X-Team Three

Part Thirteen-(Lawson) Decisions

I shift back just inside the tree line, naked as the day I was born. The wind swirls around me, and I shiver uncontrollably. The connection between my team mates and I snaps violently, making me flinch. I grab the small pack I keep latched to my leg while in wolf form, dig through it, and throw my clothes on quickly, desperate for a barrier between my human skin and the cold. The cell phone, or more like satellite phone, sits innocently at the bottom of the bag, seeming to taunt me. It's only used for emergencies, and I've never had to use it before.

I whip around, startled, when Trace and Tanga emerge from the tall grass, both in human form.

"I knew we should've waited until we got closer to the disaster zone before shifting," Tanga says despondently. "Then this never would've happened. We could've just said hi to the hunters, exchanged weather conditions or pack locations, and gone on our way."

"You know that's not an option, Tanga," I say. "In order to hear the small connection a young werewolf pup would have, we'd have to be in animal form. As humans, we could walk right past him and not know it."

"Not that any of that matters now anyway," Trace grumbles. "We've failed him."

I see the guilt sweep across Tanga's face and place an arm on her bony shoulder. "Don't think like that. It would've been me in that field if you hadn't been faster." She nods her head but avoids all eye contact with me.

I reach down and grab the sat phone, turn it on, and hit the second number on the contact list. It's our direct line to the government contact for all the X-Teams in the entire country. Brent. Saying he's a busy man is probably the understatement of the year.

I hear the line click to life and the sound of wind in the back ground. "Goddamn it, Lawson. This had better be good. I've got a rogue X-agent on my hands in Georgia and a dimension jumper that hasn't been able to return. If you don't give me good news, I'm going to have Sam here blow my head off with his AR-15." Sam is his only assistant.

"Then I hope Sam's rifle isn't loaded," I say, wincing.

All I hear is Brent sigh and then silence for a few moments. I can guess the thoughts running through his head right now, and all of the words he's using would probably make a sailor blush.

"What happened, Lawson?" he asks, his voice eerily quiet.

"We we're seen by humans in our shifted forms while on the werewolf pup mission."

Silence again.

"You're in the Rockies. Which of you were seen?" he asks.

"Tanga and me," I respond. If it had just been me or Trace, we may have been able to squeak our way out of this one, but everyone knows tigers don't exist in the Rockies.

More silence. I can almost see him now---he has his hand, the one missing his ring finger, covering his eyes.

"You're off the case," he says quietly and in a monotone voice. "Get back to headquarters immediately. And X-Team Three is on suspension until further notice. Let me just put it this way: you'll be lucky if you have a team after I report this to my superiors." Then the line goes dead.

I lose complete control of my jaw, and it practically hits the ground. I hold the phone out and stare at it, the only thing I can accomplish at this moment. I knew he'd take us off the case, but he's suspending the whole team?! That means no missions. Everyone has to return, dropping their cases where they stand, and no one leaves the building until we're told we can.

"What, Lawson? What did he say?" Tanga asks, grabbing my arm and shaking it slightly.

I look over at her, my eyes unfocused with disbelief. "He's suspending the team."

"What?!" Trace yelps, his deep voice echoing through the forest. "He can't do that! We've never had an infraction! How can he just move straight to suspension?! This is horseshit!"

I shake my head and drop the phone back into my pack. "He's our superior. He can do whatever he damn well pleases." I choose not to mention Brent's final statement to them, however. That would just drive Trace over the edge, and I may not be able to get him back down.

Trace turns around and gives the nearest tree a swift side kick that cracks the trunk in two, splitting the tree like a banana peel. I look over at Tanga who's been quiet through all of this. She still has guilt all over her face as her eyes stare unseeing at the forest floor in front of her. Shit. I can't let this team fall apart, and it's coming apart right between my fingers. And I can't let this pup die. The team disbanding on top of knowing I failed a pup...I can't deal with this.

"Let's go," I say, heading north, slinging my back pack over my shoulder.

I don't hear them follow, but I continue anyway. I'm leaving this decision up to them. I'm going after that pup whether Brent wants me to or not. Tanga and Trace can come with or they can return to headquarters. I would understand either way.

"The airstrip is the other way, boss," Trace says.

"I know. I'm not going to the airstrip. I'm going to find the pup. Screw Brent. I have a mission to complete."

I hear footsteps behind me and then Tanga's in front of me, her hand on my chest, stopping me. "Lawson, you've made this too personal. If we don't back down from this mission, they could disband us. Is that what you want?"

I stand silent, watching the anger, fear, and loyalty roil around in her eyes. I drop my head. I can't look at her anymore. She's right. She's 100% correct. I've made this too personal, but it's gone beyond the point of no return for me. I can't go back.

"This pup was me a couple hundred years ago, Tanga. Lost in the woods. Defenseless. Hungry. All because I wouldn't kill a human my pack had captured. It was their way of making a pup a full member of the pack. They had all done it and expected me to do the same. When it was time, I saw the fear in the woman's eyes. She had a family, children, a husband that she was taken from while camping. She was an innocent. I think things may have been different had they caught a serial killer or even someone out to destroy all werewolves. But she was innocent, just out having fun with her family. She was a good person.

"I refused then. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill a good being, whether it be a human or any of the other supernatural creatures out there. I had the power to see what was inside, under their skin. So I walked away. My fellow pack members tried to kill me, afraid I'd tell the world of our existence or something. But I ran and hid. Apparently it was good enough that they never found me. Sometimes I wonder if they're still out there looking for me. It doesn't matter now, though. I've found my pack, my place. It's here with my X-Team. And as part of an X-Team, specifically Three, I don't fail a mission."

I puff up my chest with a deep breath, meeting her gaze again. "You can come with me or you can leave. The decision is up to you. I won't be angry or hurt either way."

Silence descends upon us all as I wait for their decisions. Trace kicks at the ground a little, scattering a pile of dead leaves. "Dammit, boss." Then he looks up at me, resolution in his eyes. "I'm with you until the end. Always have been. Always will be. I'll follow you into the depths of hell and then drag your carcass back because you'd do something stupid and honorable which would get you killed down there."

I grin widely because he's probably right and nod my head. Then I turn to Tanga who's eyes are still swirling with confusion. Out of the two of them, I knew she'd be the wild card. It's just the way she is. Cats, in general, do their own thing. The only difference between her and an actual cats is her humanity. So which is stronger?

She sighs and throws her hands up in the air, heading north off into the tall grass. "Well, are you guys coming or not?" she hollers back.

Trace and I grin widely at each other and run after her. Part of me wishes they would've chosen to go back, but the part of me that connects me to every single one of my team mates, my family, is overjoyed.

"Let's just not shift until we've found the disaster site please," she comments. "I'm not going through that again."

"Agreed," Trace and I both say at the same time.