The Parchment (The Memory of Blood)

by Sylvie Brisset

  "Casper? Is that you?"

  She perceived only a vague stifled feeling.

  "Casper! I try to locate you, but I hardly perceive you. Are you still in the lab?"

  Nothing. Except a vague muttering. Pursuing her searches in the corridors, she read the mentions on doors, trying her badge on all doors she found. But her access was even more limited than she had originally thought. In this area, all entries seemed forbidden to her.

  At a corner of a corridor, she found Silvo. His glance was worried. She quickly informed him of the situation. Both tried the doors one after the other.

  "We have to find a means to enlarge our access."

  "Wait. Look here," Silvo indicated.

  The panel above the door said "Room of the sound". Indeed, this kind of statement could attract Casper. But once again when they inserted their badge, the light remained red.

  She began to consider forcing the door when it opened suddenly on a researcher. They did a dance, unwittingly blocking the passage of each other. Him to go out, her to enter before the door closed. After mutual apologies, the researcher withdrew, while Silvo was blocking the door with his foot. They were finally able to enter.

  The room contained another locked room. Silvo and Mystie began by making a tour around, watching the instruments that were placed on the various desks, hoping to find a key.

  "Nothing!" Silvo said.

  Mystie and Silvo stared at each other. The sound of the Silvo voice was oddly clear although he had only whispered. The sound was not amplified, only clearer.

  "It is strange," Mystie noticed.

  The walls of the room appeared covered with a material closer to the rock wool than to the paint.

  "I guess it absorbs sound and prevents any echo," Silvo commented.

  Mystie nodded and approached what looked like two bazookas connected to a computer. Measurements were displayed on the screen with the heading "Kundt Tube".

  "It would be better not to hang around here too long. The researcher will surely soon return."

  For some unknown reason, Mystie was convinced that Casper was in the room. While Silvo was trying again to open the locked room, she continued to observe the current experiments. She stopped in front of a pipe closed on each side and connected to a console. Seeing no computer cable, she supposed that it was not part of an experiment. A little note stating "Out of Service" had been placed on the front. One of the levers was on position "Empty". On an impulse, she lowered it. She heard a faint hiss as the air entered the tube.

  "Finally!" Casper yelled.

  Mystie’s ears were hurt by Casper’s howl after the minutes of silence.

  "I found him!" Mystie said to Silvo. Let's get out of there!"

  As they left the room, Casper invited himself in the spirit of Silvo to inform both of them at same time of what had happened.

  "Dracul has a strange sense of humor. I tell you!"

  "You mean it was Delatour who locked you in the tube?

  "Yes! He asked me if I wanted to participate in an experiment on sounds and music. You know my passion. He brought me in this bottle, put the cap and made vacuum."

  "But why did he do that?" Mystie asked.

  "I don’t know. I could no longer communicate with him. The sound does not propagate in the vacuum. I was floating but I was blocked. He showed me his watch. He would return in five minutes, but the bastard never returned. I tried to activate the remote control vacuum but without much success. I have never been able to raise it enough."

  "Delatour disappeared," Silvo said.

  "Really?"

  "Yes. And I cannot succeed in communicating with him either," Mystie added.

  "Do you believe that he left his body and that he was also stuck in a tube?"

  "I rather think he went out for an unknown reason and he was kidnapped," Silvo suggested. "I questioned the clerk at the reception desk. Delatour has been gone two hours after he received a phone call and no one has seen him return."

  "But wherever he is, Mystie should be able to contact him, no? There's a limit of reach in your ploy?"

  "I don’t have the slightest idea," Mystie answered. "We have to know who called and why."

  "Let's go to the security. I would not be surprised if they record the calls. This was where I was heading when I crossed you in the corridors."

  Silvo showed them the way up to the entrance. They found the door that stated "Security" on its front. He took out his professional ID card. Losing their cover was henceforth not important, especially since it would give them no more authority.

  Barely had they pushed the door when they were stopped by a guard dressed in paramilitary uniform.

  "The access is prohibited here. Please return to the reception."

  He put his hand on his gun and took a threatening attitude.

  Silvo put his card, stamped with the colors of the Republic, under the guard’s nose.

  "Call your supervisor. I must speak to him."

  The man hesitated, taking the card and turning it in his hands, as if he doubted whether it was authentic.

  "This is urgent!" Silvo added.

  "Okay. I will inform him. But do not move."

  He made a sign to another guard, asking him to invigilate Mystie and Silvo. He then followed a corridor up to a closed door. After knocking, he disappeared, Silvo’s card in hand.

  Minutes later, he emerged with an older man who gave Silvo back his ID. Obviously he was not impressed with the quality of his visitors.

  "What do you want?"

  “Mr. Delatour disappeared and we have reason to fear that he was kidnapped. We wish to consult your video surveillance tapes. And also listen to the recording of the last phone call he received."

  "Sorry, but I cannot give you what you ask. You should not even be here. You can pack up your card. Without a warrant, you have no rights. This is a private place here. A guard will accompany you to the exit. Consider yourselves lucky if the lab does not complain."

  "We are here on the will of Mr. Delatour. Verify it! He has supplied our passes. He disappeared. And our only clue is the phone call he received before leaving the laboratory."

  "Come back with a court order and I'll see what I can do for you. In the meantime, please follow the guard."

  Mystie wanted to protest, but Silvo motioned her not to do so. It was useless. The security chief knew his rights and was under no obligation to cooperate.

  The guard was armed and beckoned them to pass, directing them toward the exit.

  "Casper, stay a little, will you. If these men are curious, and to fulfill their job they must be, they will listen to the tape. We will wait for you in the car."

  "Yes, Boss!"

  Mystie and Silvo walked toward the exit. There was no other option, apart from force, and it was not their methods. They were left to hope that the guards would have the expected reaction.

  Reaching the parking lot, Silvo went directly to the gatekeeper. He showed him his card. This guy was more cooperative.

  "Did you see Mr. Delatour when he left?"

  "Yes sir."

  He consulted a register in which he mentioned all entrances and exit of the complex.

  "He left at five past ten."

  "Have you seen him since?"

  "No sir."

  "Did someone else left at the same time or right after him?"

  "No sir. Mr. Delatour was alone. The next exit was Professor Martin, at eleven thirty. He always has lunch early."

  "I see. Did anyone try to enter without an authorization this morning?"

  "No sir."

  "When Mr. Delatour went out, did he tell you something? Was he in a hurry?"

  "He waved at me, as usual. I did not notice anything in particular. Why? What happened?"

  "Thank you."

  Silvo wrote down the name of the guard, which was embroidered on his jacket. Mystie and Silvo headed to the parking lot where Silvo had left his car. Having started the engine to warm the cabin temperature, he
called the police HQ and launched a wanted notice on Delatour’s car. The wait began. All their hopes now rested on Casper.

  Casper arrived just as the security supervisor shut himself up in his office. There was almost no free space. One wall was covered with monitors. Casper recognized the paths of the lab, the outside entrance, and part of the street. The desk, or better said the supposed desk, was a console more equipped than a recording studio.

  They do not skimp on security devices! Casper thought.

  As foreseen by Silvo, the supervisor tried to find the call received by Delatour on a digital band. After several unsuccessful attempts, and back and forth, he found what he sought. A voice provided with a strong English accent rose in the silence of the office.

  "Hi, sir. Do not move. We have a long range weapon pointed at you and our sniper never misses his target."

  "You have no interest in killing me," Delatour said quietly.

  "That is correct. But you have people around you who are of no use to us and who are also in our sights. Then, no mindless gesture. Even if you could warn them, we would have ample time to shoot them down before you could utter a word. If you doubt my words, you just have to turn on a monitor and we will describe to you what your friend, disguised as a cleaning lady, is doing. The agent Silvo is in an office out of reach for now but will soon leave. The third, he did well to wait wisely at home with the grandmother but that does not make his position more secure. As settled by your friend the policeman last night, we will stoop to anything. So you'd better take this threat seriously.”

  "What do you want?"

  "But you, of course. Your discussion last night was very instructive. You go out of your lab and you stop at the first crossroads on your right. Remember what I told you. Our sniper will remain in position until instructed otherwise. If he sees your friends acting in a suspicious way, he shoots. It's simple. Oh, I almost forgot…"

  There was a sound of crumpled paper, and the voice rose again.

  "Now I speak to the person of security who will listen to the record band when your leaving will be noticed. If you are not the security supervisor then pass him the following message: It would be a pity if his granddaughter had an unfortunate accident. She goes to the pool with the school this morning, doesn't she? Is the recording worth it? And we will know if the police benefited from this clue. Be certain."

  Delatour’s voice rose.

  "Joel, destroy this band."

  "That's a reasonable man. Don't dawdle Delatour. I am not a patient man."

  The communication ended. The so-called Joel, who had denied access to Silvo, pressed the stop button. Clearly, he hesitated. He went over the tape back. The end of the communication arose again. Then he pressed the "Delete" button, and sat there a few seconds without moving. Then he took his jacket and told his subordinate that for personal reasons, he had to go out for one hour. Casper had no doubt. The man was going to put his granddaughter in security. Anyway, this is what he would have done.

  Casper returned to the car and explained what he had learned to Mystie and Silvo.

  Uncomfortable, Mystie looked around her, and at the buildings facing the lab looking for a sniper in ambush. Silvo started the radio and spoke low to hinder a possible micro spy.

  "How can he know what we said yesterday?" Mystie whispered. "He could not place microphones."

  "It is not necessary. There are devices that allow remote spying on conversations. They had to be hidden in a van yesterday and now they are gone."

  "But this kind of material could not go through customs at the airport."

  "You can find them easily on the Internet. No need to carry them."

  "They have really well prepared their trick."

  "Yes. That's why they had not yet taken action."

  "Now they know he is a vampire and because of us," Mystie said, horrified. "What did we say yesterday? I do not remember everything."

  "It was mostly Casper who spoke, and they could not hear him."

  "I know. But they know henceforth that it's Delatour in the various pictures. And I'm afraid that we have used the word vampire at one time or another."

  "And they also know they can manipulate him by threatening us. It would be better for us and Delatour that we protect ourselves."

  "In any case, they know nothing of me," Casper completed. "They do not know what they're missing!"

  Silvo sank into his seat and lightly tapped on the steering wheel while thinking.

  "Something bothers me about this." He continued after a moment of thought. "Delatour was not very eager yesterday to let us come to the lab. He could have warned us, at least you Mystie, without anyone knowing it. He did not. Casper would have been able to accompany him discreetly. But coincidentally Delatour enclosed him in a tube. He probably wanted to protect us, but...And it's not his style to follow instructions, or to be more cooperative than necessary."

  "You think he has let them kidnap him to find the file? And he wants to play free riders?" Mystie asked turning to him.

  "Possible."

  "Why?"

  "No idea. That's what bothers me with this vampire. I can never locate his motivations. This makes him unpredictable."

  "He’s not a psychopath!" Mystie assured.

  "He is not an angel either. We would be wrong to forget it. I know he helped us in several cases. But we also know that vampires are opportunists. He reminds us himself rather often."

  "You do not seriously believe that he will join forces with those killers!" Mystie cried, disgusted.

  "No, no. This is not what I meant. But obviously Delatour wanted to meet them, and without witnesses. The question is why?"

  "Given the low regard for human life they have, those we are looking for will at their death join the big family of black souls," Casper completed.

  "If they are not already members," Silvo proposed.

  "I do not agree," Mystie opposed. "Their reactions follow a perverse but very human plan."

  "We have heard only one of them. This could be an underling. Nothing can be concluded for the others."

  "But Delatour could not have known they would take action today. Your scenario does not work."

  "He could have information that he did not considered useful to share. This would not be the first time. I know you consider him as a friend. And me too in some way. I just think we need to keep an open mind."

  All were silent, made more and more uncomfortable by the course of their conversation and possible hypotheses.

  Silvo started the engine and left the parking lot at low speed. He turned to the right as Delatour was supposed to do two hours earlier. His car was parked on the side. The doors were closed. There was no apparent sign of fight, and Silvo was persuaded he would not find any and there were no fingerprints either. He took his cell phone and dialed Delatour’s number. After a few seconds, a bell tone resonated from the inside of the car. If Mystie failed to restore a telepathic communication with Delatour then he would be left to himself.

  "If you ask me, it stinks! We underestimated our opponent. I hope Delatour has not made the same mistake," Casper commented. "I leave you, I'll go, drag around".

  CHAPTER - 15 -

  Mystie and Silvo took the road to the headquarters of the Interior Central Intelligence. There, at least, they were certain that their discussions could not be heard by hostile ears. Maybe the translation of the parchment would help them to understand the motivations of those who had threatened the vampire.

  The journey was made in silence, interrupted only when Silvo called his office to ask for a search warrant with a photo of Delatour, and the cancellation of the one for his car. He had not much hope but luck could be on their side. This sniper story could be a bluff, but the strategy had been carefully prepared. They had taken the time to investigate the security supervisor’s life, had spied on them, and had left nothing to chance. Why use all these resources just for photos that, as was rightly noted by Delatour, could be interpreted as a vague resembla
nce or genealogy? Okay, they had spoken too much about it the day before. But somehow, the kidnappers knew already more or less what to expect, otherwise why spy on them? What did they know exactly? What would they do with this information? What evidence do they have? And how was the vampiric community going to react? They better find Delatour before things got out of hand.

  Mystie hoped Delatour would contact her telepathically. But she received no call. She did not hesitate to insult the vampire in case he could nevertheless read her mind. She knew he was big enough to defend himself but could not help but worry. He was not going to have to do with common crooks, assuming that this expression had any meaning. Those who had kidnapped him knew his true nature or at least that he was not like everybody else. She tried to remember exactly the words used during their discussion the previous evening. And who knew since how long they were spied on? Silvo was not entirely wrong. Why had he not informed them of his kidnapping? They could have done something. This demonstrated how the vampire had confidence in their abilities, she thought bitter. She would not hesitate to swamp him with criticism when she saw him again. He could count on it. Already dozens of oaths rushed to her lips. She toiled not to pronounce them aloud. Damn vampire, always believing himself to be above the others, stronger than the others.

  On arrival, Mystie underwent the tedious security checks while Silvo returned to his office without waiting for her. While removing his jacket, which he dropped carelessly on the back of his seat, he called the analyst to whom he entrusted the parchment.

  "So are you done?"

  "Yes sir. I will bring it to you right away."

  Silvo refrained from telling her that she could have submitted her report without his asking for it, and hung up. He was in bad mood. In those moments, he preferred to talk as little as possible, for fear of releasing his anger on the first comer. To cheat his impatience, he accessed his email and found a new message from Porkelevitch.

  He announced that they had found the body of Michaela Jones. A crime that the authors did not even bother to disguise as an accident. She was lying in a quarry a few miles away from the city. The police had no clue. Tire tracks of a very common model, and unlisted bullet streaks from a nine millimeter. Nothing that could allow them to identify her aggressors at the moment. But he continued his investigation.