The simulation ended and the lights came up. I walked back to the control station and all three officers were staring at me. “How did I do?”
Roma spoke first. “You failed. You froze up on the first target.”
“Ah, Inspector, I didn't freeze. It was a non-attacking vampire, so I held my fire.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Chris, they're all hostile. You have to engage them all. If you had left it behind you, it could have come up and killed you anytime while you were engaged with the rest of them.”
“Sir, with all due respect, I can't go around shooting every vampire or were I see, or I'll be declaring war on the supernatural community. And a lot of them snarl from time to time. It would be like shooting a human that yelled or swore.”
He started to disagree, then stopped himself and thought about it for a moment. He nodded slowly. “I get your point.” The implications of the simulation were sinking in on all three of them. Without really thinking about it, they had created a training program that taught the squad to shoot any and all supernaturals on sight. It made me realize just how little contact the team had with actual vampires and weres. I needed to correct that as soon as I could, or there would be a real bad incident in the future.
“What did you think of the rest of the simulation?” Sommers asked.
“Well, honestly, it's kinda slow. Most weres and vampires move faster than that. Older vampires move a lot faster.”
They looked at me a little stunned. Finally, Roma asked a question. “How was his shooting?”
Takata answered from the control station. “One hundred percent on accuracy. Reaction time...I'm going to have to recheck, because the numbers look ...unreal.”
What can I say, I got carried away with the simulation.
“Go ahead and recheck them, but I think you'll find that they are real.” Roma turned and addressed me. “Chris, your reflexes appear to be outside human normal. Any thoughts?”
I shrugged, not willing to go down that road.
“Hmm, I suppose we should just lump it in with the rest of your unusual quirks,” he said.
He seemed a little too willing to ignore my lapse of control, but then he might not want to upset me into jumping to the federal team either.
“What do you think fellas, are you done with him for the day?”
The two tactical operations officers looked at each other and then nodded.
“Okay, I'm gonna take him back to the offices, while you guys lock down the range.”
I thanked them for the shooting and followed the Inspector back to the squad offices. Olivia smiled at me as we walked through and into the conference room. “Ah sir, I was wondering if it might be a good idea for me to see about introducing the team to a couple of my..ah..friends?”
He didn't answer immediately, but then nodded. “I for one would like to meet Galina Demidova if possible.”
“She doesn't like me much, but her boss seems to. I'll ask Tatiana what she thinks.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You say that like you're talking about someone you met at church or a cocktail party or something. Wait a minute, did you say 'her boss'?”
“Yeah, Galina is a little young to be running a coven. She holds her position because of some special circumstances. But like all of the vampires, she answers to an Elder. Her Elder likes me...I think.”
“Is one of the special circumstances named Tatiana?” he guessed.
I didn't want to answer, but he read my expression and nodded to himself. “I thought it was something like that. We hear enough to know that your girlfriend holds some special spot in the vampire hierarchy. Care to explain?”
“Not really sir. I'm not sure I fully understand it all myself. I'll know more after tonight. Big party for Tatiana at club Plasma. Her birthday and Halloween and all that.”
“How is it that she has a birthday?” he asked.
“That, Sir, is the best question that you've asked so far.”
We were standing in the conference room, and just then the door opened behind us and Olivia came in with a plate of cupcakes, one of which had a candle in it. Gina, Fran and Chet all appeared in the doorways of their respective offices and called out, almost in unison, “Happy birthday!”
It was extremely awkward and Roma looked more surprised than I felt, but it had been a long time since anyone other than Gramps had acknowledged my birthday. It was an absurdly pleasant feeling. I blew out the candle before anyone could start singing and we all grabbed a cupcake. Olivia explained, “I happened to notice your birthdate in your personnel file and mentioned it to Gina. The local bakery only had cupcakes, but they're very cakey.”
“Thanks, I, ah , I haven't had a group birthday thing since I was eight.”
They all looked at me like that was the most pitiful thing they had ever heard.
“Well, if we had known there was a party, we wouldn't have left,” a voice said from the open doorway to Olivia's office. A tall blonde woman dressed in a dark suit stood in the doorway with a sardonic smile on her face and a really large dark haired man loomed behind her. Her eyes looked me over from head to toe in stark appraisal. She was attractive, but she gave off a serious 'don't screw with me' attitude.
Roma recovered after a moment, a frown flickering across his face.
“Agent Duclair, I didn't expect to see you again quite so soon.” His voice was cold.
“Oh you know how it is Martin, forgotten questions that you suddenly remember. We were still in the building so I thought I would pop back in to ask them in person.” She hadn't taken her eyes off me the whole time and there was something smugly triumphant in her expression. “But I see you have a new team member who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting. Hi, I'm Special Agent Briana Duclair, Homeland Security -- ,” she advanced with her hand out, “-- and you are?”
“Chris Gordon, ma'am” I automatically shook her hand. Her grip was strong and forceful, like a man's would be. The rest of my squad had sour expressions and Olivia looked angry, like her space had been violated, which in a manner of speaking it had.
“Shame on you Martin! You never told me you had a new member of your little squad. And such a handsome one at that.” Now she was making fun of the team and me in one shot. I stepped back a pace from her in annoyance. Her right eyebrow raised slightly as she took in my expression and I had the sinking feeling I had another 'facial coding' expert on my hands. Gina Velasquez had a blank look on her face and I realized she was wearing her poker face. I glanced at the big man who had moved into the doorway when Agent Duclair had stepped forward. He would be Eric Adler, I figured. About six four or six five, probably two hundred and thirty pounds, short brown hair and pale gray eyes that focused like lasers on me. Takata and Sommers entered the outer office behind him and he swung back to put his back to the wall, watching them like a bodyguard in hostile territory. Both officers went on point like attack dogs and you could feel the tension ratchet up immediately. Duclair ignored all that and continued to appraise me. “So Officer Gordon, what is your specialty? Psychic? Clairvoyant?” she asked.