“Sure thing, Sergeant.”
“Good.” Gage jerked his head at the four junior officers. “Make sure they get those wounds cleaned up right before they start to heal. And make sure Martinez didn’t rip his open again.”
All he needed was for Martinez to be the first werewolf who got an infection. Going to the hospital really wasn’t something werewolves preferred to do.
Gage started for the door, then stopped and turned back to them. “And get this mess cleaned up. I want everyone in the classroom in fifteen minutes.”
He didn’t need to see his men’s scowls to know he wasn’t their favorite person right now. It made him wonder what they were going to think of him when he told them about Mackenzie Stone.
***
“Xander isn’t getting jacked up,” Gage said for the third time.
He’d started their all-call meeting with a quick briefing of the hostage situation earlier, then touched on the detailed level of questioning he and Xander had gone through downtown. At least he’d planned on it being brief. He wanted to get to the real reason he’d called everyone together—Mackenzie Stone—but he couldn’t get the team to focus on anything other than Internal Affairs grilling one of their own.
“Then why is IA still questioning him?” Remy Boudreaux asked, a trace of his Louisiana accent coming through.
Gage suppressed a growl. Sometimes his guys were bigger conspiracy nuts than Mulder and Scully. “They’re just going over his statement to make sure there aren’t any inconsistencies that could end up in a lawsuit. They’re trying to help him, not screw him. Besides, he’s probably already on his way back.”
“Then if you didn’t call us here to talk about Xander, what’s this about?” Martinez asked.
Gage was pleased to see the cop sitting beside his new best buddy, Malone. On the other side of the room, Delaney and Lowry were doing the same. Maybe they had the ability to overcome their petty squabbles faster than he’d given them credit for.
“Yeah, Sarg.” Mike was lounging back in his chair, a knowing smile on his face. “What are we here to talk about?”
Gage scowled at his squad leader. Mike wasn’t going to cut him a break, damn him. And while the rest of the guys might not know what was going on, they’d definitely picked up on the strange vibe. Well, everyone except for Cooper. He was reading a damn comic book.
“I wanted to tell you that we’ll be having a visitor hanging around the compound for the next few days,” Gage said.
“What kind of visitor?” Cooper asked, raising his gaze from his comic book long enough to show he was capable of multitasking.
Oh hell, no way to avoid this. Might as well rip off the Band-Aid. “A reporter from theDallasDailyStar—Mackenzie Stone.”
Gage waited, expecting an immediate firestorm of negative comments. But his announcement was met with complete silence. Though whether that silence was because they were stunned or just indifferent, he couldn’t tell.
“I’ve seen her picture,” Becker said. “She’s really hot.”
Okay, that wasn’t the comment he expected. Then again, this was Becker. The information tech and electronic surveillance expert always said the first thing that came to his mind. As if to prove his point, Becker pulled out his iPhone and quickly found a picture of the journalist to show the other guys. They took one look at her photo and agreed that Ms. Stone was “smokin’.” Damn, sometimes they could be so shallow.
Cooper passed the phone back to Becker. “Isn’t Mackenzie Stone known for her in-depth investigative stories, ones usually involving corrupt politicians or major crime figures? What does she want with us?”
The rest of the unit stopped debating about whether Mackenzie Stone had a boyfriend or not to give Gage a worried look. For all the trouble they caused him with the bickering, the fighting, and the constant effort to move up the Pack’s command structure, they trusted him to protect and keep hidden the one thing they cared about—their identity as werewolves. Because if they were scared of anything, it was being exposed for what they really were.
Gage sat on the edge of the desk at the front of the room. “Ms. Stone said she wants to see how we operate so she can write a story on how we work together as a team.”
“Do you believe her?” asked Trey Duncan, the unit’s other resident medic and entry man.
“Honestly? I think it’s a load of crap.” At their surprised looks, he continued. “As Cooper said, Ms. Stone specializes in digging into serious stories that grab national headlines. I doubt she’s interested in writing a fluff piece about the city’s SWAT team. I’m guessing she’s seen all our accolades and figures there’s something fishy going on. I don’t know if she thinks we’re crooked or in league with the criminals we take down or what. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what her angle is. I’ve decided the best way to get her to go away is to bring her in and let her see what we do.”
Becker stared at him in disbelief. “You’re going to tell her we’re werewolves?”
Gage would have laughed if anything about this was funny. “No, I’m not going to tell her the entire SWAT team is made up of werewolves. But I will show her how hard we work and train, how much we care about the people of this city, and what we’re willing to risk for them. I’m going to be charming and friendly—we’reallgoing to be charming and friendly. By the time she leaves, Mackenzie Stone will realize we’re nothing more than hardworking, dedicated cops, not a story for the evening news.”
“And what if she doesn’t buy that line?” Mike asked from the back of the room. The smile he wore earlier was gone now. “What if she keeps digging?”
Gage met his gaze. “I guess it’s on me to make sure that doesn’t happen, isn’t it?” He scanned the room. “But I need all of your help to do it. As long as Mackenzie Stone is around, you’re going to have to stay in complete and total control. No one going half wolf on me, no one jumping a wall they shouldn’t be able to jump, no one running faster than they should be able to run. And definitely no fighting. You need to look like the best SWAT team in the country. Got it?”
Slow nods came from around the room, Mike included.
