Coalition of the Damned - 03 (20 page)

“You are not upset, Master?” the messenger asked.

The dark vampire turned on him, his face puzzled. “Of course I am upset, Puppet, but one cannot rip asunder the messenger over a little spilled blood! It would be uncivilized.” The dark one paced slowly. “However, the other hunters not having family…this is curious.

“It is impossible that Mr. DeGiacomo could have lied to me…not while under my control,” he mused. “So perhaps the other hunters lied to him? About their families still being alive?” He spun back to face the messenger, “Or where they currently reside? Or if they ever existed at all!” He laughed; more to hi
mself than from the humor of the situation.

“So, Puppet, our plan to hobble the human hunters by hol
ding captive their loved ones has fallen flat.”

“And the ex-wife may well report our attempt to capture her and her child to the hunters.”

“Of course she will,” he spat. The dark one sat on his favorite pile of rubble and tapped his chin again. “How can we use this to our advantage, Puppet?”

“I don’t see how, Master,” he said. “As you know, I’m no master tactician, but I see no way that we can use this to our a
dvantage.”

“Let me think, Puppet. If there is a way to use this foul-up to our advantage, I will find it.”

“I’m sure that you can, Master,” the messenger said with full confidence.

The dark one turned to look at him and the messenger fid
geted in his place. “Was there anything else, Puppet?”

“Only that our people were successful in placing electronic tracking devices on most of the cargo carriers of the hunters in England, the EU, and South America.” The little messenger smiled.

“Very good Puppet.” The dark one smiled. “What of the American hunters?”

“We, uh…weren’t able to get past security, Master,” he said quietly. “Not
yet
at least. They are still in place and have not given up yet.”

“Very well, Puppet. Inform me once they all have been put in place.” He dismissed him with a wave.

The dark vampire sat upon his rubble and considered the possibilities with the hunter’s family. So the woman escaped and killed two seasoned vampires doing it? Not an easy task. Being prepared is one thing, but killing two seasoned field agents is another. The Sicarii stepped up to his second floor window and gazed out at his city again. He needed to clear his mind and allow the answer to come to him. Thinking too hard clouded his thoughts, and clearing his head of thought allowed new ideas to flow into him. Nothing cleared his head as well as gazing out upon his city from the open window, the night air blowing cool upon his skin.

For more than two millennia he had found ways to turn ne
gatives into positives. He knew that every cloud had a silver lining, he just had to find a creative way to turn this into one. He had the opportunity to nab a hunter’s family member and she gave him the slip…if only he could find her again. All the better if she were with the hunters now. But then, he wouldn’t be able to use her if she were dead. Perhaps, after he and his army killed her husband, they could find her and the child and use them to promote the breeding programs…use the child as future stock and the mother now?

No sense in micro-managing the small things. Those would be the problems of the farmers. His was simply to deliver the world a massive dose of death and destruction and nurture the flames of devastation as creation itself was turned to ash. He felt the corners of his mouth tug as the smile pulled at him and he realized that as the mental image of the end of the world flashed through his mind, it was the only time in the last two thousand years he had truly been happy.

12

As the work crews continued to pack away their gear and load the trucks Matt oversaw the tasks and checked off on di
fferent groups as the trucks pulled away from the hangars and left for their different cargo planes. He had just finished signing off on the last truck when Lieutenant Gregory came up behind him. “Sir, there’s a Colonel Anderson on the line for you.”

Mitchell nodded and headed for the elevators to go to his o
ffice. “Tell him I’m on my way to the phone.” Mitchell hurried to his office, not wanting to keep the base commander of Groom Lake waiting any longer than possible, but wanting a quiet place to speak with him.

Mitchell entered his office and picked up the receiver. He punched the button before he was seated at his desk. “Colonel Anderson, thank you for calling,” he said as pleasantly as he could, knowing the other full bird would
not
be happy about the circumstances. “I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Quite all right, Mitchell,” Anderson said on the other end. Mitchell tried to picture the man in his mind and simply couldn’t do it. His voice was as non-descript as one could imagine a voice to be. “General McAfee filled me in…well, as much as he could, really.” Matt could tell that Anderson hoped for a little more i
nformation, but Matt wasn’t about to give it to him over the phone.

“Colonel, I can assure you that the need for your facility is real…and temporary. As soon as we arrive I will be more than happy to fill in any blanks that the general couldn’t,” Matt o
ffered. “But under the circumstances, with phone lines the way they are, I’m sure you understand my hesitation in divulging any more information than absolutely necessary.”

There was a brief silence on the line before Anderson came back. “I do understand, Colonel,” he stated plainly. “General McAfee told me…
more
than I think he probably should have,” he said somewhat cryptically. “However, we were speaking in person at the time and I must say, sir, that I have a bit of trouble believing what he had to say.”

“That is understandable,” Matt replied with an internal groan. If McAfee let the cat out of the bag, he might have a harder time selling the need for Groom Lake to the base CO than he expected. “But I can assure you, Colonel, it is a very real threat.”

“That is what the general said as well.” Anderson cleared his throat and then asked, “Is it true that you and your teams have been battling these…
types
of terrorists…for over ten years now?”

“Very true,” Mitchell informed him, unsure of what else to add. “And, as I stated earlier, our need for your facilities will only be temporary.” Mitchell felt this might be the time to test the waters on the availability of Groom Lake’s security forces. “Colonel, if I might ask, what military and security forces do you have at your disposal that we might be able to put to use for the upcoming endeavor?”

Anderson paused a little longer than Mitchell liked, and when he came back on the line, he didn’t directly answer Matt’s question. “Mitchell, did McAfee explain to you how this was going to work?”

Matt stiffened in his chair and reached for his scotch out of habit. He sighed as he poured himself a double and skipped the ice this time. “No, Colonel, he didn’t explain anything to me. He simply stated that Groom Lake would be made available.”

Matt heard Anderson chuckle slightly over the phone and his earpiece crackled as Anderson obviously shifted his phone about. “Allow me to enlighten you somewhat. You and your team have
full
access to this facility, and you and I both hope that you are successful in your little
endeavor
.” He paused and Mitchell knew that Anderson was about to drop a bombshell on him that he wasn’t prepared for. “You have your reasons for wanting to be successful and so do I…well, besides the obvious ones.”

“I’m sure,” Matt added dryly.

Anderson chuckled again. “For certain. I’m sure that the good general informed you that I’m a career man?”

“Oh yes,” Matt replied. “He most certainly made a point of—”

“Good. Then it won’t come as a surprise to you that I held out a bit on him.” Matt could almost hear Anderson smiling through the phone. “You might say I balked on him. Dangled the carrot, so to speak.”

“Mm-hmm. And what did the ‘carrot’ cost the general?”

“Why, my star, of course. As soon as you and your…hunting party are done saving the world, I pack my bags and report to the Pentagon,” Anderson stated quite happily. “While you and your teams? You inherit Groom Lake. Or, whatever’s left of it.”

Matt sat there a moment, his mouth hanging open and his scotch held in his hand. He wasn’t sure how to respond to such a statement. After a moment, he set his scotch on his desk and b
efore he could gather his thoughts to reply Anderson said, “No comment, Mitchell?”

“That isn’t what I wanted, Anderson,” he said quietly. “I o
nly needed to borrow—”

“That’s
General
Anderson,” Anderson interrupted. “Rather, it will be soon enough.” He chuckled again.

Matt forcibly swallowed the bile that rose in the back of his throat and quickly swallowed the scotch on his desk. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“I certainly played my cards right,” Anderson said coyly.

“You certainly did,” Matt agreed, but not for the same re
asons.

“So, Mitchell, when do you and your teams plan to arrive?” Anderson asked.

“In the morning. I’ll be needing as many hangars as you can make available.”

“Yes, McAfee gave me a short briefing of your needs. All classified projects are being pigeon holed into as small an area as we can manage, all non-essential personnel are being sent off base and all contracted security forces are being called in,” he stated. “You do realize that our security teams are all contracted people, don’t you? We have Wackenhut contracted out here. Most are ex-commando types, or wanna-bes, but they are pretty hard-core. We really don’t have many active duty military out here. But what we do have are all at your disposal.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get,” Matt said. “Especially military people who have technical expertise.”

“Those, we have,” Anderson replied with a joyful lilt in his voice.

“Then I suppose I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Colonel.”

“Looking forward to it, Colonel,” Anderson replied.

As Matt hung up, he poured himself another scotch and called for Laura on the two-way. He kept thinking about what kind of officer would sell his own command for a promotion and it made his stomach turn again. He had half a mind to send Anderson packing the moment he got to Groom Lake, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, a darker thought crept up behind it…
wouldn’t it just be too damned bad if something fatal happened to the general-to-be during the altercation in the desert
? Matt shook his head and wondered where that thought came from, but the growl that came from deep in his chest reminded him exactly where the thought had originated from. His wolf thought it and he allowed it to surface.

An evil smile crossed his features and Matt had to erase the thought from his mind. He was an officer as well and he wouldn’t allow such thoughts to manifest in his mind. He’d r
ather a scumbag like Anderson get promoted than have his blood on his hands.

Matt stared at his map of the U.S. across his office and the area where the Groom Lake base was located. He pondered the possibilities of running the operation from the facility, then rea
lized, if the entire Groom Lake facility was turned over to him…he wouldn’t be able to run the operation anymore…he’d have to be a base commander!

For a moment, Matt almost panicked as he thought of losing the teams and being stuck with administrative duties that he did
not
want, but then he pushed away the thoughts and refused to allow the fear to grab him. He reminded himself that he was still an officer first and the Monster Squad CO second. If McAfee arranged this, then there was a reason. He was sure that he could contact the Oversight Committee and get things changed if he absolutely needed to, but…this was unheard of. Usually base commanders were Academy men who were half a step from earning their star if they hadn’t already. He wasn’t an Academy man. He had no intentions of ever rising up past full bird and the very thought of moving anywhere beyond where he was now…hadn’t crossed his mind in the past ten years.

Laura knocked on his door and pulled him from his thoughts. “Enter.” He poured her a drink to go with his third.

“You bellowed, oh great one,” she teased as she slipped into the chair opposite him.

“Just got off the horn with Colonel Anderson at Groom Lake,” Matt’s face was solemn.

“Oh, shit,” Laura groaned. “Let me guess. We can have the base over his dead body?”

“Oh, no…better,” Matt said, his face taut. He slid her drink toward her.

“Do I want to know?” she asked as she sipped at the amber fire water.

Matt reclined in his chair, holding the scotch to his chest and stared at her. “The bastard held the base over the General’s head and basically blackmailed his way to his General’s star,” Matt informed her. “We save the world from mindless bloo
dsuckers and that little weasel gets made into a military leader of men. Can you believe that?”

Laura shook her head and downed the scotch. “Un-fucking-believable,” she hissed.

“Believe it.” He said. “And you want to know what else?”

“Oh no. There’s a part two?” she moaned. “Wait…pour me another.” She slid her glass over and Matt poured the drink.

“I’m glad you’re sitting down.” Matt said. “Whatever’s left of Groom Lake after we save the world…”

“IF we save the world, you mean.”

“IF we save the world, you are correct.” Matt nodded to her. “Well, whatever is left of the base? You are looking at her
new
base commander once the dust is settled.” Matt’s mouth was a tight line.

Laura’s eyes rounded with shock. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

“Matt! That’s freaking great!” she cried out as she stood up. “We have our own base now.”

“In the middle of a flippin’
desert
!” he shot back. “There’s
nothing
to do out there.”

She shot him a look that would have broken a concrete wall. “Matt, nobody ever leaves the base now.”

“Because there are actually things to do here, Laura. We have no idea what is out there. From the satellite photos I’ve seen…there’s nothing there. People leave every night by plane. Or bus. But the point is, they LEAVE. There’s nothing there,” he explained. “I can’t expect my guys to move to the middle of nowhere and be effective. They need down time to do…stuff. They might want to go to a baseball game.”

Laura scoffed, “It’s a Triple A team, Matt.”

“It’s a good Triple A team,” he argued. “And we have basketball...”

She nodded, “Yes, there is that. So, we bring in the stuff they like. You’re the new base commander. You can do stuff like that, remember?”

“But I’ll be responsible for
everything
out there. I may not be able to CO the Monster Squad anymore,” he said quietly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Her faced twisted into a quizzical look.

“It means,” he replied, “that you may have to take over as CO of the squads.” His eyes reflected the sadness he felt.

Laura’s eyes rounded again, but this time from fear. “Oh, no. No, no, no…Matt, no!” she repeated. “I’m not…I can’t do that!” she said, backing up away from him.

“Laura you’re the perfect pick,” he said, getting to his feet.

“No, you don’t understand,” the color draining from her face, “I’ve been…under a lot of stress lately. I’ve actually been thinking of maybe…moving on.”

“Moving on? To what?”

Laura groaned and looked away, unable to meet his eyes. “Anything.” She shook her head. “Matt, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

Matt sat there and studied her. He knew that she had been having problems, but he needed her to pick up the slack and take the reins on this. She was his right hand man. But he didn’t want to pile on more than she was ready to handle.

He slowly approached her and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “Listen, right now we don’t know what the situation will be out there. It may be that I can do both,” he lied. He knew better, and so did she. Groom Lake was a busy, black budget, high-dollar military operation and it would take all of his atte
ntions to keep it going. “Just think about it. And if you honestly don’t think you can handle it, that’s okay too. You’re my friend and I want what’s best for you, you know that.”

“I know, and I truly appreciate the offer.” But they both knew that she wouldn’t take him up on it. She was biding her time. “I’ll consider it.” She turned to face him and he saw the concern and worry in her eyes.

“Okay. But one problem at a time. Right now, we have to finish getting everything loaded onto the transport planes and ready to go by morning.”