Christopher Farnsworth - Nathaniel Cade [01]

by Blood Oath: The President's Vampire

  There was only one thing to do.

  “I don’t need you here,” he said to Zach. “Go home.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He reached into his pocket and took out the rest of the money. He tossed the wad of bills to Zach.

  “Take this. Go to the airport. Go home.”

  Zach caught the cash one-handed. But he still looked baffled. “Wait, what are you going to do?”

  “I’ve still got work here.”

  “Then I do too.”

  “No soap,” Cade said.

  Zach looked at him. “ ‘No soap’? What does that even mean?”

  “Sorry. It’s an old expression, meaning—”

  “I don’t give a shit. Talk to me, Cade. You can’t just send me away like I’m the errand boy. I’m supposed to help you—”

  “You can’t,” Cade said simply. “You were right. You are not ready for this. Go back to Griff. Give him the report. Tell him I will be in contact as soon as possible.”

  Zach looked hurt. “I wasn’t trying to . . . I mean, I didn’t mean I wanted to quit . . .”

  Cade turned away.

  “Go home, Zach,” he said.

  He was already working out his strategy. It was a new kind of prey. A new hunt.

  Cade ran across the street, leaving Zach standing by the car. He was gone in seconds.

  He needed information. He was sure he knew where he could get it.

  FORTY

  She was kept in an atrium at the center of the building—high ceiling, skylight with retractable cover and a decorative indoor fountain. He called it his Zen garden, a place for meditation.

  She could have made the skylight with one easy leap, but the collar’s range extended to the roof as well. She would be dead before she touched open air.

  Most of the time, she sat. She could be very, very quiet and still. But she was starting to get hungry. She was used to regular meals.

  The noise of the water in the fountain was enough to baffle her hearing much of the time. (Honestly, how could anyone think with that racket? It didn’t seem very meditative.) But she caught some conversations here and there. Konrad on the phone, making dinner reservations. Konrad with a patient, reassuring her that her breasts had never looked better. Konrad ordering a nurse to inject Botox.

  Tania heard all this and filed it away in her perfect memory without really listening to it. She was bored out of her mind.

  She was sitting like a statue when the door to the atrium clicked open.

  A voice echoed from speakers set in the ceiling.

  “I’ve opened a pathway from the garden to the first operating room,” Konrad said over the intercom. “Please join me there.”

  A click, then his voice was back again. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what happens if you stray from the path.” Another click, then silence.

  Tania thought about disobeying, but that would only bring a shock from the collar. There was no way Konrad would try to retrieve her himself.

  She had underestimated him. That was obvious from the new jewelry she was sporting. Her mistake was treating him as if he were human. She should have known better.

  So she got up and walked down the hall, directly to the first operating room.

  The operating room was lit up like a Vegas casino. All the overheads were at full intensity, and several more surgical lamps had been dragged into the room. There wasn’t so much as a single shadow in a corner.

  Tania winced, still sensitive from the UV burn he’d given her the previous night. “Does it have to be so goddamn bright in here?”

  Konrad sat on a stool by the operating table. He gave her a distracted smile. “Yes.”

  There were parts on the table. Some looked organic. Others looked metallic. And several looked like a horrible fusion of both.

  “I’ve been thinking about you. And Cade. Well, your entire species, actually.”

  “I’m sure we’re all honored.”

  “There’s something very infantile about the vampire,” Konrad said. “The liquid diet. The suckling. Just like a baby. And the childlike belief that death will never come. It makes you arrogant. Rather careless. Immortality came to you as a fluke. You have no idea how precious a gift it is, and so you waste it.”

  “You didn’t just want an audience tonight, did you? Because if that’s the case, I might want you to press that button.”

  He put down his scalpel and probe, then picked up the remote. “I’m going to assume you’re being sarcastic, rather than suicidal.”

  “You’re going to kill me eventually.”

  “True. But later is better than sooner, isn’t it? No reason to rush it.”

  Tania looked down. “No. There isn’t.”

  “Exactly,” Konrad said. “As a matter of fact, I do have an errand for you. I need you to get some human bones for me. From consecrated ground. A complete skeleton, if possible. I’d go myself, but you know how that ends up. You rob one grave, then before you know it, mobs are lined up outside your home with torches . . .”

  Tania’s expression indicated she didn’t find Konrad as amusing as he did. She waited for him to clear a path to the exit, but Konrad wasn’t done with his lecture.

  “This actually brings me back to my point. You don’t need anything but blood and yet you acquire money. Lots of it. I find that curious. Why would something like you bother with all the trappings of being human? You don’t need to move in the daylight world at all. Do you know what I think?”

  “I think you’re going to tell me.”

  He gave her the distracted smile again. “I think you still cling to the human world. Because Cade moves in that world. You stay attached to it, and you stay attached to him. It’s fascinating, really,” he said. “I’ve never seen one of you capable of this level of self-delusion. Not even Cade.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Tania was suddenly interested.

  “I’ve lived a long time,” Konrad said. “Everything always comes down to three things. Love and money are the first two. You wouldn’t take my money, but you’re not actually capable of love. So that only leaves the third.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Fear,” Konrad said. “You’re scared of him. You’re trying to appease him with your pretend affection. But part of you hopes I do manage to kill him. Because someday, he’s going to come for you, Tania. Just like all the rest of your kind.”

  Tania’s face betrayed no emotion at all. “Maybe that’s true,” she said. “Maybe Cade will kill me. But you won’t live to see it.”

  “Another threat? I should think you would have realized by now, you’re not going to win.”

  Tania ignored that. “I had a therapist once,” she said. “He tasted bitter. But before he died, he told me some things about projection. That’s where you imagine other people have the feelings you’re having. You talk so much about me being scared of Cade. I think you’re afraid of him.”

  Konrad snorted. “This is a rather transparent attempt to insult me.”

  “Maybe. But if you’re so smart and you want Cade dead, why not do it yourself? Why put the commission out there? Why boss around your government friends?”

  “Cade is an insect. I don’t need to dirty my hands with that kind of work.”

  “And yet, you had that whole setup in your house. Lights, this collar. Like you planned it for him. You know what I think? I think you’re a coward. You want him dead more than anything, but you’re terrified of him.”

  Konrad’s face darkened. He picked up the remote, and, for a moment, Tania thought she’d gone too far.

  For a second, Tania savored the novelty of being scared.

  He turned his back, dismissing her. “Go,” he said. “If you’re not back in an hour, I press the button. Be a good girl and you’ll get a pint of blood when you get back.”

  “Which door?” she asked.

  Konrad pointed at a back door.

  “Feel free to use the alley. You should feel rig
ht at home.”

  Tania walked toward the door. But Konrad had to get in the last word.

  “The trap was never meant for Cade,” he said. “For one thing, he’d never have been stupid enough to let it happen to him.”

  Biting back a reply, Tania left. Konrad wasn’t going to simply kill her now; he was going to avenge the insult. It was going to be long and painful. She considered going past the one-hour deadline, just for an easier way out.

  But she had to admit he was right: there was no reason to rush it.

  FORTY-ONE

  The truth is more sinister. In 1978, a team of government engineers was drilling through rock to expand the giant secret underground base at Dulce, New Mexico, when they opened into a cavern containing dozens of the Greys. A firefight ensued, with sixty-six Secret Service and FBI agents killed before a “high-level government operative,” supposedly answering only to the president himself, managed to restore order (according to my sources). Some “alien experts” or “paranormal investigators” will tell you the Greys, like the Reptilians, are actually aliens, sent here to colonize and subdue the planet Earth. This is disinformation. As their presence underground indicates, they are actually the ancient adversaries of man who have plagued us for generations. That the U.S. government has reached accord with these things tells us all we need to know about who is actually in charge.

  —Anonymous website

  Zach sat in the car in long-term parking at LAX. The smart thing to do would be to follow Cade’s advice and go home. He never wanted this job. It wasn’t in the plan. He had spent so much time planning and maneuvering, getting into exactly the right position.

  And it wasn’t like he was running away. Cade told him to go. He’d done his best. His ribs hurt like hell. He still smelled smoke and concrete dust from the explosion. People were trying to kill him. That definitely wasn’t part of the plan.

  He checked his phone. Still plenty of time to catch the red-eye to D.C.

  So now that he had an escape hatch, why was he hesitating to use it?

  Maybe because something rankled in the way Cade had dismissed him. Zach had never been fired from any job. He’d never failed at a task before. He didn’t like the idea that this was too much for him—even if it was painfully true.

  He got out of the car, one hand clutching the wad of cash. In the car window, he caught a murky glimpse of himself. He looked like hammered crap. Zach focused on the idea of a hot shower and a fresh suit. Even the idea of stretching out in a business-class seat with a cold beer sounded like pure luxury. That helped quell his misgivings.

  Sure, he might get some strange looks from airport security, but he had his government ID. He could talk his way through any questions.

  He started for the terminal. Then stopped again.

  What if this really was part of the plan? What if he was supposed to be here? If he could help nail Konrad, even when he’d been told to quit, then he could probably name his job in the White House. Maybe Cade was testing him, seeing if he’d quit when things got rough.

  Then again, maybe he was just stubborn.

  He got back in the car and took out his sat-phone. With a tap of his finger, he lit up the GPS screen. Konrad’s address was easy to find. The phone even offered him turn-by-turn directions.

  Zach twisted the wires and started the car again. He wasn’t done yet. He was going to show Cade, and everyone else, that he wasn’t just baggage on this trip.

  Zach was going to prove he could be a hero after all.

  FORTY-TWO

  Helen dropped her keys on the entry table and entered her apartment. It was like an operating room: clean and sterile. Not so much as a family photo or a pile of dirty laundry. Nothing to make it personal. In that way, it was the perfect reflection of her.

  Helen reached for the alarm panel and punched in the security code.

  Her place was wired with a system that could detect motion, changes in temperature, even differences in the composition of the ambient air in the room. The Company looked after its human capital.

  Despite all that, she was careful. Something must have been out of place. Something tipped her. Or she was just paranoid.

  She gripped the pistol concealed in her handbag, came out with it in a two-handed shooting stance—

  Nothing.

  She shook herself and lowered the gun.

  Helen crossed the room to her sofa and clicked on the TV. The gun went on the end table, where the remote had been. She rubbed her eyes. Yawned.

  A cold voice whispered in her ear: “Ms. Holt.”

  To her credit, she didn’t scream. She went for the gun.

  Cade threw her over the breakfast bar, into the kitchen. She bounced off the fridge and hit the floor.

  Cade stood over her before she’d caught her breath. She looked up at him, disbelief etched in her eyes.

  “You’re dead,” she blurted.

  Cade hauled her to her feet and pushed her back against the counter. “And have been for some time,” he said.

  “How—?”

  “I can find anyone,” he said. “You each have a unique scent. City of ten million people, it just takes a little longer.”

  Actually, Cade had simply trailed her from work. But it never hurt to add to the reputation.

  Not that she would get a chance to tell anyone.

  He could see the effort it cost as she wiped the shock from her face. She leaned back, wincing at the pain, and crossed her arms. “Did I at least kill your annoying little buddy?”

  Cade stepped closer again. “You should be more concerned about your own chances of survival, Ms. Holt.”

  There. He saw it. The atavistic fear, crawling up from some deep part of her brain, notifying her of the threat. Cade tried not to take joy in it, but the predator in him loved this. The pure fright of the trapped prey, with no chance at either fight or flight.

  He watched as she tamped down the panic, struggled to breathe deeply. Her eyes darted around the room. The closest alarm pad was on the other side of the kitchen. Same with the phone. Her emergency beeper was in her bag, out in the hall. He’d effectively blocked her from any way to call for help.

  She noticed his clothes.

  “You look ridiculous,” she said. “Been shopping in the clearance aisle?”

  He felt another stab of admiration. Trying to buy time. Get him talking.

  Cade took another step, and her composure collapsed. He was just a foot away from her now. “Do you want to live, Ms. Holt?”

  She swallowed hard.

  “Yes,” she said, voice hoarse.

  “Then tell me something I can use.”

  “I am a citizen, and an officer of the United States government,” she hissed. “You can’t touch me.”

  That surprised him. She knew about the oath, if not exactly how it worked.

  “Where did you hear that?”

  A smirk, despite the fear. “We know a lot more about you than you do about us.”

  She had that right, at least. Still, he reached over and gently prodded her with a finger.

  “My oath to protect does not extend to traitors,” he said. “You’d be surprised what I can do to traitors.”

  That got a response. Her eyes flashed with anger. “I’m not a traitor,” she snapped.

  “Of course you are. You’re shielding Konrad. What I don’t know is why.”

  “I don’t make policy. The higher-ups said to watch him. I’m just doing my job.”

  “Just following orders? I was there when that defense was invented. It didn’t work then, either.”

  “Don’t get self-righteous with me. I’ve seen your file. You’ve done a lot of monstrous things in the name of God and country. We’re just like you, Cade. We get our hands dirty.”

  Cade was tempted to laugh in her face. “You think you’re like me?”

  “I know what you’ve done.”

  “You have no idea what I’ve done. I have been on this planet a hundred and sixty-three ye
ars. I have filled whole graveyards with bodies. Watched Hell erupt on Earth a dozen times. Killed beings older than mankind. You’re right, I have done monstrous things. Because I am a monster. While you—you are merely human.”

  He stepped closer again. Now he was only inches from her face. She started to tremble.

  “Why are you protecting Konrad? What’s he offering you?”

  “I can’t tell you,” she said. “You can call me a traitor, you can kill me—”

  “I could, yes. But I want to know: why?”

  “I can’t, I can’t—”

  Cade let his voice drop to a whisper. “Then there’s nothing else to say, is there?”

  Helen’s eyes widened as she realized what that meant. She made her decision fast.

  “I told you before,” she said. “He’s a valuable asset. You don’t seem to understand, Cade, we’re fighting the same war. We just refuse to fight it unarmed.”

  Cade knew what she was selling. Pitching herself as another soldier. At the mercy of forces greater than her, trying to do what was right in an insane world.

  Of course, he also saw her palm a steak knife out of the drawer behind her.

  “He can give us tools we need. He’s still brilliant. We can use him.”

  “That’s not what I asked,” Cade said. “What I want to know is, what is he offering you?”

  She tried to look confused. Failed. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’ve gone too far, Helen. You tried to kill me. Whoever you work for, I don’t think that was their idea. I can only think of one person that would serve: Konrad.”

  “No, you’re wrong, I’m not—”

  Cade let his voice drop to a growl. “Don’t lie to me again. Last chance: what has Konrad offered you?”

  She looked torn. Calculating. For a second, he thought he saw the real her, underneath all the shifting façades.

  Abruptly, she reached up and tore open her collar at the throat.

  “Bite me,” she said.

  Cade was genuinely surprised. He took a step back.

  “What?”

  “Make me like you.” Her voice was pleading. “Please. Do it. I’ll do anything you want, tell you all of it—but you have to give me this.”