“Where are we going?” Nina asked, glancing at her watch. “I have a lunch date this afternoon.” When Cosworth only stared at her, the much-smaller woman quickly added, “Which I, of course, will cancel.”
Crush walked into the Manhattan annex office of BPC and threw his still unconscious brothers to the floor. He knew she’d be here. Knew this was where she’d come during a time of crisis, when the organization was under threat. And she’d leave her little “soldiers” to man the main Brooklyn offices. Or, as Crush liked to call them, her “meat puppets.”
“You wanted to see me?” he asked of the polar sow sitting at the desk.
She looked at the bears on the floor, then up at Crush. “I sent six other—”
“They’re in the Dumpster outside my favorite coffee place.” He shrugged. “You know me and coffee.”
“Yes. I remember.” She gave a little laugh. “Did you kill them?”
“Didn’t have to.”
“Well, you certainly haven’t changed.”
“And I don’t plan to start now.”
“Still,” she gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk, “sit. Tell me how things have been going. How have you been doing?”
Crush dropped into the chair across from Peg Baissier. “I’ve been just fine. And you?”
Thirty-four years. It had been thirty-four years since Baissier had taken in Crush and his two brothers. And, in the beginning, he’d fallen in line just like all the others before him. It wasn’t hard. So young and yet learning to fight like in the martial arts movies. But when Crush had turned twelve, he’d found out what Baissier had gone out of her way not to tell them. That his parents had worked for her. Had died carrying out her orders. It wasn’t that they were soldiers that bothered him; it was that Baissier hadn’t told him. She’d hidden it like so many other things she’d hidden. And Crush, curious bear that he was, had looked into it. After school, instead of heading home for more training, he’d become friends with wolves, coyotes, foxes. He’d learned to break and enter, to hot-wire cars, to snoop, to steal. Then, once he had the skills down, he’d put them to use not breaking the law but finding out what his parents had done and how they’d died. By the time he was sixteen, he knew more than he’d ever wanted to know about his parents, about Baissier, about all of it. But he finally knew the truth.
At the time, Baissier had no idea. Instead, she thought he was just being a hardheaded kid. She made it plain she didn’t like him, always calling him “the contrary one.” Or “Mr. Difficult,” because he questioned everything and refused to play along—with anything. If, in the middle of August, she said it was hot outside, Crush went out in a fur jacket. If she said it was nighttime, he wore sunglasses. He mostly did it to piss her off, but he also did it to ensure that he never became what she wanted him to be. Another meat puppet to carry out her orders.
“What do you want?” he asked, already fed up at seeing her face.
“There was a big mess last night, eh? Glad to see you’re okay, though.”
“I’m not in the mood to play this game with you. What do you want?”
“Just wondered why you attacked my people.”
“They attacked us first.”
“Attacked you? Or attacked those cats and the politically correct Group?”
“This is bullshit. Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”
“And what truth is that?”
“What you want with Whitlan.”
“Who says I want—”
“I like how you didn’t ask who he is. Just went into your denials.” Gray began to wake up and without even looking away from Baissier, Crush slammed his fist in his brother’s head, knocking him out again. “You haven’t fuckin’ changed a bit. Have you, Mom? That is what you told us all to call you, right? Mom?”
“You always were an ungrateful little fuck.”
“And don’t forget disloyal.” Crush stood. “Send all the meat puppets you want. Come after me all you want. But if you worked with Whitlan on anything, for any reason, I will nail you to the cross.”
“It’s always a pleasure to see you again, Lou.”
“Yeah,” he said, walking out, “fuck you, too.”
Holding an ice pack to his head, Chazz settled down across from his foster mother. He’d be honest here ... he didn’t really know what was going on. But he knew Peg could get rather ... fixed on things. And right now she was fixed on his brother. It didn’t help that the idiot couldn’t play along, for just a bit. He always had to be such a hard-ass.
“Now what?”
Peg Baissier sat back in her chair, her hands steepled under her chin. “I’ll tell the families the boys died in the line of duty.”
“And Lou?” Peg slowly raised her gaze and Chazz shook his head. “Can’t we just let it go? He can’t hurt us.”
“You know I would never hurt your brother.” Right. Of course, she wouldn’t. Still ...
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“That you blew his cover?”
“From what I understand, that was an accident and had nothing to do with me. And those who slipped up were reprimanded.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Chazz, honey, I would never hurt your brother. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s still my foster son. That means something to me.”
“Okay. But don’t hurt his dog, either.”
“Oh, my God! I would never hurt his dog.” She shook her head. “Honestly, stop listening to Lou’s craziness. I wouldn’t hurt his dog, I’m not going to hurt him. But I do not want this thing to snowball, either. This is how wars start, and we can’t afford that right now. Understand?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll handle it.”
“Excellent.” Peg focused on her computer screen and Chazz stood, reaching down to grab his unconscious brother’s arm. “Come on, idiot. Let’s get you an ice pack.”
Thirty minutes after the last Crushek was dragged from her office, one of Peg’s trusted men walked into her office, closing the door behind him. The black bear sat down and waited until she spoke.
“We need that boy distracted until we find that motherfucker Whitlan and take him out.” They had to take him out. They had to. Peg raised a finger. “But Crushek is to remain unhurt.” Peg knew there’d be no coming back from that among their own.
“Distracted or devastated? Because he’s made some interesting friends lately.”
“I don’t really give a shit, I just want him out of my way.” She simply couldn’t afford to have that boy find Whitlan first. Anyone else, especially one of those dogs or cats, she could easily dismiss as more evidence the other species were out to get her and the rest of the bear community. But among the bears, whether he knew it or not, Lou Crushek was known as an honest cop and bear. If he came out against her, especially after all these years without saying a word one way or the other ...
No, they had to find a way to keep Crushek busy until she finished this.
Peg flicked her hand, dismissing her employee. “Make it happen. Let me know when it’s done.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Crush sat at his desk and Dez, sitting at her desk with her legs up, lifted her sunglasses long enough to take a look at his face. “You didn’t look like that last night, did you?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“I’m running on two hours of sleep. I don’t remember shit.” She pointed at a Starbucks coffee cup on the desk.
“That mine?” he asked.
“You think I’d be fuckin’ pointing at it if it wasn’t for you?” she snapped back.
“Are you going to be like this every fuckin’ morning?”