“First I need to get you out of here, and there’s still business to attend to.” He jerked his head toward where Stricken had fallen.

But just as she’d expected, it wasn’t Stricken at all.

“What the hell . . .” Earl muttered as he kept his revolver trained on the hairy, confusing pile of limbs. He used the toe of his boot to roll the body over. It had a face like a spider, but all of its eyes were staring blankly into the distance. “That’s a Tsuchigumo. I haven’t seen one of these since Okinawa. Real nasty pieces of work, they create illusions and mess with your mind.”

“Nemesis was looking for him, but Stricken used us as decoys instead. I bet he probably had another way out the whole time.” She recognized the green blood pooling beneath the body as the same substance she’d seen at MCB headquarters. So this thing was how they’d made it look like Franks on the video.

“I should feel guilty for jumping the gun, but I just can’t summon up the energy to feel any pity for shooting one of these nasty bloodsuckers,” Earl said as he holstered his revolver. “That’s two wrong calls this week. I’m forming a bad habit.”

“Don’t worry. This thing was guilty enough. It smells like bubblegum.”

“I’ve got no idea what that means, but I’ll take your word for it . . .” Earl looked toward the end of the tunnel; beyond that was their unknown future. “This means Stricken is out here somewhere.”

“I’m not going back to STFU, Earl,” she vowed. “PUFF be damned, I can’t do this anymore.”

He nodded. “I’ve got this little place down in Mexico . . .”

The exit was hidden in a heavily wooded ravine on the edge of the runway. There was a big military cargo plane with its engines running at the opposite end of the airfield, but the last thing she wanted to do was get involved in more MCB business. They found the only other STFU survivor up top, trying his best to conceal himself in the bushes, but it wasn’t like you could hide from two werewolves. “Come on out of there, Renfroe. I’m too damned tired to chase you,” Heather shouted.

“If you’re going to kill me, get it over with, because I’m done with you shadow government bastards.” The thin man came out of the bushes with his hands up. “Do it. I don’t care anymore, but you’re too late. I’ve already exposed everything. Your bosses are done.”

“Wait . . .” Heather stopped him. “What?”