by Primo, Jaz
“Thanks, Aiden,” she offered. “I owe you one.”
Then she turned to the female vampire manning the surveillance system.
“Hey, Satish. Get hold of Caleb and get him down here. I have a few questions to ask him.”
“Right away, Captain,” the vampire replied and reached for a nearby phone.
Aiden tried to ignore the exchange while gathering up the notes that he had written out for Paige. He neatly arranged them and handed them over to her. Then he gathered up his can of Sprite and headed for the door.
“Thanks for the drink,” he remarked while reaching for the handle.
“He’s not in his room,” Satish remarked. She quickly scanned the video screens before her and spoke into her headset, “All eyes for Caleb Taylor. Report.”
“No problem, Aiden,” Paige absently remarked.
Then she looked up. “Hey, do you know where I can find Caleb?” Aiden paused but didn’t turn around.
“Me? Nah, haven’t seen him since this afternoon.” He opened the door and stepped across the threshold.
She frowned, noting the discreet tension in the man’s body.
“Aiden,” she prompted.
Satish looked up from her screens and turned to face Paige. “Captain, all units reporting in. Nobody has eyes on Taylor, and the screens aren’t showing anything. He might be in another guests’ room,” she ventured.
Aiden turned to look at Paige with an innocent expression. “Yes, Captain?”
Paige’s bright blue eyes bored into the young man’s, and he swallowed hard. It was just a hunch, but she decided to play it.
“Where exactly did you last see Caleb?”
* * * *
Katrina idly wondered what Dominic Ambrogio had been in a hurry to attend to, while also partly listening to some very good suggestions being offered by Hakizimana. In particular, he suggested a cooperative agreement for the use of Sunset Air services and other resources as an incentive for membership towards a worldwide consortium of vampires. She was really surprised by how many useful suggestions the ancient vampire had brought up.
And to think, he had been opposed to even being here leading up to the conference. Alton must be beside himself with glee now.
A knock sounded at the door, ushering in a hush across the room. This time, instead of the security guard, a very concerned-looking Paige Turner entered, directly walking to Alton and Katrina.
Katrina’s optimistic features fell, and the pit of her stomach soured.
Paige handed a note to each of them, saying, “My apologies for the interruption. An urgent matter.”
And how, she grimly thought.
Katrina’s features turned to stone as she read the note: Caleb and Dori both missing. Aiden helped to distract a guard so they could leave the property.
“Bloody hell,” Alton cursed under his breath in uncharacteristic fashion, trumping Katrina’s own pending exclamation of surprise.
Instead, Katrina immediately rose, demanding, “Gather an escort.”
Paige nodded, and Katrina followed her from the room in a rush.
“What’s happened?” demanded Rianne.
Everyone else looked up with a mix of concern and curiosity.
Alton clenched his jaw. “I’m afraid we must adjourn for the day, everyone. An urgent personal matter has arisen requiring immediate attention by both the chair and the co-chair.”
Baldar Dubravko chuckled, breaking the silence in the room. “Let me guess, Rutherford. Your humans are running amok again, aren’t they?”
Alton ground his teeth and marked the vampire with contempt in a stare that would freeze open flames. “We will resume discussions tomorrow. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience.”
With no further comment, he stalked from the room.
* * * *
Katrina and Paige watched as Alton quickly removed the tracking unit from the black storage case in his suite. Within seconds, he had powered it on and was initializing the system for use.
“I just don’t understand what they’re trying to pull,” Katrina angrily complained. It was upsetting that not even the threat of homing transmitters could keep the two troublemakers on site.
It’s worse than raising teenagers.
“Any idea where they went?” Alton demanded as the system finished initializing.
Paige’s expression spoke volumes of the worry that she felt. “Maybe. From what little the surveillance cameras show, they likely hopped into the back of a linens truck bound for town.”
Alton paused, sharply looking up at Paige.
Katrina took immediate notice and demanded, “What? What are you thinking?”
“The mines,” Alton muttered. “Dori tried to tell me there was something suspicious about those damned mines near the storage building where they were first apprehended. I told her that she was grasping at straws.”
The tall vampire strode to a nearby closet, removing a leather briefcase. Inside was an array of small weapons. He tossed two combat knives to Katrina and withdrew a knife and automatic pistol for himself.
“Come on, let’s go,” Paige insisted. She fingered the hilt of a large combat knife tucked into her waistband and concealed beneath her blazer.
“No,” Alton countered. “I need you to stay here and coordinate efforts. If I need more people, you’ll need to dispatch them. I don’t have confidence in the major’s competency as of late.”
Paige didn’t like staying behind, but she immediately took note of Alton’s suspicions concerning the major. A number of things didn’t set well with her either, but she had thought it was just because she personally didn’t like the guy.
“Fine,” she reluctantly conceded. “There are four guards sitting in two SUVs waiting out front for you.”
Alton and Katrina stormed from the suite in a blur of motion.
* * * *
Dori and Caleb stacked three more benches in front of the storage room door. The sound of a large object battering against the other side of the door reverberated through the room, jostling the benches with each impact.
Their expressions mirrored the fear and anxiety that each felt.
“That won’t hold them forever,” Dori warned.
The battering stopped, and moments later, all the lights went out. In the darkness, the only sound was their heavy breathing.
Then the battering began again on the door.
Caleb activated his flashlight, and his mind raced for any useful ideas. His light beam swept the perimeter of the room, and he noticed three small crates labeled as explosives.
Dori stared at where his light shone and began shaking her head.
“Don’t even think about it, Taylor,” she warned. “It’ll kill us all.”
He jolted as another massive impact hit the door. He continued sweeping the area with his flashlight and found the UV light bulbs. Nearby, he noticed electrical extension cords alongside light ballasts, and an idea formed.
“How many bullets do you have left?” he asked.
She paused to count. “Twelve, spread between two magazines.”
Another crash landed against the door, and the hinges squeaked loose.
He steeled himself for what was coming. “If...When that door comes down, I’m gonna need you to shoot any humans that you can.”
“There’s also at least one really pissed off vampire out there.”
He grabbed some side cutting pliers from the floor and began stripping back one end of electrical cable from one of the light ballasts.
“True. But I’ve got an idea.”
* * * *
The tracking device didn’t register any beacon signals from the immediate vicinity around the conference site, but as Alton and Katrina’s entourage raced towards town at breakneck speed, a faint blip registered. The sun was already hidden by the horizon, leaving only a fading glow that illuminated the countryside barely enough for a human to see without artificial light. The ambient UV radiation was more than tol
erable for vampires, for which Katrina was particularly grateful.
The two SUVs raced through the center of Podjelje, heedless of the display they were making. Upon arrival at the small garage near the souvenir shop, Katrina pointed to the small dirt road leading into the forest towards the mountain.
“There,” she urged, at which Alton gunned the vehicle down the road.
“I can go faster by foot,” she argued while reaching for the door handle.
“No,” he admonished. “We still have to conceal our existence to the general public. Things are bad enough, and containment’s going to be questionable as it is.”
She grit her teeth as countless seconds passed. Once the vehicles were heading through the trees, she leapt from the vehicle and ran well ahead of them.
Dodging trees in a blur of movement, she quickly arrived outside the small storage building where she spotted three vehicles: a police car, a small truck painted in forest camouflage, and one of the tinted-glass SUVs from the conference site that was parked right next to the building’s entrance.
She approached the small building and immediately spied a secret entrance into a darkened cave-like interior. Hearing the sound of pounding inside, she entered as the two SUVs pulled up outside.
A man wearing a hunting outfit and carrying an assault rifle appeared in the entryway. Rather than speaking, he immediately raised his weapon to fire.
Katrina sidestepped the burst of gunfire and threw one of her combat knives, squarely catching the man in the chest. Additional rounds ricocheted harmlessly around the room as the man spun to the floor.
Alton appeared inside the doorway, quickly assessing the situation. He heard shouts of voices from inside and motioned to the vampire guards as he brandished his automatic pistol.
“Two inside, two outside. Eliminate anyone who’s not ours,” he ordered.
Two of the guards sped past him into the mine, and the other two took up positions outside. Katrina darted in behind the guards with Alton closely following.
Fresh gunfire quickly erupted.
* * * *
As Paige paced the floor of the security office waiting for word from Katrina and Alton, some motion caught her attention beyond the front office window. She saw the major talking to Baldar Dubravko in the lobby. Pietari hastily surveyed the lobby and gestured towards the security office with one hand.
Something that Alton had said earlier replayed in Paige’s mind, and she reached into her desk drawer to withdraw a small digital recorder. Picking up a handful of reports from her desk, she moved like a blur to enter the major’s office.
She tossed the paperwork onto his desk and activated the recorder, which she slid behind a line of books on a shelf suspended from the wall behind the desk.
The door to the main office opened and Pietari and Dubravko entered. Paige acknowledged them in passing on their way to the major’s office.
“Papers on your desk to sign, Major.”
“Fine, thanks,” Pietari distractedly replied and closed the door behind them.
She returned to her desk and scowled.
For once, there’ll actually be a fly on the wall. Or at least, in the bookcase.
* * * *
Caleb relied on Dori’s flashlight so that he could use both hands to work. He had already rewired one of the small ballasts to a long, heavy-duty extension cord. After inserting two of the fluorescent UV bulbs into the ballast, he picked up the connector plug at the other end of the cord. Using his own flashlight, he located an electrical outlet that had been spiked into the mine wall and anxiously looked up at Dori.
Another heavy impact strained against the door’s hinges. The top bracket barely remained secured to the rafter.
“Let’s hope they only turned out the lights and not the entire system,” he suggested and plugged the cable in.
A warm glow emanated from the bulbs.
“Yes!” he exclaimed.
The echoes of gunfire erupted from beyond the door, but they sounded more distant than earlier. In addition, the pounding on the door abruptly ceased.
“Help me move the benches,” Caleb urged as he slipped on a pair of old gloves lying nearby.
“You’re insane!” Dori seethed.
“Hey, everyone says that the best defense is a good offense,” he countered.
She shook her head and helped him push the benches aside.
The sounds of additional distant gunfire continued outside. Then the pounding on the other side of the door renewed, and it nearly came off its hinges.
Caleb signaled to Dori to open the door, and with one fluid motion, she disengaged the bolt and flung open the door.
Ambrogio appeared surprised as the door opened to reveal his grimacing face. Caleb turned the full force of the light ballast onto the vampire, and his exposed skin immediately sizzled.
The vampire screamed and fled down the corridor.
Dori gripped her pistol with the flashlight held alongside it and peered out into the corridor. The two of them moved together as Caleb also shone his light ahead of them. The sounds of gunfire ceased, and he thought that he heard the fleeting sounds of air rushing past the far end of the corridor.
Dori paused briefly then slowly proceeded forwards.
* * * *
Alton’s two vampire guards had neatly dispatched the armed humans, leaving Katrina free to barrel ahead through the corridor. Fortunately, as a vampire, she had a perfect sense of direction and low-level vision in the mine and confidently proceeded in search of Dori and Caleb.
She heard a pained cry and stopped. A vampire swiftly moved ahead of her. She rushed forward at best speed and quickly overtook the staggering vampire.
It was Ambrogio, and he appeared to have been burned.
A wave of raw fury coursed through her as she assumed that Ambrogio had something to do with Caleb and Dori’s disappearance. He hissed with bared fangs and grasped her by the neck, but she slammed a combat knife into the vampire’s chest.
Gripping his wrist with one hand, she slammed her opposite fist into his burned face with a jarring impact. As his head popped backwards, her hand deftly grasped the hilt of her knife that still protruded from his chest. With a single motion, she withdrew the blade and buried it into the vampire’s eye with a squishy thud.
Ambrogio’s body limply fell to the floor as Alton watched from a short distance away.
“UV light!” yelled one of Alton’s vampire guards from back down the corridor.
“Shoot it out then,” suggested another guard.
Katrina and Alton exchanged glances and made their way that direction until they saw a burst of UV light blaring from one of the side corridors. They stopped well short of the passageway, and Alton brandished his pistol.
Suddenly, amidst the odor of burnt flesh and gunpowder, Katrina smelled her mate’s scent in the air.
“Stop! It’s them!” she shouted.
Alton sniffed the air. “I believe you’re right.”
There was a silent pause, and Caleb’s voice inquired, “Kat? Is that you?”
She nearly collapsed with relief, and the sick feeling in her stomach began to ebb slightly.
“Are you okay? Where’s Dori?” she shouted.
“Here,” Dori replied. “We’re okay.”
“Stand down. It’s them,” Alton alerted the guards.
“Well, they better turn off that damned UV light then!” one guard bellowed.
“Oh, yeah,” Caleb faintly conceded in the distance. “Sorry about that…”
Katrina grinned despite herself and caught a glimpse of Alton as he shook his head.
Moments later, the lights came back on to reveal Katrina hugging Caleb in her arms while Alton warmly embraced Dori.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, my love,” Katrina muttered with relief. “But now I’m going to strangle you.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Alton agreed.
* * * *
While sitting on the couch back at the
suite, Caleb required a couple of beers before he was able to come down from his adrenaline high. And given the manner that Dori drank her glass of wine, she must have felt the same.
Caleb silently admired the young French woman, marveling at how capably she had handled herself at the mines and with such amazing presence of mind.
Who is she, exactly?
Paige, Alton, and Katrina sat at the small dining table adjacent to the living room reviewing information gained from the cursory investigation performed immediately following the excitement. Reports were still coming in via cell phone, making the suite a sort of impromptu command post.
A knock sounded at the suite door, and Caleb rose to answer it, but Paige pointed her finger at him and shook her head. Instead, the blonde vampire moved to the door in a blur.
A waiter rolled a cart into the room and hastily departed. The smell of food made Caleb’s mouth water, and he determined that he must be feeling better if his appetite had returned.
“Despite the spectacle they generated, Caleb and Dori’s discovery of the UV light bulbs was rather timely,” Alton conceded.
“Tell me again how our boy made a UV flamethrower,” Paige urged.
“Maybe later,” Katrina countered dryly.
“He’s a regular MacGyver,” Paige proudly quipped.
“Who?” Dori asked.
“It was this pretty cool TV show from the 80s about a resourceful guy who could use bits of nothing to make tools and gadgets,” Caleb began, but then paused with a perplexed expression. “Or was it the 90s? I only remember it in reruns, actually.”
Paige groaned and pressed one of her palms to the side of her face. “Just never mind.”
Alton cast them a strained expression, but continued as if uninterrupted. “The explosives are another matter altogether,” he said. “Those were high-yield, military-grade explosives, not for mining. And it appeared that less than half of the original contents were still intact in their crates.”