Days of Redemption (The Firsts Book 6) (6 page)

“No!” 
She yelled.

He paused, his fingers just inches from the holster.

“
You both know what I’m facing,” Lauren said, more calmly than she could believe.  “So you get that I am desperate.  I’ll kill you with no hesitation.  You, big boy, drop the gun.”  He didn’t.

She fired.
  Yeah, she figured guys like that always had a round chambered.  The bullet pinged off the ground just in front of the taller guy who still had his weapon.

“Put it on the ground. 
Now.”  Lauren spoke each word heavily, with weight.  He better know she wasn’t fucking around.

“My
life depends on my escaping you two, and now so do yours.  Drop. The. Gun.”

Carefully, he lifted it out, and laid it gently on the ground.

“Back up.  And keep backing.”

Both men stayed put until she aimed the gun directly at the taller guy
’s forehead.  All it took at that point was a single word.

“One…” Lauren said.

He nodded, running his tongue around his lips.  “Okay.  But this ain’t over.”

“It never is,” she agreed.  “Go!”

Both men backed from sight and she hurried forward to get the second pistol, checking it.  It was ready, as well.  Good. 

As quickly as she could, barefoot and wearing a thin robe, with a pistol in each hand,
and the canteen slung over her shoulder, Lauren tracked back from the direction the guys were taking her.  She hoped it was towards the airport.  And other people.  Safety. 
Help
.

As she raced along the uneven ground, she ignored the pain when
ever she stepped on something that stung or felt sharp.  It didn’t matter.   Distance and invisibility did.

So, to sum up
, she thought as she ran,
I’m in some kind of tropical environment chased by mercenaries hired to take me to be tortured, I don’t know where, practically naked, shoeless, hungry, and hunted.  Yep, that summed
it
up.

Focusing, she changed direction just enough to make it more difficult for the men to track her, because she knew they would.  And while she hadn’t seen any other guns on them, she wasn’t certain of that.   She’d escaped from them, but she was still in terrible danger.

It would be night in a few hours and she wanted to find someplace safe by then.

He was in Curitiba in South America for the first time in all of his years of life.   B
ecause of daylight, Bryn had to wait to leave the enclosed cargo area of the private plane he’d rented.  Using a tablet computer, he had already researched the city and landscape and still had no idea why in the hell they might have brought her here.  Was he wrong?   Had he wasted precious hours?  

David still hadn’t phoned him with any useable
intel and he was beginning to feel like this rescue wouldn’t happen.  He’d meant it, though, that he wouldn’t give up until he found Lauren.

The door opened suddenly and the co-pilot stepped in.

“Sir, you wanted to know when it first turned dark.  Now, sir.”

“Thank you, Samuel.   Will
ya wait here with Bruce until I return?  If I don’t, wait for three days, then return home, and forget ya ever met me or flew here to Brazil, understand?”

Under the influence of Bryn’s compulsion, Samuel smiled and nodded. 

Gathering his small bag, Bryn left the plane and walked into the well-lit airport.  He scanned the space, certain it was a waste of time, and it was.  This was not Bryn’s area of expertise and he realized he really had no good way to begin to search for her.  He guessed the first thing was to investigate the private plane that landed here several hours ago from O’Hare.

After a brief compulsion
with a man at the counter, he was told that the small jet was at a private gate. 

As he approached the
gate, he saw a man sitting in a waiting area with a cell phone up to his ear.   He looked familiar and when Bryn caught a glimpse of his face in a mirror, he recognized him as the asshole that shot him.  Thankfully, Bryn realized his instincts had been right.

Excellent vampire hearing made it easy to hear the conversation as he approached quietly from behind the man.

“I don’t understand why you sent me here to the south side of hell.  Wasn’t I supposed to bring her to you, sir?  No, she’s on her way to the lab.  Two locals, sir, who work for the SRS here.  They are reliable and highly motivated when well paid.  Believe me, I made sure they would get her there.  So, with you in France, and me delivering your package halfway around the world, how do I get paid?”

He paused,
then scoffed.  “All right, all right.  But if you had let me bring her to you, there would have been no need to wait for verification.  I’ll stick around for a few days until it’s done.  Then, sir, I would like to talk with you.  Hello.  Hello?”  Throwing the cell onto the adjacent chair, he spat out the word, “Cunt!” and threw his head back.

At that moment, he caught the form of Bryn just behind him and stood, swinging around, a gun already in his hand, but Bryn was on him and the gun was gone, Claude captured in his large hands. 

Claude lowered his head as much as he could and closed his eyes.

“Nay,” Bryn said, brusquely.  “
Ya know what’s gonna happen next, that ya have no choice.  I’ll break ye’re neck before I let ya do that.  Look at me, or die.”

Several moments passed as Claude considered his options, but he knew he had none.  Slowly, painfully so, he raised his head and looked at Bryn.

“Ya will comply to every command I give ya.  And will go only when I release ya to go.  Where is Lauren?”

A
fter a moment of hesitation, Claude gave in to Bryn’s compulsion, and he choked a little as he began to speak.  “She’s being moved to a remote lab facility the SRS built in the jungle.”

“How do I find it?”

“You won’t.  It’s completely isolated with no satellite view or roads in.  If you don’t know where it is, you won’t find it.”

“Do
ya know how to get there, yerself?”

“No.  I’ve never been.  I have two men who work there taking her in.  I don’t do dirty shitholes in third world countries.”

“Aren’t ya just the finest gentleman?  Can ya reach them by phone?”

“No.  I don’t have a number for them.”

“Then since ya are of no use to me, I can kill ya now.”

Claude shivered.  “Wait.  I can find out.”

“Ya do that.  Now.”

Claude reached for the abandoned cell phone.

“Yeah,” he said, when the ringing stopped.  “I need to contact the guys transporting Lamont’s package.”  He keyed several numbers into his phone and hung up.

“Here,” he said, handing
the state-of-the-art phone to Bryn.

Dialing it, Bryn put the phone on speaker and told Claude, “When they answer,
ya tell them they’re to return her here to the airport immediately.”

Claude cleared his throat.  He was trying to fight the compulsion, but he wouldn’t succeed.  “Hey, yeah, it’s Claude.  Something’s changed.  You need to return to the airport with the woman.”

Dead silence told Bryn he wasn’t going to be as lucky as he hoped.  Then the man on the other side of the line spoke.

“Um, that’s…
gonna be a little tough.  She kind of, well, got away from us.”

“What?”  Claude yelled.

Bryn grinned.   “She’s a formidable force, my woman.”

My woman?
 
Where the hell did that come from?   He admired her, and he certainly wanted to bury himself in her, but claim her?  No.  Not since Bess three hundred years ago had he been in love enough to want to claim a woman.

“Find her, you asses!”  Claude hissed.

“What the fuck you think we’ve been doing the past hour?   So far, she’s evaded us.  But we’re on it.  Where’s she gonna go?  She’s practically naked, has no shoes, and a couple of guns.  It’s the fucking rain forest.”

“I don’t care if she’s crawling like a baby, you find her,
you bring her back to me.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the boss wants her at
Safehouse, and when we find her, well, first I’m going to fuck her, and then we’re taking her straight to Safehouse.  You’re done with her.  Go home to France.”  The call went dead.

Bryn’s blood boiled.  He’d kill the man on the other side of the phone as soon as he saw him.  And that would be soon, because he used his own cell to contact David.

“David, I need someone locally who can trace a cell signal.”

“Find Dez.
  She’ll be able to help.”

“Thanks.”

Bryn rung off and turned to Claude.  He didn’t want him out there interfering with the rescue.  “Go to my private plane, just outside that door.  Ya will go into the cargo container, and will stay there until I come back.  Give me yer phone.  Ya will do nothing but eat when served and stay inside.  Go.”

Claude obeyed.

Bryn phoned Samuel and told him to expect Claude, to feed him once a day, and be sure he didn’t leave.

Then he dialed the number David gave him for a female vampire named Dez
, who he hoped like hell could give him the aid he needed.

The phone rang four times and went to voicemail.  Bryn just stared at the face of the phone.   What the…?  He had to call through a second time to leave a message.

“Uh, yeah, look, I’m a friend of a friend, I think, and I need yer help.  Immediately.  Please return this message as soon as possible.  It’s urgent.  Thanks.”

Bryn wasn’t accustomed to leaving messages.  He wasn’t accustomed much
to socializing at a polite level for the past three hundred years.  And he realized at that moment how awful he’d been all that time, living for the moment, drinking and carousing, taking nothing seriously.   He reminded himself as he waited for a call that might help him save Lauren, that life…life was serious.   And precious.  And because she was human, Lauren was so much more fragile.  It made him want to protect her more.

God help me
, he thought,
it appears I may be a hero
after all!

One thing he knew was that he couldn’t just stand here and wait, so he
compelled a rental agency to provide a car with four-wheel drive, arranged for some women’s clothes and boots he hoped like hell would fit Lauren since he knew she was probably still wearing only the robe, and headed towards the address David had texted him.  If this Dez wouldn’t come to him, he’d go to her.  The GPS said it would take about forty minutes to reach Dez’s place. 

Bryn kicked up the speed.

FIVE

Ah, hell, she wasn’t getting where she needed to.  No matter how far she traveled, the forest was as deep and dark as it was from her starting point.  She was frustrated, exhausted, hungry, and frightened.  And she’d been attacked by numerous insects, some as large as her hand.  Her feet were shredded, but that was the least of her problems.

Lauren knew the men were coming for her
, so she didn’t have much time to reach somewhere, someone, who could help her to get to the authorities.  Or at least somewhere else, not here, where they would soon find and recapture her.  Mostly, she needed to get out of the country. 

Stopping long enough to take another small sip from the canteen, she looked down at her feet and used two fingers to remove what looked like a leech that had attached itself to her ankle. 
Ugh!

As a genetic scientist, insects did not bother her.  But the concentration of insects attacking her bare skin while she tried desperately to save
herself, was really getting to her.   She was one those people who captured insects and set them outside.   They deserved to live, too, she truly believed that.  But right now, anything that stung or bit her, she’d lost sympathy for.  She didn’t smash the leach but she silently warned it to stay off of her and spread the word!  

Glancing above the treetops, it was apparent to her that night was coming soon and she needed to consider a safe, hidden place to sleep.   Were there dangerous animals here?  She didn’t know.   The flora and fauna of
this area would remain a mystery because she really had no idea where she was.  South, she knew, judging by the warmth and the position of the sun.   But how far south, she did not know.  Not France, though, that she was certain about.

The sky above the tree line
had rose-tones bleeding into the blue, and she knew this time of year, night fell quickly.  If she was below the equator as she suspected she was, this was autumn, so it would get much cooler at night.  Her yard-sale satin robe was
not
up to the task of keeping her warm outside on a cool, damp night.

Perhaps she should gather some of the large leaves and try to fashion a
blanket.  But would they be infested with insects?

Lauren knew she was in almost as much danger if she couldn’t
find her way out of the forest.  While she knew she had decent survival instincts, it didn’t translate into skills that would save her if she was here too long without decent clothing, shoes, clean water or supplies. 

She needed to focus on the positive.  Having escaped, at least now she had a chance.   The canteen was invaluable, and with the handguns, if she had to, she would be able to procure meat. 
Although she would likely have to eat it raw.  God, the hot dog seemed like ambrosia now.

Everything
around her was changing to gray-tones, the light too low now to discern details well.  And she could feel moisture forming on her shoulders and hair.  She needed to find shelter now.

Looking around at her options, Lauren noticed a raised embankment in the distance that looked steep.  Hurrying, she arrived at the heavily foliaged
ground and climbed up, using the tree limbs nearby for support.  It dropped off quickly on the other side, but she noticed a ledge about a hundred feet from her position with a low overhang.  It might be her best option.  As she carefully picked her way through the thick underbrush, she hoped she wouldn’t have to share it with anything unfriendly. 

Crawling under a low hanging branch, she scoped the area, which was almost completely dark.  It was dry and seemed to be unoccupied.  Thank God, some bit of luck.

She’d noticed some large leaves on a plant outside and decided to risk the insects to see if they could help her maintain her body heat, but she couldn’t get them off of the plant.  The stems were too heavy and she had nothing to cut them with.  Shooting them off was a bad idea, since she may need the ammo for protection or survival.  And it might help her kidnappers find her location.  Curling up as close to the warm earth as she could, Lauren let exhaustion take her and she was asleep in moments.

“What do you mean, you lost her?”

The big man hesitated before he answered.  “Um, well, she kind of…escaped.”

A booming voice came through the cell phone.

“She’s a fucking skinny-assed woman.   Are you telling me that two of my expensively trained soldiers let her go?”

“No, sir, we didn’t let her go.  It was Burke, sir.  He let her seduce him into releasing her hands for a moment, she grabbed his gun, threatened to shoot us.”

Dead silence from the other side of the line made him look up at his associate, worried.  Then the voice from the phone
responded, very calmly.

“Next time, you
take
the bullet.   I am flying out of France tonight, and when I get to my Brazilian facility, she had better be there and in a cage.  You
do
understand me?”

“Yes, Mr. Lamont.  We intend to find her tomorrow.”

“You will.  I don’t believe I have to tell you how unhappy I will be when I get there if you haven’t.”

The line went dead.

Burke threw a large branch at Tony. “Fucking thanks, Tony, for throwing me under the bus!”

Tony put the cell phone in his pocket.  “Hey, I’m not the one who untied her.  Doesn’t fucking matter,
anyway.  If we don’t have her by the time Lamont gets here, he’s going to kill
both
of us.”

“Bitch!”
   Burke said viciously.  “When am I going to learn not to fall for that shit!”

“You’re human.  And she’s really fucking hot!    Lamont wants her alive, but no one said unharmed.  I plan to fuck her when we find her. 
Twice.  You can have her when I’m done, if you want.”

Dropping to the ground, Burke growled. 
“Yeah.”

On the other side of the world, a six-foot-three man with extremely thick white hair got up from his leather desk chair and walked to a row of floor-to-ceiling windows to look down on the city below him. 

Paris
, sparkling after a light rain shower, her magical lights glittering into the darkness.  He loved his city. 

Shaking his head, he frowned.  Last thing he wanted was to
leave it to fly to South America, but he really wanted her…the bitch that blew up his lab here in France.  The bitch that destroyed his trust and crawled in bed with the fucking vampires!   He wanted to take care of her himself because, of all things, he detested betrayal most.  Because of that, she wouldn’t even be treated as well as the inhuman beings he caged for study. 

Yet now, even though he would be on site by the next day, he had no assurance that she would be there, which was unacceptable. 
Someone
would die if she wasn’t recovered, he was just in
that
kind of mood. 

The door opened at the front of his vast office and a small
nervous brunette woman peeked in.  When she found him over by the windows, she came to him.

“Mr. Lamont, may I go home?  It’s well past midnight and if you want me back here early tomorrow to handle things while you are away, I really need to get some sleep.”

“Yes, Ms. Paulette.  See to it that everything is in order while I am gone for the next three weeks.”

She finally smiled, in relief.  Bowing her head, she backed out as Jacques Lamont dialed another number on his cell phone.

“Hey, I know it’s late there, but I need you to get six of your best soldiers out to track those fucking idiots you assigned to pick up the traitor.  No, they lost her.  I want your guys to find her, get her back to the lab, and kill those useless slugs.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He rung off and dialed one more number.

“Madame, I am coming over before I leave tonight.  Be naked and have my brandy ready.”

Jacques
hated
to be kept waiting.

The road he needed to turn onto wasn’t paved.  Where did this Dez live, in a cave?  He glanced at his phone, surprised she hadn’t answered him back yet.  Bryn began to suspect that David may be wrong, that this vampire would not be able to help him.

He traveled another several miles on lousy dirt roads when he finally saw a clearing through the trees.  Was that a rooftop?   Yeah, it was.

Barely illuminated by the headlamps of his rental car, a structure with clay tiles became clearer as he traveled through the trees and pulled to a stop in front of what looked like a modest house.  It was nice, but nothing an old vampire would consider adequate.

There were some security lights around the exterior, but they were dim.  No entrance was apparent on the front of the structure.  Bryn moved along the side in search of it when two men came around the corner of the
building advancing toward him.

“Hi,” he said, opening the dialogue.  “I’m here to see a woman named Dez.  I was sent by a friend.”

One of the men nodded to him.  Bryn knew they were both vampires as soon as they were close enough for him to read their life signals, and knew they would know he was vampire as well.

“She is waiting,” said the man who nodded.  “Follow us.”

Anytime a vampire entered another vampire’s area, a mutual respect was expected, and an understanding that you were not on your turf, but theirs.   He would defer quietly to this Dez, per that recognized protocol.  If she could help, great.  If she couldn’t, he’d leave quickly with properly proffered thanks.

They entered through a sliding doorway that opened electronically.  It had been completely undetectable from the outside. 
Clever.  Bryn approved.  Particularly since this Dez’s property was so isolated.

Another surprise
awaited inside as he stepped through and saw a set of tinted concrete steps leading down into a deeper room, which was a good three times larger than was apparent from the exterior.

“Bigger on the inside…”   Bryn murmured, and wondered if anyone there would understand the reference to a British television series called Dr. Who.

“I do,” a voice called out from behind him, and Bryn turned.

He’d been wrong when he though
t that David’s
little
vampire friend might not be able to help him.  She was nearly as tall as Bryn.   Stunning, as most vampires were, but in a more unique way. 

“I’m Dez, and I love that little sci-fi show.  It reminds me of vampire’s lives,
because he sees so much more of humanity than humanity ever will.”

Almost as if she were posing, Dez stopped several feet in front of him, her hands on her hips, which were encased in dark brown leather, a tight body suit cut low to reveal cleavage that left little to the imagination.  It ended in stiletto-sharp high-heeled boots that he was sure had been on some man’s back at some time. 
Or some woman’s.  Her waist-length hair was ravens-wing black, with strands braided through it in several different colors.  She made his breath quicken.

“Sorry I wasn’t able to call you back right away.  I just finished a session with a new vampire.  They’re so needy, aren’t they?”

Bryn wouldn’t know.  He hadn’t converted anyone at all in his many years.   Although he had expected to turn Bess, that had never happened.

“Aye, I’m sure they are. 
Ya know Dr. Who?”

“Love it. 
Big fan of that tenth doctor.  Anyway, I have someone here now who can trace that GPS for you.  Give Ty your phone and he’ll make sure it’s done.”

Handing the phone
to the young vampire with an outstretched hand, Bryn turned to him.  “The number just before the last.  I need to know where the phone is now.”

Ty nodded and disappeared with the other one.

Dez came forward, motioned for Bryn to follow, and  guided him deeper into the room, through another set of automatic pocket doors, and into a large open area with high ceilings painted in pale blue with clouds painted in such a way, they looked real.  His head swiveled as he looked over the expansive ceiling.

“I miss daylight.   This makes me miss sunny days a little less,” Dez explained. 
“Now.  You are a fine specimen of manhood.  How come I’ve never met you all these years?”

“I’ve spent most of them in Scotland, or drunk in a hole in Iceland.”

“What a shame.”

“It was a
nice
hole.”  Bryn cocked his head.  He was used to looking down at women, but her eyes were almost on the same level as his.  And they were blue, which was very unusual for a vampire. 
Was she a first blood?