Specters: A Monster Squad Novel - 8 (33 page)

Evan glanced up and nodded. “There is.”

Stevens nearly choked on his coffee as he stammered. “There is? Well, why didn’t you say so! What is it?”

Evan shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to say. Not yet anyway.”

“Why?” Stevens was on his feet now and sifting through the files. “I’ve gone through this stuff a dozen times. I can’t see any…wait. You don’t trust me?”

“I don’t know you.” Evan closed the dossier and eyed him.

Stevens sat back down and sighed heavily. “You guys wouldn’t know anything about the Titans if I hadn’t risked my career…my
life
bringing you this information. And you tell me you don’t trust me. Great.”

He stood and pushed away from the table. “Thanks for the coffee, but I’d rather go back to my cell now.” He turned and walked to the door. “Guard!”

“Sit back down, Mr. Stevens,” Evan spoke in a calm manner.

“Go stake yourself.” Stevens kept his back to the vampire and continued staring through the acrylic walls. “Guard! Take me back to prison.”

“I said sit down, Mr. Stevens.”

“And I said, go st—” Stevens didn’t finish his sentence as Evan grabbed him by the throat and swung him backward toward the chair.

“I deplore violence, but I will make a meal of you if I must.”

“So do it.” Stevens glared at him while Evan continued to hold him by the neck. “Go ahead. Do it!”

Evan studied the man, clutching to his arm while he held him in the chair. He tilted his head to better stare in his eyes. “Why do you wish to die?”

“I’d rather not. But I’m sick of being treated like I’m the threat! I came here to warm you people, and rather than saying so much as thank you, you toss me in jail, tell me I’m untrustworthy, and threaten to
eat me
?” he spat, struggling to breathe as Evan steadily squeezed, holding him down. “So if you’re going to kill me, do it and get it over with!”

Evan released the man and watched him fall back into the chair. He continued to watch him for a moment then stood up straight and straightened his lab coat. “EMP.”

Stevens gave him a confused stare while rubbing at his neck. “Excuse me?”

“You asked how to stop them. An EMP.” Evan took his seat and opened the dossier on Jameson and Ingram. “Their battle suits are quite advanced, but they’re not hardened. An electromagnetic pulse will short circuit them. They’ll lose their displays, their communications, their ability to seal off wounded limbs, their networking with other operators. They’ll essentially be men in very heavy Kevlar armor.”

Stevens stared off, his mouth hanging open. “I can’t believe that nobody thought to shield their armor.”

“Neither could I. But I went over their schematics numerous times. They’re most definitely
not
shielded.”

Stevens smiled. He began to chuckle. His chuckling turned into full on laughter. “All of the money they spent on R&D and nobody thought to shield against an EMP? That’s rich!”

“They probably didn’t think that they’d have the need since they were designed to face monsters. Not much need to protect from an EMP when fighting vampires and werewolves and the like.”

Stevens nodded. “I would have to agree.” He reached for his coffee and took a long pull from it. “So, is there a way to create an EMP big enough to shut them down without setting off a nuke?”

Evan smirked. “Does a Northern Greater Elf delineate his borders with bioluminescent markings?” He noted the bewilderment on Stevens’ face. “I mean, uh…does a bear defecate in the woods?”

“Ah! Yes! Yes, they do!”

“And yes. Yes, I can.”

*****

The limo pulled to a stop and Viktor opened the door. He stepped out into the twilight and adjusted his suit. He glanced up the steps at the two vampire guards waiting at the top of the landing. He gave the two men a slight nod but neither responded.

Holding the door open for Rufus, he kept his eyes moving for any others who might be lurking in the shadows. Once Rufus was clear of the car he gently shut the door and stepped in front of the vampire, acting as a shield as the two made their way up to the main doors.

Both guards took a step closer, effectively blocking the entrance and Rufus gripped Viktor’s shoulder. He pulled him back gently and stepped forward. “Inform the Council that Rufus Thorn is here to meet with them.”

“You aren’t cleared for access, Mr. Thorn.”

Rufus gave the guard a slight bow and smiled. “If you’ll inform the Council that their request has been met. The demon queen has been removed. I believe they’ll allow my audience.”

One of the guards spoke softly into his sleeve and a moment later he nodded to the other. Both men stepped aside and the smaller of the two opened the door allowing both Viktor and Rufus to enter the building.

Once inside and away from inquisitive ears, Viktor leaned closer and whispered, “Should I be alarmed yet?”

“Not yet,
mon ami
.” Rufus entered the elevator and punched the button for the top floor. As the doors shut he stared straight ahead. “Are your people in position?”

Viktor pulled a small device from his breast pocket and punched a series of buttons. “They are. And they are monitoring me. I need only to give them the word.”

Rufus nodded. “Let us hope they won’t be needed.”

Viktor stiffened as the lights slowly rose closer to the top. “Do you truly think that is a possibility?”

“Anything is possible.” He turned and gave a sad smile. “Not probable, but possible.”

The doors opened and a very large vampire stood before the pair. “Monsieur Thorn. I am to escort you to the Council.”

“Very well.”

“Your dog stays here.” The large vampire sneered at Viktor who showed no emotion.

“My
Second
comes with me.”

The vampire stiffened and stared at the much smaller man. “We were under the impression that your brother was your Second.”

“He was. He was released and Viktor has taken his rightful place once more.” Rufus held his head high and motioned to the vampire. “Shall we?”

With a low growl, the vampire turned and escorted the pair to the Council Chambers. Just shy of the door he paused. “Wait here. You’ll be called when they are ready.”

The large vampire disappeared through an alcove and Rufus stood ready. Viktor cleared his throat and whispered, “How long do you think they’ll make us wait?”

“Long enough to remind us of who is in charge.”

“Great.”

*****

“Spanky!” Little John yelled as he tried to focus on where the pair had rolled to. He could see arms and legs grappling as the pair rolled down an embankment, dirt and debris flying as each tried to gain footing to best the other. John stood and took off toward the tumbling pair. “Move! Move! Converge on Spalding!”

He took off down the embankment, sliding through the wet mossy mud until he reached the bottom of the hill. He could see where the two had struggled further down the dry creek bed that led to the rushing water they had been listening to on their approach. He crested a small rise and saw the pair still struggling and rolling toward the river below. “Double time it!”

John took off at a sprint, his night vision bouncing as he tried to avoid low hanging limbs and prickly vines. He ducked low and rolled under a fallen tree, coming up with his rifle at the ready. By the time he focused the reticle, he saw only Spanky coming to his feet, his head spinning in different directions, looking for his attacker.

“Delta One, report!” John barked as he made a slow approach.

“Operational.” Spalding slapped mud and leaves from his uniform and pulled his carbine back around from his back. The strap had nearly strangled him during his encounter.

John slowed his approach and scanned the area, Lamb and Jacobs flanking him and taking a higher position to scan for the attacker. Donovan laid a hand on John’s back. “I don’t see Five.”

Spalding’s ears perked and he was suddenly up the hill, his carbine leveled. “Delta squad, report.”

Donovan nodded to him. “Delta Two, ready.”

“Delta Three, five-by-five, boss,” Lamb reported from above him.

“Delta Four standing by.” Jacobs was on one knee and scanning the hillside with his carbine.

Little John felt the bile rise in his throat when Five didn’t report. He looked to Spalding and shook his head. “Delta Six, at the ready.”

“Fuck me standing.” Spalding reached down and pulled his boonie hat from the muddy moss and slapped it across his leg. “The attack was a diversion.”

“There’s two of them?”

Spalding shrugged. “At least.” He ground his teeth and hit his throat mic. “OPCOM, Delta Actual, we have multiple tangos. They have Delta Five.”

“Copy that, Delta Actual. Air support inbound. Switching to thermal and beginning an expanding search pattern.”

“Roger that, OPCOM.” Spalding released his mic and turned to Lamb. “You and Ing check for tracks. Look for anything that might indicate where they took Gus. There’s no way the big guy went down without a fight.”

“Copy that.” Ron tapped Jacobs and the two double-timed it back up the hill, their eyes scanning the ground and surrounding foliage for any indication of a struggle.

“What do want us to do, boss?” Donnie asked.

Spalding ground his teeth and glanced down the hill where his attacker had suddenly released him and disappeared in the darkness of the forest.

“We’re gonna hunt that other fucker down. Odds are, they’re gonna meet up somewhere. I want to be there when they do.”

*****

Jameson returned to his office rather than trying to return home for thirty minutes of sleep. He opened his door to a ringing phone and assumed it had to be Ingram. He punched the button and lifted the receiver to his ear. “This couldn’t have waited?”

“I’ve got people gearing up to move into an empty office complex across from the Monster Squad hangar. Since it’s basically across the street and has three stories of glass facing their operation, I thought it would be the best place to set up surveillance.”

“And?”

“And, as soon as you walked out I got a call from my contact at Tinker. Apparently Mitchell put in a requisition to commandeer that building. He wasn’t too happy when he found out that someone else had laid claim and was in preparation to make the building operational again.”

“Too bad for him.” Jameson fought a yawn and sat down in his chair. “How soon before we have boots on the ground?”

“A few days. They’re already making repairs to the building and getting support staff set up. Apparently there was a bit of activity that took place there recently.”

“Am I supposed to care?”

“You might.” Ingram paused, hoping that Jameson would rise and take the bait. He didn’t. He exhaled hard and continued, “Apparently they had a sniper set up there. He took a shot at the hangar. Reports are sketchy at best, but rumor has it that somebody was killed.”

“One of the abominations?”

“Nope. Somebody close to them, though. At least, that’s the scuttlebutt.”

“Again, I’m supposed to care, why?”

“I just found it interesting that somebody else was watching them besides us. And that somebody took a shot at them.” Ingram waited for the older man to add to the conversation. When he didn’t, he continued. “The enemy of my enemy…”

“Could very well be my enemy, too,” Jameson deadpanned. “I’m sorry, Robert, but I simply don’t buy into old adages. They tend to get people killed.” He spun in his chair and glanced at his map of the Middle East to remind him exactly of why he didn’t believe such things.

Ingram sighed and Jameson could hear the phone shift. “All I’m saying is that if there is somebody out there who is trying to put the hurt on these guys, maybe we can use them. We don’t have to crawl into bed with them, just…let them rattle the cage a bit and keep them off guard. You know, keep them guessing what the left hand is doing while the right hand swats them.”

Jameson shook his head and wished that he had a large cup of coffee to help jump start his brain. “I understand your desire to preoccupy the Monster Squads, but the whole idea was to alert them to the threat of the Titans, remember? Allow them to prepare themselves as best as they could so that they would throw everything they had at our troops at once. Wipe them out in one fell swoop. No survivors. Nobody to try and return to avenge their fallen comrades.”

“I know, but…with what we’ve learned recently, it just seemed prudent to use whatever we could to our advantage.”

Jameson smiled although Ingram couldn’t benefit from the gesture. “My boy, if our super soldiers can’t handle these mutts, then they don’t deserve to wear the mantle of ‘defender of mankind’, now do they?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d go that far. Our troops have the right stuff to protect humanity from monsters. I’m just not sure if they’re prepared to face the—”

“They’re
monsters
, Robert. Plain and simple. They may believe that they fight for our best interest, but they are still monsters. And the Titans were created to destroy monsters, were they not?”