G.H.O.S.T. Teams (Book 2) Shifters (4 page)

“I have been doing this for quite a few years you know,” he said.

“That seems unlikely at your age.”

“I’m a bit older than I look,” Hunter stated.

“That’s good, because you look twelve.”

“Come on, with the tie I can easily pass for fourteen,” he smiled.

There was a small pause as some of the team started to giggle. Against my better judgment, I was starting to like the kid.

“Richardson is an accomplished field agent, Chang,” Dutton added.

“And you made it clear that team safety is my responsibility.”

I almost thought I saw the hints of a smile on Dutton’s face as if he hoped I wouldn’t take his word for things. But he didn’t add anything else to the discussion before Hunter spoke up.

“It’s all right sir,” Hunter called back over his shoulder, “I’m happy to prove my worth to Mr. Chang.”

“You can call him BD, we all do,” Danny added.

I gave Danny an unappreciative look, but it did little to wipe the smile off of his face.

“The Black Dragon, right?” Hunter asked.

I frowned at the kid as I replied, “Right.”

“Sorry, it’s just that your file is an interesting read,” he finished.

“Good to know.”

The kid was smart enough to sense that I didn’t want to discuss my nickname any further. Dutton, as was his way, just watched the interaction. I hadn’t known my boss for long, but one thing I knew for sure, he really enjoyed watching how people reacted to each other. It seemed to be his technique for sizing everyone up. Hunter took the break to change topics.

“Now, before we go any further, I feel as though I am being rude,” he started, looking at the rest of my team, “As I said, most people call me Hunter and it is a pleasure to meet you all.”

“It is an honor to meet a member of the esteemed Team Eleven. My name is Froedrick Blair, but the team has affectionately taken to calling me Freddy. We consider it a great privilege to have you working by our sides,” Freddy replied.

“The honor is mine,” Hunter replied with a small head bow.

The rest of the team introduced themselves with a little less flair. I was thankful.

“Kara Tremont. Nice to meet you,” she said.

“Erika Blackstone,” she nodded.

“And I’m Danny Frost,” he said.

“Again, it is great to meet you all. I am sure everyone is eager to get downstairs, but Mr. Dutton and I were just discussing the latest
intel we have received from Team Four. I think you will all want to hear this. Especially considering all the shifter fights you have been dealing with lately,” he said.

“Please continue,” Freddy said.

“Thank you. It looks like we have two Reds in town,” Hunter said.

“Fascinating,” Freddy replied.

As I glanced back at Freddy, I noticed a bit of tension in Erika’s body. I didn’t know what a Red was, but it seemed clear that their mention struck a nerve. Maybe that was the part of her past that she didn’t want to share. That, of course, made me want to know a little more about these Reds. 

“What’s a Red?”

Hunter looked ready to explain, but Freddy beat him to the punch.

“If I may?” he asked.

“Of course,” Hunter said, gesturing towards Freddy as if he was handing him permission.

“Thank you,” Freddy started, “It’s probably best to start at the beginning…”

I couldn’t help but sigh. “Is this something we should sit down for?”

“Perhaps we should get comfortable, there is a lot of pertinent information to share,” Freddy smiled.

“Of course there is.”

I heard a bit of a snicker slip out from the team behind me. Freddy was unfazed and very excited to share. Dutton however, had apparently seen enough of our interaction.

“Feel free to use the conference room,” he said, gesturing with his head.

“Thank you sir,” Freddy replied.

We all started shuffling through the single door, next to the main entrance, the kid and me bringing up the rear. I leaned towards him and lowered my voice a bit when I talked.

“I blame you for this.”

“Relax. How long can he really prattle on?” Hunter replied.

I couldn’t help but laugh, “Welcome to Team Thirteen, little buddy.”

The conference room was a decent size, with a large wooden table dominating its center. There were nine chairs down each side and one on each end, although you could probably fit a few more if needed. A large screen TV hung on the far wall and there was a small bar to the right of it where people could get tea, coffee, and water. A second door in the room led out into the hall directly across from Ms. No Nonsense’s desk. We all grabbed seats, Freddy at one end of the table and Danny taking the other end to make himself feel important. The girls sat next to each other on one side and Hunter joined me on the far side of the table. Once we were all settled, Freddy stood up, too excited to sit, and began to explain the Reds.

“The first recorded sighting of the Reds dates back to just before the Crusades. A group of young ladies in red hoods were found hunting lycanthropes in Estonia. They were said to…” I cut him off.

“Wait, stop, stop. Are you really about to tell me the story of Little Red Riding Hood?”

“I was not about to recite that tale, however, as you know, most fairy tales are based on some facts. For instance…” Freddy tried.

“Nope. No tangents. I never should have asked. Back on topic.”

“Very well,” Freddy nodded, “As I said, these young ladies were hunting lycanthropes. Now, obviously these were no ordinary young women. They are blessed with great strength, speed, and toughness. They also possess the ability to see in the dark and seem to have an uncanny knack for spotting shifters, even if those shifters are in human form. What’s truly fascinating however is their skin. First, while it looks perfectly normal to the casual observer, it actually gains an unusual quality that gives it similar properties to that of silver,” he said.

I looked over at Erika to see how she was reacting to this tale. She seemed to be uneasy at the telling and if I was reading her body language correctly, she was almost huddling close to Kara for support. There was obviously some connection here and judging from Freddy’s description, I was starting to think I knew what it was and why she skipped the silver gloves. In the interest of understanding more about Erika, I actually gave my attention back to Freddy.

“But the second and slightly more fascinating fact about their skin is that those Born of Silver, as they refer to themselves, actually have a telltale shimmer under the light of a full moon,” Freddy smiled.

“Please don’t tell me they are like sparkly vampires.”

Danny and Kara both snickered and Erika even smiled briefly.

“Of course not, everybody knows that vampires do not sparkle,” Freddy laughed, “That would be quite silly. No, the Reds have a subtle shimmer. It looks a bit like light reflecting off of a pearl. There is almost a silver or blue quality to the shine. Their abilities start to manifest around puberty and it is often seeing their skin under the light of the full moon that serves as confirmation of their identity. In similar fashion to the shifters, the gene of the Red seems to skip generations. We believe that the Red organization tracks hundreds of families waiting for suitable candidates to show up,” Freddy said.

“Are they always girls?”

“It would seem so. We believe that the red color was chosen as a symbol of the menstrual cycle and their journey into womanhood,” Freddy said. 

“Whoa! Come on Freddy. Dudes do not talk about that stuff.”

“Seriously bro,” Danny agreed.

The girls rolled their eyes and Hunter stayed silent. I guessed he was smart enough to not pick a side on the team just yet. Freddy just shook his head as if we were being immature. In my defense, girly stuff is icky.

“As I was saying, the red is a symbol of womanhood. To date, there have been no recorded sightings of a male Red. Once a young warrior is discovered, a seasoned veteran takes her under their wing. It is in this way that techniques and weapons are passed down through the generations. Currently, we believe there to be less than fifty Reds running around. Their numbers were severely reduced during the Great War,” he said.

“They fought in the war?”

“Everyone fought in that war,” Hunter whispered.

“Mr. Richardson is correct,”
Freddy added, “The Great War is called such because it was not just a war of mankind, but a war for all races. Even the Veil was in chaos. It was this fighting that caused several top-secret government organizations to first take notice of the supernatural. In fact, this is believed to be the origin of Hitler’s obsession with the occult. As you know, this led to the official formation of the GHOSTs in the Second World War in order to stop his paranormal forces,” Freddy said.

I glanced over at Hunter, “Let me guess, you were there?”

“I’m not that old,” he said.

“Sorry, the tie throws me off.”

“It does have that effect,” he replied dryly.

I gave him a half grinning nod before turning back to Freddy.

“Well Freddy, I never thought I’d say this, but I would really like you to tell me more about this Great War. However, we should probably save that for another time. For now, let’s stay with the ladies of red.”

“Very well,” Freddy continued, “It is important to note that the Reds and The GHOSTs do not have a working relationship…”

“Damn right,” Erika interjected.

“Yes. I believe that Ms. Blackstone is expressing her distaste for their operational methods. As GHOST agents we police the paranormal and attempt to give everyone a fair shake as it were. The Reds however do not believe in justice or order. They are hunters and have never been known to take prisoners. Their aim is to rid the world of shifters. While there have been a few exceptions, it is rare for one raised by the Reds to possess compassion towards the shifter community. If there are two of them in town, as Mr. Richardson has informed us, then we should be wary. They have been known to treat any in their path as obstacles. We will be viewed in a similar fashion,” Freddy added.

“Yeah, they can be quite a pain,” Hunter said.

“Okay. I assume we can’t call them up and make it clear that they should back off?”

“Unfortunately, they do not operate as an organization in the strictest sense. They use a series of underground channels to communicate, but we have had very little success locating or even intercepting any of their correspondence. From what little we know, they mostly operate as independent agents, only grouping together for larger crises. They have functioned in this way since their losses in the Great War. It is rare to find them in a larger city, such as the District, for very long. I would imagine these two have been drawn here because of the conflict between our local lycanthrope packs,” Freddy then looked over at Hunter before continuing, “Mr. Richardson, do we know anything specific about the two visiting our city?”

“Not really. Team Four stumbled upon some evidence that two Reds left Costa Rica four days ago, heading our way. Even with their aversion to air travel, it seems likely that they are already in town,” Hunter replied.

“Wait, Team Four? Is that the Brazilian team?”

“That is correct Mr. Chang. I consider it a compliment that you would remember that from my briefings on the GHOST organization,” Freddy smiled.

“Duh. Brazil.”

“Don’t get too excited mate, it’s mostly dudes,” Hunter said.

“What?! Well that’s depressing.”

Hunter patted me on the shoulder, “Team Six out of Sydney, all women.”

“I’m so on the wrong team.”

I couldn’t help but give Freddy and Danny a look of disapproval as I said it. Freddy seemed confused and Danny took offense. The girls were looking at me, nodding and smiling. It occurred to me that they might be cheering the idea of no men on their team. Clearly not what I intended.

“Hey now.”

They both laughed and shook their heads at me. Freddy looked a bit flustered as he tried to grasp all the ridiculousness that was flying around the room.

“Perhaps we should get back on topic,” Freddy suggested.

“Yeah, or adjourn this meeting and head down to get our tags,” Danny tried.

“I am excited as well Mr. Frost, but the tags can wait a bit longer. Right now our priority should be in preparing for a very dangerous enemy that we might encounter in the course of this mission,” Freddy replied.

“You mean prepare to wait in the van,” Danny scoffed.

He looked my way after he said it and made it clear that he wasn’t happy with me. I’d offered to train them, however nobody but Erika wanted to put in the time. Although lately, I had been rethinking my approach. While I wanted to do my best to prepare them for combat, I might need to start off a bit slower. In the grand scheme of things, I’d rather they improved slowly than not at all. It was probably time for the baby steps of fighting.

“Look, I might have been a bit hard on you all to start. How about we try it again? I’ll go slower. See if we can get you out of that van.”

“Fine,” Danny said, his arms still crossed in frustration.

“Speaking of fighting, anyone wanna fill me in on what to expect from these Reds?”

“Of course,” Freddy started, “As I said, they have strength and speed surpassing that of normal people.”

“You mean like everything else I have to fight around here? If I ever meet something that isn’t faster and stronger than me, I probably won’t know what to do with myself. What else?”

“While I have heard rare stories of Reds using firearms, their preferred weapon is a crossbow, their signature being silver-tipped arrows. They often use blades up close, but due to their skin’s unusual properties, they are happy to engage in fisticuffs with shifters. It is said that they are masters of hand to hand combat, practicing secret techniques that have been handed down through the ages,” Freddy said.

“Yeah, I’ve met my fair share of ‘secret technique’ folks. I’ll watch out for the crane-kick.”

Danny laughed and the girls snickered. I even thought I caught Hunter smile at the comment. Freddy, however, tried to keep things serious.

‘The Reds are skilled warriors, Mr. Chang. We would be better served if we do not so easily dismiss their training,” Freddy tried.

“Secret is normally the code word for flashy and overly complicated. I’ve told you all, a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick. What matters is when you use them and where you strike. Overly fancy tends to lead to trouble.”

“You mean like judo throwing a werewolf?” Erika asked.

“That doesn’t count because it was awesome! And let me just say how happy I am that someone saw that. The rest of you can ask Erika how cool I was.”

She shook her head, but I could see a small smile hidden in there. Since it was clear that no one was going to ask for details, I decided to help Freddy out and get us back on topic.

“So, are they known to dip their weapons in poison or anything like that we should be concerned with?”

“Not that I am aware of. I believe they consider themselves purists, not wanting to taint their silver weapons in any way,” he said.

“Got it. What else should I know?”

“Well, they should be easily identified by their red velvet cloaks and black leather outfits,” Freddy said.

“Black leather, you say.”

“Indeed. Our records indicate that this has long since been the traditional attire of the Reds,” he replied.

Erika shot me a look that made it clear this was not the time to joke about them being sexy. Since I was trying to stay on her good side and get her to open up to me, I let it go.

“Okay, should we bother trying to track them down, or is our concern still putting out lycan fires?”

“The Reds are just a result of the bigger problem. Our priority should be to figure out why the packs are fighting,” Hunter added.

“Mr. Richardson is right. The potential pack war is a much more volatile situation. Once the conflict with the lycanthrope packs is resolved, we can devote ourselves to locating these Reds. The pack leaders have agreed to sit down with us tomorrow and my hope is that we can find a peaceful resolution to these hostilities,” Freddy said.

“Is it only the lycan that the Reds hunt?”

“They don’t discriminate. They are happy to kill any shifter they come across,” Erika said.

“Ms. Blackstone is correct. While most Red attacks seem to be on the lycanthrope community, they do not spare the other shifters. But the outwardly aggressive nature of the werewolves seems to quite often put them on the spot,” Freddy added.