Part 17 (1/2)
”I do have backup, you know,” Sasha said. ”If she comes with Vampires, it would be within the human military's right to make a retaliatory strike . . . They lost four marines, and by human standards also lost four students and four civilian adults.”
”They'll have to be thoroughly briefed, then, Sasha,” Hunter said carefully. ”Not just for their safety, but for ours. If they freak out in a firelight when they see multiple ent.i.ties or freeze at the trigger... I don't know. We really need to weigh that option.”
”Okay, you make a valid point... but let's keep it on the table as a backup option. I have to brief Colonel Madison, anyway. J don't want anybody, human or supernatural, getting hurt who doesn't have to.”
”All right,” Hunter said, his tone still noncommittal. ”As a plan B.”
”When you send Lady Jung Suk to the Light, you will lose your evidence trail,” Garth said, his tone measured and cautious.
”I don't care,” Shogun said. ”It is the right thing to do, and we know the truth of what happened before.”
”Again, I stand with my brother in this,” Hunter said.
”And I,” Sasha said.
”And I,” Bear Shadow chimed in with both Crow Shadow and Silver Hawk.
”Your honor is moving,” Sir Rodney said, ”but the alliance will crumble. They will still win, even if your honor is indisputable.”
”They cannot stand up under the pen strike of the high court,” Sasha said. ”When we answer the charges and the book of truths opens to our testimony, our blood will not sizzle and burn, but will take to the book.”
”Let us hope that you are correct,” Sir Rodney said, seeming unsure. ”It is a delicate game we play, with chess pieces not well placed on the board.”
”Don't worry,” Sasha said, holding his gaze. ”Some things are just right.”
”But there is also another predator that we must flush out of hiding,” Hunter said, sending his gaze around the table. ”That one may prove harder to track and trap than Lady Jung Suk. The possession demon that is feeding on humans and making it look as though it was wolf attacks.”
”I have an idea,” Sasha said. ”But for this one I really am going to need Colonel Madison's help.”
As insane as it was, Colonel Madison had her standing in front of a small cla.s.sroom on the base, speaking to special forces guys. It was both an honor and one of the crazier things she'd decided to do in her life. But while Fisher and Woods were on a military flight to join her at the base, the two hours to give a small unit a heads-up that could possibly save their lives was the very least she could do.
”When Lieutenant Woods and Lieutenant Fisher arrive, they will be your point,” Sasha said, holding a dry-erase marker. ”They know the difference between a friendly supernatural and a deadly one. If you kill a friendly in a firefight, you significantly degrade your cover, understood? One friendly wolf can cover about ten human men, so the loss of onea”especially if there's another Were on your a.s.sa”makes you dog meat. Literally.”
Sasha turned to the whiteboard and began sketching a loose diagram of the Bayou House area and incoming gravel roads.
”I don't have to tell you, we lost four good Marines out there, four civilians, and it might have been the kill site for two or three missing studentsa”two of whom were later found half eaten. Your task for this mission is to remain in a backup position only. There will be super-naturals deep in that bayou sc.r.a.pping it out at velocities you cannot fathom. But they do fatigue and could get overrun by hostile forces. If you hear the howl, you come a-knockin' and let your weapon start a-rockin'. We clear?”
”The howl, sir?” one confused lieutenant asked, glancing around the cla.s.sroom.
When others smirked at him, Sasha set down her dry-erase marker calmly. ”It was a good question, Lieutenant Campbell. Under other circ.u.mstances, you wouldn't be able to trust the howl, because it could be coming from a demon-infected Were . . . that's why I'm bringing in Woods and Fisher. They have superior hearing, know the calls, and know all our voices.” She threw her head back and howled, and then smiled as the stunned group of Marines simply stared at her. ”Kinda cool, ain't it? Yeah ... well, wolves can hear that for miles.”
Another hand raised, and she motioned with her chin for the soldier to ask his question.
”Uh, Captain .. . you said to shoot by the color of the glow of their eyes. Red or s.h.i.+ny black for Vampires, and never go for the golda”your wolf company ... but there's a hostile out there who might have green glowers ... I mean, these are actual eye colors we're supposed to be looking for?”
”Yes, Lieutenant,” Sasha said, looking at Colonel Madison for a moment. ”Sir, it's going to be necessary for me to show these gentlemen what you saw, in order that they don't get jumpy and either freeze in a firefight or just frag one of us.”
”That is exactly why I had everyone disarm before coming in to cla.s.s,” Colonel Madison said calmly, folding his arms. ”Carry on .. . this is gonna be good.”
Sasha chuckled. ”All right, Lieutenant Peterson, this is what you are looking for.” She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and summoned a little of her inner wolf to the lore.
Instantly the front row of the cla.s.s was out of their seats, having knocked into the rows behind them. Soldiers scrambled. She heard ”Oh, s.h.i.+t” so many times that she almost laughed out loud.
”Now do you understand why it is vital that you get used to seeing this? I am a friendly. I'm your instructor. I'll be the one to save your a.s.s from something really horrible that will eat you alive and make you wish you were never born.” She turned to the colonel. ”Sir, can you turn off the lights and have one of the men pull the shades. You think this is scary with the lights on, wait till you see it in the dark.”
”Uh, Sashaa”I mean, Captain ... we don't have an EMT squad at the ready . . . one of these men will have a heart attack. Do you think this is wise?”
”I do, sira”because there'll be no ambulance out there in the bayou, that's for sure.”
”Agreed,” he said and nodded to a very nervous soldier who stood by the window seeming as though he was ready to leap out of it.
”Colonel, sir!” a squad commander from the back yelled. ”This, this stuff really exists? All this stuff she was telling us about and what we were taught about in the unit. .. it's, it's not hypothetical, sir?”
”She can show you better than I can tell you,” Colonel Madison said with his hand on the light switch as the shades lowered. ”I lost four good men out there in the bayou because I thought this was some sort of joke . . . that the researchers were talking about the potential of supernatural activity, and my job was just to go out there and debunk it. Not so. Whatever you've heard in the general media press conferences is to keep the civilian public from ma.s.s panic.” He hit the light.
An audible gasp cut through the room.
”This is what a wolf's eyes look like under the moonlight. This room is only partially darkened, just like a forest would bea”you still have some visibility coming in from the sides of the shades, just like moon-light comes through the tree line. But if my eyes were red, that is not a good thing.”
She walked back and forth in the front of the room. ”If I have four protruding teetha”upper and lower caninesa”you can bet I'm a wolf or a Were from the big-cat family. If I only have two fangs, unnatural eye-teeth, I'd be a Vamp. Wave your hand in the back of the room if you can see light glinting off my teeth in a flash.”
”Holy Christ!” a man shouted in the far back as half the room retreated again.
”Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll take that as an affirmative.”
Sasha blew out a long breath. ”Now, gentlemen. I'm about to show you something that may put you down on the ground or make you need to hit the barracks to change your fatigues.” She turned to Colonel Madison. ”With your permission, sir, only for training purposes.” He nodded slowly, but then stepped back, not seeming sure himself about her altered state. And then she shape-s.h.i.+fted.
It was a beautiful transformation, if she did say so herself. . . elegantly done with finesse. No angry lunging to strike terror in the hearts of men. She just strode across the room a few paces and transformed into her wolf, leaving her clothing to float down into a pool of fabric on the floor. Then she did give them a little theater, preening and taking a stance like a champions.h.i.+p show dog before she threw back her head and howled. It felt so good to finally let the people she worked with see who she was and what she wasa”the fact that two guys pa.s.sed out and one was hyperventilating while the rest were up on chairs in the back of the cla.s.s was not her fault. This somehow felt even better than when she first let her small unit know what she was; this was a milestone in awareness, if not acceptance.
Loping over to her pile of clothes, Sasha picked up everything in her jaws except her boots, then went into the shadow of the front desk, s.h.i.+fted back to her human to dress quickly in the shadow lands, came back into the cla.s.sroom through the door, and hit the lights.
”Okay, gentlemen. So now you've seen your first shape-s.h.i.+ft. I'm a smaller version of what you'll see in combat. The males are about one and a half times my body weighta”and there's a pure black three-hundred-pounder on our side. This is why it's important for you to be acclimated before you have a weapon in your hand and before a supernatural is lunging at you full-force. You have got to be able to make a split-second decision, know if it's friend or foe, and cover yourself,” she said calmly. ”Get those men up off the floor in the back and any soldier who needs to go clean up, no problem.”
CHAPTER 20.
”You did what?” Doc exclaimed into the speakerphone as the rest of the team at NORAD burst out laughing.
”OMG, Trudeau,” Winters said from the back-ground.
”How many Marines. .h.i.t the floor?” Bradley asked in his typical sarcastic tone.
”In all seriousness, Sasha, did anybody need medical attention?” Clarissa asked as the only calm voice in the group.
”No,” Colonel Madison said, entering the conversation. He didn't seem the least bit amused, and his gruff reply made the team on the other end of the line clear their throats. ”It is not something anyone sees every day, so the fact that some of the men were a little .. . wary, cannot be held against them.”