and her face was transformed from merely almost pretty to downright lovely.
I left Nell washing dishes and walked back up the drive, this time not keeping to the shadows and tree line, but walking out as if I had a right to be there. Fang was sitting just as I’d left it, behind the tree. I started the bike and draped the grocery bag around the handlebars where it could be seen. I dawdled my way down the mountain and back to Knoxville. On the way I ascertained that the deer stand was still manned, and this time I got a good look at him. White male, brown, greasy hair, scruffy beard, pasty-skinned, and wearing camo. I could pick him out of a lineup if needed, but I intended to make sure that he never got a chance to be in one. One way or another, I’d see that Nell Nicholson Ingram’s spy was sent packing or was left to crawl away and lick his wounds.
When I got close enough to civilization to get a cell signal, I found multiple texts from Alex. One of them was excellent news. Leo had made arrangements to fly the Younger brothers in on his private plane, and they were waiting at my hotel. I had been dreading working with unknown vamps and blood-servants when we went into the compound. Eli’s presence raised my expectation of success considerably and I stopped at a barbecue place, bringing in enough food to feed my small army.
***
The rest of the day was busy, kept that way by a long meeting with and Eli, Cai, and Glass Clan’s secondo blood-servant, who was also Heyda’s second-in-command of security and Heyda’s best blood-meal. Her name was Chessy, and she was a local gal, one who looked a lot like Nell—sharp-faced and lean. And if Heyda had been driven insane—a common problem with vamps who had been starved, bled dry, and tortured—Chessy was the most likely person to bring the vamp out alive. Undead. Whatever.
Based on the intel we had received from Nell, we decided not to wait. The longer we put off a raid, the greater the likelihood that we’d tip off the colonel to our plans. We’d go in tonight. And we’d go in without alerting local law enforcement ahead of time, just in case the leaker who had warned the church about the local LEO’s child services raid was also a police officer.
We met at the Glass Clan Home two hours before dusk, and Eli and Chessy laid out the plans to Chessy’s handpicked team. The insertion team was composed of fifteen: Chessy, six vamps all over the age of one hundred, all with military experience, and five humans, ditto on the military backgrounds. Eli and I made fourteen pairs of boots-on-the-ground. Alex would be stationed with access to a satellite phone and talkies at Nell’s place. And we’d have a driver. If we were lucky (if the sat phone worked the way it should), we’d have coms between us, as well as access to the outside world.
We used a beat-up panel van to get across town, one with a logo on the said T RUCK BROKE? W E CAN FIX IT! The number painted under the logo rang back to the Glass Clan Home, where a human was ready to answer and take queries, as part of our cover. The van’s exterior was a crummy rust bucket, but the interior was sealed from light and quite cushy—good for vamps to travel across town anonymously. I’d have to see about getting Leo to consider adding a couple of vans like this to his fleet of vehicles. Remaining unidentified was healthy sometimes.
We parked down the hill and Eli went in alone just before dusk. Silent, using the skills Uncle Sam had taught him in the Rangers, he took out the watcher in the deer stand and carried the man a mile down the mountain to dump him at my feet outside the panel van. The guy was older than I had first assumed, maybe twenty-eight, with a ratty beard, and a body odor that proclaimed he had missed his weekly bath, but believed that cologne made up for good old soap and water. Holy moly, he stank. While he was still unconscious, I secured him with multiple zip strips and Eli and I hefted the
I left Nell washing dishes and walked back up the drive, this time not keeping to the shadows and tree line, but walking out as if I had a right to be there. Fang was sitting just as I’d left it, behind the tree. I started the bike and draped the grocery bag around the handlebars where it could be seen. I dawdled my way down the mountain and back to Knoxville. On the way I ascertained that the deer stand was still manned, and this time I got a good look at him. White male, brown, greasy hair, scruffy beard, pasty-skinned, and wearing camo. I could pick him out of a lineup if needed, but I intended to make sure that he never got a chance to be in one. One way or another, I’d see that Nell Nicholson Ingram’s spy was sent packing or was left to crawl away and lick his wounds.
When I got close enough to civilization to get a cell signal, I found multiple texts from Alex. One of them was excellent news. Leo had made arrangements to fly the Younger brothers in on his private plane, and they were waiting at my hotel. I had been dreading working with unknown vamps and blood-servants when we went into the compound. Eli’s presence raised my expectation of success considerably and I stopped at a barbecue place, bringing in enough food to feed my small army.
***
The rest of the day was busy, kept that way by a long meeting with and Eli, Cai, and Glass Clan’s secondo blood-servant, who was also Heyda’s second-in-command of security and Heyda’s best blood-meal. Her name was Chessy, and she was a local gal, one who looked a lot like Nell—sharp-faced and lean. And if Heyda had been driven insane—a common problem with vamps who had been starved, bled dry, and tortured—Chessy was the most likely person to bring the vamp out alive. Undead. Whatever.
Based on the intel we had received from Nell, we decided not to wait. The longer we put off a raid, the greater the likelihood that we’d tip off the colonel to our plans. We’d go in tonight. And we’d go in without alerting local law enforcement ahead of time, just in case the leaker who had warned the church about the local LEO’s child services raid was also a police officer.
We met at the Glass Clan Home two hours before dusk, and Eli and Chessy laid out the plans to Chessy’s handpicked team. The insertion team was composed of fifteen: Chessy, six vamps all over the age of one hundred, all with military experience, and five humans, ditto on the military backgrounds. Eli and I made fourteen pairs of boots-on-the-ground. Alex would be stationed with access to a satellite phone and talkies at Nell’s place. And we’d have a driver. If we were lucky (if the sat phone worked the way it should), we’d have coms between us, as well as access to the outside world.
We used a beat-up panel van to get across town, one with a logo on the said T RUCK BROKE? W E CAN FIX IT! The number painted under the logo rang back to the Glass Clan Home, where a human was ready to answer and take queries, as part of our cover. The van’s exterior was a crummy rust bucket, but the interior was sealed from light and quite cushy—good for vamps to travel across town anonymously. I’d have to see about getting Leo to consider adding a couple of vans like this to his fleet of vehicles. Remaining unidentified was healthy sometimes.
We parked down the hill and Eli went in alone just before dusk. Silent, using the skills Uncle Sam had taught him in the Rangers, he took out the watcher in the deer stand and carried the man a mile down the mountain to dump him at my feet outside the panel van. The guy was older than I had first assumed, maybe twenty-eight, with a ratty beard, and a body odor that proclaimed he had missed his weekly bath, but believed that cologne made up for good old soap and water. Holy moly, he stank. While he was still unconscious, I secured him with multiple zip strips and Eli and I hefted the
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