Unlike what some people might think, vampires do not burst into flame in sunlight. They are nocturnal. Day is night and night is day for the vee biorhythm. Daniel had tried to find fulfilling night jobs, but white collar jobs were rarely ever nocturnal, even in the good old days when humans knew little of the vee population. Once the vee infestation was let out of the bag, and the world changed to accommodate the fear and terror felt by the humans and encouraged by the government, nocturnal jobs became even more rare, and applicants for night time work were checked more closely for purity of blood.
As his life as a vee settled into a steady pattern of finding meals at night and places to sleep during the day, Daniel got bored. Really, as he thought about it, it became more clear to him that if the humans had just given him gainful employment, they might not be dealing with his mastermind plan right now. Kind of like if Hitler had become a successful artist.
Of course, he didn’t want to compare himself to Hitler. Daniel preferred to think of himself as a decent vee. He wasn’t trying to eradicate humans, just to get them to hear a few complaints they’d been ignoring for the last fifteen years or so. Sometimes a whisper was loud enough. He’d tried that already, and it hadn’t worked. Tonight, Daniel was going to start shouting.
“We’re here.” Lisa stopped walking. “Or, it’s right there. But, like I said, I can’t open that door.”
They were around the corner from his target. This is where his plan either worked or they went down fighting. The badge he’d taken off the dead guard was not enough to open the door to SCC. The lock also required a pass code that changed daily.
Daniel looked at Carl who looked ready to take on the world. Carl was from a different era – a much younger, brasher era – and didn’t have a drop of sense. What he did have was brains, and a working understanding of modern security systems. There were few computer networks Carl couldn’t turn into putty with his keyboard. But he didn’t have sense enough to be nervous right now, unlike Daniel, who knew how important the next few seconds were.
He grew more nervous as time ticked by and they just stood there. The brightness of the lights made him feel exposed. Any second now, everything should change. He needed it all to change. If it didn’t, there wasn’t a plan B. Daniel turned to Jerome and Stephen, partly to give himself a diversion and partly to forestall any disasters.
“When we get in there, follow my lead. Just act like part of the team. You guys can be our bodyguards while Carl and I do all the work.”
Stephen looked like he hadn’t even heard what Daniel said, but Jerome said, “Works for me.”
And then it was time. The smoke bomb had worked. Fire alarms sounded. Lights flashed. A firm, yet feminine voice of authority boomed, “This is an emergency. Please walk, do not run, to the nearest exit.”
The door they were watching opened and armed guards, about fifteen by Daniel’s count, started streaming out in one of three possible directions.
As a few guards began walking towards the stairwell that his little group was piled up in front of, Daniel started walking towards the open door just across the hall. He heard the rest of the group start to follow behind.
The guards walked briskly past, heading toward the stairwell. The last guard in line stopped, looking at Daniel and the rest of them. Since the situation was being “handled,” the other guards continued on.
“Can I see your badges?” There didn’t seem to be any more guards leaving through the open door. Only seconds remained for him to slip in.
Daniel didn’t slow his pace. “Carl, show him, and then bring up the rear. The rest of you follow me.”
Carl pushed the guard against the wall near the entrance to the stairwell. As the door to SCC was closing, the stream of guards temporarily staunched, Daniel managed to stop the door with his foot. He grabbed Lisa around the neck. She gasped, but didn’t scream. That was okay. It wasn’t time for that yet.
Carl fed on the guard, something that happened so quickly, he hadn’t had time to make a sound. Daniel pushed Lisa through the open door, not letting go of her neck. Jerome and Stephen followed, with a bloodied Carl right behind them. There were a few men seated at computer screens, and a couple standing, getting geared up to head out. Overall, there looked like only half a dozen people in Security Central Control.
Daniel smiled at his audience. “Everyone stay where you are or I will rip this lovely woman’s throat out while you watch.”
The guards froze. Stephen smiled. Carl locked the door from the inside and Lisa screamed. His plan had worked out perfectly.
Chapter 10
It would take a long time to get to the exit. Everything in this building was far away from everything else.
Andrew was keeping quiet, despite the inquiring looks from all the people waiting for the elevator with them. Whatever thoughts he had running through his brain after the evening’s events, he didn’t want to talk about them. That was fine with Cate. She had a lot of thoughts of her own.
How could the vees have gotten out? Where were they now? How long had they been gone? Who let them out? That couldn’t be what Stan was hiding, could it?
On top of that, there were the prisoners and the vaccine to consider. They’d missed something in their research. Or the new batch of vaccines had been contaminated. Or the prisoners all had something in their system that affected the vaccine. She needed to find out what had changed them into rabid animals that hadn’t done the same thing to the pigs.
And then, of course, there was Mason. The last time she’d seen him had started as the best day of her life and ended as the worst. Everyone parted for them when the elevator got to their floor. As Cate pushed Andrew’s gurney onto the elevator, memories of that last morning came flooding back to her.
Mason had taken her to the airport. She was flying home for winter break. He was driving to his folks after dropping her off. It wasn’t a big goodbye. He was going to fly out to see her for New Year’s, so it would only be a short separation.
As the last time she’d seen him, she often replayed every moment of that morning in her mind. He took her bag out of the trunk for her, hugged her tight, kissed her eyelids, and told her he loved her. It was like so many other moments in their year and a half relationship - perfect. She’d kissed him goodbye and walked away from him for what would be the last time.
If she’d known what was waiting for her at home, if she’d known how her life was about to change, she never would’ve left him. She would’ve held him there, in that moment forever.
When she wasn’t careful, she ended up dwelling in that last moment, wishing he had grabbed her and said “Don’t go,” and, because this was a fantasy, she’d said “okay” and they’d spent that Christmas together. And, on New Year’s Eve, he would’ve proposed, like she knew he’d been planning. She’d seen the receipt for the ring in his backpack. The memory of what could have been always led her to think of what had happened instead, and she couldn’t bear to open that wound right now.
Cate and Andrew seemed to reach the lobby in record time, or maybe it was just that she lost track of present time while sifting through the past. There were three security guards at the front desk. They appeared to be waiting for Cate and Andrew.
One of the guards called out as they got closer, “The ambulance is at the gate.”
Thank God. The ambulance had also arrived faster than Cate had thought it would, but she guessed cars got out of the way of ambulances - like people got out of the way of gurneys - even during rush hour.
The guard continued, “We’ll escort you outside the building.”
Cate squinted at him, confused as to why they’d do that. “Almost dark,” he explained. “Don’t want you getting stuck.”
One guard stayed behind, glued to the bay of monitors – or perhaps to his chair - while the other two advanced before her. There were two sets of exit and entrance doors so one set was always locked. If someone managed to get past the first barrier without authorization, they’d
be stuck between bullet proof glass doors.
They stood out front waiting for a few minutes while everyone lucky enough to be leaving headed towards the parking garage. When the ambulance finally pulled up, the EMTs didn’t step out of the vehicle until one of the guards had walked the entire perimeter and declared it safe. Then the two EMTs hopped out and got Andrew lifted into the back of the ambulance.
Since he’d been so quiet, and she’d been lost in her thoughts, Cate hadn’t noticed - Andrew was looking worse. His body was clenched like he was in pain, and he was covered in sweat like he had a fever. Furthermore, the wound was starting to smell. She guessed it was blood poisoning, in which case he’d probably be fine once he got to the hospital. Still, she felt guilty for not having realized how sick he was getting.
After the driver EMT hopped out of the back of the ambulance, Cate stepped quickly in and took Andrew’s hand. “You’ll be all right. I’ll come visit you in the morning.”
He didn’t look reassured. He looked scared and in pain, so Cate did something totally unlike her. She leaned over and kissed Andrew on the forehead.
“Thanks. I feel better already.” He managed to smile and Cate smiled back.
She squeezed Andrew’s hand and started to step away. Andrew held her hand, keeping her in place.
“There’s more wrong than you know.” He whispered.
“What do you mean? Are you okay?” Cate asked, unable to come up with a better question, even though she somehow knew he wasn’t talking about himself.
Andrew shook his head. “Be careful.”
He closed his eyes and looked so sick Cate was afraid for a moment he would die right there. Cate turned to the EMT beside her, but he seemed unconcerned. Cate tried to come up with something more to say, or to ask, but her mind was racing in a million directions.
“Ma’am,” the guard standing at the back of the ambulance called, interrupting her useless thoughts. “Gotta get you inside.”
Andrew opened his eyes again, looked at Cate, and mustered another weak smile. She forced herself to smile in return, placed Andrew’s hand on the mattress, as if putting away a fragile object, and left with the guards.
Cate wasn’t sure why she’d kissed him. It wasn’t some unspoken love for him. Andrew was just a co-worker, a sometimes friend. It felt like the right thing to do, in the moment. Strange as that had been, Andrew’s warning to her was stranger still. What did he know?
She walked into the lobby, pushing the empty gurney. As soon as she and the guards had entered the building, the final alarm sounded. The doors locked loudly behind her.
She stood at the doors to watch the ambulance drive off. Into the sunset, she thought wryly, as she turned away.
“Thanks,” she waved to the guards. “Have a good night.”
Cate started heading back down the long corridor towards the elevators in her wing. She’d only taken a few steps down the hall, however, when the fire alarms started blaring.
Chapter 11
There were four vees free in the building, and one of them was a known terrorist.
“What next?” Frank asked.
So many bad choices. Mason had to pick one, though. Might as well start with the obvious. “Let’s get security footage from SCC.”
Althea took out her walkie and called down to security central. SCC had access to footage of everything that happened in this building. How well the guards there actually monitored was up for debate. Fortunately the computers captured it all digitally, even if no human eyes saw.
“Want to head down there?” asked Frank, all impatience.
“Yeah.” He started to move that way and then realized he was being sloppy. Bad day to miss anything more. “No. In a minute. I want to check out the room first, and talk to everyone here.”
“Your girlfriend already left,” Frank smirked.
“What?” How could he know that?
“The cute brunette you were ogling earlier.” Frank explained. “You want to talk to anyone else?”
Of course, he didn’t know. He was just being Frank. “Yeah, even the boys. I want to talk to all of them.”
Not that there were many left. With Cate and the injured guy - Andrew, he thought - gone, there were just the two staffers still here. Interrogating them without them knowing they were being interrogated would be the hard part. Always with this place, you needed to cover your ass and be politically safe. Ranks at the research facility were undisclosed. You never knew what level you were dealing with and you never knew who, within the entire NVIA, was willing and able to pay you back for doing your job with a bad report that could lead to a demotion, or worse.
Mason figured he’d get staff interviews over with first, but it looked as if the scientists were organizing their own raiding party. Stan, the old bureaucratic looking one, was addressing the three guards and James, the young, Ken doll looking scientist. Mason couldn’t wait to see what this was about.
“Running drills?” Mason tried to make it sound like a joke instead of an official query.
Stan looked at Mason like he’d forgotten there were even agents around, as if what he was doing was more important. Of course, if they weren’t involved, Stan and James would have no way of knowing about the escaped vees, having been confined in this area since the incident, and the guards having been told to keep quiet.
“We need to get a blood sample and, with the prisoners acting out physically,” Stan made it sound like they were bad children instead of hardened killers, “I asked these guards to escort James into the room so there are no more injuries.”
Mason could think of no good reason to stop them. Questions could wait a few minutes, while footage was tracked down. Seeing, and possibly interviewing, the person who’d ripped a chunk out of a fully grown man using only his teeth might prove useful.
Mason and Frank, with Althea as escort, had been on their way back up here to interview Daniel when the prisoner attack had occurred. When they’d arrived, the attack was the fire they thought they had to put out first. Daniel Trevore had been placed on the back burner for all of two seconds before Mason found out that that had been a mistake. Now, Daniel was free in the building and someone, maybe several someones, had helped him escape.
The building was locked down. The vees weren’t going anywhere, if they were still even in the building. He had a little time. He’d try to run this investigation right. For now, that meant not stepping on toes while trying to figure out if, or how, what was going on here was related to the vee escape.
Mason waited and watched. The first guard opened the door and the other two guards pushed through, weapons drawn.
Mason hadn’t expected to see anything quite so bizarre. All six prisoners were standing, staring at the door. They looked like they wanted to charge, but that something had stunned them. They were almost unresponsive, except that their eyes seemed to follow the guard’s gun, with just a hint of recognition.
The remaining two guards entered the room and wrestled the closest prisoner to the floor, the one Mason assumed had been the biter. He didn’t put up a fight.
Mason had plenty of things to deal with, but the behavior of the prisoners was something else. It was as if they were awake, but in a state of shock. Whatever drug they’d been given was obviously impacting their brains. They seemed almost lobotomized, except for the way in which they watched everything, their eyes following the action.
He looked at Frank, to see if his partner thought this was weird. Frank just looked amused. “Guess we won’t be interviewing these guys.”
James seemed to have the good sense to be scared as he walked through the door. He knelt quickly and efficiently drew the prisoner’s blood, retreating the moment his vial was full. The guards backed out, keeping their weapons drawn, and the standing prisoners continued to stare.
The prisoner on the floor, Mason noticed, just before the door closed, had started licking the hole the needle had left.
James walked past Mason and Mason l
et him, turning, instead, to Stan.
“Can I have a moment of your time?” Always paid to be polite.
Stan sighed. “This is not a good time. Can we talk tomorrow? There’s a lot to do right now.” He looked off, significantly, Mason thought, in the direction James had headed.
Frank stepped in. “This will just take a minute. And it’s very important.”
Stan seemed to wage a momentary battle in his brain before fixing the fakest smile Mason had ever seen to his face. “Yes, of course, what can I do?”
“What can you tell us about the vees you have in the lab here?”
Stan looked surprised by the question. An honest reaction. “You could tell me more about them than I could tell you. I filled out paperwork requesting vee subjects and, after a very long wait, they were delivered. That’s about all I know.”
Mason believed him. Or, at least, believed him ignorant of what was going on.
Apparently Frank did too. “All right. You can get back to work. We’re gonna need to speak with your colleague as well.”
Again, the internal struggle. “He’s going to be working in the lab for a while. Better not to ask him to leave what he’s doing right now as we are short handed and this is time sensitive.” Also caught in the politics of playing nice, Stan seemed to consider whether his answer was sufficient or not. He added, “I can show you to him.”
“We can find it. We’ll come by in a bit.” Mason thought it best to get on with searching the room, and they’d have a lot more information after they got down to SCC.
He and Frank followed Althea around the corner to the room where the vees had been held, where a guard had died. Mason hadn’t known the guy, hadn’t even worked with him before today. The NVIA had more security factions than any other facility that he knew of.
The V to Z Trilogy (Book 1): Caged Page 6
