~ Dakota ~
Upon arriving at the noodle shop, Dakota noticed a smaller vampire sitting in a booth in the back. His eyes got big when he saw that Jared was not alone. Grabbing some readymade noodles and a couple of bottles of water, she tossed some bills on the counter and followed her son back.
She wasn’t totally sure he was their contact, until he spoke. “Thank you for coming. Mr. Shardon said he was known to you personally, but I didn’t know if it was really true.”
Sliding into the far back of the booth, Jared made room for her to sit beside him.
“I’m certain you recognize my mother.”
The smaller man nodded. “Of course I do. She is on the news feed and in the advertisements for the academy. Her fact is very recognizable. Mr. Shardon asked me to speak with you are about retaining her services. Am I to understand that she is already involved.”
“She agreed to take the case, as a favor to me. How do we know this is not some kind of prank?”
Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out something and dropped it onto the table. Jared’s trembling hands picked up what appeared to be a burnished cross necklace. “Mr. Shardon was given this by the fighting partner he lost in the alien wars. I recognize it as the one item he never seems to take off.”
Looking contrite, the small vampire murmured. “He said you would know this is sacred to him and that I am his emissary.”
A strangled noise rumbled in the back of Jared’s throat. “He often jokingly called me his emissary when he sent me on errands for his family. Can you tell us where Mr. Shardon is being held?”
“I can tell you that, but you must know that he has made some powerful enemies. I work for a powerful syndicate. None on my crew are high enough on the hierarchy to know why they wanted him or who is calling the shots.”
Dakota spoke for the first time. “Turning on your partners can be a very dangerous decision. Do you mind if I ask why you have agreed to such?”
“As stupid as it sound, I wish to actually deserve the beautiful female who has chosen me as her mate. She thinks I work in an office. When put into a situation where I was forced to choose between risking my safety or saving the life of vampire brother, I chose the latter.”
Dakota murmured, “That’s very bold of you.”
“This was actually Mr. Shardon’s idea. He came up with a plan that offered the most protection to me and my wife. He believes my employers will not suspect me or my crew if a real hunter tracks him down.”
Dakota smiled slightly. “Alek would be correct about that. Hunters often go after jobs where there is a hefty reward to be had.”
Jared chimed in, “His business partner is beside himself with worry. The reward is now sitting at a quarter of a million credits.”
Dakota sighed. “Tell us where he is, if he unharmed, and when he is least heavily guarded.”
Sliding a small slip of brown paper across the table, Dakota sees that he’s written an address on the crumpled paper. He speaks quietly, “Mr. Shardon has not been harmed. It is best to come at night, since only one of our crew will be there and he will be easy to overpower. Little John has only been with us for a few weeks. He has a long rap sheet and a history of being uncooperative. Come alone and do not involve the police.”
Jared’s hand closed around the necklace. “How do we know that we can trust you?”
“If it is proof you want, I have none to give. I come to you as one who deeply regrets his involvement in this matter. I am doing my best to mitigate the damage. Will you retrieve Mr. Shardon?”
Dakota nodded. “We will come for him tomorrow night.”
Jared turned to her with questioning eyes. She ignored him, keeping her eyes on the small Vampire. He seemed satisfied with her answer.
“I will leave the details in your capable hands. Please keep your word, for he will be very disappointed if you do not come for him.”
Once they were alone, Jared shoved the necklace into his pocket. “What do we do now?”
Ignoring their food, Dakota responded tightly. We gear up and work out a plan. We move tonight, not tomorrow. I don’t trust our informant.”
Jared responded. “Let’s go.”
They headed to her home and made directly for her private study. She voice prompted the door to her hidden panic room, and the entire wall of a bookcase slid slightly back and to the side. When they walked in, the lights activated. Her son had been in her professional space several times, so he was familiar with her set up.
Most were laser weapons but there were some old fashion projectile weapons as well.
Jared picked up on and looked it over curiously. “Why do you collect projectile weapons? Aren’t they a little obsolete?
She smiled at him and shrugged. “Until you get hit with a real bullet you probably can’t understand the fascination.”
Gaping at her, he stammered. “You’ve been shot with an actual bullet?”
Pulling up the edge of her shirt, she showed him her small scar.
“What in the world was that like?”
Images of rolling up on a serial killer early in her career floated through her mind. She’d been around twenty five at the time. Hell, she was only thirty –four now. Answering her son’s question, she pulled out all her favorite weapons. “I heard a pop, there was a searing pain in my side and I didn’t really put two and two together until later. I was too focused on the woman he’d chained to a tree. He was hovering over her and she looked absolutely terrified. I was looking into her eyes when he got a shot off.”
“Jesus, what did you do?”
Frowning down at the laser weapon before shoving it in her holster, she replied dryly. “The only thing I could do, son. I drew down on him, catching him in the head with a shot from this very gun.” Tapping it smartly, she began picking their her battery packs for the laser weapon.”
“I guess you’ve seen some shit in your day.”
“Gunning down a serial killer doesn’t bother me. It’s the ones I can’t save that truly gut me.”
Turning on her heel, she left him to gear up on his own.
As he geared up, Dakota took a moment to reflect on her prior hunts. Looking at the smiling faces peering out of all the pictures covering her walls always gave her the motivation to go the extra mile when the going got rough. Each photo was of a person she’d saved, and had a glad signature and a note of thanks scrawled across the bottom. Whereas the average serial killer collected personal effects from his victims as a way of reliving the emotions associated with the kill, she collected photographs of the people she saved. Pausing for a second she selected empty space on the wall she wanted to mount Mr. Shardon’s image.
While her son mulled over his limited options and selected weapons his seventeen year old hands were allowed by law to carry, as a hunter in training, she worried that empty spot on the wall would haunt her the entire rest of her life if she didn’t fill it with an image of the man they were now hunting.
The two of them converged at a back lit table, and she pulled up holographic satellite images of the warehouse. They determined out how far away they were going to part, calculated how long it would take emergency medical services to arrive with things went bad and planned out how they were going to enter the building. With one person on guard, it should be a relatively easy job.
They edged up on the property, after concealing their vehicle in the distance. Lying on their stomachs, they both surveyed the property with binoculars. They watched their informant enter with synthetic blood in an opaque white plastic bag with the name of chain gas station stamped on the side. Dakota could clearly see the familiar outline of a one liter pouch of blood and bold letters pressing against the pale plastic bag.
Two other males came and went within moments, human and a Kalian. They appeared to be arguing with one another. A younger human came as they were leaving and there were some heated words with him as well. Their informant left looking none too happy. The younger human, was presumably tasked with guarding their hostage.
“Why do you think they are arguing?”
Shoot Jared a dark look, Dakota responded calmly. “It could be that they’re being lax, not covering their trail when they come here, taking the job to lightly, or taking chances their hostage can use to escape. Though I’ve no firsthand knowledge to rely upon, being a criminal looks like complicated work. Unfortunately, it draws people who aren’t all that bright sometimes.”
“So there behavior doesn’t worry you?”
“It’s deeply concerning. It might be that he’s sick and they don’t know what to do about it. They may be trying to beat information out of him and are frustrated that he’s holding out. Their behavior could be a result of any number of things. We won’t know until we get in there and see for ourselves.”
“I’m ready now.”
“Me to, but we have to do our prep. If we don’t then we risk other people getting involved when we spring into action and that puts the target in unnecessary danger.”
After walking the perimeter, they planted motion sensors along the edge of the isolated road to alert them if they had incoming while they involved in the rescue.
Just as they were about to approach the building, the younger man who was supposed to be standing guard walked out, got into his vehicle and simply drove off.
Dakota immediately sent Jared back to their vehicle for an infrared scanner. The man abandoning his post didn’t make rational sense. The only logical reason for that would be if there were more people inside they didn’t know about. Dakota toyed with the idea of creeping up to have a look. Since she had Jared with her, she errored on the side of safety. Scanning the premises might give an indication of there were more people inside than they thought.
An ugly idea flew into her head and roosted there. What if the human had simply killed him? Her target could be laying on the floor bleeding out right now. Unwilling to chance him being in distress, she began moving forward. Suddenly, a hand came out hard and fast around her wrist.
“I just got a message from our informant. He’s not in there anymore. That’s what they were all upset about. Someone broke in and took him when the Kalian left to buy him food earlier today.”
Holstering her weapon, Dakota state with a sigh of relief. “He got away.”
“I don’t think so. Our informant says someone broke through the back door and took him.”
Grabbing the scanner, Dakota verified no heat signatures were present.
“