the vampire part. “Is US Tomahawk cruise missile, no?” he added.
One of the agents with Gulden was nodding. “Navy TLAM-D sub munitions variant,” he said. “I worked on them in the Navy.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? A goddamned Navy Tomahawk was just launched against us?” Leland asked, equal parts outraged and shocked. “Just what the fuck did you do?” he asked me.
“I told them no,” I said. Arkady snorted and the men all looked his way. “My Queen’s Chosen destroyed a secret underground fortress and now politicians are scared,” he said. With his thick Russian accent, he sounded like Boris from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle shows… a giant, vampiric Boris. His words, size, and pointy teeth all reminded them that he was, perhaps, a real vampire.
“Where’d it come from?” Gulden asked.
“Probably an attack sub off the Jersey coast,” the ex-Navy agent replied. Funny he should say that. Grim was probing the area around and above us. The origin of the missile was far to the East, and I got an image of a deadly black torpedo shape slicing through the waves. I felt my dark half’s attention switch to the satellite sitting overhead and suddenly a dormant part of my brain opened up and started running math… fancy math… the kind of math that had obliterated a portion of New Hampshire forest not so long ago.
I almost stopped it. Just shut down the equations. But a second set of equations showed me the most probable results. Very little of the small satellite would actually make it to earth intact. The probability of actually hitting the submarine was ridiculously low and the sub was submerged. It would be more of a message, and it would remove a watching asset from sitting overhead.
My reserves were already low, used up by closing the portal and splashing the Tomahawk with aura to negate the explosives. So it took a while and it was more of a gentle nudge out of orbit and some interference with the spacecraft’s maneuvering rockets to effect my goal. Each time I would move the spy sat, the ground controllers would fire off its rockets. So Grim just spun it around and let the rockets provide the push. When the sat’s operators caught on, Grim shut down all the rockets. Finally it was on course and gravity took over. I sat back. Thirty-five minutes had gone by. A tall figure stood behind me, arms crossed.
“Where is Tanya?” I asked, noting her absence.
“She went to get the reporters. She said that this needs to be broadcast,” Arkady said. “You send message?”
I looked up at the night sky and he looked, too. A thin streak of moving light flashed across the sky heading east, a robust shooting star that burned bright before disappearing from view. I don’t think any of the cops saw it, too focused on the ground.
“Yeah, I sent a message.”
Leland was talking rapidly on his cell phone, pausing and saying “Yes sir,” a lot.
“Where do you two think you’re going?” he threw at Arkady and me as we headed for the SUV.
“We’re leaving, Major,” I said.
“You’re gonna leave me with this mess?”
“We’re leaving you alive and well. If we hang out, they may launch another one.”
Everyone around him stopped what they were doing as my words hit them. Then the Major nodded once, sharply. “Right, good point. Don’t let the door hit ya in the ass,” he said, pulling out a smart phone and raising it to his ear.
Stacia was at the SUV, sitting on the open tailgate while the two SWAT guys she had both saved and embarrassed were talking her up.
Awasos lounged on the ground, head on his paws, watching the busy crime and now crash scene.
“So as long as I’m clear on this… you’re not one of them? With the fangs and all?” one of the troopers asked. He was big and blond, maybe a few years older than me. His friend
One of the agents with Gulden was nodding. “Navy TLAM-D sub munitions variant,” he said. “I worked on them in the Navy.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? A goddamned Navy Tomahawk was just launched against us?” Leland asked, equal parts outraged and shocked. “Just what the fuck did you do?” he asked me.
“I told them no,” I said. Arkady snorted and the men all looked his way. “My Queen’s Chosen destroyed a secret underground fortress and now politicians are scared,” he said. With his thick Russian accent, he sounded like Boris from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle shows… a giant, vampiric Boris. His words, size, and pointy teeth all reminded them that he was, perhaps, a real vampire.
“Where’d it come from?” Gulden asked.
“Probably an attack sub off the Jersey coast,” the ex-Navy agent replied. Funny he should say that. Grim was probing the area around and above us. The origin of the missile was far to the East, and I got an image of a deadly black torpedo shape slicing through the waves. I felt my dark half’s attention switch to the satellite sitting overhead and suddenly a dormant part of my brain opened up and started running math… fancy math… the kind of math that had obliterated a portion of New Hampshire forest not so long ago.
I almost stopped it. Just shut down the equations. But a second set of equations showed me the most probable results. Very little of the small satellite would actually make it to earth intact. The probability of actually hitting the submarine was ridiculously low and the sub was submerged. It would be more of a message, and it would remove a watching asset from sitting overhead.
My reserves were already low, used up by closing the portal and splashing the Tomahawk with aura to negate the explosives. So it took a while and it was more of a gentle nudge out of orbit and some interference with the spacecraft’s maneuvering rockets to effect my goal. Each time I would move the spy sat, the ground controllers would fire off its rockets. So Grim just spun it around and let the rockets provide the push. When the sat’s operators caught on, Grim shut down all the rockets. Finally it was on course and gravity took over. I sat back. Thirty-five minutes had gone by. A tall figure stood behind me, arms crossed.
“Where is Tanya?” I asked, noting her absence.
“She went to get the reporters. She said that this needs to be broadcast,” Arkady said. “You send message?”
I looked up at the night sky and he looked, too. A thin streak of moving light flashed across the sky heading east, a robust shooting star that burned bright before disappearing from view. I don’t think any of the cops saw it, too focused on the ground.
“Yeah, I sent a message.”
Leland was talking rapidly on his cell phone, pausing and saying “Yes sir,” a lot.
“Where do you two think you’re going?” he threw at Arkady and me as we headed for the SUV.
“We’re leaving, Major,” I said.
“You’re gonna leave me with this mess?”
“We’re leaving you alive and well. If we hang out, they may launch another one.”
Everyone around him stopped what they were doing as my words hit them. Then the Major nodded once, sharply. “Right, good point. Don’t let the door hit ya in the ass,” he said, pulling out a smart phone and raising it to his ear.
Stacia was at the SUV, sitting on the open tailgate while the two SWAT guys she had both saved and embarrassed were talking her up.
Awasos lounged on the ground, head on his paws, watching the busy crime and now crash scene.
“So as long as I’m clear on this… you’re not one of them? With the fangs and all?” one of the troopers asked. He was big and blond, maybe a few years older than me. His friend
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