Infinite Vampire (Book 2): Queen's Gambit

by M. Lorrox

  “Bloodsuckers gonna pay worse than us.”

  “That’s for damned sure… Now you’re sure this thing’s gonna be big enough? We need to take down the whole place.”

  “Should be, even from underground… I’ll need to wire the receiver in. When can I expect it?”

  “I’ll be over straight after my shift. I’ll see you around eleven-hundred.”

  “Alright, I’ll do my best to have everything else ready.”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  June watches the man called T walk away, back into the darkness of the night. The other man, Blackjack, slides another cigarette out of his pack and puts it in his mouth. He cups his hands and lights it.

  In the glow, June tries to get a better look at his face, but it’s mostly covered by his hand. She does notice something else; his suit is a dark blue, and on the lapel, a shiny nametag with a symbol engraved into it. She looks down the side of the building he stands on. It’s another hotel, with the same symbol in its logo.

  June doesn’t dare move. She waits for him to finish his cigarette, and again, he flicks the butt over the side. Then, he walks back across the roof and re-enters the building. June waits another minute.

  To her, that minute feels like a lifetime. When she finally builds up the courage, she slides off the bench and slinks back to the elevator as silently and slowly as possible. She hopes her attempts at ninja-like stealth offsets the vicious pounding of her heart.

  In the living room of the suite, June paces for a few minutes while she decides what to do. She grabs a notepad off the counter and writes down as much of the conversation as she can remember:

  She looks it over and takes a fortifying breath. She walks over to the Costanzas’ bedroom door and taps on it. She doesn’t hear any movement. She taps again, louder, but still doesn’t hear any movement. She opens the door, and a sliver of light shines into the room.

  She tiptoes in, trying not to wake Minnie. She sees Charlie’s arm hanging off the side of the bed and she walks over. She pokes his arm and whispers, “Mr. Costanza.”

  -mmmrrr-

  She shakes his arm. “Charlie?”

  He pulls away and rolls onto his side.

  Come on. She reaches out and pinches his shoulder.

  He jolts awake. “Huh?” He rolls onto his back and opens his eyes a sliver. “June?”

  “I have to talk to you. Get up.”

  Charlie follows her into the living room and squints into the light. He sees that she’s shaking. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  She tells him the whole story and shows him the notes she jotted down. Charlie reads the paper a couple times.

  “June, umm, are you sure this actually happened?”

  She looks at him with a mixture of concern and confusion. “What do you mean?”

  He pours a glass of water. “Well, for one thing, how did you hear them? I mean, you said that building was across the street and down a ways. It’s noisy out there. I don’t think anyone would have been able to hear their conversation.”

  She nods. “I didn’t believe it at first either, but I could hear them. It’s like everything else got quiet.”

  Charlie sighs. Where to begin? “Could you identify them?”

  “If I heard them talk, yeah. But I couldn’t really see their faces.”

  “That makes it hard. Blackjack and T, those aren’t real names.”

  “You can stop them, right? They’re going to try and blow up the building and take out the Prime Minister.”

  Charlie looks at the paper again. “You wrote president. Is that what they said?”

  She nods.

  “Anything about the person they’re getting the detonator from?”

  “No, just that the Blackjack guy was going to meet him in a couple hours.”

  “What’s the meeting at eleven-hundred?”

  “That’s when he was going to meet the other guy, right after his shift.”

  “So, he’s getting the detonator at work. A lot of people walk in and out of hotels in the morning, but at least that’s a start.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  Charlie looks at the sheet again. He reads the hotel’s letterhead. It has numbers for the front desk, the restaurant, and the concierge. “We need to talk to the police, but we need to do it through the right channel. First, we have to talk to Jules.”

  “Wait, umm, what about me?”

  Charlie raises an eyebrow.

  “I don’t think that having miraculous hearing, identifying criminals, and foiling a bomb plot is in line with keeping a low profile.”

  Charlie nods. “Good point… Let me work on that one. First things first though, I’ve got to talk to Jules. You should try and get some rest.”

  She exhales and looks at the empty counter. “I can’t sleep. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  Charlie puts his hand on her shoulder. “Try not to worry too much about it. I bet you’ll feel better soon. See if you can relax.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “After overhearing a bomb plot, sure, I’ll relax.”

  He frowns. “Sorry. You know what I mean… I have to go downstairs, but you should stay here. Let the others rest. In the morning, we’ll fill them in.”

  She nods.

  Charlie slips Eddy’s sneakers on and heads out the door.

  When he reaches the lobby, it’s empty. So is the front desk. He looks for one of those dumb bells used to call an attendant, but there isn’t one. “Hey, anybody back there?”

  No response.

  He knocks on the granite counter with his knuckles. “Hello! I need help at the front desk!”

  After a second, Charlie hears some rustling. And then some giggling. Hmm. A guy in his twenties rounds the corner with a smile and a misbuttoned shirt. Charlie clears his throat.

  The attendant smiles as he looks Charlie up and down. “Sorry about the delay, sir, what can I do for you?”

  “Fix your shirt, do your job, and give me Jules’, the concierge’s, emergency number.”

  The attendant looks down at his shirt and chuckles. “Whoops!”

  “I need to speak with Jules immediately. It’s an emergency.”

  The attendant looks at his watch. “She’ll be here in an hour. Can you wait till then?”

  “No. Number. Now.”

  “Okay, okay.” He flips through a notebook, scans through a list, and writes the number down on a business card. “Here you go.”

  “Great. Where’s the house phone?”

  He snorts. “In your room?”

  Charlie allows his frustration to show. He places his hands on the counter and reads the attendant’s nametag; it says Brendon. “I’ll make you a deal, Branton, you dial her for me on the phone in front of you, and then you can go back to your girlfriend.”

  Brendon scowls. “What’s the deal part of that?”

  “Oh, it’s where I talk on the phone instead of breaking shit and making a huge mess and ruining your fucking day.”

  Brendon sighs, picks up the phone, and dials. When he hears it ringing over to the other end, he sets the handset on the counter and walks away.

  Charlie snatches the phone up and presses it to his ear, just in time.

  “This is Jules; what’s the problem?”

  “Hi Jules, it’s Charlie Costanza. I need to speak to a friendly with the police department, immediately.”

  “Concerning what?”

  “A threat to the hotel. Do we have a friendly?”

  “Yes, I—”

  “Are they staying in the hotel? What’s their room number?”

  “You can just call Elian.”

  “Major Schermer?”

  “Yes. Do you have her number?”

  “Not on me, hold on.” He grabs a pen. “Go ahead.”

  She gives him the number and asks what else she can do for him.

  “Expect to have a busy day. Thanks.” He reaches over the counter, hangs up, and dials Schermer.

 
“Hello?”

  “Schermer, this is Costanza. There’s an emergency, and I need your help.”

  “What do you need?”

  “You. How long until you can meet me in the equipment room?”

  “Give me five minutes.”

  Charlie meets with her, and they come up with a plan. Well, more accurately, Schermer comes up with a plan that’ll work within Charlie’s odd constraints. Thirty-five minutes after Schermer woke up, she’s making calls to her contacts in the FBI.

  Charlie returns to the suite to wake everyone up and bring them up to speed on the situation. And also to put on clothes; he had rushed out in only a t-shirt and boxers. When he opens the door, June jumps up and is about to say something, but Charlie holds up his hand. “I’ll be right back.”

  He gets dressed, wakes Sadie—Eddy wakes up too—then he brings them into the living room and fills them in.

  Charlie sighs. “The tricky part is keeping a low profile for June, but she’s the only one that can make the ID. I think Schermer and I came up with a solution though; the FBI will send in an undercover agent, who’s wired, June and I can listen in on his audio-feed, and I can relay information to the agent. June and I can do it from this hotel, and we can do it in a way so that nobody ever even knows who the witness was.

  Sadie nods. Eddy is still processing that people are trying to blow up the hotel and kill vampires.

  “After June makes the ID, I’ll radio it to the FBI, and then they’ll tail him and take over.”

  June swallows. “Will I need to testify?”

  Charlie looks at her; she still looks a bit shaken. “No, don’t worry about that. On record, it’ll say that an anonymous person phoned in a tip.”

  “What if they don’t catch him?” June bounces her leg, jostling her whole body up and down. Eddy reaches over and puts his hand on her knee. “Take it easy. They will.”

  Sadie looks at Charlie. “What’s the contingency plan?”

  Charlie sighs. “It seems like they have to bring the bomb in, but just in case, I’ve ordered the entire Guard to conduct a search of the hotel and parking garage. Also, if anything goes wrong, like the FBI loses the bastard or something, then we’ll evacuate the hotel and move everyone to an undisclosed location.”

  Eddy looks at his dad. “Where would that be?”

  Charlie shrugs. “I dunno, I haven’t picked a spot.”

  Sadie nods. “Alright, keep me in the loop. I’ll inform the High Council.”

  Charlie shakes his head. “Not until after the FBI either tails the guy to the bomb or loses him. Until then, we play it tight. I’ll tell Villablino; he’s technically my boss.”

  Skip opens the door from his bedroom and walks into the living room. “June, I was worried about you. What’s everyone doing?”

  Charlie stands up and slides out his chair. “Sit down buddy, things got more complicated.”

  Skip keeps shaking his head and looking back and forth from June to Charlie. “Holy crap.”

  June puts her hand on his. “Charlie says I’ll stay totally anonymous.”

  He looks at her and sighs. “Why am I the last to know? And why am I being told this, I’m your father, did you forget that?”

  June looks down at the table.

  Charlie places both his palms flat on the table. “Skip, I’m really sorry, it all just happened so fast. I guess I went into commander mode and commanded.”

  Skip stands up. “I just don’t like the idea of June getting involved in all this. She hasn’t slept in days, and she needs rest, not this insanity. Besides, if I didn’t walk out here when I did, would I even be told about this?”

  June stands and faces him. “Dad, I’m sorry, I woke up Charlie because I knew he’d know what to do, and it was the middle of the night.”

  Skip shrugs. “I know, I know. I’m not mad at you, everything you’ve done and said makes sense, it’s just... Well, damn it, June, I’m worried about you.”

  June throws her arms around him. “I know, Daddy.” She starts to cry. “Everything is so crazy, and if you weren’t here, I don’t think I could handle any of this.” She sniffs and rubs her nose. “And I’m changing, and sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore, and people want to kill me, and I’m so tired, and, and...” She trails off into her tears.

  Skip holds her and pats her head. He sighs. “I’m here, darling, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  Charlie clears his throat. “Skip, I’ll cancel the plans if you’re not comfortable with June’s involvement. I’m sorry I planned as much as I did without talking with you first. We have a fallback plan; we can just enact that instead.”

  He considers allowing the assassins to blow up an empty hotel, and maybe getting away with it, then he shakes his head. “It seems like a good, safe plan, and I know you were just doing your job.” He squeezes June tighter and glances at Sadie, then Eddy. “Let’s give it a shot, but I’m staying with June. How long until, I dunno, until you need us?”

  Charlie lifts his brow. “They’re moving fast. We should too.”

  Skip nods. “Okay.” He releases June, then they both walk into their bedroom.

  “I’ll get ready.” Eddy stands and starts to turn toward the bedroom when he feels a firm hand on his shoulder.

  “Eddy, you’re on Minnie duty. Your mom has meetings, I’ve got this, and Skip and June are with me.

  Eddy squeezes his eyes shut and draws his lips tight. Babysitting? He opens his eyes and emphasizes his shock with his hands. “Seriously?”

  Charlie responds in kind. “Seriously.”

  Schermer works with the FBI. A room on the fourth floor of the vampire hotel—that has windows facing the street and the other hotel—is converted into an operations headquarters. The FBI sets up some folding tables, brings in a bunch of equipment, and points binoculars and cameras out the window. When everything is set up and running, Schermer calls Charlie in.

  He goes alone, is shown how to communicate with the undercover agent, then is left alone in the room. Hard drives spin and lights flash, recording everything from all the various sources. He texts Skip.

  Meet at the elevator on 10

  Skip and June walk out of the suite, over to the elevator, and wait. Charlie is up in a moment, then they go down to the fourth floor. On the way, Charlie pulls out his phone and writes a text to Skip, but he doesn’t send it. Instead, he holds his phone out so he and June can read it.

  From here on, until back in the suite, NO TALKING.

  They nod, and Charlie erases the unsent text as the elevator arrives. When the doors open, he steps out to make sure the hallway is empty. It is, and he leads them to the room.

  Once inside with the door closed, Charlie turns to June and Skip. “You will not make any sound at all. You will write down on a notepad anything relevant, and I will relay the information to the operative. Nod if you understand.”

  They nod.

  “Great. Take a seat.” He motions to some chairs near a table covered with gear. There’s a shiny black box with various switches, flashing lights, and wires coming out of it, a microphone on an articulated arm is attached to one of the wires, a small speaker is at the end of another set of wires, and a pencil rests on a pad of paper in front of the chairs.

  Charlie leans over the table, pulls the microphone to his face, and flips a couple switches on the box. Sounds of traffic and someone speaking Spanish come out of the speaker. Charlie flips another switch and a red light starts flashing.

  He holds in a button on the box. “We’re all set, Bob, rolling now.”

  Across the street, an undercover agent holds a cell phone up to his ear. “Sure thing, darling. I’ll ask about that too.” He walks a few yards to the front door of the other hotel and up to a bellman. He pauses as he does something on his phone, then he puts it in his pocket.

  In the surveillance room, they listen to a continuous feed from a small microphone the Bob wears in his shirt. It ruffles when he walks, but his voice is otherwise s
urprisingly clear. “Nice day today.”

  A different, more quiet voice comes through. “Yessir, it is.”

  Charlie looks at June; she shrugs.

  Bob’s voice comes through again. “I’m looking at places to hold a reception at. Tell me, do you do valet here? Or are there lots somewhere nearby?”

  “We can hire out for valet services, that’s no problem. And there is plenty of available parking, uh, there’s a garage behind the building. We’d love to have your reception. Would you like to chat with someone inside about it now?”

  June finishes a note and shows it to Charlie.

  Charlie pushes the button. “Parking guy not the target.”

  “That’d be great. Thanks.”

  From the sounds coming through the speaker, it seems the man leaves the noise outside and walks into the hotel. There’s some murmur in the background, and a couple talking about a bus schedule.

  “Karen, this gentleman is interested in having a reception at our hotel.”

  “I am. My name’s Bob.”

  “Hello, Bob, it’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too. Do you have a brochure or something I could look over?”

  “Yes, let me grab you one.”

  June writes on the paper.

  Charlie nods, and waits.

  “Here you are.”

  “Thank you, Karen.”

  “Bob, would you like to say hello to the hotel manager? He’s just in his office, I can ask him to step out.”

  “Oh, if it’s not too much trouble. But maybe before that, can you direct me to the bathroom? Seems like the metro took forever this morning.”

  “Certainly, it’s down this hall a bit, around the corner, and on the left.”

  “Thanks.”

  Through the speaker, Charlie, June and Skip listen to walking sounds only long enough to wonder if the undercover agent is taking the audience with him while he goes to the bathroom.

  “Hey, uh, Andrew? Hi. Can I leave this here for a minute? Gotta hit the head.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  June writes something on the paper.

  Charlie pushes the button. “No-problem-man could be target.”