Spokane would also be a good starting point because of the air force base. They already had some strategically placed operatives on their payroll, and it would provide her with access to a major military operation. The value a fleet of jets could provide was immeasurable.
The more she thought about it, the more perfect it seemed. They could make the first shot from the eastern Washington city, and it would definitely be a shot heard around the world. From there, they could begin to topple the humans once and for all, and she would take her rightful place as ruler. Best of all, she’d finally take her long-overdue revenge.
“Where in Spokane?”
“She’s Imperial.”
Katrina’s head snapped up. She stared at him. “That can’t be. We would have known before this if she was at the helm.”
“Once we took Kramer out of the mix, we put all our resources on Imperial and hit pay dirt. I was able to turn two of her closest agents, and trust me,” he laid two eight-by-ten photographs on the desk, “it’s her.”
Katrina felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. The face that stared back at her was the one from her dreams. She was as lovely as the first day she’d seen her, and the sight made her heart beat faster. How she wanted to hate her, and in so many ways she did. Why then couldn’t she ever shake the longing? No one of her immense power should ever be brought to her knees by a little girl. No, that girl would be brought to her knees.
She picked up one of the photographs and stared at it. All these years and she had been hiding in plain sight the entire time. Her hand trembled. If Eli hadn’t been here, she would have started screaming and breaking everything she could get her hands on. Instead, she looked up at him and said, “Send the boys to the Imperial headquarters for her and tell them not to kill her. She’s mine.”
Chapter Six
Sasha paced and thought about what Rodney had just shown her, irrefutable proof that her biggest competitor had been taken down—and without her knowing about it until now. It worried her for one really big reason: it signaled how close they were getting to her. She’d been watching for this since the day she started the firm. Kramer was very much human but a man with skills that verged on preternatural. He had to have help of the vampire variety to even come close to competing with Imperial. They’d been locked in a competitive battle for decades, and she liked to believe she’d been a step ahead of him, something that the very macho Kramer had to have hated. In the back of her mind, she’d always wondered if they’d use him to find her. If he was willing to make a deal with the devil, it made sense that the Consortium could seize control of a powerful company like Kramer’s and then watch to see what her next move would be. He would make that kind of deal if it meant he could one-up her.
It concerned her too because her own staff had failed to alert her, which gave her a chill that was glacial. It wasn’t because they weren’t aware of Kramer’s death. She had handpicked every person in her company and was well aware of their capabilities. His death would not go unnoticed. Maybe it could slide by one or two, but never all of them. That said, it meant that information had been willfully withheld from her.
The million-dollar question of course was why, and she was terribly afraid she knew the answer. It wasn’t a good one.
“You okay?” Rodney’s voice held a note of concern.
For a second she thought about lying. It was her problem, and an embarrassing one at that. No need to advertise her shortcoming at knowing her own organization. Then again, this was Rodney. “Not really.”
He stared at her, his surprise clear in his face. “You didn’t know.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“You realized this was a possibility. A probability really.”
He was right. They’d discussed it many times over the years as they played out various scenarios. This was one of the most likely, and they had discussed all the different roads they would take if it did. “Of course.”
He nodded. “Still sucks.” He popped another carrot into his mouth.
Rodney got that one right. “Indeed it does.”
He crunched the carrot and swallowed. “So what next?”
It didn’t take a lot of thought on her part. “First thing is to uncover the traitor in my own organization. Somebody knew about Kramer, probably even before he was hit. That same somebody…”
“Could be somebodies,” Rodney threw in.
She nodded. “We have to uncover whoever’s responsible for this gross lapse in my corporation and deal with them as soon as possible. Who knows what kind of intel has already been leaked.”
Rodney was nodding with gusto. “Exactly my thought, and I started tracing before you even got here.”
Sasha studied him. “You breached my security?”
A sheepish smile crossed his face. “Well, yeah, it’s kinda what I do, you know?”
“Mine?” She raised a single eyebrow. Her networks should be foolproof. She paid a lot of money to the best and the brightest. If Rodney was able to get into her networks, she needed new people. Like the Rodney kind of people.
He leaned back in his chair and let the smile grow. He tossed a carrot into the air, let it fall into his mouth, and crunched loudly. If she lived with this guy, those carrots would have to go. “Think about all the lessons you’ve taught me since we met. You have given me a whole new way to look at the world. I learned to flex my muscles, and I’m not talking about the guns.” He held up his arms in a classic weightlifter pose. “I flexed my sleuthing muscles, and that, my beautiful friend, is return on investment.”
“By breaching my security?” It seemed like a messed-up way to return what he was making sound like a huge favor. Not to mention it pissed her off to discover someone could blow through her firewalls and nobody had noticed. Her highly paid techs should at least be on a par with Rodney.
“To quote you, indeed.”
She lowered herself into a chair next to him and stared at the screens anchored to the wall. She wanted to be pissed off, but she was more intrigued. With her hands steepled beneath her chin, she turned her face to him. “Educate me.”
***
The third time Dee stumbled over a downed pine, she swore loudly. This was the dumbest thing she’d ever done, and she couldn’t believe she’d let Prima talk her into this fairy-dance traipse through the dark woods. She wasn’t exactly a ballerina on flat ground. This uneven, brush-strewn terrain was impossible. As she muttered obscenities, Prima turned to look at her, and in the beam of Dee’s headlight, she could see her getting ready to make a comment. She stopped her.
“If you say ‘suck it up, buttercup’ again, I swear to God I will take you out right here, right now.”
Prima laughed. Actually laughed. Bitch. It was all she could do not to throttle her. Not that she actually would. Despite writing books filled with violence, Dee was pretty much a believer in peace at all costs. So, she wouldn’t throttle her, but at the very least she wanted to stomp her feet and throw a tantrum.
“I wasn’t going to say that at all. What I planned to say is that we’re here.”
Now that was a load of crap if she’d ever heard it. They’d been doing a sort of run/walk for at least thirty minutes and were now in the middle of what? Hell and gone? All that was around them were trees and more trees. It was clear to her Prima was having some fun at her expense.
“Right, and he lives in a tree house?” Her head went up as the light of her headlamp illuminated the massive trunk of the pine tree in front of them. Rain pelted her in the eyes, and she blinked to try to keep her vision clear. She didn’t see anything remotely resembling a tree house. There was a pretty good-sized hill behind all the trees, and if Prima thought for one second she was climbing that thing, she was dead wrong.
Prima shrugged. “In a manner of speaking, yes, though I would say Rodney’s abode is more bunker than tree house. In fact, I’d call it more a tree neighbor.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” At th
is point, she wanted to go back to the car and return home, where a nice, warm sofa would feel fantastic on her aching legs. Hiking wasn’t usually her gig, even in daylight. Definitely not her thing at night in a rainstorm that was picking up speed. It was cool, wet, and smelly.
This time Prima grinned. “Once more, I have to say suck…”
“Don’t. You. Dare.”
Prima made a zipping motion across her mouth. “Fine, but give it a minute, and I promise it’ll be worth your while. Ready for a little magic?”
A big raindrop plopped right in the middle of her forehead. She swiped it away. “Sure, right along with your so-called vampires. Why not? Bring it on, big, bad psychic. Then maybe we can go home before we get soaked.”
“Your wish is my command.” Still smiling broadly, Prima touched the bark of the big tree and then stepped back.
“Retreating so quickly? Giving up so soon on showing me the magic? Or did you just get a splinter?” Dee was glad to see Prima was admitting defeat, although the thought of the trek back to the car didn’t exactly thrill her despite how ready she was to go home. She had started to turn back when the ground next to the tree began to move. What the hell? Dee swung her head around and directed her light to the moving earth. She swore softly again. “Son of a bitch.”
Prima waved a hand toward steps that appeared like the magic she’d promised. A moment before there had been nothing but wild grass and brush in the same spot. “I told you I had some surprises in store.”
“Who in their right mind builds a staircase in a place like this? What’s the tree, a doorbell?” It was hard to believe even though she was seeing it.
“Oh, sister, this is just the beginning, and yes, the tree is a doorbell of sorts. A little sensor’s hidden beneath the part. You just have to know where to touch.”
She was done. Prima had her, as the saying went, hook, line, and sinker. All thoughts of returning to the car vanished, and she didn’t hesitate to follow Prima down the rabbit hole that, as it turned out, wasn’t a rabbit hole at all, but a cleverly disguised entry into some kind of underground bunker. It was simply the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Prima might be screwing with her over the vampire thing, but even if she was, this made up for it.
Resting his back against a closed steel door, a man, a very large man, was waiting for them at the base of the stairs. His long hair and beard made him look like one of those reality-television personalities. He was pale, though more of a shade that seemed to suggest he spent the majority of his time down here as opposed to being a creature of the night. Then again, perhaps this is what Prima meant when she said she was going to introduce her to vampires.
“If it isn’t the magnificent Prima, finally gracing me with her presence. I was beginning to think you were never going to come back for a visit. I was getting very sad.”
“Oh, Rodney, you know I’d never snub you.” Prima’s voice held a hint of a smile, and Dee sensed there was something special about this man. Interesting indeed. As long as she’d known Prima, she’d never heard her use that tone before.
“Who’s your most intriguing pal? Someone special, I presume.” His gaze only briefly swept over Dee before settling back on Prima. She usually had a pretty good read on people, and it was telling her these two were drawn to each other. Interesting that Prima had never mentioned him before.
Prima nodded and smiled. “This is Dee Arkin, the one and only New York Times best-selling author. I’ve told you about her.” His face took on a darkened expression that told Dee he wasn’t happy with this particular introduction. It was a little insulting, and his next words brought that feeling home. “Why would you bring her here? You know—”
Prima held up her hand. “She’s not like that.”
“If she’s an NYT bestseller, she’s most certainly like that.”
“Like what?” She was already insulted by his clear objection to her presence. It was equally irritating to be talked about like she wasn’t even there.
His eyes swept over her again, only this time with clear disdain. “Establishment.”
Prima put a hand on his arm, and he didn’t shrug it off. “Laughing all the way to the bank, you mean. She’s not establishment. She’s creative and brave and a powerful voice. Don’t lump her in with the assholes. And listen up, Mr. R. She’s got some mad skills, and that’s why we’re here. She needs to know.”
Prima didn’t elaborate on that last point.
“Why?” He wasn’t giving any ground. Usually people loved to meet her, which could be a bit overwhelming for someone who wasn’t that social. She was beginning to get pissed off that he was treating her like she was a carrier for the plague.
“Trust me, she needs to know.”
“You swear on your life she’s okay?” Dee had the distinct impression he wasn’t making a theoretical statement.
“I do.” Prima’s response was laser fast.
He studied her face and she didn’t blink. Finally, he nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay.” She smiled. “Let’s do this.”
“You picked the perfect night to open a mind.”
“What do you mean?” Prima tilted her head as she looked at him.
Rodney winked and then clicked a button on a small device that until now Dee hadn’t even noticed he was holding. The steel door behind slid open to reveal yet another surprise.
***
Katrina settled into the fine leather seat and held out her hand. A young woman dressed in a short skirt, a tight blouse, and four-inch heels lowered a silver tray that held a single crystal glass. As she leaned into Katrina, her cleavage was on full display, just as she liked. On longer trips, she would enjoy more than just the view, but not now. Not quite enough time between takeoff and landing to make it worthwhile.
She picked up the glass from the tray and studied the deep-crimson blood inside. It was fresh and warm, and exactly what she needed at this moment. It was always better when blood was taken directly from the source, although it wasn’t always possible. This was the next best thing. Besides time being an issue, she didn’t want to soil her clothing. She wanted nothing to slow down this journey, including the need to clean up.
The plane took off smoothly, and she smiled as she sipped from the glass and inhaled the heady scent. An excellent choice. There was much to be said about modern conveniences like private planes. In the past this trip would have taken many hours to accomplish. Not any longer. Her plane was comfortable and fast, with no TSA security to slow her down. They would be on the ground in Spokane in less than an hour.
Eli sat at a small table, his fingers flying across his laptop. It was almost as if he and the machine were one. Wherever one saw Eli, they also saw a laptop, as well as the requisite smartphone and watch. Since the moment they left he’d been in constant communication with the boys. When he frowned, an uncomfortable feeling assailed her. “What is it now?”
“The boys went to Imperial.”
“They have her, correct?” How she would have liked to have been there with the boys to see her shock and surprise.
“No. They do not. They said she was walking out of the building, took a call, and cleared out fast.”
“Tell me the idiots followed her.”
Again he frowned. “No, they believe they might have been compromised and didn’t want to follow on the off chance she didn’t see them.”
“Then take care of it, you imbecile.” These continual failures, however small, were problematic. Was she going to have to take care of everything herself?
His eyes glittered, as they always did when she insulted him. He also stayed quiet, as he always did. Smart on his part. He knew better than to respond. After a brief silence, he asked, “The boys?”
She thought about that for a moment. Perhaps they were correct and had indeed been compromised. Then again, if they hadn’t, they could still be useful. “Tell them to get out of there for now. They can go back when no one’s around.”
Another ni
ce thing about an assistant who’d been by her side for decades—she didn’t have to go into great detail. He would know what she wanted him to do and how to accomplish it.
He looked at her and nodded. “Got it.” His attention returned to the array of electronics spread out on the table.
Leaning back in her chair, she put her feet up on another of the plush leather seats and finished off the glass of blood as she contemplated what their next move would be. Flushing her out would be the fun part. Taking her down would be pure ecstasy. Talk about timing. She’d nailed this one. Everything was coming together with perfection.
Chapter Seven
Sasha was so pissed off by the time Rodney finished briefing her on his research that she was ready to kill and probably would. She barely glanced up at the monitor when it gave off a signal that alerted him to the presence of a new visitor. He gave a short laugh and muttered, “I’ll be damned,” but they barely registered. After he went to greet this same visitor in the vestibule area, she didn’t move. Her mind was whirling with the new knowledge she’d gained and what to do about it.
Granted, she’d been expecting this surge for power from the Consortium for a long time. The handwriting had been on the wall for years, which is why they’d been preparing, and now the time had arrived. She was ready for whatever they came with. What she hadn’t been expecting was the knife plunged into her own back. Damn it, but she’d treated those two like her own family, and they did this to her? She’d played this game before, been the victim one time too many, and she’d vowed to keep her circle free of treachery. So much for her skill at reading the hearts and souls of her people. But now she could do something about it. Heads were going to roll, literally.
The issue more pressing than cleaning her own house was being in the right place at the right time in order to stop the machinery from going into motion. If she’d learned anything over the last century, it was that the vampires had no business running the world. By and large they were greedy and egotistical. Immortality had a way of nurturing those qualities in a soul, even if a person started out as very good. She would like to believe she was different, but sometimes even she felt the pull of ego, which, when she gave in to it, made her a total ass. Her father had always liked those moments when she displayed a little edginess and a bit less Goody Two-shoes, yet if she indulged in it wholeheartedly, he would not be proud of her. Even after all this time, she wanted to make him proud. She supposed that part of her would never fade, and she didn’t want it to. It kept her connected to the woman she once was and the family taken from her in the worst way possible.
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