The Chronicles of the Immortal Council: The complete 10-book collection

by D C Young

  She paused as she wiped away a ghostly tear.

  “I don’t know how long I had been there. It seemed like days, but maybe it was only hours. Probably it was only hours, before a big door at one end of the place where we were being kept was raised up and light came through. There were men with really bright flashlights who walked along the aisle between the pens and shined their lights on us as they discussed who was next. I wanted to hide from the men, but there was nowhere to hide. They shined their light on me and discussed something quietly, but I couldn’t hear what they said.

  “The first three times the men came, they took other kids, but only shined their lights on me and they didn’t take me. They took some of the other kids each time. I don’t know where they took them, but I was sure that I didn’t want to go with them. There was something about them which gave me the creeps.

  “The fourth time the big door opened, there were only two men who walked down the aisle. One of the men was dressed very nicely, a nice suit like my Daddy wears, and he carried a briefcase. He walked alongside the man with the flashlight, but he didn’t talk to him. The man did not shine his light on any of the other children. He came directly to where I was and shined the light only on me.

  “‘That’s her,’ the man in the suit said.

  “‘You would know better than I would,’ the man with the light said. They talked in low tones, but I heard one of them say something about ransom money and the man in the suit passed over the briefcase to the man with the light. The man with the light opened the gate and the man wearing the suit called out to me.

  “‘Come on, Justine,’ he said. His voice was kind and gentle. ‘I’m going to take you home.’

  “The man told me that his name was Spencer and that Daddy had sent him to find me. He was a nice man and he had a very nice car waiting outside. When we got into the car, he told me that I needed to lay down on the floor for a few minutes. That was the first time I was afraid, but he said that it was only for a little while, and it was like when Momma and I were with Daddy and he didn’t want anyone else to know about it. We did that sometimes, so I did what he told me to do.”

  I needed to get a location of that warehouse or whatever it was. Even the tiniest thing might lead us to it. I broke into her story again. “Did you see anything before you ducked your head down?”

  “There was a swordfish,” she replied. “I don’t know where I saw it, but I remembered seeing it.”

  “Okay, that’s good,” I said, encouraging her with a gentle smile. “How about hearing anything? Did you hear anything or smell anything?”

  “I could hear water splashing and could smell fish. I could smell fish where we were being held in the pens. It was really strong and made me sick to my stomach.”

  It wasn’t much, but I’d solved cases with less.

  “Tell us the rest, sweetheart,” Allison said.

  “The car we were in kept going and going. I thought we were very far away from my home, but I did not know. After a while, the man told me that I could sit up and did not have to hide anymore. The car stopped in a parking lot. We got out and the man took me to a camper trailer. There was a lady who met us. She was a nice lady too and she took me into the camper. She gave me something to eat and I felt so much better afterward. She let me take a shower and then I went and laid down on a really big bed in the back. I never saw the man in the nice suit again after that. I don’t know how long I slept, but when I woke up the camper was moving. The woman came in after that and told me that we were on our way to meet my Momma and Daddy, but that we had to do it in secret, so it was a long ways away.

  “I wasn’t scared when I was with the woman, she was nice. She gave me the stuff I really like to eat. I watched TV. and played video games in the bedroom of the camper. She told me that we were going to meet my Momma and Daddy and go camping with them, but we never met my Momma and Daddy.”

  She began sobbing again and Allison looked over at me. The unspoken question was whether or not we wanted to take her through the events of her sacrifice.

  She might remember something important.

  They would have been disguised with hoods or some sort of masks.

  Maybe she can give us a description of the woman in the camper.

  “I remember her very well,” Justine said when I posed the question a moment later. Justine described the woman, who could have been any woman on the planet without something else to connect her, still, it was something that I needed to know if I was going to follow the trail back to the kidnappers.

  “The last time I saw her, was when she brought me some ice cream after we stopped in some small town. I could tell it was a small town, because there were just a few cars and not so much noise. I got really sleepy after eating the ice cream. When I woke up, I was here. I was looking up through the trees at the stars and the full moon above me. There were lots of people chanting and talking. There was one man standing over me with a robe and a hood on his head. I started to get scared, because I realized that they had lied to me and had not taken me to meet my Momma and Daddy, but I couldn’t scream or break free or run.

  “After a few moments, the chanting stopped. I could hear my heart beating loud. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and then I could not hear my heart anymore. It was black for a moment, but I felt myself lifting. I thought someone had untied, me and was picking me up, but after I was higher in the air, I was able to look back down at my body and that is when I saw that they had killed me.”

  “Did you see anyone then? Can you describe anyone wearing the robes?”

  Justine could not.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was a relief to see the spirit of Justine Edwards moving toward the light. It would have been better to take her home to her parents in the flesh, but at least Allison had set her spirit free so that she would no longer be tormented. She had made us promise that we would tell her Momma and Daddy that she loved them, but I wasn’t sure how we were going to accomplish that. Allison told me not to worry about it; she’d take care of it.

  “You’re pretty kind for a witch,” I told her.

  “Well, we witches get a bad rap, so I’m trying to prop up the image.”

  We moved back down the trail toward the campground in silence for a few moments.

  “What do we do now?” Allison asked after a few minutes had passed.

  “Do you think you can back-track her?” I asked.

  “I could wander around the campground until I came to wherever they parked that camper trailer,” she replied.

  “We don’t have much else to go on,” I said.

  We had moved along about ten paces before Bjorn and Veronica came out of the woods beside the trail. Allison and I stopped when we came up to them.

  “What you got?” I asked.

  “Library computer, one time use credit card, false identity,” Bjorn said. It told the whole story.

  “So, nothing,” I said.

  “Nothing,” Veronica confirmed.

  “You want to try finding a needle in a haystack?” I asked.

  “We have before,” Bjorn grinned.

  “How about a sign or something with a swordfish in a warehouse district somewhere along the coast of California, maybe or maybe not near a fishing wharf?”

  “You weren’t kidding about the needle in the haystack thing,” Veronica deadpanned.

  “We’ll see what Allison comes up with here in a minute and maybe we can give you a general area,” I responded.

  “That would be helpful,” Bjorn commented.

  “I’ll let you know,” Allison said.

  The two watchers disappeared and went about the new task. It was an impossible one unless Allison could come up with something to narrow their search a little bit. Besides being a witch, Allison was a damned good psychic. Like a bloodhound, she only needed to get a psychic scent to track a cricket through the Everglades; or at least I hoped she was that good.

  I watched her closely as she moved from on
e campsite to another. We had started with the campsite where my van was parked and moved along in a counter-clockwise direction. We would have saved time if we had gone in the other direction, because she picked up a very strong signal from the campsite two spaces back from mine. She had nearly completed the full circle.

  “Can you back-track it?” I asked, once she’d told me that the signal was a strong one.

  “I think I can nail down the parking lot where Justine was brought into the camper,” she replied.

  I had instant regrets concerning the fact that I had driven the van to Aspendell. I mentioned my regret to Allison.

  “Oh, sweetheart, haven’t you learned anything about me yet?” she laughed.

  One moment, we were sitting in my mini-van in the campsite at North Point Campground, and the next moment, we were in a parking lot in front of a Target somewhere else. I had done that sort of thing bodily, but never on that scale.

  “Have any idea where we’re at?” I asked after the lightheaded feeling cleared.

  “We’re in a Target parking lot,” she replied.

  “You nailed that one,” I responded dryly. “Can you give me a little more?”

  “I’m picking up a very strong signal that we’re in… Ontario,” she said.

  “You got a signal that we’re in Ontario?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she laughed. “That sign over their says Ontario Center Mall.”

  “Very funny. Where to now?”

  “Let me get out and walk around a little bit,” she said. “Maybe I can pick up something from the car that brought her here.”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Do that and then zip us to that warehouse on the coast, okay?”

  “Smart ass,” she snorted, getting out of the van.

  I got out and wandered around the van watching her as she worked at focusing. “I’ve got a really faint signal. It’s not much. Justine only walked here a few steps, maybe ten, and a lot of cars and people have been here since. If I hadn’t just been so close to her spirit, I’d never have picked it up I’m afraid.”

  “Do you know where it leads?” I asked.

  “Follow the ten,” she said.

  I left the parking lot, rounding the mall and got on interstate ten going west. Allison sat quietly, concentrating on the tiny trickle of psychic energy from Justine Edwards that was still there. We were in East Los Angeles when she finally told me to take the next exit going south.

  “The seven-ten?” I asked.

  “Whichever,” she replied. “There’s a river.”

  “Yes, the seven-ten follows the Los Angeles River all the way to Long Beach,” I responded. “You’re sure?”

  “It’s faint,” she said.

  “That would take us to Port Los Angeles,” I commented. “Can you talk to Bjorn and Veronica? I sort of need to concentrate on driving.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll lose the signal,” she responded.

  I touched the speed dial for Rennie.

  “Sam Moon,” he said as the call connected. “How’s the case coming?”

  “We might be about to break it,” I replied. “But I need your help.”

  “How can I help?”

  “Allison and I are coming down the 710 toward Port Los Angeles. Allison is tracking a signal and I can’t really contact Veronica and Bjorn while I’m driving.”

  “What do you need me to tell them?”

  “Tell them to search Port Los Angeles, my best guess would be in the San Pedro area.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I will call you back as soon as they give me something.”

  “You’re a peach, Rennie.”

  “That would be Georgia, not Carolina, but I’ll take it,” he laughed as he disconnected the call.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I have often thanked my lucky stars that Veronica and Bjorn were always so eager to help. Given a little bit of a general search area, the two of them had located a block of warehouses near the Cerritos channel. On the side of one of the buildings in the block of warehouses was a swordfish, just like Justine had said. The writing which had been around it in the long oval had faded to a point that it was impossible to put together what had been written there at one time.

  “We probably shouldn’t park my van out in front if we plan on making a surprise visit, huh?” I told Allison as we made a pass between the block of warehouses we had been direct to. We saw Bjorn and Veronica leaning against the wall of one of them waiting for us.

  “Let me out while you go find a better place to park,” Allison suggested. “I’ll see if I can determine which one she was in.”

  Allison slipped out of the van and I continued on around the block of warehouses until I found a likely spot to park the van without causing suspicion. I parked the van and then hurried back to join the others, which was almost instantaneous, given the fact that we vampires can really move when we need to.

  “You know where they kept her?” I asked when I arrived.

  “This one,” she said, touching the wall of the warehouse beside her. “The energy is really strong here.”

  “Okay,” I said, examining the large overhead door. Justine had talked about the door opening upward. There was no smaller door. There was a heavy lock holding the overhead door in place.

  “I can take care of that,” Bjorn suggested.

  “Let’s not use brute force unless we have to,” I suggested as I took a closer look at the lock. Yes, I did have a lock pick set. No real detective would venture forth without one. I hadn’t gotten really good at using it, but I had it.

  “Do you suppose my psychic skills could help with that?” Allison asked as I started working at the lock with my pick.

  “You’re certainly welcome to try them,” I snorted, stepping back to give her a go at something that was not nearly as easy as it looks on TV.

  Almost as fast as I could snap my fingers five times, Allison found all five tumblers and the lock opened.

  “Well, okay then,” I mused. “I guess they work for picking locks too.”

  With the lock undone, I positioned Veronica to open the door while Bjorn and I waited to rush into the warehouse while Allison hung back around the corner.

  “You sure we should do this?” Allison asked.

  “Oh, sweetheart, have you learned nothing about me yet?” I beamed as I nodded toward Veronica.

  Bjorn and I braced ourselves as the overhead door slid up and we prepared to rush inside. It was a rather anti-climactic moment, because there was no blaze of gunfire, ninjas or Schwarzenegger-like dudes waiting to ward us off; there was just row after row of chain-link pens, just like Justine had described and there were more than two dozen children of various ages above about nine-years-old looking at us with enormous, terrified eyes.

  “We’ve solved part of the puzzle anyway,” I murmured. I had hoped to run into whoever had been doing the kidnapping and give them a little something to remember me by before calling in LAPD to clean things up. I sighed, took out my cell phone and pressed the speed dial button for Sledge. Hopefully he wasn’t on the road yet, though he probably was.

  “Hey, Sam,” Sledge growled as he answered the phone. “What’s up?”

  “We found something,” I replied. “You want to call Benson?”

  “Depends,” he said. “What did you find?”

  I described what we’d found and waited some moments as he considered what to do.

  “I think you’d be better off to call Carter, you might be covered up in bad guys if they decide to return.”

  Carter was Lt. Carter, who directed the SWAT assault team I’d joined when we wrapped up the child trafficking ring before.

  “We can handle a few bad guys,” I responded.

  “Yeah. I thought you hoped to keep a low profile. Who’s we?”

  “Allison, Veronica, Bjorn and I.”

  “Allison, I know, are the other two like you?”

  “Sort of, bad guys wouldn’t cause them to break up a sweat, if you understand what I
’m saying.”

  “Yeah. You better call Carter. Better yet, I’ll call Carter. You guys move out of there and sit tight. Give me an address. I’ll call you back with where to meet him.”

  “I can’t leave these kids here, Sledge,” I protested.

  “If you want to break this ring, you’ll have to leave them for a few minutes and prepare to take these guys down right,” he asserted.

  “Fine. Call me back when you have a place for us to meet Carter.”

  “We’ve got a problem, Sam,” Veronica said, just as I disconnected the call with Sledge. She pointed toward a blinking red light near the overhead door. “Unless I miss my guess, we’re going to have some company pretty soon. That’s a silent break in alarm.”

  So much for keeping a low profile, I told myself.

  You’re not kidding, Allison’s voice broke into my head.

  We can’t leave these kids.

  I’m with you.

  We’re with you, Sam. Bjorn and Veronica’s voices joined in unison.

  I called out to my daughter as I looked for a good place to conceal myself. Sweetheart.

  Yeah, Mom, what’s up? Where are you?

  No time for questions, honey. I need you to talk to Sledge and tell him to get Carter to move his butt. Tell him we tripped a silent alarm and will probably be covered up in bad guys any minute.

  God, no, Mom!

  Stay calm, Tams, and just do as I ask. That’s what a partner does, I added as a bit of an incentive.

  A few moments later she responded. He says he’s not surprised that you walked into something like that. He says to sit tight and wait for Carter if you can.

  I’ll do my best.

  Mom, please be careful. Aren’t I always careful?

  Not that I’ve noticed.

  But I’ve always gotten out of whatever I got into alive, right?

  Yes, but…

  Allison cut in on our conversation. Someone’s coming.

  Then just trust me. I’ll be okay. Gotta go, babe. Love you.