~ Dakota ~
Heading cautiously into the building with their weapons drawn, they cleared every room before converging in the main office. It seemed to be the only one that had been used recently.
They squatted down in the floor where it was clear their missing person had been chained. Four thick iron chains ran from rings imbedded in the cement floor to leg and wrist irons. The wrist cuffs had been pried open and there were several tools from a nearby tool box strewn around. Since they were all tainted with the blood, it was clear that whoever had taken Mr. Shardon had not been concerned about accidentally insuring him.
The room smelled of sweat and urine. The floor was still wet, and empty bottles of water littered the area. Dakota picked up one with her gloved hand and smelled it. “It’s just water.”
Jared lifted the frayed cord for her to see. “They electrocuted him.”
“Why?”
“We have to assume whoever took him was ill prepared and used what was available at the time they stumbled upon him to render him unconscious.”
“Or my small brethren lied to us and they have been torturing him all along.”
“I’ll call this one in and you message our informant. Ask him to meet us at the noodle shop.”
After handing off the sight to local law enforcement, the raced to the noodle shop. Busting through the door, Dakota headed straight for the man. No sooner had Jared Dakota dropped into the boot in front of him, that two other men squeezed in, one beside the smaller vampire and the other.
Dakota shifted only slightly. Crossing her arms, she pulled a weapon from each side and edged them onto the rim of the table.
The human stared her down a brief moment before speaking. “Why don’t we talk first and shoot later.”
The Kalian leaned forward, having perched himself on a seat at the end of the booth. The sound of a laser pistol charged. “There is no need for such hostility. We simply wish to speak to you.”
A large hand landed on the man’s shoulder. Durk practically spat, “Put the weapon away, dumbass.”
Dakota watched as her back up crew surged around them. “We’ll talk but not here.”
Durk jerked the large Kalian from his seat as Marko grabbed up the human. The smaller vampire slid out behind his friends and they all walked to a large hover van. Once they were safely inside, Dakota and Jared followed in their own vehicle. When they got out at her place the back-up crew had them lounging in her huge triple car garage. She’d renovated it as an impromptu meeting room for individuals she didn’t feel comfortable having in her home.
The coffee table was full of goodies Durk had frisked off Mr. Shardon’s abductors. Shifting through the mess, she heard the Kalian speak. Try the flash drive on the key ring. Snatching it up, she shoved it into a computer port and began scrolling the information on her big screen.
Jared murmured, “It looks like we hit the jackpot, mother.”
“Yes it’s a scientific finding report from one of the subsidiaries of Mr. Shardon’s company. It’s related to a scuttled protect using mutagenic material retrieved from one of the old alien vessels. Alek’s science team deemed the material too dangerous to handle and had it been destroyed. The data file showed a slew of threatening emails from an up and coming weapons manufacturer, who had been first in line to bid on production rights as well as the venture capitalist backing the project. It was the kind of deal that involved millions of dollars and would transform a small company into a prominent player in the field.”
Their informant spoke up. “I found that by snooping on our employers. It was the only information I found relative to Mr. Shardon, but I was only able to access recently deleted files.”
Everyone in the room knew this was what precipitated his abduction because it was sensational news.
The Kalian interjected. “It is common knowledge that mutagenic substances were part of what made deep space travel possible for the alien ships that originally brought us to you planet, by allowing them to leap through space and time.”
The small vampire added cautiously. “Those substances also slowly poisoned the individuals that handled them. The aliens did not trust their slaves with such a precious and rare substance. After years of handling mutagens, the aliens had slowly descended into madness, turning them into the most ruthless creatures ever wrought by the gods.”
Dakota murmured, “We’ve all heard the stories. I don’t believe we’ve taken the time to properly introduce ourselves.”
“My name is Squeaky. The Kalian is Faran and Josh is our crew leader.”
Dakota shot him a curious look. “He’s very quiet to be your leader.”
“I just want to say Faran and I were trying to figure a way out of this mess, when we discovered Mr. Shardon was taken.”
“Convenient how he was abducted from his abductors, don’t you think?”
“We received a kill order earlier in the day and tried to get Oscar to agree to a ransom.” Glancing at Faran, he continued. “When he refused, we told him that we weren’t going to kill an innocent man.”
“Isn’t that kind of what you do?”
Swallowing thickly, the man responded nervously. “We’ve don’t some fairly nasty things in our time, but it was just business between petty criminals. We all know that sometimes jobs go sideways and people get hurt or wind up dead.”
“Again, I’m not seeing how this is such a drastic change from what you normally do.”
“I know this is going to sound crazy but rolling over similarly occupied person is an expected part of doing business. Kidnapping a law abiding citizen and then just killing for no reason? Jesus, we aren’t animals.”
Dakota wasn’t sure she was buying that, but she needed the foolish creatures out of jail more than she wanted to see them behind bars. “Any idea who took him?”
“It was clearly someone Oscar sent to finish the job.”
Jared looked up from reviewing the data stream. “Do you mean Oscar Draden, the former owner of the venture capital firm.”
Dakota frowned. “Former owner?”
“Apparently he sunk his life savings into the deal that went belly up with Alek’s company.”
Glancing around, she stated coldly. “That sounds like motive to me, gentlemen.” Turning to Squeaky, she asked. “Any idea where we can find Mr. Draden?”
“Since he got thrown out of his fancy penthouse, my best guess is he’s squatting in one of his thirty-eight foreclosures.”
Durk jerked his chin to the door. “Give us a few hours to sort this out and get some shut eye.” Swiveling his head to look at Jared, she realized her long-time friend was cueing her that her son would only rest if she did. “Don’t worry, we’ll look out for our new allies.”
Sighing, Dakota turned and headed towards the house. Grabbing a power bar and a bottle of water, she thought of this one vampire warrior of old, standing between something that dangerous and the human race, finding a whole new level of respect for Mr. Shardon. Humans were far more susceptible to such substances than other alien races. Having something that damaging in play on Earth would lead to a level of feral aggressiveness the likes of which the human race had never imagined.
She wasn’t particularly surprised when Arianna and her little sister, Selene stopped by. Dakota felt certain Jared had called the younger one to feed between outings.
Selene was sixteen but looked much younger because of her small stature and delicate facial features. Although small, she looked very healthy. Her skin was fair but the healthy glow indicated she was used to being well fed. The young woman had large, dark eyes and long, black hair. She looked very much like her father.
Dakota also noticed a small but very beautiful sliver necklace around her neck. It had a red heart shaped stone with a clear brilliantly cut smaller stone set above it. She recognized it immediately as a traditional token of love that a teen might give to a female he loved. It touched her heart to see evidence of her son’s caring hanging around the young lady’s neck. Somehow, she never suspected he had a little love interest.
It dawned on her how very private her son was, especially with her. Jared walked across the room, sat with one arm around Selene in a protective gesture, and prepared her to answer questions. The young one’s hand went to the necklace and she touched it while she listened to whatever Jarred was whispering in her ear. It left Dakota thinking the pretty little thing felt very loved and protected by her son. He reached into his pocket and held out her father’s crucifix necklace. Selene’s eyes got large and began to tear up.
With Jared being 17 years old they were practically age mates, little love mates, and Dakota had the strong feeling they were feeding partners. Her gaze warmed as she watched the care her son took with the beautiful young lady. She suddenly realized he was growing into a loving and caring man right before her eyes.
Arianna, who had been bent down listening, held out her hand. When the piece of metal tumbled from his hand to hers, she immediately enclosed it between both hands and brought it to her chest. It was a reverent pose that drove home how affected the two young ladies were by their father’s disappearance.
Feeling the need to join her son in consoling them, she approached and sat on a nearby chair. Dakota reached out, and touched her reassuringly on the arm. “Don’t worry, Jared and I will find him and bring him back to you.”
The younger of the two spoke in a trembling voice. “Jared said even you might not be able to bring him back safe. He said that after seventy-two hours…”
Gripping a little tighter, she interrupted. “Regardless of what the normal statics say about our chances, know that I am not going to stop until I find him and neither will my son. His contact with the informant broke this case wide open today. We’re close, I can feel it in my bones.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Jared and I have to sleep or we’re not going to be worth much tomorrow. A hunter needs to be alert and fast on their feet. My back up crew will scour a selection of foreclosed properties looking for evidence of someone squatting and we’ll move right away.”
“You might actually find him tomorrow.”
Drawing back her hand, she leveled a serious look at the two young girls. “I don’t want to give you false hope, only to have is jerked ruthlessly away, but there is a good chance we might be able to track him down.”
“What can we do to help?” Arianna’s worried voice tore at Dakota’s heart. The young woman was clearly trying to keep a brave face and just get through this situation.
“Since we got lucky with the informant, we might not have to dig through every detail of your father’s home and office.”
“I’ve looked, using the techniques you taught us. I found his computer and his cell phone.” Pulling a messenger bag from her shoulder, she announced quietly. “I brought them with me.”
Cursing under her breath, Dakota mumbled. “I can’t believe law enforcement missed this. You did really good work. Take these to a gentleman by the name of Marco in the garage before he leaves. He’ll know what to do with them.”
The older girl scampered away towards the garage. Standing Dakota said her farewells and headed up to her room. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Jared and Selene immediately fall into a traditional feeding pose, with her mouth to his neck. They were sweet together.