While it made sense that he room with his new team, he wasn’t ready for the move yet. The thought of moving away from his comrades as they dealt with one permanent loss was a lot to bear, and his initial packing was lackadaisical at best.
He’d been at it for less than two hours before a knock on his door interrupted him.
“Come in,” he answered, grateful for any interruption from the unpleasant task.
Kate and Ix walked in together and surveyed the room.
“Got your memo, I see,” Kate said quietly. “Warner let me know you’d be moving, and I grabbed Ix on my way here.”
“What’s up, guys?” he asked slowly, taking in the young woman’s words. He noticed that both the Mage and the demon were dressed in comfortable sweats and T-shirts.
“I have moved between teams four times in my service with your people,” Ix growled. “It is not an easy task. We are here to provide you a distraction while you pack.”
Kate shot the demon a glance. “It was a tossup between whether it would be you or me moved, you know,” she told David. “We’re here to help you move.”
“And provide a distraction,” David repeated Ix’s words, understanding the truth. “Thank you.”
Kate flashed him a bright smile and then said two words David didn’t understand. Sparks flickered out from her fingers and formed into a set of brown boxes. They looked like cardboard, but David didn’t need his Sight to know they’d hold a lot more than it looked like.
“Then let’s get to it,” she said briskly.
#
With two helpers, the work of packing was both easier and faster. Kate made it vastly easier by repeatedly demonstrating a spell she referred to as her “packing cantrip.” It grabbed all of a type of object—say, socks—from where they happened to be in a room and folded them neatly into a box.
David’s clothes and books fell victim to the cantrip, leaving only the more awkward individual items for the three ONSET agents to pack into Kate’s enchanted boxes themselves. Empowered strength or no, David knew the fully packed boxes were lighter than they ought to be.
By midafternoon, they were actually done with packing, and David called the Facilities office to have the strapping soldiers it employed come move his furniture into trucks and across Campus.
His new CO must have bribed Facilities to tell him when that call was made, because he beat the trucks there. The work of packing barely done, the three had only just joined the others in the common room. This meant David was still in sweaty work clothes when Commander McDermott arrived in ONSET Nine’s common room.
This put him in stark contrast with Lorne McDermott, who was dressed in the ONSET black bodysuit uniform, with two ribbons on his chest—for, unless David misread them, the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal, two of the Navy’s highest awards for valor. The Commander barely matched David’s own unspectacular five-foot-four height, dark hair slicked back with some kind of oil. David met his new superior’s eyes and barely kept from reacting visibly. The man’s eyes were pure black, lacking iris or whites.
“Agent White,” he greeted David, offering his hand. The Commander’s motions were graceful, flowing and somehow dangerous.
“Commander,” David replied, shaking the man’s hand.
“I’ve heard good things about you, David,” McDermott told him. “O’Brien gave me a phone call after the decision was made you’d be coming to my team. He told me I was lucky to get you.”
“Did he say anything about Alexandra’s funeral?” David asked.
“He told me that if I didn’t let you get to it, he’d ‘eat my blubbery butt,’ I believe was how he put it,” McDermott said serenely. “This Friday,” he added, glancing around at the rest of the team. “I just found out before I came over here. Alexandra played wet nurse for my first command, back when ONSET first stole me from the SEALs.”
“What about her family?” Kate asked.
“My understanding is that the funeral is taking place in Colorado Springs so her family can attend,” the Commander replied. “You are all receiving special leave to attend, along with those of us who served with her for a while.”
“Thank you for the notice, sir,” Kate replied.
“You’d have heard soon anyway, so don’t give me that, young lady,” McDermott replied with a wink. Despite the deadly grace with which he moved, it was almost impossible not to like the man.
“Now, I need to introduce David to his new team,” the Commander continued. “Don’t worry, he’s not going far,” he promised, “but it is time to go. I’ll wait outside for a minute,” he concluded.
The Commander gave a slight bow and stepped out of the dormitory. David looked around at his now-former teammates helplessly. What did you say at a time like this? He’d worked with them for mere months, but he was going to miss them all.
Akono broke the ice first, the elf seeming to materialize out of nowhere to step forward and offer his slim hand to David. David took it and was surprised once more by the firmness of the elf’s grip.
“It’s been a pleasure, David. Don’t go too far; we’ll keep in touch,” Akono told him, then without warning kissed him on the lips.
While David was still spluttering, Kate stepped in front of him and, with a swift “My turn,” kissed him as well.
Morgen and Ix broke down into uproarious laughter, and much of the tension of the last few days drained away. The team had been hit with a double loss, of Bourque to a cultist’s shotgun and of David to promotion, but they would survive.
The goodbyes after that were still painful but short.
#
McDermott had waited out the goodbyes, which took far more than a minute, and was standing outside by a boxy five-ton truck, talking to the three black-uniformed Facilities men. He turned when he saw David and stepped over to him.
“Looks like our moving team is ready to go grab your things,” he told the junior agent.
David took a moment to thank the men for their help, which was met with grins.
“It makes a nice break from watching screens with crosshairs for threats that never come,” one of them replied. The others nodded, and with a wave, they entered ONSET Nine’s building.
The younger man watched them go and realized he’d never thought about just who manned the incredible defenses around this base. Between the security personnel he’d encountered and the men necessary to man defenses of that level, there were a lot of soldiers on this base. Somehow, he doubted they had the full apartment suites each that the ONSET Agents enjoyed.
That thought carried him, wordlessly, to McDermott’s black government-issue Lincoln. He got in the passenger seat as his new Commander got behind the wheel.
“Just so you know,” McDermott told him as the heavy car smoothly rolled away, “you’re a replacement for one of our people—Jason Shi. He took a silver bullet to the head during a raid on a vampire safe house in New Jersey. That was a few weeks ago, but keep it in mind, son.”
“Noted, sir,” David acknowledged quietly. “Who else is on the team?”
“I’ll wait until we’re there to introduce them,” McDermott told him. “We tend to get the more aquatic missions—we’re unofficially ONSET’s Coast Guard slash amphibian team. This is mainly because I’m a Selkie, and one of our people is a water elementalist. You’re going to need scuba and aquatic training.”
David considered for a moment, wondering just what a Selkie was, and then nodded at McDermott’s last comment. Just because he probably wouldn’t die from drowning didn’t mean it wouldn’t be excruciatingly unpleasant. Relying on his powers not to die as he walked underwater seemed like a moderately bad idea.
The drive wasn’t a long one—while ONSET Thirteen’s dormitory was on the opposite side of the Campus from ONSET Nine’s, the entire Campus was less than a mile across. Driving around it never took long.
They parked beside the building, basically identical to the one they’d left a few minutes before except
that it had rose bushes around the entrance, which Nine’s building lacked.
“Those are Kelly’s fault,” McDermott noted as they walked up to the rose bushes. “She likes plants, and I’m too big of a softy to remind her of the concept of ‘clear field of fire.’”
The concept of the Selkie ex-Seal as a “softy” was hard for David to swallow, but he suspected it might be more truth than it seemed at first as he followed the other man into his new home.
The main floor common room shared similarities with the room in Nine’s dormitory. The same flatscreen television with the cupboard beneath it for computer access stood at one wall. The plush green couches and hardwood chairs were the same, as was the ever-present blue carpet. The chairs and tables were pushed together to form a circular meeting-slash-eating area in the corner next to the door, and potted plants occupied all four corners. The couches were formed into a U around the television screen, and a pool table was in the corner beside the stairs leading up and the door into the armory.
Two men and three women were scattered around the room in civilian dress. Whatever they had been doing when David and McDermott entered had been dropped, and the five rose to their feet with an instinctual simultaneity.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” McDermott greeted them. “I’d like you to welcome David White, our new second-in-command.”
A large tanned man, towering over both David and the Commander, was closest and offered his hand to David. His head was completely shaven, and his eyes locked on David’s with a harsh, measuring gaze.
“This is Chris Johnston,” the Commander introduced him to David, “more commonly known as Stone. He’s our local Empowered, with the ability to make his skin granite.”
“That sounds useful,” David admitted as he took Stone’s hand. Stone immediately exerted full force—Empowered force. Barely managing not to wince initially, David returned the big man’s supernatural strength pound for pound and then squeezed a bit more. After a moment of silent struggle, Stone relented.
“It is,” he responded, his voice oddly quiet and high-pitched for such a large man. For the first time, David noticed the ugly scar on the man’s throat as Stone nodded firmly and stepped back, allowing one of the women to take his place.
“This is Kelly Walsh,” the Commander introduced her. Walsh was a tall woman, nearly matching Stone’s six-foot-plus frame, but far thinner with it. A bright golden braid looped around her head, and dark blue eyes glinted at him.
“Kelly is our resident green thumb,” McDermott continued. “And you’ll only think that’s a minor power until the first time you see her tell a tree to beat someone up—and it does.”
As he took Kelly’s hand, David was grateful for his regeneration. A slight warmth in his hand healed the bruising from Stone before he shook her hand.
“You just have to know how to talk to them,” she told him gruffly. Her grip was firm but not the bone-breaker Stone had tried to exert. She shook hands swiftly and then joined Stone on the couch.
The third member of ONSET Thirteen was the first less-than-massive person David had seen since McDermott himself. She was a brunette of around five three, an inch or so shorter than David and somewhat stocky with it. She was dressed in a shade of deep blue that brought out the dazzling blue of her eyes.
“This is Mary Lynch,” McDermott told David. “She’s our water elementalist. Likes to go surfing without a board,” he added with a grin.
“Boards are for those afraid of the water,” Lynch told her Commander, her voice a delightful brook-like burble. She shook hands with David and stepped aside, waiting by the door, unlike Walsh and Stone.
The last woman on the team was another woman of average height, slimmer than Lynch and raven-haired instead of brunette. Her dark eyes matched her hair as she met David’s eyes firmly. Lines drawn on her face and a few traces of silver in her hair suggested an age much older than the rest of the team’s late twenties.
“This is Kate Hellet,” their Commander told David. “She’s our team’s Mage and resident mother. She does a good job of keeping us all in line and on task.”
“You all need it,” Hellet said quietly. “I used to teach kindergarten,” she told David. “It was good practice for dealing with this lot.”
She shook his hand and joined Lynch by the side of the door as the last member of the team stepped forward with a minor grin. The shortest member of the team by a good four inches, the last man was heavily stocky with it and could probably have played a dwarf in a Tolkien film if he grew a beard.
“Lastly, this is James Pell,” McDermott told David. “OSPI used to think he was a mundane Inspector, until the day he got into a half-wrecked car with no engine and caught a werewolf in it.”
“How does that work?” David asked, incredulous.
“I didn’t know the car wasn’t working,” Pell said simply. “Vehicles just do what I want them to. Even if they’re broken. Or shouldn’t be able to do it in the first place.”
“Don’t test him on the last one,” Hellet replied. “Yes, he can make a car break-dance. It probably won’t drive again afterwards, though.”
“It did eventually,” Pell argued.
“It took you longer to fix it than it did to get it to dance,” she told him.
The teasing was interrupted by a knock on the door announcing that David’s things had arrived.
Chapter 37
David didn’t really have time to settle in with his new team before he was back with his old one, on his way down to Colorado Springs in the back of Kate’s car. He’d spent most of the three days rearranging his furniture to make subtly clear to his mind that he had changed locations. The apartments were laid out identically, so he knew an unchanged layout would have confused him.
The rest of the time had been spent in a water tank in one of the underground training facilities, having McDermott, ably aided by Koburn, David’s original instructor, teaching him scuba and snorkel use. David was glad for Koburn’s assistance. Without the Sage’s ability to magically instill skill, he doubted he would have acquired even the very basic competency he had acquired.
Thoughts on his week and mental review of his underwater training helped keep him distracted on the long, silent trip down to the city. Akono and Ix occupied the back seat. Akono was silently working on a glamor to cover Ix’s obviously inhuman face. People like David and Kate, with Second Sight, would be able to tell what was going on. They, however, weren’t what he was hiding from. They were going to a funeral amongst normal people—people who didn’t know about the supernatural.
They hit the city limit around when Akono pronounced the glamor complete, the first words anyone had spoken that morning. David twisted around to look at Ix, who was now an African-American man of a heavy build.
“Works,” David said shortly. Like the others, he really didn’t feel like talking much as they drove through the city to the funeral home. A motley mix of rental cars from Bourque’s family, personal vehicles of ONSET personnel and black government cars filled the church parking lot.
The four agents exited the car and were met by Michael standing on the edge of the parking lot by the steps leading up into the blocky church building with its tall white cross.
“Morning,” the werewolf greeted them. “Sorry for not making it back to Campus,” he told them, “I’ve been tied up in Washington when we haven’t been making arrangements for this.”
“Washington?” David asked.
“OSPI has pulled an intelligence gold mine out of that database Morgen grabbed,” Michael said quietly, eyeing the crowd moving into the church. Most of Alexandra’s family and non-ONSET friends were giving the black-suited Omicron men and women a wide berth, and he continued. As he watched, Morgen exited a black government car with a number of other Campus sys-admins, and Michael waved him over.
“I can’t say more here,” he continued once Morgen had joined them on the steps of the church, “but I think we’ll be avenging Alexandra soon enough.�
��
Nodding to them all, Michael led the way into the church.
#
“Many people can be relied upon to speak their beliefs loudly and without thought for consequences,” Michael said quietly, the microphone carrying his voice to the assembled mourners.
“Not so many are willing to stand up for their beliefs. Fewer still are willing to fight for their beliefs. Alexandra Bourque was a member of that last group.
“She believed that the people of America deserved protecting from the darkest sides of mankind,” Michael told them. “She believed it so strongly that she gave up an aspiring career as a marketing analyst—one that would have kept her and her family comfortable for the rest of their lives—to join the Marines.
“Alexandra believed so strongly that when she left the Marines, even married and with a child”—his gaze drifted to Alexandra’s ex-husband and children in the very front row—“she joined the FBI when we recruited her.” Here, before her family and the world, that lie would have to stand. No one except her co-workers needed to know who she’d really worked for.
“It wasn’t an easy course for her, and we all know the sacrifices she made along the way,” he continued. “Her marriage failed upon the strictures of duty.” Mr. Bourque looked uncomfortable, but Michael hardly blamed the man. The parting had been due to her inability to spend enough time with the family, not an unwillingness of the family to support her.
“Mrs. Bourque knew what her duty in a high-threat-response team entailed,” Michael continued grimly. “Friends around her paid the price of our freedom. She was forced, on several occasions, to kill to protect those she wanted to keep safe.
“But Alexandra Bourque kept the faith and the fires burning,” he said loudly now, and the mike echoed his voice across the small chapel. “She died as she chose long ago—standing between her people and those who would do them harm.”
Michael let the tears flow now. He let the family and his comrades see that moment of weakness. He’d seen too many friends fall in the line of duty, and knew that his long lifespan would bring many more such losses.
ONSET: To Serve and Protect Page 30
