The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 132
“Sir,” Tripp said to Dad. “Agent Thomas and Wyman will be here in two hours.”
“I can read their minds,” I said.
Dad gripped the doorjamb. “We need to do this by the book. We’re dealing with humans and their government. We don’t know what they know. Edmund and Patrick could’ve prepared them for our supernatural powers. Besides, we need to follow our vampire laws and not reveal what we are to humans, especially the CIA. I would like to stay out of jail.”
Webb kissed me on the head. “See you later.” Then he and Tripp left.
“I have to run up to the apartment,” Dad said. “I forgot my phone.”
“I’ll go with you.” I’d been wanting to talk to Dad about Mr. Jackson and about my dream. With everything going on, I’d barely had time to see Webb, Sam, or Dad.
After a two-minute trek from the control room up to the fourth floor, Dad and I were in the open-plan apartment—a massive room that blended the living area with the kitchen. While Dad disappeared into his room that was tucked away down a short hall, I ventured over to the expansive wall of windows, standing in the path of the sun’s rays that spilled in. I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun and relishing the calm before whatever storm lay ahead.
“Are you ready for that storm?” Dad asked.
I flinched. I didn’t even hear him come back. “I’m ready for a life without running, fighting, and always looking over my shoulder. So yeah, I’m ready.”
He sat down on an ottoman in front of the oversized chair and tied his boot.
I moseyed over and eased down on the sofa adjacent to him. “Dad? Will you allow Ben to explain to his dad what he is?” Webb had gauged Mr. Jackson’s overall demeanor but hadn’t spent enough time with Mr. Jackson to tell if we could trust him. “I know we have laws, but Ben wants a relationship with his dad, and Mr. Jackson should know what his son is.”
Dad straightened. “Pumpkin, we have too many other things to worry about right now. And I’m not sure telling Mr. Jackson what Ben is is the smartest thing to do. Let me think about it. I would also have to run it by the council.”
I played with the seam on the leg of my jeans.
“What else is on your mind?” He chuckled. “I’m seeing an empty brain right now.”
I laughed. “In my dream, your dad said I would be the one to kill Edmund. Do you believe he’s right?” Deep down, I knew my grandfather spoke the truth. But I wanted validation from someone who was alive and not in my dreams. “Do you also believe what he said about Abbey is true too?”
His green eyes searched mine. “My dad always had an ability to see into the future. He knew you and Sam would be powerful. He knew when you would be born. He even knew that your mom wouldn’t live long enough to see you and Sam grow up. So, yes, I do believe him, although I don’t want you to fight Edmund.”
Silence ticked by as I waited for an onslaught of all the reasons why Dad wasn’t going to let me fight. But when second after second passed, it became clear that he would support me.
Dad’s phone rang. “Rachel,” he said, “where are you?”
“How’s Abbey?” Rachel’s voice held fear and sadness.
Dad walked over to the window. “Abbey is safe. Tell me where you are.”
Rachel sniffled. “I can’t.”
“Hello, Steven,” Edmund said.
I flew off the sofa to stand next to Dad.
The furniture in the room began to shake as Dad’s face reddened.
I grasped his wrist, shaking my head, then mouthed, “Calm down.”
He inhaled then exhaled slowly. “Edmund, you know you’re not getting your daughter.”
“Oh, I will, because I’m sure you don’t want me to kill Rachel.”
“Don’t listen to him, Steven,” Rachel yelled. “I’ll die before I let him have Abbey.”
Dad’s fangs lowered as his nostrils flared.
“Your silence says you’ll listen,” Edmund said. “So if you want to see Kraft and Kodiak again, then you will comply with my request.”
Dad wrenched a hand through his black hair, silver banishing the green in his eyes. “Bullshit. No way you have my men.”
Edmund belted out a sickening laugh. “I’ll send you proof.” The line went dead.
Tension, fury, and rage—soupy, thick, and suffocating—poured off Dad. Even though I wasn’t an empath, every one of his emotions strangled me.
Dad stormed out faster than a 747 airplane at top speed.
For a split second, I didn’t know what to do, then the door slammed so hard that glass shattered from somewhere in the kitchen. Nimble and fast, I darted out of the apartment and into an empty hall. I had no idea where my father had gone, but I knew he wouldn’t do something as stupid as exchange Abbey for his men. I sprinted through the halls, down the stairs, and into the control room. I ran by desk after desk until I was in the doorway of my dad’s office. But it was empty.
“What’s wrong?” Sawyer asked.
I turned toward the vampire with kaleidoscope-colored eyes. “Have you seen my father?”
“No. He left with you,” Sawyer said.
I hurried out and checked the war room. Empty. I navigated every office on the second floor, even Webb’s. Empty. I did the same on the third floor. No Dad.
I called Dad’s phone. It rang until the line clicked to voice mail. I hung up and darted down to the basement. As I did, I called Webb. The line rang and rang. Argh! I was about to head to the training room to tell Sam what was going on, when I heard voices coming from the opposite end of the hall where the weapons room was located.
“Commander,” Tripp said. “What are you doing?”
I rushed into the weapons room to find Dad collecting daggers, stars, swords, and a gun. I caught his arm. “Dad, stop.”
Black threaded through Tripp’s bronze eyes. “What happened?”
My dad growled, the sound downright scary, as the guns and daggers on the table before us started dropping to the floor or flying across the room.
I stomped my foot on the tiled floor to let the elemental energy of the earth fill me. Then I sucked in all the air in the room as Tripp grabbed onto his neck, unable to get a breath.
“Get out,” I said to Tripp.
He obeyed faster than a speeding train.
My dad hardly felt my wrath like Tripp had. Then again, he was as powerful as me. He didn’t stop in his quest to pack weapons into a duffel bag.
I tried again to squeeze the air from his lungs, not to hurt him, but to weaken him so he would stop. But the more I sucked the air out of the room, the faster every dagger and star in the room flew around us, swirling like a tornado.
If Dad wanted to play, then I would. I fisted my hands at my side and concentrated on each dagger until they were all pointing at him. Then I moved so I was facing him. I lifted my arms up and out. “Dad, please stop and talk.”
“No,” he said in a voice I didn’t recognize. “Edmund will die.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Dad.”
The muscles in my arms were taut, holding the daggers steady, ready to stop my dad.
“You can’t hurt me.”
The door flew open. Before Dad or I could react, Webb tackled Dad to the floor. The daggers clanked and rolled, while the stars Dad had been holding in midair embedded in the far wall.
Dad shoved Webb off him. “None of you are stopping me.”
Both men brushed themselves off as they stood.
Webb glanced at my dad. “What are you talking about?”
“Edmund has Kraft and Kodiak,” Dad said.
Webb reared back. “Impossible. They were trailing Agent Thomas and Wyman.” He looked at his watch. “Kraft and Kodiak should be back any minute.” Webb rushed over to the doorway. “Tripp, call Kraft or Kodiak. See where they are.”
My dad’s eyes were wild, his fangs dripping with saliva.
I touched his wrist. “Dad, I’m sorry.” I was. The last thing I would ever do was hurt my father. “You can’t just fly off the handle. Aren’t you the one who taught me and your men to think before you act? You always said anger wouldn’t get me anywhere. You’ve counseled Sam on his anger issues a hundred times.”
Dad sighed as he briefly closed his eyes. “Edmund will kill Rachel, Kraft, and Kodiak. I can’t let that happen.”
“Edmund has Rachel too?” Webb asked.
Tripp stuck his head in. “No answer on either Kraft or Kodiak’s phone.”
Dad’s phone rang. He plucked it from his pants pocket. After a swipe, he growled. Then he set the phone down on the table. “There’s your answer.”
Webb, Tripp, and I glanced at the screen.
I gasped. Tripp and Webb swore.
Kodiak was chained to a wall. Kraft was laid out on the floor, either dead or unconscious. The words under the photo read, We’ll be in touch.
“How did this happen?” Webb asked no one in particular. “They were tailing the CIA men. Surely, the humans didn’t capture them. They don’t have the strength.”
“They don’t need strength,” I said. “They just need the bullets filled with the sedative.” Dr. Vieira and I had no time left to tweak the antidote. We would have to make a batch no matter if the antidote worked for five minutes or an hour.
14
Webb
The CIA agents weren’t due to arrive for another hour. After Steven was calm, he and Jo went up to the mess hall to talk. When Tripp had called to tell me the commander and Jo were fighting in the weapons room, I hadn’t thought anything of it. Steven and Jo had had a tumultuous relationship; even Sam had fought with Steven on many occasions. But when I’d opened the door to the weapons room, they weren’t arguing. It had taken me a minute to react. Jo had had about ten daggers ready to stab her father. Granted, Steven was stubborn and hadn’t been listening to her, according to Tripp. Steven had to have been out of control for Jo to do something like stab her own father, although not one blade was pointing at his heart.
“That was weak,” Sam said from the other side of the punching bag.
I had to blow off some steam before I met with the agents. My mind was all over the place. My temper was teetering on the edge, much like Steven’s, and I itched to kill.
“Get on the mat,” Sam ordered, sweat dripping down his face as his five-o’clock shadow colored his angular jaw.
I glared, mainly out of sheer amazement that Sam had turned into a tall, imposing vampire overnight.
“What? I’m not afraid of you, London.”
I smoothed a hand over my head. “I am your superior officer.” It felt like yesterday that we’d rescued him from Edmund.
Rolling his eyes, Sam crossed the carpeted floor to the thick mat in the middle of the padded room. “In here, you’re my underling.”
I chuckled. The young vampire had grown some balls. Then again, Sam had always had the fortitude to take control.
“I know you’re dying to use your fists on bone and not a punching bag,” he said.
I grinned as I met him in the center. “Are you sure you can handle me?”
He let out a laugh.
Before I knew what was happening, Sam whirled around with a roundhouse kick to my jaw. My head went left then back. I touched my jaw before snapping it back into place.
For the next twenty minutes, we danced, punched, kicked, and wrestled. The entire session was freeing and energizing. I had to train more before we headed out to Alaska.
Sam snatched two towels off the chair near the door after we’d finished and threw me one. “So have you decided where the wedding will be?”
“Jo and I haven’t talked about it.” I wasn’t sure why, either. But I made a mental note to broach the topic when she and I were alone. “How is Matthew coming along, and Ben for that matter?”
Sam wiped his face. “Ben is doing great. Matthew has a long way to go.”
“We’ll need Ben for the upcoming mission. I was hoping we could use Matthew, too, now that Kraft and Kodiak have been captured.”
“Use his grandfather, Victor,” Sam said. “He helped you when you came to rescue Jo and me from the funeral home.”
I toweled the sweat off my neck. “Great idea.” Victor could wield a sword better than anyone.
“Webb, can I sit in on your meeting with those human agents? I know I’m not an official SEAL yet, but I want to learn as much as I can.”
He did have strong empath abilities that could detect if the humans were lying or scared, although it was easy to detect fear in humans just by their scent.
“With Kraft and Kodiak out and Olivia guarding Abbey, I could use your help. But I don’t want to overwhelm the two agents with a room full of people. Let me check with your dad on how we want to handle the meeting.”
He nodded. “I’m going to head up to the apartment and clean up. Text me.”
He collected his bag, and we both left. I ran up to the men’s barracks on the third floor. After a quick shower, I dressed in a fresh uniform and sent Steven a text. Let’s talk before the agents arrive. I’ll be in my office.
I’ll be there in one minute, he responded.
We had ten minutes before the agents showed.
When I walked into my office, Steven was engrossed in his phone.
I skirted by him to sit in my chair. “Has Edmund sent another text?”
He set his phone in his lap. “No. And before you ask, my daughter is in the lab with Dr. Vieira, helping him with the antidote. She’ll not be joining us for the meeting.” His tone was resolute and laced with lingering anger.
I was always thinking of Jo, but she didn’t need to be in the meeting. “You’re still pissed, I see.” I didn’t need him to meet with the human agents while he was in a mood that would scare them into leaving. “We need to be even-tempered as we plan and keep the endgame in perspective. Kraft and Kodiak will be fine. Edmund isn’t going to do anything to them, not if he’s trading them for Abbey.”
“It’s Rachel I’m worried about,” Steven said.
“I am too.” Boy, was I. I didn’t want to see Abbey grow up without her mom.
Steven pinched the bridge of his nose. “I saw stars when Edmund said he had Kraft and Kodiak. But you’re right. Jo said the same thing to me when we were in the mess hall.”
“Did you two work things out?” I asked.
“Yeah. She was just trying to stop me from doing something stupid. I saw firsthand how powerful she really is.”
I thought for a second, trying to remember if Steven had ever seen Jo in action, and I couldn’t recall one time he had. I’d seen her power when she and Sam had worked together to stop the vampires from entering that cabin in Alaska.
“We have about two minutes before the agents are here,” Steven said. “How do you want to play this?”
“You and I will meet with them in the viewing room off the lobby that has the hidden cameras. Tripp and Sam will be positioned in the room next door, watching everything from the monitors.”
“Good plan. And their background?”
I’d told Tripp but hadn’t filled in the commander. “You’ll love this. Agent Thomas and your brother, Patrick, were fraternity brothers in college. In fact, Thomas studied genetics.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “This will be an interesting meeting for sure.” Steven’s phone buzzed. “Yes, Ruth? Make them comfortable in the viewing room. We’ll be right down.” He hung up. “Show time.”
Before we left, I texted Tripp and Sam to get settled into the computer room in the lobby. Then we made our way down. I prayed that Steven and I could keep our wits about us and not kill the humans. Given Steven’s outrage earlier, I had the better chance of not taking off the humans’ heads, but we were both ready to explode.
The lobby was cold and sterile, like always. A circular desk surrounded Ruth, our receptionist, who appeared as though she was down in a hole with only her blond head visible.
I checked on Tripp and Sam. “You guys ready?”
Tripp pushed in a button on the twenty-inch computer screen that hung on the wall separating the computer room from the viewing room. “We will be in a second.”
Sam slid into a chair next to Tripp. “This should be fun.”
“If things get out of hand,” I said, “get in there.”
They both gave me a thumbs-up.
Steven waited for me before we entered the viewing room. When we did, both agents hopped up. With introductions out of the way, Agent Thomas, who had graying hair and yellow teeth, sat in one of the four chairs around the square table. Like the room Jo and I had spoken to Steven in at vampire headquarters, this room was bare bones with no windows.
Agent Wyman, who had slicked-back hair and black-as-night eyes, sat next to his partner, while Steven and I filled the remaining two chairs across from the humans.
“I understand,” Steven said, “that Agent Thomas has been here on base once already. You have questions?”
Thomas nodded. “I do. Our office was brought in on the lab explosion case that happened last month on the Indian reservation. Our boss wanted to make sure the explosion was not terrorist-related. Anyway, the coroner found some abnormal bone structure on three of the victims.”
“And abnormalities on the victims scream terrorist?” I asked. “Also how did the trail lead you to us?”
Short of Edmund sending these two yahoos to us, there was no evidence to show that my unit had anything to do with the incident.
The agents gave each other a smug look.
Wyman leaned his elbows on the table. “We found a car at the scene that belonged to a Howell Gonzalez. He told us to check with the folks at the military base in town.”
I deadpanned, while inside I was ready to use whatever scare tactics I could to get them to come clean. Regardless, I didn’t believe for a second that Howell had sent these agents our way. The vampire wanted to help us, not start trouble. Besides, I’d saved his life. Surely, he didn’t want to die so soon.
