“What time do you want exactly?”
Jason glanced back at Riley.
“I guess … bring it back to midnight,” Riley said.
“Yeah. Can we do that?”
“No problem.”
Soon a clear line of vision of Roxanne’s house at 12 a.m. was on the screen. Roxanne’s car could be seen sitting clearly in the driveway.
“Damnit,” Jason cursed.
“What?” Riley asked.
“I thought – I thought maybe he was bluffing. That maybe she wasn’t home.”
“Well, keep going. Let’s see if the car moves before the break in.”
“Could you scroll through?” Jason asked.
The old man got out of the chair. “It’s easy enough for you to do.”
“Alright. Thanks,” Jason said getting into the chair.
“You didn’t hear anything tonight, did you?” Riley asked the old man. “Out of the ordinary I mean.”
“Well…” the man paused. “Not to my recollection.”
“Okay.”
“Although my dog started barking at one point. Probably around this time.”
“Where’s your dog?”
“Out back.”
“Perhaps you should check on her?”
“Him,” the man corrected. He walked past Riley and exited the room.
She bent over behind Jason. “Anything yet?”
“Yeah,” Jason said quietly.
“What?”
“You see this car here?” Jason said. “It’s parked just outside Roxanne’s house.”
“Just a neighbor perhaps?”
“No. I … They haven’t got out of the car yet. I’m scrolling through slowly. I don’t want to miss anything … but they’ve been sitting there for close to ten minutes.”
“What’s the time there?”
“Twenty past twelve.”
Riley flexed her hands.
Jason scrolled faster.
“Stop,” Riley said quickly.
The cursor froze.
A group of dark individuals were walking alongside the car.
Three, four … up to six men.
One of them was talking to the driver.
Jason glanced back at Riley.
Two of the men were standing at the foot of Roxanne’s driveway.
“This is it,” he muttered.
They both turned and faced the screen.
A few more seconds past.
Then the men stormed up her driveway.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
They had her. It was real. Right there on the screen.
Riley was saying something in the background. The old man had come inside with his dog who was excited to see them. But Jason blocked it out. His eyes were moving closer and closer. Closer to Roxanne’s frozen face on the screen.
This was it. He had to save her.
He was her last hope.
“Hey,” Riley said tapping at his shoulder. “Hello…?”
Jason turned slightly. “Can’t make any of them out. We’ll have to send it back to headquarters. Get the footage analyzed.”
“You have a flash drive we can use?” Riley asked the old man.
“I have CDs,” the man replied.
“Alright,” Jason said. “Where are they?”
It took about ten minutes to burn the video file to the disc. Jason and Riley left quickly after that, hurrying back to the van. They each got in and Riley pulled out her phone while Jason turned the ignition.
“Who are you calling?” he asked.
Riley waved him away.
“Maurice? Where are you…? Yeah, I think you should get out of there. Jason and I have new information regarding –”
Jason quickly pushed the phone out of her hand.
“Hey,” Riley said. “What the fuck?”
“Why are you calling Maurice?”
“Because maybe he can analyze the footage faster than we can. Besides we know who is behind this now –”
“Wait, we don’t know that.”
Riley rolled her eyes. She picked up the phone. “Yeah, Maurice. Sorry, I’ll have to call you back.” She put it away. “He and Nadine are obviously walking into a trap.”
“Back up. Who do you think is behind this?”
“God, you’re such a moron. It’s the Count, stupid. Those were his men who came and got Roxanne. I thought you recognized them.”
“No … we … we couldn’t tell who they were…”
“Not individually. But by what they were wearing. How they filed in towards the house. It confirms what we should have known from the start.”
Jason hesitated. “I think you’re making a leap.”
“Well then, genius. What’s your explanation? You still think its Brock we’re after?”
“Maybe. No. I … I’m just not a hundred percent convinced. Sorry.”
Riley paused. “I think you’d have a point, Jason. But I recognized them. It was the Count’s men. That’s what I saw.”
“Maybe … Maybe he does have her then. I just – we have to be so careful about this. Killing people means nothing to him. Even if I comply to his every demand, he could just do it anyway cause he feels like it. But at the same time, if we don’t tread lightly, if we don’t comply – then Roxanne’s death is certain.”
“What about Maurice and Nadine? You want to put them at risk?”
“At least they might be able to keep the Count busy for a while.”
Riley pursed her lips. “You’re starting to act like Kendra, you know.”
“How’s that?”
“Making compromises. Treating your teammates as expendable.”
“I’m just tired.”
“So was she.”
Jason looked at her. He felt beaten in the argument.
Then his phone started vibrating.
He picked it up to discover the picture of Roxanne he’d been promised.
She was sitting on a bed with a piece of cardboard containing the message: You have one hour to fuck Haley.
There was blood on her face.
She’d been bashed.
“Motherfucker,” Jason hissed under his breath.
“Give it here,” Riley said taking the phone. “Wow. That doesn’t look good.”
“You think?”
Jason angrily started the car and pulled away from the curb.
The phone vibrated again.
Another message.
“Uh-oh,” Riley said.
“What?” Jason demanded. “Show me.”
She held it out for him.
It was a photo taken of them getting into the van.
“What the –?” Jason murmured hitting the brake. “How did –?”
He glanced up in the rearview mirror and saw a dark figure standing in the middle of the road.
The phone vibrated again.
Another message.
Hurry up or she dies.
“Are you seeing this?” Jason whispered to Riley. “Is that him?”
Riley shook her head. “I don’t know.”
New message.
Jason grabbed Riley’s hand and they looked at it together.
This is your last warning.
Jason clenched his teeth and stared up at the darkened figure. There was a moment where he almost forced open the door and ran blindly into the abyss.
Instead, he drove on.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The phone slipped back into Maurice’s pocket. He glanced behind him to where Nadine was, sitting patiently. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Fine, fine,” he murmured.
“Who was it?”
“Riley. Just seeing … everything was okay with us.”
Nadine nodded.
Maurice turned back to face the front doors.
Despite her warning, they were already here. It was too late to go back. Too late to stand up and say, ‘Sorry, no need to bother the Count. We’ll be going now.’
Maurice ha
d suspected this was a trap to begin with. But Nadine was so convinced it wasn’t – that the Count could be trusted – that he was after the same outcome they were –
That Maurice had listened.
And somehow believed.
He was not so sure now. Almost on cue, the front doors opened and two guards entered, only to close the doors and stand in front of them. Blocking their path. Blocking any means of escape.
“Where is he?” Maurice said quietly. “Why is it taking so long?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, Maurice,” Nadine said calmly. “I’m here, remember.”
“You actually think you could take him on?”
“Uh-huh.”
Maurice shook his head. “Something doesn’t feel right. That’s all.”
Nadine rose from her seat and stood beside him.
She surveyed their surroundings.
“I don’t know,” Nadine said. “Things feel fine to me.”
A figure then appeared on top the stairs.
Maurice nudged Nadine and they both looked up as a young woman with white hair descended the stairwell.
“I thought Madame Nightshade was dead,” Maurice muttered.
“That’s her twin sister, Annabel,” Nadine replied.
“Oh.”
Annabel stepped off the last step and made her way towards them.
“Greetings,” Annabel said pleasantly. “Julian will be so pleased to hear you made it. Although, I’m sure he was expecting more of you.”
“Maurice and I are all that’s needed to solve this case.”
“I see. Will you please follow me then?”
Annabel turned and made her way back up the stairs.
Nadine and Maurice followed her.
They were led into the Count’s study.
“He’s not here,” Nadine remarked as they stepped inside the room.
“I’m afraid not,” Annabel replied. “He’s been called away on other matters. But he said you’re permitted access to our database, via the laptop on the desk. You’ll also find a key card there in case you need to explore the agency.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Maurice asked.
“Soon, I hope. He said he has other important matters to table between us. But I shouldn’t speak for him. Just do your best with what you can. I’ll … leave the door open for you…”
Annabel flashed a fake smile and departed.
Nadine walked round the side of the table.
“Maurice, come over here, please.”
He walked over.
“Do your ‘computer’ thing then…”
Maurice groaned. He pulled up the Count’s chair and sat in front of the laptop. He pulled back the screen and pushed the On button.
“Any idea where we should start?” Maurice asked.
Nadine nodded, dragging a chair across the carpet to sit beside him.
“You remember the names of our victims, don’t you?”
“I have that information on me, yes.”
“So. Let’s see if we can find out whether any of them dated the same vampire.”
Maurice agreed. “Okay.”
He paused briefly, checking his phone to see Riley had tried to contact him again.
She hadn’t.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Haley was drifting. In and out of thoughts. Images appearing in her head, and then going away again. Her hands, they slipped just a little. Inch by inch. Millimeter by millimeter. Her eyes began to close…
“Haley, wake up!” Brock shouted.
Haley’s feet bore down on the brake and the car skidded off the side of the road into the dirt.
She and Brock jumped forward in their seats.
“Jesus,” he said. He sat up properly and leaned over her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Haley said. “I … I think I was drifting off.”
“I’ll say.”
“Why don’t you take a step outside? Clear your head.”
Haley looked around drowsily. “Okay.”
She pushed open the car door and stepped out.
Brock was quick to join her.
“I – I think you should drive,” she muttered.
Brock nodded. “Never mind about that. You – you’re exhausted.”
“I know,” Haley whispered.
“You’ve been through fucking hell.”
“I know that too! Please stop fighting me on this.”
Brock sighed. He leaned against the car with her.
“I feel guilty in a way,” Brock said. “Somehow my trying to protect you is totally selfish.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“It’s just what I feel,” Brock said. “I can see it now. See how it would be if it were me. I mean, my family – I guess I’m nothing to them now. But even if someone did hurt them, I don’t know what I’d do. Even after all this time … it would rip me to pieces…”
“That’s what it feels like.”
“I think there’s very few moments a person’s life is defined by what they’re presently doing. Everything is so small in retrospect. You think about all those people sleeping out there now. Probably a lot of them will have to get up soon. Go to work. Spend hours upon hours inside some building. Caged in. Locked away. Then I guess they get to go home. And that’s what its all about. That’s where they find their meaning. But … for you … for us … it’s right here. In what we do now. We want to be able to look back and say we did the right thing.”
“So you do understand then.”
Brock smiled. He bent down and kissed her forehead. “Not really, no.”
Haley looked up at him, a little confused.
His eyes were focused below them.
She glanced down just in time to see him slipping a needle into her wrist.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luna got to her feet and pulled up her pants, latching in the buttons and clips. She tossed her hair to one side and smoothed out all the crinkles on her top. She picked her jacket up from the chair and slipped back into it.
Director Cresh was over by the window putting his shirt back on.
He wasn’t facing her.
“Well, that wasn’t very professional of us, was it?” Luna forced.
“Affirmative.”
He curled the tie around his collar.
“Rather selfish when you think about it. Given the nature of things.”
“Well. We’re only human.”
“We are.”
He turned around.
He walked back down over to her and put his hands to her shoulders. “Whatever this is –”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”
“I wasn’t – I –”
“Let’s not talk about it. Not now.”
Cresh hesitated. Then resigned. “Alright.”
He walked over to the door exiting the board room and held it open for her. Luna walked through.
“I suppose you’re heading home now then. Shall I call a car for you?”
Luna glanced back at him. “Did you forget?”
“Forget what?”
“There’s still work to be done.”
“Oh. Don’t worry –”
“You want to find this traitor, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So let’s do it together.”
Cresh bowed his head. “Very well.”
They walked across the hardened corridor and took the elevator down to the administration level. Luna used her card to gain access to Kendra Armistice’s office where the two of them each pulled up a chair behind her desk.
Luna put her hand to the mouse and the screen lit up.
“So where do we start?” she asked Cresh. “You know the database better than I do.”
“I highly doubt that,” Cresh replied. He thought a moment. “I guess we’ll have to start with going through the profiles one by one. Look for anything that stands out.”
“Do you really think it will be tha
t simple? These files will have been looked through dozens of times.”
“I know that. I just … I just wonder if there will be something. Just one little fact or photograph or snippet of information that can point us in the right direction.”
“Alright. So who do you want to start with?”
“Maurice,” Cresh said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The call had come in fifteen minutes ago. The voice, no longer disguised. Jason’s face had visibly twisted at the realizations he took from the words. He was on the brink of hysteria. Like there was a drill, calmly making its way through his skull.
“I’m not seeing it,” Riley said, her face pressed against the van’s window. “We might have passed it.”
“I don’t think so,” Jason muttered. “It’s somewhere around here.”
“Are you sure – this isn’t a trap?”
“What?”
“I mean he’s not going to just hand her over to us, is he?”
Jason’s fingers tightened on the wheel. Riley, he knew, was probably right.
But he couldn’t think about that now.
He couldn’t give up hope.
“There!” Riley said suddenly. “I see it!”
The diner’s lights stood out on the highway’s horizon.
Jason sped up.
“What are you doing? I thought we were going to take him by surprise?”
“It’s too late for that.”
Within half a minute the van was tearing into the recesses of the diner’s car park. Once in the centre, Jason hit the brakes. He adjusted the rearview mirror.
“Where is he?”
Riley looked out her window. “I can’t see anything.”
“Wait here.”
“Jason – don’t –”
Jason forced open his door and jumped out onto the road. He staggered out first in the direction of the diner, scanning the interior. There was a waitress in there, but he couldn’t see anyone else.
He looked back out to the car park’s corner.
Then he saw it.
He saw the glowing blue eyes watching him in the dark.
“You,” Jason seethed. “It is you.”
Brock opened the driver’s door of the car next to him and climbed inside.
Vampire Dating Agency III Page 3