“Oh, hell no! What do you think we are? Some of us—Well…There’s official orders, but you’d have to be an idiot to believe them. We’re trying to stop this thing before anyone else gets hurt.”

Mosh had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like not all of the government people were on the same side here, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Especially since Holly was talking to the side that had mercilessly ruined his life, and they were supposed to be the nice ones.

“So let me talk to Franks or Myers!” Holly demanded. “I know you’re not stupid, so you know I didn’t come in here for kicks. Get your boss.”

“There might be a problem with that…See, there are some communication issues…”

“Oh, come on. Communications was like your thing, wasn’t it? So communicate with your damn superiors and fix this mess. I know you can’t like that psycho Stricken bossing you guys around. What I’ve got will totally burn him.”

Archer looked to one of the other masked men and shrugged. That one spread his hands as if to say beats me. Archer sighed. Holly looked at the other one suspiciously. “Wait a second…You guys are up to no good, aren’t you? Where’s the rest of the MCB? Does Stark know about this? Oh my gosh, Archer, you’re a vigilante? Haw! MCB agents have gone off the reservation. You’ve gone rogue! This is golden. I knew the new guy sucked, but I didn’t know he sucked that much.”

“No. That’s crazy…” Archer stammered. “That’s…” He looked back at the other agent for help again.

“So much for plausible deniability. Way to go, Archer.” The other agent gave up and pulled his mask off as well. “Good to see you again, Holly.”

Holly laughed, harder this time. “No freaking way! You?”

Mosh was totally confused now. “Who? What?”

The other agent was a handsome, square-jawed, chiseled-feature type. One of those guys with that sort of natural confidence of somebody born to be one of the beautiful people. Despite having just been wearing a ski mask, even his hair seemed neat. He nodded in greeting. “Nice to see you again, Mosh. I’m Special Agent Grant Jefferson, Monster Control Bureau.”

“Wait…I know you.”

“We met briefly at the MHI compound.”

He’d been at Sam Haven’s funeral. “You’re the dude my brother beat up and stole Julie from!”

“That’s not how it…Hell. Never mind.” Jefferson sighed. “Listen, Holly, we need to tread carefully here. I need you to know that not all of the MCB are happy with the official plan.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Holly snapped.

Someone else answered from behind them. “We intend to save the day.”