Shiv Crew (11 page)

It took her all of five minutes to get
rid of the troubled rooks. They waddled away with ruffled feathers, beaks jagged
and sad under human eyes.

A few offended humans came out to
jeer the birds now that Shiv Crew was there to protect them should the rooks
get angry.

“You might find a home in Blackfire
village,” Rune told them. “Or even Wormwood.”

She’d left Levi to sit with Lex and
had taken Denim with her. “I warned you we got the dirty jobs,” she told him.

He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

She called the crew. “Go to my
place. I’m having second thoughts about talking in the office.”

She and Lex were on their way to
Rune’s house when Mitch called.

“Great,” she muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Lex seemed to have
cheered up a little, for which Rune was extremely grateful.

“Percell,” she told Lex. She answered,
although she’d rather have let him go to voicemail. “Yeah?”

“Rune! Mitch Percell here. As soon
as you’re finished with Willowburg, come back to the office. I need to meet
with you and your crew.”

She groaned. “What’s going on?”

He ignored her groan. “I’ll explain
when you get here. See you in a few!” He clicked off, so jolly she wanted to
reach through the cell and poke him in the eye just to make him chill the fuck
out. Whatever was making him so happy was pretty much guaranteed to make her mad.

She didn’t bother calling the crew
to tell them the change of plans. Percell would, she was sure, take great
delight in doing that himself.

Having Lex by her side when she
strolled into his office seemed to turn down his happiness dial just a little.
He looked up with a wide smile, lost it for a second, then put it firmly back
in place. But his eyes promised Rune chastisement when the Other was not
present.

She widened her eyes innocently and
shrugged. “Sorry, Mitch.”

All the crew had arrived but Raze,
and he was notoriously late for everything. Mitch was not a patient boss.

“Where is your missing crew member,
Rune? I requested they all be here.”

“Raze. He’s doing perimeter
checks,” she replied, straight-faced. “He’ll be along.”

 Raze chose that moment to stride
in, and though Mitch had met all the employees, he still had trouble keeping
the awe from his face when he looked at the big man.

“I swear,” Mitch said, mollified by
Raze’s timely entrance and Rune’s outright lie. “Per capita, Spiritgrove has to
have more extremely large people than any city in the country.” He looked at
them expectantly.

The men shuffled uncomfortably,
then glanced at each other. Rune grinned. “Per capita, Mitch, I’m sure you’re
right.”

He shuffled some papers and cleared
his throat, and Rune realized he was the uncomfortable one. She almost felt
sorry for him.

But then he made her want to rip
his head off again just by opening his mouth.

“So. I have a couple of reasons for
wanting this meeting. Three, to be exact.” He cleared his throat again, and
Rune started to get nervous. “First of all, RISC has sent over a man to help
out at SCRU for a while. We’re in the process of hiring more law enforcement
workers—Spiritgrove is growing and so is the…er…” He glanced at Lex. “
Other
community. To keep things safe for all in this city, we will of course be
looking into bringing more men and women aboard.

“Now, second thing up is—”

Rune raised her hand.

“Er, yes, Rune?”

“I was wondering,” she said, politely,
“who RISC is kind enough to lend us.”

He sniffed, then yanked at his
nose. “Well, I don’t see any reason not to share that information. After all,
he will start tomorrow. It’s, uh, Mr. Strad Matheson.”

Rune jumped to her feet. “The
fucking berserker? Jeremy’s lackey?”

“Now Rune—”

“You realize he is Jeremy’s spy,
don’t you? He’s not going to work for us. He’s going to
spy
on us. He’s
just Jeremy’s fucking tool, Percell.”

“Sit down, Rune. We can calmly
discuss this.”

She clenched her fists but sat.
“Doesn’t matter how we discuss it. I don’t trust the berserker, and he’s not
coming into Shiv Crew. Take him on as your boy if you want, or give him to one
of the other departments.” She leaned forward and stared him down. “He is
not
going to be Shiv Crew.”

“Rune, I—”

“You want to fire Lex, who isn’t
all brawn and no brains like Jeremy’s monstrous minion. She has talent and
skill like you wouldn’t believe, but you refuse to keep her on.”

“Now—”

She stood, unable to sit like a
good girl, and pointed at him. “No. Just, no.”

He stood as well, his face
flushing. Putting his palms on his desk he leaned forward. His carefully coifed
hair never moved. “I am the director of SCRU, missy, and I will not be talked
to by one of my
employees
as though I am a bug to be stepped upon.”

“Did you just call me
missy
?”

His jaw dropped. “No. No,
certainly
not.”

She saw Z rub his chin from her
peripheral vision and recognized the tell. He was trying not to laugh. Probably
they all were.

She turned to stomp from the room
until she could calm the hell down and almost fell over her own feet when she
spotted
him
—the berserker—leaning against the doorframe.

Housed in a renovated warehouse, the
SCRU building had enormous doorways. It was a good damn thing. She was pretty
sure she heard an ominous creaking as he leaned there. If Raze impressed Mitch,
Strad must have given him the vapors.

He looked at her, his expression
bland, his eyes calm.

She wasn’t embarrassed. She hadn’t
said anything she wouldn’t say to his face.

Striding up to him, she waited for
him to move. He blocked the entire doorway.

“You always manage to be in my
way,” she said. “I’d like to get some water so you’ll have to move. Or maybe
you’d like to fetch it for me. A guy like you always needs an ass to kiss,
right?”

She disliked him because he did all
Jeremy’s dirty work. Because he allowed himself to be a pawn. But most of all,
she disliked him because he disliked her. It made her all kinds of defensive.

That’s a lie. You hate him
because he’s the one man you’re afraid of.

Well, yeah, there was that.

Jeremy had told her several times
of the berserker’s comments and attitude about her. Of course she’d asked Strad
about it. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but only once.

He’d shrugged at her accusations,
raising that perpetually arrogant eyebrow, and refused to so much as
acknowledge her words. It’d gone downhill from there.

They rubbed each other the wrong
way. She couldn’t stand him and imagined that when he looked at her, his stare
was full of contempt.

Work together? No way.

“Well?” she bellowed. “Out of my
way, Berserker.” She was getting a sore neck having to look up so far.

“Rune,” Mitch called, “Please
hurry. I have another matter to discuss with you all. You wouldn’t want to miss
this.”

“Oh,” she said, “I’m sure.”

Now she didn’t even want the water.
The berserker finally hauled his body out of her way, but she simply turned and
walked back to her chair. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Good,” Mitch said. “Great. Okay.
So we’ve established that Strad—Mr. Matheson—is on loan to us from RISC. And
Rune, before you decide this is a terrible thing, let me assure you we have our
reasons for bringing him in.”

“Would you mind letting us in on
those reasons?”

“The Dark Others,” he said, “for
one. The Church of Slayers, for another.”

The words were so abrupt and
ill-omened they sent a chill of fear down her spine.

She shot a worried look at Lex.
“Save that for last, please.”

“Fine,” he said. “Whatever you
want, Rune.”

She lifted an eyebrow at his
sarcastic tone. She hadn’t thought he had it in him.

He looked around at them all.
“Okay, next item…this one I hope will be greeted with a little more…acceptance
than our borrowing of Mr. Matheson. I plan to create a new department—a new
specialty, if you will—in SCRU.

“I realize Shiv Crew is monsters
and blades.” At Rune’s look of surprise he added, “I read the business card.”
His smile was quick. “Anyway, I’m creating a department for men—and women of
course—who specialize in explosives.”

Rune pursed her lips. “We already have
a bomb department.”

“Yes, but it has two people and
little direction. I’m going to create a large department with approximately
fifteen people. I’ll merge our two specialists right in.”

“That’s fine. Just don’t ever think
about doing that to me, Mitch.”

He held up his palm. “No, no. Shiv
Crew is amazing. I wouldn’t think of changing that. Adding a few more people,
but I wouldn’t change it.”

She didn’t want to waste time
arguing. “What else?”

“Guns,” he said. “I know Shiv Crew
has some of the finest shooters in the country, but I want a department
efficient in not just guns and handguns. I want sharpshooters. Snipers. I want
men I can put on roofs around town and feel secure knowing they can take the
head off a monster a mile away.”

“You’re really worried,” Z said.

Mitch nodded. “I’m worried that if
this county has an emergency, we’ll be sorely lacking in capable…soldiers, if
you will. Before I came in I was blissfully unaware.” We exist to protect our
people. We
will
protect our people.”

“And our Others,” Rune said, as
surprised as the rest of them that she’d uttered that sentence.

Mitch’s stare was determined.
“Certainly our Others.” He gave them a hard smile. “We will certainly take care
of our Others.”

For the first time since meeting
him, Rune could understand why Mitch Percell had been put in such a position of
authority. He wasn’t as silly and pompous as she’d thought.

She nodded and grinned at him. “It’s
what we do.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as
he grinned back. “Damn right it is. Okay, that’s all about the department
changes for now, although there will likely be more in the future. It’s going
to take a while getting the right men, etcetera. But it’ll happen.”

He picked up a pile of papers,
banged them on the desk, then set them back down with a sigh. “Now, this bit is
going to cause an uproar. I can already hear it. But it’s going to happen, and
it’s going to happen next week. So don’t waste time arguing with me about it.”

Rune looked to the heavens. It had
been going
so
well. “Lovely. Fresh hell.”

“I know we mostly talk in terms of
this city—Spiritgrove—but we’re just headquarters. The county seat. We have an
entire county to care for. And this is for the morale of River County. For the
good
of River County.”

The twins, at the same time, shifted
in their chairs, and Jack smothered a yawn. Realizing he was losing them fast,
Mitch continued valiantly on.

“River County is about to get some
movie stars, kiddies. Celebrities.” He beamed.

The crew traded mystified looks.

“You’re bringing in Brad and
Angelina?” Rune asked.

“No, Rune, but when we’re finished
with you and Shiv Crew, you’re going to be Spiritgrove’s version of Brad and
Angelina.”

For the first time since he’d
entered the room, Raze spoke. “Explain.” He didn’t sound happy.

Mitch’s fingers fluttered nervously
at his tie as he eyed the big man. “Er. Yes. In two weeks TV is coming to film
you as you walk, red-carpet style, into a questions and answers session held at
River Run Hall.”

No one said a word.

“I will be working to build you up
before then. Newspapers, radio, Internet. Your light has been hidden under a
bushel the size of a mountain, and I’m about to blast that bushel to bits.
River County needs to know about each and every one of you and what it is you
do.” He waited, but still got nothing from the crew. “So, there it is. I’m
going to make Spiritgrove, and Shiv Crew, famous.

“Oh, not just Shiv Crew,” he
hurried on, as though they’d argued, “but all of SCRU. I just want to start
with the most together department we’ve got, and that’s you. So. That’s it.
What do you
think
, people?”

Rune looked at Jack, who looked at
Z, and abruptly they burst into laughter. Raze stood against the wall, a
sparkle in his eye. For Raze that was equal to rolling around on the floor laughing
hysterically.

Levi and Denim laughed as well—they
knew Shiv Crew. Movie stars? Just…no.

Z stood and high-fived Rune. “Meet
at your place in an hour,” he said, between chuckles. Then he pointed at Mitch.
“Movie stars!”

They broke into fresh laughter and
started to file out the door.

Mitch’s voice brought them back in
a hurry.

“The Church of Slayers,” he said,
and waited for them to once again give him their full attention. He looked at
Rune. “Did you tell them?”

Raze pushed himself away from the
wall and dropped his crossed arms. “Tell us what?”

Shit.

“Not yet. I haven’t had time.” She
looked pointedly at Lex. “I will.
Later.
”

Mitch glanced at Lex and away just
as quickly.

The twins slid forward in their
chairs, stares suspicious and hard.

“Tell us, Rune,” Levi said. He nodded
toward Lex. “You can talk in front of her. She’s not a child.”

She sighed. Speaking the word COS
aloud was like deliberately punching Lex in the face. Especially after Lex had sort
of opened up to her earlier. She closed her eyes for a second.

“Rune, you’re scaring the fuck out
of us,” Jack said, his voice harsh. “Out with it.”

She nodded and crossed her arms. “COS
is regrouping. Branches are being started all over, and you know they’re all
connected.”