there, cop." Wrath turned to V. "You get any info off those lessers? Or did Rhage clean house?"
V shook his head. "Everything was gone."
"Not exactly." Butch reached into his pocket and took out the wallet he'd removed from the treed lesser. "I got this off the one they turned on." He riffled through and found the driver's license. "Gary Essen. Hey, he lived in my old building. Just goes to show, you never know about your neighbors."
"I'll search the apartment," Tohr said.
As Butch tossed the wallet over, the brothers got up, ready to leave.
Tohr spoke before anyone took off. "There's one other thing. Got a phone call tonight. Civilian female found a young male out on his own. He had the name Tehrror on him. I told her to bring him to the training center tomorrow night."
"Interesting," Wrath said.
"He doesn't speak, and his translator's coming with him. It's a human, by the way." Tohr smiled and put the lesser's wallet in the back pocket of his leathers. "But don't worry about it. We'll scrub her memories."
As Mr. X opened up his cabin's front door, his mood was not improved by Mr. O's affect. The lesser on the other side was looking steady, unflappable. Humility would have gotten him further, but any form of weakness or submission was not in the man's nature. Yet.
Mr. X motioned his subordinate in. "You know something, this confession-of-failure thing we've got going on is not working for me. And I should have known not to trust you. You mind explaining why you killed your squadron?"
Mr. O pivoted around. "Excuse me?"
"Don't try to hide behind lies, it's annoying." Mr. X shut the door.
"I didn't kill them."
"But a creature did? Please, Mr. O. You could at least be more original. Better yet, blame it on the Brotherhood. That would be more plausible."
Mr. X walked across the cabin's main room, keeping quiet for a while so his subordinate could get good and worked up. He idly checked his laptop and then glanced around his private quarters. The place was rustic, the furniture sparse, the seventy-five surrounding acres a good buffer. The toilet didn't work, but as lessers didn't eat, that kind of facility was unnecessary. The shower ran just fine, however.
And until they settled on another recruitment center, this humble outpost was the society's headquarters.
"I told you exactly what I saw," Mr. O said, breaking the silence tightly. "Why would I lie?"
"The why is irrelevant to me." Mr. X casually opened the door to the bedroom. The hinges creaked. "You should know that I sent a squadron to the scene while you were driving out here. They reported that there was nothing left of the bodies, so I assume you stabbed them into the great unknown. And they confirmed that there had been one hell of fight, a lot of blood. I can imagine how your squadron fought against you. You must have been spectacular to win."
"If I'd killed them like that, why are my clothes mostly clean?"
"You changed before coming here. You're not stupid." Mr. X positioned himself in the bedroom's doorway. "So here's where we are, Mr. O. You are a pain in the ass, and the question I need to ask myself is whether you're worth all this aggravation. Those were Primes you killed out there. Seasoned lessers. Do you know how long - "
"I didn't kill them - "
Mr. X took two easy steps forward and coldcocked Mr. O in the jaw. The other man went down to the floor.
Mr. X put his boot on the side Mr. O's face, pinning him. "Let's quit it with that, okay? What I was saying was, do you have any idea how long it takes to make a Prime? Decades, centuries. You managed to wipe out three of them in one night. Which brings you to a total of four, counting Mr. M, who you sliced without my permission. And then there were the Betas you slayed tonight, as well."
Mr. O was spitting mad, his eyes glaring up from around the Timberland's sole. Mr. X leaned into his foot until those lids were wide, no longer narrow.
"So, again, I have to ask myself, are you worth it? You're only three years into the society. You're strong, you're effective, but you're proving impossible to control. I put you with Primes because I assumed you'd fall in line with their level of excellence and temper yourself. Instead, you killed them."
Mr. X felt his blood rise and reminded himself that