Approval from Trevor,Timber joked inruhi, his mental voice amused.Feels good.
Canyon laughed.Soak it up till you fuck it up.
Mac was next. He barreled in, made a loop around the table, then opened every drawer and door he could reach. “No tacos,” he muttered. He yanked more cabinets open. Canyon let him go. Mac was always an asshole till he got it out of his system. Mac found a stash of beef jerky, grabbed a handful, and sat down in a chair, legs spread wide. He put a booted foot up on the hologram table. Canyon kicked it off. Mac got up, about to light into him, but Trevor silenced him.
“That table cost over a million dollars. No one puts their feet on it, Mac, not even you.”
Behind Mac and Trevor, Harlan, Eventine, Wade, and some rank from neighboring counties filed in. The MCU was big, but ninewolveninside made it feel small.
They were all staring at the wolf floating above the hologram table. Trevor waggled the microphone and turned to talk to Canyon. “I want a map of Serenity,” he said.
Canyon motioned for him to turn back around. Above the table, the wolf was replaced with a perfect map of Serenity—each street, house, business, tree, bush, street sign and light was shown. Tiny cars were parked in tiny spaces along the roads. The river ran along the north of town, spanned with trestles and bridges and spanned by four bluffs. Train tracks ran north, south, and diagonally. The wolf, bear, and catamount statue guarded the three major entrances to town, just like in real life.
The others were oohing, aahing, and pointing. Trevor was momentarily dumbstruck. Canyon smiled like a proud papa. He’d known exactly how it would look.
Talk into the microphone like normal briefing,he told Trevor.Predator knows what to do.
Trevor nodded and got to it.
“The first explosion blew at 0503 this morning downtown at 1204 N. Terrace St. It was a crude, homemade bomb packed with a substance we haven’t been able to identify. It smells like the Pravus.”
The building on the hologram table appeared to blow up in a puff of digital smoke, then only rubble remained in its place.
“What the hell does that mean?” Mac said. “They’re making bombs with Pravus mud?”
“We don’t know yet. Some of the explosions appear to have been blown with no substance at all—just Khain’s power, but not all of them, which makes us think he’s got help.”
“Foxen,”Wade said.
“Foxen,” Trevor said. “We don’t have any reports to back that up yet, but I’m sure Rex and Soren are around, probably others. The order is to arrest Rex or Soren on sight.”
Timber eyeballed Wade, then gave Canyon a significant look, probably thinking about Reynard. Canyon shook his head slightly.Not now. Not in front of these wolves we don’t know.Timber nodded.
Trevor listed several more addresses that had been attacked, and they all soundlessly exploded on the holograph table, then he motioned toward the forest to the west of town.
“At 0506 the first report of fire in Big Claw Woods came in, and then three more fires were reported within the next ten minutes. Graeme suppressed three of them, but since the sun came out, he’s had to be more covert, and one fire is stillburning. Wildfire management is out there right now dealing with it.”
“Can’t we disguise him as a helicopter or something?” Mac said.
“Slap a rotor on his ass and call him Chinook,” Harlan retorted. “Graeme’ll go for that, no problem.”
“I’ll slap a rotor on your—.”
Trevor interrupted, first pointing at Mac, “Can it,” then pointing at Harlan, “Cool it.” He sent them both death glares, then went on. “Graeme’s busy. He’s the only one of us who has a chance of getting ahead of Khain or at least meeting him where he is. The rest of us are just the cleanup crew, unless Khain waits for us to show up.” He looked around pointedly, then went on. “We’re bringing in police and fire from all surrounding areas. We’ve set up triage points at the bear statue and the wolf statue to deal with the injured. We have reason to believe Khain is planning another poisoning. Everyone’s drinking bottled water, and we’ve doubled up the guards on the water towers. Serenity’s water supply is segmented now, and each segment has a fail safe. Trent and Troy are up at the Harlem Reservoir on an unrelated investigation since yesterday. They’ll keep it under control up there. No matter what, it won’t be like last time.”
“So, this is all about another poisoning?” Mac said.
“Again, we don’t know yet. Jaggar thinks it’s about Khain triggering a whole slew of the 777 signs at once, and one of them does seem to reference a second poisoning. There’s no sign of Rex and Soren yet, and no signs of any otherfoxen,but we’re certain Khain is not acting alone, so keep your eyes open. The official word is that it’s a terrorist attack. We’ve cancelled all Serenity schools and closed all businesses within five blocks of town, and we’ve set up an emergency shelter at the high school.”
Trevor checked his notes, then looked at each of them in turn. “Conri Bloom, Serenity’s acting Fire Chief is missing. Hewas last seen yesterday morning at my house. No one saw him leave but his truck was gone. He’s not at his place. He hasn’t answered his phone or checked in with the department. His brother Beirne has stepped in to run the fire department, and he’s also called Bruin home.”
“Fucking finally,” Mac said, prompting a ‘what-the-hell’ look from Trevor. “I mean… shit. I hope Conri—I’m sure Conri’s fine. But Bruin’s been gone for years.”
“Three months,” Trevor corrected.
“Feels like years,” Mac grumbled, then he shoved a piece of beef jerky in his mouth.
“If anyone finds Conri or hears from him, I want to know immediately.”
