Marcus assigned a time for them to go to the armory, which was an hour later than the time he set for the initial group, and then he dismissed them and went back up a floor to the armory. When they entered the armory, the saw Halo gearing up along with the other twenty men. He shot a sideways look at Marcus. It told him just how irritated he was that he had not been included in any of Marcus’s plans. Marcus was left to wonder how Halo had been alerted to the action being taken. It told him that there were no secrets in this place. All information was in danger of being revealed at any moment. Of course there was a difference between their plans being revealed to a compatriot and them being revealed to an enemy, but still…the danger was there.
He had to hope for the best. He crossed his fingers and hoped the forty men they had entrusted were as solid as Simone thought they were.
He had a few quick words with Halo, filling him in briefly and succinctly.
“I’m going to move independent of all of you,” Halo said. “I’m going to stay with her my way. You can use all of your toys and gizmos, but nothing beats a good old- fashioned track. It’s more dependable anyway.”
Marcus disagreed, but he wasn't about to argue with the giant hunter. Besides, it was good to have him as a backup plan…just in case everything went to hell.
Marcus couldn’t escape the feeling that it was already going to hell. Just agreeing to do this was insanity. He supposed that made him a slightly unbalanced individual, because he was hoping it would work. He had faith that it would work.
Marcus, Halo and the first twenty men exited vampire central at staggered times so it wouldn’t be obvious that a force was being put into place. Marcus left in a van with five other men to protect him and hit the streets to hunt. Having been there a month, he had developed enough relationships where he could call up a target friend and meet them at their place. He did this with as little impatience as he could muster. It was difficult when all he wanted to do was get back to the woman he loved so he could feed her, care for her and protect her.
There was perhaps something attractive to the way she had to depend on him for so many things. Oh, he appreciated her independence and her wildly adamant insistence that she could take care of herself, but there was something about the vulnerability of her situation that brought out the best in him. Perhaps that was chauvinistic of him. He didn’t examine that aspect of it overmuch. He was not a chauvinist. He was attracted to Simone’s strength and individuality more than anything else. Her power as a woman and a queen turned him on.
However, the softer more vulnerable Simone spoke to a part of him. It inspired the nurturing and protective instincts he felt toward her. It stimulated his love for her even more deeply than it would have felt had she not needed him at all. He thrived on being so important to her, so depended upon…so needed.
He returned to her brimming with energy and the determination to be the one who keeps her safe for the rest of her time on this planet. That was a significant promise of devotion…considering how long they lived. However he took this oath of loyalty very seriously. His relationship with her was not just a flash in the pan. It was not just something physical that ran hot one minute and would cool in the next. He loved her, and as he let her feed from him, as he gave her the critical power she needed, the sexual high of it was almost unbearable as he forced himself to keep on point rather than drag her to her bed that very instant.
“Simone, you have my heart,” he breathed against her warm shoulder as she fed from him. She disengaged herself, having taken her fill, leaving them both with the energy of a fresh hunt and enough power to last for several days…or to stand up in a hard fight for their lives.
She met his eyes, hers lit with the freshness of her feed and warmed by the intensity of his declaration. He smiled at her softly.
“I love you, too,” she said breathily.
“I mean for you to feel this beyond just the words…beyond this moment and into the future. You’re my everything, Simone. If you should be hurt in this, I will never forgive myself. I would no longer be of use to anyone. There is no doubt in my mind that if you should die, I would die right along with you,”
“There is risk in this for you as well,” she said quietly. “As part of my protective force you will be facing down whatever army that sycophant psycho has waiting in the wings for you. And you can bet that he is going to come at me full force this time. Please…I’m begging you to be careful.”
“Me?” He laughed incredulously. “I’m not the one purposely putting my life and well-being in the hands of that psycho!”
“I know. I know I could be risking it all. I could be throwing my life away. But I have faith in you and in myself that together we can do this. We can get Draz and remove this thorn in my side. I am done with him running his little kingdom of sycophants. He is going to die and they will die right along with him.”
“Hopefully,” Marcus said with a sigh. “Hopefully.”
Marcus led her into the foyer of her apartment and dressed himself in a blazer that would hide the communication device at the edge of his sleeve. He would be on the radio, his men and women connected to him in his ear. The first twenty men were waiting in the armory, so they headed that way. The second set of twenty men were waiting on the floor below. All had their assignments on how they were to follow the queen…who was to show themselves when she was intercepted and who was not. They wanted a convincing show of force, but not so much of one that they discouraged capture.
Marcus held himself in reserve. He did not accompany her out on her hunt. He risked them noticing this change in routine in order to follow behind in a tricked out surveillance vehicle. There was one thing that could be said about vampires…they were always prepared for anything…and always prepared with the best. The vehicle was usually used to follow and observe law breaking vampires, gathering evidence to be brought up to the committee. It was now going to come in very handy as they tracked their queen with GPS and all other surveillance at their disposal.
There was one other thing he wanted to deploy. He peeled off one of the twenty handpicked men and gave him his assignment. He was a helicopter pilot and he would be following her from the air in the helicopter sitting on the roof landing platform atop vampire central. It was equipped with the latest in forward looking radar, able to track a car by both GPS and able to track how many heat sources would be surrounding her. Also, he and the man he sent with him would be able to land quickly and closely as possible in the event they ended up in a remote area.
Feeling all of their bases were covered made him feel marginally better. He would watch and coordinate everything from the truck.
Honestly the ones who were in the most amount of danger were the six men who would show themselves as her protective detail. They would fight and have to lose that fight voluntarily…that could mean losing their lives. He had agonized over sending others out there to do his job, but he was of most value coordinating everything from the van. He had to be where he was the most effective at protecting her…and that was watching her daring ass as she exposed it and begged for a spanking.
There were two men and two women in the van with him and two driving. They watched with steady attention as she was ushered into an SUV in the garage, three of her detail clambering in with her. The other three were in a follow car. They all left the garage, the observation truck far earlier that the two SUVs. They drove around the block and waited for the SUV’s with Simone and her detail to exit the garage. They left Halo and the other armed men behind for the moment. They would be of no use until Simone was actually taken. Then they would follow in force and would plan on how to retrieve her and destroy Draz in the process.
They had done something similar with one of Draz’s associates not too long ago, but the bait had not gone in alone and unarmed like Simone was and the bait had been in control of the situation from the start. They had been wired and followed and backed up. Simone was backed up, but she would be far from in control of the
situation and she was not wired. If she were wired they would know she was bait and would kill her instantly. The only thing they could do was use her phone as a mic up until the moment Draz threw it away. It would be an open line without it being obvious it was being used for that purpose.
He listened in on the open line and heard Simone give directions to the restaurant where she would be meeting her mark for the evening. The sound of her voice gave him comfort…although it was a fleeting feeling when he reminded himself of what she was doing.
If he were Draz he would attack her before she had a chance to hunt. It would leave her weak and vulnerable. Less able to defend herself. Of course he wouldn’t know that she was already fed, but that was an advantage that could quickly wear away if she was forced to defend herself and her life against multitudes. All of this was predicated on the idea that she would be taken alive. It was a ballsy assumption. It was about knowing their enemy. And though they knew very little about Draz, they knew he was arrogant and power hungry and he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to lord it over a queen.
Or so they hoped. The second attack on Simone had been violent. It had been more about assassination than it had been about captivity. Draz’s true goal had been exposure however, according to their captive. It had been an act of pure insanity. While he would have exposed Simone, exposed vampires, he would have been exposing himself as well. Exposing sycophants. Once the difference was explained to humans, if they could even be rationalized with, sycophants would be hunted from all corners of the world. Humans would fear them even more than they would fear vampires…and that would lead to an all out paranoid hunt for them. The only hope was that, when the time came that they were exposed to the human race, they could see the clear difference between sycophants and vampires. In truth there wasn't that much that separated them. Only their lawfulness and their pure selections of food sources. It would seem like a very little difference to humans, but they would have to hope it would be enough. Simone had discussed all of this with him in bed one night. She had told him how she saw their exposure as being inevitable. Whether it was because of Draz or some other careless act being caught on one of the thousands of cameras out there in the world, it was only a matter of time.
She had spoken of her desire to be in control of the information and the situation. They had vampires placed high in government who would help argue for their cause, they would lobby for rights and equality and the hope that there would be less fear and more acceptance. But the word vampire came with negative feelings. Aliens perhaps less so. Simone already had an advanced marketing plan in place just in case. Anything was possible with the right publicist.
That was a worry for another day. Today’s worry was intense enough as it was without compounding it with others. Still, worrying kept his mind active, kept him tense and on his toes. He was watching everything from surveillance cams that he had following the situation at a discreet distance, including dash cams on all the cars and the surveillance truck.
However, the surveillance cams barely had the chance to come into play. Simone had hardly had the opportunity to cross into Brooklyn before she was set upon.
They came out of the woodwork with chilling coordination and deadly and overwhelming numbers. This time they were leaving nothing to chance. The mob of sycophants was at least twenty deep and out in the middle of the public street in the cold light of a streetlamp, they attacked her and her guards.
Marcus knew immediately that they had underestimated Draz’s brutal determination to have her. As they surrounded her and her guards Marcus knew the guards would be lucky to make it out of there alive.
Draz’s little army was violent and vindictive. They attacked as a full, synchronized force. The six guards were overwhelmed and outnumbered, but they fought for their lives and for the life of their queen valiantly. Simone was no slouch either. She took out three of the phants using a knife she’d carried in her boot. She punctured their vitals taking them down but leaving them alive. They couldn’t afford to drop bodies in the street and have them disintegrate in public. They would have to risk leaving them for the vampire ambulance service that would pick them up and finish them off. Marcus made the call to the ambulances that were at the ready and waiting at vampire central. Time was ticking away. Once the attack started the street cleared out of people, everyone running and hiding from what they no doubt saw as a gang attack. But that didn’t mean they weren't going to call 911. The fight had to be over before cops could reach them, otherwise there would be human casualties. Draz wouldn’t care about that, but Marcus did.
Two of Simone’s guards were dropped, two were killed outright. The final two ran for their lives and left the remaining ten sycophants to swarm the queen. Simone was grabbed up, trussed up quickly with some kind of binding behind her back. As he watched he watched them disarm her, search her, and throw away her phone and purse. They then quickly bundled her into a waiting van and half climbed in while the other five disappeared into the night.
Marcus focused on the queen. She had two of her GPS trackers on her. That and they had a visual of her. The surveillance truck followed them at a safe distance, making certain they were not spotted by travelling parallel to them when it was possible. The truck itself was white and covered in the dust of the road just like any other panel truck would be. They were non-descript and easy to mistake for just an average truck.
As they followed, Marcus paced the truck, his eyes trained on the dash cam of the truck and the map with the GPS tracker that moved in real time to track her position. He didn’t like not having eyes and ears inside the van. He didn’t know what was needed. If she needed help. If she was still alive. It was intolerable. He second-guessed the entire plan. He realized too late that they would have no way of seeing if they took her directly to Draz or if they stopped somewhere along the way.
“Do we have the copter following them?” he asked anxiously.
“We do.”
“Then peel off. Track her using side streets.”
“Where do you think they are taking her?” one of the women asked. She was seated at the chair, watching the screen with the GPS monitor closely.
“Hopefully straight to Draz. Last we heard he was working out of Newark, New Jersey somewhere. If they take her there then we’ll know she is going directly to him. But…somehow I doubt it will be that easy. He will suspect a setup. He will suspect she is being followed. He is nothing if not paranoid. His actions to date have proved that. Never staying in one place. Never allowing an untainted vampire in his presence.”
“But he uses untainted vampires all the time to track and attack the queen and other targets,” she argued.
“We’ve tried to get close to him. He always uses a go-between when it comes to dealing with vampires. Our spies have been stopped cold and distant from him. Believe me, I have read Danton’s reports. He had done everything possible. Still, we’ve learned enough to know he is somewhere in Newark.”
“Why don’t we just capture the driver and get Draz’s location from him? It would be far safer and less risky.”
“Because if I were Draz, I wouldn’t tell anyone where I was exactly until the very last minute.”
The authoritarian, named Sandra, fell quiet. There was a crackle of static before the helicopter announced: “They’re taking the Holland Tunnel.”
“I figured they would,” he said. “Follow at a discreet distance,” he said after switching to the driver’s communications channel. “Take the tunnel and remain at least five cars behind.”
“Now a problem with this traffic,” he said.
They were definitely heading into Jersey now. Right toward Newark. It was just a few towns over from the tunnel. Was it possible they would go right to Draz? It looked promising, but he didn’t trust simple things.
As soon as they were through the Holland tunnel the truck peeled off and let a different car pick up the track.
“Wait a minute,” he said about five minutes later. “Yeah
, they’re pulling off. They’re heading into a warehouse district by the tracks.”
“Okay, fall back,” Marcus instructed. “Don’t let them make you. Tanner, park on a nearby side street. We’ll track with a drone.”
Anticipating his needs, one of the guys in the van opened the side door into the truck and released the drone even while the truck was looking to park. All eyes turned to the display of the information the drone was sending them. The drone was equipped with a parabolic mic, so they would be able to hear the conversation in the warehouse they were entering without actually going inside. The drone was directed to a window that allowed them to see inside, yet avoided the sentries left outside the main door. It was a risky thing to fly the drone, but it was even more risky not to. They needed to know what was happening.
Now all they could do was wait and watch and listen for their next move, standing ever at the ready. All they could do was watch as Simone put her life on the line. Marcus had never felt so helpless in his life. He didn’t like the feeling. However, he imagined that Simone was feeling something similar as she went trussed up voluntarily to what could be her doom. Then again, Simone wouldn’t have felt helpless a day in her life. She would face the consequences of her life head on and with dignity.
There was a slight glare between the window and the drone camera at first, but it only took a small adjustment before the lights from the outside no longer affected their view of the lit interior of the warehouse.
Simone was dragged to the center of the warehouse which was a vast, empty space. There were no boxes or crates, merely a wide-open space with a chair facing out into the room. Simone was dragged before the chair. She went fighting all the way. She jerked free of their hold on her, stumbling away from them for a moment before they caught her under her arms once more and dragged her to the center of the room where she was forced down onto her knees. She surged back up again defiantly, but they forced her down once more.