"Isn't it always?" I asked. "Foil the werewolves, save the world. That should be our motto. "
Except mottos aren't too common in the secret agency biz.
"I do not have time for your humor, Jessie. "
I guess that meant I should lay off the sarcasm. But then what would I have to say?
"I had a call from headquarters," Mandenauer continued. "I need the two of you to pack your things. And he--" Mandenauer waved his hand vaguely in Will's direction. "Should bring his computer. "
"He has a name," I said.
Though Will had no trouble calling Edward . . . Edward, the old man couldn't seem to get his tight lips around the word Will. I wasn't sure if that was because Mandenauer really didn't like him, or because he didn't know how to be anything other than cranky.
I suspect having your world turned upside down when you were still a young man wasn't easy. Devoting your life to killing the monsters Hitler had ordered his insane pal Mengele to make meant Edward had been on the hunt for over sixty years. I didn't know if he'd ever been married; the idea of him dating was scary enough.
Mandenauer grunted but didn't bother to apologize, and Will didn't seem to care. He was the least likely person to take offense I'd ever met, which I guess was a good thing considering how annoying I could be. There were also a lot of people in small towns all over the north who didn't much care for Indians, and weren't shy about saying so. It didn't take fur, claws and teeth to make some folks into monsters.
Will went into the bedroom and returned with his laptop. Then he sat at the table, booted up the computer and started searching for his glasses.
"Here. " I snatched them off the end table where he'd left them earlier.
Will was forever misplacing the things, sometimes right on top of his head. I don't know why I found that absentminded professor stuff both sexy and endearing. The combination of that face, the body and his wire rimmed glasses . . . Let's just say I asked him to wear those glasses a lot.
Glasses and nothing else.
"Where, when and what?" Will's long clever fingers skated over the keyboard.
"The village is called Riverview," Edward continued. "For the past several months citizens have been going insane at an alarming rate. "
"When you say insane . . . " I let my voice trail off. In our world, insane covered a whole lot of a territory.
There were those who believed they were werewolves and those who actually were. Both were nuts, but the latter had enough supernatural power to cause major death and destruction, not to mention turn normal, everyday nice people into murdering evil beasts.
And that was only the werewolves. According to Edward, there were a whole host of other things out there we didn't even know about yet.
"In this case," Mandenauer answered, "I am talking about normal insanity. "
"Isn't that an oxymoron?" Will murmured, still staring at his computer.
Edward ignored him. "The afflicted degene
rate into gibbering fools. Nothing medical science has at its disposal will stop them. "
Will glanced up from the screen. "Has medical science been able to determine what sent them over the edge?"
Edward shook his head. "They have tested the air, the water, the soil, the very buildings in which they live and the food that they eat. "
Will frowned and went back to his computer.
Chapter Two
"I understand why this is a concern," I said, "but why is it our concern?"
Mandenauer's influence was far-flung. Having the U. S. government behind him, albeit secretly, meant he not only had access to a lot of resources but also to a lot of funding. His spidery webs reached all over the place. Every odd report was tagged and sent to Jager-Sucher headquarters in Montana, where Edward's right hand woman, Elise, would dispatch agents to check out what was happening and, if necessary, eliminate it.
"I can't find anything on the internet about this," Will murmured.
"Do you think I would let it become common knowledge?"