Body Master

by C. J. Barry

  She closed the cell phone. “That was MacGregor.”

  Dempsey was watching her a little too intently. “We’re going to have to talk to him.”

  “I know. Just not yet.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “I’m freezing. I should go back inside.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be at the hotel if you need me.”

  Seneca smiled. She hated lying to him. “Enjoy your time off.”

  His eyes narrowed with suspicion. Or maybe she was just paranoid.

  “You too,” he said.

  “What’s wrong?” Seneca asked even before Bart got close. He hunkered down into himself, looking jumpy and strung out as his eyes darted back and forth between each end of the open alleyway they used for their meetings. Early morning didn’t diminish the smell of garbage. The high walls on either side created a narrow gauntlet that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. The rat traps lined up on the cobblestone didn’t help either.

  “A whole lot,” Bart answered.

  “Why didn’t you want Dempsey here?” she asked, lowering her voice.

  Bart leaned close, his breath rotten, and he didn’t look like he’d slept in two days. “’Cause he’s one of them and I don’t trust any of them right now.”

  Seneca frowned. “What is it, Bart?”

  He sniffed. “It’s bad. Real bad. You gotta get out of town.”

  Bart was either high or really scared. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

  He checked the alley again. “There’s a contract out on you, on all XCEL agents. Big enough to interest a lot of nasty folks. The shifty kind, if you know what I mean.”

  “Who signed the contract?” she asked.

  “A big scary-ass Shifter name of Hager. Word is he’s recruiting Shifters, and you all are part of initiation dues—dead or alive.”

  He was talking so fast that Seneca had to work to keep up with him. “Recruiting Shifters for what?”

  Bart continued, ignoring her question as he talked faster. “Hager has them all riled, ’cause of the Skinman killing. They’re comin’ out of the fucking woodwork to join.”

  Oh crap. What had she and Dempsey done?

  He added, “They’re pissed. Tell me Skinman wasn’t you.”

  She closed her eyes. “Can’t.”

  “Fuck,” he said with feeling. “You started a war. That’s a real bad thing ’cause the word is Hager’s building a goddamned Shifter army under this city.”

  That explained the recruits and Skinman’s big inventory. Considering Skinman was in XCEL’s sights already, he would have been taken down eventually. That was what she tried to tell herself, but guilt was still winning. “An army for what reason?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t wanna know. I’m too close as it is.” He looked scared shitless. “And Dempsey, he’s public enemy number one right now in the Shifter world.”

  Damn. Now she really felt like crap for not telling him about Bart’s call.

  “And so are you,” Bart added. “They know about you, where you live, what you smell like. Do you know how much money Hager’s offerin’ for your heads? Someone’s gonna turn you over. It’s just a matter of time. You stay here in the city, you’re dead.”

  Noko wasn’t going to be happy when Seneca ordered her to leave.

  “Do you know where Hager is holed up?” she asked.

  “No,” Bart said. “I don’t want no part of this.”

  “Well, if you happen to find out, call me.” Then Seneca tried to slip Bart some fifties, but he backed up, refusing it.

  “I don’t want your money either. Or your scent,” he said, looking at her like she had the plague. “I’m done. Serious. We’re done. Sorry.”

  Max stood around the corner of the alley and spied on Seneca talking to Bart. And he wasn’t invited.

  She’d lied to him. The question was why? What did he have to do to prove himself to her? He thought they had passed the trust level and were moving along nicely toward sex. Apparently not.

  He dialed his cell phone and it rang four times, five, and finally a pick up.

  “Six A.M., Max. You know what time that is? Time to not be calling me.”

  He smirked at Apollo’s unhappy voice. “Rise and shine.”

  “I have better things to be doing than talking to you.”

  Ah, Apollo wasn’t alone. “Anyone I know?”

  Apollo said, “Will you get to the point already?”

  “I found the murderer. And the traitor.”

  That got his friend’s attention. There was a shuffling and some mumbling on the other end, and then Apollo came back all serious. “Are you sure? Where?”

  “Didn’t actually locate him yet, but I found his scent on Skinman. He did business with him recently. His name is Hager.”

  Max peered around the corner. Seneca was frowning. Must be bad news. He wondered if she was going to bother to share it with him.

  Apollo talked in his ear. “Hager. Not familiar with the name. Must be a new one. Want me to ask around?”

  Bart looked really nervous. “Whoever Hager is, he’s plenty feared. Be careful who you ask.”

  “Got it. What are you going to do?”

  Bart suddenly backed up from Seneca, his hands raised. Did he just refuse her money? Then Bart turned and walked quickly in Max’s direction. He flattened into a doorway and watched the informant scurry by.

  Max said into the phone, “I’m tracking down a lead right now.”

  Then he hung up and followed Bart.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Noko didn’t seem too upset about relocating and for that, Seneca was glad and a bit curious. If Noko didn’t fight it, then she knew something Seneca didn’t. Not that Noko would tell her. Oh, no. She’d make Seneca learn it the hard way. These life lessons were hell.

  Seneca packed the suitcase hastily. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. XCEL was supposed to protect their agents and their identities, going as far as creating whole new careers for them, providing aliases, the works.

  “Is one suitcase going to be enough?” she asked Noko for the third time.

  Her grandmother moved in her unhurried way, carefully folding a dress. “One is plenty. You worry too much.”

  That was the understatement of the year. If anything, they should be flat-out running for their lives. “We started a war, Grandmother. The Shifters are gunning for us and our families. I think that’s worth worrying about.”

  Noko placed the dress in the suitcase and patted it down. “These things have a way of working themselves out.”

  Seneca rubbed her forehead. It was like talking to a wall. “This won’t solve itself. It’ll come down to who survives.”

  Noko hummed and pulled another dress out of her closet. “There is always hope. Faith. Some people live by that.”

  And die by that, Seneca thought. She wasn’t about to take that chance. “Maybe you’re right and it’ll all be fine. But just humor me for now. I need to know you’re somewhere safe.”

  Seneca checked her watch. It was afternoon, and Dempsey still hadn’t returned her calls. Damn him. She needed to tell him what Bart said, but she hated to leave a message on his cell in case it fell into the wrong hands. She tried not to think along those lines, but she couldn’t help it. Dempsey was a major target.

  “Uncle Joe and Aunt Lavina know when to pick you up at the Plattsburgh train station, right?” she said to Noko.

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ll be okay alone on the train?”

  Noko tucked a sweater into the suitcase. “Yes.”

  “And you know you can’t tell anyone about the aliens,” Seneca added.

  “No aliens,” Noko repeated, and Seneca was beginning to think her grandmother was toying with her.

  Her grandmother nodded. “I’m packed.”

  Seneca closed and locked the suitcase. “I’ll take this. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

  Noko left, and Seneca took a final cursory walkthrough of the bedroom to make sure she ha
dn’t forgotten anything. Then she lifted the suitcase and noticed an old book that had been lying underneath. Seneca picked up the book and opened it. It was a journal full of her grandmother’s handwritten pages. Native American stories, quotes, and her own family history. Had she meant to include in the suitcase or leave it for Seneca to find? She stood holding the book for a few moments before sliding it into the front pocket of Noko’s suitcase.

  Seneca parked her car in the agency parking garage and took the elevator up. She’d tried to call Dempsey again, but he still didn’t pick up. He wasn’t at his hotel room. She’d finally broken radio silence and sent him text messages, telling him the current situation and about Hager. He could be dead already. And to top it all off, she now had the pleasure of telling MacGregor the whole ugly story.

  She sensed tension the minute she walked into the office. The suite was quiet, voices subdued, and it looked as though they were running on a skeleton crew. In fact, just the administrative staff was there. Where were the agents?

  She walked up to Price’s desk and asked, “Busy night?”

  He looked up from his desk with a frown. “About time you showed up. Didn’t you get the page to come in?”

  “I was otherwise occupied,” she replied, ignoring his attitude. “What’s going on?”

  “Conklin disappeared last night.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Price. “I didn’t do it. Maybe he pissed off someone else.”

  He pointed his pencil to MacGregor’s door. “Tell it to the big guy. He’s been a bear all day.”

  Like that was unusual, but there was an intangible feeling of dread that she couldn’t shake. She went directly to MacGregor’s office, knocked once, and pushed the door open. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe as she stared at him. This was bad.

  “Get in here and close the door,” MacGregor barked.

  She closed the door behind her, locked it silently, and took a seat across from his desk. “I hear Conklin disappeared last night.”

  MacGregor said, “That’s right. I’ve got all available men out looking for him.”

  Seneca leaned forward on the desk with one arm and covertly unholstered her gun with the other. “Everyone’s out? Isn’t that a little unusual?”

  “Tough shit. My call. You and your partner should be out there too,” he growled, stabbing a finger at her. “Where is he?”

  “You told us not to come in, remember?”

  “Vacation’s over,” he replied. “Tell Max I want him in here pronto.”

  “I thought you wanted us out looking for Conklin?”

  MacGregor turned red. “Look, don’t mess with me. I’m the boss here. You do what I say.”

  “You used to be such a nice guy,” Seneca said. “Right before you became a shapeshifter.”

  Then she raised her Glock and shot a startled MacGregor at point-blank range in the head. Blood and brain matter exploded. His head dropped backward, eyes open, and the Shifter shadow wobbled.

  The office staff were banging on the door by the time she reached his dead body and force-shifted him from human to Shifter. He convulsed violently and fell out of the chair. She watched his body darken and morph.

  So, she could change a human back to Shifter, even dead. That answered that. The only question left was: Where was the real MacGregor?

  Just as the imposter finished shifting, the agents broke down the door and piled in.

  “Are you crazy?” Price yelled at her.

  She stepped around the desk and holstered her weapon. “He’s been replaced by a Shifter. Bring all our agents in. Call an emergency meeting.”

  “Crap,” Price said, staring at the dead Shifter in disbelief. Then he pushed out of the room.

  She said to the others, “Someone try to get ahold of MacGregor.”

  The deputy, Witley, nodded and scooted out. The rest of them stood there in shock, and they hadn’t even heard the worst of it yet.

  Thirty minutes later, the role call room was filled with every agent, except Dempsey. Seneca was trying not to worry about him, which wasn’t difficult considering all the other things she was worrying about. The good news was there were no Shifters in the group of agents, which meant they’d only replicated MacGregor so far.

  She’d given everything she knew to Witley. He was in charge now. She stood in the room behind him as he took the podium.

  “Okay, listen up,” Witley started. “This is going to be short and sweet. MacGregor was replaced by a Shifter. We checked, and he isn’t home and we can’t reach him. Consider MacGregor and Conklin missing.”

  A yell came from the back. “How do we know more of us haven’t been replaced?”

  “Well, that’s a good question,” Witley said, and cast her a glance. “Dempsey can ID them. We’ll have him come in—”

  Witley’s voice was drowned in accusations and hollering. Seneca knew no one trusted Dempsey, especially now. The room was in uproar, agents looking suspiciously at one another. XCEL was unraveling before Seneca’s eyes. She knew only one way to pull her agency back together, and that was to sacrifice herself.

  She stepped up to the podium and spoke above the voices. “I would be able to tell.”

  The room quieted in seconds, everyone staring at her.

  She raised her chin. “I can see Shifters. That’s how I knew MacGregor was one of them.”

  It went eerily silent in the room. Some agents frowned at her like she was insane, some glared at her like she was a freak, and the rest were in shock. Pretty much what she expected. It was also the end. The end of her career. Her friends. Her job. This was turning into a really shitty day.

  “Good enough for me,” Witley said as if stuff like this happened every day. Then he returned to the podium. “Next item—”

  “Is she one of them?” came a shout, accompanied by nodding heads.

  Witley replied, sounding more than a little like MacGregor. “She’s not. If she were, a Shifter would be giving you orders right now. End of discussion.”

  No one made a peep.

  “Good,” he said. “Now, there’s a contract out for all XCEL agents. We are initiation fees for a new underground Shifter organization led by a man named Hager. XCEL is under attack; each one of you is a target.”

  “Like we weren’t before?” someone asked.

  “Not like this,” he said. “What do you think happened to Conklin and MacGregor? Any one of you could be next. Get your families somewhere safe, and get your combat gear ready.”

  There was a lot of grumbling.

  “And then what?” someone asked.

  “Then we fight,” Witley said. “If Hager wants us, he’ll come to us. We hit the streets in teams. If you are under attack, you contact HQ for backup. Everyone covers everyone. The offices will be moved shortly. All communications go through Price.”

  Price spoke up from the front row. “You can’t make those calls without Committee approval.”

  Witley gave him a hard look. “The Committee can kiss my ass. They knew this could happen. Or maybe they’ve forgotten that we’re on the front line.”

  Seneca grinned at Price’s reddened face.

  Then Witley said, “That’s it. Go.”

  Seneca left the room and gathered her weapons. Noko was out of the city, XCEL had been alerted, and she’d probably be fired. That left Dempsey. She hiked her duty bag over her shoulder and headed down to her car to try his hotel room again. She walked out of the elevator doors on the garage level and confronted two very large shapeshifters in human form. The doors closed behind her before she could jump back in.

  The pair converged on her—both big, burly, and, in the darkness, free to shift at will. And her with all her weapons in the bag except for the Glock in her shoulder holster.

  The first one grinned. “Seneca Thomas. Fancy meeting you here.”

  She gripped the bag with her left hand. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. You want my autograph.”

  His grin split into an ominous smile. “Nop
e. Just you, babe.”

  Seneca pulled out the Glock and leveled it at them. Before she could shoot, both Shifters changed. She fired a full round into them in turn, and then slowly lowered her weapon. It was useless.

  They were all black, their features barely distinguishable against the dark garage background. Then she realized the lights were out except for right in front of the elevator.

  “You’re coming with us,” one of them said.

  She holstered the weapon so they couldn’t use it against her. Shifters were physically superior to her, but mentally? That was another story. She smiled and bluffed for her life. “I’m to be your blood-in, huh? So which one of you gets the credit? Because I’m thinking Hager isn’t going to let you both in for lil’ old me.”

  They each looked at the other. Seneca wasn’t sure if it was from the fact that she’d identified Hager or because they didn’t have an answer to her question. She shifted to one hip and opted for the latter. “Ah, that hasn’t been discussed yet?”

  One of them turned to her. “We’ll decide after we kill you.”

  That didn’t turn out as well as she’d planned. Dead would be bad. Alive and in front of Hager might also be bad, but it occurred to her that it might also be the only way she’d be able to get inside his organization. Time to play the bait card. She tapped her foot. “No, I’m thinking Hager wants me alive.”

  A Shifter took a step toward her with the other one on his heels. “Maybe he did say alive, but he didn’t say in what kind of shape.”

  Hell, that wouldn’t do either. She needed to come up with better plans. Now her options were death, near-death, or escape. Easy choice.

  Seneca concentrated her vision on them, waiting for their shadows to give away their next move. She raised her chin. “Go for it, asshole.”

  A shadow reached for her. At the last second she twisted and lunged right as the Shifter’s hand jammed into her gear bag. She slipped the bag off and sprinted for the nearest fire alarm. She almost made it too. Then a big hand smacked her on the side of the head, slamming her into a nearby car. Her knees gave out, but an arm caught her around the neck and yanked her off her feet.