“Mr. Badd had it,” whispered a young man with eyebrows that had grown so furry they almost obscured his eyes. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. “He’s probably gone home for the night, but he might keep the key in his office. Upstairs.”
“Told you so,” said Frank. “Upstairs. Let’s go.”
“Wait. We should gather more evidence,” said Charlie.
“We could split up,” Jack McCall suggested.
Bill smoothed down his mustache. “Yes. We would cover more ground that way.”
“We don’t need to cover ground,” Frank said. “We need to find the key, which could be in Mr. Badd’s office right now. Where we might even find Mr. Badd himself.”
“It’s not enough to simply find Mr. Badd,” argued Charlie. “We have to have grounds to arrest him. We can’t simply march up to him and say, ‘We heard you’re bad, so you’re under arrest.’”
Frank turned to the young man with the eyebrows. “Who bit you?”
“I’m not sure. It was a garou.”
“Well, who locked you up in this cage?”
“Mr. Badd.”
“So now we’ve established that Mr. Badd is bad,” said Frank. “Let’s arrest him.”
“But why did he do these things?” asked Charlie. “What’s his motive?”
“Uh, because he’s bad?” ventured Jane.
“Because he’s high up in the ranks of the Pack. Possibly even the Alpha.” Frank swiveled to look at Jack McCall. “Isn’t that what you told us?”
Jack nodded vigorously. “Yep. That is what I said. Yep.”
“So why does the Alpha want to bite a bunch of random factory workers? It’s not like these people volunteered to join,” said Charlie.
“I don’t rightly know,” mumbled Jack McCall.
“Charlie’s right. We need more information,” Bill decided.
“Couldn’t we get that after we arrest Mr. Badd?” Frank checked his watch. “Like, tomorrow morning, perhaps?”
“We could split up,” Jack McCall said again. “One group could go look for the key in the office. And the other could poke around down here.”
“That’s a terrible idea,” exclaimed Frank. (As your narrators, we’re completely with Frank on this. In spooky places, never, ever split up. But our heroes had never seen a horror movie, so what happened was:)
“Yes. We’ll split up,” Charlie decided.
Jack McCall smiled toothily at Jane. “I’ll go with you.”
“Nah, me and Frank will go upstairs,” Jane said quickly. “Seeing as how I’m the best tracker and Frank’s the best looker.”
“You mean best-looking,” Frank said.
Jane punched his arm. “We’ll search the office for the key. You three can stay here and talk to the workers. Look for more evidence.”
“All right, you two go,” said Bill. “And if you happen upon Mr. Badd up there, don’t engage with him. Just hurry back.”
And that’s how Frank and Jane ended up on the second floor a few minutes later.
“There’s got to be a place to go,” Jane muttered.
“We’re going to look for the key,” Frank reminded her. “In the office.”
“No, I mean, go.”
“Oh.” Frank glanced around. He had a prickly feeling he was being watched. “Still?”
“Of course, still!”
“You can’t hold it?”
“I’ve been holding it!”
Right then, they heard voices from up ahead. They were coming from behind a cloudy glass door. An office, clearly. The name on the door was Mr. Thaddeus Badd, Manager, and by the sound of the voices, Mr. Badd was in there now.
Frank’s heart was beating fast. What if this was it? The Alpha, at long last.
They crept toward the door, listening. Which was easy, because the folks inside were shouting.
“You’re a fool!” cried a low voice, a man’s voice.
“I’m sorry,” pleaded an even deeper voice. “I was only doing what you said, and you said to bite as many as I could.”
“Not all from one place, you idiot! And not from the factory! You were supposed to be discreet.” As he moved closer to the door, Frank could see that the man wore a tall top hat.
“You didn’t tell me to be discreet,” said the second voice. “I was only trying to do what I was told! I’ll bite people away from here next time. I’ll go to the other side of town.”
“You won’t bite anyone else,” directed the top hat man. “You’ll take the ones you’ve already infected to the train one or two at a time. There will be someone there to accompany them, and someone to pick them up on the other end and transport them the rest of the way.”
“It’ll cost,” said the deeper voice. “I don’t have much money.”
“You’ll be provided with the money for their fare, of course. But what’s more, if you don’t screw this up, maybe the Alpha will decide to let you live.”
Frank and Jane exchanged glances. If they were talking about the Alpha, then neither of these men were the Pack’s leader. Jack McCall had been wrong. What a shock.
Still, Mr. Badd sounded like he might be important, so they kept listening.
“The Alpha knows?” came the second voice fearfully.
“There was a newspaper story!” yelled the top hat man. “I’d be surprised if the Alpha hasn’t already sent someone to take care of the situation. And by that I mean, to take care of you! I would dispatch you myself, but that would draw even more attention.”
“I’m sorry!” whimpered the second voice miserably. “Please tell the Alpha I’ll do better.”
“How many do we have?” asked the top hat man.
“Fourteen. Three or four should be turning any day now.”
“Good. Send the first along on Tuesday.”
“Yes, sir,” said the deep voice. “Thank you, sir.”
Now, as the two men had been speaking, Jane and Frank had also been having a conversation, a silent one, communicated through looks and gestures. It had gone something like this:
Jane: Should we bust in on them now?
Frank: No. NO. I mean it. No.
Jane: I think we should bust in on them now. Time’s a wastin’. Remember the show?
Frank: I know, I know. But let’s keep listening.
Jane: Fine.
Frank and Jane: (listening)
Voices: Something about the Alpha. Something about Tuesday. “Thank you, sir.”
Jane (lifting her pistol): Their conversation appears to be over. Now can we bust in on them?
Frank (also pulling out his pistol): Okay. You cover one, and I’ll take the other.
Jane: OKAY! LET’S DO THIS!
Frank (grabbing Jane’s shoulder): Wait. We have to take them alive. We’re going to arrest them, remember. Not shoot them.
Jane: Okay, fine! LET’S DO THIS.
Frank: Okay. On my count. One. Two—
But before he could get to three there was a huge crash from somewhere below them, big enough to make the floor shudder.