Cara MIA - Book One Of The Immortyl Revolution Part 33

"A favor? What kind of favor?" Joe opened the door to his office for her, but she didn't come inside, instead hovering by the door uncomfortably. "I didn't think you considered me an ally, Ms. Brookings."

Leisha frowned. "We're on the same side, Doctor. There's an Immortyl looking for them in LA, probably some bounty hunter hired by the Wolf. I'm taking them out of here but it'll have to wait till I get back. In the meantime, I've had security doubled at night, and no other staff here after hours. That's why I sent Lydia home. Obviously, he can't do much until after dark. Lydia is aware of this but I'd feel better if you'd keep an eye on them till I get back."

"Me? What good am I against one of those things?" He realized too late what he'd said, but she didn't take offense. Apparently, she didn't put herself in the same cla.s.s.

"Immortyls can be killed in conventional ways. Shoot 'em in the head or heart with a large enough caliber bullet and they'll die. Take my word for it. I've mowed down a few. We just have to be ready for them. You've earned Kurt and Mia's trust. I obviously haven't done such a good job of that. If there's a crisis, they'll follow your lead. Believe me, I don't want them harmed."

"And if something happens? Where do I take them?"

"Anywhere they'll be safe. I'm entrusting their welfare to you, because I know you'll protect them."

She turned away, tawny skirt and copper hair swirling with her movement, metal and tortoise sh.e.l.l tinkling like tiny bells on her long limbs. Joe's breath caught. Her hips swayed as she walked slowly down the corridor, her stride loose and swinging. A lioness on the prowl, a magnificent creature, no doubt about that, but one who could devour in a single lethal bite. Despite her rea.s.surances they were on the same side, he was terrified. What were they loosing on the world? She turned, regarding him for a moment with her steady golden gaze, before stepping inside the elevator.

Joe was scared of a lot of things now. Making his way back to the lab, he started backing up all his files on disc, unable to shake the feeling of impending doom as he packed them and the notes he'd made with Mia into his bag. Put them in a safe place, he figured, just in case. The air conditioning dripped, plop, plop, like water inside a cave. In the dim light, the equipment cast strange skeleton shadows on the walls. He was exhausted, but he couldn't leave now. Setting his watch alarm, he leaned back in the chair and dozed off.

The alarm pinged at four a.m. Stomach acids churned and growled. He hadn't thought to eat anything since the previous morning. He rubbed his eyes, rising stiffly from the chair.

Making his way to the lounge, he surveyed the choices available in the snack machines. Honey-roasted peanuts and chips weren't going to do it. There were better offerings upstairs in the cafeteria machines. He could grab a dry sandwich or wilted salad, at least.

He pushed through the doors into the corridor, pa.s.sing the cells on his right, trying not to imagine Mia and Kurt behind the closed doors. Drawing each other's blood, f.u.c.king like rabbits, or both?

This strange connection between blood and brain was deeply disturbing, yet spurred his curiosity. No instrument could test this. It was something he'd personally never understand even if he studied them for a century. As Mia said, the only way to understand was to experience it. He'd have to find a way less dangerous. But if Leisha took them away, how would it affect his research? He'd done rudimentary neurological tests, the usual scans, but he needed to study them over time. Would he ever get the chance?

At the elevator, he stopped and listened- no sound, either in the corridor or above his head, only the omnipresent air-conditioning, humming and dripping from the ductwork overhead. The door opened and he stepped inside.

The doors opened on the lobby. Joe looked across at the guard desk. Strange, it was empty. Usually, at least one guard was seated there. Perhaps they'd just gone on rounds or to the restroom. His heartbeat accelerated as a burst of adrenalin hit him. Sweat broke out on the surface of his skin, leaving his s.h.i.+rt damp, sticky, and clammy against his back in the artificially chilled air. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Then halfway across the terrazzo floor to the employee cafeteria, he saw the blood.

A large pool with bits of brain matter lay spattered beneath his feet. A sticky maroon trail led off in the direction of the cafeteria. Joe flattened against the wall, sliding his way stealthily to the swinging doors to peer in. Soft, power saving, after-hours lighting glowed overhead.

Its back was toward him, clad in black leather, with long, pale hair flowing over its broad shoulders like a cape. It was bent over a ma.s.s of wires attached to a box, a bomb. Nearby, mangled bodies of three security guards lay in a b.l.o.o.d.y heap, brains and guts spilling onto the floor. Joe broke out in a heavy sweat, willing himself not to breathe, or make any sound as he slid backward toward the elevator and flashed his id card at the scanner. The electronic voice betrayed him.

"Good morning, Doctor Ansari, please move forward for identification."

Joe threw himself toward the retina scanner. The intruder roared, running toward the elevator at lightning speed.

"Identification complete."

The doors opened and Joe fell inside the elevator. A dark shape hurled itself toward the doors. Just as a withered hand reached in between, they closed. Joe grabbed the fire extinguisher, swinging it with all his strength at the probing fingers between them. A painful howl erupted from the vampire, as the bleeding fingers drew back and the doors shut completely. The elevator swiftly descended underground and Joe fell out running as soon as they opened. He flung himself against the outer door of Kurt's cell and went through the security procedure, cursing the delay. As the outer door opened, Joe stumbled to the next, banging frantically on the gla.s.s and buzzing the intercom.

Kurt's voice called out, "Go away!"

"Kurt, it's Joe," he panted. "There's a problem."

Kurt came to the gla.s.s, totally nude, hair damp and body covered in sweat. Tiny streams of blood ran from the corners of his mouth, and small wounds on various parts of his body. Joe turned away in shock, and explained the situation. Kurt cursed, calling Mia to get dressed. Joe leaned back against the wall struggling to catch his breath and calm down. He waited until they were both at the door before he opened it. Their faces were flushed, and they smelled strongly of s.e.x.

Mia looked obviously annoyed. "What the h.e.l.l is happening?"

"There's one of them here. Upstairs, he's killed the guards. We have to get out. He's got a bomb."

Kurt's head inclined slightly to the side as if an unpleasant thought occurred to him. "Did you get a good look at him?"

"From the back. It was pretty dark. He's big though and has long hair, like a biker. We need guns. There's some in a closet down here. Can you break the lock?"

Kurt's voice betrayed impatience, "Of course." Slinging his laptop over his shoulder, Kurt set off with Mia and Joe following into the corridor to the closet, where the weapons were locked. Kurt twisted the steel handle until it broke, clattering to the floor. The door swung open. Inside, hung two high-powered rifles, a small pistol and a few tazers and dart guns. Kurt took down the firearms, checking to see if they were loaded. He tossed one of the rifles to Joe. "Can you shoot, Doctor?"

Joe nodded.

"Mia, my love?" Kurt handed the other rifle to Mia, who shouldered it, peering through the sight. Kurt caught Joe's amazed expression. "She's an expert marksman. She never told you? She's deadlier than you know. It seems you have some some secrets, secrets, Liebchen. Liebchen." Kurt took the pistol, and grabbed extra boxes of ammunition stuffing them into the pockets of his suede jacket and the rest into Mia's battered black leather one. "Aim for the head or heart, Doctor. Is he armed?"

"Probably disarmed the guards."

Kurt looked around, his face tense. "Any other way out of the building from this level?"

"A freight elevator to the loading dock."

"We'll need a vehicle covered from the sun, like a van or truck."

"The company van, I've used it to move equipment. The keys are in Lydia's office."

Kurt nodded. "Let's go."

They ran to Lydia's office where Kurt kicked in the door. Joe went to the key safe and rifled through the keys. "s.h.i.+t- not here. Lydia must have them."

Mia spoke up, "I can hot wire a car."

Joe and Kurt both looked at her in disbelief.

"Ethan taught me."

Kurt smiled. "You're an amazing woman."

Joe led them through a set of double doors into a storage room where lab equipment and office supplies were stacked on shelves and pallets. The three of them stepped into the freight elevator. Joe closed the gate and the elevator lurched into operation.

"Christ, this thing is noisy," said Mia.

"Be ready to fire," warned Kurt.

They raised weapons in antic.i.p.ation of attack as the elevator opened into another storage area with swinging doors leading out onto the loading dock. They stepped cautiously outside the elevator. Kurt tilted his head, listening. "Can't hear him," he whispered. "Mia?"

She shook her head.

Joe pointed with the rifle. "There's the van."

Kurt nodded. "I'll cover this door. You go with Mia."

Kurt leaned against the swinging door, training his gun on the doors leading back into the building. Joe covered Mia as she broke the window to open the van door. She crouched down and went to work on the wires, cursing under her breath.

Air swirled down from the huge cooling duct overhead. The smallest of sc.r.a.pes against metal made Kurt c.o.c.k his head to the side. "Scheisse- something's up there." something's up there."

Suddenly, a dark shape swooped down, dragging Kurt up into the duct above their heads. The pistol clattered to the floor and the bag containing his laptop dropped beside it.

Joe ran to retrieve the gun. "He's got Kurt!"

Mia was by his side in an instant. "Where's this lead? He won't kill him. Gaius needs us alive to get those discs back."

"It goes all through the building... he might have taken him to the cafeteria, where the bomb is."

"Come on!"

They ran inside toward the atrium with weapons poised. Joe panted to keep up with Mia, as she easily outran him to the cafeteria to look inside. "Not here!"

Something scuttled above their head towards the atrium. "They're still in the ductwork," Mia whispered. They moved cautiously. Joe looked around, but didn't see anything. Then a drop of blood hit the floor at their feet. Mia growled, raising her weapon above their heads. "Put him down, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

A refined, slightly accented voice called down, "I'll drop him if you shoot. His brains will spatter over the floor."

Mia's face went still, "It can't be... Brovik? Brovik?"

Joe's eyes followed up to the steel armature supporting the gla.s.s ziggurat atop the atrium. A vampire, his face seared like melting wax, with long, pale hair, clutched Kurt to him in a death grip.

"I thought he was dead."

Brovik laughed. "A few hours of sunlight can't kill one as old as me, Doctor Ansari. Yes, I know all about you. Very clever of the Amazon to put you to work on Mia, did you learn all of her intimate intimate secrets?" secrets?"

"The body on the boat?" Mia gasped.

"That was one of my dogs you set adrift and burnt with Ethan. Kurt dearest, I was touched at the poetic gesture, but even you, my love, knew nothing about the air raid shelter I'd dug on the island before the war. Give me what I want, and I'll let you fend for yourselves as long as you can against The Wolf. Try anything Mia, and I'll kill the boy. Now, where are those discs, cara mia cara mia?"

Mia raised the rifle to her shoulder, taking aim.

Joe grabbed her arm. "He'll kill him!"

"f.u.c.king liar will kill him anyway." Mia squeezed the trigger. "Sorry about the discs Brovik, but here's a little something from Sanjivani!"

Brovik roared as Mia fired. His head exploded in a spray of tissue and blood. The elder's hands clung to Kurt for an instant before his corpse tottered and fell. With a desperate movement, Kurt wrenched free, catching the supporting structure, and hanging there as Brovik's body plummeted ten stories to the terrazzo floor. The impact sounded like a melon splitting open. A vast pool of blood spread from the mangled body as burst guts spilled out onto the floor. Joe couldn't look away, wondering what one thousand year old entrails would look like, but to his surprise they looked like any other.

"This body should be autopsied," Joe mused.

"No time! We don't know how soon that bomb will go off. Kurt, let's go!"

Kurt climbed down the armature, an agile spider monkey, leaping lightly to the floor, his face covered in blood and brain matter.

"Yuck," said Mia. A distant rumble shook the building. "Run!"

The three of them took off through the lobby and down the hall to the rear of the building. Mia and Kurt sped by Joe as if he stood still, a blur. Kurt opened the door onto the loading dock, scooping up his dropped laptop as Mia ran to the van, starting it up. Panting, Joe caught up with them and threw his bag in the back as he slipped into the driver's seat. Kurt and Mia, not even winded, piled in the back, sitting on a pile of moving mats.

"What's this?" Kurt asked, examining Joe's bag.

"My research and other data I was given, notes of my sessions with Mia and a first aid kit. There are alcohol wipes in it. Clean yourself up. You look disgusting."

Kurt smiled through the gore. "You're all right, Doctor."

Joe released the brake, hitting the gas. Just as the van screeched away from the building a huge explosion rocked them, fire and smoke poured out behind. Joe floored the ignition, clearing the building just as the side collapsed in a cloud of thick dust and debris. Another explosion went off and another until the entire building caved in. Brovik had imploded a tomb for himself and the dead guards. Joe sped out of the parking lot, cras.h.i.+ng through the gate, noticing no guard posted there. "Brovik must have killed the guards here too."

"Where you taking us?" Mia asked.

"Maryland. My friend Carol works for the NIH. She has some powerful friends. If they can't protect you, no one can."

Kurt protested. "Gaius has government people in his pay!"

"It's our only chance. Leisha was going to move you, but after what Brovik did there isn't any more Genpath, the project is dead."

Kurt leaned over the seat. "Doctor, take us to Virginia, to Ethan's house. We'll hide there until you can speak with your friend. It belongs to Mia now. We need to fetch something. There's nothing in that locker in New York but a letter saying we're through with Leisha. I suspected something like this might occur and we planted it there before we came here. We were planning to escape- with your help of course. The discs are at Caithness."

"Won't she'll figure where you are?"

"She's never been there," Mia said. "But we'll have to be careful. The Wolf might be watching the house."

Joe looked over the dash to the lightening sky. "Sun's starting to rise, better take cover."

Kurt spread out the moving pads to make a bed. Mia leaned over the seat "You must be exhausted."

"Soon as it gets dark we'll head to an airport. I'll call Carol to warn her."

Kurt peered over the seat. "Joe, we appreciate the great risk you're taking."

"You never called me anything but Doctor before. Why the sudden familiarity?"

"We're partners now, whether you want it or not."

"s.h.i.+t, got to call my wife. She'll think I'm dead." Joe pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial. He spoke rapidly to Rima, his voice tense, telling her there was an explosion but he was safe. He had to go to Was.h.i.+ngton for a while, but not to tell anyone where he was. He couldn't tell her more, but he'd be in touch.

Joe glanced back. The two vampires huddled together on the pile of moving pads, like a couple of kids, their fate in his hands. He turned his eyes to the road ahead. The sun bled red over the horizon. Bad weather ahead. Joe turned the van up the ramp onto the interstate, heading east into the storm.

BLURB FOR TWILIGHT OF THE G.o.dS.

BOOK TWO OF THE IMMORTYL REVOLUTION:.

Narrowly escaping the implosion of Genpath Laboratories, vampire lovers, Mia Disantini and Kurt Eisen are on the run from their rival in the "Forbidden Science", Immortyl elder Gaius Lupus. When Kurt is captured by Gaius and rescued with the aid of feral child and teen vampires known as sewer rats, Mia witnesses first hand the charismatic spell her lover casts over these would-be revolutionaries who vow to join Kurt in his mission to bring down the house of Gaius. Meeting obstacles to government funding to support the research that will one day allow them to walk in the sun, Kurt builds his forces, while Mia navigates the minefield of rat politics, where she is distressed to be shunted into the background and viewed merely as an overly ambitious concubine who stands between the beloved "Loki" and his followers, particularly the oddly timid, but beautiful Arturo who threatens to sever the deep bond between Mia and Kurt.

Will Kurt and Mia defeat Gaius's brutal attacks and realize their dream of a cure for their condition? Will the new order they establish survive betrayal from within? And will their love adapt to the challenge of a third partner?