“Maybe it’s time for you to learn what it means to be human. You’ve taken so much from so many others, but you’ve never understood what it feels like to lose. Then again, it isn’t my place to guess. I’m just the messenger. On that note, your immortal spirit is no longer automatically condemned to the jurisdiction of Hell. Congratulations. The next time you die will be the last, and then you’ll stand before the bar and be judged like any other mortal.”

That was unexpected. Franks nodded. “Is that all?”

“That’s all.”

“Good. I’ve got work to do.”

* * *

“What should we do with him?”

Franks didn’t recognize that voice.

“If it was up to me, pin a medal on him. Franks has been pardoned.”

Franks did recognize that one. So Agent Cueto had lived.

“It would have been simpler if you’d just let him die.”

“With all due respect, sir, fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Franks is a national hero. If you pussies on the Subcommittee had a miniscule fraction of his testicular fortitude then Stricken wouldn’t have made you his bitch.”

“How dare you!”

“Oh, did I hurt your delicate lilac scented feelings, Senator? Please, allow me to clarify. I dare because the President just named me Acting Director of the MCB. I figure that’s because he got a wakeup call that he needs somebody who’ll actually tell him when the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes, rather than just another ass kissing statist bureaucrat. If you stupid fucks had two brain cells to rub together, it might have generated enough friction for you to realize you should have been listening to Dwayne Myers this whole time, rather than a guy who looked to Heinrich Fucking Himmler as a role model! Maybe if you had pulled your heads out of your asses long enough, we might not have needed Agent Franks to blow himself to smithereens to keep the world from being balls deep in a horde of devils! That daring enough for you?”

The Senator was totally cowed. “My apologies, Special Agent Cueto.”

“That’s Director Cueto to you. Now get the fuck out of my top secret facility before I have Agents Archer and Jefferson here remove you.”

“Very well, Director, but I’ll warn you, with an attitude like that, you’ll never get official approval for this appointment—”

“Archer!”

“Yes, Director!”

“Countdown from ten. When you reach four, take out your Taser or your collapsible baton, whichever makes you smile, and when you reach zero, use that device on the representative of the Special Subcommittee on Unearthly Forces until he departs my facility. The more violence you use, the better.”

“Uh . . . Okay . . . Ten. Nine—”