“Agreed.”
13
Jericho met Mark as he made his way back to his office. “Major, we have some issues popping up on the boards. Thought maybe you should be made aware of them.” He handed Mark a printout and stood by while he scanned the page.
“Any secondary confirmations?”
“Negative, sir. We have field spotters en route to both areas to see if they can get us a secondary ASAP.” Jericho watched as Mark went over the list again.
“Why does this one sound familiar?” He tapped the page and Jericho leaned over to see what he was pointing at.
“That’s where we picked up Sullivan’s sister. Primary report is of a small group of vamps. From the mess they’re making, the spotter truly thinks they’re all baby vamps.”
Marked scratched at his chin as he looked at the short list then handed it back to the man. “Keep me up on this. Is Colonel Mitchell in his office?”
“Negative, sir. He had security pick up the pilot that flew Ms. Youngblood and…” He paused, unsure what to call Jennifer.
“The colonel’s mate, Captain. It’s okay. It is what it is.”
“Yes, sir.” Jericho gave him an embarrassed smile. “The pilot who flew both women here is in an interrogation room, and Colonel Mitchell is with him.”
Mark raised a brow and glanced toward the stairwell. “I think I better check on this. Keep me informed on this alerts.”
“Yes, sir.” Jericho trotted back to the CDO office and Mark hit the stairs at a quick jog.
Taking the steps two and three at a time, he quickly hit the lower landing and came into the hallway leading to the interrogation rooms. Jennifer stood in the hallway watching through the small two way mirror. “What’s going on?” Mark slipped in next to her and watched Mitchell as he cautiously questioned the pilot.
“We caught Mick taking pictures of the inside of this place.” Jennifer’s eyes never left her mate or her childhood friend.
“Pictures?” Mark gave her a questioning look, but she never turned away from the scene inside. He sighed and stepped around the woman. She obviously would be of little help.
Knocking on the door, he opened it without waiting for permission to enter. Mitchell looked up and gave Mark a barely perceptible wink. “Oh, well. It’s too late now. It seems that Major Tufo has gotten wind of your activities. There’s not much I can do to stop him.” Mitchell closed the folder he had in front of him and stood from his chair.
“He was taking pictures?”
Mitchell handed him the digital camera. “He had worked his way down to third level before we spotted him. I can’t believe that nobody here caught him in the act.”
“Had I realized you had a window to your office up there, you wouldn’t have caught me.”
Mitchell turned and stared at the man. “That’s the most he’s said since we brought him in here.”
Mark pulled the folder from Mitchell’s hand and stepped around him. “I’ll get answers. Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee…or three.” He narrowed his gaze at Mick who seemed totally unperturbed.
Mitchell shook his head. “I tried to tell you it was in your best interest but no…” He glanced at his watch. “I think I could drink a pot of coffee. I’ll see you…whenever.” He opened the door and let it shut behind him.
Mark stood on the other side of the table. He could almost feel Mitchell’s presence through the two-way mirror. He continued to stare at the man on the other side of the table. “For a man who’s about to experience untold amounts of pain, you sure seem uncaring.”
Mick slowly raised his eyes and met Mark’s. “There’s nothing you can do to me that Simmons hasn’t already done.” Mick leaned back in his chair, his face stoic. “When his daughter went missing, he thought I had something to do with it. He invented new forms of torturing me…and all the while, you had her. Here.”
“Oh, I assure you, the pain you felt at Walter Simmons’ hand is nothing compared to what I have in store for you.” Mark slammed the camera down on the table. “Why?”
Mick slowly looked up and met his glare. “Why do you think? Old man Simmons told me to.”
“So you’re still working for him.” Mark sneered at the man.
“Hell no.” Mick pushed away from the table as far as his chains would allow him to. “The old bastard still wants to flatten this place with everybody in it. He just doesn’t want his little girl to get hurt.”
Mark pulled the chair out and sat. “So…what? You were getting the layout so his men could…do what?”
“Now that…I honestly have no idea. I’m assuming it was so they’d have an idea what part of this place she’d most likely be in so that they could avoid shooting her or…well, whatever it is they have planned.”
“And what do they have planned?”
Mick shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”
“That sounds like a good starting point.”
Mick shrugged again. “If it makes you happy, go ahead. I really don’t care anymore.”
Mark lashed out and grabbed him by the chains, pulling him into the edge of the table. Mick felt the air rush out of his lungs as the stainless steel table bruised his ribs. “Nothing makes me happier than beating the hell out of assholes that put my people at risk.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “And you are putting my people at risk.”
Mick fought to push against the pull of the chains. “What did you expect me to do? There are still people in Belize that I care about and Simmons knows that.”
“You could have come to us and told us!” Mark tightened the pull on the chains, choking him.
Mick felt his claws starts to push through his fingertips, fighting for purchase on the smooth table. “I didn’t have much choice! And what would you have done? Put me right here anyway…so if I could have kept Jennifer safe…”
“I should rip your goddam head off you son of a—”
The door flew open and Colonel Mitchell stepped inside. “Major!” Mark turned and stared at him, his grip tightening further. “May I have a word with you? Outside.”
Mark sneered at the man across from him then released the chains. Mick fell back against the chair and sucked in air as Mark stood and walked out. As the door shut, he turned past the wide eyed Jennifer and addressed Mitchell. “I think we can use this against her father.”
Mitchell crossed his arms and nodded to him. “How’s that?”
“Disinformation. We load that camera with false images. Give them a layout that doesn’t exist. Get Simmons to think that he can trust Mick and get hairball hacker in there to work with us…we can use this.”
Mitchell considered their options. “Whatever we do, it needs to be plausible. They already know that this place is larger underground than it appears.”
Mark scratched at his chin. “Then maybe we convince them that we’ve moved our operations? Convince them that we just keep a skeleton crew here as a lure in case the hangar is attacked again.”
Mitchell considered his suggestion. “Might work, but even that would be a hard sale.”
“We moved to Nevada once. I’m sure we can make it look like we moved again.”
Jenny stepped between the two. “Aren’t you going to say something to him? About what he did in there?” She stared at Mark as though he were evil incarnate.
Mitchell nodded. “Good job, Major. You got us what we needed.”
Jenny shook her head in disbelief. “That’s not what I meant. Aren’t there rules about how you treat prisoners?”
Mitchell took her by the shoulders gently and peered into her eyes, his face softening as he did. “Jen, I know that you care for that man in there, but he was working with the enemy. He was caught in the act of espionage. He was about to give them secrets that could easily have led to both of our deaths.”
Jennifer opened her mouth to say something when his words finally sunk in. She paused and turned to look at Mick through the two way mirror once more. “You’re right.” Her voice w
as barely a whisper. “It’s almost like I don’t even know who he is anymore.”
“No permanent damage done, ma’am.” Mark patted her arm as he stepped around her once more. “I’m going to talk to him about doing the right thing.”
Jen turned and grabbed his arm. “And if he refuses?”
Mark smiled. “I’ll just have to persuade him.”
*****
Jack gripped the phone tightly as it rang and nearly jumped when Viktor answered. “It’s Jack. Is Nadia okay?”
“Nadia’s fine.” Viktor couldn’t keep the displeasure from his voice. “If you truly cared, you would be here by her side.”
Jack immediately felt relief and a huge weight lifted from his shoulder. Just as quickly, his anger flared. “You called me to chide me for not being there?” His voice growled low and deep into the phone, his eyes narrowing as he pictured his father-in-law.
“No, I called you because I…I require your assistance.”
Jack held the phone back in surprise and stared at it. “Did I hear you correctly?”
“This is no time to gloat, hunter. Rufus has been captured. I need your—”
“Like hell!” Jack cut him off. “Rufus burned his bridges with me.”
“You are his Second. You don’t have that luxury,” Viktor spoke matter-of-factly. “He does not have to explain his every action to you.”
“He stole from my people and then built a Doomsday weapon. A weapon that could have killed every non-human on the planet.”
Viktor stiffened slightly but maintained his composure. “You are still his Second. Your job is to trust his judgment.”
“He forfeited that right when he—”
“Had he ever lied to you prior to this?” Viktor interrupted.
Jack paused and shrugged, not realizing Viktor couldn’t see the action. “How could I know? He wasn’t exactly been honest with me about the Doomsday weapon.”
Viktor exhaled hard into the phone and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Jack…do you know why he had the weapon built?”
“It doesn’t matter. He stole the plans and created it. As far as I’m concerned, he blew it.”
“He knew that one of Foster’s vampires was trying to resurrect Lilith. He has succeeded. The weapon was built to battle her. He needed an ultimate weapon to defeat the ultimate threat.”
“Wait…what? Did you say Lilith?”
“You know of her?” Viktor finally saw a ray of hope as Jack spoke.
“Actually, yeah. I have my own team of…uh…warriors here. They were put together just to fight this bitch. We’re just trying to figure out where she is.”
“She is the one who holds Rufus.” Viktor held the phone firmly, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile. “If you want to know where she is, you will have to agree to assist me in saving him.”
Jack sighed heavily and stretched his neck. “Reverting to blackmail, Dad?”
“If you cannot do it for honor or because it is your duty as his Second, then yes.”
*****
Laura threw her clothes into the dresser and dropped her duffel to the floor. She stood and stared at the room that she hadn’t set foot in since she had screamed at her father for ‘betraying’ the memory of her mother. She plopped down on her bed and stared at the dresser, her reflection staring back.
She had been a grown woman when he tried to tell her that he’d met somebody that made him happy again…somebody that made him want to get up out of bed in the mornings. Somebody who shared the same beliefs, the same desires, the same…she shook her head, trying to rid the guilty thoughts from her mind.
How many years of potential happiness had she robbed him of? How long had it been since she practically spit in his face and stomped out of their family home? She fell back onto the bed and her eyes focused on the ceiling, the plastic glow in the dark stars still glued to the ceiling. Slowly a smile crept to the corners of her mouth as she remembered when her dad stuck them up there as a surprise for her. So many nights she had gone out to the trampoline to fall asleep under the stars only to have him carry her back inside and tuck her in bed. “Now you can sleep under the stars and I won’t have to carry you back in at two in the morning. You’re getting too heavy for me, Punkin.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell him that he didn’t get any of them placed right. She couldn’t tell him the names of the constellations, but she knew their shapes. She knew where the largest and brightest were supposed to be and she made her own constellations from the ones that she couldn’t recognize.
Laura snatched a pillow from the head of the bed and stuffed it under her head. She glanced about the room and realized, he truly hadn’t changed a thing since she left. She fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She punched the button and waited for Evan to pick up.
“Miss me already?”
She relaxed reflexively when she heard his voice. “You make me feel better.”
“Uh-oh. What’s wrong? Did he change his mind at the last moment?” She could hear him shuffling the phone and she could imagine him putting something away to give her his full attention.
“No, he didn’t, but…I don’t know. I think maybe I made a mistake.” She sighed and kicked her shoes off into the floor. “Or maybe I didn’t and I just feel guilty. I just don’t know.”
“Okay, let’s back up. Tell me why you feel guilty.”
Laura filled him in on her father and Crystal. She explained how her father’s ‘miraculous’ increase in energy and appetite had struck a chord with her. Suddenly she just knew that it was ‘wrong’. “Doesn’t it say that death comes to us all? Who am I to intervene?”
“You’re a worried daughter doing what she feels she has to do in order to save her ailing father.” Evan leaned back in his chair and she could hear it creaking through the phone. “I can’t say about any residual guilt you may be feeling about him and his girlfriend, but you felt this was something you had to do.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?” Her voice was soft and childlike.
Evan sighed into the phone and shook his head. “Like anybody could stop you once you set your mind to something. Besides, it was daylight outside. I’d have been toast before I ever reached you.”
Laura rolled over on the bed and stared at the trophies on her shelf. “Do you think I messed up?”
“Don’t ask me that.”
“Why not? I trust your judgment.”
“Because, regardless of what I think, it’s too late to do anything about it. The deed is done. He’s infected. All you can do now is continue the protocol so that he’s eased into the transition.”
Laura pinched her eyes shut and tried to force back the emotions she felt. “What if I messed up?”
“We’ll just have to deal with the consequences.” Evan shifted the phone closer to his mouth. “Did you note I said, ‘we’?”
“Yes, I did. Thank you.”
“I have to say though, I’m confused. Why the change of heart? You couldn’t wait to get away from here and run off to save him. Now that you can, you’re worried you made the wrong decision.”
Laura opened her eyes and felt the hot sting of tears forming then running down the side of her face. “I can feel it in my gut. He won’t be able to handle this and somebody…maybe even the squads will be called out to deal with him.” She sniffed back the tears and clenched her teeth together. “It’s one thing to die because it’s your time. It’s another to be put down because you lose it. If that happens, Evan…it will be my fault.”
*****
Foster paced the tiny area as he waited to hear back from the hired enforcers. “Why haven’t any of them checked in with us?”
“It is daylight. They may be asleep.”
“Bah!” Foster slapped at the stack of papers on the edge of the desk and sent a chair flying into the wall. “Viktor could be here at any moment. I need to know what resources we have available to offer him!”
The enforcers bent a
nd picked up the papers, shoving them haphazardly back into the files. “They will respond as soon as they see the message. With the money we are offering, they will not ignore the call.”
“They’d better not. If they leave me standing here with nothing more than my dick in my hand once Viktor arrives…” He glared at the enforcer who simply nodded and backed away. “Do we have any resources left at the island?”
“The other hunter is in charge there. Mueller.”
Foster threw his hands into the air. “Of course he is. Thompson’s right hand man. They’d just as soon kill Rufus themselves.” He paced the small room and tried to think, his mind racing. “What about the Russians?”
“I called them. Apparently they are tied up and can’t release anyone right away.”
“Tied up? Can’t release anyone? This is the head of the Lamia Beastia we’re talking about here!”
The enforcer nodded. “But he is not the head of their familias. Rufus is well respected and technically the head of all, but the familias can still supersede unless it is a time of war.”
“Of course they can.” Foster mocked their response while he continued to pace. “Is anyone overseas available?”
The enforcer shook his head. “The Sicarii’s army destroyed many familias from within. Many are still trying to rebuild.”
Foster paused and clenched his fists, his face contorting as he fought not to scream. “We have no wolves other than what Viktor may bring. We have no fighters because the vampire war destroyed them all. We have…nothing?”
The enforcer shrugged. “It is too short of notice for most to respond or send assistance.”
“Because nobody has rebuilt their ranks.” Foster plopped onto the hotel bed. “Short sighted, incompetent idiots.”
“They are trying. Many have created new vampires, they just…”
“What?” Foster turned a curious eye to the enforcer. “What do you know that I do not?”
Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 Page 20
