Free In the Werewolf's Den by Rob Preece

to blow the whistle and bring it to a premature end. Any danger at all."
    "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind."
    The weight that had settled on her chest when Joe had told her that Carl was a Washington directive lifted. She had her ticket out. At any time, she could simply call Joe, tell him there was a danger, and she'd be wearing her informal dress Hunter uniform to the next Warder cocktail party. Cool.
    "Yes, sir."
    He grasped her biceps and squeezed. “I hope you've kept your training up, Agent Goodman. Because if you decide to cancel the project, I'm ordering that you also terminate Harriman immediately. And be careful. Harriman may only be a Were , but he was a third-degree black belt before his impairment. And now he's got wolf reflexes to go with his skill. Don't underestimate your opponent, Goodman."
    Her momentary elation evaporated like a mirage. She could have her dream job, but only by killing the man she'd learned to like and admire. Still, Danielle was a warder. She'd do her duty.
    "I've been continuing with my training, sir,” she ansWered honestly. “And I have no concerns about my ability to take Harriman and any mob he assembles."
    Joe pulled a red bandana from his pocked, wiped his sweating forehead, and peered at her. “Assembling a mob. Is that what Harriman is doing?"
    "He's hired some lab assistants and gofers,” she said. “He wouldn't call it a mob, but you know the law."
    The law made it illegal for more than four impaired to gather together in one place. It was a law that made absolutely no sense in the zone, but that provided warders legal justification for any activity they deemed necessary. Not that the courts had bothered to question the warders legal abilities since the Supreme Court handed down the People vs. Delaware Impaired decision.
    Joe nodded. “It's a mob when we need it to be. Good work, Danielle. I knew I could count on you."
    She nodded, torn between her pride at Joe's confidence in her and the empty certainty that killing Carl would be the most difficult thing she would do in her life.
* * * *
    Danielle returned to Carl's compound filled with a grim determination to keep Carl in line—and to make sure she wasn't forced into terminating him. She expanded her bugging to the entire lab complex, spent late nights reviewing every questionable computer file, and battled down any temptation to see Carl as a man rather than as an impaired.
    Then she worked on integrating herself more closely into his activities. Like helping with security.
    A few days after her meeting with Joe, an outlaw gang's attempt to extort one of Carl's lab assistants created an opportunity to do just that.
    She and Mike tried to keep Carl out of it, but he insisted on going along when they told him they were going to spike a shakedown on Dean, a lab tech.
    It ended up with Mike, Danielle, Carl, the two dwarves, and a troll all trying to look inconspicuous on a narrow zone street.
    "Perfect. We can see his apartment from here.” Mike the Vampire plopped down on at a little cafe-style table outside a small bar.
    Danielle joined Mike, Carl, and the dwarves at the table, but kept her eyes busy looking for Dean. Snori, the troll whom Carl had hired that morning, stood across the street, blocking the intersection like a statue.
    The waitress, a little fairy-like creature with non-functional wings that flapped at hummingbird speeds and merely stirred the moist Dallas air around them, made sure she stayed a good six feet away when she took their orders.
    She squealed when Mike ordered a Bloody Mary.
    The two dwarves wanted coffee, but settled for beer when Mike shot them a glare.
    "You don't want to see dwarves hyper on coffee,” he explained to Danielle.
    Danielle nodded and asked for bottled water from across the zone line.
    That got more attention than everything else put together, including the vampire.
    The waitress fled, not even waiting to take Carl's order, and returned with the beer, the Bloody Mary, and a