hellcat 05 - come hell or high water (25 page)

“Where are we going?” Julius asked, his hand tracing intricate patterns on the leather of her pants, slowly working closer to the V between her legs.  She bit her lip, forcing her concentration to stay on the road. An accident now would put a serious damper on her plans. 

“You’ll see,” she purred back at him. She’d been out this way several months ago on a job, so she knew a couple of the rural lanes.  And she knew this one particular spot…

In deference to the car, she slowed to a crawl when they hit the gravel, gentling it along the rarely used track.  Trees overhung the rough road and thick bush sheltered it from view.  She gritted her teeth as Julius’s expert fingers drew tiny circles along her inner thighs.  She would make it to her secret spot, she would… She grabbed his marauding hand and drew his fingers to her mouth, nipping them warningly, but not taking her eyes from the road.  He chuckled low and deep.  Just a few more… She let out a gusty sigh as the tiny clearing appeared in front of her.  A stream bubbled over rocks and river sand, and a patch of unruly grass hugged its edge beneath the dragging arms of a weeping willow.  This little haven was known only to a handful, and few of those would be here before sunrise.  So sheltered from the rest of the world that it would be at least an hour before the searching fingers of dawn broke through the trees. 

“Perfect,” Julius murmured appreciatively, and a moment later the button and zip on her trousers were undone, and his fingers were doing more than drawing patterns.  Her eyes closed and a gasp escaped as he unerringly found her clit through the fabric of her undies. 

“Lea,” he groaned as the scent of her arousal filled the car, “you have no idea how much I need you right now.”

“Oh yes, I do,” she whispered hoarsely, lifting her hips to allow him to slip her pants downward, anything to give him greater access to her aching centre.  She had long forgotten how difficult it was to have sex in a car, but Julius, as large as he was in the tiny interior of the two-seater car, was quick and deft.  Before she knew it, her boots were off along with her pants, and only her lace underwear remained. 

Removing his shoes and trousers was far more difficult, not helped by his inability to keep his hands to himself.  She squealed like a naughty
school girl when she leaned over him, her butt in the air, to tug at his laces and his fingers slipped deep inside her.  The orgasm caught her unawares and she cried out raggedly as the wave engulfed her.  She breathed through the aftershocks as she determinedly divested him of his shoes.  She was barely aware of the slight ache in her shoulder, but he must have felt it because he gently pulled her away and in a quick movement removed his trousers himself.  Gabi sat on her haunches in the driver’s seat, admiring the view for just a second, and then she couldn’t hold out any longer, her head lowered to take him into her mouth.  A deep moan reverberated through the car followed by a hiss of indrawn breath as she grazed his sensitive tip with her teeth.  His cock twitched wildly and his hands found her hair, pulling her head back.

“I can’t wait any longer, my Lea, I promise I’ll make it up to you next time.”  His hands went to her waist, lifting her to straddle him, and in one smooth movement he plunged inside her.  He filled her, stretched her, touched the very core of her, completed her and sent her straight to heaven. 

********************

Gabi stepped into the
underground bunker and blinked.

“Wow,” she breathed as she gazed around, amazed.

“Welcome to
CenOps.” Trish bounced up to give her a hug.  “Does that sound too corny?  I can’t decide.  Have you got any other ideas?” 

Gabi hid a wince as the hug jostled her still tender shoulder.  Despite an infusion of blood from Julius earlier, she still wasn’t entirely free of pain.  They were still working on how much Vampire blood was safe for her, and how much healed what kind of injury.  Stab wounds, cuts and bruises generally healed quicker and easier than bone and tendon injuries, but it seemed the damage done by the bullet was more serious, or perhaps the delay in taking Julius’s blood was the cause.  She pushed the niggling concerns aside. 

“CenOps?” she asked, moving Trish off to her uninjured side.

“Central operations.” Kyle grinned, unfolding himself from the underside of a desk. He was holding pliers and a small screwdriver.  “Gently, sweets, Gabi was shot, remember.” 

Gabi glared at him, but was inwardly relieved that Kyle still cared enough to worry about her, even though it would make Trish feel bad.

“Oh, dang, I’m sorry.” Trish was instantly contrite.

“It’s fine.  I’m fine,” Gabi assured her.  “CenOps is great.  What you guys have accomplished here is nothing short of miraculous.”  She wasn’t feigning admiration to redirect Trish, but it worked nonetheless.  The room was the size of a triple garage, and its origins were obvious.  Who knew that the City had unused emergency bunkers?  The answer was Byron, of course.  Bunkers that had fallen off the official Council asset list decades ago.  Only those who’d been on the City Council since its official inception more than forty years ago knew of their existence, and most of those had long since forgotten about them.  There were a handful scattered around the City, many had been filled in or built over, but this one happened to be just a few minutes’ drive from Kyle and Trish’s Haven. 

It must have taken days to dismantle and remove all the old surveillance equipment and archaic computer gear, never mind equip it with the mountains of newer technology that flashed, blinked and whirred all around them.  A large alcove to her right had been fitted out as a kitchenette, complete with espresso machine, microwave and fridge.  A sign on a door to the right of that proclaimed a bathroom, and the hum of several generators created a soft blanket of white noise over the constant din of a hundred different electronics.  A thick, hard-wearing carpet covered the floor, giving the bunker a much-needed touch of warmth, and pale yellow paint on the exposed walls brought a touch of cheer—definitely Trish’s feminine touch. It was kind of starship Enterprise meets
Better Homes and Gardens
, but Gabi loved it.

“Oh, we’re getting there,” Trish said, leading Gabi towards a bank of computers set off to one side of the other equipment.  “At least my station is up and running.  The fibre-optic cable for our Internet was connected this morning, so I can work here now.”

“I’ll put the coffee on,” Kyle said. 

Gabi elbowed him in the ribs as he tugged one of her curls on his way past her en route to the kitchenette.  “Make mine a double shot,” she told him. 

“What else would I do?”  She could hear the smile in his voice.  Seeing him so relaxed and happy could only make her happy too.

Trish pulled a chair up for Gabi and took a seat in front of her computer.  Her fingers began a well-choreographed dance across the keyboard.  “Julius made it back okay?” she asked, her fingers not missing a step. 

Gabi couldn’t hold back the stupid smile that curved her lips as she nodded.  “He’s in daysleep.  It took some convincing, but he was exhausted.”  And not just from his trip.  She had a crick in her neck and sore muscles after their antics in the car, and the memories were threatening to redden her cheeks, so she quickly changed the topic.  “I hear you’re going to have some students soon.”

Byron had called the previous day to catch up and had dished that Trish was going to begin training several supernaturals to do the kind of thing she could do with computers.  Each pack had been invited to pick members to undergo basic training, and so far they had more applicants than Trish could cope with.  They’d narrow the field down to a core of the most gifted students who would ultimately take over the roles that Magi had previously filled, trawling the web for digital uploads, forum discussions or video feed that compromised the safety of
the Community in the City and covering up any cases of supernatural violence by redirecting human involvement.  Trish was going to have her hands full working for Julius, helping out here at CenOps and training hacker wannabes.

“Oh, I’m a little nervous about that,” Trish said, pausing to look over at the bank of multiple screens that were steadily filling with information. 

“You’ll do brilliantly,” Gabi assured her as Kyle joined them with three mugs, dishing them out and folding his lean frame into a spare chair.

“I keep telling her the same thing,” he sighed, “but she won’t believe me.  Maybe she’ll believe you.” 

Trish flashed him a frown gentled by a smile.  “Right, down to work,” she said,
rechecking the screens.  “Thanks to Henry’s undercover work, our local police
database and facial-recognition software, meet Dark Stalker and Lady Helsing.”  Two faces appeared on one of the two monitors.  The woman was striking; sharp
cheekbones, delicate
jawline and perfectly straight nose adorned with a
single diamond
nose stud.  Dark red lips pouted slightly above
another stud embedded just above her chin.  This one a ruby. 
Platinum blonde hair and heavy make-up completed her look.  A look that screamed attitude. 

“Real names:
David Murphy and
Sasha Beecham,” Trish said.  “Sasha is
twenty-seven.” Another screen flared to life below the woman’s photo, with a list of details. “She’s the
night-duty manager of Exodus, one of the hottest clubs in the City right now.”  Another list appeared on the screen below the male.  “David is
twenty-nine and owns his own tattoo parlour, which he opened eight years ago.  It’s known as the best place to go for ink if you want real art.” 

The man stared at Gabi from the screen.  Even in the headshot it was clear he was inked to the max.  His head was shaved clean, and Gabi didn’t bother counting the piercings.  Despite or perhaps even because of that, he was an attractive man.  There was something deeply mesmerising about his eyes.

“Are they a couple?” Gabi asked.

“It seems likely, but we haven’t been able to confirm that yet,” Trish said.  “What we do know is that they are both highly accomplished at
Parkour.”

“Parkour?” The word was familiar. 

“It’s another name for
Urban Running,” Kyle supplied.

“You mean those idiots who run through the City jumping walls and cars and making a general nuisance of themselves?” Gabi asked. 

Kyle grinned.  “Well, I’m sure they wouldn’t describe themselves like that, but yes, those guys.”

“Hmm.” Gabi sipped her coffee while she contemplated.  “I wonder what the relevance of that is to the Kresniks.”

“We think we know that bit,” Trish said, replacing the two headshots with a collection of group photos.  “Well, at least part of the story.  I managed to pull up some pics from social media of gatherings of the top Parkour runners in the area, and if you look through them, at least some of the faces match Henry’s descriptions of some of the other members of the Kresniks.  I think the so-called upper management are all from the Parkour world.  Their acrobatic and gymnastic abilities make them more formidable opponents against werewolves.  Perhaps that’s what attracted whoever recruited them?”

“I guess that would make sense,” Gabi mused, leaning forward to study the photos.  “Do we have any usable home addresses?”

Trish pulled a face.  “Nothing.  They have the same listed home address, and it’s a
backpackers place in the seedy end of East Central.”

Gabi hadn’t really expected it to be that easy.  “How about identifying our mystery Vampire?” She tried another angle.

“We appropriated Jade after seeing her fantastic work with Adriana. We sat her down with Henry late last night and this is what they produced.”  The final screen on the top row flashed to life with two detailed pencil drawings of a man.  The first was a full-length sketch and the other was a
close-up of his face.  There truly was nothing remarkable about him; even the notes alongside the drawings for height and general characteristics could have matched a quarter of the men in the City.  This was someone who could fade into the background anywhere he went. 

“Henry told us they don’t often speak of him, but confirmed that he is the one they call the Lieutenant.  For the most part they seem unaware of his presence.” Trish’s tone turned frustrated.  “I can’t find anything on him.”

“It isn’t all that surprising for a Vampire, especially if he’s an older one.”  A reluctant smile tugged at Gabi’s mouth. “Always watch out for the little ones,” she intoned and Kyle snorted a laugh.  It was the only thing they’d known about Vampires before Julius came along.  The shorter, wiry ones tended to be the ones oldest in Vampire years, from the days when a lack of good nutrition built people shorter, frailer and less muscular than in more recent times. 

“We thought if you showed the sketch to Julius or the others, someone might recognise him,” Trish said to Gabi.  “Our only other option is to get Henry to try to take a photo of him and widen the scope of the face-recognition software in the hopes that it turns up an identity, but it’s a long shot with a Vampire.”

“Print me some copies, and I’ll check with the Clan,” Gabi replied.  “Are you still in email contact with Xavier?  Send him a copy too; he sees a lot of Vampires.”

“That’s a good idea.” Trish nodded. “I’ll do that now.”  Her fingers were already at work. 

“So, we know who they are; how about where they operate from?” Gabi asked Kyle. 

“Trish has some leads,” he told her.  “We’re working on tracking the guns as well.  I think we’ve located the dealer through some of his cronies.  If we can confirm it, it’ll be quicker to pull the info out of their heads by Vampire
mind-roll than to threaten or torture it out of them.  Can you arrange some help with that?”

“Absolutely.” Gabi grinned.  “Just tell me when and where.”  She stood to rinse her coffee mug in the sink at the kitchenette and grabbed a cookie from the large jar on the counter as her stomach grumbled; without Rose and Kyle around to remind her, she’d been forgetting to eat.

“We’ll get back to work, then.” Kyle sighed.  “I’ll call as soon as we have anything of interest.” 

Gabi climbed the narrow staircase out of the bunker, determined to find the nearest
drive-thru before she did anything else.