Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (30 page)

“Oh, I’m the idiot because you want me to believe in monsters. Right.” Derek sat down on the hearth again and chuckled. “You really had me going for a bit there.”

“It’s real, Derek. And yes, vampires, elves, fairies, and yeah, even dragons are real. In fact most all of the fairy tales we heard as kids are based on fact.”

He laughed a short snort and slapped his thigh. “Sure they are.” He pointed toward the door. “Wait, you better let in the mummy, I think I hear him knocking!”

“No, Derek, mummies aren’t real. Well…I mean, they’re real, but they don’t come back to life.” She paused and scratched at her chin. “At least, I don’t think that they do.”

“Oh yeah. I’m sure you and the governor had a fun time cooking up this little joke to play on me.” He shook his finger at her. “At least you got him to eat something.”

“This wasn’t a joke, dammit!” She threw a pillow at him, catching him off guard. “And stop calling him that. He isn’t the governor any longer.”

“He’ll always be the governor to the folks around here and you know it. Just like Mom will always be—”

“I said STOP!”

He stopped talking and stared at her, seeing her for the first time since he started his rant. The tears running down her cheeks and the flushed color of anger painted across her features told him that he had gone too far. Way too far. He stood and closed the gap between them. “I’m sorry, Punk. I didn’t mean to…”

“No. Just stay over there.” She pushed him back and walked around him. She went back to her dad’s chair and fell into it. “I’m pissed and I want to be left alone.”

“You’re pissed?” Derek stood in front of her and watched her turn her head to avoid having to look at him. “You pull a stunt like that on me and you’re pissed?”

“It wasn’t a stunt. It’s real.” She reached for her phone and tossed it to him.

“What the hell?”

“The wallpaper, jackass. That’s my boyfriend with me. Notice anything?”

“Damn, he’s pale.”

“Anything…else?”

“He has the strangest colored eyes.” Derek pulled the screen closer and stared. “Are they silver or blue?”

“His teeth, stupid.” She finally looked at him and watched as his face contorted with confusion.

“Are those Halloween teeth?”

“He’s a
vampire
for fuck sake!” She reached up and plucked the phone from his grip. “And no, those aren’t Halloween teeth.”

Derek stared at her, his mouth open as his brain tried to process what she was saying. He slowly shook his head again as a smile began to form across his face. “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?”

Laura inhaled deeply and her she ground her teeth. She sat up and pulled her hair back, exposing the freshest bite marks on the back of her neck. “Does that look like I’m pulling your leg?”

Derek leaned in close and traced a finger over the dual puncture wounds. “Holy shit, Punk.”  His eyes widened as he turned to face her. “He
bit
you!”

“I wanted him to.”

“Why?” Derek screamed.

“Because I like it, you dimwit, why do you think?”

“I don’t…I mean…how could…but you…” He turned back to her, his eyes so wide she feared they would fall out of his skull. “Are you a vampire now?”

“What? No, it doesn’t work that way.”

“Yes it does! I’ve seen the movies.” He slowly backed away from her, his fingers coming up to form a cross in front of her.

“Oh for Pete’s sake.” She stood up and pushed his ‘cross’ away from her. “I wear a crucifix you dumbass.”

Derek stared at his crossed fingers then let his arms drop. “But, why aren’t you a soulless ghoul, too?”

“Oh, I’m soulless, but that’s from too many years of working for the government.” She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She pulled out two beers and tossed one to him. “But I’m no vampire, and I’m certainly no ghoul.”

“There’s a difference? Oh wait…let me guess.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she unscrewed the top and tossed the lid into the trash. “It’s complicated, D.” She took a long pull from the cold brew and leaned against the wall. “All I know is that right now, I really wish I were back there with him.”

“Oh wow. So like, you’re in love with this guy?”

She rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, D, I’m like…in love with him.”

He sat down on the hearth again and stared at the beer in his hands. “That’s heavy.” He popped the lid and took a short drink. “So…”

“Yeah. So.”

“No, I was gonna say, so…dragons? They’re really real?”

*****

Mitchell was bent over the operations console observing an overhead view of the area that his assault team would be soon be striking. He placed a gentle hand on the shoulder of the technician at the station. “ETA for drop?”

“Five minutes, Colonel.” The technician adjusted the gain on the satellite relay and the feed sharpened. “We have movement in the northeast quadrant. Looks like our tangos are on the move.”

“Heat signatures?”

“Negative, sir. Best guess based on speed and agility is they’re vamps.” The technician zoomed out on the display, broadening the area on the screen. “Small town south-by-southwest. At their current speed, they’ll reach the outer markers in about ten minutes.”

Mitchell leaned back in his chair and spun to the communications officer. “Notify Second Squad that the tangos are on the move. They need to insert ASAP and set up a moving screen along the northeast border of the town.”

“Copy that, sir.” The communications officer began relaying the information to the squad while still in transit. He held a hand up to the side of his head and closed off his other ear, trying to hear above the low murmur of the OPCOM. “Sir, Second Squad reports that they’re facing some weather. The pilot had to increase altitude and speed to get above it. He’s about to vector in now to gain them speed on the drop in.”

“Roger that.” Mitchell made adjustments to his calculations and figured the team had bought at least two more minutes prep time. “It’s still a lot closer than I’d like.”

Mark stepped into the OPCOM and sealed the door to the harsh artificial light of the hallway. He leaned in to Mitchell and lowered his voice, “I got the pilot sent off to the island. He did his part.”

Mitchell nodded and motioned to the empty logistics chair. “Saddle up. It’s about to get messy.”

“Sir, their coms are choppy but reporting.” The communications tech turned up the gain and put it on the overhead speaker. “I’ve cleaned it up as best I could.”

“OPCOM, Second Actual, we’re about to depart Pterodactyl Airlines for the comfort of the storm outside. Com check.”

“We read you, Dom.” Mitchell punched the button to bring the satellite feed up on the big screen. “Damn, this isn’t working. Put the sat feed on the big screen.”

The tech nodded and typed the commands, the screen instantly switching to the satellite feed. His monitor now shown on the widescreen at the front of the center. “We have eyes on the tangos. They’re scattering their approach angles as they close on the town.”

“Copy that, OPCOM. We’re slowing for a low altitude drop. We’ll be boots down before you know it.”

The OPCOM personnel went about their business monitoring as they listened to the squad members attach their static lines and prepare for the jump. Jericho cut in on the feed and announced that he was assuming mobile command.

“Copy that, Mobile. OPCOM standing by to provide support.” Mitchell leaned back in his chair and exhaled a long sigh, his eyes staring at the screens overhead.

“Colonel, this is the first time using this drone. This one replaced the one we lost against the aquatic trolls. Want to offer up a quick blessing on it?” Jericho couldn’t hide the mirth from his voice as he brought the bird online.

“Sure.” Mitchell leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he watched the status of the drone on the screen to his right. “You better work right, you sorry piece of shit, or I’ll personally melt you down into razor blades and use you to shave my ass.”

A muffled round of laughter could be heard through the operators’ mouthpieces. Jericho keyed back, “Couldn’t have said it better myself, sir.”

“Appropriate.” Mark hiked a brow at him. “You just better hope you didn’t piss off the drone gods or that thing will fall from the sky like a paperweight.”

“He asked for my blessing, I gave him my blessing.” Mitchell turned back to the screen and tried to switch it again. “Dammit, my remote isn’t working.” He banged it a couple times and it still wouldn’t respond.

“Try kicking it into submission,” Mark deadpanned. “I hear they have these newfangled things called ‘batteries’. You should try them.”

“It’s hard wired, smart ass.” Mitchell smacked it again then sighed. “Probably made in China.”

“They’re away, sir,” the tech called from in front of Mitchell’s seat. “Should be boots down in a matter of moments.”

“Okay, people. Let’s put on our A-game. It’s time to make the doughnuts.”

*****

  Little John searched the mess decks and the gym. He walked through the showers and the library. He was working his way up from the lower levels floor by floor but couldn’t find Spalding anywhere. As he walked past the second level overlook, McKenzie stormed past him. “Hey, have you seen Spalding?”

“Blow it out your ass, Sullivan.” Chad’s face was twisted in anger, his eyes narrowed.

“What the hell is your problem?” John turned and faced Mac as he marched away.

Chad stopped suddenly and clenched his fists. “You don’t want to go there, Sullivan.”

“Go where, Mac? You’ve been acting like somebody pissed in your Post Toasties for weeks now. What gives?” Sullivan truly couldn’t understand where all of this misplaced anger was originating from.

Chad slowly turned, his face a mask of rage. “Even you can’t be that dense.”

Sullivan shrugged. “Well apparently I am. You’ve been stomping around here like you’re pissed at the world, and it’s everybody’s fault but your own. You go against your own team, your Team Leader tries to set you straight and what do you do? You go off on him and get yourself benched.” John shook his head in confusion. “I can’t get a read on you, man.”

Mac stood in the narrow hallway, clenching and unclenching his fists, his eyes boring a hole through John’s chest. “You truly are an idiot, aren’t you? I guess it’s true what they say. The bigger they are, the stupider they are.”

John rolled his eyes at the smaller operator. “Dude, you aren’t going to bait me into smacking the ugly off of you. There wouldn’t be nothing left.”

“Keep thinking you
could
.” Chad turned back and stormed off in the direction he was going.

John heard the footsteps approaching before he ever smelled Spalding’s aftershave. “Problems?”

He shook his head. “Not with me, but I think Mac is about to blow. There is something seriously wrong in the guy’s noodle.”

Spalding watched the other man reach the end of the hall and turn for the stairwell. “Well, it wasn’t that long ago, people thought the same thing about you.”

“Anger issues?” John shot him a puzzled look.

“No, just…something was off.” Spalding shrugged. “Everybody’s different. Chad is just…well, he’s wound tighter than most folks.”

“Aw, fuck. Don’t tell me that you’re going to adopt another basket case and nurse it to normalcy?”

Spalding snorted a laugh. “Not anytime soon.” He clapped John on the shoulder. “One basket case is enough for me.”

“Thanks.” He turned and fell into step with him. “I was looking for you. For a moment I thought you were trying to hide.”

“I was researching.” Spalding handed him a file.

“What’s this?”

“Everything I could dig up on Sheridan’s old crew. Jack had a sit down with admin and together they thought things through. Best bet is our shooter is a guy named Bigby.”

“Bigby? Never heard of him.”

“Well, he’s from Team One in England.” Spalding held the door and the two entered his office. Spalding fell into the chair behind his desk and Little John stood, taking up the rest of the space. “Most of the guys on Team One are stand up guys. You know, for God and Queen, that sort of shit.”

“Gotcha. But somehow this Bigby was a bad apple?”

“Well…” Spalding pulled another file from his desk. “Sheridan was his CO. Unlike our setup, their COs are field officers. They’re out in the mud and muck with their troops. This Major Sheridan had family and the blood suckers used them to get to him.”

“That blows.” John handed Bigby’s file back. “So what’s the score?”

“Jack and Sheridan were pals from way back. Jack was on an op that got his entire team wiped out, but he was saved and nursed back to health by this vampire named Thorn. The vamps that blackmailed Sheridan wanted him to assassinate Thorn.” Spalding shook his head and shrugged. “Jack didn’t like the idea of one of his buddies turning traitor and killing another buddy.”

“So it was Jack that caught him?”