I awoke early and listened to the sounds of the house. Khloe was curled up next to me, the rhythm of her breathing indicated she was sleeping. I laid there and went over everything that was in front of us. Craig and I had planned our coarse of travel to minimize the interference from any of the human governments. We also wanted to minimize the attention from our enemies. They knew we were coming for Khloe’s parents. My phone’s alarm shook me from my thoughts while Khloe stirred next to me.
She looked up and said, “It’s time?”
I kissed her forehead, “Yeah it’s time.”
An hour later we were downstairs and found Thomas and Craig waiting with coffee and breakfast sandwiches for us.
“You’re a life saver, Thomas,” Talia said as she reached for her coffee and a what smelled like a steak, egg, and cheese sandwich.
“Thanks, T. Khloe, I asked Lela to pack a bag of some of your clothes for me to bring up,” Thomas said.
Walking over to Thomas, Khloe kissed him on the cheek as she grabbed her coffee. “Big and lovable just like your bear. Thank you.”
“Let’s pile in guys and get going,” Craig said to us.
It was a short drive to the airport. Thomas drove the SUV out onto the tarmac up to our corporate jet. We found the strike team waiting for us next to the aircraft stairs. Their cargo van was parked near the cargo access area.
I walked over to Eric, the team leader. “Everything ready to go?”
“Yes sir, it is. Let me introduce the team to everyone.” He answered before he continued, “James is our intel and tech specialist, he handles the drones we have. Next to him are Mary, and Jennifer, they are the team snipers both formally of the Marines.” I nodded to them before he continued, “Next we have Andrew, heavy weapons specialist, and Jason our medic. Lastly, we have Alex, William, Robert, and David our primary shooters.”
“Thanks for coming along. Let’s all get aboard so we can get moving.”
Thomas, Craig, and Joseph loaded our bags before they headed up the stairs while I introduced the team members to Talia, and Khloe before they boarded the plane. The girls boarded the plane and left me standing on the tarmac for a moment. I took that time to scan the surrounding area before I joined them on board. One of the cabin crew closed the door behind me and I made my way towards the seat next to Khloe.
Our flight was uneventful allowing me to get some shuteye. One of the flight attendants woke me when we were about thirty minutes from landing in Calexico, California. I saw that Khloe wasn’t next to me, so I stood up and stretched while I looked around the cabin. I witnessed the flight attendant as she woke the others who took advantage of the time to sleep. I spotted Khloe chatting with Talia, Mary, and Jennifer. She looked my way and smiled when our eyes met. I realized that Joseph was still asleep and kicked his legs to wake him up.
“Ow! What the hell was that for, T?” Joseph exclaimed.
“Not T, Joseph, time to get up we are about to land,” I remarked.
“Alright, I’m up.” He said while he stretched.
Once the plane landed we taxied into a private hanger where a fuel truck was waiting. The crew opened the door after the pilot shut the engines down. I looked out the door to see a very tired looking Luis waiting with a couple of his pack and two non-descript cargo vans. I moved away from the door to let everyone disembark from the plane while I went over to the cockpit.
I found the pilot and said, “Once you guys get refueled I want you guys to leave and head up the coast to Seattle. Get in contact with Stephanie to let her know that you are there. Wait a couple of days before you head back to Boston.”
“You got it, Boss. When should we come back for you?” He asked.
“I’ll have Lela get in touch with you. If all goes to plan, I’ll have you guys fly straight down to Guatemala City in about a week.” I finished as I shook both his and the co-pilot’s hands.
I came down the stairs and saw that Talia was talking to Luis as Joseph, and Khloe listened in. Eric and his team were busy transferring our gear from the plane to the vans. Seeing that T had things in hand with Luis I walked over to where Mary and Jennifer had their hard-shell rifle cases open. They appeared to be checking their weapons over.
“Everything in order ladies?” I asked as I approached them.
“Just checking on our babies,” Mary said as she pulled out her sniper rifle examining it.
“When can we gear up?” Jennifer asked.
“Once we get across the border. I have no issues with everyone gearing up, while I’m not expecting any problems…” I trailed off and stared across the hanger before I finished, “But one can never be to secure.”
“Roger that!” They agreed. I left them to their weapons and walked around checking on everything.
I made my way over to Luis and extended my hand in greeting. “Thank you for everything you’ve arranged for us.”
He shook my hand. “No problem my friend. We’ll get you and your team across the border to the airstrip.”
With that, we loaded up in the vans and headed south towards the border. For the hundredth time, I went over everything in my head about what we were headed towards.
We made good time through the border but it seems like it’s always easier to leave the States than it is to get back in. Once we were across the border, I pulled out a prepaid cellphone, I called the one that Eric had in the other van I told him that they were clear to gear up. As I hung up I realized everyone was looking at me.
“What?” I asked before continuing, “It’s a military thing to have all of your weapons sitting there, but not able to have access to them. I told them that once we were across they could gear up.”
Talia just shook her head while Joseph chuckled, he probably felt the same way the team did. I did notice that both girls pulled out their blades immediately.
“Esteban is going to meet us down there, right?” Khloe asked.
“Yes, he said he needed to do some things for Donovan before he left but that he knew where Manuel and Diego would be taking us.”
“It’s strange…” she paused for a second, “Knowing someone who knew one of my ancestors.”
“Probably knew more than one, but I get your point. While we are extremely long lived, we aren’t vampires.” I offered.
The drive to the airstrip took about two hours. It was just the four of us in this van besides Luis and his driver. The van slowed to a stop. We were about to get up when Luis,t and his driver pulled pistols on us. Before I could ask ‘WTF was going on’ the back doors to the van opened to reveal four Blood Priests with no sign of the other van.
“What did the they promise you? That they would leave you alone.” Shaking my head as they had us exit the van. I noted that we were at least at the airstrip. I looked around to see an ancient cargo plane waiting with its propellers spinning. “What happened to my people?”
“They will never be found. My guys will dump them out in the desert. You never should have gotten involved with this. This was about getting your girl’s parents along with her.” Luis explained while keeping his pistol trained on me.
More of Luis’ guys came around the van and they were carrying silvered chains. They had what looked like the runes Khloe had used on the townhouse in Boston. I knew we were in trouble when she shied away from them.
“Get those the fuck away from me!” Khloe exclaimed as the driver put his pistol to her head, his intent clear. Talia, Joseph, and I used that moment to act. Talia pulled her blades out, taking the driver’s gun hand off as she moved towards Khloe, who ducked casting out a lightning bolt towards one of the Blood Priests, that left him with a smoking hole burned into his chest. Joseph went after the two that had brought the chains. Who immediately dropped the chains and went for weapons. As he collided with them they all fell to the dusty ground. I went after Luis who was much smarter than the rest of them. He turned and ran off towards the desert. Seeing that he wasn’t going to be a problem I pulled my pistol out and shot the driver, who was holding his stump and looking around, twice in the head while I moved to help Joseph.
I noticed the other Blood Priests had pulled out their obsidian blades. Fangs showed from their wicked grins.
“Not this time fuckers!” Talia retorted, then asked, “Which one do you want Khloe?”
Khloe stood up next to Talia with blue electricity arcing off her fingers. “Oh, I don’t know T, I’m not a fan of having a gun put to my head or those fucking enchanted chains. How about I go left, you go right, and we meet in the middle?” She offered.
“Works for me,” Talia replied as she started her dance of death with the priest on the right. He met her head on but Talia had learned from her last battle with one of them. Constantly parrying, slashing, dodging and spinning. After one spinning move, she cut the priest’s hamstrings. I think that was about the time he realized he was overmatched. He turned to meet Talia, but the priest was too slow as her blade removed his head.
The priest that faced off with Khloe smirked as he moved towards an unarmed opponent. The smirk fell as she pulled two moon shaped blades from sheaths behind her back. The arcing blue electricity now transferred to the blades. This caused the priest to hesitate slightly. That was just enough for Khloe to strike first, the priest reacted in time to deflect one of her blades as the other sliced through his armor and caused him to cry out as the electricity coursed through him. As he turned away from Khloe’s blades she pressed her attack which put him on the defensive. He was blocking and parrying while attempted to disengage from her, all the while blood was pouring out of the wound she had inflicted.
Seeing that the girls had things well in hand, I turned and came upon Joseph’s fight with two of Luis’ guys. I pulled the guy on top of Joseph off and threw him away. I walked towards him as I slid my pistol back into its holster. I shifted my hands giving me some wicked claws. He tried to clear his head then began to scramble away from me.
“You wanted to chain my mate, sister, and friend up like animals?” My voice go deeper and less human as I growled letting my wolf peak out from my eyes.
“N… n… no, it was Luis’ idea, all of it. He thought if he delivered you they would leave our territory alone.” He stammered out as he continued to scramble away from me.
“Who else was involved?” I commanded using some of the power I had discovered during the meeting with the Alphas.
He stopped moving away and submitted to my command. “No one other than Luis, his second, and the few of us.”
“My team in the other van?” I asked.
“Dead. They were killed almost an hour before you arrived. Luis received a text from the ones who did it before he texted us to show ourselves.” He offered up.
Shifting my hands back to normal I pulled out my pistol. “You can’t be allowed to live for your betrayal.” The pistol barked twice in my hand, then I turned to see what had become of Joseph. He was breathing hard but the shifter he had been fighting was dead at his feet.
“Oh, no you don’t, fucker!” We heard Talia yell. We turned to find the last priest in a fight for his life. He was defending against both Talia and Khloe. The priest was bleeding from several cuts.
“Will you two just kill the fucker so we can go,” I yelled at them.
Talia spun in a feint which caused the priest to turn toward her and left himself open for Khloe’s Coup de Grau. She swiped her blade across his midsection causing his intestines to fall out. When he looked down to see what Khloe had done Talia removed his head.
“Joseph, go check out the plane. Make sure the pilot isn’t involved with Luis’ betrayal.” I commanded.
He nodded and trotted off toward the open cargo ramp. I walked over to the girls to see how they were. They had some cuts here and there but otherwise, they appeared to be ok.
“What about the cuts from their obsidian blades?” I asked. Talia kneeled next the priest and picked up his blade. She examined it before handing it over to Khloe.
Khloe turned the blade over while she scrutinized the blade. “These don’t have any runes on them like the one’s that injured you. They probably don’t give them to their foot soldiers.” She offered.
Joseph jogged over to us and said, “Pilot is human, was just paid to pick up here for a flight down to Guatemala to a similar airstrip.”
“Let’s grab our gear and head out,” I said as I met Talia’s eyes and answered her unspoken question. “They were dead before we even arrived here. The guy I got to talk said Luis got a text about it.”
“What happened to Luis?” She asked.
“Ran off like a coward. Don’t worry, T he’s all yours when we return.” I said.
We all walked over to the van to grab our gear. Talia drew one of her blades then proceeded to slash all the tires. She shrugged and looked at me. “What? Not going to make it easy for him.” She grabbed her bag from Joseph and followed Khloe up the loading ramp into the plane.
I exchanged looks with Joseph and shook my head. That whole ‘if you run you’re just going to die tired’ was so my sister. Don’t piss her off because she can be a vindictive bitch.
We made our way inside the dated but cared for cargo plane. I threw my bag next to Khloe’s as I made my way up to the cockpit to talk with the pilot. I wanted to see what he knew about our destination. I scented our pilot to confirm he was indeed human. Now to talk to him and find out about our destination. I was concerned that Manuel and Diego might be in on the betrayal unless Luis’ gave them false information regarding our destination. One thing was clear to me, someone would be waiting for us. I just needed to know whether if they are friends or foes.
He looked at me with his raised hands and said, “I was hired to fly a package from this strip down to a similar one in Guatemala. I had no idea what they had planned.”
It smelled like the truth but this guy was a smuggler and lied for a living. “Who set up the flight? Luis?” I asked.
“Who? No, I was contacted by an old Navy buddy of mine named Craig. He works for some big shot back east, Boston I think.” He replied.
“What did you do in the Navy? Craig works for me or at least he worked for me until that asshat Luis set this shit up.”
“Wait, you mean worked? He’s dead? Fuck me. I flew the teams all over the place.” He said as he looked out his side window. “Hey, there’s someone coming down the road. Looks like they’re hauling ass. Should we leave or wait?”
“Wait, it might be Craig and my guys.” I paused before I asked. “Can you get this thing ready to fly? Whether it’s my guys or not, I want to be out of here as soon as possible.”
He nodded as he started flipping switches. “No problem, I can have us airborne in five minutes.”
Running back into the cargo area I yelled “We have company coming in hot. It may, or may not be Craig, and the others.” I pulled my pistol out and ejected the magazine to check how many rounds were left. Joseph and the girls pulled out M4’s with various sights and gadgets on them. I made my way down the ramp then heard them all slamming magazines home and pulling the bolts back to load the weapons. Knowing the three of them had my back I made my way towards the van that careened our way.
They took up positions behind whatever cover they could find as they covered me. I moved cautiously towards the van that had stopped near the one we had arrived in. The newcomers disembarked from the van and moved like a well-oiled unit. I saw Craig follow the team out of the van. I signaled Khloe, Talia, and Joseph to stand down as I moved into the open for them to see me.
Seeing me Craig, and Thomas made their way over to me. “Everyone ok?”
“Yes, what about you guys?” I countered.
“We lost David, and William but the rest are good. What about Luis?”
“Ran off like a coward,” I answered. Seeing Craig’s reaction, I finished. “Don’t worry we’ll get him.”
“Andrew, don’t forget to leave our surprise for that backstabbing little prick,” Craig said.
“Already in place boss,” Andrew answered.
“Surprise?” I asked.
“Let’s just say that if Luis comes back for the van. He won’t make it far before he joins the other fuckers who were in on it.” Craig said, “What about Greg?”
I gave him a confused look “Greg?”
“My pilot buddy from the Navy.” He supplied.
“He’s good. We had a chat. Ready to go when we all get on board.” I said.
Craig raised his hand in the air circling his index finger, indicating to the team to grab their gear and load up. I watched as Alex, and Robert went to the back of the van each grabbed two large duffle bags before they followed the rest of their team onto the plane. I was that last one to the ramp and found Craig waiting for me.
“You know they are going to try for another trap?” He said.
“I’m counting on it.” I countered with a wicked smile.
At to the top of the ramp, Craig hit a green button causing the loading ramp to close. “I’m going to go and check in with Greg letting him know what the fuck is up. Don’t worry about him cracking under pressure.”
“I’m not. He said he used to fly you guys around back when you were in the Navy.” I offered.
Craig chuckled, “Said that, did he. He was Air Force. The only thing he flew was death from above in his A-10 Thunderbolt.”
“He does know this isn’t an A-10, right?” I said as I remembered how crazy those Air Force guys were.