There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (30 page)

“
Uno Mas
,” the doctor cried out. “The
head, it’s coming.”

********************

It had taken a
little longer to get to the new airport, and then they’d been put
in a holding pattern while the tower found room for their plane to
land. By the time they touched down, it was well dark. Two black
Hummers with darkened windows awaited them as they disembarked
Julius’s plane. Not exactly unmemorable, but they didn’t intend on
being here long enough for it to matter. The staff who approached
the plane to process them into the country were unceremoniously
mind-rolled by Fergus, but there was no way to roll the minds of
every person who saw them, so they needed to get moving without
delay. They didn’t want to broadcast their arrival and possibly
spook their targets.

Gabi took the
wheel of the first four-wheel drive while Julius and Fergus took
the back seats, Razor between them. Kyle pulled a large spray can
from the bag slung over his shoulder and efficiently set about
spraying the windows of the Hummer. The clear glaze was a new
variation on Savannah’s miracle coating, one that wouldn’t protect
against bullets but would deflect more than ninety percent of the
sun’s rays if they managed to get caught out in the open with the
sun up. Once done, Kyle threw the can to Butch, who quickly did the
same to the second vehicle as the others loaded gear into the back
of both vehicles. Butch took the driver’s seat in the other vehicle
while Lance took shotgun and the humans climbed in the back. In
minutes they were following signs for the exit. Thank the Lord and
Lady for Kyle’s school-level Spanish. Privately she suspected
Julius spoke the language better than Kyle, but he was quiet and
brooding in the seat directly behind hers. Something was bothering
him, but there was no time to drag it out of him now.

Kyle had her
tablet on his lap and directed her through the early evening
traffic using the GPS co-ordinates Murphy had supplied them with.
The night was young, but they had plenty to do before the sun
rose.

Palm trees,
manicured gardens, modern condos and brightly lit shopping malls
eventually gave way to narrow streets and tiny ramshackle
apartments nestled against each other for support. Meagre cobbled
sidewalks, tiny second-floor balconies and lantern-shaped
streetlights added to the olde worlde atmosphere of the old part of
the city. Gabi could see what drew the tourists, but manoeuvring
the Hummers through the narrow streets was giving her a
headache.

It came as a
relief when Kyle said, “Let’s find somewhere to park. We’re less
than a kilometre from the GPS point.” But her relief was
short-lived. Finding somewhere to stop was proving more difficult
than any of them had anticipated.

“
Plan B,” Gabi said. “I’ll drop you off to scout the area. Take
Lance with you. We’ll keep circling in the vehicles. Take earpieces
with you.”

Kyle handed the
tablet to Julius, and Gabi pulled into a quiet side street,
stopping in the middle of it.

“
Don’t try anything stupid, and whatever you do, don’t send
them running,” Gabi warned him.

He sent her an
unfriendly glare before trotting over to the vehicle behind them.
Gabi watched in the rear-view mirror as Lance joined him, and both
men went to the back of the car and pulled out bags of equipment.
Kyle loped back to her, and when she opened the window, he handed
her a small bag containing several comm units.

“
We won’t go far,” she said out the window as Kyle and Lance
began jogging up the street.

“
It’s them; I can scent Caspian all around here,” Kyle said
directly into Gabi’s skull. She’d always hated the effect of the
inner-ear microphone designed so that no outsider could overhear
anything and small enough not to be noticed. It had its drawbacks,
but Gabi couldn’t fault its advantages. “It’ll take me a while to
unravel the scent markers and figure out where they
lead.”

“
Keep us posted,” Gabi told him. She finally found parking big
enough for the two Hummers in a paved, open space that was probably
a market or plaza during the day. It was quiet now; not even the
casual foot traffic that traversed many other streets passed here.
They reversed into a far corner and Butch aimed a small rock at the
only lit street light in the area. It blinked out with a small fizz
as the rock struck.

In the shadows
they began pulling on protective clothing and strapping weapons to
their bodies, the quiet only interrupted by the odd grunt and the
slap of leather on metal. Gabi supressed a grin, thinking about how
the airport officials would’ve reacted if they’d actually inspected
their luggage instead of just walking away thinking they’d
inspected the luggage. Their bags weren’t full of clothing and
beachwear, but broadswords, daggers, short swords and an assortment
of Mac and Savannah’s inventions. The sheer number of weapons was
impressive, never mind the ingenuity of some. She had her standard
outfit of Nex, four butterfly swords, a MacDartgun and a
MacCrossbow; she added extra darts and crossbow bolts. They weren’t
expecting too much of a fight, but she’d long ago learned not to
underestimate a desperate, cornered adversary. Once she was done,
she fastened Razor’s armour to him and tightened the straps,
kissing his cold, wet nose before rising to her feet.

“
I’ve got it narrowed down to an address,” Kyle said, making
her jump. “But there’s something going on. I don’t think Caspian is
here, and I think I smell blood. I’m following another trail, it’s
the freshest scent of Caspian.”

“
We’re on our way on foot. Be careful, don’t spook him,” Gabi
reiterated.

They left Sasha
and Big Dog with the Hummers as Gabi, Butch and the Vampires
ghosted down the narrow lanes. Girls in short skirts and guys in
jeans and short-sleeve shirts moved out of their way. Gabi knew it
would be impossible for them to completely avoid being noticed by
those out on the streets. The night was relatively young, and
people were busy heading out to dinner or drinks before clubbing or
partying with friends. Far too many for even Fergus and Julius to
mind roll. It wasn’t even worth the effort; most norms simply came
up with a logical explanation for something unusual. Her dark and
dangerous group would more than likely be tagged as part of a
costume party or some kind of cosplay event. Until the violence
began…

They rounded a
corner and the building Kyle had earmarked came into view. Without
a word Fergus and Butch crossed the road and, after a quick check
for witnesses, they leapt upward. Fergus reached the rooftop in one
smooth move; Butch made use of a first-floor balcony as a halfway
point. Once they’d both disappeared from view, Gabi and Julius
crossed the road as well, Razor a shadow at their heels. Their
destination was a terracotta-coloured apartment with a battered
number fifteen hanging from a once-cheerful, red door.

She glanced at
Julius as they stopped outside the door. He gave her a nod. He was
outwardly calm and controlled, but an edge of anticipation rubbed
against her own sense of urgency.

“
Can you hear anything?” she asked, her voice a bare
whisper.

He shook his
head. “It’s quiet. Too quiet. Be ready for anything.”

She drew two
butterfly swords from her left ankle, settling the D-shaped hilts
in each hand and stepped to one side, checking the road as Julius
lifted one booted foot and kicked the door open with minimal
effort. They were both inside before the door hit the wall of the
cramped hallway. Gabi kicked it closed once Razor slipped in behind
her. Julius had been restrained; aside from the broken lock, the
door was still in one piece.

Eerie silence
greeted them. Julius was a dark shadow in front of her, looming
large in the compact apartment. He melted away and she followed him
into an open room accommodating a sofa, two armchairs, a dining
table and a kitchenette. A new TV and several tired pictures of
fishing villages and vineyards hung on the walls. The
nose-crinkling stench of long-dead animals suffused the entire
place.

Wordlessly they
split up to investigate. Opening doors, Gabi found two bedrooms and
a cramped bathroom down a short passage, all equally devoid of
life, except for a few lazy flies and some scavenging cockroaches.
Julius had disappeared up the narrow staircase leading to a second
floor when Gabi returned to the main room. With no obvious threats
inside, she re-sheathed the short swords and centred herself before
sending out her vamp ESP. She doubted Caspian was close enough to
sense, but maybe she would pick up the Shape-shifter Magus. She bit
back a growl when she found nothing besides the familiar presences
of her own crew. Growing agitated, she paced to a small window
facing away from the road and tugged on the latches. It opened
easily enough, and when she stuck her head out, she found Butch
standing in the dark alley outside.

“
No fresh scents here,” he told her. “Anything
inside?”

She shook her
head and looked up. Fergus’s face peered down from the roof. He
shook his head as well.

“
Lea,” Julius called her name softly. She pulled her head back
inside and jogged up the staircase. Two doors led off the landing
at the top, and she found Julius in the room to her
left.

It took her
brain several seconds to make sense of what she was looking at. At
first glance it could have been a murder scene. Two single beds
almost filled the small room, separated only by a nightstand. One
of the beds was still neatly made while the other was a rumpled
mess; the yellowed sheets and a thin green blanket were covered in
dark stains. A pile of towels lay beside the bed, also stained dark
with blood; in fact, the scent permeated the air. The dead-animal
smell had been so overpowering downstairs that it had overlaid the
fresh blood up here. Torn bandages hung from all four corners of
the bed frame and some surgical supplies lay in disarray on the bed
stand. A bucket stood in front of it, beside Julius’s feet. She
looked at him, not daring to put her fears into words.

“
Placentas,” he
said, surprising her, “two of them. She’s had the
babies.”

CHAPTER
17

“
Oh Lord and Lady,” Gabi whispered, unable to take her eyes
from the bucket beside Julius. The bucket that confirmed their
worst fears. “We really have to find them. Now, before they leave
with the babies and we lose them again.” She tapped the commlink to
activate it. “Kyle,” she called, “hurry up. The situation has
turned critical.”

“
I think we’re close,” Kyle replied, his breathing strained.
“But the trail is definitely only Caspian and a human. I can’t
scent Mariska or anything that could be the Mole man.”

“
Do you think he’s…” she trailed off, reassessing the blood on
the sheets and blanket.

“
No, there isn’t enough blood for him to have killed two people
here.” Julius shook his head. “I think they’ve separated; they’ve
done it before.”

“
Or the Mole is taking Mariska somewhere more remote to kill
her and dispose of her body,” Gabi suggested.

“
There’s one other problem.” The edge to Julius’s voice made
Gabi glance at him sharply. His face was a careful mask. He held up
a small glass jar. In the dim glow of the bedside lamp she could
see a thin layer of something dark ringing the bottom of it. She
frowned, not understanding. “It’s blood,” he explained. “Vampire
blood. The Maleficus wasn’t doing this willingly. Caspian was using
his blood to control her.”

“
Oh…shit…” The reality hit her. “That means the babies…” She
couldn’t say it.

“
They’ll almost certainly be Dhampirs,” Julius finished for
her. And she’d thought the situation was critical before. Her mind
froze, the shock of the revelation jamming her brain in neutral. A
loud yowl from Razor broke through her stupor. She realised that
Razor hadn’t followed her upstairs; he must still be on the lower
level.

Gabi made the
bottom of the steps a breath before Julius, Nex drawn. They found
him standing to attention in a dark corner of the living room,
behind the sagging sofa. He glanced back at their approach, and
Gabi was relieved to note that he didn’t seem to be in any imminent
danger. She nudged him to one side as Julius pulled the couch away.
There was a large jagged hole in the floorboards, big enough for a
large human to have fitted through. Loose dirt filled the area
beneath, and when Gabi pressed her toe into it, it gave for an inch
but then felt solid.

“
The Mole took her and ran.” Julius’s eyes were narrowed. His
mind was racing while hers was just getting into first
gear.

“
To kill her or to save her?” she wondered aloud.

“
Either way we have to find them.”

“
But how the Hell do we follow them? We can’t track them
underground; they could be anywhere.” Gabi was beginning to feel
desperate; their operation was quickly turning to shit.

“
Not really anywhere,” Butch interrupted as he and Fergus
shouldered their way through the door. “I doubt he’d want to raise
attention. He’ll head for somewhere isolated, somewhere it’s
unlikely there’ll be witnesses to see him emerge from the ground.
That must narrow his options.”

“
Phone Murphy, see what he can find,” she told Butch as her
brain finally found a new gear and renewed determination took
hold.

“
Gabi, we’ve found the end of the trail,” Kyle’s voice sounded
in her ear. “It’s a small medical clinic. We’ve retreated a couple
of blocks, so as not to spook Caspian, but he’s definitely in
there.”