Harbinger scowled and both of them shut up. “Not that I don’t like the idea of kicking all our competitor’s asses as a business model, but I don’t like the reality of it costing me so damn much. Y’all better start praying the zombie apocalypse starts soon, because you’re going to need that much PUFF money. The bill for this fiasco is coming out of your pay.” There was a collective groan at that. “Collect your crap and let’s get back to the hotel.”

I waited until everyone else was heading for the sign-out desk. There was a big box of evidence weapons to be sorted through, and Green, having had the sense to leave his gun in his room after he’d raided the minibar, had been the only one of us unarmed. I motioned for my boss’s attention. “Hang on a second, Earl. We need to talk.”

“This better be good news, because so far I ain’t happy about the less-than-illustrious start of this conference.”

“We’ve got a problem with one of the Newbies.” I didn’t know all the details of what had happened in Michigan, and Earl had never wanted to elaborate much, but I knew that Jason Lacoco had been involved in that incident. Somehow he had gained Earl’s respect, and that was a tough thing to do.

“Near as we can figure, the elf is still hiding somewhere in the casino. Tanya will come out when she thinks the coast is clear. Trailer park elves are sneaky like that.”

“Not her. Lacoco. He started the fight. Not Green.”

“He’s at the hospital.” Earl looked at me funny. “Needed stitches from opening a window with his face. How’d Jason start it?”

“I didn’t know who he was, never knew his name, but…” I pointed at one of my eyes. “The glass one?” Then I jerked a thumb at my chest. “Yeah, that was from me, illegal fight that ended badly. Turns out he’s still holding a grudge.”

“What? Why the hell—”

“I didn’t know. It was a long time ago. When Lacoco saw me he lost it and tried to hit me. Green thought he was with the other guys, PT jumped in, and it just all went to hell from there.”

“Damn it.” Earl rubbed his face in his hands. “That would’ve been mighty nice to know beforehand. I probably would’ve arranged an introduction that didn’t involve quite this much destruction. Well, now we’ve got one more example of why we really need to hire an HR person.”

“That would be an interesting questionnaire. Check this box if there are any members of MHI in need of your vengeance.”

“Jason’s a good man, Z. Solid.”

“He’s a killer.”

“And you ain’t?”