Tripp, Sam, Jo, Olivia, Kraft, and Kodiak waited for my words as though they held a ton of weight. And they did.
Sam tapped a booted foot on the carpeted floor. “Just say it.”
Jo’s voice entered my head. We’re stronger together. That includes the people in here.
I blew out a breath. The moment I spilled the news was the moment shit got real. “Edmund has been working with the CIA.” I pinched my eyebrows at Tripp. “Maybe Agent Thomas is part of Edmund’s team. Anyway, Edmund has negotiated a deal to build vampires or, as the CIA is calling it, super soldiers to fight alongside the human military.”
“That’s how he’s going to rise to power and lead the military,” Jo said, the light bulb glowing in her head.
“What the fuck?” Kraft blurted out, his burgundy eyes going wide.
“They can’t get ahold of Patrick Mason’s research,” Olivia said, her tone rising. “They’ll have a field day with that.”
“So not only kill Edmund, but Patrick has to die too,” Kodiak said as a matter of fact.
All of them mumbled about something.
“That’s what my dad told you when you two were speaking telepathically?” Jo asked.
I nodded at her. “Chill, everyone,” I said loudly. “We’ve got a lot to cover.”
The room fell silent, although their expressions didn’t feel silent. I could see their brains working.
“The elders want Edmund alive,” I announced.
“Fuck that.” Kraft folded tattooed arms over his chest. “The CIA finds out about us, then they’re bound to find out about wolves and magic and other parts of our world that they cannot ever know. We’ll all become lab rats.”
I definitely wasn’t about to disagree.
“Easy,” Tripp said. “Let’s hear the rest of what the lieutenant has to say.”
“Tripp,” I said. “The commander mentioned that you had been talking with Jonah and trying to get him on our side. Tell me more.”
Tripp sat up straighter. “While you were Bruno’s prisoner, the commander thought Jonah might have some intel on your whereabouts. The commander believed that Bruno had some connection to Edmund. We tried all kinds of tactics in torturing Jonah, but he didn’t budge. So we moved him to vampire headquarters. It was a bust. The vampire is loyal to Edmund.”
“It seems the commander may have gotten through to him. Apparently, Jonah overheard a conversation between the commander and Hollings. Edmund killed a human girl who Jonah was in love with.”
“Pfft,” Kodiak spewed, his moss-green eyes flashing vampire black. “Jonah doesn’t have a loving bone in his body. You’re not considering using him, are you?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I haven’t decided on anything. I want everyone’s input before we put together a plan. Hell, we don’t even know where Edmund is. He disappeared from the funeral home, and none of our spies on the streets have seen him.”
“What about Nicki?” Olivia asked.
The mere mention of her name made me wince. Nicki had been a thorn in my side ever since the one time I’d dated her.
Jo muttered something under her breath with a smile on her face.
“For all we know, Nicki is with Edmund,” I said.
Jo cleared her throat. “Then call her and find out.”
My eyebrows went up. Jo was extremely calm with Nicki’s name bouncing around. “Not right now. We have some housekeeping things to do, and I want to formulate a solid plan before we go off in ten different directions. We can’t afford to fuck up this mission. We’ve let Edmund slip through our fingers too many times.” While I was in charge, in no way were we going to let Edmund get away. I would kill him before that happened.
“I don’t trust Jonah,” Sam said. “But with my empath abilities, maybe I can be present while you talk to him. I’ll tell you if we can trust him.”
I rubbed my growing stubble. “Let’s table Jonah for now. We may have another person who we can trust more than Jonah.” I eyed Sam. “Remember your buddy Howell.”
Sam narrowed his green eyes. “No way. He’s a putz.”
I held up my hand. “He’ll cooperate. Olivia and I did save his life.”
Sam bounced his knee up and down. “I want to test him out.”
“What about sending me in?” Jo asked.
Tripp angled his head at her. “There’s no benefit in you going in. Edmund would know you would only want information.”
“Maybe not. Maybe he set up my dad to get him out of the way so I would have the freedom to do as I please,” she said.
Sam unfolded his six-foot bulk and shook his head of thick black hair. “Whether Edmund set Dad up or not, you’re insane, Sis. Patrick will take all your blood and bone marrow and anything else he needs for his sick plan.” He shoved his hands into his cargo pants. “Webb, we don’t need anyone in there undercover. We already know what Edmund is up to. We just need to find him and kill him and anyone working for him.”
Kodiak was on his feet. “Sam’s right. Our plan is to destroy. Nothing else. If we dance with the devil, then we’re only setting ourselves up to fail. We’re fucking SEALs. We’re trained to go in stealth mode, completely off the grid. Lieutenant, you stay behind. The SEALs in this room will handle Edmund. That way, the elders won’t give you grief.”
I wasn’t letting my team take the fall for anything.
Olivia picked at a nail. “I agree too, especially on Patrick. He can’t live. The CIA will do whatever it takes to get in his head and also get their hands on his research. Although right now, how much does the CIA know, and who within the CIA knows? How many humans are we dealing with?”
“Why aren’t you speaking up or protesting to any of this?” Sam asked Jo.
She shrugged. “We’re a team. I’m in with whatever we decide. Although in one breath, I do want Edmund dead. But we need to clear Dad first and get evidence before we kill anyone. That’s really the only reason I want to get inside Edmund’s operation. Because right now, the dagger that was delivered to the elders has Dad going to prison for the rest of his vampire life.”
Sam dropped his head.
I pushed off the table. “All right. Let’s sleep on all this. I’ll be meeting with Hollings again in a couple of days, and he’ll want to hear my plan. With the exception of Tripp, you’re all dismissed.”
“I’ll find Ben,” Jo said. “Come on, Sam.”
The brother-sister duo left, and I was a little sad that Jo hadn’t kissed me. Then again, it was probably best to keep things as professional as we could.
“Later,” Kraft said. “I have a wolf to meet.”
I glanced at Olivia then Kodiak. They raised their eyebrows and shrugged. Yeah, I didn’t want to know. Kraft and his werewolf girlfriend, Crysta, who was also Tripp’s cousin, had issues that were none of my business.
Kodiak didn’t say a word as he marched out.
Olivia hesitated. “Webb, what about Abbey? Edmund wants his daughter.”
I twisted my neck from one side to the other. “I don’t know. The commander is the only person who knows where she and her mom are, and unless Edmund breaks into vampire headquarters and reads his mind, he’ll never find out.”
“I hope so for Abbey’s sake.” Then Olivia left through a side door.
I worried about the little girl as well. I’d taken a liking to her while she lived on base with her mom. But at the moment, I had other things to take care of, and the commander had assured me Abbey and Rachel were safe. Therefore, I had to trust him.
When Tripp and I were finally alone, I pulled on my hair as I paced.
“Webb, chill. None of what we’re going through is any worse than everything we’ve experienced or fought before now.”
We couldn’t lose another SEAL. We’d already lost Sloan, Quade, and Crowe. And even though my sister had sided with the enemy, she’d been blood. More importantly, I had Jo to worry about. If I lost her, then my life had no meaning.
Tripp sat back in the theater
chair and crossed one leg over the other so that his ankle was resting on his knee. “We didn’t discuss the Secretary of the Navy’s son.”
I took a seat next to him. “Fill me in.”
“That agent who was here this morning was also asking if we had any information on the whereabouts of Cory Andrews.”
I threw my face in my hands. “So someone directed this agent to us, and I would bet Edmund.”
“I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He argued with me. So I told him to get a search warrant if he wanted access to the base.”
I growled. “The authorities have no jurisdiction over the military base.”
“They could if they had someone high up in the government who gave them access.”
“Where’s Cory’s body now?” I asked.
“On ice in the weapons room in the basement. We can’t release him. He doesn’t look human. And as far as why no one has reported him missing, that’s a mystery. I couldn’t find any news articles or reports that said he had gone missing. I would guess the government is covering his disappearance up. Probably the same people that are working for Edmund.”
“I get why Hollings seems scared, although according to the commander, Hollings doesn’t know about the CIA or super soldiers. The commander doesn’t want us to say a word to them in the event one of them is the mole. And I agree.”
“Do you think Hollings is siding with Edmund?” Tripp asked.
“I didn’t get that sense, but I’m not one hundred percent sure.” I really wasn’t. “Look, I’m tired. I need some sleep, and I need to think hard on our plan. But I wanted to ask you before hell broke loose around here. Will you be my best man?”
He slapped me on the back. “I was waiting for that question. I would be honored, man.”
“One more thing. If anything happens to me before the wedding, I want you to promise you’ll take care of Jo.”
Tripp’s eyes flashed from bronze to deep black. “What are you saying? You’re not dying, man.”
I swallowed a large boulder. “I don’t plan on it, but I don’t have nine lives, either. Just promise me.”
His nostrils flared. “You have my word.”
I let out a sigh.
Tripp secured his hair back into his leather strap. “Come on, Webb. Let’s get a drink. You could use one.”
I laughed, and it felt good. “You’re right. A smooth whiskey will definitely take the edge off.”
I needed something to calm me down. Short of having my way with Jo, which wasn’t going to happen, a couple of shots of hard liquor might do the trick, even if for just one afternoon.
6
Jo
Sam, Olivia, Tripp, and I sat in the viewing room in the first row of the local funeral home. A gentle instrumental melody played from the speakers overhead as fabric rustled from guests shifting in their seats while some quietly wept.
I kept checking the entrance, waiting for my best friend, Darcy, to show. I hadn’t seen her since Sam and I boarded Bruno’s plane to Alaska over a month ago.
Sam leaned in. “Darcy will be here. She wouldn’t miss paying her respects to Ben’s grandmother.”
“Maybe you should check on Ben and Mr. Jackson.”
As soon as we’d arrived, Ben disappeared into another room with his father. He’d been a basket case for the last two days. At first, we hesitated to let Ben out of our sight. But he assured us he was in control of his emotions. As a half human and half vampire, Ben didn’t have all the physical qualities vampires had. His problem though was his emotions, which caused his human-colored eyes to turn red whenever his emotions changed. He didn’t have fangs, although he had complained about his gums hurting and the hunger for blood. Dr. Vieira had said that Ben wouldn’t grow fangs. Apparently, Ben’s DNA had shown minimal vampire properties.
Sam buttoned his suit jacket. “I’ll be back.”
Tripp caught Sam’s arm. “Any trouble…” Tripp tapped his earpiece.
Aside from our appropriate attire for a funeral, the four of us were wearing earpieces and armed with daggers, which were securely tucked away underneath our clothing.
“I got it,” Sam said as he sauntered out.
I didn’t think we would have any trouble. Sure, Mr. Jackson had been suspicious of my dad and wondered why Ben had always shown up in our base infirmary. He’d even gone as far as trying to engage his friend, the chief of police, to investigate my dad. But my dad had contacts in high places within the human government. Regardless, Mr. Jackson was a good man, father, principal of the human high school, and he cared for Sam and me. He’d taken us in when Sam and I had problems with one of our foster parents.
Darcy’s cotton candy scent peppered the air. One of the neat things about being a vampire was my ability to distinguish one person from another or a human from vampire.
She breezed over, dressed in black leggings, black boots, and a gray sweater underneath her wool coat. “Mr. Jackson looks awful,” she said in a low voice as she sat down in Sam’s seat on my right.
“Well, his mother just died,” I whispered.
She pulled her long blond hair forward so the strands draped over her chest. “I know that. But maybe I’ve been around vampires too long.”
“Shh,” Olivia and Tripp said on my left.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She huddled closer to me, her human scent tickling my nose and igniting my vampire thirst. My eyes flashed vampire. I always knew when they did because I had a split second of darkness when it happened.
Darcy leaned away from me. “You’re not going to bite me, are you?”
“No. Continue.” I glanced at the large urn on the table in front of us. Ben’s grandmother had been cremated. I wasn’t hungry. I just had to calm my system. One human in the room was okay, but a room with more than one human could be a challenge, and there were several sitting behind me. I didn’t have an easy way to rid the smell, but focusing on something other than blood helped.
“Anyway, Mr. Jackson has this faraway look in his eyes. It’s almost like he’s a zombie and barely knows who I am.”
Odd that he wouldn’t remember her. “He’s probably under a lot of stress,” I said. “He’s been searching for Ben for months. Now his mom is dead.”
She sat back against the chair. “You’re right. Ben told me his dad found his mom dead at her home. That had to be awful.”
Death wasn’t pretty, no matter how the person died. I chewed on my cheek as I thought of Kate and how I was the one to kill her. Webb didn’t want me to lose sleep over her death, but I did. I didn’t know what I would do if he killed Sam, or my dad for that matter. Sure, Kate’s death was in self-defense, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to deal with. Even when I had killed Blake Turner in self-defense, I’d felt terrible, although his death was a little easier to handle. He hadn’t been my fiancé’s sister.
Olivia touched my knee. “Stop fidgeting. You’re making me nervous.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been bouncing my leg. I checked my phone that was sitting on my lap. We had a couple more minutes until the eulogy. I texted Webb. I miss you.
Immediately, he responded. I miss you too. Sorry I couldn’t be there. Hollings is due to arrive any minute.
Good luck, I typed out. Then I added several heart emojis before I clicked off the screen.
Two days had passed since Webb and I met with his team. In that time, he hadn’t decided on a strategic plan to raid Edmund’s operation. He was still gathering intel. An agent with the CIA was constantly calling, trying to get an audience with Webb. At the same time, Webb’s team labored around the clock to find out who within the CIA was working with Edmund and also to locate where Edmund and my uncle Patrick had moved their operation. We suspected Alaska since that was the last Sam and I had heard when we were locked up in the funeral home outside the Indian reservation.
“Oh my God,” Darcy said rather loudly.
Tripp, Olivia, and I went into sold
ier mode, scanning the medium-sized room that had filled up with twenty-or-so guests.
Darcy snatched my left hand off my lap. “When did you get the ring?”
Olivia and Tripp sighed.
“It’s gorgeous,” she cooed. “I’m going to be your maid of honor, right?”
“Duh,” I said. “Didn’t your dad tell you?” I should’ve called Darcy to tell her myself, but I’d been busy with everything going on.
Sam joined us, while the priest, Ben, and Mr. Jackson stepped up to the podium. Darcy was right. Mr. Jackson had a weird look in his eyes as though he was on drugs of some type. His chestnut gaze flickered at me. I waved. He frowned. Then he scanned the room as though he was looking for someone. I followed his line of sight, but no one stood out.
All was quiet. Some guests wiped their noses. Some sniffled. Others had no expressions on their faces as they waited for the priest to begin.
I knitted my eyebrows at Ben, who was dressed in a black suit like his dad. He lifted his broad shoulders at me as though he knew that I was trying to ask what was wrong. Sam had to know. He was an empath so he could read emotions. Then again, we were at a funeral, and the mood was supposed to be somber.
The priest pushed his dark glasses up on his nose. “Thank you for coming. I’ll say a few short words then hand over the podium to Mr. Jackson then his son, Ben.”
He barely got out Ben’s name, when the doors to the room slammed shut. Tripp was on his feet before I could jump up. Then the guests were screaming, “Smoke!”
I sniffed. Definitely smoke.
Darcy grabbed onto me. “What’s happening?”
The only way out was through the doors that Tripp and Olivia were trying to open.
“We’re dead,” Darcy cried. “There are no windows or another way out.”
The room filled with smoke quickly, and my sharp vision as a vampire was useless. People coughed, cried, and screamed. I was beginning to believe that Darcy was right. We were dead, but I couldn’t think like that. I had to help in some way.
On the Edge of Infinity (A Vampire SEAL Novel Book 5) Page 5
