Blake's Pursuit (28 page)

“What boulder?”

“Some massive stone. And this—” He pointed to something in the book. “—was carved in it. I’m telling you it was a portal. Some sort of transportation system. Here, Francine writes about it, too.”

Curious, Lilo joined them at the desk, moving next to Blake. He made space so she could look at the book, simultaneously snaking one arm around her waist.

The book looked like it had been published in Gutenberg’s time. Printed on a page headed
Stealth Guardians
, was a drawing of a dagger.

“Stealth Guardians? What are those?” she asked.

Wes glanced at her. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We’ve never encountered them before.”

“Do you think they have something to do with Ronny and his friends?”

“No,” Blake answered firmly. “If they were in league with Norwood and his guys, they wouldn’t have asked Wesley to destroy the drug.” He looked at Wes. “You’re sure you heard right?”

“I might not have a vampire’s sensitive hearing, but I’m not deaf, man.”

Lilo looked up at him, surprised and confused. “But why don’t you have a vampire’s sensitive hearing? Don’t all vampires have that?”

Wes chuckled. “Oh they do. But I’m not a vampire.”

“You’re not? But I thought—”

Wes looked at Blake. “You didn’t tell her? I thought you had no secrets from her.”

Blake pulled her closer to him. “I don’t. But there was a lot to fill Lilo in on. And I’m afraid you weren’t that high on my priority list.”

“I guess I’ll have to remember that the next time you want a favor.”

“So what are you then?” Lilo interrupted, too curious to wait another second.

“I’m a witch, of course.” There was pride in his voice. “One of the best.”

She had no words. But was it really so far fetched? If vampires existed, why not witches, werewolves, and gargoyles? Why not demons and angels?

“A witch,” she murmured to herself, then shrugged. “What else is new?”

“Well, a little more awe would have been nice,” Wes said dryly. “But maybe I’m asking too much.”

“I didn’t meant to—”

Blake squeezed her to him. “Don’t pander to him, Lilo. He’s just fishing for compliments.” Then he tipped his chin in Wesley’s direction. “I’m not sure what you want to do with this information, Wes, but I don’t think it’s gonna help us rescue Hannah.”

“I realize that. But these guys, these Stealth Guardians, they have powers we don’t. They can make themselves invisible and walk through walls.”

At Wesley’s revelation, her chin dropped.

“I figured,” Wes continued, “considering they seemed to be on our side concerning the drugs, we could make them our allies. With their powers—”

“How would you even find them?” Blake shook his head. “We don’t have the time or resources to spend on this right now.”

“But it might help us.”

“It might, but what if it doesn’t? We don’t know who these guardians are. We don’t know their agenda, or whether they’re friendly to vampires. You were the only one they met. And you’re a witch. What if they’re not that peaceful when it comes to vampires?” Blake shook his head again. “With Hannah still in Norwood’s hands, I’m not going to risk a distraction or accidently start a war with a species we know nothing about.”

“I don’t need any backup. I can do this on my own. Nobody from Scanguards would be pulled off his duty to search for Stealth Guardians.”

“Wrong!” Blake poked his index finger into Wesley’s chest. “
You
would be. And we need you. You’re the only one who knows how to cast a spell or brew a potion. What if we can’t defeat Norwood with conventional weapons? We need you, Wes.
I
need you.”

For a few seconds Wes seemed to war with himself, but Blake’s plea—laced with compliments Wes clearly appreciated—won him over. “Fine. I’ll stay here. But once Hannah is safe, I’m going to search for them.”

Slowly Blake nodded. “And I’ll support you when you bring it up with Samson. Ultimately he’ll have to approve.”

“He will.”

Without a knock, the door flew open and John appeared. “Showtime,” he announced. “Ronny just got the call. We don’t have much time. They want him to bring the drugs to Fort Mason. In thirty minutes.”

“Did he get assurances from them that they’re bringing Hannah to the meeting?”

Blake released her, hurrying to a cupboard and ripping open the door. Inside were several guns, knives, and stakes.

John nodded. “Ronny played the suffering boyfriend pretty convincingly. He begged them to let him see her. They agreed.”

Blake grabbed several weapons and turned back to his colleague. “Then let’s go.” Then his gaze drifted to her. “Stay here.”

“Please take me with you.”

“No, Lilo. We’ve barely got enough time to get there. There’s no time to implement any safety measures for you. Stay by the phone.” He motioned to his desk. “I’ll call you as soon as we know anything. Promise.”

He was right, of course. She knew that. “Okay. I’ll wait.”

A quick smile and Blake was gone, his colleagues with him. Now all she could do was wait.

38

They’d parked the cars and vans at the end of a cul-de-sac surrounded by greenery. On the other side of it, an embankment covered in trees and shrubs led down to three broad piers, which held old warehouses that had long ago been converted to a center for art and culture with regular exhibitions, artists’ work spaces, and large private events.

Blake and his colleagues walked down the embankment, using the trees and shrubs for cover to get an overview of the warehouses and surrounding area. Besides the three large warehouses on the piers, a small firehouse sat just below the embankment. Five more structures, each almost as large as the warehouses, sat on solid ground near the water.

Blake gave his colleagues the sign to spread out. He’d brought a large contingent of men with him: for every guy that Norwood had, Scanguards had brought three, many of them crack shots, who could take out a target from a long distance. However, everybody had to remain hidden until the enemy showed himself.

John remained next to him, watching a red dot on his cell phone move around a map. “Ronny’s just entering the first gate.”

Blake peered into the distance. “What’s he driving?”

“His own truck. We figured Norwood would be less suspicious if everything looks normal. We put a tracker in Ronny’s shoe to make sure we can keep an eye on him if he has to leave the car somewhere and continue on foot.”

“And the drugs?”

“He told us they came in liquid form, so we filled plastic bottles with colored water.”

“As long as they don’t smell it, I guess we’ll be fine.”

“And by the time they do,” John added, “we’ll already have them by the balls.”

Blake heard a crackling sound over his earpiece. “Positions?”

“This is Wes. My team is at the south end, opposite buildings B and C.”

“Oliver here. We should be at the northern end of building A in about sixty seconds.”

There was a pause.

“Amaury?”

“Yeah. Sorry, had to adjust the volume. My guys and I are stationed behind some crates at the entrance of the walkway between buildings D and E. We have a good view of the parking lot. Ronny’s just pulling up.”

“Good. John and I are overlooking the Festival Pavilion, and we can see the entrance to the Herbst Pavilion, too.” Several shadows approached from the back of the firehouse and slowly crept past the shrubbery there. “Shit, I can see somebody approaching from the east. Anybody got eyes on them from below?”

He exchanged a look with John, indicating that if nobody was closer, he and John would try to take them from behind.

The three figures froze. “It’s us,” Samson suddenly said through the earpiece. “I’ve got Haven and Yvette with me. I texted you that we were coming.”

Just then, Blake felt his cell phone vibrate and looked at it. Samson’s text message appeared on the screen. “Just got it now. Glad you’re here.”

For a few minutes, everybody remained silent. Blake glanced at the dot that represented Ronny. “Amaury?” he asked through his mic. “What’s Ronny doing?”

“Waiting around next to the car.”

“They’re late,” Blake said.

“Yeah, or something,” John said next to him, frowning. “I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” Thirty minutes hadn’t given them any time to prepare for this. They were winging it, and Blake could only hope that everybody would think on their feet and make the right decisions when it came to it.

“I hear something,” Oliver suddenly said. “I think it’s a boat.”

“Samson? You see anything from where you are?” Blake asked.

“Definitely a boat approaching. A small motorboat,” Samson confirmed.

“How many people on it?”

“Not sure. One driving it. But there could be more hiding in the hull.”

“Okay. Sharpshooters, get ready!” Blake started issuing his orders. “All teams: move in.” He motioned to John and they descended all the way down to the embankment until they reached the paved area. Communicating by signs now, so as not to be overheard by the approaching vampires, they moved closer, using the buildings and parked cars to give them cover.

Blake could hear the engine of the motorboat being throttled down, and knew the boat was coming to a stop now, somewhere between buildings A and B.

A loud bang suddenly jolted him.

“What’s that?” he hissed into his mic.

“Fuck if I know,” Amaury cursed.

“I’m going in,” Blake growled.

“Wait!” Samson cautioned, but Blake was already running.

“Cover me!”

~ ~ ~

Lilo paced back and forth in Blake’s office. There wasn’t even a window to help her wile away the time, something she hadn’t noticed until Blake had left. Every few minutes she looked at the clock on his wall. There were actually three clocks. One showed the current time, the second counted down to sunrise, the third to sunset. And the less time there was left until sunrise, the more nervous she became.

She wished somebody would tell her what was happening. Had Ronny’s associates brought Hannah with them? What was happening right now? Were they all safe?

The ringing of Blake’s phone made her jump. She raced toward it and grabbed the receiver, afraid that the ringing would stop before she could get to it.

“Blake?”

“Lilo? Oh thank God, it’s you.”

The female voice couldn’t possibly belong to the person she thought. “Hannah?”

“Yes, Lilo, it’s me. Oh God! It’s terrible. I’m free, but Lilo, he’s hurt so bad. Blake is hurt so bad, and some of the others, they’re dead. I don’t know what to do.”

An iron fist clamped around her heart and squeezed. “Blake? Oh no! Please no!” She couldn’t go through this again. She’d almost lost him once, she wouldn’t survive a second time.

“Listen, Lilo. I’m in Blake’s car. He’s with me. We’ll be at HQ in a minute. But I don’t have the strength to get him into the building. He’s too badly hurt, he can’t move on his own. Help me!”

“I’ll be down there. Please, Hannah, hurry. I can’t lose him.”

She slammed the receiver down and charged to the door, ripped it open and ran for the elevator, pressing the button several times before the doors opened. She jumped in. The ride down to the first floor couldn’t have taken more than fifteen seconds, but it felt like an eternity. All she could think of was Blake. He was hurt. He needed her.

Oh God, what had happened at Fort Mason? What had these monsters done to the men of Scanguards? How many of them had died? A sob worked itself up from the pit of her stomach to her throat. She tried to force it down. Blake needed her. She had to remain strong.

When she reached the first floor she practically flew through the lobby, ignoring the questioning look of the woman behind the reception desk.

A guard stood at the glass exit door. He glanced at her visitor badge and nodded as she breezed past him and barreled outside onto the sidewalk.

She searched for Blake’s Aston Martin, but couldn’t see it. Had Hannah not gotten here yet?

Please, please!

She prayed silently. Don’t let him die.

“Lilo! Here!”

She whirled her head to the side and saw Hannah wave to her from the corner. “He’s here.”

Lilo ran toward her friend. “Hannah!” She’d never been more relieved to see her friend. Hannah looked exhausted and worn out, dark circles under her eyes, her red hair an unruly mess, her clothes rumpled.

When Lilo reached her, Hannah was already running toward the car, which was parked halfway down the block.

“You should have double-parked right in front!” Lilo called out, tears brimming at her eyes. How were they gonna carry Blake inside?

“Help me, Lilo!” Hannah waved to her as she opened the passenger door of Blake’s car. “Quickly. He hasn’t got much time left.”

She raced to the car, and Hannah stepped aside, so she could tend to Blake. Lilo reached out and bent toward the interior—but nobody was sitting in the passenger seat.

“Where is he?” She spun her head to Hannah, but it was too late.

Her friend pressed a cloth to her face. Lilo gasped in surprise and sucked in the vapors emanating from the cloth: chloroform.

“No! Help!” But nobody heard her muffled cries.

She tried to fight it, but all the strength seeped from her body and she collapsed, darkness descending on her.

39

Blake stared at the human who’d arrived with a small motorboat and then calmly walked into the arms of the vampires waiting for him. With a permanent marker somebody had written
For Scanguards
on his white T-shirt.

“They sent a fucking pawn!” Blake ground out, while the man continued to stare blankly into the distance.

“Drugged out, just like the other guy,” Wesley confirmed. “They must have known we were coming.”

Blake kicked against a trashcan. “Fuck!” No matter how careful they’d been, he’d always known that there was a chance that Norwood and his guys had been watching Ronny, though there hadn’t been any indication of it. “How’re we gonna find Hannah now?”