James Fang, special agent of FURR (Federal Union of Racial Retions), cautiously climbed his way to the top of the moving train. In the distance, he could barely make out the city they were barreling towards with the nuclear payload hidden within. Two men in suits cmbered their way up to the other end of the passenger car’s roof.

  "I'm afraid, Mr. Fang, that your clever antics are quickly coming to an end." One of the men, Lieutenant Al-Habsi, waved his companion forward as they pulled several weapons out of their jackets. "I simply cannot let you leave here after all you have seen."

  "I understand that you feel obligated to try, but I hope you are under no illusion that I will make it easy on you." A growl started deep in James' throat as he could feel the change flowing through his body, muscles bulged, and hair sprouted from all over as his lycan form came to the fore. The strong man in the suit and the snarling were charged at each other over the heads of the unsuspecting passengers below.

  James went low, bursting upwards into the stomach of the charging man, bsting him backwards with a mighty swipe of his cw. The man caught himself before he went over the side, but James pressed his advantage, pounding him with a flurry of blows to disorient the rger man. He just started thinking he had a chance of winning when the man caught him by the forearm.

  "My turn." The huge man growled, driving a fist into his stomach. The pain told James he must be using some kind of silver-coated brass knuckles. He blocked the next fist as it came towards his head, but another hit rocked his vision and sent him stumbling back to the roof. James scrambled away from a follow-up strike and tried to put some distance between himself and the big man. The Lieutenant cpped his hands in joy as he watched the men battle before him.

  The wind whipped across the train's roof as James fought to maintain his footing. The cityscape grew rger with each passing second, the innocent lives ahead completely unaware of the death racing toward them. He could smell the metallic tang of silver in the air, mixed with diesel fumes and his own blood. The enforcer advanced methodically, silver knuckles gleaming in the afternoon sun.

  "You lycans are all the same," the enforcer sneered, throwing another devastating punch that James barely dodged. "All muscle, no brains. Did you really think you could stop the Red Moon Syndicate single-handedly?"

  James rolled to his left as another silver-enhanced fist crashed into the metal roof where his head had been. The impact left a sizeable dent. He needed to end this quickly; every second brought them closer to the city, closer to millions of casualties. His enhanced hearing picked up the rhythmic ccking of the rails beneath, the steady thrum of the engine, and something else... a subtle electronic beeping coming from somewhere within the train.

  "The bomb has a proximity trigger," Al-Habsi called out gleefully, noting James's sudden attention to the sound. "The closer we get to the city center, the more unstable it becomes. Even if you somehow manage to defeat my associate here, you'll never have time to disarm it."

  The enforcer lunged forward again, this time catching James across the ribs with a gncing blow. The silver burned through his transformed hide like acid, and he could feel the wound refusing to heal properly. Lycans were fast healers, but silver was their kryptonite; it kept wounds open and made every injury a sting liability.

  James backpedaled, his cws scraping against the train's roof for purchase. He needed a new strategy. Pure strength wasn't going to work against an opponent armed with silver weapons. He had to use his other advantages.

  The train rounded a curve, and James felt the centrifugal force pulling him toward the edge. He rode with it, letting momentum carry him in a wide arc that brought him behind his opponent. His cws raked across the enforcer's back, shredding the expensive suit and drawing deep furrows of blood. The man roared in pain and spun around with surprising speed, catching James with a backhand that sent stars exploding across his vision.

  "You're only deying the inevitable," Al-Habsi shouted over the wind. "The Red Moon rises tonight, and with it, a new world order. Your precious FURR organization won't be able to protect the humans when they realize how easily we can destroy them."

  James wiped blood from his muzzle, his yellow eyes never leaving the enforcer. The man was skilled, no doubt about it, but he was also getting cocky. That would be his downfall. James feinted left, then dove right, rolling under a wild swing and coming up inside the enforcer's guard. His cws found the man's wrist, and with a savage twist, he sent the silver knuckles flying over the side of the train.

  Now it was a fair fight.

  The enforcer's eyes widened in surprise, but he adapted quickly, pulling a silver-bded knife from his jacket. The weapon gleamed wickedly as he sshed at James's throat. James caught the man's wrist, and they grappled, each trying to control the deadly bde. The knife inched closer to James's neck as the enforcer's enhanced strength began to tell.

  Below them, the electronic beeping was getting faster.

  "You hear that?" Al-Habsi ughed maniacally. "We're entering the outer suburbs now. In less than ten minutes, that device will detonate whether we want it to or not. Even if you kill us both, you can't stop what's coming."

  James could smell the truth in the Lieutenant's words; no deception, just cold, hard fact. The city sprawled ahead of them, countless lights beginning to twinkle in the gathering dusk. Families sitting down to dinner, children pying in parks, people living their lives in blissful ignorance of the nuclear fire racing toward them.

  The knife pressed closer to his throat, and James could feel the silver burning his fur. He was running out of time and options. With a desperate surge of strength, he drove his knee into the enforcer's sor plexus, then used the momentary distraction to head-butt the man squarely in the nose. The enforcer stumbled backward, blood streaming down his face, and James pressed his advantage.

  A flurry of cws and fangs drove the enforcer to the edge of the train car. The man's foot slipped, and for a moment he teetered on the brink. James reached out, not to save him, but to grab the silver knife before it could fall. His cws closed around the handle just as the enforcer lost his bance entirely and plummeted into the darkness below with a fading scream.

  "Bravo!" Al-Habsi appuded slowly. "Quite the performance. But now what will you do? You have perhaps eight minutes before we reach the trigger zone. The bomb is in car seven, buried beneath fifty tons of concrete and steel pting. Even with your lycan strength, you'll never break through in time."

  James was already moving, racing across the roof toward the rear of the train. His enhanced sense of smell was picking up the scent trail now; the distinctive odor of weapons-grade uranium mixed with pstic explosives and electronic components. The bomb wasn't in car seven; Al-Habsi was lying. It was in car four, and James could detect the faint vibrations of its countdown mechanism through the soles of his feet.

  He reached the maintenance dder and swung down into the passenger car. Terrified faces looked up at him; a seven-foot-tall werewolf covered in blood and silver burns, clutching a knife in his cws. Several people screamed and tried to run, but there was nowhere to go on a moving train.

  "Everyone, remain calm," James said, his voice a gravelly growl but clearly articuted. Years of training allowed him to speak even in his transformed state. "I'm Agent Fang, Federal w enforcement. I need you all to move to the front of the train immediately."

  Most of the passengers were too shocked to argue. They stumbled forward, some helping elderly travelers and parents carrying small children. James followed them, herding them toward safety while his nose guided him toward the source of the uranium scent.

  The bomb was definitely in car four, hidden somewhere in the cargo compartment. James could hear Al-Habsi's footsteps on the roof above, probably trying to get ahead of him, maybe to trigger the device manually if James got too close to disarming it.

  James burst through the connecting door into car four. This was a freight car, filled with wooden crates and metal containers. The uranium smell was overwhelming now, coming from a cluster of innocuous-looking boxes in the center of the car. As he approached, his enhanced hearing picked up the complex electronic humming of the bomb's mechanisms.

  The device was more sophisticated than he'd expected. Multiple fail-safes, anti-tampering measures, and what looked like a dead-man's switch connected to Al-Habsi's vitals. If the Lieutenant died, the bomb would detonate immediately. James studied the maze of wires and circuits, his FURR training kicking in. He'd learned bomb disposal, but this was beyond anything he'd seen in the cssroom.

  Above him, Al-Habsi's footsteps had stopped. The man was probably directly overhead, waiting to see what James would do.

  The electronic beeping was getting frantically fast now. Through the windows, James could see the city lights growing brighter, closer. Residential neighborhoods fshed by, then commercial districts. They were running out of time.

  James closed his eyes and let his other senses take over. The bomb's heartbeat, the subtle variations in electrical current, the minute vibrations of each component. There… a single wire that seemed to carry a different frequency from the others. It was either the main trigger or a decoy designed to kill anyone who tried to disarm the device.

  He raised the silver knife, ignoring the way it burned his cws. One cut, and either the bomb would be disarmed or they'd all be vaporized instantly. The city sprawled ahead of them, millions of innocent lives hanging in the bance.

  James took a deep breath and,

  DING DONG

  The sound was completely incongruous, cutting through the tension like a knife through silk. For a moment, James thought it might be part of the bomb's mechanism, but the tone was too melodic, too domestic.

  DING DONG

  ~ - ~

  I blinked and reached for the remote, pausing the movie just as James Fang stood frozen with that silver knife raised over the bomb. The living room of my penthouse apartment seemed almost surreal after being immersed in the high-stakes world of lycan secret agents for the past two hours. Who the hell was bothering me at this hour?

  "Aw, come on, Dad!" Kelly groaned from her spot, curled up in the oversized leather chair. At sixteen, she had inherited her mother's dramatic fir and wasn't shy about using it. "It was just getting to the good part!"

  "I know, sweetheart, but someone's at the door." I stretched, working out the kinks from sitting too long. Retirement wasn’t sitting well with me already; I wasn’t built for rexing.

  Zoar, my butler, was already rising from the couch with his characteristic dignity. The man was somewhere in his sixties, impeccably dressed as always in a pressed bck suit, his immacute appearance slightly marred by the popcorn butter clinging to his fingertips. "Shall I answer it, sir?"

  "It's probably just a delivery," I said, though the timing was odd. It was past midnight on a Tuesday night, hardly normal hours for package deliveries. "Let me check the intercom first."

  DING DONG

  "Seriously?" Kelly threw her hands up in exasperation. "Whoever it is has terrible timing. James was about to either save the city or blow it up!"

  Zebra, our head of household staff, looked up from where she'd been organizing the coffee table while we watched the movie together. She was younger than Zoar, maybe mid-forties, with prematurely gray hair that she wore in an elegant bun. "Perhaps they'll be brief, Miss Kelly. We can resume the movie momentarily."

  I walked over to the intercom panel by the elevator entrance. Our penthouse took up the entire top three floors of the building, accessible only by private elevator, so unexpected visitors were definitely unusual. I pressed the button.

  "Yes?"

  "Mr. Hunter?" The voice was crisp, professional, with just a hint of an accent I couldn't immediately pce. "Sorry for the te hour, but there's someone here to see you, sir. Says it's urgent."

  That got my attention. My doorman, Carlos, had been working the building for over a decade. He didn't let random people up without a very good reason, and he certainly didn't describe visits as "urgent" unless something was seriously wrong.

  "Did they give a name?"

  "He says you don't know him, sir, but that it concerns a mutual friend. He's... well, he's a bit unusual, Mr. Hunter. But his identification checks out, and he seems legitimate. I know you don’t like to be bothered normally."

  Unusual how? I almost asked, but decided I'd find out soon enough. I let out an exasperated breath. "Send him up."

  I turned back to the living room, where Kelly was giving me her best puppy-dog eyes. "Ten minutes," I promised. "If it takes longer than that, you can finish the movie without me."

  "But then I won't have anyone to expin the technical stuff," she compined. "You're the only one who knows about bombs and spy gadgets and all that cool stuff. Not to mention you’re the only one who met a real werewolf before."

  Zoar cleared his throat diplomatically. "If I may, Miss Kelly, I believe your father's expertise extends considerably beyond what's typically portrayed in cinema."

  "Exactly," Kelly said, vindicated. "Which is why I need him here for the good parts."

  I couldn't help but smile. My daughter had no idea about my previous career, as far as she knew, I was just a successful businessman who happened to know a lot about security systems and international affairs. The truth was considerably more complicated, but that was a conversation for another day. Maybe another decade.

  “It’s the movies… none of its real, Kelly… It’s just good fun. Real lycans aren’t nearly so suave as an international superspy.”

  The elevator chimed softly, indicating our visitor had arrived. I walked over and opened the door, not sure what to expect.

  The man standing in my elevator was definitely unusual, just as Carlos had said. He was tall, maybe six-two, with the kind of ethereal features that immediately marked him as non-human. Pointed ears, angur cheekbones, and eyes that seemed to shift color in the light. An elf, and not trying to hide it.

  "Mr. Derek Hunter?" His voice was the same one I'd heard through the intercom, cultured and precise.

  "That's right. And you are?"

  "Silvanus Nightwhisper, of the Etuanie Court." He stepped out of the elevator with fluid grace, his long coat swirling around him like something out of a period drama. "I apologize for the te hour, but I need to hire you."

  I almost ughed. "You must not have heard. I'm retired."

  The elf's expression didn't change, but I caught a glimmer of something in those shifting eyes. Relief, maybe? "Your friend Lisa said you would say that."

  That stopped me cold. Lisa was the niece of my old boss at ARC during my working days. She had even helped with the whole werewolf virus st year, but she knew I was out of the game now that Kelly was in the picture.

  "Lisa's been out of touch for over a week now," Silvanus continued, reading my expression correctly. "She might need your help."

  The living room suddenly felt very far away. Kelly, Zoar, Zebra, the paused movie… all of it belonged to the safe, normal life I'd built for myself and my daughter over the past five months. Ever since Kelly’s mom had passed, I had tried very hard to bring her a sense of stability. But Lisa was family too, the kind forged in blood and bullets rather than genetics.

  I gestured toward my office. "Ten minutes."

  “You said that already.” Kelly slumped back into the plush leather chair. As we walked away from the living room, I could hear Kelly's voice behind us: "This better not take longer! James still has to defuse that bomb, and lives are on the line!"

  If only she knew that the real world was often far more dangerous than anything Hollywood could imagine. And if Lisa was missing, then the real world was about to come crashing back into mine, whether I wanted it to or not.