Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (25 page)

She looked confused. “But that’s good, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you holding me like something bad has happened?”

He chuckled and let her go, stepping back a bit. “No reason. How are you doing?”

“I was just worried. Are you finished with them?”

“Yes.”

Brady walked into the kitchen, and Hawk quirked a brow at him. “Everything okay down there?”

“They’re both pissed off, but they’re not going anywhere.”

Hawk nodded. “Good. As soon as Quinn’s guys get here, we’ll get back on the road. We aren’t but about thirty minutes from Memphis.”

“We’re leaving soon?” Claire asked.

He nodded. “Go ahead and start getting everything packed, and we’ll get loaded. Soon as we turn over the two vampires, we’ll hit the road.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to contact my men in Memphis and let them know we’re on our way. We’ll have a meeting as soon as we arrive and start getting our plans finalized. My guys have already begun compiling all our information, and they should be ready. We need to get in and get Cassidy out as quickly as possible. She’s been there too long already.”

“Okay.”

Hawk watched as Claire headed for the upstairs and turned back to Brady. “Could you go get my car gassed up? I’m pretty low.”

“Sure.” He caught the keys that Hawk tossed him. “I’ll be back in about ten.”

As soon as Brady was gone, Hawk got his phone out and contacted Kirby. He told her what had happened and that they would be in Memphis soon. She updated him on all that was going on in the office. Then she told him that all of his men were at the house in Memphis with the exception of Brady and himself.

“Excellent,” he told her when she finished. “Sounds like everything is under control.”

“Ty Buchanan called. He’s back in town with his wife. He said to tell you that whatever you need, it’s yours.”

Hawk considered that. “Quinn’s already sent a couple of men to help. They’re going to take our prisoners into custody.”

“Well, once you get to Memphis and talk to the others, you can call him and let him know if you need any help. He said to tell you to call anytime.”

“Good. Let me go. I think I hear a car pulling up.”

“All right. Call me and let me know when you get to Memphis.”

“Will do.”

He hung up and moved toward the front door. Claire came running down the stairs.

“There’s a strange car pulling up the driveway, Hawk.” She looked concerned.

“Don’t worry. We’re expecting Quinn’s guys, remember?”

“I know. It just startled me when I heard the engine.”

He held out his hand. “Come here.”

When she clutched his hand in hers, he moved to the doorway and peeked through the side window. A dark van pulled to a stop in front of the house. When the driver’s door opened, he held his breath until the man stepped out. He recognized him right away.

“It’s okay, Claire. That’s RJ Owens, Quinn’s head of security at the casino.” He turned the doorknob and stepped out onto the porch. When RJ saw them, he grinned.

“I hear you’ve got a package for us.”

Claire got out of the SUV and felt like kissing the ground. It seemed as though her butt had become permanently glued to the front passenger seat, but at last they were finally in Memphis. Luckily, Quinn’s men had been very efficient, taking possession of Jimmy and Wayne with a minimum amount of hassle. Of course, neither Jimmy nor Wayne had been happy campers, but Claire was glad to finally see the back of them when RJ and his partner had bundled them into the back of the van and chained them down for good measure.

As soon as they had left, Brady and Hawk had finished loading their vehicles while Claire tidied up the house. They’d stashed the vampire’s car in the woods several miles from the property they’d stayed at, where it wouldn’t be discovered for a while. Brady had observed that it was probably stolen, anyway. Then they’d loaded up and headed out.

She took a moment and looked at the house they’d be staying in for the next several days at least. Her first impression was that it was very big, and she told Hawk that.

“It has to be pretty large since we’re going to have a whole crew staying here,” Hawk had explained.

She nodded and continued to study the exterior. It was a gorgeous home. The two-story brick Colonial didn’t look as though it was very old. She wondered what it cost to rent such a house and who would be paying.

She turned to Hawk with an arch look and asked him that very question, but he just laughed and urged her toward the front door, which opened as they neared it. A tall, absolutely gorgeous vampire came walking down the steps to greet them. Hawk introduced them.

“Claire, this is one of my most experienced men, Cade Sumerall. Cade, I’d like you to meet Claire Landry.”

The vampire held out his hand and shook hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Claire. I just wish it were under a more pleasant circumstance.”

He looked back at Hawk. “We’ve got everything set up in the great room at the back of the house. I thought you guys might like to get settled first, and then we can have a preliminary meeting and tell you what we know so far.”

Hawk agreed. They proceeded into the house and paused for a moment in the foyer while Cade sent a couple of guys to fetch their luggage. Then he escorted them upstairs. Brady was going to be sharing one of the bedrooms with Cade. After he’d gone in to look around his room, Cade showed Hawk and Claire to a room at the end of the hall. “This is the master suite. There’s a connecting bath through that door.” He pointed to the door on the left. “I’ll leave you to it. We’ll meet downstairs in twenty, if that’s okay with you? The great room is at the end of the hallway that runs next to the staircase. Just straight back. You can’t miss it.”

Hawk nodded. “Thanks, Cade. We’ll be there shortly.”

Hawk thanked the guys who brought in their luggage, and then the two of them were alone. Claire walked around, exploring the comfortable suite. She peeped into the huge bathroom, wishing she could run a bubble bath in the huge Jacuzzi tub and relax for about an hour.

“It looks big enough for two.” Claire jumped when Hawk’s voice sounded right behind her. She peeped over her shoulder with a grin.

“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” She felt Hawk’s hands sliding around her waist.

“Maybe we’ll get to check it out later.”

“Maybe.”

“Come on and unpack. We need to get downstairs soon.”

She turned to follow him. As soon as their clothes and other items had been put away, they made their way downstairs. It was easy to find the great room, which seemed full of people when Claire stepped into the room beside Hawk. The conversations ceased as soon as everyone realized that Hawk had entered. It was easy to see how he commanded the room with just his presence.

“I want to thank you all for responding so quickly. Cade tells me that you’ve already done a lot of groundwork. Before we get started, I’d like to introduce you all to Claire Landry. Claire is Cassidy’s sister.”

The men all nodded their greetings.

Claire smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you all. I’m not the greatest with names, but I’m sure I’ll get to know you all in the next few days. I just wanted to thank everyone for what you’re doing. My sister is the only family I have left, and it’s impossible for me to tell you how important it is to me to get her back safe and sound.”

Hawk stepped forward. “I’ll let you guys introduce yourselves to Claire individually later. For right now, though, I’d like to get on with this briefing. Tell me what you’ve learned and the best way to get Cassidy out of that bastard’s house with a minimum of muss and fuss.”

Cade stepped forward and indicated a huge board toward the back of the room. Claire and Hawk stepped closer. The other men moved up to stand around the board. It was covered with pictures of the house and grounds that Claire had seen online. Only there were a lot more views, some even looked like close-ups from a satellite. There was a picture of Cassidy and another one of Garrison. Several other people appeared on the board with labels indicating that they were associates or employees of Garrison.

Cade began to speak. “We’ve confirmed that someone is being held in the basement of the mansion.” He pointed to the blueprint posted on the board, and Claire could see the area he was talking about. “Though we haven’t confirmed that it is Cassidy, we believe there is a very strong possibility that that is where she is being kept. Garrison’s employees are not allowed down there, so we have no visual confirmation. There is a possibility that more than one person is down there.

“We know that Garrison’s got a personal home-security system that is damn good but not quite good enough. Rhys”—he cocked his head to a short, dark-haired vampire—“is sure that he can bypass it fairly easily. The guards are posted here, here, and here. They work in pairs. So that’s six.” His finger jabbed at various points in the house. “There are two more who are Garrison’s personal bodyguards and stick with him wherever he goes. And dogs patrol the grounds each night. There are four rottweilers. Mean sons of bitches, too, from what I’ve seen.”

“What about Garrison himself? Is he going to be a problem?”

Cade smiled. “The best shot we’ve got at this operation going smoothly is when Garrison is not in the mansion. Luckily for us, this coming Saturday night, Garrison will be attending an art opening that will last from eight o’clock until midnight. We expect him to attend the whole event, as it’s being held at a gallery owned by his current lady love, Miss Miranda Everhart. It’s a huge event for her professionally and very important to her personally, as the artist is her younger brother. As usual, he’ll be taking two of his guards with him, leaving only the six inside and the dogs for us to have to deal with.”

“Household staff?” Hawk asked.

“Will be given the night off.”

“What about anyone else in the house? Anyone staying there besides Garrison and the guards?”

“No one. We figure to insert here.” Cade indicated a location on the back of the property. “Our men will take out the dogs first. Tranquilizer darts should do it. Rhys then will get the system down. Two of us will enter the house here.” He pointed to a back door. “Two more here.” An upstairs balcony. “And two more here.” The front door. “They will take the guards out.”

“What if she’s not in the basement?” Claire worried that that was the weak link in their plan.

Cade didn’t seem worried. “Hawk will lead a group into the basement to find and rescue your sister. The rest will do a room-by-room sweep to make sure we haven’t missed anything.”

“How long?” Hawk’s eyes were narrowed as he studied the charts.

“I figure we’re in and out in thirty, as long as the girl is mobile.”

Hawk nodded his head as if he’d been expecting that answer. Claire was amazed.

“Contingencies?”

“One thing we’ve discussed is the possibility that there might be others besides Cassidy.”

Claire turned, horrified, to look at the speaker, a slender African-American. “Oh, my God. I never even thought of that. Is that a real possibility? Other bloodslaves.”

The man turned to her with a serious look on his face. “Yes, ma’am. I believe it is. The basement area is quite large. If you look at the blueprint, it’s subdivided into various sections. I think there’s a good chance our Mr. Garrison has more than one person stashed down there. Maybe not just bloodslaves. His enemies have a way of disappearing and never being heard from again as well.”

“There’s no telling what he might be hiding,” Hawk agreed. “Anything else?” he asked Cade.

“We’ll have a van standing by with Ace. He’ll be able to take care of Cassidy if she’s injured in any way. Once we’ve got Cass, and anyone else we might find, out, we’ll rendezvous back at the original point of entry and haul ass back here before Mr. Garrison has any clue what hit him.”

Hawk stood there studying the board, and Claire knew that he was going over the plan in his head from the look of deep concentration on his face. Finally he gave a short nod. “Looks good. You guys have done great work here. Cade, I’d like to look over the plan in greater detail and maybe tweak it a bit.”

Cade grinned. “I thought you might.”

Claire tugged on Hawk’s sleeve. When he looked down at her, she said, “Can I speak with you a moment in private, please?”

“Excuse me, guys. I’ll be right back.” Hawk slid a hand across her back and escorted her from the room and down the hall. He opened the door to what appeared to be a small study and pulled her inside. “What is it, Claire?”

“Where will I be during this assault?”

Hawk looked surprised. “You’ll be right here, Claire, waiting for us to bring Cassidy to you.”

She shook her head. “No. I want to be there when you go in after her. She doesn’t know any of you. She’ll be frightened. She needs to see a familiar face, or she might freak out on you.”

“There is no way, sweetheart. It will be much too dangerous, and I won’t be able to keep an eye on you.”

“It sounded to me like your men had everything planned perfectly. If it goes like they said, there shouldn’t be any danger, right?”

He sighed, and she could tell he was exasperated with her demand. “That is if things go like we’ve planned. But there are no guarantees, Claire. My men are trained to think on their feet and to react when the unexpected occurs. You aren’t. Your presence could possibly mean that Cassidy would be in even greater danger.”

“I don’t believe it. I want to go, Hawk. My sister will need me to be there.”

* * * *

“I’m sorry, Claire. It just isn’t possible. You have absolutely no training.” Hawk knew that Claire would be angry, but he was unwilling to budge on this issue. There was no way that he would be able to watch out for her while they were searching for Cassidy. Claire was just going to have to realize that her presence would do nothing except jeopardize her sister’s life. “I know you want to be there for Cass, sweetheart, but how would you feel if your presence caused me or one of the others to be distracted to the point that something goes wrong with the operation? What if something happened to Cass because we couldn’t give our full attention to what we needed to do because we were having to look out for you?” He knew he was being harsh, but it was necessary. Claire had to be made to see how her presence could affect the outcome.