by Janice Jones
“They don’t know the truth,” Alex hissed. “What happens when the vampires find out what you and the good doctor have been doing all these years? What happens when they find out you’ve created a being that can’t be turned by experimenting on one of their own? A being that you can’t even find now! And what happens to the innocents caught in the crossfire?”
“Why do you care?” Leland asked, taking the last sip of golden liquid from his glass then placing it on the table between them. “They were a means to an end for you right? Isn’t that what you said?”
“Go to hell,” she answered. “If not for me, you wouldn’t have found any of them! Don’t forget that.”
“Yes, we owe you a great deal,” Leland grinned as he stood, “but, you also owe us and that’s why you’re going to do this and you’re going to accept Jason Stavros’s offer.”
Alex stood, taking the arm he held out to her as they began to walk back the way she came. Through the Grand Hall, Leland delivered her to coat-check once more. Helping with her jacket, he remained quiet as they walked toward the front door. The doorman pushed it open with a bow, as he touched the brim of his cap.
Once outside, they both took a deep breath. A long black limo pulled up to the curb. Leland stepped close to Alex.
“Do this,” he said, “and your contract will be fulfilled.”
“You tell the old man I want his word this time, in writing,” she replied stuffing her hands in her pockets as the cool breeze pushed at her. Leland stepped into her personal space, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
“Of course,” he said as he turned to the car again. His driver opened the back door of the limo. “Can I give you a lift somewhere?”
“No, thank you, Mr. Ramsey,” Alex shook her head. “But you have a good evening.”
The vampires were ahead of them on this one. Alex couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. The only thing she knew for sure was that two hybrids were dead and she really did want to find out why. What she didn’t want to do was work with Coop or Jason to do it, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise. She didn’t have to use her own money and they would keep her identity safe if she agreed to help. Next stop was getting Sara out of the line of fire just in case someone mistook her for one of the hybrids.
Those poor kids, she thought as she drove through the city toward Sara’s apartment. It was hard for her to imagine her father experimenting on babies. But what was harder to fathom was why no one had stopped him. At least the test subjects in her program had a choice. Each soldier was given the opportunity to turn Dr. Carlisle down. No hard feelings. Even after they found out that vampires and werewolves were real, shown proof, they could still back out. Babies couldn’t do that.
Just thinking about it now made her head hurt. Of all the things she had seen her father do—of all the things she’d done under the guise of national security—she couldn’t imagine taking an innocent child and subjecting them to experiments just to prove a point.
Chapter 8
The breezy afternoon turned into a windy evening. Alex felt kind of refreshed despite what she had to do. All the native Texans milled about the faux town square as the twinkling lights popped on one group at a time. “Ma’am,” she heard the black suited businessman in the cowboy hat say as he passed briefcase in one hand, and mobile phone in the other. A grin moved over her lips. It was always so weird to see grown men in expensive suits and more expensive cowboy boots walking around like that was the most normal thing in the world. But around here, it was.
Everyone else, with light jackets and holiday Starbucks coffee cups in their hands, filled the square as the day came to an end. At this time of year, shopping was the local pastime, next to Cowboys football. For Alex, it would have been just one more day not unlike any other except for one thing, a piece of her life had been uncovered and she had to plug that hole before more secrets came out.
She put the phone to her ear in hopes of it going to voicemail. She hated to hear ‘I told you so’. When he answered, Alex hesitated.
“You’re late,” he said. The gravel in his voice indicated he’d just woken up or hadn’t been to sleep yet. It was hard to tell with him. It depended on the day whether or not Benjamin Palmer was the biggest jackass on the planet or the most understanding guy in the world. Tonight, he seemed somewhere in between.
“Daylight savings time ended yesterday,” Alex replied. “So technically, I’m right on time.”
“What’s wrong,” Ben replied. “Usually, me telling you you’re late elicits a ‘bite me’ from you. You must be in deep shit right now.”
Alex frowned. “I need an extraction.”
“For who?”
“The girl.”
“The girl you said no one would care about,” Ben chuckled. “The bite junkie with the crush on you? Well, I never thought I’d live to see the day the Dagger was wrong about something.”
Ben laughed hard as the sound traveled through the receiver and into the evening buzz of conversation around her.
“You done?” Alex exhaled.
Ben cleared his throat and chuckled again. “What happened? Why do you want to move her?”
“I got another call from Coop and a visit from Jason Stavros this morning. Stavros had pictures, so move her, tonight.”
There was a weird silence on the other end of the phone. Then she heard Ben curse and glass break.
“How much does Stavros know?” Ben asked, with very little emotion.
“He thinks I’m hiding my girlfriend,” she giggled. “But that doesn’t mean he won’t keep digging if I don’t go to Vegas.”
“And how come Coop’s still calling you?”
“Because you wouldn’t answer the phone, apparently.”
Ben let out a long sigh, “Coop knows he’s burned every freaking bridge he had with me. He can go to hell for all I care.”
“Well, they need my help with something,” she said, “and it involves Jason Stavros.”
“Like what kind of help?” Ben replied.
“The bodies . . .”
“Yea.”
“Hybrids,” she almost whispered for some reason. “My assignment.”
There was the emotion Alex had expected from Ben when she told him the girl had to be moved. Now she was afraid she really was in deep shit. He hated Ramsey more than she did.
“How did that happen?”
“I don’t know, and apparently neither does Strategic.”
“They’re just trying to keep you tied up with them, Alex,” Ben groaned. “Don’t believe it.”
“What happened in Vegas last night was real Ben,” Alex huffed. “So now I have to help them or I’ll never get out of that contract.”
There was an edge to Ben’s voice when he spoke. He never got mad about anything. But, then again, he never liked Jesse Cooper that much either. “Why can’t they solve their own damn problems? They left you in that fucking place without a second thought! You don’t really owe them anything, Alex.”
“Yes I do,” she answered as she stood to continue to her destination. “The program wasn’t going to come to a crashing halt because I lost it! They had to move on. I understand that.”
More glass broke and cursing from Ben and Alex’s heart began to race. The vibe coming across the air waves sent her senses into overdrive. She could hear all kinds of things on the air around her, random conversations from buildings, and cars as they passed along the street a few yards away. And everything mixed with Ben’s anger and fear as Alex tried to focus again.
“Ramsey threatened me,” she said as she walked slowly toward the girl’s apartment building directly across from the town square. “Can you get the girl moved please?”
“Yea,” he replied. “What are you gonna do?”
“I have something to take care of,” Alex replied. “I’ll—”
All of a sudden, a searing pain shot through her temples stopping her in her tracks. The sound of sirens from blocks away popped inside her head. As the emergency vehicles came closer, her palms began to sweat and her vision sharpened without her trying.
As the vehicles pulled up in front of the building she was headed to, two uniformed police officers stepped from a cruiser, followed by EMTs and a bright red fire truck. She stopped just short of the crowd that was gathering in the square. Suddenly, everything went into slow motion. The gurney being pulled from the back of the ambulance while more police arrived for crowd control gave Alex a queasy feeling. She opened her coat to the breeze as she turned in the other direction.
“Alex,” she finally heard Ben yelling. “Hey! What’s going on?”
She moved as slowly as she could so that no one paid any attention to her.
“Forget the extraction,” she said in one short breath.
“Why,” Ben asked. “What’s wrong?”
When she reached her car, she placed one hand on the hood to steady herself. Taking several deep breaths, the nausea began to subside and the sweat began to dry from the strong wind in her face.
“She’s dead.”Alex hung up on Ben as she climbed into the car and sped away.
_______________
Nice weather aside, the place hadn’t really changed much since the last time he was there. And, just like then, Jesse Cooper was looking for a girl. But not just any girl it turned out. The little tomboy with the big attitude had skills he had no idea existed, in anyone, especially a sixteen year old high school junior from Texas.
In the Navy, when the brass says jump, you don’t have to say how high; you just jump and hope you made the cut. Jesse Cooper, Navy Seal and all around great guy made the cut. Forgoing desk duty after being injured on assignment, Coop decided to take the assignment no one else wanted. To retrieve and deliver a new recruit to some hush hush outfit stationed at Edwards Air Force Base. Or the outlying building to be exact. No one knew what the hell was going on out there, but there had been a lot of activity in the summer of 1993 and it had everyone talking on base.
Coop just wanted to get back on active duty, so he took the shit assignment to bring back this new guy and deliver him to Area 51 in 72 hours. Easy. He spotted the fresh face private nervously craning his neck to see Coop over the crowd that deplaned at an annoyingly slow pace. Southerners never seem to be in a rush to do anything, he thought, waving at the kid in khakis.
“Lieutenant Cooper,” the young man stated with perfect salute. “Welcome to Texas, sir. I’m Private Hanson. I’ll be your driver while you’re here, sir.” The handshake was firm, and he held it for the right amount of time before he let go of Coop’s hand.
“Nice to meet you Hanson,” Coop replied. “Do I have time to hit the head before we go?”
“Yes, sir,” Hanson nodded in the direction for the restrooms a few feet away. He took Coop’s duffle and waited outside the entrance.
After a quick pit stop, they were on the way to pick up the new recruit. Coop flipped through the pages absently. His driver chatted about the city and landmarks he might want to see while he was in town. None of that really mattered. Coop just wanted to pick up the kid, maybe get a bite to eat and a beer, and then get back to the West Coast. San Diego put this place to shame. Sunny skies, beautiful beaches and women to match; he was ready for a nice little break after this assignment was over. And he was certain a high school kid wouldn’t know the first thing about where to have a good time around here. As he scanned page after page, he wondered why there were no pictures of this kid in the file. Maybe it was just an oversight. Paperwork was never the military’s strong suit.
“So, how long are you going to be here, sir?” Hanson asked.
“Just a couple of days,” Coop replied. He cranked up the a/c when he felt a bead of sweat roll down his spine “Is it always so hot here?”
Hanson chuckled, glanced in the rear, then to his left to change lanes. “Sorry, sir. After you’ve been here for a while, you hardly notice it. Yesterday was 101! This is a cold front around here.” He tapped the temperature gauge over the a/c unit in the dash. It read 95 degrees.
As he remembered, he could almost feel that heat. Then he remembered what she looked like back then. She stepped inside the fancy coffee shop and looked directly at him and Private Hanson. It was pretty hard to miss them since they were the only people in the shop dressed in military uniforms. Thrown over her shoulder was a leather backpack. It looked brand new. Over the years it would become worn and beaten, but she never went on a mission without it.
“Lieutenant Cooper,” she asked. “I think you’re looking for me.”
“I don’t think so little girl,” Coop remembered laughing as he and Hanson stood. No one told him he was looking for a girl.
“I’m Alex Stone,” she stated as the pack dropped in the empty chair between them.
Coop could feel his caramel colored skin blush bright red. Embarrassed was an understatement. “Sorry sis, I didn’t know, and there were no pictures of you in the file.”
She grinned, shrugged and sat down. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it, trust me.”
A quick glance in Hanson’s direction and he could see the confusion on his face too. Why would the U.S. military recruit a teenage girl? This had to be illegal and just a little freaky.
“How old are you?” Hanson whispered. “I mean, you have to be eighteen to join the service.”
“Yea, I know,” she stated.
“This is some kind of joke, right,” Coop said with a grin. “My buddies pull a prank? What are they paying you, sweetie? Where are those assholes!”
He looked at her and he knew it wasn’t a joke. Now he was really scared.
“I don’t know where the assholes are and this is not a joke, unfortunately. We should get going,” she stood, pulled the pack to her shoulder and waited for them to lead the way.
Hanson tried to take her pack, but she brushed him off. Coop got the feeling that she didn’t let people do things for her if she didn’t have to. She didn’t say a word to him in the car, in the airport, or on the plane. And once they arrived at McCarran, a more official escort waited for her and he was dismissed rather abruptly. Jesse Cooper would not see Alexa Stone again for five years.
“She’s moving again, when she stops I’ll send the address,” Erin’s voice boomed in their earpieces and Coop jumped back to the present. She and Amy stayed at the hotel to do research on the last victim.
“Thanks,” Coop replied.
“How long do we have to be here, Coop?” Kai whined. “I thought we were getting a little break after Vegas?”
“We don’t get breaks. Besides, Vegas was a detour,” he answered. “We were headed here in the first place remember?”
He was glad to sit on the patio of a Tex-Mex eatery on a beautifully cool evening in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Who wouldn’t? Chasing corpses across three states was tough enough. But having to do it on almost no sleep and bad fast food was just asking a little too much. This place may as well be a five star in NYC compared to that.
“And if we can’t get her on board, then what,” David added.
“We go to Plan B.”
“Which is?” Xavier jumped into the conversation.
Coop eased down in the chair and stared up at the stars. “I’m working on it.”
All at once he noticed it. The whispers and glances all around them. Even the wait staff gawked and whispered to each other. Their public image was that of personal security to the rich and famous. If you were anyone and you needed the best security team money could buy, your money would buy them. They could be seen escorting dignitaries one week and rock stars the next. That’s why mostly everyone under the age of thirty knew who the Trackers were on sight.
Coop should have been able to pick up the sounds fro
m across the patio instantly, but his power was off tonight. Well, it had actually been off for the last few months. The doctors had tweaked his formula three times and he still had moments where nothing worked the way it should have. Tonight was one of those nights. He took another pill and washed it down with the last of the Budweiser.
“Should you be popping those things like that, boss?” Xavier whispered, waving for the waiter. “I mean, that’s like the fifth one today.”
“Who are you,” Coop coughed, “my mother? Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”
Xavier shrugged as the twins, Kai and David, fidgeted in their seats. Coop didn’t want to admit that Xavier might have a point. If he did, then he’d have to admit he was scared too. The effects were not lasting as long and it was getting harder to focus and heal. One of them would eventually report it, but until then Coop could fake it, couldn’t he?
“The ladies at that table over there would like to buy y’all another round,” the skinny waiter said, as he placed a frosty pitcher in the center of their table.
Everywhere they went, women bought drinks and dinners. Last year, a diplomat’s daughter tried to buy the services of the entire team for a night. She wasn’t looking for protection though. Coop winked at them and turned back to the team.
“Sebastian’s got point once we get her location,” Coop began. “We’ll be waiting at the bar. Watch your ass with her and make sure you’re not followed.”
Sebastian gave him a nod even though he was still focused on the table of pretty women in the far corner.
“Hey,” Coop sniffed as the chip he threw bounced off the back of Sebastian’s head. Pretty boy looks and an innocent but killer smile, he had been a surfer in his other life. In this life, he was the best tactical agent Coop had ever seen. “What did I just say?”
“Once Erin locks her location, bring her to you in one piece and make sure nobody follows.”
“Good boy. Now as for Stavros, this assignment is important, so check your tablets for the agenda and updates from home. We go in as usual—world famous security specialists to the stars. We keep him safe and try to get as much intel on what’s really going on with them as we can.”