Blood Shadow: Book of Samuel
Page 26
part of his vampire persona, but he was especially wary of letting anything slip with so many lives on the line.
“Let’s keep this between you and me,” Hartwell said internally.
“Okay,” Daniel replied. “What’s up?”
This was the point when Hartwell had to decide between complete anonymity of the action, or bringing a trusted confidant into the fold. The quick analysis revealed that there was no real way to misdirect Daniel, because every question he usually had usually started with the word why?”
“We can win this,” he said simply.
Daniel processed the statement and then smiled, “I knew you had a plan!”
“I’ll tell you all about it, but we have to go see Samuel first,” Hartwell replied, keeping the conversation between the two men.
They zipped into Samuel’s room where he was sleeping soundly and breathing rather heavily, as if he was fully exerting himself.
“Wow, he’s really working hard in there,” Daniel stated.
“You looked that way in the final days before you made the turn,” Hartwell added.
“How long does he have left?” Daniel asked the obvious question.
Hartwell replied, “That’s what I need to know. Do you think you can find out for me?”
Daniel closed his eyes and instantly went to work on the inside of Samuel’s body. He analyzed his grandson’s brain waves, neurons, and motor functions, and then extrapolated the data.
“Less than 24 hours.”
Hartwell was pleasantly surprised, “I was thinking more like days. This is good news! Are you sure?”
Daniel looked at his father with wonderment, “You could always ask around for a second opinion.”
Hartwell realized that his question was a bit off-putting, and moved to quickly apologize through a hug. He whispered in his son’s left ear, “We have to gather the entire family for a strategy session.”
They broke from the hug and Daniel smiled, “I’ll get the troops together, General.”
Everyone was gathered in the main room of the house as various early-afternoon snacks were being served. Tubs of multi-flavored popcorn in brightly-colored tins were everywhere.
“There is something about the combination of buttery, salty, cheesy and sweet that just works so well, “Thaddeus said to Emily as if he was reviewing an entrée at a four-star restaurant.
“I have some good news and some bad news,” Hartwell stated at loud knowing that the statement would get everyone’s attention.
“Start with the good news! We could use some of that!” Cal Brewster yelled.
“Very well, Calvin,” Hartwell replied. But, first, we’re going to have to take one more beating tonight.”
There was a collective groan heard throughout the room. Hartwell moved quickly to put an end to the families’ troubles.
“But then we will reclaim Beach Haven tomorrow night!” Hartwell exclaimed.
There was a huge roar heard throughout the room that was equal in intensity to the inside of any sports stadium after a touchdown, home run, or winning shot.
“Let’s split off into the same groups we had a few weeks ago. Aquatics team I need to talk to you first outside,” Hartwell added.
He walked outside with Agent Blake Wallace, who was followed by his daughter Valerie, Brandon Justice, Belinda and Drew. The team’s work had curtailed in recent days because of the battles and subsequent dirt naps.
“Have we located all of the underwater cells?” Hartwell asked, trying to see how ready the team was to proceed with the grand plan.
“Yes we have,” a proud Wallace replied as he looked around at his team.
“Is Lawrence near?” he asked about Lowery’s hunter.
“He’s off the coast of Australia,” Blake replied.
“That’s probably the opposite of close. Can we get to him now and be back for the fight later?”
There was only one person on the team that had the kind of speed and strength to accomplish the task.
“I’m you’re man!” vampire Belinda yelled.
“I can get there through the water while you take to the sky,” a highly motivated Andrew chimed in.
“Blake looked around at his group, “We started this together, so why don’t we end this together!”
He looked to Hartwell for confirmation and said, “Sounds like a plan. If you don’t get back by midnight, go right out to our spot at Beach Haven Park.”
They all zipped off in varying directions, Belinda taking to the sky as she unfurled her vampire wings and the others diving into the ocean, changing into their favorite aquatic persona. The three-hour journey each way would also involve another few hours of excavation, as Lowery mad sure he buried his hunter so far under the ocean floor that he would never get out.
With the aquatics group out on assignment, it was time for Hartwell to brief the other groups about his plans for next two nights of battles. The hunters and protectors were now in one group, while the vampires were always in a league of their own. Hartwell started to work on the inside and then he would disseminate the information to the periphery.
“We should make this one as quick as possible tonight,” he said to Maxwell. The longer we are at rest, the stronger we will be for tomorrow night. We’re going to need all of our strength to take Lowery out.”
Maxwell reviewed the potential strategic possibilities in his head and came to a definitive solution.
“Obviously no protection from Kayla, combined with the Kamikaze strategy. We have to just fly right into them.”
“Do you think they’ll notice that we’re not trying?” Maggie asked.
“How about the quickest end to a veiled attempt at trying to win?” Daniel asked.
Hartwell then remembered another important factor, “We also want to be near the shore when we wake up, because we’re going to have a lot of company,” he said smiling at the group.
Max scanned through the possibilities until he hit on the winner, “Quail hunting.”
“Quail hunting?” the collective asked.
“We fly away and then they shoot us out of the sky,” Max explained.
“That will work,” Daniel stated.
Hartwell patted his grandson on the back and said, “Just the start of big things, my boy!”
Hartwell then walked back inside and had a pow-wow with the hunters and protectors, who had formed a nice bond despite being on opposite sides of the vampire fence for so long.
“Everything has to come together just right for us to end this thing tomorrow,” Hartwell said with a bit more confidence than someone was unsure of the outcome.
“They key to our success will be to keep Lowery’s army at bay until our reinforcements make their way to Beach Haven,” he continued.
Thaddeus was the most connected with the world of hunters, as he got a sense – a tingling – in his core that something was afoot, or a shore, with his people.
He stepped toward Hartwell and looked him straight in the eye, “You’re releasing all of them?”
“All of who?” Emily asked.
Just then, Drew also got the sensation that his grandfather felt only a few seconds earlier.
“All of us.”
“How are you doing that?” neophyte Aaron questioned.
Garrison looked at Aaron like he had two heads, “Are you questioning this man?” he said, referring to Hartwell.
Cal chimed in, “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that!” He then looked around at the group, “Let’s just focus on what we can do to get us out of this rut.”
“I’m banking on the aquatics team for search and identification of all of the hunters that are buried from our shores of the Atlantic to the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean, where I’ve been told that they have buried Lowery’s hunter far deeper than I buried my friend Cal. Sorry about that, buddy,” Hartwell said in a cheeky tone to Cal.
“It was
n’t just you,” Garrison said as he came to the aid, as usual, to his vampire.
Sharon was hesitant at first to drum up old drama, especially since she had a big hand in burying her now-husband.
“Yeah I was there, too,” she confessed while looking at Cal with a pair of puppy-dog eyes.
The group was waiting for Cal to issue a pass for an act that was performed many moons ago before the friendly integration. But, instead of going for the high road, he sarcastically walked on the low road.
“It’s all right. I’ll get you all back one day.”
The group started laughing at first, until Cal’s stoic facial expression caused an abrupt shift of the collective mood. He waited until everyone felt vulnerable and then burst out into laughter saying, “I’m just bustin’ on you!”
Thaddeus looked at Garrison and laughed, “That boy always did have a sadistic sense of humor.”
Garrison wiped the sweat from his brow, “Tell me about it.”
THIRTY-TWO
The aquatics team had to exhume Braden Lawrence’s body the night before the new dawn, and they were proceeding on schedule. Lowery’s hunter had perhaps the longest route to travel to Beach Haven and it would take him a while to regain his strength before hitting the road. Maxwell estimated that Lawrence would probably begin the journey as a slower-moving hawk, because he would seek to avoid the water after being trapped in it for 25 years. He mapped out the hunter’s trajectory and that factored in to the timing of Hartwell’s plan for the following night.
“Looks like they’re not going to make it back to walk with us,” Max said to Hartwell as he uploaded a global positioning system and then downloaded it as a 3-D image in the center of the