by Anna Santos
Jade’s heart clenched in her chest as she snapped at him, “Daniel isn’t dead. He can’t be dead. He’s a vampire. Vampires aren’t easily killed. It wouldn’t be fair if he died. I wouldn’t forgive you if something bad happened to him.”
Alexander leaned forward and entwined his fingers as his expression remained calm. “I may consider letting you talk to Daniel. But you need to give me your word that you will do everything you can to make Daniel send Stevie to a safe place. Somewhere where I can go get him, and we can understand how to help your brother.”
“Alexander, I wouldn’t trust you with my brother’s life. You have told me that other people are after him. That he’s the solution to vampires’ vulnerability to light. Why should I trust that you don’t have other intentions? You were my father’s friend, but you weren’t part of his life when he needed a friend the most.”
Alexander raked his fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t in the country. After going to my family’s lands, I started my own research. I had to leave to gather exotic plants. I was unreachable. When I came back, I couldn’t find you or your brother anywhere.” He reclined in his seat. “You need to trust that my intentions are good. I have the proof that your dad trusted me. I have the video he sent to me, talking about what he had done, about his research. He told me all about Stevie and the secret that lies in his genetic code.”
“I want to talk to Daniel. He must be worried sick. I’m worried sick. I miss my husband. I want to talk to him.” Tears prickled her eyes. “I need to know that he’s okay.”
“Okay.”
Jade frowned. “Really?”
Alexander nodded. “I’ll let you call him, but you can’t tell him where you are. First, we need to understand if Daniel is playing you or not.”
“We are soul-mates. Daniel loves me. I love him. He knows nothing about what Dad did to my brother!” Jade yelled as shivers ran down her arms.
“Okay!” Alexander waved his hands in a soothing movement. “If you are so sure about him and are willing to put your brother’s life at risk, I’ll trust your judgment.”
Jade folded her arms. “You do?”
“It’s your brother and your life. If you claim that you don’t need to be saved, I won’t keep you here against your will.”
Sucking in air, she leaned forward. “Can I call Daniel now?”
“Once you watch your father’s video where he explains what he did to Stevie, you can.”
Jade held her breath and stared at him with mixed emotions. She only needed to watch a video.
“Okay.” She needed to endure a bit more to talk to Daniel.
Alexander got up, gave her the remote, and walked away. “Just press start. I’ll be back with the phone.”
Daniel was in his private plane when his phone rang. Looking at the display, he squinted at the anonymous number. It could be the kidnapper, therefore, before he picked up, he ordered Jaz to trace the call.
“Yes, this is Daniel Wolfe speaking. Who is at the other end of this call?”
“Daniel.” Jade’s voice trembled.
Daniel sat straight in his seat at the sound of her voice. “Jade, Jade! Honey, where are you? Are you okay? Are they treating you well? Did they hurt you?” Daniel’s questions came out rushed and breathless. The sound of his pounding heart echoed in his ears.
“Daniel, is that really you?”
“Yes, it’s me. Are you okay, honey?”
“I’m okay,” she assured him. Her voice cracked with her next words, “I’m so glad that you are alive. I was so scared!”
“I’m okay, too. Don’t cry, Jade. Everything will be all right. Just tell me what they want to return you to me.”
“They don’t want money.”
“Then what?”
Jenna sat beside him, motioning for him to turn on the speaker, so she could hear the call. Daniel signaled for her to be still and not to open her mouth. They were a few minutes away from Jade’s last known location. If his wife was in the underwater facilities, he was moments away from saving her and imprisoning her kidnappers.
“Is Stevie okay? Where is he? Is he there? Can I talk to him?”
“I’m in my office,” Daniel lied. “But Stevie is safe. He’s with Sakura. Tell me what they want.”
“Daniel…” Jade’s voice was cut momentarily when the plane shook and submerged.
“Jade,” Daniel called, looking at the windows and seeing the water surrounding the plane.
“I’m okay, Daniel. I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me. We need to talk. Alexander wants to talk to you in a video conference.”
“Who?”
“My kidnapper. Well, Alexander thought he was saving me… It’s complicated. But you need to trust me. I’m okay, and you need to get Stevie to somewhere safe.”
“Jade, are they forcing you to say this?”
“No, Daniel, please listen to me. Alexander took me because he thought that I was in danger. We need to talk in a video conference. We will explain everything to you.”
“I want you to tell me where you are. I’ll go there, and we can talk face to face,” Daniel asserted as he looked at Jenna who was frowning at the conversation.
“Did she bump her head? Isn’t it a bit early to have Stockholm syndrome for her kidnapper?” Jenna questioned.
Daniel shrugged.
“Is Jenna there with you?” Jade asked. “You two need to trust me on this. I’m okay and Alexander…”
Daniel interrupted her, “They tried to kill me, Jade. I was dormant for three hours because of their wooden bullets close to my heart. They kidnapped you. Now you are telling me that your kidnapper and you want to talk to me? Is everybody crazy?”
“I know it sounds crazy. But we can explain. Aren’t you glad that I’m okay?”
“Of course, I am! If Alexander, your kidnapper, wants to talk to me, I’ll talk to him. Just give me five minutes.”
“Five minutes? Alexander, he needs five minutes,” Jade said to the person Daniel assumed was next to her.
Meanwhile, Daniel pointed at his watch to question Jenna the amount of time he needed to stall while they reached the underwater compound.
“Almost there,” Jenna mumbled, staring at the screen in front of her seat.
“Five minutes, Jade. I’ll go to my conference room where we can talk.”
“Okay. I’ll call you in five minutes… Daniel, I love you. You have no idea how worried I was.”
His voice came out husky and emotional. “I love you, too. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
“We’ll be together soon enough.” Jade hung up.
“What’s the status?” Daniel asked Jenna. He was impatient but less worried since he now knew that Jade was alive.
“Just a second,” Jenna replied while Jaz showed her the blueprints.
She talked with the computer, analyzing which entrance they should use and following the red dots on the screen.
Looking at Daniel, she informed, “I’m counting thirty people inside the compound. We’ll enter through the dark area on the screen. Jaz is activating life support in the unused cubes. Our team won’t be detected by anyone until it’s too late.”
Daniel reclined in his seat and folded his arms. “Good.”
Jenna added, “I’m seeing two dots in the residential area. Another five in the dining area. The rest seem to be concentrated in the labs. There is someone going to the residential area. However, it doesn’t seem to have any guards patrolling it. They must assume that they are safe and no one knows their location.”
“What if Jade isn’t there because they found her tracker and all this is just a diversion?”
“You should trust me more. I’m pretty good at what I do. At this point, I don’t think anyone found the tracker. Soon enough, we’ll save Jade. Then you can both go on your honeymoon to watch the Aurora Borealis and bond.”
“Jade’s phone call intrigued me. I was trying to find out if there was some hidden message in her words. De
spite sounding emotional, she didn’t seem scared. I hope they are treating her right.”
“It was strange,” Jenna agreed. The plane shook again. “We are docking and we’ll have the doors unlocked in two minutes. Jaz is overriding the passwords and restoring the pressure to human settings.”
Daniel turned around in his rotating chair. “Tell the rescuing team to get ready. We need to move fast and subjugate the enemy,” he ordered to his Special Ops commander.
The big man, dressed in black camouflage clothes, moved to give orders to his commando troopers in the other compartment of the plane.
Daniel got up and fixed his clothes. He was wearing black pants and a cotton sweatshirt. Grabbing a gun, he checked the tranquilizing bullets and put it behind his back.
“Okay, Jaz will give me the enemy’s coordinates,” Jenna said, putting a small communicator in her ear. “You will follow my lead.”
“I think I can take care of myself. You should worry about yourself,” Daniel said. “My men can handle this. Just stay behind them and let them do their job.”
Jenna narrowed her eyes and got up from her seat. “You said that I could lead the team. Now shut up and give them the order to obey me.”
Daniel faced her gaze. Jade’s friend was bossy, and he was in no mood to argue with her. Yet she was bright and seemed to know what she was doing. He could let her have some fun and command his team while he could break formation and search for Jade in the residential area of the compound.
“Fine, but if you harm yourself and Jade kills me, it’s all your fault.”
“That didn’t make any sense,” Jenna complained as she tied her hair in a bun. “Just relax and let me handle this.”
Daniel shrugged and touched the intercom in his ear. “You heard the lady, men. Follow her lead and don’t kill anyone. I don’t need the bad publicity.”
Jenna rolled her eyes, checked her gun, and put her gloves on.
The plane shivered and made a loud noise as if it was an old submarine complaining about the pressure outside. Jenna’s ears were popping with the pressure changes.
“It’s time to party.” Jenna smiled and rushed to be the first to get out of the plane and enter the underwater cubicle.
The moment the plane opened its door, the lights turned on inside the white corridor.
“Creepy,” Jenna whispered, motioning for the men behind her to follow. “It’s clear. Let’s move. Three men teams. Daniel, stay behind me. Aim for their neck and the ones that aren’t put to sleep need to be restrained. Don’t harm Jade. You all saw her picture. I don’t want anyone wrongly shooting her.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the commander said.
Dropping her arm, Jenna hurried down the corridor, following the computer instructions with Daniel and the commandos on her tail.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Invasion
Jade watched Alexander pacing up and down her bedroom like a caged animal. Daniel had asked for five minutes. His five minutes were up, and Jade couldn’t understand why he wasn’t answering his phone. She was losing patience, too. A thousand and one theories were running through her mind about why her husband wasn’t replying to her call.
“I don’t think he wants to negotiate,” Alexander said, breaking the silence and coming near Jade. “I don’t know what game he is playing or why he doesn’t pick up the phone. We must assume that he doesn’t want to negotiate with me, and your life isn’t that important to him.”
“That can’t be true. Something might have happened to him,” Jade protested, feeling her heart bleed because of Alexander’s words. Daniel’s love was the only certainty she had in her life. After so many years alone, trusting few people and keeping a safe distance from a love relationship, losing that would shatter her soul.
Alexander stood before her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Jade. I won’t hurt you. I promised your dad that I would take care of you and your brother. I won’t let them hurt the boy.”
Jade waved him away and walked to the screen where she pressed the redial button.
Alexander sucked in a breath. “We can try calling him later.”
Jade moved back and bumped into Alexander’s chest. Before she could apologize, a young man entered her bedroom.
“We are under attack,” the man said with urgency. “They are coming this way. We need to leave, Alpha.”
“Who’s attacking us?” Alexander asked, glancing at the guy and fisting his hands. His posture changed from worried to alert. Jade noticed his eyes become darker. There was a dangerous vibe coming from him, something primeval.
“The reports were unclear. They are overriding our computers and progressing deeper into the compound. We need to go to the emergency pods and get away from here before they get to you and her.”
“How the hell did they find us?” Alexander asked.
The guy raked his fingers through his hair with a worried expression. “We don’t know, but we need to leave.”
“Jade, let’s move out of here,” Alexander ordered, grabbing her arm and urging her to follow him.
“I don’t want to go. They are here to save me,” she protested as she pushed his hands away and tried to get free.
“Jade, please. We need to move. We don’t know who’s coming.”
Jade gulped as she endured Alexander’s glowing eyes.
“Come.” Alexander offered his hand. “Someone might have sent those people to kill you. Don’t fight me, or I’ll have to carry you over my shoulder.”
Jade dragged her feet, rejecting his hand and exiting the bedroom. “Daniel wouldn’t hurt me.”
“It may not be Daniel. Move faster,” Alexander ordered, quickening his pace. Far away, the sound of guns was heard. “They are using guns. Sam, tell the men to retreat and run to the emergency pods. We are leaving this place. Tell Sabrina to start the submarine.”
“She went to fight the intruders,” Sam clarified.
“I told her to stay in the lab,” Alexander growled.
“She’s too stubborn,” Sam complained. “She ordered me to warn you, and she took some men to delay their arrival here and facilitate your escape.”
“Just let me talk to them. If it’s Daniel, I can talk to him and explain what’s going on. He won’t hurt you or your men,” Jade appealed. “Please, let me talk to Daniel.”
“I understand that you love him and think he’s better than what I want you to believe. But we called him to explain things and come to an understanding. He chose to ignore our call and is probably killing my men, as we speak, to get to you.”
“Because he loves me and thinks I’m in danger.”
“We are not dangerous and violent people unless we are provoked. We will retaliate and if he gets hurt or killed…”
“We are running,” she pointed out. “I don’t see you facing Daniel. I see you running away.”
“They are gaining on us,” Sam said, stopping and sniffing the air. “Vampires.”
“They must be using the computer to track us down. We need to stop running and face them,” Alexander said, stopping and looking at the doors. They were already in the laboratory aisle and around them were rooms filled with plants and other machines used to run experiments.
Jade was going to speak again but thought better of it when she saw Alex glaring at her. She glanced back and folded her arms.
With his heightened hearing, Alexander listened carefully to the noises that were around them: punches, guns with silencers being shot—which was not that inaudible to him—more kicking and punches. His attention was drawn to an alluring scent. He focused on that, finding it peculiar.
Jade made a movement to escape him, but he grabbed her by the waist before she could run down the corridor to meet the vampires that were attacking the compound. The silly girl believed that her vampire lover was coming to save her. But Alexander was not that sure and wasn’t willing to put her life at risk.
“Sam, take Jade with you and keep her safe.”
&nb
sp; “And you, Alpha, what are you going to do?” Sam asked, grabbing Jade by her arm.
“I’m going to get Sabrina. Wait fifteen minutes for us in the submarine. If we don’t arrive by then, I command you to leave and take the girl to her home.”
“And then? How are you going to get away from here?”
“You need to save your future alpha and keep the girl safe. You are my beta. I trust you.”
“Alexander, don’t be stubborn. Let me talk to Daniel,” Jade said, struggling to get free from Sam. Her voice reached a higher pitch, revealing her distress. “Please, let me talk to Daniel.”
“Take her away,” Alexander ordered.
His beta obeyed and, without looking back, forced Jade to follow him to another part of the underground compound.
In another corridor, Jenna and the rescuing squad fought the few stray attackers that crossed their way. It hadn’t been too difficult so far. The werewolves were wearing white scrubs and seemed more like scientists than fighters.
The soldiers kept shooting tranquilizers at the shifters. The ones who avoided the darts were knocked out cold. Jenna wasn’t finding a lot of resistance or skilled warriors.
I hope Daniel is wrong and this is not a decoy.
Sighing, Jenna proceeded. After another turn of the corridor, the two advanced troopers were attacked and knocked out by an acrobatic jumping werewolf girl with two big guys covering her back.
Grabbing the vampires’ guns, the enemy shot at the team. Jenna only had the time to dodge the flying darts. Before she could do anything else, the girl leaped on the wall and came at significant speed to attack Daniel. Jenna secured Daniel behind her back as she turned around to face the girl who had just landed in front of her.
Looking around, Jenna made a quick assessment of her surroundings. Five soldiers were knocked out cold and the remaining members were shooting at the two werewolves while Daniel was safe between her and his men.
Jenna focused on the enemy as the girl’s dark hair fell into place around her pretty face. With big brown eyes, red lips, and a smug smile, the girl looked like an exotic and deadly beauty. Jenna knew she had to beat her to keep moving and find her best friend.