Taking her hand, he pulled her from the room and into the hanger proper. They hurried toward the personnel door. As they drew near it opened wide and a hulking man in a black suit stepped through, his hand thrust inside his jacket in a way Olivia knew could mean only one thing—he had a weapon. They skidded to a stop and looked around, frantic to find another way out.
A rich chuckle sounded from the rear of the hangar, reverberating through the vast space. "I wouldn't bother running if I were you. Tony is very good at what he does."
They turned to see a small group of men and women in expensive business suits entering the hangar through a previously unnoticed rear door. A roundish man emerged from their midst and looked at them with glee in his beady, pig-like eyes. Olivia's heart sank as she recognized the plump features and odd fly-away, carrot-colored toupee of Roland Grundfest.
The multi-billionaire walked forward with his hand extended, flashing his unnaturally white teeth in a broad smile. "Ambassador, it's a pleasure to meet you at last."
"I wish we could say the same." Olivia glared at him. "There are laws against kidnapping diplomats, Mr. Grundfest."
"Kidnapping? Who's kidnapping?" The pig-eyed man dropped his hand and put his arm around Hernando's shoulders instead, giving them a menacing squeeze. "All I want is a quiet word with the ambassador to BloodDark concerning matters to our mutual advantage."
Hernando's features darkened with rage. He twisted away from the man's clasp. "Then make an appointment with my secretary and maybe I'll get back to you."
"Ha! Yes, I like your spunk." The expensive dentistry disappeared and the tycoon's eyes glittered with a cold light. "I make the terms here, boy... Don't forget it—ever. You may be a hotshot on your world, but on this planet I'm the Alphan, uh alpha male. Here I rule." Grundfest scanned the hanger and frowned. "Now, where are the others in your party? Two of you are missing."
"Our companions are both still on the plane." Olivia lowered her eyes to conceal her lie. "One of them took sick, and the other is looking after her."
"I see." Grundfest jerked his chin at Tony, and the man nodded and went out the door. "Tony will fetch them. Then we can all go up to my summer house for a drink and have a little chat."
Olivia glanced up and spied motion at the back of the hangar. Annara emerged from some darkened concealed corner, walked up behind the rearmost woman of Grundfest's entourage and rendered her unconscious through some means too quick to follow. With a wink to Olivia, Annara dragged the woman back to her hiding place without making a sound. Olivia turned her gaze away, trying hard not to watch her friend and give the game away. Lucky for them, Grundfest's and the others' attention was still focused on Hernando.
"We've gotten off on the wrong foot, I'm afraid. Let me rephrase things. I can make you rich, son." Grundfest's voice was a soft purr. "You can practically name your price in exchange for a few small concessions regarding trading rights between Earth and BloodDark."
Another of Grundfest's assistants disappeared as silently as the first. The remaining two in his group didn't appear to notice a thing. Olivia knew Hernando had seen Annara too, but his blank expression gave nothing away. Olivia smiled to herself. His face would be the envy of every poker player.
"All trade concessions are handled by the ruling council back on BloodDark," Hernando said in a calm and professional tone. "I'm just the spokesperson, Mr. Grundfest."
"I think you're more than just the spokesman, hmm? Aren't you one of the heroes of your rebellion? I bet you've got a fan club of millions." The tycoon glanced over at Olivia and snorted. "I see you brought your fan club president."
A small twitch at Hernando's mouth revealed the strain he was under to keep his emotions in check. "We were all heroes that day. Ms. Brown is my personal assistant while on Earth."
Another aide vanished. His remaining companion must have heard something, for she turned and frowned. Looking back at her boss she hesitated, on the verge of saying something, then shook her head and walked away to investigate. Olivia guessed Grundfest didn't like being interrupted and would castigate his aides for doing so. His impatience was to their advantage. Reaching the back of the hangar, the female assistant jerked in surprise as Annara struck her from behind. The woman crumpled, unconscious, and then Annara dragged her out of sight.
Grundfest looked irritated. "Where's that damned Tony? Frieda?" he called over his shoulder. "Go find Tony." When nobody answered he looked back and gasped, "What the...?"
Annara sauntered toward him, hips swinging, a mocking smile on her lips, although the smile didn't reach her eyes as she observed Grundfest, sizing him up.
Olivia shivered. "Please, don't kill him, Annara."
Annara shrugged and unsheathed a large knife. "I should. He kidnapped us, didn't he?"
"No killing," Hernando commanded her. Annara put the knife away.
"What have you done with my staff?" Grundfest roared, grabbing for her, but his short arms and small hands made his attempt appear childish and futile.
As swift as a striking snake, Annara's hand swung up holding a small black canister. It hissed. Grundfest clutched his eyes and screamed, the piercing sound echoing throughout the hangar as the pepper spray did its work. He fell to his knees, still screaming. Annara regarded the cylinder with raised eyebrows. "Well, what do you know? It's as good as BloodDark pepper spray, but not as bloody."
Olivia closed her jaw with a snap. "I...uh, think we should leave. Now."
"Yes, I think we'd better go." Hernando looked at the fallen businessman with distaste. Grundfest kneeled on the polished concrete floor, hands pressed to his eyes, his screams reduced to a pitiful keening sound.
They returned to the airplane, climbing the steps to the cabin. Tony the bodyguard lay on the floor outside the little galley, snoring softly with a surprising high pitch. Valori looked up from her seat. "I don't think my visitor was prepared for what I could do."
Olivia smiled at her friend and laughed. "No, I don't think he was. Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine. Annara seems to have had a good outing."
Annara grinned and winked. "It goes without saying—or the reading of minds."
"Valori, is the pilot still in there?" Hernando jerked his thumb at the door to the cockpit.
"She has not moved."
Olivia frowned. "I doubt we can persuade her to fly us out of here. She'll figure we've contacted the authorities by now, and she'll be arrested when we land."
"No, I don't think she'll cooperate, either. We have no other option then." Hernando sighed. "Help Valori to stand, Olivia. We're returning to BloodDark ahead of schedule."
Olivia did as she was told, gently helping her ailing friend to her feet and walking her into the aisle. "I thought we could only contact the Portal at the embassy so no one was the wiser about your transponder being built in?"
"Needs must." He shrugged. "Besides, the mystery of our disappearance will be linked to this kidnapping attempt and reflect poorly on our host. Did you hear what Grundfest let slip in conversation?"
"No, what did he say?"
"He said he's the Alphan male around here. Not alpha, but Alphan."
Olivia furrowed her brow in thought. "You're right... Wow, his slip of the tongue could mean he's been in touch with Clan Alpha outside of official channels. We've got to let the council know right away."
Annara moaned and made a face. "Do we have to depart Earth now? It wasn't a fair fight. I so wanted a good fight. I want to find out more about the arrangement between this cowardly buffoon and Clan Alpha, too."
"We'll return to Earth soon, but I think it's best if we confer with the ruling council before taking any impulsive actions." Hernando peered out of the open hatch and glanced about. "I hear voices. Someone is coming for us. We don't have time to argue. Once I tap in the sequence for an immediate transport, we'll have ten seconds."
He glided his fingertips across his left forearm in the coded pattern. "Done. Ready?"
Olivia gra
sped Valori tightly around her shoulders and reached for Hernando's hand, clasping it at the same moment Annara grabbed onto his other. Olivia took a deep breath, and the handsome face she trusted more than any other blurred and pixilated in front of her eyes. A rollercoaster motion sickness feeling washed over her body and then all sensation faded while a growing sense of horror and panic blossomed in her mind.
So, this is what it feels like to be transported by the Portal while conscious and sober...We've taken none of the relaxant drug which made it easier to return to Earth. Perhaps it is kinder to club your victims senseless before teleporting them across the cosmos. What will Mom and Dad think when I don't show—
Chapter Seven
Before the thought could be completed, Olivia found herself standing in the Portal on BloodDark before a sea of surprised faces.
"Quick! Catch them in case they pass out."
She took a step forward and then her legs gave way. Portal workers rushed to catch her and Valori whom she had been sheltering in her arms.
"It's all right. The effects of the Portal will wear off within a rest period," a familiar deep voice informed her. "No time to take a travel pill, I gather?"
"Pablo? Is it you?" Olivia's voice sounded weak to her own ears. Were her vocal cords still back on Earth? "Good to see you again."
"Good to see all of you, but we weren't expecting your group for several more cycles." The beefy blond smiled down at her and then gestured toward the other attendants. "Get stretchers and take them to the council chambers. Something important must have happened for the ambassador to request an emergency transport."
Olivia relaxed into the stretcher Pablo laid her upon, but fought off the urge to faint. "Valori is sick. Please get her help."
"Will do."
Closing her eyes, she fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes, Olivia was pleased to see Caveman Charlie and others of the council milling about the large chamber. Hernando sat at the long meeting table, leaning heavily on his elbows with a hot drink in his hand. Annara was nowhere to be seen. Olivia slowly raised herself to an elbow and searched for Valori.
"Hello, sleepyhead!" Caveman laughed. The graying redhead came to her side and helped her to her feet. "We thought you'd sleep all day after your wild Portal ride. Would you like something to eat or drink?"
She nodded. "I'm very thirsty now that I think about it. Is Valori okay?"
Caveman gestured for a drinks trolley. "We have all your favorite BloodDark beverages—hot redwort tea, cold bloodfruit juice, sparkling cave spring waters with just a hint of sulphur..."
"Tea please." The thought of the mineral-laden water made her stomach churn, and she never could stand much of the sickly sweet bloodfruit, a cross between an orange and a sugar beet, or so it tasted. She accepted a cup and sat at the table with him and Hernando. "Caveman, you haven't answered my question about Valori. How is she?"
Wearing city clothing of dark green trousers and a long jacket and without his iconic derby hat and dusty leatherwear, Caveman possessed less leprechaun charm and more seriousness in his dimpled expression. The hesitation she noted in his tone was not characteristic of him, either. "Valori is being... attended to... It's all I can say at this point. Her health is not in danger."
What does he mean? I'm getting a feeling while she's not in danger we could still be in danger. "Annara? Where is she?"
"She recovered quickly and is briefing our security committee." Hernando's weak grin indicated he was still feeling the ill effects of Portal transport, but he was fighting hard to throw them off and get to the business at hand. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Don't worry about your parents, Olivia. I've sent a diplomatic bag to our embassy staff on Earth and had our communications officer inform your family that you are okay and were not abducted against your will this time... At least, you weren't abducted to BloodDark without first giving your consent."
"Thank you. I hadn't thought about it, but this is the second time I've mysteriously vanished from Earth without my parents' knowledge." Olivia couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity. "I shouldn't go and make a habit of it, huh?"
Hernando winked. "Whoever said diplomacy couldn't be exciting?"
Caveman frowned. "Right. Kidnapping diplomats isn't seen as a friendly act on your planet, is it, Olivia of the Clan Brown?"
The seriousness of their situation crowded into her muddied thought processes, killing the humor of the moment. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "No, it isn't. I think someone from this world put our kidnapper up to the task. From what Grundfest let slip, it sounds like someone from Clan Alpha is behind it."
"So Annara and Hernando have said." Caveman sighed and looked wistful. "Persons with great wealth controlling politicians and whole nations and acting like the rule of law doesn't apply to them—I would have thought Earth people had risen above such petty thievery over time, but it appears not."
"'Wherever there are great resources there will be even greater abuses,' my father the historian says." Olivia sipped her tea slowly and willed herself to not give in to her fears. She leaned closer to Caveman and lowered her voice. "Have the Pure Bloods been behaving themselves?"
He shrugged and threw up his hands. "To all outward appearances, yes. We have no crimes to pin on them. Rumors are spreading, however, this attempt to bring over willing servants to staff the clan houses is nothing but an attempt to raise the next generation of Overseers through forced interbreeding."
"You mean the vampire mail-order brides?" She took pity on Caveman's quizzical look. "Oh, you didn't know these willing servants think they're actually going to be married to the Pure Bloods and become their equals?"
He snorted. "What a joke! The Pure Bloods would never consider anyone their equals—these brides are fools to believe it."
"There are plenty of fools to be had on Earth." Olivia sighed and shook her head. "I guess telling folks they'll become groundskeepers, maids and walking blood banks for an alien race isn't really an effective advertising campaign. The idea of an eternally happy marriage with an adoring, handsome vampire was substituted to bring more folks on board, and it's working. They're signing up by the thousands and demanding visas to come to BloodDark. Right, Hernando?"
Hernando nodded. "They camp outside our embassy's front gate and wait in a long line to request visas. Even when we tell them it's not yet possible to immigrate to BloodDark, they don't believe us. The mail bag between our world overflows with their letters to what they call their potential soul mates."
Caveman raised an eyebrow. "Insanity. Do you personally know of an Earther willing to be bound to a bloodsucker for all time?"
"I do." Olivia cringed at the thought of Lauren Petrowski. "She's the older sister of my friend Jace. She's desperately unhappy and thinks a vampire husband will be more faithful than her last one. The Pure Bloods have hit upon a wealth of lonely people who are more than willing to give away their life on Earth for some fairy tale existence on BloodDark. No amount of reality checks will convince these desperate-for-love people otherwise."
"It explains the Earth ambassador pressuring us to open our borders as he called it." Caveman scratched his stubbled chin in thought. "We told him we're still dealing with stabilizing our world's government. We have enough refugees and immigrants of our own at the moment and can't cope with any more, but he was quite insistent."
"Acted almost obsessed by the idea, did he?" Hernando frowned as Caveman nodded. "I've noticed similar reactions on Earth with various politicians and business-types. They keep pressing me about a date to begin issuing visas. They don't like taking no for an answer."
"It was the only thing the Earth ambassador wanted to discuss with us. Trade, ongoing scientist exchanges, re-uniting abductees with their families, cultural exhibitions—none of these topics interested him." Caveman leaned forward and lowered his voice. "You're right, Hernando. He was obsessed with one thing only. Made me think the lack of sunlight in the city had affected his bra
in somehow. His total lack of judgment was notable."
Olivia felt a sense of sad resignation overcoming her. It couldn't be so simple, could it? Then again, the simplest explanation was often the correct one.
"I bet I know what's affecting his mind and killing his reason," she said with a sigh. "'Follow the money' as they say. Someone—or several someones—are going to make a lot of money from matching mail-order vampire brides with thirsty Pure Bloods. The clans wouldn't mind liquidating more of their assets to bring in fresh blood and a chance to regain power, would they?"
"They already have. I see the connection now. Excuse me." Caveman rose from the table and approached an aide entering the chamber. After a few whispered exchanges he returned to their conversation. "Our trade council has just approved another transfer of artwork to an Earth art gallery from a private collector in the city, the largest transfer so far."
A shiver of fear tingled down her spine. Olivia swallowed hard. "The name of the gallery is The Grundfest Art Studio, right?"
Caveman's bright blue eyes flashed in awe. He whistled. "I didn't know you were a psychic, Olivia. Yes, it is. The Grundfest Art Studio has purchased the works and for quite a tidy sum. Money is no object to them, it appears."
"Our plane hijacker's gallery?" Hernando asked. Olivia nodded. He slammed his tea mug down, muttering a curse under his breath. "This Grundfest stands to make a fortune from these artworks, and in return, he uses his money and influence to buy off Earth politicians and diplomats so the Pure Bloods gain access to a constant and steady supply of willing servants as they desire."
Hernando rose to his feet and began to pace about the chamber. "No need to sneak about anymore on Earth—it's all out in the open and above board. A legitimate enterprise. Humans are willingly giving themselves to servitude while unscrupulous men like Grundfest profit."
Olivia felt her stomach do a painful flip. Perhaps she was still recovering from the effects of the Portal, but she knew it wasn't the true source of her pain. She didn't think it possible, but the evidence painted an ugly picture. Wealth on a massive scale was being exchanged between the two worlds in order to open up a legal form of slavery, and their victims didn't understand how they were being used. Talk about the ultimate con job!
Olivia's Return Page 7