But Radabaugh did anyway. “And Grant here is former MHI. He dealt with more oddities in a couple of years than most of us will over a career.”

Strayhorn seemed intrigued. “That’s weird. I’ve heard some MCB retire and then go private, but I don’t know too many private Hunters that go government. Kind of backwards, isn’t it? I hear they get paid tons, but we just start out as GS-12s. I’ve heard about MHI. They’re supposed to be kind of shifty.”

“Uh huh . . .” Grant said as he took his phone out and pretended to check his email. “Before you read too much into their character, our boss, MCB legend Dwayne Myers once worked for MHI too. He was even best friends with Earl Harbinger.”

“I knew that.” It still shut the rookie up. Archer was a little envious of how easily Grant could manipulate a social situation. Most experienced agents would have just browbeat the new guy, but Grant put him in his place and still came out looking like a nice guy.

“Myers has enough problems right now without any of us bringing up his past,” Archer said. “In case you’re wondering, he’s a good boss. He knows monsters better than anybody.” And if he wants us here, there’s got to be a damned good reason. Myers was a hard-ass, but he was competent, and most of all, Archer’s gut instinct told him that Myers was basically an honorable man. He cared about the safety of his country above all, which was more than Archer could say for his replacement. Stark was a doofus.

Immediately after the Copper Lake incident, Archer, like most of the MCB, had thought that Doug Stark was a hero. Archer had grown up only a few miles from Copper Lake. The whole Upper Peninsula would have been awash in zombie werewolves if it hadn’t been for Stark’s quick thinking. It wasn’t until later, when he’d been assigned to the cover-up and was interviewing locals, that he had learned that contrary to the official record, Stark’s real actions had consisted mostly of cowardice and stupidity. Harbinger, some rival Hunters, and a bunch of locals had been the real heroes. That had been a letdown. Then while picking through the aftermath, Archer had discovered the originator of the vulkodlak plague that had endangered his home town had been one of Stricken’s pet monsters from STFU.

Between those two facts, it was no surprise that he’d sided with Myers in the MCB’s internal power struggle.

“I’d never bad-mouth Myers. I’ve only heard positive things about him.” Strayhorn left that hanging, waiting to see if any of the more experienced men would correct him. He seemed satisfied when they didn’t.

“Don’t worry about it, Rookie . . .” Grant said. “But yes, MHI are shifty. They only care about themselves. They’re a bunch of glory hounds and hotdogs, but they’re not all bad.”

“Projection much?” Archer muttered.

“Huh?”