by Folsom, Tina
“What’s that for?”
“It’s a spare I have. It’s untraceable. I’ve programmed in my number so you can reach me, and I can contact you.” He motioned to the phone on the nightstand. “I’m guessing that phone is only a house phone. I’ve put the ringer on vibrate. Make sure nobody finds it. Hide it from Vera and the others, but keep it close enough so you know when I’m trying to contact you.”
“Thank you.” She lifted herself on her toes and kissed him.
“One thing: I know you want to talk to your parents, but it’ll have to wait.” He pointed to the phone in her hands. “The phone is locked. The only number you can call is mine. I’m sorry, but I had to do it. I know you’ll be tempted, and sometimes it’s just better to remove temptation before it has a chance to take root.”
She nodded. “I understand. Really, I do.” Her eyes confirmed her words.
He drew her into an embrace, holding her to his chest for several minutes without speaking. Then he kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
After leaving Ursula, Oliver checked in with Cain and went patrolling with him. Cain was one of the few colleagues whom he hadn’t pissed off yet, and Oliver took great pains not to say anything that would lead to an argument.
“Glad you joined me; it’s not as boring that way,” Cain said as they walked toward the entrance of another nightclub, where a couple of dozen clubbers lined up to be let inside.
“Guess it was different the other night. How bad was it?” Oliver tossed him a sideways glance then let his eyes wander over the young people outside the club to scan for anything unusual.
“It wasn’t pretty, let me tell you that.” He lowered his voice, so the humans around them couldn’t hear him. “She looked like he’d butchered her.”
Oliver spoke just as quietly. “Worse than one of our kind in bloodlust?”
Cain shoved his hands in his pockets. “And so useless. What a waste of a life. It’s terrible what drugs can do. It’s evil, pure evil.”
Oliver thought back to the time when he’d taken drugs as a human. “Yes, senseless.” And if Samson hadn’t pulled him out of it, he would have perished. Thinking about it now brought back the guilt he felt about how he’d parted with Samson. He stopped just before they reached the entrance to the nightclub.
“Listen, Cain, do you mind if I leave you for a while? I need to talk to Samson.”
Cain rocked back on his heels. “Something important?”
“Something very important.”
“No worries. I’ve still got a few more clubs to check out. Call me if you want to rejoin me later. That is, if you’re done before sunrise.”
Oliver checked his watch. He’d spent half the night with Ursula, and this was already the third club he and Cain were checking out. “It’s late. I’ll call you if I’m done in time.”
It took Oliver twenty minutes to get to Samson’s house. When he stood in front of the entrance door, he hesitated for a moment. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with cool night air, before he rang the door bell.
“Here goes,” he mumbled to himself.
The door was opened by Samson himself. His boss stared at him, his face serious. For a long moment they simply looked at each other, neither saying a word. Then Samson broke the silence. “Come in then.”
Samson stood to the side to let him enter, then shut the door behind him.
Oliver stood in the hallway, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, not knowing how to start. He hadn’t exactly thought this through. He wasn’t like any of his colleagues who had a way with words. He was much simpler than that. Less sophisticated.
He sucked in a breath, then raised his eyes and looked at his boss. “I’m sorry, Samson. For what I said.”
Samson sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. Seconds ticked by. “It’s not easy seeing you grow up and become a man with his own opinions. I guess I still see you as the kid I picked up from the street one night, to make myself feel better.”
Oliver stared at him with curiosity. “What do you mean?”
A sad smile played around Samson’s lips. “I was at a low point in my life, thinking of all the bad things I’d done in my past. I wanted to do good, and suddenly just running Scanguards wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted to save somebody. To turn their life around. So I chose you. For my own selfish purposes. I wanted to prove to myself that I could be selfless, that I could do something for a human being without expecting anything in return.”
“You chose me?”
“I did it to make myself feel better. To be proud of something.”
Oliver dropped his head. “And now you’re disappointed in me. I can understand that.”
Samson put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder, making him look up. “No. I’m not disappointed in you. It’s not that. I wasn’t selfless. It was selfish to think that I could make decisions for you. And when I realized that you’d started making your own decisions, I got defensive. I couldn’t let go, when I knew I had to. Oliver, Quinn might be your sire, but you’re like a son to me.”
Oliver felt a stinging in his eyes and realized that they were welling up with tears. He pushed them back. “I’ve always looked up to you.”
Samson pulled him into a hug. “I know that.”
Oliver felt the tension in his body ease. “Are we okay?”
Samson released him and ruffled Oliver’s hair. “We’re okay. Now tell me why you’re smelling like a spa.”
Shock coursed through him, making him freeze in place for a moment. What else was Samson smelling besides the bubble bath he’d shared with Ursula? Could he still smell Ursula’s scent on him?
“There’s nothing wrong with a man taking a bath,” Oliver said in a light tone then winked. “Just don’t tell Rose that I’m borrowing her expensive gels and lotions.”
Samson leaned a little closer, sniffing again. “She must have changed brands. It doesn’t smell like her.”
Oliver forced a chuckle, hoping his boss wouldn’t realize he was lying. But there was no way he could let him know that he’d seen Ursula. “Women. As soon as you think you’ve got them figured out, they change things around.”
Samson laughed. “Wiser words have never been spoken.”
This small crisis was averted. Relief flooded him just as his cell phone buzzed. Oliver pulled it from his pocket and checked caller ID, but it only said Private Caller. At least that meant it wasn’t Ursula, otherwise the number of the cell phone he’d given her would show up. Talking to her when Samson would be able to listen in on the call wouldn’t be smart.
“Let me see who wants something from me,” he said to Samson, then pressed the talk button and answered the phone. “Yes?”
“Oliver Parker?” the male voiced asked.
He recognized it immediately. “Mr. Corbin!” Oliver motioned to Samson, indicating that he wanted him to listen in. “What a nice surprise.”
“Yes, yes. Are you still interested in that address we talked about?”
“Absolutely.”
“Do you have something to write?”
He noticed Samson snatch a notepad off the sideboard and pull out a pen from the drawer.
“Shoot,” Oliver instructed the vampire on the other end of the line.
Corbin dictated an address in the East Bay, and Oliver watched as Samson wrote it down.
“Thank you so much.”
“No problem. Just one thing: if you’re going there, you should probably go soon. The email blast I received said that it was only a temporary address. Looks like they might be moving again.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Sure.”
Then the line went dead. Oliver stared at Samson then pointed to the phone. “That was the vampire whose wallet Ursula stole.”
“I figured.” He pointed to the address on the notepad. “Let’s alert HQ and get this show on the road.”
34
On the way to Scanguards’ headquarters, Samso
n already alerted the staff by phone and started giving instructions to call everybody off patrol duty and have them come in before sunrise. Nobody would be going home to sleep today, because the day would be spent working out a plan of how to extract the dozen incarcerated girls and destroy the vampires who ran the operation.
Oliver thrived on this part of his job. Like a well-oiled machine, all wheels in Scanguards’ big machine clicked into place. Everybody knew what they had to do.
The entire building was buzzing with activity when they arrived. As he and Samson walked through the corridors, busy staff members greeted them as they passed.
“Let’s see what information the others have for us already,” Samson said as he walked into the situation room, a large, windowless office with several monitors mounted on the walls. A number of computers stood on desks on one side. A large table dominated the middle of the room.
Thomas sat at one of the computers, his fingers flying over the keyboard so fast that the movement would have been a blur to the human eye. Cain was hovering behind him, staring at the monitor above Thomas’s head. It showed a split screen with various angles of a street corner.
Quinn leaned against the table in the middle, listening to Amaury and Zane who stood talking with Gabriel.
“You’re back,” Samson greeted his second-in-command.
When Gabriel turned to return the greeting, light shone on the scar on the right side of his face, showing it more prominently than normally. His long dark brown hair was bound together in a pony tail.
“Hey Samson, Oliver. Got back a few hours ago. Just in time as it turns out. Wouldn’t want to miss the action.” He grinned.
“Good to see you. Where’s everybody else?” Samson asked.
Zane walked to the table. “Jay is still sieving through the stuff he brought back from Valentine’s apartment. The place was a pigsty. Not everybody is back from their patrol yet, but they’ve been notified. Eddie is in the computer lab downstairs, cracking the password on a second cell phone we found in Valentine’s place.” Then he jerked his thumb in Thomas’s direction. “Thomas is trying to get us camera feeds for the outside of the building.”
Oliver stepped closer. “How?”
Thomas briefly looked over his shoulder. “The address you gave us is an old warehouse in one of the less savory neighborhoods of Oakland. There might be some surveillance cameras in the area, maybe a gas station, or some other business. I’m scanning the area for it.”
“What else do we have?” Oliver looked back at Zane.
Zane curled his lip up. “You running the show now?”
Oliver squared his stance, but refrained from fisting his hands at his hips, not wanting to look like a puffed up peacock. Instead he simply glared at his colleague. “Remember, I was the reason we got this break.”
The standoff took several tense seconds during which nobody spoke and only Thomas’s tapping on the keyboard was audible. From the corner of his eye, Oliver noticed that even Quinn tensed. Was his sire rooting for him?
Then Zane relaxed his shoulders and looked at Samson and Gabriel. “Guess the kid will have to run point eventually. Might as well do it with a case he cares about.”
Surprised that Zane had conceded, Oliver was speechless for a moment. Then he kicked into action.
“Cain, tell Eddie to lay off the cell phone for now and get us blueprints of the building.”
Cain nodded and picked up the receiver, dialing a two digit number.
For the next few hours, they set up surveillance of the warehouse and brainstormed ideas on how to attack without endangering the women and what to do with any clients found on the premises. They were in agreement about what the fate of the vampires who ran the brothel would be: they would be destroyed on sight. The punishment for the clients was a little less clear cut.
“We have no idea how many clients they even have,” Amaury said. “We can’t just go around and dust them all.”
“Hmm.” Samson rubbed the back of his neck.
Oliver paced. “They must have a client list. Otherwise they couldn’t have contacted Corbin to let him know about the new address. We’ll have to find the list. It’s the only way to find all affected vampires in the city.”
Gabriel sighed. “And then what? Bring them in and lock them up until they’ve gone through withdrawal and are clean?”
“It might be the only way,” Oliver mused. “Samson, how about we talk to Drake about it? He might be able to help us there. After all, addiction is in part mental. As a psychiatrist, he might have some ideas.”
Samson gave him an encouraging look. “That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to him.”
That problem dealt with for now, Oliver brought the focus back on the main task: how to get the women out safely.
“Thomas. Pipe the feed into the large screen so we can see what we’re dealing with.”
Thomas did as he was asked, and a moment later, a grainy black and white image appeared on the main TV screen in the room.
“What are we looking at?” Oliver asked.
Thomas stood and used a laser pointer to project a red dot onto the video image. He moved it over the screen as he spoke.
“That’s the warehouse. There’s an entrance door to the right here, but from the blueprint we know that there are two other doors in the back. There’s been no activity, which would be consistent with the information we have: since it’s still daylight, nobody is going in or coming out. And even if it were night already, this video wouldn’t help us. Unfortunately as we all know you can’t tell on a video feed whether you’re dealing with a vampire or not. Their auras can’t be captured on camera. So we’ll need to send somebody there to confirm first.”
Oliver shook his head. “And waste more time? No. Corbin said that this might only be a temporary address. We can’t risk them slipping through our fingers.”
“I agree,” Samson said. “Nevertheless, let’s send over a couple of our best human guards while it’s daytime and have them do some reconnaissance for us. That won’t cost us any time.”
Oliver nodded. “Fine.”
“And I think to be cautious we should get confirmation of the address from another source.” Samson turned to Thomas. “How’s Eddie coming along with breaking that password on Valentine’s second phone?”
“He said he’s got it under control.”
“Okay, then let’s go over weaponry,” Oliver suggested. There were many ways to kill a vampire, and while he would love to see those bastards suffer the most horrible deaths possible, he was smart enough to know that Scanguards had to employ the most efficient methods to ensure the safety of the women.
Small caliber handguns with silver bullets were still the most effective way to kill a large number of vampires without having to get too close. Several of their group were sharpshooters, Thomas being one of them. While everybody discussed the merits of one weapon versus another, Quinn leaned in, speaking quietly.
“I’m very proud of you. And I’m sorry we doubted you. I always knew that when push came to shove, you would pull through.”
“It’s not over yet.”
“I know. But it’s a good start.” He tossed a look at the screen and the blueprints that were spread over the table. “When all this is over, we’ll talk about Ursula.”
Absentmindedly Oliver nodded. Shit, he hadn’t told Ursula yet about the latest developments. And he had to tell her that he wouldn’t be able to stop by tonight since they would be going on the attack tonight. He didn’t want her to wait for him in vain and possibly worry.
It was almost sunset by the time Oliver was able to slip out of the situation room and find a quiet office where he could make a phone call without being overheard.
He dialed the pre-programmed number while keeping an eye on the door.
“Oliver?” Ursula’s voice came through the line.
“Yes, baby, it’s me.”
She sighed.
“I have exciting news. We know where the b
lood brothel has relocated to. It’s over in Oakland now. We’re going to attack tonight and get the women out.”
“Oh my god! I can’t believe it!” Excitement colored her choked up voice.
“It’ll all be all right soon.”
“What will you do? It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”
He chuckled. “Are you worried about me?”
“What if I am?”
Pride made his chest swell. Ursula cared about him. “I promise you I know what I’m doing. And my colleagues do to. We’re discussing strategy right now. Don’t worry, we’re going in with guns blazing.”
Her breath hitched. “But the girls. You can’t hurt them.”
“We won’t. We have some excellent sharpshooters on our team. None of the girls will be harmed. I promise you.”
“It’s so good to know it’ll soon be over. How did you even manage to find the place?”
“I got a call from Corbin, the vampire you stole the wallet from.”
“He found out where they moved to?”
“Yes, he got an email notifying him of the new address. Damn lucky too! Since he’d only been to the place once, he didn’t think they’d even notify him.”
“What?”
“I said damn lucky—”
“Oliver, Corbin didn’t just come once. I saw him many times. He was a regular.”
Surprise flooded him. “But he said . . . are you sure?”
“Believe me . . . Oh damn, I think Vera is at the door. I’ve gotta go.”
“Wait—” But the line went dead. “Fuck!”
Why would Corbin lie about the fact that he’d been a frequent client at the brothel? Why pretend that he’d only been there once and didn’t like the special blood? Was it possible that Ursula confused him with another client? No, he couldn’t allow himself to doubt her words. Whenever he’d done so, it had turned out that he was wrong and she was right.
He had to follow his gut.
Oliver stormed into the situation room just as Eddie entered too.
“Corbin is lying.”
All heads turned to him.
“I just got off the phone with Ursula. She confirmed that Corbin was a regular—”
