"Let's get back to the house and talk to Oak," Sean told the others. "I really want to know where things stand." Pulling out his phone as he walked to the van they'd driven here in, he called Chad.

  "Sean, what's up?"

  "Put Maitland on the next airplane you can get him on, I need him back here now. Rent a jet if you have too."

  "What about Dallas?"

  "The only folks with lycans left at this point are the Ascendance, and it looks like they're rolling over. I'll have Sapientia call them and see if they can't work out a deal before we have to send in the army. If we still need to do someting, put Ruth or Ryan or someone else in charge."

  "Okay, I'll get him shipped. I take it you found the Vestibulum's lycans?"

  "Yeah, I did."

  "What happened?"

  "I can't talk about it on the phone."

  "What? These are secure, John fixed them!"

  "I can't talk about it on the phone," Sean repeated with a hint of a growl.

  "Ooookay. Got it. What do you want me to do next?"

  Sean blew out his breath and thought about it a moment, just what did he want Chad to do next?

  "Don't have any idea, do you?" Chad prompted.

  "No, I have too many ideas. I'm split between sending you to DC, Boston, or York."

  "What the hell is in York? And DC? That'd be a pretty bold move."

  "Yeah, it would be a bold move," Sean agreed. "But I think it's time for bold moves. How soon do you think you could get there?"

  "DC?"

  "Yeah."

  "I could be there tomorrow night."

  "Great, be there."

  "Sean, eight hundred lycans are going to stand out! Even in DC!"

  "Yeah, well. That's kind of the idea."

  "You know what? I'll come back as well. I think we need to talk strategy."

  "Okay, later, Chad."

  "Bye."

  Sean put the phone away and sighed as Daelyn pulled up in front of the house.

  "I think I could sleep for a week."

  "If you think you're getting any sleep tonight, 'Lion-boy'," Roxy teased, "you have another think coming!"

  "You know, it was bad enough when Peg started calling me that," Sean complained as he got out of the van.

  "Well, do a good job tonight, and maybe we'll call you 'lion-man'!" Roxy laughed, and the others just snickered.

  "Let's go talk to Oak and find out the bad news."

  "How do you know he has bad news?" Peg asked.

  "Because he's been avoiding me," Sean sighed and shook his head as they headed back to Oak's office.

  "Okay, Oak," Sean said, coming in. "How bad is it?"

  Oak winced. "At four pm, all the collars that hadn't been removed started exploding. They didn't go all at once, it was staggered. Four dwarves were injured, and sixty-three of the wolves were killed."

  "What?" Sean said, looking at him in surprise.

  "It was a terror attack. Only a third of the collars were real, by the way. I talked with the others; best we can guess, the collars were all timed to go off, there weren't any radio circuits in them at all. They just wanted everyone wearing one to go crazy."

  "They were setting us up, weren't they?" Roxy asked.

  "But why?"

  "Think about it. If they can't have us, they set us up for assassinating the president of the United States. It's like the Night of the Silver Death, but instead of the magic users killing us off, they get the government and the mundanes to do it."

  "That's evil!" Oak said.

  Sean nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, it is."

  "So what are we going to do about it?" Oak asked, and the others all looked at him.

  "Nothing. The president said he'd deal with it."

  "What? You're kidding, right?"

  "No, I'm not," Sean said, looking around the room. "You're all citizens, you're all free, and if you want the president to side with us, we have to follow the laws like he said. We'll offer him whatever help he asks for, but the whole purpose of what the Vestis did was to get us in trouble. If we go off after them now, we'll be getting ourselves in trouble.

  "Understand?" Sean asked and looked at Oak, who sighed and nodded after a moment.

  "Now, what about the ones we didn't catch? What's being done about them?"

  "I sent a couple of squads to track them down and bring them back here, whether they wanted to be brought back or not."

  "And Claudia's people?"

  "Well, they stopped the other group from making it into town, but they lost about a third when the collars blew up. They hadn't progressed to getting them off yet. I think they've got other problems as well."

  "Why's that?"

  "Claudia wants you to call her. Said it was important, and as soon as you were done with the president, she needed to talk to you."

  Sean nodded and looked at his watch, it wasn't even six yet!

  "Call her back, tell her we'll meet her at her place, or wherever the hell she is." Sean shook his head. "Back to the van, girls. Looks like it's going to be a long day."

  They were halfway to Claudia's when his phone rang. Looking at it, he saw it was Claudia calling.

  "Hi, Claudia. Where are you?"

  "I'm at City Hall in the mayor's office," Claudia said in a low voice.

  "Dae, mayor's office, City Hall."

  "Okay!" Daelyn replied.

  "No!" Claudia hissed. "Don't come here!"

  "Why not? Hell, what are you doing there?"

  "Your father-in-law and I are trying to tell the governor what the hell happened this afternoon."

  "Not going well, is it?" Sean chuckled.

  "No, it's not, and it's no laughing matter.

  "Well hold the fort. Tell Bill I'll be there in a few minutes."

  "Sean! You can't come here!"

  Sean sighed heavily into the phone, "Claudia, it's been a long day. Just do as I've asked, and I won't yell at you. This is my problem, I'll deal with it."

  Sean hung up the phone before she could reply.

  "And just how do you intend to deal with it?" Roxy asked.

  "Bluntly. Text your father and warn him, and let him know this isn't negotiable."

  "Oh, he's just going to love you for that!" Roxy grumbled.

  "Yeah, well, today is 'how to win friends and influence people' day. After dealing with the president and getting shot and stabbed a couple dozen times, suddenly I'm not all that worried about the plebes anymore."

  #

  Five minutes later they were entering the building. "Peg, Rob, Jo, can one of you do something about that metal detector?" Sean asked in a soft voice.

  "I'm tapped," Roberta admitted.

  "I don't think you'd like me dealing with it," Jolene said with a smile.

  "Sorry, Sean." Peg shrugged.

  Roxy looked at them, sighed, and walked up to the man at the table. Pulling out her ID, she showed it to him.

  "Are you?"

  "Sheriff Channing's daughter. My husband there is a deputy. We're packing, and I don't want to set off the alarms."

  Sean remembered the badge her father had given him back when he was in Vegas, and which was still taking up space in his wallet. Pulling it out, he flashed it at the guard.

  "Oh! Go through that door over there!" the guard behind the desk said and pointed to a door which suddenly buzzed.

  "Thanks!" Roxy said with a smile and led them all through a door, which took them to a hallway that came out behind the desk a bit farther down the hallway.

  "That was easy," Roberta said.

  "Not everything has to be done the hard way," Roxy said with a wink. "Now, let's go upstairs to the mayor's office."

  They quickly found the elevator and headed up to the top floor.

  "Nervous?" Daelyn asked.

  "Tired," Sean said and yawned. "And hungry. I think I could eat a cow."

  The doors opened and they walked out into chaos. There were people rushing around everywhere.

  "What's that all about?" Peg asked.

  "Us," Sean said, and spotting the Mayor's door, he walked in that direction. No one seemed to be paying him or the girls much attention, which was fine with him. Opening the door, he held it for the girls as they went inside, then closing it behind him, he saw they were in a secretary's office and the woman behind the desk was staring at them.

  "Do you have an appointment?"

  "I'm expected," Sean said and walked over to the door.

  "You can't go in there!"

  "Sure I can," Sean said with a smile, and opening the door, he led the way in this time with the girls trailing behind.

  The room was fairly large, about what Sean would have expected for someone who oversaw the operation of a city. It was also rather full. Roxy's dad was giving him a look that made it clear he wanted Sean to be anywhere but here. Sitting next to him was a man Sean immediately recognized as the Governor. The Mayor was sitting behind her desk, and the rest of the chairs were occupied by a man in a military uniform Sean vaguely recognized from earlier today, another one he recognized as the chief of police, one in a fireman's uniform, two more he had no idea what they did, Claudia who was carefully ignoring him, and a stenographer who was studiously taking notes.

  "Who are you, young man, and what are you doing here?" Mayor Schiere asked.

  "I'm the reason the president stopped by today, as I'm sure that gentleman," Sean pointed at the military officer as he recalled where he had seen him—when they'd been walking with the president out to Air Force One. Sean had gathered he was one of the senior National Guard commanders in the area. The president had taken him aside and had a brief, hushed conversation with the colonel, after which the officer had left. That was just before Sean and the others had walked out to the airplane with the president and seen him off.

  "Is that true, Colonel?" the governor asked.

  "Yes, Brian. It is, however, supposed to be classified," the Colonel said and gave Sean an unfriendly look.

  Sean smiled, yeah, he was making friends today. "Just curious, do you know why the president met with me today?"

  "No, but I saw some of the results."

  Sean nodded. "Okay, who in your opinion needs to be in this room when I explain to them exactly what happened today?"

  The Colonel looked around the room. "Governor Sandavol and no one else."

  "This is my office! I will not be thrown out of it," Mayor Schiere stated simply.

  "And this whole thing does involve your city," Sean agreed. "So I have no problem with you being here, or with the chief of police. Sheriff Channing also gets to stay. Now, who are the rest of you?"

  "You sure seem to be taking on a lot of responsibility there, young man," the Governor said, looking up at Sean.

  "Sorry, Governor Sandavol, but it's been a long day. I'm not who you think I am, obviously, or the president of the United States wouldn't have taken the time to visit me, right?"

  The Mayor spoke up then, "Ben, Chris, Jerry, Debbie, and Claudia. Please leave the room."

  Sean watched as they all got up, looked at him, and filed out the door. He snagged Claudia as she went by and pointed to a chair. Claudia frowned at him but sat down without a word. Sean noticed both the Mayor and the chief of police looked surprised at that.

  "Peg, you got enough left to secure the room from eavesdroppers?"

  Peg nodded and started making hand gestures while Sean walked over to the Mayor's desk and sat on the edge.

  "Excuse me, it's been a long day, and I'm pretty tired. My name is Sean Valens, and I'm the reason for a lot of what's been going on around here lately, I'm sorry to say." Sean turned to the Colonel. "They get that building cleaned up yet, Colonel?"

  "No, we're still recovering bodies from the surrounding area."

  Sean nodded. "I'm sorry if you lost anybody. We were all caught by surprise today. These things are supposed to take place at night, the general public is not supposed to know about them, and they're definitely not supposed to involve civilians or the government. At least that's the rules the other side played by up until today."

  "Sean," Bill spoke up, "are you sure you should be talking about this?"

  "Dad, we had firefights in town, helicopters launching missiles, and an assassination attempt on the president of the United States. I'd go on TV and talk about it if I didn't think there'd be riots in the streets.

  "Besides, I get to make the rules. Anyone who doesn't like it can go pound salt."

  'You make the rules?' the First said with a laugh.

  'I don't hear you complaining, and you had to know I was going to do this. The silence is breaking down, we need allies. Let's see about making a few.'

  "Dad?" Governor Sandavol said, looking at Bill.

  "He's my son-in-law," Bill sighed, "that's my daughter." Then he motioned towards Roxy, who smiled.

  Mayor Schiere cleared her throat. "So, are you trying to tell us that there's some big conspiracy going on? That's been going on all around us? For months?"

  "Not only that, but there's a war on, or perhaps you might call it a revolution. The president just signed on to our side, so I guess that was what prompted somebody on the other side to try and have him killed. But in such a way that they could blame it on my side."

  "Your side?" Governor Sandavol asked. "Just who is 'your side'?"

  "Why, the lycans, of course."

  "Lycans?"

  "Lycanthropes. You know, were creatures, like werewolves and all the rest."

  The Governor looked at Sean like he was mental.

  "Surely you don't expect me to believe that werewolves exist!"

  Sean shifted then, moving to his feet as the Mayor's desk creaked in protest at the increase in weight.

  "Welcome to Wonderland, Governor," Sean said in a soft voice as everyone in the room went silent. "Magic users, were creatures, all sorts of things exist. But there are few of us and many of you. So in order to keep the peace, the magic users had an idea. They call it 'the silence', and we're not supposed to let most mundanes know that we exist."

  "What are you?"

  "A werelion. We're the ones in charge of all the lycan races, and there are many. For millennia, lycans have been in thrall to the magic users. It was something we agreed to a long, long time ago. But they began to abuse it, so I'm here to put an end to it. Sadly, some groups didn't react very well to that idea."

  "I remember you now! All that trouble we had back in March! You were a part of that!" the Reno Chief of Police, Sid, said, speaking for the first time.

  Sean nodded. "That was the magic users starting this whole fight. There have been battles waged all over the country, even in other ones. What we saw today was hopefully the last of it, at least in our country."

  "Okay, so now that we know what happened, why are you here?" Mayor Schiere asked.

  "Simple," Sean said, shifting back. "To clean up the mess. Don't let anyone know what happened, come up with a good story, and field the issues and other problems with the people who saw something today."

  "Oh, and why should we do that?"

  "Umm, because keeping the peace is your job? Do you really think everyone is ready to know about this? Do you want panic in the streets? Hell, if you want, I can call the president and ask him to have a conversation with all of you about this, but I don't think any of you want to go down that road today after what he's been through, right?"

  Sean smiled as they all looked at each other.

  "Colonel, is he telling the truth?" Governor Sandavol asked.

  "About the attack? Yes. Though we're under strict orders to keep it quiet. It's a matter of national security and I'll warn all of you, if you talk about it, you won't like what happens to you next."

  The Governor nodded. "Well, I will be calling the president, but until then, what exactly do we need to do to get a handle on this?"

  Sean shrugged. "Bill and Claudia will help you with that. If you need any financial support, call me."

  "How much financial support are we talking about?" Mayor Schiere asked. "Lockwood has some significant damage."

  Sean shrugged. "A couple million at least. If you need more, you'll get it. Same for you, Colonel; in fact, send me the bill for the damages to the building. I think it would be better if that didn't end up on the desk of some oversight committee. Talk to Claudia about getting a crew in there. They'll all be in the know and will keep their mouths shut."

  "Thank you, Mr. Valens."

  "Claudia, is everything in Lockwood under control now?"

  Claudia sighed. "Some got away, but we've got teams tracking them down. My second thinks we'll have them all corralled by seven."

  Sean smiled. "Excellent work. Please thank everyone for me." He looked around the room then. "If nobody has anything else, I guess I'll leave you all to it."

  "What do we tell the people outside when they ask who you are?" Governor Sandavol said.

  "Eccentric tech millionaire philanthropist who came to offer a large chunk of cash in support. Tell them I'm a big contributor to both your campaigns, so you have to put up with my boorish bullshit."

  With that, Sean gave a small bow and, opening the door, he waved the girls out and followed them out the door, closing it behind him.

  "The nerve of that guy!" Sid said.

  "Yeah," Claudia sighed, "lions are nervy all right."

  "So, what story can we come up with?" Governor Sandavol asked, looking around the room.

  The colonel sat up, "As much as I hate it, we can just say that it was a training exercise from one of our units, someone accidentally loaded live ammunition in the guns on the helicopters, and we had an accident."

  "But those helicopters don't even look like yours, Colonel!"

  "Do you think anyone's going to make that connection, Brian?"

  "I think that's a good start," Bill said, looking around the room. "And now that the cat's out of the bag, so to speak, maybe we need to bring in one of the magic users who's on our side to help us…"

  "Hold on, a moment," Sid said, "you're just gonna do what that kid said?"

  Both the Governor and Bill opened their mouths to say something, but the mayor held up her hand, "Sid, the president of the United States came to visit that young man today."

  "So?"

  "So he didn't go to the president, the president came to him. Any young man the president thinks is important enough to create an excuse like that trip to Hawaii to visit isn't someone you want to ignore. Understand?"