Operation (27 page)

“Followed you?” Samantha said. Her tone became tight and more focused. “Who followed you? Why? What have you gotten into?”

“I don’t know,” Christina answered.

“You were supposed to report anything like this: Anything suspicious that might indicate that someone knows of your presence. Why did you not contact me? You know the rules,” she said in a voice that sounded condescending.

“I didn’t know until about an hour ago when I found him,” said Christina.

“Where did you find the body?” asked Samantha.

“In the woods just outside of this place,” answered Christina. She didn’t like having to remember how he found him. She wanted to be done with this conversation so she could begin to find who had done this.

“What have you been doing the past few days? Where have you gone?” pressed Samantha.

“Nowhere unusual,” Christina replied. “Besides, you can check all of that out if you wish,” she said referring to the tracking device. She was not going to tell this woman about John or any of the other events that had occurred. That was her own business.

Samantha scowled and said, “No, this is not good—not now especially with what else is happening.”

“What else is happening?” Christina asked remembering the earlier cascade of thoughts she’d experienced when Samantha arrived and knew that somehow these events were connected.

“Ah…nothing,” Samantha said in a dismissive tone. “It doesn’t concern you, yet. Besides, it doesn’t matter right now. The death of this man was too close. I don’t like it. We have to move you,” Samantha said.

“Move?” Christina asked.

“Yes. Let’s get back to the compound. I need to make some calls.”

This was not what she wanted but she decided to play along for the moment because she wanted information. “This way,” Christina said as she led the way.

The two walked in silence as they each delved into their own thoughts.

Christina knew she wasn’t going to go anywhere else with Samantha. This ‘relationship’ with Samantha and the people she worked for was over. She would stop this tonight and disappear because she was sure now that there were others of her own kind. She also knew that if Samantha suddenly went missing, whoever she worked for would come looking for her.

As they entered the underground facility, Samantha moved toward the desk that held the secure telephone that she used to call Christina. As Samantha picked up the handset, Christina decided to see what she could get through conversation.

“Why have you not told me there are others… like me?”

Samantha slowly replaced the handset into its cradle and turned to face Christina, her eyes wide with fear and surprise. “What do you mean?”

C
HAPTER
F
IFTY
-F
IVE

Reese parked his car in the gravel parking lot of the small ball field which was next to the fenced area of the abandoned Navy base. He saw that there were two cars there already which surprised him given the hour of the night and that he could not see anyone on the ball field. He supposed they could belong to some of the people who lived in the area and wanted or needed to park their cars somewhere else. Still, it made him a little uneasy.

He got out of the car and studied the map he had located for the base. The internet was wonderful thing. He had located information which gave him the history of the World War II era facility as well as a rough listing of all the buildings. When the base had been closed due to BRAC, Base Realignment and Closure, the site had gone up for sale and a complete description of the property was given, building by building. The report also indicated that some of the base had been given to the city of Suffolk but the rest he wasn’t sure about.

He decided he would begin his search with the central area and main core of buildings. That was the area where supposedly the police officer had searched with the city representative before he disappeared. But first, he needed a way in. He found the fence line and began searching for an area that time had taken its toll upon as well as the ingenuity of teenagers looking for a place they could hang out undisturbed. It took less than fifteen minutes before he found it.

He slipped through the broken fence and walked through the rest of the perimeter of the woods. Contrary to plan, when he emerged from the trees he found that he had misaligned himself with the area he wanted to search. Instead of being near the buildings, he appeared to be on the opposite end of the base.

“Damn,” he cursed. In the moonlight he could see the silhouette of the buildings. He estimated that he probably had to hike another mile to get to where he had wanted to be. “Not much choice,” he said and started out.

The pace was intermittent at best. There were areas where old road had been and the ground was level and even showed remnants of gravel having once been in place. But at other times the brush was waist high and he either had to go around, or try and wade through it. Either way, it was slow going.

As he walked, he had time to think about the past few days and what a merry go round it had been. He was back in the military; chasing two small vampire girls; found evidence that confirmed Dimitri and his team were involved in their disappearance; and met the woman of his dreams. Meeting Christina was of course the best part of this scenario. However, unless he found some way to resolve everything else, there would not be a happy ending to this story. As for that ending, he hadn’t a clue what he was going to do or what was going to happen next.

“Commander Reese,” a voice from behind startled him from his thoughts. He had not heard any sounds indicating that someone was following him and he knew that it was damn near impossible to traverse through the brush without making any noise. Had they been waiting for him here?

Reese turned quickly, almost falling down in the process, and faced two men. The moonlight shone brightly upon them outlining their tall and full bodies. However, his eyes were immediately drawn to their faces and the highlighted red glow of their eyes.

“We meet again,” the man said. His voice was calm and steady and Reese recognized it immediately as Dimitri’s. “I told you it was in our destiny.”

Reese wasn’t sure how he should feel scared or relieved at this moment. The last time he had met Dimitri, they had parted on somewhat amiable terms, but a lot had happened since then. He obviously knew about the girls. Did the vampires think he had been in on it from the beginning? He peered at the other and recognized him as the other member of the team, Andre. He wondered where Iliga was.

“It is still Commander, isn’t it?” Dimitri asked, “Or have you been promoted?”

Reese heard the thick sarcasm that accompanied the question. “It’s still Commander,” Reese answered trying to keep his voice even. “They brought me back on active duty.” He thought how silly his answer must have sounded, the entire conversation for that matter, as he stood in a deserted area with vampires that could easily kill him as they discussed his rank.

“At times we cannot hide from our true calling, as much as we would want to,” Dimitri responded. For a few moments he stared at Reese but said nothing. Then in a low voice, “For the moment, we are on…how would you say, even ground. No harm will be committed unless it is warranted.”

Satisfied that they weren’t going to kill him - for the moment - Reese asked, “What are you doing here? Are you following me?” Before Dimitri answered, Reese suddenly realized how it all fit together with the disappearances and the abandoned site; it would be the perfect place to hide out at. “Wait, you live here don’t you?”

Dimitri smiled, “Always trying to figure things out. You tend to accept things at face value. Because I am here you believe I live here?”

Reese couldn’t help but snicker at Dimitri’s response. Even for a vampire, he knew him so well. “You’re right, I should know better than to accept simple answers,” Reese agreed, “someone else has reminded me about that same issue lately.”

“But in answer to your question,” Dimitri continued, “we do not live here. We followed you from your home. There are things we must talk about.”

“Yes,” Reese agreed. “This whole affair is escalating.”

“I have a question that you must answer truthfully. Did you know about the girls?” Dimitri asked bluntly.

“No,” Reese said assuredly trying to sound convincing. However, it didn’t really matter because he knew that Dimitri could tell if he was lying. “I found out a few days ago when I was forced back onto active duty to help find them.”

“I thought as much,” said Dimitri. “The girls did not mention ever seeing you.”

“Where are they?” asked Reese.

“Alive and safe.”

“I assumed as much. We found the man that made the elixir neutralizer for you. Were you aware that your memory erasure did not work on him?”

“No,” Dimitri said. For the first time that Reese could remember, a look of puzzlement appeared on the vampire’s face.

“He was on drugs; it must block your ability somehow,” said Reese as way of explanation.

“Interesting,” Dimitri answered.

“Yes, but it also means that if I found him, someone else might.”

“You have a point to make, Commander?”

“You know as well as I do; you risk being discovered by your involvement with the girls.”

“Were we supposed to just leave them?” he asked. “You know that was not possible.”

Reese hesitated before answering. He knew Dimitri was right. “I know, I know. But you should have come to me, perhaps we could have figured out something.”

“We did not know exactly where your allegiances lay,” Dimitri said.

Reese could see his point and did not see any reason in debating it. He changed the subject, “How did you learn that they had the girls to begin with?”

“I found a dead body near the oceanfront which had vampire blood on it. It wasn’t from any of us so that led me to thinking of the possibility of others. It also was logical to assume that if there were others, they would be held at the same place we had been. We went and watched. When we discovered they were actually there, we went in and got them out. You know who they are?”

“Yes,” Reese answered, “the daughters of Idriz Laupki.”

“Did you know they had been turned?” asked Dimitri.

“Not until recently. From what I have learned, General Stone secretly had the bodies brought back. He thought it had been accomplished secretly, but it wasn’t.” The mention of Stone’s name reminded Reese about his brutal murder. “Why did you kill Stone?” he asked.

“Stone?” asked Dimitri with an edge of surprise in his voice.

“Yes Stone,” Reese shot back annoyed. He hated the General but murder was murder.

“I did not kill him,” replied Dimitri.

“What?” asked Reese shocked at the denial. “His body was found drained of blood and wearing a collar. It’s just what you would have done!”

C
HAPTER
F
IFTY
-S
IX

“I assure you it wasn’t me,” Dimitri said forcefully. “We had nothing to do with his death. I read the newspaper account. They said it was retaliation by the drug cartels. We accepted it as fact; we had no reason to believe otherwise.”

“That was a cover story,” Reese said. “What was not reported in the papers was the lack of blood and the fact that both Stone and Scott, who was also murdered, were both wearing the elixir collars.”

“I swear to you, it was not any of us,” Dimitri said sincerely. “Why would I lie about that?”

“Well if it wasn’t you, then,” Reese began but stopped as more pieces of the puzzle came together. “The girls, did they do it?” he asked.

“No. They were put through only one test and that was only recently. They were not brought to consciousness until a short time ago.”

The agency, Reese thought. They had to be involved somehow.

“Did you hear me?” asked Dimitri.

“Yes,” answered Reese, “I was just thinking. They wanted Stone out of the picture so they had him killed.”

“Who?” asked Dimitri.

“Who or what?” said Reese. “All I know is that they are some kind of governmental agency that operates in the background. It goes beyond dark ops and, in fact, nothing would surprise me about what they might be involved in. They learned about the original Team of Darkness operation and went after Stone. Apparently, Stone stepped on a lot of toes to pull off what he did. When he had the girls brought back, he had to pull some strings and apparently drew him some unwanted attention. That was when the agency found out about the original op. They were too late to do anything, but they knew about the girls.”

“So you suspect they had Stone and Scott killed?” asked Dimitri.

“Yes. They wanted them kept quiet. Permanently.”

“But why make it appear that we did it?” asked Dimitri.

“I don’t know,” said Reese, “Whoever did it knew that those facts wouldn’t be made known to the public. So if the agency did it, they wanted to send a signal to someone inside - perhaps the military itself to tell them that they were above them. I don’t know. It’s all so damn crazy.”

Reese’s head ached from trying to figure this all out. He felt as if he was real close to having the complete picture, but yet some key element eluded him. He decided to think along other lines for the moment. He returned his attention to the fact that Dimitri had sought him out.

“Why did you decide to follow me?” Reese asked.

“I have several questions for you that need answers, but mainly to seek your assistance on how to get the girls out of here and back to Kosovo.”

“Back to Kosovo? Why?”

“The change for them is hard to comprehend and deal with here. At least back home, they would have some semblance of order in their lives. I thought it would be best to take them back and they have agreed. We of course would accompany them, as we have been gone for too long as well, but now every means to go back is blocked.”

“This is not going to be easy,” Reese said. “It would be extremely risky especially because of the heightened terrorist alert. They search everything.”