"Don't you try to sweet-talk me," she grumbled. "Did you think I wouldn't find out about you getting into that fight at the gas station? Or that you walked away when you damn well knew the cops were on their way to deal with you? Are you fucking serious right now?"
She sounded pissed. Not that he really expected anything different.
"Now I know I might not have done that by the book—" Taylor said, instantly defensive.
"I wasn't finished," she snapped. "And then, you have the nerve to call me not once, not twice, but three times to help you deal with a little 'situation' you left behind?"
He paused, reluctant to interrupt the tirade she obviously needed to release. Sometimes, it was best to simply let the person vent.
The silence lasted a few seconds longer than was comfortable and he began to wonder if that had been a wise choice.
"Well, don't you have anything to say?" she demanded.
"I…uh, do you not have anything else to say?" he asked. "I don't want to interrupt."
"Are you fucking serious right now? Situation you left behind, full goddamn stop!" It emerged as a roar through the speaker.
"Oh, right, cool. First of all, I saw a situation developing in the gas station and decided to diffuse it as quietly and efficiently as possible while staying on time with the schedule to reach Banks."
"Is that what you call a situation developing? Three bikers flirting with a few sorority sisters?"
"Well—not that I knew this from the beginning—but as it turned out, those bikers had followed the girls all the way from LA," he explained. "They had the look of guys who would cause more trouble down the road and they were getting pushy. I decided to leave them in a condition where they wouldn't be able to do so—or follow the girls, as I later discovered—while I also tried to move quickly enough to stay on schedule."
"Wait, what?" Desk asked. "Okay, yes, I can understand being the reluctant knight in shining armor, but how could you think it was quickly enough to stay on schedule? You dealt with the bikers efficiently enough, but you had to know the cops would be involved and that means a whole ton of trouble for me to deal with. I assume you don't want to be taken to their police station and interrogated for half a day while Banks is dealing with a real situation."
"Well, I made sure all the evidence the cops would recover would be the report from possible witnesses about how the bikers harassed the girls, from the girls themselves, and from the kid cashier." He paused for a moment and frowned. "Then again, maybe the kid wouldn't be too much help since he didn't like me too much. Oh, and there is the camera footage in the station that should show how they approached me first, became all aggressive, and threw the first punch before I introduced them to an intimate relationship with the concrete."
"Oh…hold on. Let me look into that." It sounded like she put him on hold while she looked for the footage he had mentioned. There was nothing they could talk about until she’d seen it.
All she really had to go on at this point was the police reports, apparently, and those wouldn’t have his side of the story. That would be quickly updated once they knew what actually happened. Taylor had made sure his voice was low enough that it would not be picked up by the average security system microphones, so all the cops would know was that he tried to talk the bikers down and they attacked him.
They would still want to have a word with him and take a statement and whatnot, but with a little insistence from the FBI, they could probably be dissuaded.
There were benefits to working with or for the government.
"Okay." Desk returned to the line. "It looks like you're supported by the data available, although the cops are interviewing the cashier in the convenience store so we'll know more about what I'm dealing with in that scenario once that’s done. It was still an incredible risk to deal with those three."
"For them, maybe," he replied. "Those guys acted all tough, but my money's on them being finance guys who wanted to try out their new toys, were a little too hopped up on it all, and decided to take up the biker lifestyle for a while."
"You're not that far off, actually. All three are members of the same law firm in LA and all had just received a bonus for their work in a recent case."
"Now how the hell would you know that?”
"Because I'm good at my job?"
"That still seems like you might have overstepped the jurisdiction of the FBI," Taylor said. "I don’t say that in a bad way, of course," he added hastily.
"Local news covered the case and mentioned the names of all three of those gents," Desk replied with total unconcern. "I won't bother you with the issues and details, but the short of it is that they came into a large amount of money and bought themselves motorcycles to celebrate."
"So, if they're lawyers, will they be a problem? I've heard the assholes can find all kinds of ways to twist the law to make themselves look like the victims."
"I’m already about three or four steps ahead of you," she assured him smugly. "I sent their firm's partners a message saying that if they try to press any charges or make a fuss about excessive force in your little altercation, the FBI would charge all three with the attempted assault of a federal officer. That, of course, would damage the company's reputation in the state and tie them into a quagmire of legal issues before it even reaches court."
"In short, you made sure their bosses know that the best thing for everyone involved is to let this be a brawl that goes by the wayside, yeah?" He raised an eyebrow, secretly impressed by both her logic and her efficiency. "Wait, how am I a federal officer?"
"You are designated as being employed by the US government and were currently in the performance of your official duties when they threw the first punch. That opens them to felony charges on a federal level, and no law firm wants Three Llawyers Facing Federal Charges on the front page of every newspaper. It should resolve itself in no time, but I'll keep an eye on the situation as it develops. In the interim, I suggest you high-tail your ass over to Banks because you have considerable problems on your plate in that regard."
"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?" Taylor asked.
"Well, let's say that on top of issues with bikers in gas stations, you will also face less than great changes to the original contract you were called in on," Desk said. She sounded less than happy about it, which didn’t offer much in the way of reassurance.
He’d had a feeling this would happen. Having a job come up only four hours’ drive away did seem a little too easy for him. He’d somehow known it was unlikely that he could simply saunter in, eliminate the damn monster, and head home with another fat stack courtesy of the FBI.
With a heavy sigh, he prepared himself for what was to come. "Go on, tell me what kind of shit I'll walk into. Assuming you are allowed to brief me on that, I guess."
"I am, don't worry. But unfortunately, that is the end of the good news. The long and the short of it is that they have established that there are Zoo monsters in the area, and they are incredibly aggressive. Witnesses have reported them attacking people they encounter."
"Who are these witnesses?"
"Firefighters, for the most part," Desk said. "They have agreed not to spread the word on social media and the like so the situation has been contained but we can't trust them on that. Banks wants this job over and done with as quickly as possible before hunters decide to get in on the action."
"Right," Taylor said. "Quick question, why are there firefighters in the area?"
"Haven't you watched the news?" she asked.
"Well, obviously not."
"Well, anyone with any kind of connection to the outside world knows that much of the area is engulfed by serious wildfires that have necessitated the involvement of considerably more people than we’d prefer. They're evacuating the area, but if the news gets out that there are Zoo creatures there, you know there will be dumbasses who want to catch a glimpse or maybe more. Getting the job done quicker would be better."
"Fun times." He shook his h
ead against the rising frustration.
"There is something of a silver lining in this for you, of course," Desk continued.
"Oh yeah?" He already had a bad feeling about this assignment and it hadn’t even started. When people mentioned silver linings, it usually meant the storm clouds had begun to obfuscate anything else from view.
"Well, more of a silver lining for you than for anyone else. They did some calculations on the assignment and will probably raise the ceiling for an acceptable asking price. They wouldn't tell you any of this, of course, but let's say I have your back more than those of the penny-pinchers. The way I see it, you're clear to give them an invoice to the tune of the lower six figures for this job."
"How lower?" Either it was a really bright silver lining, or it was a fucking dark cloud.
"Well, Banks will only make a fuss about it if you ask her for anything higher than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars," she told him. "That's not to say she won't go a little higher, but if she does, I doubt it will be by much."
"Noted," he said. “And thanks.”
As silver linings went, he had to admit it was a good one. That amount of money was not something to turn his nose up at. All things considered, he could do with a little extra seed money as orders for their work at the shop had begun to pour in. The influx of work meant more parts and more working hours, and the extra money would go a long way to meet those needs.
It wasn't something he looked at with a great deal of anticipation, of course. Dealing with Zoo monsters was normal for him—or as close as it could be given that they were inherently abnormal by definition—but fire had never been an issue in the Zoo. Still, it was nice that this job provided a couple of different challenges. It was good for his mental health to be pushed out of his comfort zone from time to time. He would become soft otherwise.
"Well, not that you needed to know, but color me interested," he said finally to end the silence. "It sounds like it has variety—like a video game, where I have a number of targets and a ticking clock to get it finished by. I can't ask for a better challenge."
"Look at you, being all positive," Desk said and laughed. "I like that look on you. It gives us all extra hope for the future."
"Don't be ridiculous," Taylor grumbled. "I'm a positive person—always have been and always will be. I'm one of those guys who has a glass half-full and don't ever let Banks make you think otherwise."
"Well, I'll take your word on that. Oh, right—in other news, it looks like you'll meet other members of CREG for this mission."
"CREG?"
"Cryptid Research and Elimination Group. Banks has put a high enough priority on the job that she thought it would be worth it to bring a couple of other freelancers in as well."
"Oh…” He immediately felt a little offended—did the woman still not fucking trust him or something? After a moment, though, he accepted that she wouldn’t have pulled in extra guns if she didn’t feel it was necessary. “Well, as long as I won’t have a pay cut—"
"You won’t."
"Then it's all gravy, I guess."
Not too long after, massive black clouds billowed in the distance, visible for miles. They seemed to grow blacker and far more ominous as he pulled off of the main road, headed up into the hills, and followed the map Desk had sent for him. Each moment brought him steadily closer and all too soon, he drove past vehicles that had been loaded with essentials by people evacuating the area. Fire trucks could be seen ahead, moving into the same area.
Finally, he pulled Liz to a stop at what looked like a field HQ the firefighters had set up to coordinate their efforts.
"So, will I work with the firefighters?" Taylor asked and kept Liz's doors and windows closed for as long as he could. He knew that the moment he stepped out, she would begin to smell of the smoke that suffused the whole area.
"Well…technically, yes, because you will work with the intel they have collected from the area," Desk said. "But also no. Again, the priority of this whole operation is to keep the word from spreading, so having the FBI set up an HQ would attract too much attention. Since there is already an HQ on-site, Banks thought it was a good idea to set up here with them. There are fewer prying eyes that way."
"I can't disagree with that," he admitted. "Although I have to say I don't really want to get in the way of the people who are actually fighting the fire, so to have two teams out there could be problematic for both of us. Not only that, they might well encounter the monsters and none of them are equipped to deal with them, so I’d then also have to worry about keeping them safe."
"Are you equipped to deal with the fire, though?" she asked as he disconnected his phone from the car and pressed the device to his ear.
"Partially. The suit I have can handle some fire for a little while, but it was never a priority in the Zoo. Things simply don’t burn well out there and if they do catch alight, it’s not for long."
"That’s interesting but irrelevant," she said crisply. "Do you know how effective the suit is?"
"Nope," he replied. "But I guess I’ll soon find out."
Chapter Four
Taylor took a moment to lock Liz before he moved toward the tents that had been erected on the side of the road. Most of the area had been cleared of any brush, trees, and other organic material to keep it from being overrun by the fires that blazed ferociously across the nearby hillsides.
Thankfully, Banks stood outside of one of the tents and watched him intently as he approached. It wasn't until he got closer that he noticed the yellow stump of a cigarette that protruded partially from under her boot.
"Who the fuck smokes anymore these days?" he asked as he stopped beside her.
She shook her head and exhaled one last lungful of smoke. "I the fuck smokes these days, that's who. What the hell took you so long?"
"Well I was—wait, didn't Desk fill you in on the details?"
"If I wanted her version of events, I would ask her. Which I did, obviously, but I now want to hear your explanation for what happened at that gas station."
"Three wannabe bad boys thought they were tough," he replied. "I taught them otherwise. Aside from the inconvenience of having to deal with their company health insurance, they'll be fine. And, hopefully, think twice about picking a fight with a dude twice their size. How's that for explanations?"
The agent scowled. "That's actually not the worst explanation for tardiness I've heard all day. You're lucky the other two only arrived a couple of minutes before you did or we would have moved on with the job without you."
"No, you wouldn't have."
"Try me, bitch." The tone was sufficiently acerbic but her grin gave her away at the last word. "Hell, I would suit up and head out there with them if they needed a third wheel."
"Yeah, right, and that would be such a smart idea. Should we get inside?"
Banks smirked and gestured for him to precede her through the tent flap. As headquarters went, he had seen better over the years. A solitary bulb hung over a single metal table that was placed in what appeared to be the dead center of the tent, where a variety of pictures and papers rested. That was the sum total of what it contained.
Then again, he had seen many that were far worse. This looked like the average field HQ, the kind they needed to set up close to the front lines of a fight while still being far enough away from the action that the brass didn't need to worry about bullets.
Fortunately, bullets wouldn’t be a problem in this situation.
He noted the two others who stood inside the tent, clearly waiting for them. Neither were firefighters or any kind of law enforcement, that much was clear. The woman was tall and lean with short brown hair and was dressed in jeans, a tank top, and a pair of combat boots. The man had long, black hair and wore a black Slayer shirt, cargo pants, and boots. They looked tough, but that alone wouldn’t be enough in this business.
"Taylor, meet Tanya Novak and Hector Ribera," Banks said and strode toward the table at the center of the tent. "They've
worked with CREG for a while now and have been two of our most valuable assets since our inception. Tanya, Hector, this is Taylor McFadden, our newest recruit."
"It’s nice to meet you," Taylor said, and they nodded in response. "How long have you guys worked here? Hell, I still don't know how long CREG has been around."
"About two and a half years," the agent replied. "Hector joined us in the beginning and Tanya about three months after that. They might not be what you consider qualified for the job, but they have survived and done so for a while, and that should be enough for you."
He nodded.
"Wait, in what way aren't we qualified?" Tanya asked.
"That's not important," Banks said.
"It seems kind of important to me," Hector pointed out.
"Moving on," the agent said a little more forcefully. "We have monsters to hunt and you guys have money to make. Or is that not important enough for you?"
Both shrugged, and Taylor couldn't help but do the same. They were there to do a job. For the moment, finding out more about what that entailed had a higher priority than who he would do it with.
"These are pictures taken by some of the firefighters and reporters in the area," Banks said and pushed some of the images across the table to him. "We've managed to convince them to keep a lid on it for the moment by talking about how people might go in to try to hunt it and be killed either by the fire or by the animals themselves. So far, it's worked—mostly because we appealed to their better natures—but we all know it won't last. We need to get rid of those creatures as quickly as possible before the fucking ZooTube enthusiasts head in there."
"Hurrah for a ticking clock," Hector said and scowled. "How long do we have?"
"Until the end of the day. They'll want it up on the evening news by then."
"Nothing like a little pressure." Taylor picked one of the clearer pictures up. The monsters were a little difficult to make out in the photographs taken by the firefighters since it appeared that most of their pictures were more about the fire and the creatures were an afterthought.
Silent Death (Cryptid Assassin Book 2) Page 3