“Move out! We’ve got what we came for!”
“On my mark,” the belligerent female, apparently his second, called out from the sidelines a moment later, raising her weapon.
“Suppression fire only,” the leader countermanded.
“What?”
‘You heard me. She could still prove useful if this doesn’t pan out.”
“But...”
“Enough! Let’s go.”
Rough arms grabbed me from behind and began to drag me back just as the invaders opened fire again – Paladin. He was pulling me toward cover.
A part of me was tempted to throw him off, to reengage the enemy. After all, the leader seemed insistent on not killing me, a promise he would have best made outside my earshot. However, his second seemed far less disciplined. A soldier would heed their commander’s order, but a Magi? If she sensed I wished to press the matter, might she not act independently to end the life of one she considered a threat?
Though I felt no fear as I was dragged to safety, I considered that perhaps this was a situation in which prudence demanded a tactical retreat.
Besides, I now had a lot to think about.
A NEW TOMORROW
“...In addition, I’m recommending a thirty percent increase in motion sensors to compensate for the...”
“Unnecessary,” I replied, glancing over Paladin’s report. Fourteen casualties in total, most of them from his security team, but a few from my support staff as well, including both of my parents. No matter. They’d served their purpose.
“Excuse me, Miss. Gansetseg?”
“Exactly as I said. We will be abandoning this facility. It’s been compromised by enemies who will not be stopped by minor upgrades should they decide to strike again. Save your recommendations for the estate in Salisbury Mills. I’ll be relocating there.”
“I see.”
“Will there be anything else?”
Paladin hesitated a moment, then replied, “Permission to speak freely, ma’am.”
I’d expected this. “Granted.”
“What you did back there was...”
“Stupid?” I asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Unwise.”
“Fortune favors the bold, Paladin. It was a calculated risk on my part.”
“For what?”
“Is it not obvious? Knowledge of course.”
“Am I wrong in assuming it has something to do with that ... thing I saw.”
“And what do you think you saw?”
“Something that shouldn’t exist.”
I considered this for a moment. “What if I told you that once, not too long ago, the world held far more mysteries than you could possibly ever imagine?”
“I know that the world seemingly went crazy a few years back. Red lightning over the Afghani desert on a clear day, good men making wild claims that landed them in psych eval. Maybe even one or two things I might’ve seen...”
“But don’t talk about?”
“Something like that.”
I debated saying more but one of Paladin’s men interrupted us to bring him a new report, one I’d personally asked him to look into.
He glanced at it, likely to make sure it was thorough, then handed it to me. It was an inventory of the files stored on the stolen laptop, retrieved from an offsite backup. The invaders had obviously wanted information I was privy to. Why else try to take me alive? But it seemed likely they’d somehow discovered this same information was stored on this device in some format.
I’d spent the hours since locked deep in thought, trying to figure out what that was, and coming to only one conclusion.
Though I already suspected what I’d find in the report, I needed to be certain. If I was wrong, then... If so, I didn’t know what that could mean, save that I could sense the specter of my failures prowling at the very edge of my senses, like a wolf at my door.
Wolves can be tamed, you cannot, I told myself, forcing my personal demons at bay until I could be certain.
I scanned the list of files until my eyes fell upon the thing I’d been hoping to see: an accounting report detailing my major assets in the Middle East, specifically real estate holdings. Among them was a mosque in the ancient city of Damascus.
Deep beneath it lay a hidden tunnel, the same one I’d walked out of four years earlier after a seemingly endless journey through unyielding darkness. It was the only natural tunnel between the surface and the cavern which had once been home to The Source.
It was a secret known only to a few. My beloved was one of them, but I quickly dismissed that thought. Through my close observation of his life I knew he had no interest in such things. But others apparently did.
Why, though? The Source cave was now nothing more than sterile Earth.
Or perhaps not.
If the invaders – an unlikely alliance of Magi, former vampires, and other survivors – wanted this information badly enough to risk my wrath then perhaps that meant they had a plan.
And if that were the case than perhaps I’d been wrong to despair at my continued failure to breach the veil.
All at once, that wolf at my door now seemed no more than a harmless puppy. As such, I allowed a small smile to cross my lips.
“Ma’am?” Paladin asked. “Is everything okay. The report?”
Pulling myself from my momentary reverie, I turned to him. “The man who was responsible for the stolen computer?”
Paladin nodded. “His name is Fletcher.”
“Yes. One of the accountants in my employ. I didn’t see his name on the casualty list.”
“That’s because he survived. He was found hiding in the east wing.”
“How noble of him to save himself while abandoning what our intruders were after.”
“I’m sure he had no way of knowing...”
I silenced him with a wave of my hand. “Ignorance is no excuse for gross incompetence.”
“Do you want me to handle it?” he asked after a moment.
“No. Inform Dr. Yu that I have a new volunteer for her ... research. Personally escort this Mr. Fletcher to her facility.”
“It’ll be done ASAP.”
“On second thought, my chief of staff...”
“Mr. Gaolong?”
“Yes. Have him reassigned to the good doctor as well.”
“As you wish, ma’am.”
“Oh, and kindly have my assistant schedule a meeting with Counselor Wellington over at the Amherst Academy.”
Paladin raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were relocating.”
“We are,” I replied. “This isn’t about school. It’s about recruitment.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
I dismissed my security chief without answering him. He didn’t have a need to understand, at least not yet. First, I needed to determine if what I suspected was indeed true – that these invaders were in fact visionaries, ones with a plan to reopen the gateway to the beyond. If that were the case, then soon he, and everyone else for that matter, would learn that the lives they’d led up until now were the barest tip of a fantastic iceberg.
For now, though, I needed to plan for the future. If these other surviving vampires could ally themselves with the Magi, then perhaps it was time I did the same.
A new beginning lay on the horizon, and I fully intended to be ready for it.
THE END
Gansetseg and Bill Ryder will return in
STRANGE DAYS (Bill of the Dead – 1)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Gualtieri lives alone in central New Jersey with only his wife, three kids, and countless pets to both keep him company and constantly plot against him. When he’s not busy monkey-clicking words, he can typically be found jealously guarding his collection of vintage Transformers from all who would seek to defile them.
Defilers beware!
Rick Gualtieri is the author of several books, including:
THE TOME OF BILL SERIES
Bill the Vampire
Scary Dead Things
The Mourning Woods
Holier Than Thou
Sunset Strip
Goddamned Freaky Monsters
Half A Prayer
The Wicked Dead
Shining Fury
The Last Coven
Strange Days—Bill of the Dead 1
GET BENT!—the Hybrid of High Moon 1
Bent Outta Shape—the Hybrid of High Moon 2
Bigfoot Hunters
Devil Hunters
Lycan Moon
Midnite’s Daughter
Join Rick on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RickGualtieriAuthor
Follow Bill the Vampire on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BilltheVampire
A Higher Calling Page 4
