Duel Nature (19 page)

I could practically hear his heartbeat
strengthen as we talked.

“So…what next?” he asked me. I could tell he
was already thinking up ideas and answers to that very question,
but our relationship was ever his teacher to my student.

“Well, now that I know you’re okay, I’ll have
to set about contacting Gina if I’m going to have a chance to clear
the record.”

The door to the room opened behind us and a
pretty brunette with dark brown eyes regarded us evenly.

“There, see? My plan is already coming
together!” I said in Gramp’s direction. “Hi Gina.”

“Chris, Tanya. Hello Mr. Gordon. Brett,
Kelly. How is everyone?” she asked with a slight smile.

“You bugged the room,” my grandfather said,
more of a statement than a question.

“Yes. I told General Creek
that it wasn’t a matter of
if
you would be here, but
when,”
she said.

“He got all up in arms about securing the
border, guards on the hospital, stuff like that. I told him none of
it would make any of difference, that you would get past anything
he could set up. I think it offends his sense of professional pride
that you two would slide by all his gadgets and people. Hey,
where’s your third? Where’s Awasos?”

“We left him in Canada, but I would expect
him pretty soon,” I said. “Should we be worried about the guard
outside the door?”

“I dismissed him and the others. The General
should have known better. What was he going to do? Confront you
with agents in the middle of a hospital?” she asked, with a
shoulder shrug.

“He’s listening right now, isn’t he?” Gramps
guessed.

She smiled a sly smile and nodded once, happy
that she could use this time to say ‘I told you so’ without doing
it face to face.

“So, you heard our story, right?” I
asked.

“Yes, and it fits with wreckage you left in
Saulte Saint Marie.”

“What about Gentis? Has he told you
anything?” Tanya asked.

“Gentis is dead,” Gina said, her expression
severe.

“He was alive when we left him,” Tanya said
defensively.

“Are you sure? Cause he looked to have a
couple of large wounds on his neck when I saw him,” Gina said,
staring hard at Tanya.

Tanya swore and yanked off her wig, peeling
more of her disguise off, the thick cloth tearing like tissue
paper.

My link told me she had become a cauldron of
emotion when Gina implied that Gentis had died from his bite
wounds. She has issues about biting people to death, which would be
odd for any vampire, let alone her. She was simultaneously angry
and guilty.

Not many people, vampire, human or were would
be comfortable pushing Tanya to that level of anger, but Gina
seemed unconcerned.

“So what killed him?” I asked, guessing that
it wasn’t my vampire’s bite.

“We don’t know for certain. Poison most
likely, but we don’t think it was self-inflicted. Possibly a remote
signal to an implant. We’ll know more when the complete autopsy is
finished,” she said, still watching Tanya.

At Gina’s words, Tanya stopped shredding her
outer clothes, which part of me was sad about, because I was
curious as to what she had on underneath. Brett seemed to feel the
same way up until the point where Kelly stepped on his foot.

Tanya straightened and turned to look at
Gina, comprehension flickering on her face.

“Fuck you Gina,” she said evenly.

“Right back at you Tanya,” Gina said, living
dangerously. “You are, for all intents and purposes, godmother to
my daughter. If you’re suddenly biting everything that moves, I
sorta need to know about it. I’m not an empath. How am I supposed
to know how you feel about it.”

I had moved just slightly to intervene if my
vampire snapped, but now my link told me she had calmed down at the
mention of being a godmother. It also told me that she felt guilty
about losing her temper and biting Gentis in the first place.

“So now I can be fairly certain it was
something you were driven to and not a regular thing,” Gina said,
arms still crossed over her chest. Gina is, without a doubt, the
single bravest person I’ve ever met.

“They keep pushing him and pushing. It pisses
me off,” Tanya said, without looking up from the pile of clothing
she was shedding. Turned out she had one of her spandexy cat suits
on underneath, which distracted me from the conversation for a
moment. Brett suddenly found the heart monitor fascinating as Kelly
watched him with a deadly stare.

Gina’s expression softened. “I understand.
I’ve told the President and General Creek that that kind of thing
should be avoided.”

Tanya looked up and met her glance, then they
both nodded in understanding, which left me out because of my
previous spandex caused lapse of attention.

“Wait. What?” I asked.

“Never you mind, Chris. I’m not real happy
with you right now. What’s up with detonating 217 federally owned
firearms and wounding thirteen agents?” Gina asked, her frown
turning into something of a glare.

“They were shooting my bear…I don’t really
care for people shooting my bear, Gina,” I said a little sharpish.
“Ah, how badly were they injured?”

“One guy lost a finger, the rest were burned
and bruised. At least two had some hearing damage,” she said,
staring at me. “You couldn’t have just rendered them inert? Where
did the whole exploding thing come from anyway?”

“Grim,” Tanya answered before I could. “If
they push, they get new results Gina…each and every time!”

Gina watched me thoughtfully while Tanya
spoke, then glanced at the raven haired vampire and nodded. I
ignored the looks and started pulling off my own costume, although
I was going to have to live with the old man pants for the time
being.

Gramps had been watching this by-play with
interest, but now he spoke up. “What about these AIR guys?”

Gina looked at him like she was seeing him
for the first time, then gave him a big smile, not at all like the
severe look she had given me.

“We’re working on that. In fact, I brought
along someone to help us with that very issue,” she said, backing
to the open door and then glancing out into the hallway and to her
right.

“Director? Now is fine,” she said to someone
out of view.

Footsteps followed her words and a moment
later a snow white head of hair on top of a spry, black suited body
popped into view.

“Chris, you already know Director Stewart,
but for the rest of you this is Director Nathan Stewart who heads
up a special division in the intelligence world,” Gina introduced.
“Director, this is Tatiana Demidova, Brett and Kelly Mallek, and
Chris’s grandfather, Alex Gordon.”

Nathan Stewart was beaming, a huge ear-to-ear
smile, as he shook hands. A snowy mustache matched his full head of
hair, making his blue eyes look far more alert and alive than most
twenty year olds. I wasn’t sure how old he was; just that he always
seemed hale and hearty, except for a slight limp in his left leg.
Because of the limp, he carried a slim black cane that was topped
with a thick crystal of some type, although I didn’t think he
really needed the cane. I had scanned both him and his assistant
when Gina and I had met them several months back. My Sight had
shown that his ‘assistant’ Adine Benally was a were, her body
riddled with the LV virus at levels beyond any I had seen before.
Oddly, Director Stewart’s injured leg was also riddled with the
same virus, but nowhere else in his body. Adine, I had found out,
was a wereverine, the shortened name for a were wolverine.
Wereverines are exceedingly rare, and according to both Lydia and
Tanya, very tough.

Stewart hardly knew where to begin, he was so
excited to meet the individuals in the room, but he chose to start
with Tanya, a not unwise choice.

“Miss Demidova, I am so thrilled to meet you!
I have to confess to being something of an admirer of yours for
some years now,” he said, taking her hand in a way that was somehow
old fashioned looking. She started to frown at his words, but he
was already shaking hands with Brett and Kelly.

“Mr. and Mrs. Mallek, congratulations on such
a successful launch of a new Pack. I’ve never heard of a smoother
beginning,” he said, then turned to Gramps while confusion flowed
over the faces of the two Alphas.

“Mr. Gordon, I know something of your own
career and history, and I am honored to meet you. Your service to
this country has been exemplary and it helps me understand, in
part, how Christian turned out to be the exceptional person he is
today!” he said.

It was Gramps turn to frown, as Stewart
delivered this last admiring and very cryptic greeting. His words
made me wonder about the truth behind my grandfather’s military
service.

The room was silent, shocked speechless by
his casual greetings that hinted at intensive personal knowledge.
Brett was sniffing the air, trying to place a mystifying scent;
Tanya had frozen, her emotions locked down, and Gramps was frowning
dangerously at the Director.

I decided to throw in before it got ugly.

“
Director Stewart heads a
group of very special individuals, that he has never really
explained, but I can tell you that his personal assistant is a
wereverine, so I’m thinking his group is kinda like the X-men or
maybe the Avengers or something,” I said.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy,
although Brett’s eyes had a sudden gleam of recognition for the
scent he had picked up on the Director. Gina just snorted in
amusement and Stewart was giving me a look of slight
admiration.

“I don’t know as I’d characterize it quite in
those terms Chris, but the comparison has a small amount of
validity…very small,” he said. “But I have allowed my excitement to
overwhelm my good sense and I apologize if my remarks touched on
sensitive issues.”

Somehow I had trouble believing the Nathan
Stewart had ever done anything unintentional in his life.

“Where is the stoic Ms. Benally, Director?” I
asked.

“She has posted herself downstairs on guard
duty. She felt her presence might lend an…inflammatory essence to
the situation.”

“What exactly does your group of comic book
heroes do, Mr. Stewart?” Brett asked.

“Ironically enough, our
mission is similar, at least in theory, to the one that the
agents in rebus
like to
talk about,” he answered with a sardonic smile. “That is, we
protect this country and its allies from threats that fall outside
the purview of the more conventional intelligence
departments.”

“Supernatural threats?” Kelly asked.

“Well, threats that utilize supernatural
elements, such as hostile foreign governments or terrorist units
that have supernatural help. But we also bring an unconventional
capability to the table, and unlike the shadowy AIR people, we work
for the President.”

“What brings you to my hospital room,
Director Stewart?” Gramps asked, with a sharp gleam in his eye.

“I could tell you in all honesty that I’m
here because Mrs. Velasquez felt Chris and his lovely..wife?...” he
trailed off looking between Tanya and I with eyebrows raised in
question.

“Close enough,” Tanya said.

“Anyway…on the chance that
Chris and his wife, Tatiana would be here. I’m utterly fascinated
with the two of you!” he said smiling ear-to-ear. “But the harsh
reality is that I’m also tracking down anything I can find on
the
agents in rebus
group. Their highly visible emergence from the shadows
troubles me greatly.”

“How long have you been aware of them?” I
asked.

He considered his answer, gazing thoughtfully
back at me for a moment before reaching some internal decision.

“Decades,” was his answer.

“How long has your group been in existence,
Director?” Tanya asked.

Again he met her sharp blue-laser gaze for a
moment, his eyes twinkling, before answering.

“Decades,” was all he said.

“That file you gave me…the one labeled
‘Brutal Asset’, was found while you were hunting them?” I
asked.

He nodded. “They share my interest
in…unconventional assets…what you might call supernatural, although
I believe that most of what we call the supernatural is a natural
part of our existence, just not understood by our science at this
time.”

“So what’s the deal with the A.I.R. folks?” I
asked.

“From what I have learned, it seems they were
founded under sound principles, but have been warped over the years
by a misguided leadership,” he said, his right hand plucking at his
mustache as he spoke. “A.I.R. does, in fact, protect this country.
But its methods are beyond Machiavellian and its leader runs
roughshod over the checks and balances of the Constitution in the
belief that he and he alone knows what is best.”

“Who is he?” Tanya asked.

“That, my dear, is the billion dollar
question. I’ve been hunting him for a long time and I have some
ideas, but as of now…he’s still a mystery,” Stewart said.

A sharp electronic bleep sounded from his
suit pocket. He was momentarily startled, then looked chagrined as
he reached into his inside breast pocket and pulled out an
extremely slim radio. The earpiece dangled from the unit and after
a moment of confusion he simply pulled its jack out and held the
radio up to his ear.

“Stewart here,” he said into the unit.

“Director, there is a were in wolf form down
here following a scent. He’s got a broken chain around his neck and
he won’t Change. He’s trying to get upstairs.”

The voice I recognized as Adine Benally.

“Sir, she shouldn’t try to stop him. He’s
with us and believe me when I tell you she doesn’t want him
Changing,” I said.