me in on this? What is it that keeps you and your own furry family from solving it?"
"A matter of symmetry, you might say," Carruthers responded. "You ruined one project, now you present yourself in a perfect position to rectify another."
"Bullshit." I glanced at Syl, who nodded, glaring at our visitor. "Don't even try lying to me about stuff like that, Carruthers, or you can go sit on a silver spike and spin. Try again, the truth this time, or you can kiss any chance for a deal good-bye."
Carruthers' eyes narrowed, and for an instant the typical Wolf looked out, hungry, furious at being balked by this lesser creature; then the urbane mask was back. "As you will, Mr. Wood.
"Certain . . . features of this case are disquieting to my people. There are a few possible causes of the, um, particular condition of the corpses, but all of them imply a form of death which our people fear above all others. At least one of the possible causes would make us more, rather than less, vulnerable to this attacker than human beings, and in most cases the attacker will be growing stronger with each kill. None of my people want to be involved—not only is the death involved truly hideous, especially to a race that is by all rights immortal, but if the one explanation proves correct, those investigating would be potentially supplying our enemy with ever greater power. A human being will be at once somewhat less vulnerable and, if he fails, will not provide much of a boost to our adversary."
I snorted. "So you need an intelligent but dispensable agent who won't prove to be a battery for this bozo."
"Succinctly put."
"You're being awfully low on the details here. If you expect me to look into anything, you'd have to be a bit more forthcoming on them."
A nod acknowledged my point. "Indeed, but you have not yet