“That doesn’t matter now,” Pierre Darne said. “My concern is that this may happen again.”

“It’s possible. One of my men travelled with Agent Franks from the Monster Control Bureau to where the creature originated from. Knowing what we know now, I think he might have experienced something related. Owen, report.”

“Can do.” I gave them the quick rundown about what I’d seen in Dugway. It only took a few minutes. I could tell that many of them were angry that they hadn’t heard this several hours ago, but we hadn’t known then that the damn whatever-it-was was here with us at the time.

“The ghoul…It appeared, attacked, and then was gone,” the Pole stated.

I knew where he was going. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What happened here was far more elaborate. The thing that jumped on me only lasted for a few seconds, and there was only the one.” If my fists weren’t still sore from punching it I could almost have dismissed it as a figment of my imagination. “Tonight was a whole lot nastier.”

“I have a theory…” Julie began.

“I’ve got my own theory.” The Greek Hunter had decided he wasn’t finished and stormed back to the center of the room. “A portal appears and kills off MHI’s competitors. Then, since they were the only ones that were prepared, MHI banishes the creatures, saves the day, and I’m sure will claim the bounty. They are heroes. Their competitors are gone. It is all too convenient.”

There was a lot of murmuring at that. Most of the other leaders seemed annoyed or incredulous, but a few looked intrigued at the idea. “That’s ridiculous,” I said, sick of his crap. “You seriously need to shut the hell up before you get hurt.”

“You’re not in charge here. I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Well, I’m wearing an automatic shotgun while you’re just wearing tighty-whiteys, so you might want to start.”

There was a reason that Julie was our negotiator. She stepped between us. “I can assure you MHI had nothing to do with this.” Despite being frustrated, she was still trying to hold together the fragile alliance she’d helped form earlier. “If we were trying to get our competitors killed, why’d we sound the alarm and start an evacuation?”

“I don’t understand your plot yet, but it wouldn’t be the first time MHI has opened a portal. The bastard Ray Shackleford did it once.” He said, glaring at Julie. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that his daughter followed in his footsteps.”