Hungry Like the Wolf(16)

Gage didn’t like chaos.

“It’s was nothing, Sarg,” Lowry finally conceded. “We were just messing around and things got out of hand. It won’t happen again.”

Gage held him there until he was sure all four of them had firmly received the message. Then he lowered Delaney to the floor.

“No, it won’t happen again,” he agreed. “Because I’m breaking up your teams. Lowry, when Mike gets back, let him know you’ve been reassigned to Xander’s team, and that Delaney’s going to be your entry buddy. I want him to put you two shoulder-to-shoulder on every mission from this day forward.”

Gage ignored the look of shock on Lowry’s face and turned to look at Martinez. “I assume you got that arm looked at before you decided to get in a fight?”

The stocky man flexed his injured arm. “Yeah. Trevino fixed me up the moment we got back. It’s fine.”

“Good,” Gage said. “Because you’ll be taking Lowry’s spot on Mike’s team. Same thing applies—you’ll be tied to Malone every time the two of you walk through a hostile doorway.”

Martinez opened his mouth to argue, but Gage silenced him with a glare. Malone, on the other hand, was too fuzzy from his recent near-shift to keep his trap shut.

“But, Sarg, I’m your best sniper. I don’t usually go through doors.”

“You do now,” Gage told him. “So, I suggest you spend a lot of time with your new entry buddy and learn real fast.”

“Sarg, you can’t do this,” Delaney said. “We know we screwed up and we’ll fix everything, I swear. But you can’t break up Martinez and me—we’ve been on the same team for more than three years.”

“Then you’ll be able to bring Lowry up to speed on Xander’s tactics.”

“But Sarg—”

“Have you ever seen how tight the shorts are on those bike cops?” Gage asked.

Delaney snapped his mouth shut.

Gage looked at Brooks and Nelson. “Next time I expect you two to get in the middle of a fight and break it up—or you’ll be wearing the bike shorts. And I’m not sure they make any in your size, Brooks.”

The big African American shifted from one foot to the other. The ex–college fullback was probably envisioning himself in tight blue shorts and perched on a bicycle. Apparently, it wasn’t a very pretty image.

“Sure thing, Sergeant.”

“Good.” Gage jerked his head at the four junior officers. “Make sure they get those wounds cleaned up right before they start to heal. And make sure Martinez didn’t rip his open again.”

All he needed was for Martinez to be the first werewolf who got an infection. Going to the hospital really wasn’t something werewolves preferred to do.

Gage started for the door, then stopped and turned back to them. “And get this mess cleaned up. I want everyone in the classroom in fifteen minutes.”

He didn’t need to see his men’s scowls to know he wasn’t their favorite person right now. It made him wonder what they were going to think of him when he told them about Mackenzie Stone.

***

“Xander isn’t getting jacked up,” Gage said for the third time.

He’d started their all-call meeting with a quick briefing of the hostage situation earlier, then touched on the detailed level of questioning he and Xander had gone through downtown. At least he’d planned on it being brief. He wanted to get to the real reason he’d called everyone together—Mackenzie Stone—but he couldn’t get the team to focus on anything other than Internal Affairs grilling one of their own.

“Then why is IA still questioning him?” Remy Boudreaux asked, a trace of his Louisiana accent coming through.

Gage suppressed a growl. Sometimes his guys were bigger conspiracy nuts than Mulder and Scully. “They’re just going over his statement to make sure there aren’t any inconsistencies that could end up in a lawsuit. They’re trying to help him, not screw him. Besides, he’s probably already on his way back.”

“Then if you didn’t call us here to talk about Xander, what’s this about?” Martinez asked.

Gage was pleased to see the cop sitting beside his new best buddy, Malone. On the other side of the room, Delaney and Lowry were doing the same. Maybe they had the ability to overcome their petty squabbles faster than he’d given them credit for.

“Yeah, Sarg.” Mike was lounging back in his chair, a knowing smile on his face. “What are we here to talk about?”

Gage scowled at his squad leader. Mike wasn’t going to cut him a break, damn him. And while the rest of the guys might not know what was going on, they’d definitely picked up on the strange vibe. Well, everyone except for Cooper. He was reading a damn comic book.