hint of mischief, ‘is A

Goldstein looked

stu

A

‘Hello, Special Agent Goldstein,’ she said earnestly. ‘I know that I’m not what you were pla

Charles would be here soon. She’d hoped to wait until the Cantrip people came, but she’d have to take what she could get. If Charles got here before she explained the rules, it might be disastrous.

A

Goldstein’s face tightened, but it was Singh who asked, ‘Is he dangerous?’

A

‘Are you playing good cop, bad cop withus?’ asked Jim Pierce.

‘Dominant werewolves don’t mix well with others,’ A