Come Hell or High Water (Hellcat Series Book 5)

by Sharon Hannaford

  It must have taken days to dismantle and remove all the old surveillance equipment and archaic computer gear, never mind equip it with the mountains of newer technology that flashed, blinked and whirred all around them. A large alcove to her right had been fitted out as a kitchenette, complete with espresso machine, microwave and fridge. A sign on a door to the right of that proclaimed a bathroom, and the hum of several generators created a soft blanket of white noise over the constant din of a hundred different electronics. A thick, hard-wearing carpet covered the floor, giving the bunker a much-needed touch of warmth, and pale yellow paint on the exposed walls brought a touch of cheer—definitely Trish’s feminine touch. It was kind of starship Enterprise meets Better Homes and Gardens, but Gabi loved it.

  “Oh, we’re getting there,” Trish said, leading Gabi towards a bank of computers set off to one side of the other equipment. “At least my station is up and running. The fibre-optic cable for our Internet was connected this morning, so I can work here now.”

  “I’ll put the coffee on,” Kyle said.

  Gabi elbowed him in the ribs as he tugged one of her curls on his way past her en route to the kitchenette. “Make mine a double shot,” she told him.

  “What else would I do?” She could hear the smile in his voice. Seeing him so relaxed and happy could only make her happy too.

  Trish pulled a chair up for Gabi and took a seat in front of her computer. Her fingers began a well-choreographed dance across the keyboard. “Julius made it back okay?” she asked, her fingers not missing a step.

  Gabi couldn’t hold back the stupid smile that curved her lips as she nodded. “He’s in daysleep. It took some convincing, but he was exhausted.” And not just from his trip. She had a crick in her neck and sore muscles after their antics in the car, and the memories were threatening to redden her cheeks, so she quickly changed the topic. “I hear you’re going to have some students soon.”

  Byron had called the previous day to catch up and had dished that Trish was going to begin training several supernaturals to do the kind of thing she could do with computers. Each pack had been invited to pick members to undergo basic training, and so far they had more applicants than Trish could cope with. They’d narrow the field down to a core of the most gifted students who would ultimately take over the roles that Magi had previously filled, trawling the web for digital uploads, forum discussions or video feed that compromised the safety of the Community in the City and covering up any cases of supernatural violence by redirecting human involvement. Trish was going to have her hands full working for Julius, helping out here at CenOps and training hacker wannabes.

  “Oh, I’m a little nervous about that,” Trish said, pausing to look over at the bank of multiple screens that were steadily filling with information.

  “You’ll do brilliantly,” Gabi assured her as Kyle joined them with three mugs, dishing them out and folding his lean frame into a spare chair.

  “I keep telling her the same thing,” he sighed, “but she won’t believe me. Maybe she’ll believe you.”

  Trish flashed him a frown gentled by a smile. “Right, down to work,” she said, rechecking the screens. “Thanks to Henry’s undercover work, our local police database and facial-recognition software, meet Dark Stalker and Lady Helsing.” Two faces appeared on one of the two monitors. The woman was striking; sharp cheekbones, delicate jawline and perfectly straight nose adorned with a single diamond nose stud. Dark red lips pouted slightly above another stud embedded just above her chin. This one a ruby. Platinum blonde hair and heavy make-up completed her look. A look that screamed attitude.

  “Real names: David Murphy and Sasha Beecham,” Trish said. “Sasha is twenty-seven.” Another screen flared to life below the woman’s photo, with a list of details. “She’s the night-duty manager of Exodus, one of the hottest clubs in the City right now.” Another list appeared on the screen below the male. “David is twenty-nine and owns his own tattoo parlour, which he opened eight years ago. It’s known as the best place to go for ink if you want real art.”

  The man stared at Gabi from the screen. Even in the headshot it was clear he was inked to the max. His head was shaved clean, and Gabi didn’t bother counting the piercings. Despite or perhaps even because of that, he was an attractive man. There was something deeply mesmerising about his eyes.

  “Are they a couple?” Gabi asked.

  “It seems likely, but we haven’t been able to confirm that yet,” Trish said. “What we do know is that they are both highly accomplished at Parkour.”

  “Parkour?” The word was familiar.

  “It’s another name for Urban Running,” Kyle supplied.

  “You mean those idiots who run through the City jumping walls and cars and making a general nuisance of themselves?” Gabi asked.

  Kyle grinned. “Well, I’m sure they wouldn’t describe themselves like that, but yes, those guys.”

  “Hmm.” Gabi sipped her coffee while she contemplated. “I wonder what the relevance of that is to the Kresniks.”

  “We think we know that bit,” Trish said, replacing the two headshots with a collection of group photos. “Well, at least part of the story. I managed to pull up some pics from social media of gatherings of the top Parkour runners in the area, and if you look through them, at least some of the faces match Henry’s descriptions of some of the other members of the Kresniks. I think the so-called upper management are all from the Parkour world. Their acrobatic and gymnastic abilities make them more formidable opponents against werewolves. Perhaps that’s what attracted whoever recruited them?”

  “I guess that would make sense,” Gabi mused, leaning forward to study the photos. “Do we have any usable home addresses?”

  Trish pulled a face. “Nothing. They have the same listed home address, and it’s a backpackers place in the seedy end of East Central.”

  Gabi hadn’t really expected it to be that easy. “How about identifying our mystery Vampire?” She tried another angle.

  “We appropriated Jade after seeing her fantastic work with Adriana. We sat her down with Henry late last night and this is what they produced.” The final screen on the top row flashed to life with two detailed pencil drawings of a man. The first was a full-length sketch and the other was a close-up of his face. There truly was nothing remarkable about him; even the notes alongside the drawings for height and general characteristics could have matched a quarter of the men in the City. This was someone who could fade into the background anywhere he went.

  “Henry told us they don’t often speak of him, but confirmed that he is the one they call the Lieutenant. For the most part they seem unaware of his presence.” Trish’s tone turned frustrated. “I can’t find anything on him.”

  “It isn’t all that surprising for a Vampire, especially if he’s an older one.” A reluctant smile tugged at Gabi’s mouth. “Always watch out for the little ones,” she intoned and Kyle snorted a laugh. It was the only thing they’d known about Vampires before Julius came along. The shorter, wiry ones tended to be the ones oldest in Vampire years, from the days when a lack of good nutrition built people shorter, frailer and less muscular than in more recent times.

  “We thought if you showed the sketch to Julius or the others, someone might recognise him,” Trish said to Gabi. “Our only other option is to get Henry to try to take a photo of him and widen the scope of the face-recognition software in the hopes that it turns up an identity, but it’s a long shot with a Vampire.”

  “Print me some copies, and I’ll check with the Clan,” Gabi replied. “Are you still in email contact with Xavier? Send him a copy too; he sees a lot of Vampires.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Trish nodded. “I’ll do that now.” Her fingers were already at work.

  “So, we know who they are; how about where they operate from?” Gabi asked Kyle.

  “Trish has some leads,” he told her. “We’re working on tracking the guns as well. I think we’ve located the dealer through some of his
cronies. If we can confirm it, it’ll be quicker to pull the info out of their heads by Vampire mind-roll than to threaten or torture it out of them. Can you arrange some help with that?”

  “Absolutely.” Gabi grinned. “Just tell me when and where.” She stood to rinse her coffee mug in the sink at the kitchenette and grabbed a cookie from the large jar on the counter as her stomach grumbled; without Rose and Kyle around to remind her, she’d been forgetting to eat.

  “We’ll get back to work, then.” Kyle sighed. “I’ll call as soon as we have anything of interest.”

  Gabi climbed the narrow staircase out of the bunker, determined to find the nearest drive-thru before she did anything else.

  ********************

  “They’re getting antsy,” Henry told the small group. The Kresniks weren’t the only antsy ones, Gabi thought as she watched Henry pace the tiny strip of free space down the middle of CenOps. It was probably time to pull him out. She’d returned to CenOps at Henry’s call, worried by his anxiety. “I need to be able to give them something. I can’t keep making promises and not keeping them.”

  “Don’t worry, Henry,” Trish soothed, spinning back to her computer. “Kyle and I have been working on this, and we finished it off this morning. I think it’ll suffice.” A video popped up on the monitor to Gabi’s left. They all turned to watch. It was grainy and dark, clearly at night in an urban alleyway, and there was no sound. A man was visible in the gloom, acting erratically, pulling at his hair and his clothes, pacing restlessly back and forth. The vantage point of the camera seemed to be somewhere above the scene. It reminded Gabi of security-cam footage. With a sudden lurch the man hunched over, his head tucked up against his chest. Though it was impossible to make out his face, or even his build or clothing, Gabi knew it was Kyle. She rolled her eyes; he was making a real show of it. After some more contortions, he ripped the shirt off his back, then collapsed to all fours. He writhed and squirmed for another several seconds and then he exploded into wolf shape. It was still amazing to see; despite having seen it a hundred times before, it never failed to move her. A magnificent brown wolf stood panting in the alley, its intelligent eyes scanning the alleyway intently. Then it lifted its head, mouth open in a howl, before loping from view.

  “Holy cow,” Henry breathed. “Sorry.” He was immediately apologetic, though Gabi wasn’t sure why.

  “Nice overacting,” Gabi drawled, and Trish burst out laughing.

  “I told you,” she said at the same time Kyle muttered, “Shut up, big mouth.”

  Even Henry joined in the laughter. The unexpected comradery gave Gabi the warm fuzzies. Warm fuzzies that disappeared when Henry sobered and asked, “So if this is genuine, how do we make sure they can’t upload this to the Internet and distribute it?”

  “I’ve embedded a special code in the file,” Trish told him. “I’ll give it to you on a USB stick. They’ll be able to view it and test it to check for tampering, but if they try to copy it or upload it to the Internet, the file will become corrupted. They’ll only notice if they try to view it after they’ve copied it. If this happens while you’re there, you can just assure them you’ll recopy it for them. It’ll appear that the USB drive is at fault. It should be enough to get you an invite to the show.”

  “And don’t forget, loads of deodorant or aftershave, and don’t let the Lieutenant get in a position where he can watch your face,” Gabi reminded him. They’d already discussed how to disguise his lying and deception from the Vampire. It was good to have knowledgeable Vampires on your side, and it was excellent that Henry was a naturally high-strung person. His continually elevated heart rate and state of excitement meant it was hard to discern the telltale signs of a lie, even for a Vampire.

  “I won’t forget, I swear.” He grinned. “Maybe if I pick the right aftershave, it’ll even impressed Lady Helsing.”

  “Don’t go full-on Johnnie Utah on us now, see?” Gabi teased, reminding him that if Point Break was to be believed, it was easy to be swayed into thinking that the bad guys weren’t all that bad. She didn’t want him falling under Lady Helsing’s spell.

  “No, ma’am.” Henry stood and saluted her with a grin. “No sympathy for the bad guys, I swear.” He pocketed the USB stick and headed out of the bunker, a spring in his step.

  ********************

  Gabi opened the front door of the mansion as Kyle loped up the steps; the light evening rain had dampened his hair. She glanced into the darkness towards his van, but he was alone. He’d called half an hour ago to say he had some news and was on his way over.

  “Trish is still hard at work,” Kyle told her, noticing the direction of her glance.

  She nodded and preceded him inside, a yawn escaping as she led him down the airy corridor towards the conference room. She tugged out her phone to see that it was well past midnight already. She’d been so deep in discussions with Julius, Alexander and Fergus that she’d completely lost track of time. They’d spent most of that time debriefing Julius on every detail of his meeting with the Princeps, then moved onto discussing the encounter with Chica and her male companions. But, after Kyle’s call, they had moved onto more immediate problems. Julius agreed with Fergus, that any final decisions about the Princeps’ task force could wait a few more days.

  “Did you tell him the part about what she said at the end?” Gabi asked Alexander when she rejoined the conversation and heard Chica’s name.

  “The bit about ‘they’, you mean?” Alexander guessed.

  She nodded.

  “Yeah, Julius agrees with us, even without that comment, it reeks of some kind of higher power behind their arrival.”

  “You think it’s the Shadow group?” she asked Julius.

  “Well, we have to hope so, Lea.” Julius looked pained. “Otherwise we have yet another enemy testing us.”

  There was a round of reluctant nods at the table.

  “What do you have for us, Wolf?” Julius redirected the conversation. Gabi didn’t want to divert resources away from the more subtle threats to the Clan, but she also felt Julius’s reluctance to pull Kyle into things that were purely Vampire matters.

  “Trish and I have been in contact with the other Alphas, and we’ve been discussing the simplest way to draw the Kresniks out, preferably all of them. We’ve come to the conclusion that putting a Werewolf out there for them to capture would be the answer.” He held up a hand as Gabi made to interrupt. “If we send an experienced Werewolf in, we’ll have the advantage. It makes the most sense.”

  “We’ve tried that before, and it was very nearly a disaster, Wolf.” Gabi finally got her word in.

  “But it also proved the solution, didn’t it?” Kyle pointed out. “Derek’s injury was purely coincidental; it could’ve happened to anyone.”

  “He makes a gud point, lass,” Fergus said. “If we control who they capture, we control th’ final showdown.”

  Gabi wanted to argue, but she’d been the one to say it was time to take the fight to them.

  “The Alphas are in agreement,” Kyle said, tugging on his ear in slight embarrassment. “The only thing up for debate is who to send in. I think it should be me, as I’m the one who can control my wolf the best.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Gabi admonished. “You’re an Alpha now, and you have people relying on you. You took on that responsibility and now you get to act like a grown-up.”

  He folded his arms and glared at her, his eyes narrowing as he searched for a reason to disagree with her. But there wasn’t one; she was in the right. There were a dozen other wolves who could do the job who were far more dispensable.

  “Right, so who are the other options?” Alexander asked, easing the tension in the air. “Have you got any volunteers?”

  Kyle ran off a short list of names, and Gabi knew most of them.

  “The forerunners for me are Matt and Butch,” Gabi said before anyone else could get a word in. “Matt stands out as being hands down the best option. He’s been a Hunter
for years, he can Change to wolf and back almost as quickly as Kyle, and he can do it several times on the same day if he needs to. And there aren’t many situations that would throw him with his Hunter experience.” Matt and Kyle had become Hunters for the SMV at around the same time, so he’d been taking out supernatural rogues for even longer than she had.

  “Gabi’s right,” Kyle admitted reluctantly. “Matt would be the best wolf for the job. We’ve also worked with him often enough that we all instinctively know what the others would do. If it’s not going to be me, I’d back Matt.”

  “And he wants to do it?” Julius checked.

  Kyle chuckled. “Actually, when we spoke to him earlier, he practically offered to pay me to give him the job. I don’t think retirement suits him.”

  CHAPTER 15

  The USB drive nestled in the back pocket of Henry’s jeans as he settled into the car. He was so acutely conscious of it that it felt as though it was radiating heat. He’d been anxious that this meeting wouldn’t happen, but finally he’d got the call from Big Dog just after four a.m., telling him to meet them at a club downtown at closing time. Who knew that downtown clubs only closed at five a.m.? As he sat back in the back seat of the car, he hoped this was the last time he’d have to don the blindfold. Since he’d been kidnapped by the crazy Dark Magi and almost sacrificed on their altar, he didn’t much like the dark. He’d never admit it out loud, but he’d taken to sleeping with the light on in his tiny apartment. Not that he was complaining about his apartment. It was light-years better than the squalid room in the bunkhouse he’d been living in for more than two years.