The Protectors

Troy was in a booth at the far end of an upscale hotel bar and signaled Sloan when he walked in. He stood, they shook hands, greeted each other and sat down.

Troy stared at Sloan. ”I hope you’re not wearing a wire or anything like that. I want this to be confidential.”

Sloan shook his head. “No wires, no parabolic mics. Nothing. This is between us.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t just take your word for it, but this is imperative, so it’s worth a chance.”

Troy took a deep breath. “Okay. You’re right. I am a werewolf.”

They stopped talking as the waitress takes their orders.

“I can prove it if you like,” Troy said. “Not here, of course, but …”

“No need for that. I believe you. But I’ve got questions. Were you born this way?

“All right. One thing at a time. I’ll tell you everything.”

•   •   •   •   •

“That’s a hell of a story,” Sloan said. “Especially the evil wolves. They really are a menace to society. And you said your pack is badly outnumbered.”

Trod nodded. “Yes, but we’ve learned to deal with that. And we have advantages over them that I’ll tell you about later.” He hesitated.

“The last time we talked, you said we might work together.”

“I remember that. But it was to stop criminals, to prevent crime.”

“That’s fine by me. But how about working together to get rid of the evil ones? They’re criminals. You just said they were a threat to society.”

Sloan thought for a moment. “That’s true. And I’m open to that, too.”

“Okay. I’ve got an idea. Let’s do what your Commissioner did to me.”

“Set a trap for them?”

“Yeah, use decoys. A man and a woman. They’d have to be ordinary humans. The evil pack would sense it if they were one of ours. When the evil ones attack, we hit them.”

“Could work. I know cops who’d go along with that.”