Operation (20 page)

Something drew Reese to the article and he scanned it anyway. As he read, he learned that the two teens had cut school and never returned home that night. The parents called the police who began an investigation the following day. A police officer had been assigned as the preliminary investigation. Officer Sam Blackwater began by questioning friends and classmates at the high school the teens attended to try and ascertain what had happened or where they might have gone. After questioning some of the students, the police officer disappeared later that same day.

“Christ sakes,” Reese murmured.

Attempts to recreate the steps of the officer consisted of following up on places the teens may have gone to. One of the places that came up was the abandoned military base in Driver, Virginia, which was only a few hundred yards away from the school the teens attended on Portsmouth Boulevard.

Officer Blackwater, deciding to follow up on the lead contacted the city for assistance to gain access to the base. A Public Works employee, Jake Sommers, was sent by the city to assist the officer with entry into the base as well as to escort him wherever he chose to go. Jake Sommers testified that the officer arrived early in the morning and he assisted the officer in a search of several of the buildings. Hours later, he escorted the officer off of the base. Mr. Sommers noted that Officer Blackwater had not mentioned where he was going; however he stated that the officer did receive a phone call and seemed perturbed about something.

Officer Blackwater did not report in later that day and all attempts to communicate with him failed. The patrol car he was driving, which had not been equipped with any tracking device due to a city budget shortfall, was also missing. The Internal Affairs Division of the Suffolk Police Department was investigating the case with the assistance of the FBI.

Reese placed the article down in front of him but did not remove his eyes from the article. There was something about this event that just felt like it was related somehow. Even if it had not been the young vampires, it could have been Dimitri and his crew. But that seemed unlikely because it attracted too much attention. Dimitri and his team were smarter than that, much smarter. Still…

Reese picked up the phone and dialed.

“Commander Pattoon,” the voice answered.

“Reese here. This event in the folder, the one that is outside of our search parameter?”

“Yeah. What about it? If you’re going to tell me I messed up, you’re too late. Been there done that. Go get your jollies somewhere else.”

“As much as I would like to,” Reese said meaning what he said, “that’s not what I had I mind. I want you to see if there is any more information on it.”

“Why?” asked Pattoon sounding obviously annoyed. “Don’t waste my time pulling my string.”

“Because I’m interested in what happened,” said Reese.

“But it’s outside the time frame, you said so yourself.”

“I know that. But that doesn’t mean it’s not involved with what’s going on. Just see what you can come up with.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can get,” Pattoon said and then hung up.

Reese replaced the receiver into its cradle. “Asshole.”

He flipped through the folder and saw nothing else that drew his attention. Next, he scanned the list of properties that were being watched. He was amused that most of the properties under surveillance were either in rural areas of Suffolk or Chesapeake, with a scattering of a few of the older areas of Norfolk. His own home, in Norfolk, was less than thirty minutes away from many of the properties. The area had also been the hunting ground for Dimitri and his team when they had first escaped.

Their hunting ground. Reese had turned them loose because he believed that their use as killers was wrong. Yet his own act, his releasing them from their forced servitude, had turned them loose on society where they had preyed upon the populace for some period of time. But obviously that had all changed: There were no more reports of crime rates mysteriously dropping. So where had they gone? Or were they still here but using another food source? Had this event with the teenagers and the police officer been a mistake on their part? Or had it been something else? Maybe Dimitri was making a statement? Perhaps he wanted to get Reese’s attention?

It was too late. The wild hair, so to speak, had lodged itself firmly in Reese’s butt. He would not be able to leave it alone now. At a loss on how he would search for Dimitri, he decided to go with the least likely but most obvious way of all—at least it would satisfy part this crazy urge for the moment. Reese picked up the phone and dialed Pattoon’s number again.

“Commander Pattoon,” the voice answered.

“I need a real estate title search on the name Bicannoff, Dimitri.”

“Spell it.”

“Last name B-i-c-a-n-n-o-f-f, first name D-i-m-i-t-r-i.”

“Got it. Is there anything else?”

“Not at the moment,” Reese said.

“Good,” Pattoon said and then added, “So what’s the deal? You and Smith must have had a good night last night,” Pattoon added sarcastically.

“How so?” asked Reese.

“You’re both driving me nuts today with all your fucking requests.”

“Really? And why is that?” Reese asked although he didn’t care about Pattoon’s problems, “What’s he looking for?”

“He wanted background on some abandoned Navy base in Driver out in Suffolk.”

That was where the teenagers and police officer story had been centered, Reese thought.

“What sent him in that direction?” Reese asked.

“I guess the article in the paper,” Pattoon said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Reese agreed and found it amusing that Smith had gone in the same direction that he had. Why? Smith didn’t know what he did. “Patton, whatever you find, you might as well shoot me the information as well.”

“Sure…is there anything else you would like? Breakfast? Perhaps some coffee?”

Reese was getting sick of this man’s attitude and sarcasm. “No that’s okay, I’ve already eaten. How about just getting what I asked you for. That is if you are capable of doing something so simple as following orders.”

Reese hung up the phone before Pattoon could respond.

Apparently Mr. Smith was pursuing a similar avenue of investigation — or was Pattoon playing both sides of the fence? Probably a combination of both, he thought. It may have been a mistake having him run a check of Dimitri’s name then. But it was worth the risk, if anyone could help him find the two girls, it would be Dimitri, as long as he found them first and if Dimitri would be willing.

Reese’s phone rang.

“Yes.”

“Reese, General Morris here.”

“Yes sir.”

“We have a possible on one of the surveillance houses. We’re going to send a team in to check it out. I want you in command center to monitor and advise.”

“Location of the house?” asked Reese.

“Norfolk.”

“On my way,” Reese said.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-N
INE

As Reese entered into main control center of the compound, he immediately noticed that several television monitors that had been previously blank now displayed several images of the same house. Commander Pattoon had relinquished his seat to another Navy SEAL Commander which Reese recognized as John Ritter. Reese had trained Ritter and his men on the signs and possible indications of the vampire holdout. As per military protocol, Ritter assumed command of the control center during operational situations and Reese was sure this pissed off Pattoon. The fact that Pattoon was off stewing somewhere at such a pivotal moment, made Reese smile.

“So, what’s the information on the house?” Reese asked trying to keep the joviality out of his voice.

Commander Ritter looked up and acknowledged Reese’s presence, “Hey Reese, ready to party?”

“Only if I get to have the most fun,” Reese answered.

“Of course,” Ritter answered. “Girls, booze, food and vampires—it doesn’t get much better than that.”

The door opened and General Morris walked in. Everyone began to rise from their seats. “As you were. What do we have Ritter?”

“The house has been under surveillance for almost forty-eight hours. The only movement to and from has been at night. Three possible suspects depart at dusk and return just prior to dawn. The home recently sold a couple of weeks ago. The neighbors have no idea who has moved into the place and there has been no contact with the new residents. There is another part that is really interesting.” Ritter had a sly grin from ear to ear.

“What?” asked Reese, “Come on?”

“The yard has an underground bomb shelter that is accessible from the house.”

“A bomb shelter?” asked Reese.

“Yeah. Apparently there are several homes in these older neighborhoods of Norfolk that were built around the height of the cold war and the nuclear bomb scare; living this close to where the Atlantic Fleet is stationed, well you can understand the concern.”

“I guess it does make sense,” agreed Reese.

Ritter continued, “We had some men dress up as solicitors and go up to the house during the day when we knew someone was there and knock and ring the doorbell. Whoever is inside refuses to answer. On a cursory glance, we took a look in the backyard; we found two dog carcasses which appeared to have been killed recently.

“Sounds promising,” General Morris said. “What do you think, Reese?”

“The only thing lacking is any evidence of the two girls. However, that doesn’t mean that whoever has them isn’t going out to get them their food. They might be bringing back the dogs for them to feed on.”

“Can they…do that?” asked Morris, “I mean use the blood from dogs?”

“Yes sir. In a pinch, anything will do as long as it’s alive. I’ve read in some myths where they survived on rats pretty well, especially during long sea voyages.”

“Your recommendation on how to proceed?” asked Morris.

Reese checked the time on the standard large white faced clock that hung on the wall. It was 10AM.

“Time is on our side for the moment,” Reese began, “if we go in before dusk, the girls will be asleep. But if there are four or five others there, some of them might be awake on guard duty. If they detect us coming in they might kill them. If we wait until they leave, it would lessen the amount of people we have to deal with and increase the odds of getting the girls out alive. However, if the girls get vicious, that could ramp up the risk as well. So the question comes down to, who do we want to deal with, the mortals or the vampires?”

“If it was you going in there,” Ritter said with a sly smile on his face, “which would you rather face?”

Without hesitation Reese answered, “The mortals.”

“I agree,” said Ritter.

Morris turned to Ritter, “How soon can you be ready to go in?

“About two hours or so. That gives us time enough to get the backup team on station and have the local residents evacuated.”

“Do it then,” said Morris to Ritter before turning to Reese. “Go with them. You have my authority to cancel the op if it looks like it’s not going to work. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” Reese said as he felt the weight of the authority settle upon his stomach. It reminded him of the day General Stone gave him the same authority to capture Dimitri and his associates. These similarities between the two operations were becoming stronger the further into the operation he went and Reese thought how much he hated it.

It never ends.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY

At noon, the evacuation of the neighborhood had been accomplished. The scenario given to the press was that there was a dangerous gas leak and for the safety of all residents; they were being evacuated to a local school to wait until the leak had been located and repaired.

Norfolk police went door to door ensuring that the homes were empty including the house in question, but nobody answered the door. Police cars blocked off the entrances to the area allowing no one to enter. At 12:45PM, four large cargo trucks, with the logo of the gas company stenciled on their sides, entered the neighborhood to commence the search for the leak. However, the cargo trucks carried no personnel from the gas company. Instead each van contained a six man SEAL team fully loaded and ready to go.

By 1:00 PM they were ready. One van was parked in front of the house; one was parked on the adjoining street which allowed access to the rear of the house by going through the yard of the house on the back side of the street. The third and fourth trucks were parked at the intersection of the adjoining street which gave a clear view of the side of the house.

The plan was relatively simple. One team would cover the rear, one would cover the front and sides, and one team would enter the house. The fourth team consisted of the command and control for the operation. The team that entered the house would be the one facing immediate danger if their plan failed.

Given the scenario, Commander Ritter had decided that the use of tear gas would be the optimum way to go. It wouldn’t harm the vampires, which hopefully would be asleep anyway, but it would immobilize the captors with minimum risk to the SEAL team members. With no way out, the people inside would succumb to the gas and not kill the vampires, unless that is if they had gas masks which was predicted as not likely. If they did, the ‘search’ aspect of the mission would be over and the ‘destroy’ would begin.

Reese and Ritter relocated to the command center cargo truck at the intersection. Lieutenant Colonel Barkley had joined them in the event his medical expertise was required. Also inside this truck was a six man team. This vehicle would serve as the onsite command and control center. They had direct connections with each other van, the platoon leader of each six man team, and the control center back at the amphibious base.

“Well we’re as ready as we are ever going to be,” said Ritter.

“I wish there was another way into the shelter,” Reese said. “If it goes bad, we’re stuck.”

“True,” agreed Ritter, “however, so are they.”