“The addition of two Mages of your and Brianna’s strength would be more than welcome, Lord Riley,” David told him. “We have very little idea of what a two-thousand-year-old Mage is capable of, but I suspect he can overpower any of us.
“The Pendragons will provide overwatch for breakouts. Sunlight alone should help contain our targets, but escape by Thrall-driven vehicles is possible. Any vehicle that attempts to leave is to be taken out,” he ordered grimly. “Preferably by the Pendragons, but you will be linked into our artillery and air support.
“Use whatever means are necessary,” he concluded. “Even once we move in, people, we want even the Keepers alive if possible. I don’t want anyone taking unnecessary risks, but we will be accepting surrenders, Standing Order Twenty-one be damned.
“Do you understand me, people?”
THE GUEST QUARTERS on the Campus looked much like the rooms in a nice hotel. For that matter, the building the guest rooms were housed in looked like a nice hotel, though missing the pool and restaurants of the hotel.
Lord Riley had been given one of the nicer rooms, one with a balcony overlooking the entire compound and a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains around them. He and David stood on that balcony as Young poured all three of them wine.
Riley took his glass and studied the mountains.
“Brianna,” he addressed the Mage who served as both his bodyguard and his apprentice. “Leave us, please. There are certain topics you…need to be at least officially unaware of, my dear.”
The young woman with the dyed pixie cut bowed slightly, then took her glass of wine and withdrew in silence, leaving David and Riley alone.
“Your organization provided me with such nice chairs, it’s a shame to waste them,” Riley said, taking a seat in one of the four patio chairs as Young closed the door behind her. He glanced back at the door she’d left them through with a fond gaze.
“I don’t deserve her, you know,” he said aloud. “She carries an elf-blade of my forging by her own choice, not necessity.” He chuckled. “I figure it’s been at least a year since she had enough knowledge to forge her own.”
David shifted uncomfortably, suddenly reminded of the tightness and occasional pain in his shoulder from the wound that had never fully healed—the wound from an elf-blade. Every Elfin Lord and their Second carried one, but it was forging one that made someone an Elfin Lord.
“I think she thinks I need nursemaiding more than I do,” Riley concluded. “She could easily be a Lord if she wanted. She tells me she doesn’t want the attention, but…” He shrugged. “I wonder.”
“I don’t know her well enough to say,” David replied cautiously, taking a seat and sipping the wine himself. “But I’m guessing that wasn’t what you wanted to speak to me about.”
“It wasn’t,” the Elfin Lord confirmed. “You should know, though we haven’t told Omicron, that the Conclave was approached by a delegation of Keepers two days after your encounter with the Arbiter.”
David sat bolt upright, studying the older man.
“What did they want?” he asked carefully.
“They wanted the Conclave to act as an intermediary between the Keepers and Omicron in the pursuit of peace negotiations between the Familias and Omicron,” Riley said quietly. “I wanted to hear them out, but I was outvoted. The Conclave declined their petition—not least because the Keepers do not speak for the Familias.”
“Who does, these days?” David asked.
“Romanov and Dresden, both,” the Elfin Lord told him. “Same as it’s been since you killed Marcus Dresden. The Romanovs are weakened, badly, but their allies are terrified of Petrov’s wrath if they betray him at this point—and of Caleb Dresden’s punishment for siding against him.
“But…” Riley trailed off, raising a finger. “The vampire civil war is almost over. You and Dresden have broken Petrov Romanov’s resources and family. Only Petrov’s personal power holds together his faction now…once he is dead, the war is over.”
“And I’m guessing he’s high on everyone’s hit list,” David noted.
“The very top. That is part of why we didn’t want to get involved,” the Elfin told him. “The Keepers could make a deal, but if Caleb Dresden doesn’t agree to it, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
“And the Conclave is divided over if peace is a good idea.”
“As opposed to what?” David asked.
“Genocide.”
The word hung in the night and David nodded with a sigh.
“Standing Order Twenty-one,” he replied. “It’s a prettier name for the same damn thing, but we know it won’t work. We could kill every vampire in North America, and we’d still have poor random bastards cursed by Fate to be Mantled as vampires.”
“But without the Familias and the Keepers, a handful of fledglings popping up here and there can be handled,” Riley pointed out. “It’s the vampiric nation that is a threat. The elder vampires that can personally challenge the Elfin Lords.”
He shook his head.
“Of course, it wouldn’t fall to us to actually carry out the act,” he admitted. “And it’s far easier to contemplate that when the blood will be on Omicron’s hands, not ours.”
“They are man-eating monsters,” David said. “It’s not like Standing Order Twenty-one exists without reason.”
“Agreed. On the other hand…the Keepers exist,” Riley said. “An entire section of their society that never touches human blood. A sign, perhaps, of what they could be.”
“We’ll find out, I suppose,” David told him. “One way or another, the Mountain holds the answers.”
“May they be ones we like,” Riley replied, toasting him with his wineglass.
22
There was a familiar feeling to watching Pendragons sweep in and land on a mountain field, high above the cities below. This field had less snow than the Montana field where the disaster that had been Operation Sun Net had kicked off, but it was rapidly turning into the same kind of semi-military staging ground that that night had seen.
There were no questions of warrants or authorities tonight, though. Much as David was starting to grow uncomfortable with Standing Order Twenty-one, its existence meant he had full sanction to do whatever he felt was necessary.
“Should we be pitching tents or prepping to go in?” Mason asked, approaching from behind him. “We’re still waiting on the gear for Santiago’s people, but everyone is here. We just don’t have AR wargear for half the Elfin Warriors.”
David looked to the west, studying the slowly setting sun.
“I don’t want to go in without everyone on the tacnet,” he told her. “And it’s late; sundown’s in two hours at most. There’s tents in the gear for a reason; we’ll set up and hold until dawn.”
“Makes sense.”
She was silent for a moment, then stepped up next to him, looking over the expanse of Oregon stretching out beneath them.
“In a staging area in the mountains again,” she murmured.
“Last time we did this, I kind of died,” David replied. “I’m hoping for a better outcome this time.”
“I’m looking at everything the Colonel set up for you to command, and I just wish I could think it was overkill,” she admitted. “If the Arbiter fights, is this…is this enough?”
He shook his head.
“If he decides to fight, it will be me, Riley and Young against him,” he told her. “And all I expect us to be able to do is hold him in until you and Sokol can reinforce us. With the five of us together, I have more faith, but…we have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“Do you think he’ll talk?”
“No,” David said. “I know Michael figured showing up with a big stick would get him to listen, but I’m afraid it’s going to have the opposite effect. If we threaten his charges, he has to fight.”
“You could…you know, leave everyone behind and go in yourself,” Mason said slowly.
“If I tried a stunt like that, you
and Sokol would have to relieve me—and you’d be right,” he told her. “No, Ardent’s right. We can’t permit the Mountain to continue as it is. One way or another, the current state of affairs has to end.”
They were both silent for a while.
“I won’t forgive you if you get yourself killed,” Mason told him. “Not now, when we’re just starting to figure this out.”
He chuckled.
“I’m not sure life and duty are going to leave us much to figure out,” he said. “But no, Kate, I have no intention of getting myself killed. You damn well better stick around for me.”
Unspoken was that he was a lot harder to kill than she was. She was more dangerous in a lot of ways, but also far more fragile than a Class One Regenerator.
He wasn’t willing to lose her. There just was nothing he could do that wouldn’t be stopping one or both of them from doing their duty.
“We move in at dawn,” he finally concluded, letting business push aside personal. “I’ll pass that message on to our backup if you can make sure everyone here knows.”
“I can do that, Commander White,” she said formally.
“Thank you, Commander Mason,” he told her, then smiled. “We’ll make it work, Kate,” he said more softly. “Both this mission and…everything else. We’ll make it work.
“It’s what we do.”
REJOINING the main body of personnel milling about in a semi-orderly fashion, David made his way up to his Pendragon and grabbed his “work phone”: a satellite communications system linked into the military networks.
A precoded channel linked him into a conference call and pinged the COs of his backup units. A different code would have done the same thing while sending an urgent alert. A third, completely different code would have them getting their units in motion and then calling in.
This was the lowest-priority channel he had with them, and he waited patiently for the two Air Force and one Army officer to get on the conference call.
“Major Wilbur here,” the artillery battery commander linked in first. “This is…Commander White, correct?”
He sounded unsure of the rank.
“It is, Major Wilbur,” David confirmed. “We’re waiting on your Air Force counterparts.”
“Always waiting on the Air Force,” Wilbur said gruffly. “Wouldn’t want to get their uniforms dirty.”
“Of course not, Major,” a new voice interjected politely. “Why, if we got mud on the uniforms, people might think we were infantry!”
Wilbur chuckled. “Would take more than that.”
“It might,” the voice greed. “This is Colonel Dallas, USAF. I also have Major Lange on the line.”
“Thank you for linking in, gentlemen,” David told them. “Right off the bat, I’ll let you know you can stand your units down overnight. We had a logistics issue and one of my teams isn’t ready to deploy yet.
“Plus, sunlight is our best ally here. We’re going to hold off until at least an hour after dawn.”
“Sunlight,” Wilbur repeated. The headshake was silent but still managed to come through. “This is seriously a vampire nest?”
“You were briefed, right?” David asked. He’d been told Wilbur was in the know, but it sounded like a lot of this had come at him cold.
“Yeah…right before we left on what was supposed to be a mobility exercise, I got pulled into an office by a three-star General and two suits and given the rundown on ‘supernatural affairs in the USA’,” the Army Major told him. “I was briefed.
“Doesn’t mean it really sank in. It all seems rather…fantastical, no offense.”
“More like a horror movie,” David told him. “I didn’t realize you were quite so freshly briefed, Major. Do you have any immediate concerns I can help with?”
Silence for several seconds.
“I take it you’re…not exactly normal yourself, Commander?”
That question brought back horrifying memories of David’s more-than-somewhat-xenophobic father, but he forced them down with a pained smile.
“I am Empowered,” he said shortly. “Give or take…think Greek hero. I am faster and stronger than a regular human and see approximately a quarter-second into the future in combat situations.”
“Shee-it,” Wilbur breathed. “I…I’m sorry, Commander that’s a lot to take in.”
“That’s fair, Major. Imagine what it felt like for me,” David replied.
That got a chuckle from the Major.
“Fair enough. So. Vampires. Do we need to be staking them or some such? Holy water?”
“Staking them through the heart will kill them, yes, but it’s damned ineffective,” David pointed out. “Holy water has no effect, but they are severely allergic to sunlight. They can survive it, if they’re careful, but it has a high likelihood of killing them.
“Most importantly for your battery, blowing them to itty-bitty pieces is quite effective at ending them,” he concluded. “You put those hundred-and-fifty-five-millimeter shells where we call for them, and that’s all we need.”
“I’ve got a briefing paper for my men, but…”
“It’ll fall to you to make them understand the orders are legitimate,” David said gently. “There’s very little I will be able to do at that point.”
“I know it’s all legit,” Wilbur conceded. “Just…yeah. I’ll sell my men,” he said flatly. “Just having a hard time selling myself.”
“I’ll trade you, Major,” Colonel Dallas told him. “My pilots are realizing we’ve strapped GBU-28s to half of the wing and are wondering what the hell is going on.”
“The target is an old SAC missile facility that’s been co-opted,” David replied. “Those bunker-busters might be necessary.”
And he was grateful they’d managed to dig up the squadrons of F-22s to carry them. The five-thousand-pound bombs normally required bombers.
“The thought of dropping one of these things, let alone the twenty we’re carrying between the two squadrons, on American soil makes my teeth itch, Commander,” Major Lange pointed out. “There isn’t much bigger these birds can haul.”
“I expect we’ll need your Hellfires more than the GBUs,” David told them, “but if everything goes to hell, it will fall to your squadrons to destroy the facility from the air—and it was hardened against nukes.”
“We’ll need direct hits if it’s that hardened,” Dallas said grimly. “I’ve got the specs, but briefing my people in the air is going to suck.”
“It’s better than the alternative,” the ONSET Commander pointed out. “The last time I went on a mission with this high a threat index, my backup was a B-2 bomber with nuclear cruise missiles.”
“Just…just what did my battery get drafted for?” Wilbur said, sounding vaguely sick.
“From some of the shit the Commander’s people have pulled me into over the last few years, literally the war against Hell, Major,” Colonel Dallas told the junior Army man gently. “And the front line is wherever we find them.”
“We’re hoping it won’t get that bad this time,” David told them. “These are vampires, not demons, and however fucked-up the vampires are, they’re still fundamentally human.”
The channel was silent.
“I take it there are things you fight that aren’t?” Wilbur said levelly.
“Unfortunately.”
“I’m glad that’s your job, Commander,” the Army man replied. “But my guns and I have your back. All the way.”
“We’ll be in touch again in the morning,” David promised. “Have your units back on standby by nine hundred thirty hours.
“The plan is go in at ten hundred.”
23
The sight of eleven Pendragon jet helicopters lifting off in sync was both awe-inspiring and somewhat eerie. Even sitting aboard the last helicopter, David couldn’t hear a thing: all eleven helicopters were in full stealth mode, which activated limited-duration spell effects that completely smothered the noise.
“We’re in the ai
r, ETA ten minutes,” McCreery reported. “Staying just subsonic; the spells can’t do much with sonic booms.”
The Pendragon had started life as a prototype jet-equipped version of the Blackhawk helicopter with a limited supersonic capability. Omicron had quietly mass-produced them and enchanted the pieces prior to assembly.
The Black Dragon helicopter had been deemed an impractical waste of money. Layering in magic, however, created an extraordinarily fast and stealthy aircraft capable of delivering a team of six and a pile of heavy weaponry wherever Omicron needed them.
The lead eight helicopters carried the Elfin Warriors, a five-supernatural fireteam and an Omicron pilot in each helicopter. The last three carried the three ONSET teams, twelve supernaturals and two mundane pilots.
McCreery would stay aboard the helicopter and coordinate their close-in air support. Air support was far more valuable than one more sniper today.
“Leitz, anything new on overhead?” David asked his control.
“We’ve got satellite coverage locked in for the next forty-eight hours,” she replied. “It’s pretty obvious looking at it that the place isn’t as abandoned as it’s supposed to be. Someone’s been maintaining the fences and roads, and I see traces of recent vehicle movement.”
“Nice to know we’re not dropping in an on abandoned ruin,” he said. “That would be embarrassing.”
“I’m not seeing much motion, but it is daylight,” she told him. “We didn’t see much overnight, either. It’s quiet.”
“Too quiet. Anything else useful?”
“Heat signatures are picking out the vents for the generators scattered around the mountainside. Lots of little ones, we’d have missed them if we weren’t looking for them,” she noted. “I’d say they’ve rebuilt the diesel plant at the bottom of the command bunker and probably have generators elsewhere as well. They’ve done a good job of hiding it, but we knew where SAC had their vents, so…
“There isn’t a lot of power being generated, but enough to keep the lights on and a computer system running,” Leitz concluded. “Somebody’s home.”
ONSET: Blood of the Innocent Page 16