“Ryker doesn’t see reason, Marcus,” Wesley butted in. “We’ve been trying to tell you that all along. If it’s not his way, it’s no one’s. This is probably what happened at Moonrise.”
“Screw you!” Ryker practically screamed. “At least they weren’t a bunch of cowards!”
“What the fuck did you just say?”
Wesley had holstered his gun because he didn’t need it. He charged Ryker like an angry bull. Horace and Marcus went after him, but he was too fast.
It said something to Ryker’s experience, he stood still right up to the point of impact. Then, in a blur, he hooked, spun and flipped Wesley over on to the floor. Unfortunately for Ryker, Wesley was far too strong and back on his feet in no time flat. Ryker couldn’t avoid him. Hefted off his feet in Wesley’s crushing bear hug, he was slammed down through a stack of boxed pistons.
“Get up!” Wesley roared. “Get up and repeat what you just said, man! Get up so I can kick your sorry ass!”
Ryker kicked Wesley in his crotch instead. When Wesley doubled over and staggered back, Ryker rolled to his left and got back on his feet, stumbling a little as he grimaced from unseen bruises. Then, Angelica was on him in a flash, while Horace and Marcus went to help Wesley.
“That’s it, Cantrell!” Jesus roared. “You just attacked another team member! I guess you’re going to call that self-defense, too!”
“He attacked me,” Ryker corrected. “Are you guys freakin’ blind?”
“You provoked it, muchacho,” a seething Jesus spat. “I don’t know why I’m even explaining myself to you.”
“Maybe because you know I’m right,” Ryker suggested.
That was the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Jesus looked at Ryker and then threw up his hands. He turned away from the man.
“Fuck you!” he snorted. “You’re out! Get your things and leave!”
“Belay that order!”
Everyone looked toward a very angry Dolores stomping out of the office, Kelly and Heidi meekly in tow.
“Dolores, I’m sorry, but he’s gone much too far this time,” Jesus countered.
“No,” Dolores said. “He is not leaving here. Not until we find out what is wrong with him.”
She looked right at Ryker.
“And for your sake, you’d better be straight with us,” she said, sternly. “Or I will personally kill you myself.”
Aurelia Hernandez had just finished putting her kids to bed. Normally, they’d have been in bed much earlier, but she had interrupted family game night to go talk to Ian Hendricks. She knew he was holding back on her, yet she wasn’t sure why. She certainly paid him well enough for his services.
She retired to her bedroom where she hooked up her laptop computer on the dresser. She had a more powerful computer in her office downstairs, but that did not afford her any privacy. Now, she was in her closet, going through her personal safe. The floor of the closet was strewn with papers of every color and size.
She sat back, unfolding a packet of papers. It was the deed to her house, marked “paid in full.” She should have been smiling. She had the house of her dreams, the one she’d desperately needed in order to raise her sister’s children. However, that dream had long since become a nightmare.
“You fool,” she whispered. “What did you think you were doing?”
She wished to God she never accepted that money to clear up her late mortgage payments and her back taxes. That led to her doing favors for people in league with Louis Riordan, favors that introduced her to the frightening world of vampires. It was too late to turn back, though. Any move to abandon Riordan and she would join the ranks of the undead. Even worse, Riordan himself had made it perfectly clear that, once she became a vampire, her first victims would be the children.
She folded the packet again, stuffed it into a manila envelope and tossed it back into the safe. She grabbed the other papers and unceremoniously shoved them in as well. After closing the safe door, she got to her feet, turned off the light and padded across the bedroom floor to her dresser.
There, she took a seat in a metal folding chair, typed her password into the computer and perused a few files. The most important of them was the one holding her current case files.
She had long since put Heidi Nguyen on the back burner. No trace of the woman had been found and that relegated the case to just another missing person. Even the ashing of Kane was out of her hands. She had the more important task of finding Duke’s assassins before Lin Tang ripped the town apart.
Making matters worse, she’d been ordered – ordered – by Riordan to find Duke’s killer. It was downright humiliating. It wasn’t even in her jurisdiction, but that mattered little. To the vampires, she was little more than a lap dog.
She blew a lock of her brunette hair out of her eyes as she pondered the facts that Ian Hendricks had gleaned for her. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was crawling all over the case because of the high-powered weapons used in the attack. The Texas Department of Public Safety, as well as the Texas Rangers and the local sheriff also had hands deep into the situation. Yet, she, an outsider, was supposed to match up to the big boys and demand a place in the investigation.
The guns used in the attack were military-grade sniper quality. The attack was classic military. One sniper from the front and another from an angle not just to the rear, but, out of the crossfire. She knew Duke’s car had been modified with extra armor and, yet, the bullets had punched through it to detonate the drug chemicals in the trunk.
There couldn’t be many people in the state who not only had military training but military-grade equipment. She thought maybe the federal government itself was responsible for the attack, but neither Ian nor Travis Pratt had found any such link. That still left former military members, most likely snipers or Special Forces. It was possible they could have been mercenaries working for one of the Mexican drug cartels.
“Come on, girl,” she chastised herself. “You have got to come up with something better than that. Duke and his idiot cousin were in business for themselves. You don’t send in a professional hit squad for low-level thugs. That’s overkill. A waste of time and money.”
That’s when it dawned on her. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Kane’s ashing. Porter Coleman’s apprehension upon hearing Ryker’s name. Duke’s assassination. It all fit.
“So, Riordan’s got enemies,” she mused.
Aurelia was used to Riordan running a tight ship. The man did not suffer fools gladly. Between threats and outright graft, he had the entirety of Tarrant County in his vest pocket. She was sure that his reputation carried well beyond the limits of both the Metroplex and Texas. She could not imagine any rival vampire clans challenging him.
No, there was only one logical explanation. There were hunters in town. She didn’t know much about them other than they were the bane of vampires everywhere. That much she read when she found the need to find out about her new bosses.
From what little she’d learned, most hunters were either loners or of rather suspect mental capacity. Some had deep connections to the Catholic Church while others hunted vampires for revenge. They tended to be amateurs. However, if hunters had taken down Kane and Duke, they certainly weren’t loners or amateurs by any stretch.
She wondered if she might be able to use them, possibly as a hedge against Riordan. That meant finding a way to get in touch with them. Of course, she told herself, if they were easy to find, Riordan wouldn’t be on her ass to bring them down.
Another thought struck her and, this time, it wasn’t good. She wondered what these hunters might do to her. If they were willing to take out Lin Tang’s right-hand man and challenge Riordan on his own turf, what would they do with a cop on the take from the head man himself?
She shivered just as her cell phone buzzed. She reached over to her purse that lay on her bed, opened it, grabbed her phone and checked the number. She sighed heavily and answered.
“Lieutenant, do you know what time it is
?” she snapped. “Wait a minute…let me get something to write with…oh, I see. When was she brought in? Whoa, who did she say attacked her? I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can.”
She cut off the call and snapped the phone shut. Cursing under her breath, she scrambled to find her running shoes. Grabbing her purse, she headed out.
“Isn’t that redundant?” Ryker asked. “Personally kill you myself isn’t good grammar, Dolores.”
“It’s time to stop being a smart ass, Cantrell,” Dolores answered, her arms crossed. “It’s time to grow up. I can’t understand it. We’ve got sixteen clan masters in town. Yet, the biggest threat to us is you.”
Ryker said nothing.
“We have got to pull out and wait for those masters to leave, but if we leave you here or let you roam free, you’re going to do something totally stupid,” Dolores continued. “I know it – you’re going to get yourself killed or worse. Then, you might compromise all of us. Tell me why I shouldn’t have you sedated and dragged away with us?”
“Go ahead, do what you want,” Ryker snorted. “Nobody listens to me anyway.”
“Because you’re a nut job, Ryker,” Wesley grunted, still bent over and walking very gingerly. “Why are we discussing this anyway?”
“Wesley, shut up,” Dolores said, curtly. “No, Cantrell. That is not good enough. You don’t follow orders. You bring home strays as guinea pigs for Patel. You’re insubordinate. You pulled a gun and threatened Marcus, Angelica and Manuel. And what the hell did you say to Heidi after giving her that steak? She hates your guts.”
“Oh, great, don’t tell me she’s vegetarian?” Ryker joked, though no one laughed.
“Humor is not going to get you out of this one, Cantrell,” Dolores remarked, coolly. “Is this what you were like with Moonrise?”
“Ah, now, we come to it,” Ryker snorted.
He pulled away from Angelica, slapping away her hands when she tried to grab him again. He backed up a few feet until he hit one of the shuttered windows.
“They died, I lived, get over it,” he said, coldly. “Oh, I forgot. It’s never simple with me, is it? Okay. Tell me what a piece of crap I am because I’m here and they’re not. You want the truth? They didn’t listen to me and look what happened to them.”
“Then, isn’t it swell that we’ve got the great Cantrell Ryker to protect us,” Wesley mocked. “If we listen to you, we’ll all come out okay, is that it? Maybe we should vote you in as leader? Think that would work, Horace? How about you, Jessie?”
“I think we need calmer heads right now, Wes,” Horace replied.
Jessie started to say something, but stopped when Horace looked at her and shook his head. She bit her lip and turned away.
“We’re wasting our time, Dolores,” Jesus huffed. “Jessie, go get Dr. Patel. Horace, you and Manuel watch Ryker. The rest of you, continue preparations to leave. Dolores, uno momento, por favor.”
“No!”
Jesus had turned and now he spun back around to see Ryker charge him. Fortunately, Angelica caught him by his collar before he made contact. Still, Horace had to disengage from Wesley to help her.
“No!” Ryker screamed. “No more! Do you hear me? No. More. Running!”
Jesus was shocked by the outburst, but Dolores did not seem surprised. She put a tender hand on her husband shoulder and eased him back. Then, she took his place in front of Ryker.
“We are not running, Cantrell,” she said, simply.
“Yes, you are!” Ryker shot back. “Do you really think that sixteen clan masters just dropped in on Riordan for a holiday? No, they are in town to talk business. What do you think would happen if sixteen Mafia families got together in one place? Huh? Don’t you think the feds would be all over it?”
“How do you know this, Cantrell?” Dolores queried. “Inside information? Something even Ian doesn’t know about?”
Ryker stopped struggling and let Angelica and Horace pull him back a few feet.
“I know because I’ve seen it,” he answered after composing himself. “For three years, I watched it happen. For three years, while I ran. Remained dead to the world, hoping none of the coven’s allies would catch on that I was still alive. I slept in barns, in drainage pipes. I lived among the homeless, even as I killed the ones who turned. I hunted and was hunted, by vampires and humans.
“I saw the smaller clans attach themselves to bigger clans to survive. I saw the big clans recruit to increase their power base. I was running into Riordan’s people long before you ever thought to.”
Ryker sagged against the window and ran a hand through his hair.
“Before Fort Worth, Riordan was running from a failed clan in Canada,” he continued. “But, he fled to Fort Worth. Consolidated power in no time flat, right under our noses. Because, we were too busy fighting amongst ourselves to see the signs right in front of our eyes.
“I tried to form alliances when I could, but, inevitably, we came up against a large clan and my so-called allies would run. Now look at us. Fighting a clan in control of an entire city when we could have taken Riordan out years ago. Do you know how that feels? To have failed and have to sit back and watch all those innocent people get killed, corrupted or converted because of it?”
“Yes, Cantrell, we do,” Dolores said, with sympathy.
Ryker looked up at Dolores and glared.
“No,” he said, sharply. “No, you don’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be running. And it’s not just you. It’s everyone. Gangs virtually control whatever the vampires don’t. We’ve practically written off two entire generations to drugs. Morality is disappearing almost as fast as loyalty. Everywhere you turn, people have abdicated their responsibilities and duties and, as a result, evil has moved in and thrived.
“But, there’s nowhere to run anymore. That’s why I came in from the cold. I had to start making a bigger difference. I couldn’t stay in the shadows anymore and neither can we. We need to make a stand. We need to take back our society. Every day we don’t is another day the enemy wins.”
Dolores closed her eyes and absorbed what she’d just heard. Could it have been true, she wondered. Were her Hunters running away from their responsibilities by settling for easier target?
“You know what, Cantrell?” she finally said. “I’m going to agree with you. On some of what you said, okay? I can see some of your points, but you can’t let it destroy you. Don’t you remember the old saying ’he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day?’”
Ryker dug his hands into his pockets and began to pace back and forth.
“Okay, Dolores, tell me this then,” he said. “What’s the plan? For us.”
“Pack up and move to the safehouses,” she said, nonchalantly.
“All of us together in one safehouse?”
“Well, no,” Dolores answered, looking confused. “Of course not. Too conspicuous to the locals. We stay at different houses. Keep in constant communication. Then, we can meet at neutral sites for training. Like we did before we came to Fort Worth to try to get Lin Tang.”
“Those clan masters aren’t doing it,” Ryker riposted. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. There have been rumors for years about the clans getting together to form a super alliance. It never happened before because the clan masters let their egos get in the way. However, this time, it’s different. We’ve got sixteen clan masters in town at the same time. They’ve put aside their differences to do that, so who knows just how far they’ll take the initiative.
“If they do form some kind of alliance, then we’re screwed. All the smaller independents will eventually join up or be swallowed up. We’ll fall further and further behind. Imagine if Lin Tang were to suddenly start training security details from these clans?”
Horace whistled low when the realization hit him.
“We wouldn’t stand a chance,” he deduced.
“No, we wouldn’t,” Ryker concurred. “Hell, I’d be surprised if we could even sneak back
into town once we leave. Who knows how many eyes would be on us?”
Jesus let out a huge breath of air, ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and turned away. Kelly and Heidi stared at him, looking for answers. He could sympathize as he was just as confused as they were. He turned back to look at his wife.
“All of this is just talk, Dolores,” he finally said. “We don’t know why these clans are in town. There’s too much at stake to go on half-assed guesses and theories.”
“Fine, whatever,” Ryker replied, with disgust. “Just go on and leave then. And, don’t worry. I’ll wait ‘til you’re all gone before I go off the deep end. I guess I owe you all that much.”
“And that’s still not good enough, Cantrell,” Marcus chimed in.
“Well, what the hell would you have me do then?” Ryker demanded.
Jesus started to answer, but stopped when Dolores looked at him. She had that curious look in her eye again. He’d seen it too many times before to know she had something unusual up her sleeve.
“No, Cantrell,” she started. “I think the question is what would you have us do?”
Ian Hendricks couldn’t believe the evening he was having. It was bad enough learning that his primary meal ticket was pulling up stakes and leaving. Now, he had to go to the county hospital to meet Aurelia Hernandez for reasons unexplained.
He pulled into the parking lot, found a space not too far from the emergency room entrance and went inside. As expected, the place was full. Crying children, anxious mothers, drunken frat boys who had learned the hard way that alcohol and stunts didn’t mix, the homeless and indigent, everyone normally seen in a county hospital ER.
He eased his way through the crowd to the check-in desk. He saw Aurelia and waved to her. She disengaged herself from two police officers and came over.
“What the hell is so important that I had to cancel a date?” Ian lied.
Dark Tidings: Volumes I & II Page 21