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[talien]

Hammer, Archive, and Jim-Bean drove Fiona back to the nearest Majestic-12 facility. Guppy lay unconscious in the back seat.

“Tell her,” said Jim-Bean. “She’s seen too much already.”

Archive looked fearfully at Hammer, who was driving. But he nodded.

“We work for an organization, an organization of the highest level of secrecy,” said Hammer. “It’s a clandestine taskforce that deals with the elimination and obscuration of preternatural phenomena that pose a threat to our citizens and their country."

Fiona, dirt smudging her face and an ugly purple bruise on her cheek, looked askance at Hammer. “And what organization might that be?”

“Majestic-12,” said Jim-Bean. “But our cover is the Counter-Intelligence Field Agency.”

Fiona sighed. “So you ARE government goons.”

“We’re beyond the government,” said Hammer.

“You’re all the same,” said Fiona with a scowl. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because we want you to join us,” said Hammer. “You know your way around a pistol. You dealt with the supernatural calmly. You’d be a good fit.”

Fiona barked a bitter laugh. “Oh you think so, huh? Was that before Jim-Bean punched me in the face or after he killed my friend?”

“I told you,” said Jim-Bean with a sigh, “he was infected…”

“So is Guppy,” she said, pointing at the bluish tinge to Guppy’s skin. “So are you. Hammer was exposed to the fumes in the plant, more than any of us. And yet everyone trusts him to drive.”

Hammer shrugged. “The Redlight boys say they have an antidote…”

“So there’s an antidote? Where was the antidote when Jim-Bean shot David in the back of the head?”

“Look, we make decisions based on our best judgment,” said Hammer seriously. “Jim-Bean made the call and I agree with it. The man was a liability.”

“Is that what they were?” snarled Fiona. “A liability?” She crossed her arms. “I suppose you’ll just kill me if I say no.”

Hammer shook his head. “We’ll give you the COCKTAIL, a chemical that will erase your short-term memory. Your friends died in a car accident while you were driving to intercept ABC. It will explain your bruises. Keith and David’s corpses will be placed in the car. Someone will drag you to safety but not in time for your two friends, who will die in the inevitable explosion. You’ll wake up in a hospital and resume your normal life.”

“And what about the rest? The chemical plant?”

“We have STREETSWEEPER teams for that,” said Jim-Bean. “It will probably be chalked up to a chemical spill.”

Fiona rubbed her forehead. “I don’t believe this.” She looked sideways at Archive. “And what about you?”

Archive shrugged. “Don’t look at me, I’m just a Friendly.”

“You don’t look too friendly to me.”

“Are you joining us or not?” asked Hammer.

There was a long pause as Fiona picked her words carefully.

“People like you are why I started writing for the Ecotopian. You think you can just do whatever you want, just cover things up, just take away civil liberties. Well enough. I may not be able to stop you but I can at least not be a part of your stupid games. David and Keith had lives. Lives that you sacrificed all because you wanted to blow up some factory.”

“A zombie factory,” added Jim-Bean.

“Shut up!” snapped Fiona. “I used to think you were cute. But you’re just as bad as him.” She jabbed an accusing finger at Hammer.

Hammer’s expression darkened as they pulled up to an innocuous-looking warehouse. “We’re here. You’ll be decontaminated, given a cover story, and dropped off at the nearest hospital.”

They all got out of the car. Guppy was taken away by stretcher.

Hammer looked as if he was about to say something else to Fiona. But whatever it was, he changed his mind.

“Have a nice life,” was all he said.

Then he stalked away, leaving Fiona to the techs who swarmed around her with needles and tubes.