Rufus turned a curious eye to his Second. “Enlighten me.”
“Honor.” Jack turned and walked to the bar. He poured himself a whiskey and leaned against the counter.
Rufus nodded as he stared at his snifter. “Oui. That is a major difference.”
“So I’ll not take your comparison as an insult.” Jack lifted the glass in mock salute then tilted it back.
“Non, it was not an insult. It was merely an observation.” Rufus sipped his cognac and tapped lightly at the glass as his mind wandered.
“You do realize you can’t trust him.” It wasn’t a question.
Rufus said nothing but Jack swore he could almost detect a slight nod come from the man across from him. He poured another whiskey then pulled the stopper from the cognac and refilled Rufus’ glass. “I so want to believe in him, Jack.”
“Wanting something to be true, and it actually being true are two different things, my friend.”
“Oui, this is so.” Rufus set his glass down at the table and stood. “It is late and the sun will be up soon. I think I shall retire early.”
Jack placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from leaving. “You gonna be okay?”
Rufus nodded. “Oui, I shall be fine.” He patted Jack’s hand then excused himself.
Jack went back to his seat and opened his computer. He had begun an email to Mitchell, but couldn’t figure out how to word it. He knew that requesting any personnel during a full moon would be asking too much. As much as he wanted to tell his old boss, ‘thanks, but no thanks he could really use the back up. He reread the draft and decided against it. Keep it simple.
Colonel-
Just got word that the meeting must take place on the night of the full moon. I realize that this may well put you and the squads in a bad position and will understand if you cannot allow any team members leave at that time.
Awaiting your response,
Phoenix
He hit ‘send’ and sat back in his chair. Staring at the screen didn’t get him a reply any faster.
*****
Paul quietly unpacked his meager belongings in the guest room provided by his brother. He was grateful that the room held no windows and he finally felt somewhat comfortable in the posh surroundings of the castle. He carefully unpacked the clothing and placed them within the antique dresser, his suits and jackets he hung in the large armoire in the corner of the room. As he got closer to the bottom of the bag, his hand brushed the small plastic object that he knew he would soon have to deal with.
He pulled the transmitter from the bottom of the bag and ran his fingers along the smooth plastic surface. A simple switch and a tiny LED light was all that indicated that the thing was functioning. All he had to do was mash the switch, hide the transmitter, and the Council would know exactly where Thorn’s domicile was hidden. They could have a team of assassins swarm the island, overrun Thompson’s security and remove his brother with extreme prejudice.
Foster sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the small plastic device. The cold of the device didn’t register with him as he continued to run his hands along its smooth surface. He brushed a finger along the surface of the switch and his mind raced through endless possibilities. He could be free from the animal blood. The pact he signed would be null and void and he would have control of his people again. In fact, with Thorn being his only relative, all of his holdings would revert to Foster. He’d be instantly so wealthy he couldn’t possibly squander it all. Paul chuckled to himself. Who am I kidding? I could burn through all of his money in one week in Vegas!
Foster stared into the shadows as his mind played endless possibilities over and over, each one more glorious than the previous. Of them all, Paul took great pleasure simply in seeing Jack Thompson, former Hunter, cut down and embarrassed in front of his brother.
Paul smiled as his hand smoothed over the finish of the device, his finger massaging the switch. “Too bad you couldn’t have just released me once the battle was done, dear brother.”
*****
John made sure he knew exactly where all of his squad mates were as he let the UV grenade fly. As soon as it went off and the interior of the church lit up, the screams began. Apollo was right about one thing, being right here in the muck was a lot different than being a distance off and shooting at moving targets with no face.
“Movement,” a voice sounded through the earpiece and John’s SCAR was to his shoulder, his eyes scanning through the ACOG scope. He heard the staccato of gunfire from the other side of the church and, in his peripheral vision, saw a body hit the ground, flaming ashes rising into the chilling night sky.
He caught movement to his right and brought the barrel to bear on the quickly moving targets. He opened fire as the first of three targets leapt through the broken window, each bursting into flame in mid leap and crumbling to the sandy ground as flaming embers.
“Three tangos down,” he quickly reported.
“Ten o’clock!” Lamb yelled, and gunfire belched into the night once more as the teams slowly advanced on the remains of the building.
Spalding tapped Sullivan’s shoulder and, using hand signals, motioned him to the rear of the church. John turned and hurried down the long wall, checking each crumbling doorway or broken window as he went. Darren took up the rear and covered the roofline. As they rounded the corner, the remains of an old adobe wall ran off along the rear of the church, its bricks and mud mortar crumbling and sections had collapsed. John scanned the open desert behind the wall and saw no movement before he turned and staged to the right of the door.
Spalding took the left then keyed his mic, “We’re breaching the rear.”
“Copy that, Team Leader. Approaching the front,” Jacobs replied.
Spalding nodded to Sullivan who turned and kicked the dry rotted wood inward, cutting left as he entered. Spalding covered and closed the gap. Both men worked their way forward clearing rooms as they went. They smoked two more vamps that were hiding, reducing them to ash and found one crispy but wounded one that tried to escape from a side window. Donovan finished the job before his feet ever hit the ground.
They could hear more gunfire toward the front of the church and worked their way forward. Lamb stepped into the hallway and waved them forward. “We got something.”
Spalding could hear whimpering and a man’s voice screaming at the operators. He stepped into what used to be the Chaplain’s office. “What’s this?”
Three nude female vampires stood between the operators and a male who was yelling at the soldiers. “You have no right to be here. We’re Beastia! Lamia Beastia!”
Spalding stepped forward and rested his rifle on his shoulder, “Easy there, easy. Just calm down a second.”
“No! Bullshit! You calm down. You can’t just come in here guns blazing and start shooting everybody! We’re not Lamia Humanus!” Spittle flew from the male vampire’s mouth as he yelled.
Spalding glanced at Lamb who shrugged. Little John leaned close and asked, “What’s a Lamia Beastia?”
“Good guys,” Spalding said. “Actually, they’re allies.”
“That’s right. We’re allies, asshole!”
Spalding turned back to the irate male. “If you’re truly Lamia Beastia that means you’re part of Thorn’s group?”
“Yeah, that’s right…Thorn.” He thumped his chest and thrust his chin out at them.
“So you’ve spoken to him since we’ve become allies?” Darren asked.
“Yeah, all the time. Me and him are homies.”
Spalding smiled and pulled the rifle from his shoulder. “Then you won’t mind giving me the password.”
The male vampire froze, his face suddenly ashen. “The what?”
“The password? Surely your homie would have told you the one key word that would save your life in an event…well, just like this one.” Darren patted his rifle against his open palm.
“Uh…he uh…well…”
“Clock is ticking.” He smiled
at the vampire. “Homie.”
“Aw…fuck.” The male vampire grabbed two of the females and pulled them closer, making shields of them.
Darren turned and walked out of the room. “Smoke ‘em.”
The sound of gunfire and resultant ash took only moments.
Little John trotted to catch up to Spalding. “What was that all about? Allies and passwords and—”
Darren snorted. “No such thing.” He stepped out into the alcove and motioned to Donovan. Turning back to Sullivan he continued, “Oh, we have some vampires who only feed off of animals. Those are the Lamia Beastia and we leave them alone. As long as they play by the rules, we don’t mess with them.”
“So there is a password?”
Darren gave him a silly sideways smile. “Hell no.”
“Then what was all that about?”
“He didn’t know that. If he had truly been Lamia Beastia, he’d have known there wasn’t a password, and he’d have called me on it.”
Little John rubbed at the back of his neck, the acrid smell of burnt flesh causing his eyes to water and his nose to run. “Are you sure of that?”
Darren nodded. “Oh yeah. And another thing, real Beastias have a touch of class. That ass-hat didn’t.”
Little John looked back toward the room where the bloodsuckers were and considered the possibilities. He didn’t get a chance to do much thinking before Jacobs returned from the rear of the church. “We have a problem.”
Spalding turned and faced him. “Report.”
“Intel stated minimum thirty tangos. I counted thirteen ashed bodies.”
Lamb stepped out of a side room and looked to Spalding. “Could we have missed a hunting party?”
“I don’t know. But if we did and they were anywhere close, they would have heard us.” He stepped outside and keyed his mic, “OPCOM, Team Leader. We have an issue.”
*****
Damien dropped Rachel out of sight from the meeting place. He could see the old schoolhouse from his vantage point and figured they had at least three more hours before they had to worry about sunrise. He quickly closed the gap and stood behind a small copse of trees. He could see somebody moving about inside the building but he couldn’t tell if it was more than one person inside.
Stepping out from his hiding spot a voice called to him, “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to hide there all night or if you’d actually stroll up and knock.”
Damien froze in his tracks. He dared not move too quickly, but his curiosity got the better of him. “I just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a trap.”
The voice chuckled and stepped closer behind him. “You’re a crafty one now, aren’t you?” He stepped past Damien and continued toward the house. “Come along then. And you can have your lady friend join you whenever you like.”
He didn’t catch the fellow’s face, but he was dressed in a tan overcoat and had a hat that covered salt and pepper grey hair. Damien noted the hiking boots and knew the man was prepared for the territory. He fell into step behind him, and turned slightly to the hill that Rachel was supposed to be watching from. He motioned for her to come down but whether or not she would, he couldn’t say.
The man strode up to the old schoolhouse and opened the door. As he stepped back and held the door for Damien, he got his first look at his face. An unassuming fellow, he appeared completely disarming. Damien stepped inside and waited for the man to walk past, pulling his coat off as he walked. “It isn’t much, but we call it home.”
“How many of you are there?” he asked.
“Four. Two men, two women.” The man hung his coat up and invited Damien into the kitchen. “Care for a drink? We have alcohol or Elven blood or…what’s your fancy?”
Damien waved him off. “No, thank you. If it’s all the same, I’d just as soon make the exchange and be off.”
The man nodded and stepped past him. He reached into a cupboard above the stove. “It took some doing to get this and then have it shipped here. You do realize what this is, don’t you?”
“If it’s authentic, then yes, I do.”
“Oh, it’s authentic.” The man pulled the plastic lid from an old Tupperware container and reached inside. “This head once belonged to none other than Lilith.”
“Supposedly.” Damien stepped aside while the man placed the black, wrinkled husk of a skull on the table. The smell of mold and mildew permeated the room.
“It’s the real deal. Look at the canines. Only the demon, Lilith, had teeth like that.”
Damien gave him a curious stare. “Demon?”
The man nodded. “Yes. Don’t you know who Lilith is? Why she was dismembered, her body spread across the four corners of the known world?”
“Well, I…” Damien cleared his throat. “I thought I did.”
“You’d damned sure better find out more before you start messing around with this, son. It’s far more dangerous than you could imagine.”
“Then why would you sell it?”
The man smiled and the effect didn’t reach his eyes. “Because, right now, in this world, what you have is far more valuable.” He reached out his hand. “You did bring it, didn’t you?”
Damien pulled out a USB drive and handed it to him. The other vampire pulled a ruggedized laptop across the kitchen table and inserted the USB. He booted the computer and clicked on the drive. Damien watched as a smile slowly crossed his features. “Excellent.” The man closed the computer and held out his hand. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“You aren’t the least bit curious where I got that?”
The man leaned close to him and lowered his voice, “You were a United States Senator’s son. I assume you stole it from daddy’s computer.”
Damien felt his face try to flush. He turned and put the head back in the large Tupperware. Turning toward the door he saw Rachel standing in the yard. She nodded to him and he gave her a slight nod back. “Thanks. We should do this again some time.”
“Be careful dealing with that woman,” the man warned. “She’ll promise you the moon and the stars, but once she’s gotten what she wants, she’ll rip your heart out and feed on it.”
Damien paused and smiled inwardly. “Actually, that’s what I do.”
9
Mark typed up the requisition for the new truck purchases and placed them into Matt’s ‘IN’ basket. He was just turning to leave when Dr. Peters approached him from the hallway. “Have you spoken to Colonel Mitchell about your findings in the desert?”
Mark shook his head. “I was waiting until we knew for sure that the schematics weren’t anywhere to be found here.” He could tell by Evan’s face that he had no luck.
“Major, there’s no stone that’s been left unturned. The only option left is Mr. Thorn.”
Mark scratched at his chin as his mind went through possibilities. “I’ll talk to Matt. Jack has asked to borrow some operators if we can spare them. Depending on who’s available, I may have a sit down with them and they can do a little recon work for us while they’re with them.”
Evan agreed wholeheartedly. “Keeping this quiet would be the best idea. If he gets wind that we know, there’s no telling what he may do.”
Mark turned a skeptical eye on him. “You don’t think he’s already built the device, do you?” He lowered his voice and stepped closer. “Do you think he’d deploy it?”
Evan shook his head. “I really have no idea what ideas he has rolling around in his head. He was willing to sacrifice every supernatural creature to stop the Sicarii.”
“And the Sicarii was stopped. What possible reason would he have to build a machine like this?”
Evan sighed heavily. “That, Major, is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.”
*****
Rufus stepped quietly into his study and double checked that nobody lurked in the hallway. He closed the door and turned the lock behind him. Pulling the satellite phone from his desk drawer, he quickly scrolled through his call list and
punched the number he wanted. He sat back in his chair and listened to the phone ring on the other end.
When the line answered he turned his chair from the door and faced the wall behind his desk. “It’s me. How close are you to being done?”
An exasperated and heavily accented voice on the other end tried to explain that this wasn’t like buying parts off the shelf. Everything had to be machined to exact tolerances. Specific metallurgies had to be found, exactingly welded, pressure tested and verified. Radioactive sources had to be located, purified, concentrated, and…
“I know what it entails,” Rufus growled into the phone. “I also remember how much you said it would cost and the timeline you gave me. Your time is drawing near an end.”
The voice sighed and Rufus could almost hear the man rubbing at his eyes. “Monsieur Thorn, we are working as quickly as we can. If we don’t double and triple check everything before delivery, we may as well be delivering a bomb to you.”
Rufus inhaled deeply and stared at his ceiling. “In essence, mon ami, you are.” He glanced to the door again and lowered his voice once more. “How much longer?”
The voice with the heavy German accent paused. “Perhaps two weeks. Less if we run into no more snags.”
“Pray you run into no more snags then.” It wasn’t a threat, but when dealing with someone with his resources, it definitely came across as one. “I need the device as soon as you can deliver it.”
“Understood, Monsieur Thorn.”
Rufus pressed the end call button and slipped the phone back into the side drawer of his desk. He rose and unlocked his door and checked the hallway once more. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and warily worked his way back to his liquor cabinet. His hand reached past the liquor bottles and found a small compartment in the side of the stand. He reached inside and pulled out the small flask of Elven blood and poured himself a shot. He needed something to calm his nerves.
Homecoming Page 13
