BodySnatchers (7 page)

“Better just one person than two. That way, if I get in
trouble, you can go for help. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, call Tanner.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Tough. I’m going.” The truck’s engine rumbled and it rolled
past the building and then backed in. Reggie crept up to the passenger side and
crouched low, walking inside with the truck until she passed the doorway, at
which time, she ducked behind a stand of crates on pallets.

Her heart hammered against her rib cage as her eyes adjusted
to the darker interior of the warehouse. As soon as the truck cleared the
entrance, the giant doors closed.

Good. She was inside, and the alarm hadn’t gone up. Male
voices echoed in the cavernous interior. Reggie peeked around the corner of the
crate.

Eight men stood around the newly arrived delivery truck, all
looking like one or the other of Cesar’s thugs—tattooed, earring-wearing
muscular guys in black. Great. Her nightmare from last night. Only this time
there would be no vampire to rescue her. He was safely tucked in his apartment
until sunset. Definitely a limitation in her book. Not that she wanted him to
save her.

While the men focused on the truck, Reggie moved away from
the door and farther back into the warehouse half the size of a football field.
Stacks of wooden crates rose to ten feet high, creating a maze for Reggie to
work her way through one row at a time. Until she came to a solid block of
containers thirty feet wide and thirty feet long. Reggie edged her way around
the periphery until she found an entry into the stack.

Voices carried to her, sounding closer than before, and she
could hear footsteps moving her direction.

Before she could think, she ducked into the wall of crates,
finding a neat row of more wooden boxes. Only these weren’t stacked. Fourteen
of the coffin-sized containers lined the walls, each with the tops off and
white blankets covering the contents.

“Are they ready for shipment?” a male voice asked. “The boss
doesn’t want any more screwups.”

“They’re ready.” Reggie recognized Cesar’s voice from last
night. Damn she was right in the middle of something.

She ducked behind one of the crates in the shadows of the
far corner and held her breath. If they caught her, it would be up to Bert to
get word back to the PIA. By then, it might be too late.

The footsteps halted in her little room and paused in front
of one of the boxes.

“When do you want us to seal the containers?” Cesar asked.

“Not until the last minute. Each box is ventilated, but we
don’t want to risk keeping them confined for too long. Our customers want them
fresh not suffocated.”

What were they talking about? Reggie tried to read between
the lines. Were they discussing fresh foods or the missing women? Anger boiled
inside her. How could these animals play with lives the way they did? But she
knew how psychopaths worked. They had no remorse.

“Are they drugged?” Cesar said.

“Sort of. The boss put them in some kind of trance. They’re
asleep until he wakes them.”

“Must be nice to be a vamp. Wish I could use that trick on
my old lady.” Cesar laughed.

The other man remained silent.

“Well, anyway, the boss oughta be happy with this shipment,”
Cesar continued, all humor wiped from his voice.

“He’d have been happier if you’d gotten the other sister
last night.”

Reggie smothered a gasp. Although she’d guessed they’d been
talking about the women, hearing reference to her sister almost made her blow
her cover. As angry as she was, she could take two men, but the other six, and
who knew how many more there might be, could take her out, and where would that
leave her sister and the other thirteen young ladies being held hostage?

“That wasn’t our fault. She had help,” Cesar said.

“Another reason the boss was pissed.”

“Hey, that guy nearly broke my arm!”

“He let you live.”

“Barely,” Cesar muttered. “What did the boss say?”

“Nothing. Come on. We have work to do before the boss gets
here tonight.”

The men left the room, their footsteps carrying them away
from the crate room and Reggie.

For the first time in the past few minutes, she breathed.
When she thought the coast was clear, she jumped to her feet and pulled the
white blankets aside one at a time. Beneath each was a woman laid out in what
looked like makeshift coffin-like structures lined with rich-colored fabrics.
Velvet, satin, taffeta—no expense spared to outfit and present the merchandise.
Reggie’s stomach rebelled, and she fought the urge to throw up. All were young
and beautiful and in a deep sleep.

When she reached the last one that stood closest to the
entrance, her hand shook as she yanked the blanket aside.

There, nestled in white satin sheeting was her sister with
the flaming auburn hair. She wore a black lace skirt and an old-fashioned black
corset, cinched tightly to emphasize her already generous bustline.

“Madison,” Reggie whispered into her ear. She couldn’t
breathe until she felt the beat of her sister’s pulse. Then she patted
Madison’s cheek. “Wake up, Madison. Wake up.” She increased the sharpness of
her slap until realization sank in. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t
waking her sister. Whatever “the boss” had done had all these women in a deep
trance.

Reggie stood staring around the room. How could she get
Madison and all the rest of the women out? They were like dead weight. Even if
she could carry her sister, she couldn’t get past all the men out front. And if
she did, what would happen to the rest of the women? If these people knew
they’d been discovered, they’d leave and take all the evidence with them.

Much as she hated doing it, she had to leave Madison and go
get help. Lots of help.

Making a quick pass around the room, she put the blankets
back the way she’d found them. Then dropping a kiss on her sister’s cheeks, she
whispered, “I’ll be back.”

Chapter Six

The sense that Reggie was in trouble forced Yuri to do
something he hadn’t done in a long time—venture out during the daytime.

If the clouds weren’t covering the sun’s deadly rays, he
wouldn’t even attempt going out until dark. As was typical of Houston, clouds
came in from the Gulf, sometimes lingering all day and night. The weatherman
had predicted cloudy skies until close to midnight.

“I’m not feeling good about this,” Torsten said, shoving an
arm into the long, lightweight overcoat with the high collar.

Yuri pulled gloves onto his hands and adjusted the collar of
his black trench coat upward to protect the back of his neck. “Being a vampire
can be a pain.”

“But we live forever,” Torsten countered.

“If we aren’t staked in the heart by well-intentioned
citizens, fried in the daylight or otherwise dusted.”

Torsten stopped halfway into his coat and stared at Yuri.
“Tell me again why the hell we’re going out?”

“We have to stop Andrei.”

“Uh-huh. Andrei. Right.” The expressive lift of Torsten’s
eyebrows conveyed a lot more than the sarcasm in his words. “I’m thinking it’s
one redhead that’s got you all excited.”

“I’m going out for one thing and one thing only—to bring
Andrei down.”

“And if you get a little taste of red, you’ll be all that
much happier?”

“Quit teasing him, Tor.” Melisande emerged from Yuri’s room
carrying two broad-brimmed hats like the gangsters wore in the early nineteen
hundreds. “Wear these.”

“You don’t think we’ll stand out with those?”

“No more than you’ll stand out with the black trench coats
on a hot and humid day in Houston. Just tell them you’re going to a
Matrix
convention if anyone asks.”

“By the way, where are we going?” Torsten stood at the door,
settling the hat at a jaunty angle on his long white hair.

“PIA headquarters.” Yuri stepped past the slack-jawed
Norseman and strode down the hall. A small smile quirked his lips upward.

The drive to PIA headquarters was nothing less than
hair-raising. Daytime traffic in Houston was worse than anything Paris at night
had ever been.

“Tell me again why we’re going to PIA headquarters? Do you
have a death wish or what?” Torsten gripped the armrest of the HUMMV hard
enough to leave permanent grooves in the leather.

“That’s who Reggie works for, and I think they may prove of
assistance in our quest to find and eliminate Andrei and his band of Dragóns.”
He swerved around a car and zipped off the exit ramp leading to the collection
of high-rise office buildings of downtown Houston.

“This idea doesn’t make sense, Yuri. You know how the PIA
works—kill the monster now and ask questions later.”

“They won’t harm us.”

“Are you sure?”

No, he wasn’t. But by showing up in the daytime, he might
get past the front desk without them really knowing what they were. “Just
remember to remove the coat, hat and gloves before we get to the front desk.”

“Great.” Torsten leaned his head back, his sunglasses
pointing to the ceiling. “I’m riding with a lunatic to a destination no sane
vampire would walk into without a submachine gun and extra ammo belts.”

“I’m telling you, they’ll be glad to see us.” He hoped.

“Sure. Whatever.” Torsten rode in silence for the rest of
the short drive into the parking garage of the office building housing the PIA
headquarters.

After parking in the darkest corner next to the elevator,
Yuri climbed out and removed his hat, gloves and coat.

Torsten did the same, squinting at the light peeking in from
beneath the parking decks. “You sure the sun’s not coming out today?”

“The weatherman said cloudy until midnight.”

“Since when has the weatherman gotten it right?”

“Let’s hope he’s right today. I don’t plan on frying. Not
with the possibility that Andrei’s behind the missing women.”

Feeling completely exposed and a little nervous about
walking during the daylight, Yuri kept to the darkest path leading to the
elevator and breathed a sigh when he climbed in and scanned the sign indicating
what could be found on each floor of the fourteen-story building. PIA
headquarters was located on the second floor. He punched the button and grinned
at Torsten.

The tall blond Norseman shook his head. “You owe me big-time
for this.”

* * * * *

Getting out of the building took a little more time than
getting in. The truck wasn’t going anywhere until midnight, and the big doors
remained closed. Reggie worked her way around the building, hugging the shadows
for ten minutes until she came across a door leading out—the door that had been
locked from the outside at the back of the building. She scanned the door
handle for any signs of security alarms. There were no warning signs that an
alarm would go off if she opened it.

She had to take the chance. The only other opening was at
the front, and a man was stationed there. On the count of three, Reggie took a
deep breath and opened the door, stepped out and closed it behind her. She
didn’t hear any sirens or buzzing sounds to indicate an alarm had gone off. But
she wasn’t taking any chances. The quicker she got out of sight the better off
the women inside would be.

She sprinted toward the edge of the side of the building
where Bert was supposed to be waiting. He stood with his back to her, checking
around the corner and down at his watch.

“Psst!”

Bert jumped and spun toward her, his eyes wide until he
recognized her. Then he was running toward her, and they beat a hasty retreat
to their car parked three long buildings away.

Once they were on the road and away from the warehouse
district, Reggie’s heartbeat returned to semi-normal.

“What the hell happened in there?” Bert demanded.

“I found them.”

“The women?”

“Fourteen of them.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.” And it was killing her that she’d left them there.
“We have to get back to headquarters for help. This is a bigger operation than
the two of us can handle.”

“No kidding.” He leaned back and turned his head toward her.
“You all right?”

“No.” But she had to hold it together until this was all
over. “Madison is in there.”

“Damn.”

* * * * *

Spinning sideways into the parking garage, Reggie parked the
car in a
No Parking
zone next to the elevator and leaped out before the
engine had time to completely shut down. She punched the elevator button, and
when it didn’t open immediately, she turned to the stairwell, climbing the
three flights from the garage to the second floor.

When she burst through the door into the offices occupied by
the PIA, heads turned. With the lives of fourteen women hanging in the balance,
Reggie didn’t waste time on pleasantries. She jogged through the rows of
cubicles straight to Tanner’s office.

She didn’t wait for permission to enter. She pushed through
the door. “Tanner, I found them.”

Tanner wasn’t alone. Sitting with their backs to her were
two men, one with sooty black hair down to his shoulders, and the other with
hair longer than hers and so blond it could be considered white.

She swallowed her heart and felt it land like a rock in the
pit of her stomach. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Yuri and Torsten stood as one and turned toward her.
Torsten’s face was split in a long grin, whereas Yuri’s face was set in a
serious frown. Even the frown looked sexy on the man.

What was wrong with her? Good-looking men never had the
impact on her like this one. Why couldn’t he be human?

“Reggie, it’s so good to see a friendly face.” Torsten
hugged her like a long-lost friend, not the stranger she’d met during the wee
hours of dark morning when she’d needed saving from a pack of rabid gang
members. When Torsten stepped backward, Reggie could see her boss’s angry
expression.