In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) Read online

  They were both positive Thomas and Chevalier were Gurus of Gurus.

  Shadow paused. “You’ve figured out that such Crows exist, eh? Unfortunately, at the present time, I’m not at liberty to say anything about them. Why?”

  “We believe Crow killer, who we’ve linked to the Transform disappearances and the rise of the Hunters, is one of these Crows, or some other senior Crow able to work at those power levels. For political reasons we’re calling this person Rogue Crow, though his common use name is Wandering Shade.” Gilgamesh settled into the comfortable overstuffed chair under the cuckoo clock, and went on to outline the large body of evidence he had collected and the various bits of logic behind his assertions. His talk took nearly twenty panic-edged minutes.

  “Hmm,” Shadow said, when Gilgamesh finished. The older Guru sat on the couch, opposite Gilgamesh, and fidgeted nervously, shaken by Gilgamesh’s news. “I can add a few more pieces to your puzzle. Wandering Shade does experiment with Beast Men and he does use withdrawal scarring on his charges. He is a police officer in Kansas City, or was, and he often uses controlled Beast Men as bodyguards, and to help him in certain police operations. He’s not an officially recognized Guru, and certainly not a Guru of Gurus.” At the latter, the older Crow’s eyes twinkled for a moment. “Before your mission I placed him as an established mature Crow, around Occum’s age. I fear you may be right, though. Wandering Shade might be a false identity of one of the most senior Crows.”

  Gilgamesh nodded, not sure what more to say.

  Shadow smiled. “Congratulations, Gilgamesh. You’ve completed your task.” Shadow paused again. “You don’t suspect me in this, do you?”

  Gilgamesh gulped and fought down his urge to break for the door.

  “I see,” Shadow said, after Gilgamesh did not respond. “I understand your problem. This is annoying. Sky figured this out before your Tiamat was ambushed and imprisoned, and none of us, including myself, were willing to listen to him.” Shadow sighed. “As usual. So why did you come and visit me in person?”

  “Shadow, if you’re Rogue Crow, you know enough about me to stop me no matter what I’m doing or what precautions I’m taking. By the fact I haven’t already been stopped, I have to trust that you aren’t Rogue Crow.”

  Shadow licked his lips and fidgeted with dross constructs for a minute. “You trust your Tiamat enough for you to relax yourself around her so she can see into your innermost soul, then,” Shadow said. “You also have at least one other you similarly trust to check up on you and make sure you haven’t become a pawn of Rogue Crow. My guess would be Sky. Oh, and probably the Gymnast as well.”

  So much for his elaborate protections. Gilgamesh shrank away from Shadow, feeling the same gut-churning fears he had felt when he had been a fledgling and dealing with senior Crows. They knew all the tricks.

  “How much do you know about Detroit?” Shadow said.

  Gilgamesh relaxed at the subject change. “There’s something wrong there, something to do with the Focuses. It’s attracted Kali’s attention, as well as the attention of the Hunters.” Kali had reported Hunter signs just last week. “In addition, several of us are worried about the Hunters getting their hands on another young Focus, one Thomas’s Detroit Crows have named the Clumsy Angel. She transformed this year and is clearly going to develop into one of the top Focuses, if she gets the time and space to do so. In my meditations, Detroit is a lure, but none of my friends can figure out if it’s a lure for me or for everybody.” He stood and poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher on Shadow’s desk. “If you don’t mind me asking, Shadow, have you given any thought into aiding the Rizzari rebellion?”

  “I have, and I have,” Shadow said. “At Occum’s request. Focus politics are perilous, though, and I must tread cautiously.” Gilgamesh nodded in sympathy. Focus politics gave him hives. “I support her goals, of course, but I fear I would make things worse for her if I make any blunders.”

  “I have a thought on the subject,” Gilgamesh said. “I know several of us who look to you as a Guru are up to our necks in the rebellion, but we’re doing things piecemeal. A little top-down organization might not hurt.”

  “Alas, because of some old Crow agreements, I cannot do that,” Shadow said. “At least directly. However, those agreements do not cover voluntary coordination, say by a Crow like yourself already known for his organizational talents. If you’re up to such a post, I can back you in this.”

  Transform doublethink. Shadow would be using Gilgamesh as his front man. “Okay. I’m in.”

  Shadow tapped his fingers restlessly on his knee. “I just had a thought about our earlier subject. Although I can’t tell you the details, I can tell you that the number of Gurus and, ahem, Guru of Guru Crows is not fixed. One possibility for Rogue Crow is someone who’s gained the powers of one of these most senior Crows, but doesn’t have the recognition. This fits with Wandering Shade’s somewhat abrasive personality, as well. In addition, you do need to know that Wandering Shade isn’t the only Crow who maintains multiple identities. The ruse is far more common than you think.”

  Gilgamesh nodded. Sky had mentioned Shadow worked with the FBI using a different identity. “That makes things all the harder.”

  “Indeed it does. Gilgamesh, don’t rest on your laurels. One of Rogue Crow’s goals is to sow dissent among the leaders of the Crows and Focuses, and his plan is working. None of us can trust anyone until Rogue Crow is completely unmasked. Be careful.”

  “I will. Don’t worry – I will.”

  Enkidu: August 14, 1968

  Enkidu smiled. The First National Bank looked perfect for his plans. Their security sucked and they hadn’t been hit by anyone for years, not even by the goddamned Talking Arm when the bitch had lived in Chicago. All he needed to do was to go back to Chicago, do his daily hunt, run Urine through his lessons, then collect Cleo and the Gals. He would be back in Indianapolis by tomorrow evening for the job. He would be set for another year, and wouldn’t have to worry any more about cash when his Master came up with another of his screwy and expensive plans.

  Before then, though, he had to eat. In his man form, Enkidu might be able to pass as a normal human, but he still had to eat like a beast. He still had all his mass and his muscles, which meant a hell of a lot of food. A good steak dinner would hit the spot. Two steaks. Perhaps three.

  The good joints wouldn’t be open for business for another twenty minutes, though. Perhaps he would get some burgers as a snack first.

  Then he picked up a dim metapresence flash, driving by on the freeway. A Crow! Driving a vehicle! Too bad he couldn’t chase down Crows in his man form or he would bag one for his Master.

  He waved, and of all things, the Crow waved back. Enkidu blinked in shock as he metasensed the Crow. Gilgamesh!

  Now this would be fun. He had always thought that if he ran into Gilgamesh again he would be able to convince the young Crow to join him, linked as they were by his transformation. Gilgamesh would certainly make a better Crow companion than Urine, and Enkidu doubted his master would need to rip the Law anywhere near as deeply into Gilgamesh’s mind as in Urine’s. He waved again and pantomimed joining him for dinner.

  Gilgamesh vanished. One second he was there, one second he wasn’t. Oh ho! So Gilgamesh had become one of those Crows. How dangerous was he? True, in his man form Enkidu couldn’t run down a Crow, but he could think better and fight off Crow dross attacks better in this form. And, even on his best days, a Crow couldn’t beat a Hunter in any form of a physical fight, even if the Hunter was in man form. Enkidu was as tall as a basketball center and built like a middle linebacker. A Crow would be quicker and better with firearms, if any Crows could shoot firearms, but Enkidu’s healing abilities would more than compensate for this theoretical advantage.

  Enkidu waited outside Calloway’s Steak House for Gilgamesh to show, but he didn’t. As soon as the restaurant opened Enkidu gave up on the flighty Crow, went inside and ordered some steaks.

 
; “So you can pass for human these days.”

  Enkidu put down his fork and knife, and looked up. Gilgamesh was sitting across the table from him. He hadn’t heard or metasensed the Crow approach.

  “Well, well, well,” Enkidu said. “I’d thought you’d panicked and ran. Glad to see you again.”

  Gilgamesh stared at him and didn’t say a thing. His old companion had changed for the better – leaner, more muscular, much better looking, better dressed, and he had picked up the do-not-mess-with-me aura Enkidu had seen with Athabasca and the other Judge Crows who occasionally came by to consult. Gilgamesh also carried, of all things, two tennis balls in his right hand. The Crow was scared, perhaps even terrified, but as far as Enkidu knew, fear was the natural state of all Crows. The good ones, like Gilgamesh, just lived with the fear.

  “I wanted to apologize for my behavior in Philadelphia,” Enkidu said. “My Master hadn’t brought my mind back to full humanity, back then. There was still too much of the beast in me.”

  “I understand,” Gilgamesh said. “Save for the all-body five o’clock shadow, you look fully human, now. Your Master has indeed done well for you.”

  Hmm. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. Gives me a chance to talk you into joining me. I wanted to do so in Chicago, but I wasn’t able to run you down and have a quiet conversation. So to speak.” Enkidu sliced up some steak and wolfed it down. Planning large robberies always made him extra hungry.

  “What, pray tell, do you want me to join?”

  “The Hunter Empire. We’re remaking the world. It’s time for all the Transforms to have strong leadership. Hunter leadership. Not the candy-ass bitch Focus leadership the rest of the Transforms are simpering after.”

  “I think I’ll pass. Living with people who consider me to be prey would be quite disconcerting.”

  Enkidu laughed. “But to a Hunter,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper, “the whole world is prey. Even other Beast-Men. But we’ve got it set up, now, so we don’t have to hunt for our élan like we used to.”

  “How so?”

  “Transform women, Gilgamesh. Tamed Monsters are an endless source of élan! They don’t even die in the process anymore!” Enkidu smiled, as always proud of his pack of Gals and his skills with them.

  Gilgamesh nodded. “I’ve heard stories the Focuses pass along about many unsolved Transform kidnappings. Someone even nabbed a Focus earlier this month.”

  He knew. The rat-faced bastard knew! The Focus grab was supposed to be a secret! They had supposedly laid down so many false trails that nobody should be able to figure out what happened.

  Enkidu pursed his lips and wondered what he was supposed to do now. No outsiders lived to tell any tales about the Hunters’ secrets. That was the Law. Unfortunately, Enkidu’s weapons were in his car. All he had was a steak knife.

  One twitch, though, and the Crow would be gone. On the other hand, Enkidu thought, maybe he could box the Crow in if he sealed the exits of the restaurant. Perhaps he even knew how…

  “I wonder what Wandering Shade would think if he knew you were here talking to me. I’m convinced Wandering Shade considers me one of his enemies,” Gilgamesh said. “Wouldn’t this worry him?”

  “What Wandering Shade thinks about my dealings is none of your business, Gilgamesh,” Enkidu said. He snorted. “You’ve become as devious as all the other Crows I’ve been forced to deal with. None of you Crows will listen to reason. Hunter leadership is the future! It’s logically irrefutable.”

  Gilgamesh’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You don’t know, do you?”

  “What?”

  “Your Master, Wandering Shade, is a Crow, one of the real old ones. You didn’t realize your Hunter Empire is led by a Crow?”

  Enkidu stood and growled. “You lie!” His stomach sank, though. Gilgamesh’s words had cut through the clutter in his mind with the weight of truth.

  The world burst bright around him, overwhelming his metasense with light, colors and shifting patterns. For an instant, he couldn’t even see. Enkidu blinked and tried to ignore the dazzle. Ignoring the dazzle took him a moment, and in that moment Gilgamesh vanished. Enkidu stood and roared the Terror. Everyone in the restaurant fled. He concentrated his metasense and found one of those fleeing who wore a crude disguise, a male Transform. Enkidu roared Terror again, targeted at the disguised Crow, and threw him to the ground. No damned Crow would be able to use his speed in the midst of a crowd like this!

  Enkidu made ready to immobilize Gilgamesh by slicing his hamstrings, but he stopped. The pinned man smelled like a normal human and he was overweight, besides! He wasn’t a Crow, as Crows didn’t smell like anything at all. Fooled!

  He roared.

  Fooled twice, he realized. Gilgamesh had used his Master’s name, Wandering Shade, first. Not him. Then he had answered, acknowledging the truth.

  Enkidu roared again and killed the man he had pinned. The veneer of civilization was thin on him and he lost it completely, slaughtering every human he was able to reach with his steak knife.

  The sound of sirens brought a semblance of thought back to him. He fled.

  Chapter 3

  Never interrupt a Crow.

  “The Life of Crows”

  Carol Hancock: August 15, 1968 – August 18, 1968

  I toweled off from my shower, reviewing my latest set of recruits. The Brickman family, I decided, would be perfect fronts for my nascent car dealership project. They owned a cheap dingy thirty parking space suburban used car lot and the only thing keeping them from expanding was lack of credit, due to a decade old bankruptcy they suffered during the Eisenhower recession. I would supply them credit, now, on my terms.

  I decided to blow off McMillan Security. Outwardly, the merc company was a perfect place to recruit and suborn for Keaton’s army, but something about the Dallas security firm made me twitchy. I wasn’t sure what triggered my reaction, but Keaton wanted me to trust my instincts and to back off based on any suspicion at all.

  Ying politely knocked on my bedroom suite door. “Here,” I said.

  “Ma’am, phone call from Gilgamesh. He wants to talk to you in person.”

  Uh huh, it was about time for one of his calls. That is, after ten at night. I smiled, settled into the chair by the bedroom phone and stretched my legs out in front of me.

  “Hey there,” I said. Relaxed. I worried about Gilgamesh when he wasn’t here in Houston with me. Crows were just so fragile.

  “Carol, I’ve got some interesting news.”

  He had been on his way to case the Chicago area, on what I suspected was a fruitless kidnapped Focus hunt. His voice trilled of success.

  “You found the lost Focus?”

  “Yes. As Lori and I feared, the Hunters have her. She’s part of Odin’s pack now, as withdrawal scarred as his other pack members.”

  Damn. The Hunters were getting better if they could kidnap a Clinic Focus and make it look like backstabbing Focus politics in action. This was not good news.

  “Worse, Joshua has one as well, a Focus with at least five years of experience on her. I have no idea who she is, or was. I also managed to have a sit-down talk with Enkidu, in Indianapolis, while he was eating at a restaurant.”

  I bit my lip, wanting to interrupt. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to praise Gilgamesh to the heavens for his courage or chew him out for unnecessary risks. Enkidu! In a restaurant! I certainly couldn’t have done any such thing.

  “I know,” Gilgamesh said, answering my unsaid comment. “I hadn’t planned on talking to him, but after hearing you and Keaton going on about not wasting unexpected opportunities I couldn’t resist.” His words brought a smile to my face. “I did manage to upset him by pointing out to him that his master is a Crow, which he hadn’t known. He didn’t take it well, giving me a chance to prove to myself that my rotten eggs are good enough now to distract an angry mature Hunter. I’ll give you the full report when I get back. When I found Enkidu’s farm camp, I learned he’s got a tale
nted student I’d say is no more than three months away from becoming a full Hunter. Worse, I found out he’s got a Crow captive.”

  “That’s not good at all. What kind of Crow?”

  “Messed up. He’s old enough to do rudimentary dross constructs,” which meant older than Gilgamesh, “but his withdrawal scarring is extensive enough to reduce his metasense to worse than Beast Man capabilities. Enkidu has this captive Crow cleaning dross off his pack Transforms. This sounds stupid, but unlike the Nobles, Enkidu’s able to maintain a Focus-like two to one female to male Transform ratio, if you neglect the cost to the minds of the captive male Transforms from the rough treatment. There isn’t much left in any of their heads. I’m afraid, though, his pack women are in far better shape than the Noble’s Commoners.”

  “Incredible job, Gilgamesh,” I said. He had done well, despite my misgivings over the insane risks he took. “Terrible news, though. I’m going to have to think about the ramifications. Where are you heading next?”

  “Back to Houston.”

  “I’m going to be out east for a few days but I’ll be back by the beginning of next week. See you then.” I had to check in on Hank and tell him to get his workaholic ass into bed before I took off. I had a Biggioni to bother in Philly.

  ---

  More than four months had passed since Biggioni destroyed me in the CDC, four months I spent recovering and getting my life back under control. Only now did I finally find time to deal with the necessary payback for what she had done. Her actions demanded recompense, and the need screamed at me from my toes to my short cropped hair. I dreamed sometimes about what I would like to do to the bitch. I still suffered nightmares from what she had done to me.

  Now, finally, my life gave me a chance to deal with her.

  Interesting place Biggioni had. I contemplated arson for a few minutes and decided to save any Arm devastation for another day. The Focus’s excuse for an office was deserted, the Focus herself asleep three rooms down. Her current household was a construction zone and half of her people camped out downstairs, in unfinished rooms. I smelled pulled pork barbeque, Carolina style, and my stomach rumbled.