That’s right, bitches. He asked me first. Stricken stood up. “One hour ago Franks was sighted at the hospital where MCB Director Stark is recovering. Franks disabled several guards and staff, left an ultimatum with Stark, and then tried to escape through the subway. He was intercepted by one of my teams. In the ensuing fight, several of my men were killed or injured. There were minor injuries to some civilian bystanders—”

“Nothing we can’t cover up,” assured the new MCB rep temporarily standing in for Stark.

Stricken gave him a death glare. Nobody here gave a shit about their easy job. The MCB rep shut up. “Franks was last seen in the tunnels. The search is continuing.”

“He escaped?” The President was incredulous. “How is that possible?”

“My team intercepted him in a matter of minutes, but the MCB response was too slow.” Stricken tossed his rivals under the bus without missing a beat. The MCB rep was too surprised to form a response in time, but that was to be expected. Stark was a weak leader, so it wasn’t like he was going to appoint a backup liaison to the Subcommittee who could potentially overshadow him. Stricken pushed forward. “Sadly, my Task Force didn’t have assets capable of taking him down in time. Franks is mentally degrading, just like I have long predicted, but physically he is nearly indestructible, and his mind, though increasingly delusional, retains its animal cunning. If I had the resources I’d requested before already in place, then we would have stood a chance . . .”

“This again?” the President asked.

“Forgive me, sir, but sometimes it takes a monster to defeat a monster.”

“You had monsters.”

“We have nothing else like Franks.” But we could, and you know it. “We utilize some specially controlled supernatural assets, but Franks is in a class by himself. If I had more advanced assets in place, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

The President was frowning. “So we’ve got a problem with a Frankenstein, but you want to build a bunch of new ones to get rid of the old one.”

“We will destroy him, but more importantly we must replace him in our strategic arsenal.” It was hard to keep his face neutral. He was glad that he had a medical excuse for wearing his shades even in the dim light, because he doubted he would be able to keep the contempt from his eyes. “These assets would have built-in kill switches should they ever need to be eliminated, a feature which is sadly lacking on the old model.”

“If you’re talking about activating Project Nemesis, that’s off the table—” declared a congresswoman.