Page 124 of A Wolf After My Own Heart
“—she called and I suggested she use my help.”
(Nadia later relayed Lila’s exact words with no small amount of glee: “Faulkner, let me help or I’ll make a fucking nuisance of myself the likes of which you’ve never seen. Also I didn’t send you all of the footage of Garsea’s B&E. You missed the part with the sprinklers. If you want it, you know what you must do.”)
“I fucking love you.”
She sniffled into his shoulder. “You don’t know me. But we can fix that. We just need to go on at least fifteen more not-dates. Sixteen, if you don’t countMeritage. No,” she said as he put a finger under her chin, tipped her head up so he could look into the lovely eyes she hid behind plain glass frames because she was weird and sneaky. “Don’t you dare try to kiss me. I just threw up.”
“Later,” he promised.
“Agreed. Who are all these people?”
“Reinforcements.”
“And who’d I shoot?”
“Someone who’s fine with killing every Stable he sees.”
“And who’sthat?”
“Judge Gomph.” He understood her astonishment. The judge was in his early sixties, went about three hundred pounds, and was well over six feet tall. He was standing clear of the skirmishes, observing like a benevolent/merciless god (depending on whose side you were on), and it was impossible not to look at him, even in the midst of the mess.
Gomph had dark brown skin and small, bright brown eyes. His wide, kind face was creased with wrinkles; his hands were catcher’s mitts. Nadia had once observed that he was so broad, he looked like someone had thrown a judge’s robe over a mahogany table. Like most juvie judges, he was overworked, underpaid, adored cubs, and ate too much fast food. When Annette had stumbled onto the Sindicate, his first concern had been Caro and Dev’s safety, then Annette’s, and he’d backed everything she did—even the stuff he didn’t find out about until later.
Judge Gomph was the reason Annette hadn’t been arrested for manslaughter, never mind tried. Even now, Oz wasn’t sure how far his influence reached; he was simply grateful for it, given that he’d done some manslaughtering himself when he went to Annette’s defense.
In the six months since the Sindicate was exposed, Gomph had repeatedly expedited paperwork and shielded IPA from Stable authorities as Annette, Nadia, and David tried to dig up any information on the SAS/Sindicate members who escaped detection, as they searched for other cubs to set free.Protectivedidn’t begin to describe the judge. Neither didimposing, ordriven, orcompassionate, though they were a good start. Oz knew that when the judge found out about the SAS/Sindicate link, heads would roll, and not just metaphorical ones. And if Gulo or Mock sang a song that would expose more SAS members, Gomph’s famous benevolence might even extend to them.
He wasn’t sure what Gomph could do for a Stable who shot a Shifter
(two Shifters!)
and had more than a passing interest in finding out. He was torn between hugging Nadia for figuring out what had happened and bringing the cavalry, and throttling her until she squawked for endangering Lila.
“Judge Gomph?” Lila asked, still staring. He was lumbering toward the small group gathered around Turtleneck. “Is he a were-elephant? Are there were-elephants?”
“Yes. And yes. But it’s rude to ask.”
“Oh. Like asking someone how old they are?”
“Yeah. It’s fine if the info is volunteered, but asking a Stable to their face is bad form. I’m telling you this because you’re in our world now, there will be no escape, be resigned, and this is the stuff to figure out.”
She pulled back and frowned. “Resigned, huh?”
“Yes.”
She smiled. “Fair enough. But why is a judge here? Don’t they usually put in an appearance months after the crime? Say, in a courtroom?”
“Other judges do that. You know the movieMonsters, Inc.?”
“Mike Wazowski!”
“Exactly. Remember Roz? Her cover was that she lived to bust balls over improperly filled out timecards, but she was really Agent #001, secretly foiling evil while making sure everyone’s paperwork was filed. That’s Judge Gomph.”
He had a vague idea how Nadia and Gomph had known to show up and planned to get the details later. For now, he was too busy drinking in Lila, who had returned his hug while keeping her weapon close, and was always a bit dangerous, even when she was smuggling chili to cubs and polishing eyeballs.
There was an odd sucking noise behind them, which wiped the smile off Lila’s face. She stepped out of his embrace
(nuts)
