a

Xiang. If someone does come gunning for us, you can bet they'll know they've been in a fight."
Kafan nodded to her, a mark of respect if not agreement.
I got up, leaving Syl on the recliner, and picked up the phone.
This time I had to contact her at the University, but she was available—preparing a paper on some of the finds.
"Mr. Wood!"
"Yes. Nice to speak to you again, Ms. Gennaro. Your information was invaluable."
Her voice was just slightly tense—she was trying to be relaxed, but not quite succeeding. "Please call me Mandy. So what exactly happened?"
"You can call me Jason, then. There was a series of murders happening in Florida . . ." I gave an expurgated version of events, leaving out things like werewolves, my bargain, and so on. " . . . And so I was finally able to kill it off. Some of this you might see on the news soon, even though there was a heavy lid clamped on it at first."
She was silent for a few moments. "So . n