“We’ll just see about that.” Dom replied through his teeth, the muscle in his jaw ticking.
As the plane dropped in altitude, the nose stayed up and Dom couldn’t make out any structures to either side of the craft. The darkness and the speed that the craft came in made it nearly impossible to make out anything through the side windows as the plane’s tires protested on the tarmac. Dom squinted and turned his head trying to make out anything in the darkness, but nothing came into focus. Suddenly the jets were whining loudly and the craft slowed rapidly tossing him forward roughly against the instruments, his head smashing against the thick lexan windshield. The plane turned and Dom found himself stunned, the axe dropped from his grip and falling somewhere to the floor of the craft.
As he slid off the instruments and to the floor, he was trying to get his feet back under him when something struck him about the head and shoulders. He brought him arm up to block the blows, but the lights went out and he fell to the floor once more, another blow striking the back of his head. Dom fell on his back, landing across the co-pilot. He blinked once and vaguely remembered seeing the pilot leaning out of his seat, something dark in his hand, fangs extended and eyes glowing in the dim light.
“Fucking Americans think you own the world.” The pilot said just before Dom passed out.
*****
Rufus left his chambers where two of his servants were packing his belongings. He shook his head at their intentions. He didn’t need so many things that they insisted he take. He had joked that packing so much might sink the boat before they made landfall and the looks they gave him made him wonder just who was supposed to be ‘master of the house’ and who was supposed to be the servants. Women! He thought, but knew better than to say it aloud. He excused himself and went to his study to meet with Viktor.
As Rufus entered the study he found Viktor writing in one of his journals rapidly, pouring over his many logs and notebooks. He only glanced up as Thorn entered then turned his attentions back to his work. “Have you discovered anything that might aid us, mon ami?” Thorn asked.
“Perhaps, but it will not be easy to obtain. The Vatican is…stubborn.” He stated, his disgust apparent. Viktor stood and stretched his back. He turned his logbooks to show Rufus. “According to my research, there are three things that might affect Judah de Kerioth.”
“You say might. You are not sure?”
Viktor sighed. “My friend, up until a few hours ago, I thought the man a legend. I spent months bribing my way into the Vatican vaults, and then more months pouring over their massive archives looking for anything to do with vampires.” Viktor plopped himself into his chair and rubbed at his temples. “You would not believe the amount of information that they have in there. Most of it rumor, heresay, stories, legends, reports told of somebody’s brother’s friend’s aunt who once knew someone who thought they saw something that might could have been a vampire!” he threw his hands up in disgust. “They save EVERYTHING, but so little of it is of use.”
Rufus stepped behind the table and clasped the man on the shoulder. “I know, mon ami. And I cannot thank you enough. I send you to that dreadful place hoping to find a cure for me, and now we hope to find a weapon to use against the father of all vampires.” He gently squeezed Viktor’s shoulder. “I have asked too much, non?”
“No, Rufus. You have not.” Viktor sighed. “I just feel that I may have failed you.” He kept his eyes low and slowly shook his head. “I’ve wasted so much of your money and our time and the things I found would only aid in killing a vampire. Not in curing.” He sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Tell me what you have found and we will see if any of it can be useful.” Rufus said with a smile.
Viktor sighed and turned the book back around to where Rufus could easily read it. He pointed to the first notation he had bookmarked. “This one sounded promising. It may work against the Sicarii. A weapon forged from an original piece of silver that was used to pay him for betraying his master.” He pointed to a sketch he made in his logbooks. “The Vatican has three of the original thirty pieces. They will not likely give them up.” He said softly.
Rufus nodded, smiling. “This is very good to know. What else did you find?”
“They have three pieces of the original cross. The very cross that Christ was hung from. His blood is reportedly still soaked into it. One piece…still holds a nail. It is nearly the size of a railroad spike!”
Rufus winced at the thought. “How large are the pieces?” he asked.
“Two could easily be made into stakes. One of them large enough to be made into two.” Viktor stated.
“And they are sure that it is from HIS cross?”
“This is the Vatican. They wouldn’t have it locked away if they weren’t positive.” He said.
“Another possibility. But again, they won’t give it up willingly. Is there anything else?”
“One other thing, but I don’t know how it could be used against him.” Viktor stated.
“What is that?”
“They have the blood of Christ. Not much, mind you, and it is dried, but they have it. And not on the piece of cross either. From a piece of cloth that was used by Mary to wipe his body prior to burial. It was sealed in a jar with all the other bloody strips of cloth.”
Thorn sat down and thought about that one. If it could somehow be liquefied and ingested by the Sicarii or vaporized and inhaled…it might also do the trick. But, like the other relics, the Vatican would never give them up. Not willingly. Not even to save the world. To them, saving those relics would be akin to saving the last soul on earth and he was certain that they would let every last man, woman and child die the most grisly of deaths before they would let them go. But perhaps he was being too pessimistic.
“How can we get our hands on them?” he asked.
“We can’t.”
“Who can?”
“The Pope.” Viktor teased.
“What would it take to buy off the Pope?” Rufus asked.
Viktor laughed, but then realized Thorn was serious. “I was joking. I’m not even sure the Pope has access to those items.”
“He is the Pope. He is the ultimate authority in Vatican City.” Thorn objected.
“Sort of, but not really.” Viktor corrected him. “The Holy See’s Secretariat of State holds more power than people think. He can block any move that someone makes within Vatican City and without his seal of approval, nothing is done.” He sighed. “No, without him in our pocket, we would be dead in the water.”
“Can he be bought?”
“The man is a zealot.” Viktor’s gaze told more than his words.
“Then perhaps we could convince him by showing him what is at stake?” Thorn asked with a dangerous gleam in his eye.
“What are you saying?” Viktor was afraid of where he was going with this.
“We expose him to the truth about monsters and things that can eat you in the dark. Inform him of the hell that is about to come to him and his people and allow him to make the right decision.”
“I’m not so sure that he would, even if he knew.” Viktor admitted.
“Then we’ll just have to convince him.” Rufus smiled.
“And just how do we plan to do this?”
“Giving him the choice, of course,” Thorn said. “Help us, or become one of us.”
22
Matt sat at his computer, doing his daily drudgery, forcing himself to do what he knew needed to be done, and without realizing what he had done, he had pulled up the security camera that was focused on the young blonde woman captured in ice. He was sitting at his computer and staring at her. His headache had faded and a part of him was longing to reach out to her. A larger part of him hated her for ripping his life apart. She had attacked in the middle of the night, ripping the still beating heart from his wife and daughter and tried to do the same to him, but he was able to fight back.
And yet, here he sat, his heart longing to touch her. O
ver a decade later, a part of him…a very powerful part of him, pulled him toward her with such a visceral desire to touch her that he couldn’t deny it. This part of him that only came out once every lunar cycle had such sway that he could find it stealing away his thoughts when he wasn’t otherwise preoccupied. If he allowed himself to waver, to lose himself for even a moment, his thoughts always wandered back to her.
His hand wandered to the monitor, stroking what would be the side of her cheek. To feel her flesh beneath his hand, just the thought made him shiver in his seat and the edge of his mouth curled into a slight smile, but his eyes held sorrow. His wolf longed for her and that longing carried itself to the man. And the man knew a terrible…no, a horrible secret. If the girl somehow survived the thawing process, if she truly were alive inside the ice and the drugs flushed from her system, if she were made whole again and brought back to the world of the living…IF she could be made to realize that the mistakes were all made in ignorance and she had lost a decade of her life due to the blindness and ignorance of stupid humans, there was still one thing that would keep them apart forever.
The last thing she saw before her world ended was this man who now longs for her shoot her in the face! Nobody could forgive that and Mitchell knew it. He let loose a forlorn sigh and felt a tear of regret begin to form in his eye. His guts were twisting as his wolf howled inside him. The wolf couldn’t understand the emotions that the man was feeling, it only knew that its mate was right there and it couldn’t understand why the man wasn’t running to her as fast as he could.
Matt’s thoughts were interrupted with a sharp knock at his door. Before he could answer, Laura barged in. “We have a big problem.” She said, worry creasing her features. “Dom’s plane never made it Aviano Air Base. The Italians are saying that it was headed there, it dropped below radar and just…disappeared.”
Matt’s mouth dropped open. Burning rage began in the pit of his stomach and slowly worked its way up as he fought to maintain it. “What do our boys say at Aviano? I’m sure their radar is more sensitive and probably works all the way to the deck.”
“Negative, sir. They have an 800 foot ceiling due to the terrain. Once a plane is on approach at that elevation, they have visual.” She explained. “Dom’s plane was coming in at night, running lights must have been off or…I don’t know. But it was on radar at the correct heading, dropped below the ceiling and then disappeared. They never had visual on the plane and it never made it.”
“We need to know where the hell that plane went, Laura!” he demanded.
“We sent the Italian police, our military police and Team 2 was mobilized and are en route to where the plane was originally scheduled to land.” She glanced at her watch. “The plane was due to land at Aviano five minutes ago. Law enforcement and Team 2 were already scrambled to intercept possible bogeys, but they weren’t expecting the plane to land so early. We were going to have the plane delayed, so…” she trailed off.
“So if the plane diverted itself and landed at its original airport on schedule, then the intercept teams will be late.” He finished for her.
“I’m afraid so, sir.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Colonel. I feel like I dropped the ball on this one. This op was my idea. I was trying to buy the team time to gear up so I ordered the plane delayed.”
“Not your fault, Laura.” Mitchell stated his anxiety building. “You have no control over other teams and if they aren’t in a constant state of readiness like we are, then, it’s on them.” He inhaled deeply, trying the whole cleansing breath concept, but it wasn’t working. He really didn’t want to reach for the scotch.
“Still, I feel like this whole mess is my fault.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. She turned away from her commanding officer, afraid the tears would flow.
“How so?” Matt stepped away from his desk and started to approach her, but feared that being soft with her now would cause her to break down, and he needed her to be strong. “Report, XO.” He ordered.
Laura stiffened and squared her shoulders. She inhaled deeply and swiped at her eyes then turned to face him. “The op in Ohio, sir. I didn’t deploy the Predator in time and Dom was abducted. Now, when we had a chance to get him back, I didn’t get Team 2 deployed in time and…” she choked on her words again.
Matt nodded his head. She needed a confidence booster and he needed her to be strong. “Was there a reason to deploy the Predator in Ohio?”
“Sir?” she asked, fighting back tears.
“Was there any indication that a Predator was necessary in Ohio?” he asked again, adding emphasis.
“Well, not really at first, no.” she began. “But once the vamps began swarming…”
“Once you saw a need for a Predator, did you or did you not deploy the Predator? Did you follow proper protocols that I set out?” he asked mechanically.
“Well, yes, sir, but if I had deployed it sooner…”
“You would have operated outside those proper protocols, correct?” He asked.
“Yes, sir, but…”
“No buts, you would have operated outside of proper protocols, yes or no?” he asked firmly.
Laura sighed. “Yes, sir.”
Matt nodded thoughtfully. “As for Team 2. Do you have immediate command control over them?”
Laura gave a slight chuckle. “No, sir.” She saw what he was trying to do. He was deflecting her self-inflicted guilt by using the rule book and logic and she appreciated his effort as he did so in a very commanding fashion.
“Then I don’t think I’m seeing the problem here, XO.” He stated firmly. “Do we have a problem here, XO?” he asked.
She sighed. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”
“Always. Especially if something will affect your ability to do your job, because you help ME do MY job, Laura.” His eyes were penetrating her now.
She looked up at him now and he could see the pain so deeply seated in her. “I can’t help but blame myself.”
“You can’t. This job doesn’t allow that luxury.” Matt went back behind his desk and motioned for her to take the seat on the other side. As he sat he continued. “Laura, we are only human.” Then he chuckled, “Well, mostly human. Either way, we can’t hope to foresee every probable necessity before it occurs. It simply isn’t possible. For you to sit here and beat yourself up over something that you should have done is lunacy.” Matt leaned back in his chair and studied her features to see if his words were sinking in to her. “I know that you want to blame someone for what has been happening, but you are blaming the wrong person. It isn’t your fault.
“We have protocols in place for a reason. Those protocols were put in place after years of study and evaluation of attack strategies and we just recently put the Predator into the mix so that in itself is a work in progress.” He sighed. “I’m sorry…no, I’m mad as hell that they targeted Dom. But pinning this on yourself isn’t doing you any good and it damn sure isn’t doing me any good. I need your head clear to get him back.”
“What if we can’t?” she asked. “What if they keep him or kill him or…”
“Then we deal with it. Just like we dealt with First Squad.” Matt said flatly.
“How?” she asked softly.
“We each deal with it in our own way.” He said. “To be honest, I’ve lost so many over the years that…” Matt looked away, shame at finally admitting this, “I’ve grown numb to it. Maybe numb isn’t the right word, but it doesn’t rip my guts out like it used to. Maybe angry is the better word? I really don’t know anymore.” He sat forward to look her square in the eye. “But I don’t let it eat at me anymore. I let it fire me up. I let it fuel my rage. I let it remind me why we fight these bastards. For every one of these trained operators that go into the field and give their lives in this war, it’s one less family that is slaughtered in their sleep. One less small town that is wiped off the map. One less border village that is turned into a ghost town. One less zombie uprising to threaten taking over the
country.
“I’m sorry, Laura.” Matt said, caving in and reaching for his scotch. “I started preaching and I didn’t want to do that.”
“Make mine a double, please.” She said.
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled as he poured two glasses. “Shouldn’t you be monitoring what’s going on in Italy? I mean, as much as I enjoy drinking with you, I really thought you’d be glued to the radio?”
“Gregory is the duty officer. He’s all over it and I needed to get away from it. My emotions have been a roller coaster. I couldn’t take another bad news-good news-bad news report.” She said and swallowed the double shot of scotch in one tilt.
Matt raised his brows. He knew that she had to let this go or it would eat her up from the inside out. Holding on to guilt wasn’t conducive to the mission. “Laura, didn’t Dom volunteer to go in?” he asked, not meeting her gaze. He swirled his drink, studying the amber liquid. “What are the odds that he disobeyed your direct orders?” he asked quietly.
She froze as the idea took root in her mind and she rolled the thought around. Surely he wouldn’t have done that…surely he was professional enough to follow orders. “Colonel, do you honestly believe that Dominic would have gone against a direct order and allowed himself to be taken a second time?”
“I can’t hazard a guess what went through his mind because I wasn’t there. But I am saying that we can’t discount any possibilities right now.” He set the scotch down and turned toward his window that overlooked the training area. “We have Second Squad about to land any moment now and they think that he is safe and sound and we need to fill them in. And we honestly don’t have any answers.” He stared out at the training area where all of the operators had poured out blood, sweat and tears to be honed into the fighting teams that they were. “I hate to tell them that they have to wait until we get the initial reports back from Team 2, but that’s what we have to do.
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