Homecoming (17 page)

The man strode up to the old schoolhouse and opened the door. As he stepped back and held the door for Damien, he got his first look at his face. An unassuming fellow, he appeared completely disarming. Damien stepped inside and waited for the man to walk past, pulling his coat off as he walked. “It isn’t much, but we call it home.”

“How many of you are there?” he asked.

“Four. Two men, two women.” The man hung his coat up and invited Damien into the kitchen. “Care for a drink? We have alcohol or Elven blood or…what’s your fancy?”

Damien waved him off. “No, thank you. If it’s all the same, I’d just as soon make the exchange and be off.”

The man nodded and stepped past him. He reached into a cupboard above the stove. “It took some doing to get this and then have it shipped here. You do realize what this is, don’t you?”

“If it’s authentic, then yes, I do.”

“Oh, it’s authentic.” The man pulled the plastic lid from an old Tupperware container and reached inside. “This head once belonged to none other than Lilith.”

“Supposedly.” Damien stepped aside while the man placed the black, wrinkled husk of a skull on the table. The smell of mold and mildew permeated the room.

“It’s the real deal. Look at the canines. Only the demon, Lilith, had teeth like that.”

Damien gave him a curious stare. “Demon?”

The man nodded. “Yes. Don’t you know who Lilith is? Why she was dismembered, her body spread across the four corners of the known world?”

“Well, I…” Damien cleared his throat. “I thought I did.”

“You’d damned sure better find out more before you start messing around with this, son. It’s far more dangerous than you could imagine.”

“Then why would you sell it?”

The man smiled and the effect didn’t reach his eyes. “Because, right now, in this world, what you have is far more valuable.” He reached out his hand. “You did bring it, didn’t you?”

Damien pulled out a USB drive and handed it to him. The other vampire pulled a ruggedized laptop across the kitchen table and inserted the USB. He booted the computer and clicked on the drive. Damien watched as a smile slowly crossed his features. “Excellent.” The man closed the computer and held out his hand. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“You aren’t the least bit curious where I got that?”

The man leaned close to him and lowered his voice, “You were a United States Senator’s son. I assume you stole it from daddy’s computer.”

Damien felt his face try to flush.  He turned and put the head back in the large Tupperware. Turning toward the door he saw Rachel standing in the yard. She nodded to him and he gave her a slight nod back. “Thanks. We should do this again some time.”

“Be careful dealing with that woman,” the man warned. “She’ll promise you the moon and the stars, but once she’s gotten what she wants, she’ll rip your heart out and feed on it.”

Damien paused and smiled inwardly. “Actually, that’s what I do.”

9

Mark typed up the requisition for the new truck purchases and placed them into Matt’s ‘IN’ basket. He was just turning to leave when Dr. Peters approached him from the hallway. “Have you spoken to Colonel Mitchell about your findings in the desert?”

Mark shook his head. “I was waiting until we knew for sure that the schematics weren’t anywhere to be found here.” He could tell by Evan’s face that he had no luck.

“Major, there’s no stone that’s been left unturned. The only option left is Mr. Thorn.”

Mark scratched at his chin as his mind went through possibilities. “I’ll talk to Matt. Jack has asked to borrow some operators if we can spare them. Depending on who’s available, I may have a sit down with them and they can do a little recon work for us while they’re with them.”

Evan agreed wholeheartedly. “Keeping this quiet would be the best idea. If he gets wind that we know, there’s no telling what he may do.”

Mark turned a skeptical eye on him. “You don’t think he’s already built the device, do you?” He lowered his voice and stepped closer. “Do you think he’d deploy it?”

Evan shook his head. “I really have no idea what ideas he has rolling around in his head. He was willing to sacrifice every supernatural creature to stop the Sicarii.”

“And the Sicarii was stopped. What possible reason would he have to build a machine like this?”

Evan sighed heavily. “That, Major, is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.”

*****

Rufus stepped quietly into his study and double checked that nobody lurked in the hallway. He closed the door and turned the lock behind him. Pulling the satellite phone from his desk drawer, he quickly scrolled through his call list and punched the number he wanted. He sat back in his chair and listened to the phone ring on the other end.

When the line answered he turned his chair from the door and faced the wall behind his desk. “It’s me. How close are you to being done?”

An exasperated and heavily accented voice on the other end tried to explain that this wasn’t like buying parts off the shelf. Everything had to be machined to exact tolerances. Specific metallurgies had to be found, exactingly welded, pressure tested and verified. Radioactive sources had to be located, purified, concentrated, and…

“I
know
what it entails,” Rufus growled into the phone. “I also remember how much you said it would cost and the timeline you gave me. Your time is drawing near an end.”

The voice sighed and Rufus could almost hear the man rubbing at his eyes. “Monsieur Thorn, we are working as quickly as we can. If we don’t double and triple check everything before delivery, we may as well be delivering a bomb to you.”

Rufus inhaled deeply and stared at his ceiling. “In essence,
mon ami
, you are.” He glanced to the door again and lowered his voice once more. “How much longer?”

The voice with the heavy German accent paused. “Perhaps two weeks. Less if we run into no more snags.”

“Pray you run into no more snags then.” It wasn’t a threat, but when dealing with someone with his resources, it definitely came across as one. “I need the device as soon as you can deliver it.”

“Understood, Monsieur Thorn.”

Rufus pressed the end call button and slipped the phone back into the side drawer of his desk. He rose and unlocked his door and checked the hallway once more. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and warily worked his way back to his liquor cabinet. His hand reached past the liquor bottles and found a small compartment in the side of the stand. He reached inside and pulled out the small flask of Elven blood and poured himself a shot. He needed something to calm his nerves.

*****

Laura helped Jennifer to her feet and allowed the smaller woman to escort her out of the small dressing room. They worked their way down the hallway, and Jennifer suddenly pulled her aside and into another side room, shushing her as she silently shut the door behind them.

“What’s going on?” Laura whispered.

“Shh.” Jennifer placed an ear against the door and listened as two men walked down the hallway. She held her finger out to Laura, holding her quietly at bay until she felt it was safe. “My father still wants to send you back in pieces,” she whispered. “I don’t agree with that.”

Laura felt her knees go weak at the idea that not only was she still a ‘captive’ as far as Jennifer’s father was concerned, but now she was an escaped captive in a compound full of wolves. “Just great.”

“I’ve got a car,” Jennifer whispered as she pulled the door open again. “We just have to get to it.”

“Your father has resources. You think he’s going to let us just leave here?”

“He can’t stop us if he can’t find us.” Jennifer worked her down the hallway once more.

“He doesn’t have
another
car? Some other way to follow us?” Laura kept her voice low and continued glancing behind them.

“Of course he does.” She stopped and stole a peek around the corner. As she pulled Laura with her she replied, “We just need to make sure we slow those cars down on our way out.”

“So now you’re a mechanic, too?”

Jennifer gave her a sideways glance. “No, but I can poke a hole in a tire.”

“Touché.”

The two snuck out of the main house and through the veranda to the garage. Jennifer held them back while a roving guard made his rounds through that area of the compound. She then slipped in through the rear entrance of the garage and the two began slipping between the numerous parked cars. Jennifer pulled a set of keys from a pegboard and mashed a button, unlocking the vehicle and causing the lights to flash. Laura dug through a tool box and came up with a large Phillips-head screwdriver which she promptly began to stab into the sidewall of the other car’s tires.

Jennifer waved her over to the silver-grey Toyota FJ Cruiser once the other cars all shared at least one flat tire, and they climbed inside the SUV. Jennifer took a deep breath then motioned toward the rear of the sport utility. “You might want to crawl back there and hide until we get past the gate guard.”

Laura shimmied her tall frame over the center console and into the backseat. She then slid into the floorboard and pulled a blanket over her. She prayed that the dark tinted windows would prevent prying eyes from spying her. She heard the engine turn over and a deep throaty roar from below the truck rev up and down as Jennifer waited for the garage door to open before pulling out.

Donning a pair of dark sunglasses, Jennifer rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof. She needed to air out as much of Laura’s scent as she could. She pulled a small bottle of perfume from the center console and sprayed far too much of it on her shirt as she maneuvered the truck off the grounds and toward the gate.

As she expected, the gate guard held up his hand and waved her down. “Where do you think you’re going?”

She flipped her hair at him and smiled. “I have a hair and nails appointment and I can’t be late. They’ll cancel on me.” She did her best to try to sound shallow and flippant.

The guard stepped back from the truck and gave her a disapproving look. “You know your father has us on lockdown.”

She gave him a knowing smile and shook her head. “No, he has
you
on lockdown. I did my part. I brought that silly human to him, I’m done. Now I need to get my hair done or I’m going to go crazy. And I’ll take every one of you with me.” Her voice went up a full octave as she made her threat.

“You smell like hell.”

“Says the dog who’s been walking out in this heat all day.” She waved to the gate. “Now open that damned thing and let me out.”

He narrowed his gaze at her and crossed his muscular arms over his chest. She lowered her sunglasses and glared at him. “Do I need to call Daddy and tell him that
you
won’t let me get my hair done? Rollo is a very busy hairdresser, and he absolutely will not hold my appointment. Do you have any idea how long it took me just to get in the door and get this appointment? I swear to you, if I lose out on this because of you, I’ll have you neutered.”

The guard blanched and waved at the other man across from him who jogged to open the gates. She gave him a sarcastic smile and blew him a kiss. “
Ciao
!” She pulled the gear selector back to Drive and gunned the FJ through the gate.

The gate guards watched her through the cloud of dust and each shook their heads. “She’s such a bitch.”

“She’s the boss’s problem. Not mine.” The man pulled the gate shut and locked it again. “I say good riddance.”

Laura stuck her head up from the blanket and dared to lean forward. “Are we clear?”

“Yeah, you’re good. Climb back up here.”

After she settled back into her seat she heaved a sigh of relief. “How much of a head start do you think we really have?”

Jennifer shook her head. “Anywhere from ten minutes to an hour.” She motioned to the glove box. “There’s a black box in there. Rip it out if you can.”

Laura opened the glove box and found a small black plastic box with two wires attached. She pulled hard and the unit came free. “What’s this?”

“GPS device. Daddy has the cars LoJacked so he knows where we are all the time.” She motioned out the window with her chin. “Toss it.”

Laura flipped the little unit out the window and sat back in her chair. “I really need to check in.”

“As soon as we hit town, we can switch cars and find a phone. You call your boss while I get us some fresh wheels.”

Laura studied the girl a moment and the questions in her mind raced through so fast, she didn’t know where to start. “Why?” was all she could get out.

“Why what?”

“Why are you going against your dad? Why are you helping me? Why…everything?”

Jennifer continued to glance at the rear view mirrors and push the FJ a bit harder than Laura was comfortable with. She finally exhaled hard and shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, there’s not just one hard and fast answer.” She glanced at Laura who gave her a raised brow. “I know, that doesn’t answer your question. Let’s just say, Daddy doesn’t have the right to kill somebody to make a statement. He shouldn’t be trying to attack a bunch of Army guys either. Especially if they’re wolves, too.” She shook her head and slowed the truck for the next intersection. “There’s just a lot going on and I need answers. I know it sounds stupid, but I think you can get me those answers.”

Laura turned to face her better. “What makes you so sure?”

“I don’t know. You just have a scent of honesty about you.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?”

“You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

*****

Matt tried not to smile as he reentered his office. Driving that stupid truck made him feel like a kid again. It was like somebody had crossbred a hot-rod to a 4X4 and then gave it a pickup body. He hated to admit it, but he thought maybe Mark had hit a homerun with this one. He couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck other than it came completely loaded, and he just had this nagging feeling that it would be considered opulent for any military group to utilize something like that. A military vehicle was supposed to be bare bones. It was supposed to hurt you when you used it. You were supposed to feel lucky if the heater worked.

He sat down at his desk and pushed the mouse to bring his computer up. He needed to send an authorization email to Mark so that he could replace the aging HUMVEES and order the other pickups. The mere fact that they could be airlifted to scenes almost excited him. He opened his email and saw the message waiting from Jack. Opening it and scanning it, he felt the groan in his chest before he heard it.

“Dammit. On the full moon?”

Matt sat back in his chair and rubbed at the back of his neck. He hated to tell Phoenix ‘no’ on this request. The full moon had historically been their busiest times. But, at the same time, since the showdown in the desert, things had actually been pretty quiet. Perhaps…

Matt pulled his two-way and called Mark to his office. When Tufo kicked open the door with his fat little dog in tow, Matt’s good mood instantly soured. “Can’t you pen that beast?”

Mark ignored him. “You rang, oh puckered one?”

Matt groaned and waved him in. “Over the last six months, how many squads have we had out on any given full moon?” Mark pulled his trusty notepad and scanned through it. Matt cocked his head and asked, “Do you not believe in using your PDA?”

Mark continued to flip through pages, “This is more trustworthy. It doesn’t crash.” He flipped another page and nodded, “We’ve had three full moons with one squad and three with two out. We always have at least one squad on hand.”

“Okay. I just got a message from Jack. The meeting is set for the next full moon. If you’re confident that we won’t need all three squads, check the schedule and see which men we can spare.”

Mark nodded and made a note in his trusty notepad. He turned to leave then stopped and turned back, “I put the requisition for the trucks in your ‘IN’ basket.”