"Where is she?"

  "I sent Peg to get her, but she split last night in her car. I think she's driving to the NSA base in Utah she was working out of. We got her aide, though."

  "If she left last night, she may not have made it there by now."

  "Yeah, doesn't matter, I'm hitting it and taking it over. We're gonna search the place."

  "Isn't that a bit outside your mandate, Dear?"

  Sean shook his head. "Don't care. Once I question her, I need to find out what she was doing, and if she was being mentally dominated as well. If not, I'm gonna have her hung. Nice and publicly. Maybe even televise it," Sean growled.

  "You're missing something."

  "What?" Sean asked, blinking in surprise.

  "Who's her magic user?"

  "Awwww, shit! You're right."

  Roxy picked up the phone and punched in a number. "Vincent, can you come to my office right now? Yes, it's important. Run, don't walk."

  "Finding out which one of them is behind this isn't going to be easy." Sean sighed.

  "No, it's not," Roxy agreed.

  "What's the emergency?" Vince asked, barging into the office, panting.

  "Karen Taite was using a mind mage to dominate one of Hogan's people, as well as Major Dougherty," Sean said. "Karen's on the run, and we're going to try to get her before she gets back to the NSA, but I think we're hitting them anyway, because that's where she works out of."

  "And you want me to send mages along to help with the questioning?"

  "Actually, I want you to find out who she was using to help her," Sean growled. "The stuff with Dougherty took place here at our base. So it's either someone stationed here, or someone who was coming and going on a regular basis."

  "What nights was she screwing Dougherty?" Roxy asked.

  Sean shook his head. "Ping Rachel or Stewart; either one of them can find out. I got Stewart questioning Dougherty in my office right now. I need to put together the strike team that's hitting the NSA compound."

  "People aren't going to like that, you know."

  "Djevels. It's gotta be djevels. I mean, who else would be trying to make us fail?" Sean said. "That's the official line when someone calls up here screaming, Rox. You tell them we're quite sure there are people in charge at the NSA who've been possessed, and we're going there to kill them.

  "Oh, and make sure they understand, anyone resisting is obviously a djevel, and will be shot dead. In fact, maybe I should have Steve put together a strike team to hit their headquarters in DC."

  "Aren't you going to warn them?" Vince asked.

  "No, I don't want to give them time to run. Besides, they've got satellites; they'll probably see us coming."

  Sean gave Roxy a kiss. "I gotta go. Hold down the fort, and let Stell know what's going on so she can round up some lions to help Vince here."

  "What about Adam?"

  "Knowing him, he's ready and waiting to go," Sean said with a leonine grin, then trotted out the door to their ready room where the gear was kept. The place was packed, and folks were gearing up all around him. As soon as he had his own gear on and his weapons slung, Sean trotted out the door and found Jack, his leading general, who was standing there in his hybrid cougar form giving orders.

  "So, what's this I hear about attacking the NSA facility in Utah?"

  Sean snorted. "One of their analysts has turned traitor. Seems she was using a mind mage of some sort to undermine us."

  "Karen?" Jack growled.

  "Yup, and she fled last night. We're still investigating the damage, but we need to get our hands on her ASAP. Before someone kills her."

  "Still, people aren't going to like it if you take out the NSA's main processing center."

  "Yeah, well, I don't think they'll like djevels running it much, either. Right now I'm declaring it compromised. I mean, why else would the NSA be trying to make us fail?"

  "Politics?" Jack said with a slight growl.

  "Oh, couldn't be politics, who would be crazy enough to do that? It's gotta be djevels!" Sean said with an angry smile.

  "Which means we can go in there and do whatever we want."

  "Yup."

  "How long ago did she leave?"

  "No idea. Once we're airborne, we can have someone call for that info, as well as how long the drive is. Maybe we'll get lucky and grab her before she gets there."

  "I'll look into it. You don't need me along. I'll get Chad, and we'll organize a search of the entire base to make sure we aren't in even more trouble than we thought."

  Sean nodded. "Good idea. How many are going?"

  "I got twenty V-22s for you, so that's your second wave of about 500."

  "Second wave?"

  "I got three C-17s warming up on the runway. Seeing as we don't drop with that much gear, I'm cramming 200 troops into each one. Ever jumped out of a perfectly good airplane before?" Jack asked, smiling at him.

  "Hell, no. I haven't even jumped out of a bad one! Plus I don't have a parachute!"

  "Yeah, I figured as much. I had one of the jumpmasters grab you one. He's over there." Jack pointed at a wolf in jump gear standing by a Jeep.

  Sean sighed. "I hate you."

  "Yeah, but you gotta earn those jump wings somehow!" Jack said with a laugh.

  Grumbling, Sean trooped over to the wolf, who smiled up at him. "Congratulations, sir, you get to join the ranks of the elite!"

  "You know I'm a god, right?"

  "Yup! But how many gods are paratroopers?"

  "One more after today, I'm sure. Well, let's get to our ride, and you can teach me how this all works."

  Twenty minutes later, Sean was sitting in the back of the C-17, all geared up, as the plane took off. One of the crew chiefs had loaned him a spare headset so he could talk to the pilots, who were relaying information back to him.

  "How long will it take us to get there?" was the first thing Sean asked.

  "We'll be over the drop zone in an hour and fifteen. The second wave is just getting off the ground; they'll be there about ninety minutes after you drop."

  "Ask General Kennedy if anyone got a time on when our traitor left the base."

  "Sure, stand by one, Sean."

  A minute later he got the reply.

  "She left about 1:00 AM. If she drove straight through, my nav says she's probably pulling in about now; it's about a nine-and-a-half-hour drive, and it's almost 10:30 now. If she stopped to eat or refuel, add some more time. Especially if she stopped to sleep.

  "Umm, stand by one."

  "Sure," Sean said and waited a moment.

  "Okay, Chad just sent us a secure message over our comms. He said he's ordered Fort 95 to close the road, seeing as they're sitting right on it, and to look for the car she was reported to be driving. He also sent them a picture, and they're going over the cam they've got set up to record every vehicle that goes by. Fort 88 has launched two of their Blackhawks to watch the road just south of the NSA, again to stop her car before she can get there if she hasn't gotten through already."

  "Outstanding," Sean said with a sigh. "Tell him, 'Thanks'."

  "He said, 'You can thank me by getting my cartridge back from Steve', whatever that means."

  "It means he ain't getting squat." Sean sighed.

  May Be a Price to Pay

  Karen looked at the time. It was almost noon local; she'd crossed the time zone into Utah only a few minutes ago, after stopping for gas. She was still a little nervous about what that goblin had done. She didn't like how he'd dismissed her! He couldn't do that! Only her boss could tell her to leave, but he'd pointed that gun at her and, well, no one had ever pointed a gun at her before!

  The drive had been a long one. She didn't really like driving at night, but staying there was out of the question until somebody got that goblin under control. She really hadn't wanted this assignment; she didn't care much for those animals, and had said so to her boss, more than once.

  But that was why he'd sent her there. He'd said the animals needed a minder, someone to keep an eye on what they were really doing! If they sent someone who was okay with the animals, they'd look the other way and not let anyone know about the abuses they were engaging in.

  And they were! She saw how they treated the locals! Sleeping with humans! How could they! And then there was that leader of theirs, with all those women, shamelessly parading around without a shirt on, and all of them pregnant! All of them! And then there was the dark one! She'd never seen skin so black! And that one poor human girl living in all that sin!

  Karen shook her head. Sure, she'd filed reports on what they were doing around camp, making sure her bosses knew everything those animals and their friends were up to, but she'd never done anything to stop them from doing their jobs. After all, they were the sacrifice! They were made to live their lives killing those filthy, murderous devils, and when their own deaths came, either from the devils, or when their lives no longer had purpose, they were guaranteed their salvation, having earned it with the service of saving the human race.

  But no one had told her about those filthy goblins. No one at all!

  Her boss had told her to come back; he wanted to debrief her himself, personally, at her home in Utah. So she'd gotten in her car and left. She had all her notes with her, and made sure nothing she'd left behind would give away what she was doing. As for those satellite pictures, well, that whole Space Force thing was such a joke! It was just another Air Force ploy for more money. She'd bet those pictures h…

  There was a loud noise, and her car jumped a little, for just a second, and then the engine went dead.

  She struggled a moment with the steering wheel. With the power steering out, it was all she could do to control the car as she wrestled it over to the side of the road. At least the brakes still worked!

  She'd just gotten the car stopped when a bunch of men swarmed around the car, and one of them ripped the door open and pointed a yellow pistol at her!

  The last thing she remembered was a clicking noise.

  "Bag her and tag her!" Lou growled as Nan cut the seatbelt with her knife and dragged the unconscious woman out of the car. He was pleased Breena had tagged the engine with a single shot from her .50 caliber sniper rifle from 1,000 feet above the road. Their magic user had then popped a silence spell on their Blackhawk, and the target hadn't even known they were there until he'd ripped the door off for Nan to use the taser.

  "What the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway?" Nan asked as she dragged the unconscious woman away from the spreading pool of antifreeze under the ruined car.

  "Strip her naked, remove every piece of jewelry she's got on her, tie her hands behind her back, duct tape her fingers together, gag her, hobble her, ear plugs, blindfold, then we put her in a bag and seal it."

  "Won't she suffocate?"

  "Not before we get her back to the base. It keeps them woozy so they can't cast spells."

  "She's not a magic user," said Fiona, their magic user, coming over and doing something with her hands. "But do strip her; she's got a lot of magical stuff on her we'd be better off removing. Put it all in a bag and let me go through it before we take off."

  "In that case, just hogtie her, gag her, and we can toss her in the back of the chopper," Lou said.

  "She's not gonna like being naked," Nan grumbled as she removed all the items the woman had been wearing, tossing them into a small pile next to the other pile of destroyed clothes Nan had already used her knife to remove.

  "Eh, she's not gonna wake up unless I let her," Fiona said. "So it's not like she's gonna know."

  "Look out, guys; we need to get this wreck out of the way!"

  Lou helped Nan hogtie the woman as Fiona grabbed her jewelry. The guys from the other Blackhawk already had a sling on the wrecked car, and their bird was moving over to pick it up and take it back to base.

  "What'd she do, anyway?" Fiona asked.

  "Something bad," Lou said.

  "Can't be too bad, they said, 'Alive at all costs'." Nan said.

  Lou snorted. "I've seen Sean when he's mad. Trust me, you'd rather be dead. Come on, she ain't gettin' outta this. Let's get back in our chopper and get the hell out of here before the police show up."

  #

  "Okay, this is your static cord; it'll open your parachute as soon as you're clear of the door," the jumpmaster said as he snapped Sean's cord to the cable that ran past the door.

  "What if it doesn't?" Sean said.

  "What, I thought you were a god? Why should you care?" the jumpmaster joked.

  "I can't afford to go back to heaven right now, it'd take me hours to get back here," Sean said, looking at him. "Plus, it hurts. Trust me on that."

  "Now I'm afraid to ask how you know." He laughed. "Anyway, pull your reserve if your chute doesn't open, but make sure you've given it a three count. Everything seems to slow down on your first jump, but you'll feel it when it opens. Just don't dump your chute until your feet are firmly on the ground. That first step is a doozy."

  Sean nodded. One of the crewmembers opened the hatch, and the wolf in front of him queued up to the open door. The noise level inside was pretty bad.

  "Word from base!" the crewmember who'd opened the door suddenly yelled to him. "They got Taite! Just picked her up!"

  The light above the door went green before Sean could say anything, and the wolf in front of him jumped out the door. Taking two steps forward, Sean was out the door, too, and falling. He took a moment to orient himself; if his chute didn't open, he had sneaking suspicion, while it would hurt, he wouldn't die. After all, the Osprey flying into the side of a mountain hadn't killed him, and that was a lot worse than this would be.

  However, he wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience.

  He spotted their goal immediately; they were passing over it, and they were a lot lower than he'd thought they'd be. Or maybe it just felt that way, as he was falling feet first towards it. The parachute on the wolf in front of him deployed, and just as it opened, he felt something pull at his harness, and then he was looking up at a canopy above his head.

  Bending his knees slightly, he looked at where he was coming down, which appeared to be the roof of one of the larger buildings. Looking up at the risers, he grabbed one and hauled on it slightly to make sure he hit the roof, then the flat rooftop came up, and he hit, rolled, and fumbled a moment with the disconnects to get rid of the parachute before it could drag him over the side.

  Getting up, he dumped the rest of the harness, got out his rifle, and looked around. Wolves were lining up all around him, looking at him.

  "Okay, remember, we're here to arrest everyone. Just keep yelling, 'You're all under arrest for possible treason! Surrender or die!'"

  "What if they don't surrender?" one of the wolves asked.

  "What part of 'or die' was unclear?" Sean said, giving him a look. "Shoot 'em in the legs if you think that'll work, but we're not here to mess around. I want this place under my control in ten minutes. Try not to kill the bosses; I'll probably want to do that myself. Everybody clear?"

  He got a thumbs up from everyone. Pointing at a section of roof that didn't have any equipment on it, he cast a minor disintegration spell, opening a 10-foot-wide hole, and noticed several others using some sort of breeching charge to open a few more holes in other places. Looking down inside, he saw a cubical farm, and there were people looking back up at him.

  "You're all under arrest!" Sean cried out as he jumped into the hole. "Surrender or you will be shot! Deadly force has been authorized!" He moved out of the way as dozens of wolf-lycan paratroopers followed him inside.

  #

  "Does anyone know just what the hell is going on in Carson City?" Tom Matthews said, looking around the assembled directors. When he'd taken over as the head of the SIGINTPROC section a couple months ago, he'd honestly thought he'd had it made; housing was a lot cheaper in Utah, and the schools here sure beat the hell of those rat-holes he'd had to send his kids to in Maryland.

  But lately things hadn't been going well. It had started with some minor report inconsistencies coming out of the DEZ. Apparently one of his analysts had compared data with the milsats overhead, because they shared resources often enough, and for some reason, the dual channel stuff wasn't running the same.

  Then he heard some strange things coming out of Carson City, and when he read the reports, they didn't make sense. He knew Sean; he'd met him more than once, back when he'd been working in DC, and he knew the guy ran a tight ship.

  Now both of his people there had disappeared?

  "Keith! Taite works for you, what the hell is she doing out there?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Keith said, looking a little angry.

  "I just saw this morning's report! Are you telling me she had a gun pulled on her?"

  "I've been telling you they're animals out there, what did you expect?"

  "What I expect is to know what the hell she was doing! That's what I expect. It's a gods-damned war zone, and they don't just randomly pull guns on people!"

  Then the sound of the largest electric vacuum cleaner in the world passed overhead.

  "What the hell was that?" one of the directors said, looking around.

  "Oh, shit," Tom muttered. He knew what it was; he knew exactly what it was, and he had a damn good suspicion what was going to happen next. He'd been a grunt before he'd joined the NSA, and he'd heard that sound enough times to know exactly what came next.

  "All of you stay here; that's an order," Tom growled. "I need to make an announcement before the shit really hits the fan."

  "What was that?"

  "The sound of LGOPs, that's what."

  "What the hell are 'ell-gops'?" one of the directors asked.

  Tom noticed that two of his men went ash white and hit the floor with their hands covering their heads.

  Stepping out into the hallway, he turned left and headed for the main security station. There were people here who wouldn't hesitate to use their weapons, but they weren't paratroopers, they weren't lycans, and they wouldn't last long at all. He needed to order them to lay down their weapons before they got themselves killed.