by T S Paul
Chuck shrugged. “I didn’t know I wasn’t Pack until my father met with me, but I spent it at the beach. Dad didn’t really want to head home, so he met me in our family’s condo down in Florida at the beach. One sniff was all it took for him to tell me to not come home again. Fortunately, PC beach is neutral territory or my own brothers might have fought me.”
“Chuck, I’m so sorry I did that to you! I had no idea I was taking your family away from you!”
“But you didn’t. My brothers are assholes! They are enforcers for the Pack and think they know best. I agreed to Dad’s idea of being an FBI agent because of the neutrality of the office. I won’t be targeted by them or anyone else. My Dad takes everyone to the beach every Winter. I can still see them then. I won’t give up this pack for anything!” Chuck clutched his hands in front of him.
I spoke to him gently. “Chuck, I think Cat is afraid you will either leave or take it personally that she forced you into a Pack.”
He looked at the both of us. “I checked with human resources when I realized what had happened. The FBI has specific rules for its agents when it comes to Pack membership. Most of the rules are about assignments and getting involved in politics. Pack matters are secondary to the FBI in all things and we are allowed to join them.”
“That much I knew. What about Alphas?” Cat looked really anxious.
“They don’t have an issue with that. We are supposed to be neutral parties. I know of at least one Alpha Agent. You should be OK. We just have to register our mini-Pack with the administration here on campus but we can call ourselves a Pack. If we let in new members, we should be selective. There are some real losers here.”
That much I could agree on, too. Most of the other shifters stayed away from me, but I knew they were here because they had little or no prospects back home. The lure of being neutral was a strong draw.
At least Cat felt better after talking to him. They agreed to a basic format for their small Pack and Chuck took the position of Beta. He was fairly dominant. Both of them told me that no matter what, I was an honorary member of the Pack. So now I’m in a WereCat Pack! I sent Grams a text message, and she laughed at me.
We started the day off right: late and racing to class! Oversleeping just sucks. I hope that law enforcement procedures gets more interesting because the first day was one of the most boring classes I have ever had. Maybe martial arts would be more interesting.
That class was taught in the main gym area. We were all instructed to change to workout clothing or at least loose clothes. Our instructor was a large, well built human. I did a small scan spell that one of the Council teachers had showed me. He was ninety percent human. Ten percent was troll which really surprised me. The how of it had me so distracted I missed his calling my name.
I blinked my eyes a few times as I heard my name being called. “Agatha Blackmore?”
“Here. I mean present.” I raised my hand.
“Nice of you to join us, Miss Blackmore. I asked you a question. What martial arts do you already know?”
“Sir, I have trained in Krav Maga.” Grams got me a teacher when I was ten. She wanted me to not have to rely on my magic to protect myself until I better understood how magic worked.
“What belt are you?”
“Sir, I’m unofficially ranked Orange.”
He peered at me closely. “P two or three?”
“P three” my instructor last tested me two years ago.
“Why did you not compete and are you still in practice?” The whole class was staring at me now.
“I still practice the Kata’s daily as part of my workouts. My roommate helps with them as well. I didn’t compete as I was both a private student and not associated in any way with the normal community.”
“Who is your instructor?”
“Haim Levine from Portland, Maine.” Haim was one of Grams oldest friends.
He was nodding. “I know the man. I was unaware that he did private lessons.”
“My grandmother obtained his services for me. He owed her.”
Thor, our instructor, made a come on motion with his hands. “Who is your grandmother?”
“Marcella Blackmore.”
“OK! I can see that. I may use you for class discussions, Miss Blackmore. Be prepared for that.”
Thor proceeded to quiz all my classmates on what techniques and practices they had experience with. Out of the class of twenty, over half had some sort of belt in a half-dozen different techniques. The rest were MMA fighters or those with street fighting experience. This was going to be a fun class.
I caught up with Cat and Chuck for lunch in the cafeteria. They had pretty much the same classes as I did except they had martial arts first thing followed by law enforcement. We all had weapons training together and were looking forward to it.
The cafeteria was packed today. It was a shock to see it full of people after months of no one but the staff and I. I grabbed a tray and went through the line. Many of the servers called me by name and knew what I liked before I pointed. I smiled at the cashier and thanked her as I swiped my student card. Chuck was easy to spot as he stuck up higher than most of the other students.
“How was your class?” I sat down next to my friend Cat and smiled across at Chuck.
“Oh. My. God. Is that class boring or what? I thought I was going to fall asleep like twenty times!”
“You did.” Chuck had his head down and was eating a massive amount of what looked like Tikka Masala.
“I did? When?” Cat was looking at him with a funny look on her face.
“About halfway, when he started in on local law enforcement rules versus federal. You drifted right off. I caught you just as your head hit the desk. I asked you for a pen remember?”
“I was sleeping? Really?”
Chuck laughed. “Yeah, you were. I figured my Alpha should stay awake for at least the first day of classes.”
She turned her head and glared at me. “This is your fault!”
“My fault? How? I’m not the one who ate three whole pizza pies almost by herself!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I looked back at her. “Uh huh.” I had gotten the vegetarian special, so I concentrated on that.
“Agatha, have you ever fired a gun before?”
I wiped my mouth and thought for a short moment. “Grandmother introduced me to weapons. Cappy, our town sheriff, is sort of useless when it comes to police work. He’s mostly for show for the tourists. But he was an Army Captain. According to Grandma he served with distinction in the Dragon Cong War. When the war was over, he returned home not quite right. She said he saw things that scarred him mentally and psychologically. But he does a good job in a town full of witches. He took me out to his range and showed me the basics with a variety of weapons. I’m best with a Colt 1911. Cappy had an original one that belonged to his grandfather. Because he’s the local law, he has a few really cool weapons. Somehow he got his hands on a M240 and allowed me to fire it. Ammunition for it is expensive, but I got to fire off a few hundred rounds. Firing that really helped me when it was used against me last year. I have a better spell to defend against that now.”
“You told us that story. Do you still have the thingy that caused bullets to bounce off you?” I gave her a sharp look and a slight shake of my head. There were way too many Weres in the room. Besides, I now knew for a fact they recorded this room in security.
“Sorry, Agatha. The reason I asked about the guns is for class today.” I nodded. I reached under the table and patted her leg. It was OK, just a slip of the tongue.
“Have you had weapons experience?”
Cat set her third sandwich down and grinned at me. “This Winter in the Dakota’s we had contests between the Packs. I got to target shoot and learned a whole lot about sniper rifles. It was fun!”
“It sounds like it. Chuck, what about you?”
Chuck had finished his meal and was staring at the two of us. “
My father doesn’t believe in guns, but my brothers showed me the basics when they first became Enforcers. Later as I got older they didn’t have time for me so they stopped showing me stuff. I’m a lot rusty. But I have been doing the background reading so I should be OK.”
It was sometimes hard to believe that Chuck was smarter than both Cat and I together. His IQ was off the charts. The FBI had wanted him about as much as they wanted me. His biggest problem was he pretended that he wasn’t smart at all. Which is why we were surprised when he said things like this. He wanted to be a forensic tech, but I thought he might become a really good investigator. He had a good eye for detail. That gave me an idea.
“Chuck, I have my first Witchcraft 101 class tomorrow afternoon. Can you help me later this afternoon to prepare for it? I need to make up some handouts and get my class notes and visuals ready. If it’s OK with Cat?”
Cat reached over and poked me in the arm shaking her head. Chuck smiled at us. “Agatha, I would love to help. Are you going to include information about Weres?”
“I don’t know. Your people have been in government service for a long time. Doesn’t the FBI know all about Weres by now?”
Cat looked at me and rolled her eyes. “What do you think?”
“I will have to get permission. I don’t think the Witches’ Council will care but what about the Shifter Council?”
Cat made another face. “I can ask Daddy. They might not care. You and I both know it’s all about asking the right or correct questions. The FBI is kind of dumb that way.” I heard several smirks from the surrounding tables. Weres; they hear everything.
~~~~
The official range was way out on the very edge of the Academy’s area. It was in the opposite direction from my lab. Fortunately for us there was a shuttle for the class to use. The bus was crowded, over twenty students including the three of us were on it.
“Aggy, where’s Fergus?”
“I left him at home this morning. Cat, you know how he gets. His whining gets really old some mornings. I gave him a baggie of salad mix and some root beer before I left. He was happy as a clam. He’s probably singing show tunes and acting like he’s drunk on beer right about now.”
The bus started to slow down, so we all looked out the windows. There wasn’t much to see. The range was just a bunch of earth berms surrounded by a really high wooden fence. The building attached to it looked like an old bunker or ammo storage building. I found out later it had been a storage complex for small arms ammunition around the time of the Demon War. It was one of the few buildings left over from that time period.
The insides of the old bunker were as modern as anything else on the base. Our instructor for this class was not an FBI agent. To me he resembled a fire plug. His upper body looked to be all muscle, and he had no visible sign of a neck. I triggered my scan spell, but he was clean, no paranormal genes.
“Welcome to weapons training for the FBI Academy. My name is Command Sergeant Major Finnegan Despertar. This class will introduce you to the weapons you will use for the rest of your life as Agents for the FBI.”
He took an abbreviated roll call and dove right into the terminology of what is what when it comes to describing guns and ammo. So many civilians get it wrong. As he described things I made a mental note to send Cappy a note of thanks. The entire time he was teaching me he stressed using the proper names for things. One of the items he’d discussed were the type of weapons we would be using. Current FBI Agents were issued either Glock model 22 or 23’s. If we failed to qualify with that particular weapon we would be issued an older Glock 17 or 19. We needed to qualify on one of them to pass the class. Once we reached Probi status, would we actually be issued weapons. These weapons were kept here for students to practice with only. So no gun today. Bummer.
Before class ended, we were given a tour of the facility and given a list of protective clothing needed for shoot days. So far this was my second favorite class outside of martial arts. When we boarded the bus many of us were smiling.
It was several hours before dinner so Chuck drove us over to my lab after I picked up a sleeping Fergus. I knew he would bitch for hours if he missed a trip to the hay factory. We’d all had an excellent day so our mood was high. The ride was uneventful unlike the day before yesterday. We passed several new warning signs that proclaimed it to be a restricted area and to not leave the car. As we approached my lab, I spotted a new fence that now surrounded it and a gate guard. What the hell?
“Chuck, pull up to the guard house. I can’t believe this crap.” The guardhouse contained two armed Marines.
“This is a restricted area. You need to clear the area.” The guard was not smiling. Neither was I.
“Officer, my name is Agatha Blackmore, and that is my lab. I have permission from the FBI to use that building.” I held out my badge complete with authorization.
Just like last time the guard took my badge and looked at it. However he didn’t draw his weapon. “Ma’am, I can see that; however my orders state that I am to allow no one except military intelligence into that building.” He handed me back my things.
“OK, this is bullshit!” I reached into my pocket and pulled out some salt and herbs. I scribbled a note and placed it inside a salt circle. Visualizing who I wanted it to go to I sent it to Director Mills. She needed to call me and tell me what was going on or I was going to start destroying things. Starting with that fence!
Chapter 7
Director Mills was sitting at her desk relaxing for the first time in what felt like days. It was just two days ago that her latest nightmare began. Her predecessor certainly left her a big ass mess to clean up. This was the FBI Academy of the federal government; things shouldn’t be this screwed up. She did have many good people, and they were taking it all in stride. With any luck, the investigators would leave empty-handed. She knew that was an empty wish, but it was nice to think. She had just closed her eyes for a short nap when she heard a loud “Poof!” come from in front of her. A folded piece of paper was lying on her blotter. Her eyes widened, and she looked around. Agatha didn’t say she could send notes without actually seeing the other person. She opened it and groaned. What now?
“Agatha? Slow down. What is happening?” The note had included a phone number and a statement that there was a wall around her lab and she was getting ready to blow it up.
“Director, I’m tired of this bullshit! I came out here to prepare for the class tomorrow and now there is a wall around my lab complete with Marine guards. They won’t allow me into my own lab, they say only Military intelligence gets in. I’d like to see them try! Fix it, please. I don’t want to declare war on the Marine Corps today!”
“OK Agatha, calm down. Let me call and find out what is going on. Don’t zap anyone!” She set her phone down and yelled for her assistant.
“Get General Varmkorv’s office on the phone immediately! Did anything come in about Agatha Blackmore’s lab out on the edge of the reservation?”
“Nothing about that lab. I would have remembered that. The phone is ringing for the General.”
“Base Commander’s office how can I help you, Sir or Ma’am?”
“This is FBI Director Mills for the General, please?”
“Ma’am, he is in a meeting and cannot be disturbed. I can take a message and call you back.”
“No. This is extremely important and could be very dangerous to the Marine Corps. I need to speak to him right now!”
“OK, Ma’am. I will tell him.” The phone switched to anthems and big band music. Delightful.
“This is General Varmkorv! Director Mills what is the meaning of this, I just blew off two US Senators!”
“Why is there a wall around Agatha Blackmore’s lab complete with guards? And why are they on FBI property without my authorization?”
“What wall? I know nothing about any wall. It has guards you say?”
“Yes, General. Guards. The Witch in question is being prevented entry by those very same gua
rds who have told her that only Military Intelligence will be allowed inside. General, you and I both know that is impossible. How are they planning on getting inside? We need to fix this. She is preparing to take out the fence. Hopefully just the fence. We need her and the Witches’ Council on our side.”
“Let me call someone. Damn spooks always causing trouble!” The general clicked off and the damn band music came back on.
She picked up her cell phone and held it up to her other ear. “Agatha? I’m on the phone with the General. I will fix this. Don’t destroy anything yet. Please?”
“OK, I will hold off. Ask the General how they thought to get inside?”
On the other phone she heard her name. She dropped the cell and put the office phone to her head. “Yes, General?”