by HK Savage
Reese frowned. “How can he have that much pull? We all have skeletons but enough to let this guy just do whatever the hell he wants? There’s got to be something else. Something you’re not telling me.”
Reyes was watching the senator, maybe deciding what to tell him. Something. She could see it in Reese’s expectant expression. Wouldn’t it be great to have Kenneth’s ability to read a thought. In that moment, if he could have touched the colonel, they would know who was behind all this. Here they were thinking it was Reese but now it looked like he was just a puppet. Who was really behind all of this? Someone had it out for their team; cutting their funds made things more difficult, but they’d been dealing with that for months. The bad intelligence and sniper in Afghanistan were obviously a trap they weren’t supposed to walk away from. Senator Jordan, their greatest ally in Washington, taken out and smeared so anything associated with him was now tainted. It was brilliant. Total warfare in the new regime. Why send in an army when a few key kills and the political spin cycle could be so thorough?
Another vehicle, big engine, roared up behind them. Reyes turned, Becca felt her host’s chest rumble.A growl?
“Here we go. Get up, Senator, this is our ride.” He watched the driver get out, a tall heavily muscled man in dark suit and tie. The driver walked around the front of the SUV coming toward them.
“What are you doing? I thought we were bringing him to the safe house?”
The driver reached behind his back. “Change of plans.”
“John, what is this?” Reese spoke beside him, voice rising. “You said he would help us.”
Reyes turned just as the faint whoosh of a suppressed round left the barrel of the driver’s gun to lodge in Reese’s chest. A second followed, making a second hole less than an inch from the first. No blood erupted, he was already gone.
The colonel’s body felt the heat from the body coming up beside him. “Was that necessary? I thought he wanted him alive. What about his plans?”
Movement. A shrug? “He’s no longer needed.”
“Why not?” Reyes turned to face his co-conspirator. “Reese had the backing, we’d given him enough ammo. He was going to have the unit shut down in no time.”
“Not enough to shut them down, he wants them gone.” A cruel smile twisted thin lips in his suntanned face. Sun lightened brown hair buzzed close caught the light from overhead halogens.
“Gone? Like killed? Do you know who you’re talking about?”
“Yup.”
“Admiral Black? He can’t be killed. That guy’s immortal. As in really immortal, nobody can kill him.”
“You want to tell him he can’t have what he wants?” Expressionless blue eyes regarded her. The eyes of a killer. “I’m fairly certain he would argue the same of himself.”
She could feel Reyes’ visceral reaction, his body tightened, nearly taking a step backward but not willing to show weakness in front of another predator.
A forced breath out and the colonel tipped his head to the side, shrugged one shoulder. “If that’s what he wants, who am I to argue?”
Cold eyes studied him several long seconds. Long enough for Becca to consider what would happen if this mind died while she was in it. She prepared for a speedy exit.
Apparently deciding Reyes was onboard enough for now, the killer holstered his weapon behind his back. “Let’s go.”
“What? I thought I was supposed to deliver Reese then head back so no one suspected.”
“I told you things have changed, forget all that. He needs you to organize a drone strike.”
“Drone strike? What’s our target?”
“Black.”
A few moments while Reyes fought back bile that filled his throat and a heart that pumped so hard it hurt. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “That is going to take some time, I can’t just walk in and authorize a drone strike on American soil.”
The killer smiled. That he could smile while standing beside a still warm corpse discussing the murder of arguably the world’s scariest man, or whatever, made her wonder if he had all his faculties.
“It’s the desert, I would think a little target practice would be easy enough to sell. Don’t you think?”
Reyes tugged his coat straight, ran a hand over short black hair, cleared his throat again. “Yes, I think I could arrange that. When does he want this?”
“Now.”
“Uh, okay.”
“Get in.”
Reyes started moving. Feeling each moment grow more precious as they ticked by, she focused on the tether that was her tie to her physical form, made ready and jumped.
“Kyle.”
“Hey, you’re back,” Kyle was in her ear. “Where’d you go?”
“Uh, I went in closer to listen.” Better to keep Kyle’s view of the weird focused on the obvious ones. No need for him to know there was more than that of fang and fur in this alternative world he’d found himself in this last year. So far she didn’t think he knew about her. The last time someone from her former life found out about her witchy ways he ended up dead, but not before calling her all sorts of a monster.
No, she’d do anything to never see that look of disgust in her brother’s eyes when he looked at her or hear him call her an abomination.
“I have to talk to the admiral. Now.”
Chapter 28
“Isaac Hobday.” Ryan studied the Maryland license, frowning.
“Does it mean anything to you?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“No, sorry, not a name that’s come up before.” He met her flat gaze. “That doesn’t mean we won’t find him.” Setting it down on the table next to his mini version of the war room back at the mansion, he started hunting for the life of a dead man.
“Ooh, is this what I think it is?” Kenneth emerged from the bathroom wiping his face with a small white towel. No pink or red streaking, good the deviant at least knew how to clean himself.
Ryan grunted, staring at his screens as his fingers flew. “Yeah, care package from home came today. It’s in the mini bar.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He tore the door open, whipping out a red tinged opaque bag, then flopped down on the bed.
“Make yourself at home,” Gabrielle grumbled. Though in truth she would be happy if he just laid there like a lump and sucked on his O Neg cocktail while the grownups worked.
“Tell me again what he said.” Ryan tipped his face semi her way, not taking his eyes off the screens. “Between screams.”
Turning off the part of her that wanted to curl up with a fuzzy blanket and turn on every light at the thought of torture, she leaned a hip on the table, picking up the license to examine it.
“Nothing really to tell.”
Isaac Peter Hobday
“He said The Unitarian is his street name, real name Almohad. No last name.”
5’ 9,” 175 lbs
“When he needs to contact him he calls.”
Brown eyes, blonde hair.
Yellow eyes flashed before her, snarling, spitting, the face of the animal in the alley superimposed itself over the placid man on the card.
They weren’t brown.
Not that it mattered. They weren’t anything anymore.
“Who, Gabs?”
“Hmm?”
“Who calls who? You said he calls him.” He kept his voice soft, soothing like he would a frightened rabbit. “Tell me who calls who.”
“Almohad calls Isaac.” Their names were strange on her tongue. Speaking the name of a dead man for the first time after he breathed his last. Speaking the name of her enemy after finally hearing it after a lifetime of searching.
“I’m not seeing anything,” he finally admitted begrudgingly after another few minutes of searching through tons of databases few people in this world could legally access.
Gabrielle felt defeat settle heavy on her shoulders. “We have the phone, but it doesn’t do any good unless we find a way to make him talk to us. And then who’s to say we
can get him to come out of the shadows? It’s like they swallow him up every time I get close.”
A loud slurp and satisfied sigh. “We just have to make ourselves irresistible.”
“How do you propose we do that?”
“He’s a controlling busybody orchestrating the downfall of several high profile senators currently. He taps this guy every time he needs something. We just need him to,” he shrugged, “need something.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Bad enough to gamble on trusting a stranger.”
“Wow, Kenneth,” Ryan turned, propping an arm on the back of his chair. “How can you come up with that and still be nuttier than squirrel shit?”
“It’s a gift.”
Chapter 30
“Are you kidding me?”
Kyle’s all too human reaction to the news that the estate, aka the Admiral’s super secret headquarters, was about to get bombed into next week, was not surprising.
The admiral’s lack of a response was also not surprising. In her months living with, hunting, and fighting long lived creatures such as vampires, she’d come to appreciate their view on timelines and need to share were somewhat different from say, a panicking human’s.
“Is there an evacuation plan? What do we do with all the hard drives and files?” Of course Kyle was worried about the computers and data.
Did you not hear a word I said? Tick tock. Bombs can kill badass million year old vampires too, you inhuman bastard.“Sir? We can’t be sure of the timeline, just that Colonel Reyes was urged to move it along quickly. His instructions were ‘now,’” she prompted, hoping to draw him from his thoughts and back to reality.A little direction here?
“I’ll just.” Kyle’s voice faded away and sounds of chairs rolling, banging, file cabinet drawers opening and closing.
Where are there file cabinets?
“Stop.”
Admiral Black’s one word ceased all panicked preparing on his end. Becca’s body snapped to attention only just shy of saluting all on its own. A shiver of ice dripped down her spine.
“Let them order the strike.” Like he was ordering coffee.
She could almost see the relief on her brother’s face. “I knew you’d have some sort of underground tunnels or panic room or something.”
“No, we do not have anything of significance below this chamber.”
“Then...” It wasn’t wise to question him, but her brother was at ground zero and there was no way in this world he could grab one of the many cars and drive far enough not to be seen and blown up in the middle of the bleak desert. “What are you planning to do?” With maximum effort she was able to make it not sound like she was questioning a crazy person who wanted to build a snowman in nothing but socks.
“The plan, Rebecca, is to wait for the drone to be airborne, then allow the knowledgable computer systems expert I have on retainer to change its flight plan.”
You can do that?
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You do not doubt your ability to do as planned, correct Kyle?” The admiral’s tone had that long suffering taint of a parent after a long day at the zoo.
“Uh, of course.” His reply did not inspire the confidence she wanted to hear.
“I should hope you are able. Or all of this is gone. The files, weapon stores, artifacts are irreplaceable.
“No pressure,” she mumbled.
“This is not a no pressure task and I do not retain or employ those who cannot perform under said pressure,” the admiral bit back.
“No, I can do it,” Kyle stepped in. “I can. I just have to get on it as soon as it launches.”
“Fine then, I will be in my office.”
No retreating steps, but a rustling and Kyle took the phone off speaker.
“Do you think he has faith in me because he really thinks I can do it or because he’s probably reinforced his office to withstand nuclear fallout?” Jokes were a great way to deflect unless he was trying to fool someone who’d known him almost his entire life, definitely all hers.
“I think he knows you can do it, big brother.” She prayed to whoever was listening that she was right, sneaking in a side prayer for Michael, where ever he was, to be okay.
“I hope you’re right.”
She snorted. “I better be. Don’t make me have to explain to Mom why you’re not at Christmas.”
Chapter 31
“The dead prostitute is the key.”
“Excuse me?” Ryan put down the bottle of water he’d snagged from the mini bar.
Kenneth giggled and sat on the bed. “That is how every conversation should start.”
Gabrielle turned away from the window where she was watching the sun come up over the beltway. “The prostitutes he’s used, sometimes he kills one, there’s a trail. One died tonight. He’s giving us a toe in his closet the very night he’s shoving glow sticks in Jordan’s skeletons’ asses. What if he was seen this time?”
“Do go on,” Ryan grinned.
“A situation that needs cleaned up, so Almohad calls his boy, Isaac, to take care of it.”
“Only it isn’t Isaac who answers, it’s someone else.” Ryan drummed a finger on the bar top, hope bringing that nervous energy it fueled so well.
“Where’s our proof?” Kenneth leaned back against the headboard, crossing his feet on the bedspread. “We can’t expect the guy to come running when we say we have a surprise witness, we’ll need details. Shit only the big bad would know.”
“We need to go down, check with the regulars down there. If even one of them had a friend who saw something and can ID him, maybe raise some unwanted questions, he’s going to want to make a deal with whoever has him.”
“That’s too easy.” Kenneth waved a dismissive hand.
“Easy works best.” Ryan barely spared him a glance, his focus was on Gabrielle. “Less details to go sideways.”
“Are we sure he’ll go for it?” Kenneth frowned.
Gabrielle crossed her arms.God I hope so.“Can he afford not to?”
Ryan reached behind him, grabbed Isaac’s phone from the end of the bar that extended to the desk where his control center hummed idle. “Directory registers every number Isaac called in the last two days but one. He had to have gotten the order to take out the reporter tonight. My guess is,” he shook the phone over his head, “Almohad is our mystery number.”
He had to know this was a big deal for her, something deeply personal. Even if she hadn’t shared with him who this man was, Ryan knewher. He knew when she struggled, and this was a big fucking struggle. Shoulders tight, arms cradling her body to keep her whirling emotions from picking her up and throwing her bodily out the window.Jesus, like I’m fucking Dorothy. More like Toto.
Plastic clacked on laminate, Ryan put the phone back and stood. “Let’s go.”
“What, like now?” Kenneth rolled his eyes.
Ryan answered over his shoulder, he was already typing something into his mini super system, “Yes, Princess, like now.”
“You know, I’m getting tired of all this come, do, sit, stay.” Kenneth pouted. “You forget, I’m not a dog.”
“We’re all on the same mission, Kenneth, the moody teen bit is getting beyond old,” Gabrielle sighed. “We all serve at the pleasure of the admiral, displease him and you know what happens. I think you’ve already had your one pass with that little vacation he sent you on.”
“Vacation my ass!” Kenneth was off his feet, eyes wide and black, fangs out in a blink. “Never enough to eat, only the dregs of society to feed from, not allowed out but once a week to hunt.” Spittle dripped off a fang to his chin. “No one to talk to but fucking blood bags for years.” He drew out the last word in a long hiss.
It was nearly enough to make Gabrielle feel sorry for him but she remembered the pleading eyes of his last victim, how close to attacking her he’d come when she’d shown mercy to the poor soul being drained for pleasure. So much blood wasted. The human had looked more like an office drone than meth hea
d.Dregs my ass.Does he know I know he’s lying or has he convinced himself his torture was justified?
“Okay, party people.” Kenneth strode peaceably to the door, wrapped a hand around the handle and put a hand on his hip. “Let’s go meet some hookers.”
Whipping open the door, he swept out leaving the others gaping at the slow closing door.
“Can a vampire be bipolar?” Ryan fitted an earpiece to keep in contact out in the field.
Gabrielle shook her head. “I think the jury’s out on witches like him.”