“Bro, I’d like to help you, but I’m already on thin ice with the whole mess down in the containment unit. I’ve got to ask the Commander first.”
“Mess in containment?” Erikson asked, raising his eyebrows though he’d already heard more than whispers about what had occurred. It was part of the reason he was so desperate to get out of the compound.
“I’m not getting into that; if the High Commander wants to fill you in, that’s his business.”
“Fine, I get that; but about my leaving, you know what Claesson’s going to say. Listen, how about this? You don’t actually take me with you, just let me know when you’re going and you bring up the rear of the team. Ignore me and I’ll find my way out behind you and keep my distance. That way you have plausible deniability if anything goes down.”
“But how will you get back in without anyone seeing you? Only Elite can access the entrance from either side. If you’re not back here when we pass through, you’ll be stuck outside.”
“Just let me worry about that. I’ll make it back in time.”
Martinez sighed. “Fine, but to be clear, I don’t know shit about it if anyone asks,” he said, heading back to the training room.
“Understood,” Erikson replied to his back.
✧
“Is it safe to assume that Martinez has filled you in on the nature of your mission tonight?” Commander Claesson said, looking around at the other five men in the corridor. Satisfied with their affirmative nods, he continued. “We need this blood and we need it tonight. Many on the compound have gone without, due to some unavoidable shortages, including me, and, as I’m sure you can tell, things are starting to happen pretty fast,” he continued, cutting his eyes to the commotion in the pit where Jester was rushing around setting up equipment while the High Commander paced, looking over notes. “But as you can all guess, I need for this to go off without a hitch for far more personal reasons.”
Commander Claesson tapped on the glass and waved Jester over. An instant later, the curly-haired vampire appeared in the doorway with his arms full of radios and earpieces.
“Jester has modified these radios so they’ll work despite the communications blackout. I’ll keep the channel open on my end until you’re back here safe and sound. As a precaution, I’ve assembled a backup team that will be on standby at the entrance to the tunnel. You catch a whiff of anything, you call it in, Martinez; you got me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The city is crawling with infected, so move quickly and quietly. I know most of you are probably ready to get your hands on some of those bastards, but you are not to engage them if you can avoid it. You’ll get your chance for that soon enough. I just confirmed with Davies that he’ll be at the rendezvous point on time. There will be two carrier vans; the one parked closest to the street is the priority. Davies will have his own team guarding the shipment on his end and they’re going to stay with you until you’re back through the tunnel to make sure no one tries to follow you. I don’t really trust him, but he loves his sister; he won’t risk putting her in danger. Martinez, you stay until that door is closed, no exception,” the Commander said, pinning Martinez with his stare to emphasize the importance.
“One more thing I want you all to keep in mind; some of you might not need the reminder, but Lucias’s men, the infected, some of them used to be our friends, our neighbors, family even. It might be hard to see it in them now, but most of them are victims, civilians snatched from their homes by our true enemy. There aren’t many among us who haven’t lost someone to that bastard’s dirty virus. For the first time, we have a chance to get some of those people back, so if it comes to a fight, while you are not to compromise the mission or yourselves, the directive from the Agency in all engagement with the infected is to disable if possible and kill only if absolutely necessary. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
“All right. Head down to the armory; Jackson’s got some new toys for you,” the Commander said, feeling amped up. He wasn’t sure if it was due to the coming battle that was so close he could taste it, the fact he was going to be seeing his family within the hour, or that after thousands of years living in secrecy, his people were stepping out into the open for the whole world to see.
“Commander, if I may, what’s going on in there?” Martinez asked, looking through the glass wall into the pit as the rest of his team left for the armory.
“Just the end of the world as we know it,” he replied.
A confused expression covered Martinez’s face. “Don’t worry; the High Commander is about to make an announcement that will explain everything. You’ll hear what’s going on before you leave.”
Martinez nodded slowly as he watched the leader of the vampire race pacing anxiously. It was definitely something big.
“One more thing, sir. Captain Erikson approached me earlier wanting to stowaway on this mission.” The Commander’s gaze snapped to his face. “I’m sorry, sir, he was rather convincing in pleading the case to get out to contact family for his men, so I agreed to look the other way, but in light of all this, I’m having second thoughts. I just thought I should let you know and assure you that I’ll make sure he doesn’t sneak through.”
“No, Martinez. Don’t say a word; just let him through.”
“But, sir, what if he doesn’t get back in time? If you want to let him tag along, shouldn’t we bring him through with the team? As it is, he’ll only have about thirty minutes on the outside before we seal the door.”
“Like I said, don’t say anything. The communications blackout is going to be lifted tonight and Erikson will know that before you leave. I think he’s up to something, and if he still wants to go after the High Commander’s announcement, I’ll know I’m right.”
“So do you want me to wait for him before I seal the door?”
“No, once my family is inside and the blood is loaded, you shut it. If he really goes, he doesn’t plan on coming back.”
CHAPTER 15 - Blood and Bullets
Commander Claesson entered the pit and looked toward the High Commander, who was still lost in his notes. He wondered if he should tell him what he’d just learned about Erikson. After all, he was the head of William’s personal guard.
“My lord, whenever you’re ready to begin just press this button and you’ll be heard in every room on the grounds, even the outbuildings,” Jester said, sliding the piece of equipment over to Williams’s seat.
Claesson opened his mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut. If he said anything to William about the Captain, he would likely want to confront Erikson. The Commander didn’t know what it was about him, but he’d had a bad feeling about Captain Erikson from the start and he needed to get to the bottom of it. William was far too close to the man who’d protected him for centuries to see that something wasn’t right. Before he could second guess his decision to keep the information to himself, the High Commander cleared his throat and began.
“Good evening. As you are all no doubt aware, the last few weeks have been a particularly trying time for our people. Living within the protective walls of the compound over this time, we have requested a great deal from all of you; cutting off communication with the outside world; separating many of you from your friends and family. I assure you, we have done this with only the best interests of our people, both here and outside, at heart. Until now, many of you have been left in the dark to protect those interests, but tonight I am here to tell you that we are all stepping into the light.”
“For centuries we’ve fought not only for the safety of our people, but also for that of the humans among whom we have lived and worked. Now we will ask that they join us in that fight. In the next couple of hours, leaders around the world, both human and vampire, will be making an announcement that will change the world. That our kind, vampires, do in fact exist, and that we have shared this earth for thousands of years, unable to reveal ourselves for fear of persecution, but that now, when the freedo
m of the world we all love is at stake, we are willing to take that risk that the faith our shared desire for freedom will unite our people.”
“Lucias Thorne seeks to rob us of that freedom, to make slaves of us all, vampire and human alike, using biological warfare to control our minds and bodies. He has abducted at least two-hundred humans tonight for use as blood slaves and God knows what else. Let me be the first to tell you, his efforts have been in vain. After searching for more years than I care to count, we have indeed found a cure for Lucias’s virus. I know that some of you have lost love ones to this unforgiving disease, but no more. As we speak, the antiserum is being manufactured in the old Adam’s shoe factory outside of the city, where our human allies have worked tirelessly over the last day to set up a secure and efficient laboratory. By the end of the week, we will have enough of the cure to save every infected vampire alive today and within a few months, enough to vaccinate every healthy vampire against infection. I share this to highlight the partnership our people already have in place with Boston’s founding human families. That partnership will no doubt aid us in demonstrating to the humans that we are not their enemy and they should not fear us.”
“I know many of you are afraid, I must admit that I am as well, but the time has come for us to stand up. Our leaders have worked for many years on this plan of integration and we have prepared for a variety of contingencies to protect our people. There are a select group of powerful humans, like the Boston families who gave us this compound and the new lab, who have known of our kind for generations, who have kept our secret, and who have agreed to give their public support to our people throughout this trying time and into the future.”
“In light of this development, Commander Claesson will lift the communications blackout immediately following the first broadcast so that you will be free to talk to your friends and families on the outside. I know that you all have a lot of questions right now, but I trust many of those will be addressed in the broadcast. The physical lockdown will remain effective until further notice, but you should all know that we don’t expect that to last long. Revealing the existence of our people and warning humans about the infected takes away some of Lucias’s power and he will be reluctant to send his men out into the city once they are exposed.”
“I want to thank all of you for your tireless efforts; I know every soldier here has gone above and beyond their already-taxing duties to help us prepare for the battle at hand and I ask you all to take the remainder of the evening off to rest, watch the announcement, and spend some well-deserved time catching up with your friends and families.”
✧
“Can you believe all this?” Jackson said as he loaded antiserum rounds into clips for Martinez and his team.
“Not really. I guess we always knew it would happen eventually; just always seemed like it was a lot farther off,” Martinez replied, sliding one of his guns into its holster.
“The world is going to get really crazy for a while.”
“It’s already crazy in Boston; Lucias has left us with no choice. If The Agency didn’t bring us out in the open, his men would, and not in a way that would make humans feel particularly accepting. At least this way, they have another enemy to focus on, even if they do hate what we are,” Martinez added, stopping as Rachel walked into the room. What was it going to be like for their child, growing up in a world where humans knew about vampires?
“I just wanted to wish you luck,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, “and let you know that we’ll be waiting for you in our room to watch the big news when you get back.”
“It’s just an easy supply run.” Martinez dropped to his knees and kissed her belly. “I love you, both of you,” he said, looking up at Rachel.
“We love you, too, John,” she replied. “So, why don’t you join me when you’re done setting them up here, Uncle Jackson?” Rachel offered, reaching up to rub her brother’s hair.
“Bro, why does being born one minute sooner, over a hundred years ago make your wife think she can treat me like a kid?” Jackson asked teasingly of his twin sister’s husband.
“You should be used to it by now,” Martinez joked, getting back to his feet. He smacked Rachel’s bottom as she walked away, laughing.
Martinez tossed clips loaded with antiserum rounds to the five men he’d selected for the mission and added two to his own weapons harness. “Keep an eye on your sister for me,” he said, pulling Jackson into a manly embrace, “and if we get held up, I stashed my blood rations in the back of the fridge in our room. Make sure she eats soon; she’s had a rough day.”
The soldiers were all supposed to be fed once a day, a far cry from the normal weekly feeding schedule The Elite followed. Being pregnant, Rachel needed the extra blood. With their kind, the more blood they consumed, and the more often they consumed it, the stronger they became. That was why Martinez’s mission was so crucial. Infected vampires were practically insatiable, usually feeding as often as they were able to find blood, which only served to boost their already-superior strength. The Elite needed blood, a lot of blood, if they were going to stand a chance in the fight ahead.
Martinez waited while his men filed through the entrance of the tunnel, each rolling an empty cart behind them to transport their haul from the other side. Grabbing his cart, he looked over and caught a glimpse of Captain Erikson hovering around the corner but, as they’d agreed, he didn’t acknowledge his presence and instead simply followed behind his men.
Reaching the other end of the tunnel, Martinez was the first to exit, casting a concealing mist over himself before he did. Using his ability on such a small scale, and only creating a visual block, was much less taxing than casting a full concealment, thus allowing him to focus on the task at hand. He surveyed the area, noting the sounds of sirens and screaming off in the distance, evidence of the abductions he’d learned about back on the compound. Luckily, the area surrounding the secret entrance to the tunnel was abandoned and it was only a couple of blocks to the meeting point where Davies would be waiting. Martinez dropped the veil and signaled to the rest of his team, all of whom were behind him in an instant. The group moved silently through the night, sticking to the shadows and using only back alleys to reach their destination where, as expected, they found two unmarked carrier vans which, though they knew better, appeared to be abandoned.
Martinez halted the team and dropped a fresh layer of mist as he approached the driver’s side door of the priority van. He lifted his cover and gave the door three steady taps to signal that they had arrived. The locks immediately disengaged.
“Right on time,” Davies said, stepping out from between the vans. Martinez had never met the man, but he wasn’t quite what he’d been expecting. The Commander’s brother-in-law was clean-cut and very well dressed. He reminded him more of a tax accountant than a drug dealer, which is essentially what he was by vampire standards. “The keys are in the other one already,” he said, passing a set of keys to Martinez as the rest of the team appeared out of the darkness.
A nearby truck started. “We’ll be right behind you until you’re back through,” he said before flashing to the truck where his men were waiting. Martinez slid into the driver’s seat of the van and was joined by one of his men up front, while another climbed to the roof. The remaining team members repeated the configuration with the other van before they drove away. Luckily, the alleys they’d used to travel to the pickup point were wide enough to accommodate the vans on the trip back. This allowed them to return unseen.
They backed both vans up as close to the tunnel entrance as was possible in order to proceed with unloading. When Martinez pulled the door open, he was greeted with a rather nervous smile from a beautiful red-headed woman he knew to be Mrs. Claesson. Though she didn’t need it, Martinez offered his hand as she climbed down silently, followed by Ella, Commander Claesson’s daughter. None of them spoke, knowing it was best if the pleasantries waited until they were safely behind the protective barrier. When
one of the men opened the tunnel entrance, the two women moved through with the speed and grace of their kind. The group made quick work of the stacks that filled the vans, piling box after box of bagged blood onto the carts, while Davies and his men kept watch.
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