Gathering Storm (37 page)

“I’m going
along.
Don’t worry. We’ll see to
it he gets to the right place,” Rosie added.

The demon gaped.
“I get no respect.”

Litha double checked the catch on
the purple fur lined handcuffs, then gave Angel a goodbye kiss on
the cheek.

“Wish me luck.”
The way he looked at Litha made her hope there was another version
of her in his dimension. One who was languishing and just didn’t
know she was waiting for a tall, dark, and gorgeous knight to come
walking through the Headquarters foyer so that she could wake from
her half-sleep and feel a rush of aliveness.

Z Team waited in
the hallway until they were formally admitted to the Chamber
by Glen’s assistant, Barrock. A table
was situated in the middle of the room. Engel Storm and Glendennon
Catch were seated behind it. Off to the side, on the first tier of
curved bench seating, were Thelonius M. Monq, Elora Laiken,
Kristoph Falcon, and Rolfe Wakenmann. On the other side, a
bespectacled young man sat with a device that looked like a
miniature sound board. Barrock closed the door behind them and
directed the four men to, “Stand there.” He pointed to an invisible
line on the floor about five paces from the table.

When they were in
place, Barrock said, “These proceedings will be recorded. Do you
understand?” They looked at the sound engineer and nodded. “Good.
Will each of you state
your name
so that we may begin?”

“Torrent
Finnagarick.”

“
Rafael
Nightsong.”

“
Gunnar
Gustafsven.”

“Robert
Forzepellin.”

After stating
their names, the four stood waiting,
quietly but obviously seething about being held accountable.
That collective state of mind was further antagonized by the fact
that Storm made them stand waiting.

Storm didn’t try to hide his
contempt as he stared at them.

“Why so serious?
You must enjoy proceedings like this or they wouldn’t
have occupied so much of your
careers.”

A muscle ticked
visibly in Torn’s jaw.

“A report has to
be filed concerning the particulars of the attack on Jefferson Unit
and there are a few details that are fuzzy. Part of the purpose of
this hearing is to clear up those details. So let me ask. Were you
aware that Glendennon Catch was in charge as acting Sovereign at
the time of attack?” There was mumbling and a couple of slight
nods. “Gentlemen. You’re not teenagers called to the principal’s
office. Will someone speak up so that you can be clearly understood
for the official record?”

Raif said, “Yes. We were aware
that Glen was in charge.”

“Thank you, Sir
Nightsong. That’s Acting Sovereign Catch to you. And did you make a
reasonable effort to seek him out and submit to his
authority?”

“
No.”

“Why not?” All
four looked at Glen and then back to Storm. “Someone?” Pause.
“Anyone.” Pause. “Gustafsven?”

“All respect,
sir, we didn’t think that Gle… um, Acting Sovereign Catch’s
experience prepared him to make battle command
decisions.”

“I see. It so
happens, he didn’t think so either. That is why he placed Jefferson
Unit and its defense, that includes you, under the temporary
martial command of Lady Laiken. Did you make yourselves available
to follow her orders?” No one answered. “Finngarick?”

“
No.”

“
No? Why
not?”

Torn glanced at
Elora.
“For one thing we didn’t
know she’d been put in charge.”

“F
or one thing? Is
there
another
thing you want to add to that
statement, Finngarick?”

Torn
glowered at Storm. “No.”

“
As a review for the record, you did not make any effort
whatsoever to seek out the unit command for orders. In fact, what
did you say to Elora Laiken?”

Glyphs spoke up
at that point. “I told her to stay out of our way.”

Having that
admitted so blatantly and shamelessly made Storm look like he was
going to breathe fire the next time he exhaled. As that fury
radiated from every pore, he glared at Glyphs for a moment
more.

Storm turned
toward Elora. “Is that an accurate retelling of what
occur
red, Lady
Laiken?”

Elora looked at Z Team as she
said, “It is, Sir Storm.”

“
Thank you. The
witnesses are dismissed.”

Monq,
Elora, Kris and Wakey got up to leave.
Everyone except Elora went straight to the door Barrock was holding
open for them, but she detoured so that she could cross in front of
Z Team on the way out and took her time doing so. She stopped in
front of each and held his eyes for a moment before leaving the
room. She wanted to make the point that she wasn’t intimidated by
them or their reputation and that she didn’t need daddy to
discipline the kids on her behalf.

When the door
had once again closed, Storm said, “It can’t have escaped your
notice that The Order is running out of things to do with you. Who
among you understands that something went terribly amiss and can
describe what that was?”

When it was clear
that no
one else was going to
speak, Gustafsven finally said, “We should have followed chain of
command. We should have made every effort to locate Acting
Sovereign Catch and get our orders.”

Storm nodded. “What else?”

“
We shouldn’t
have been disrespectful to another knight even if the knight is a
woman.”

“
What
else?”

Silence.

“Very well,”
Storm began, “I’ll tell you what else. The four of you have lived
inside each other’s asses for so long you’ve lost the ability to
smell stink. Your team has taken on the worst qualities of each
other and magnified them. The result is a mess.

“Your actions
violated at least three of your vow
s to Black Swan. Further, by walking off as a team, leaving
the non-combat residents of Jefferson Unit completely vulnerable,
you chose to stay together and protect each other instead of them.
That flies in the face of everything the knighthood stands for and
is so disgraceful I can barely stand to be in the same room with
you.

”I have my
do
ubts that you have any honor
or good judgment to rehabilitate, but as a last step before
stripping you of hunter status and sending you to various minimum
security jobs, I’m going to recommend that Z Team be dismantled and
that each of you be reassigned to serve with other
teams.”

Finngarick
and Nightsong both paled at that
suggestion. It was clear they’d rather be sent to Antarctica
together than be split up.

“Now hold it
right there, “
Glyphs
said.

Storm managed to grind out, “I beg
your pardon?”

“
I’m
retiring.”

The other three members of Z team
jerked their heads toward him. It was obvious they hadn’t seen that
coming. He saw the question on their faces.

“I stepped out
with that coffee girl, Brendel. She asked me what I’d be doing if I
did something else. I got to thinking that I’ve been taking orders
from Black Swan since I was thirteen years old. I was so busy doing
what I was told that I never thought about asking myself that
question. When I did ask myself that question, I realized that I’m
way past done. I want to work on cars. Maybe cars and bikes. Or
just bikes. Doesn’t matter. What does matter is I’m over this
quasi-military bullshit. I don’t care if I’m discharged honorably
or not. I don’t care if I get a pension or not. Give my place to
somebody else.”

“Done. No
reason
to ask twice.”

“
Just like that,”
Glyphs said.

Storm turned
slowly and pinned him with a glacial stare.
“What were you thinking? Commendation? Gold watch?
You get a big adios and Catch’s assistant will get the door for you
on your way out.”

Glyphs took a
look at
his longtime compadres
and walked out. According to Storm’s suggestion, Barrock did hold
the door open for his uncelebrated exit.

“
Now
then...”

“
Sir
Storm.”

Storm turned to Glen.

“
Excuse the
interruption. Could I have an aside?”

“
Of
course.”

Storm and Glen walked off to the
side of the Chamber where it would be more difficult to be
heard.

“
I’d like to
present an option.”

“
Sure. Go
ahead.”

“Well, the past
weeks have made it painfully clear to me that I’m not cut out for
desk work. I’m up for bidding, as of now, and I want hunter
division if you think I’ll be approved.”

“
Of course you’ll
be approved. No question. Surely you know it.”

“
Well,” he looked
over at the three remaining members of Z Team, “instead of
disbanding them… just yet, we could try one other thing first. Let
me take Glyphs’s place.”

“
Glyphs?”

“
Um, Robert
Forzepellin. I dubbed him Glyphs.”

“
You dubbed
him?”

“
Yeah.”

Storm studied Glen for a minute.
“That indicates they might have some regard for you.” Storm looked
over at Z Team. “I don’t have to tell you how I feel about
them.”

Glen barely suppressed a full on
grin. “No sir.”

“Putting someone
like you in the middle of a rats’ nest… Seems like oil and water to
me. You know you already have a reputation for good judgment.
Commendable at any age. Incredible at your age. But I
cannot
stress the gravity of this question enough. Are. You.
Sure?”

“Like you said,
they’ve been on a loop for too long. And, they’ve been living on
the edge of civilization. Maybe they need some reminders about what
knights are supposed to be, inject another voice.”

Storm stared at
the floor for a minute with his lips pursed.
“I’ll agree to it on a temporary basis. Three
months.”

“
Six
months.”

“Done. I have a
few more conditions, but I can spell out terms for the
record.”

Storm returned, but did not retake
his seat. He leaned against the table instead.

“Well,
gentlemen, and, believe me, I’m using the term loosely, Acting
Sovereign Catch has suggested an alternative, but I won’t sign off
on it unless I have your agreement to all accompanying
conditions.

“It seems that
Catch here thinks his butt is getting numb in an administrator’s
chair.” Z Team looked at Glen appreciatively. “He’s throwing in
with hunters. Says he’d like to see you get one more shot at this
before we bust up Zed Company. So, he’s volunteering to take
Forzepellin’s place on the team. Personally I don’t see it, but I
have enough respect for him to let him try”

Z Team’s
expressions moved from surprise, to interest, to relief, to
amusement.

“Now for my
conditions. There will be a review in six months to determine
whether the assignment should be permanent or whether the
experiment should be disbanded. Meanwhile, I would like your word,
as knights, that for the next six months, you not make
any
choice or decision without first hearing and considering
Glen’s opinion.

“He has great
instincts, keen perception, and astute logic. One of his best
qualities is that he can wield a delicate touch when it’s called
for. I’ve seen him manage a testy werewolf king with the diplomacy
of an angel dancing on the head of a pin. He could be your savior
if you let him.

“To help with
that, I’m appointing Gustafsven
team leader for the probationary period of a half
year.”

Nightsong and
Finngarick looked at Storm like he’d lost his mind.

“
Yes. I know that
teams traditionally don’t appoint leaders, but that’s one of my
conditions. What do you say?”

After a couple of beats Gustafsven
said, “We’d like to discuss between the three of us for a
minute.”

“
Be my
guest.”

“
They went into a
huddle and whispered together for less than a minute.

“
We accept your
conditions and would be honored to have Acting Sovereign Catch
serve with us.”

“An excellent
choice. We’ll take care of the formalities and roll out the new
team configuration in seven days, after the funeral and the honors
ceremony. I’ll add just one more thing before I close these
proceedings.

“I want to be
sure you understand the cause and effect that led you here.
If not for your arrogance and rashness,
you wouldn’t have left the non-combat staff and trainees without
your badly needed skills. Not to mention the other knights. You
started to believe the myth of your invincible badness, which is
too foolish to even dignify with discussion.

“Most
importantly, if you hadn’t grown complacent with your antisocial
policy of us-four-and-no-more, you would have learned, through
interaction with other knights during your stay here at Jefferson
Unit, that the Lady Laiken was the prize of B Team and not someone
to be dismissed in the event of trouble. You would also have
learned about the pure, immortal vampire known as Animal House
around here. Had you known about them when you encountered them,
you would have asked for their help in fending off the attack
rather than trying to murder our allies. Had you done that, the
conflict would have been put down effortlessly without injury to
any of ours.