Ten, p.31
Ten, page 31
“I just don’t want to believe that she left us. . . or worse.”
“Have you spoken to the police maybe?” Georgia asked.
“It’s complicated, and they didn’t know anything. Please, can you check?”
“Why don’t you give me your number or an email, and I’ll ask HR
to send whatever they have. You know, this is just a satellite office,
so there’s no staff usually. I, um, just had to let in an exterminator.”
“I’m so sorry, didn’t get your name,” Gretchen said.
“It’s Lee, Jennifer Lee,” Georgia said without skipping a beat.
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
Mrs. Filipovic burst into tears and collapsed against Georgia.
After a solid awkward minute, Georgia fished a pack of tissues out of her purse and handed them to the inconsolable woman.
“It’s just that the police, they implied awful things, like that my daughter had run off with a boyfriend or. . . because she was miserable at home. Gail was a good girl, always a good girl, I said.
My husband, he thinks that she saw something she shouldn’t have and ended up in the witness protection program; but I know that my baby is smarter than that—”
“I’m really sorry, but I don’t—”
“And now my brother-in-law is missing too!” Mrs. Filipovic sobbed. “He just said he had to meet a Mr. DeMarco, so I thought I’d try one more time.”
“A Mr. DeMarco? Is it about a shipment?”
“Maybe, it’s at the Port of Long Beach,” Mrs. Filipovic said between sniffles. “It’s just the same name, and this is the last place anyone saw Gail. Are you sure you’ve never seen my baby?”
“Sorry, never seen her,” Georgia said flatly. “But let me get your information.”
“Are you certain that your information was accurate?” Lorcan asked as their van pulled up to a rather abandoned-looking warehouse down by the docks.
“All I can smell is fish,” Paige said as she poked her nose out the window.
“So many comments, so little time,” Toy said as she leaned back in her seat. “This place is where they stockpile tuna and shit. You know, the perfect place if you want to ambush a bunch of bitches who rely on smell.”
“I like the smell of fish,” Kayleigh piped up as she continued to plug away on her laptop in the far back.
“Toy,” Nadia warned as her companion positively lit up. LaToya pouted and slumped against the cheap upholstery.
“It was too easy anyway,” Toy muttered confidentially to Paige.
Another van pulled into the parking lot, this one white and marked up with a “Kaptain’s Katch” logo. The crew watched carefully as the driver hopped out and opened the back. Instead of containers of codfish, a tall, lanky gentleman in jeans and a T-shirt emerged from the back and waved to the little black van in the far corner of the lot.
“Oh, great, more vampires,” Kyle muttered from the shotgun seat.
“Grandpa, what is he doing here?”
“Waving at us to come over,” Nadia sighed as Steve DeMarco smiled broadly in their general direction. “I don’t think our subtle approach was quite subtle enough.”
“Have you guys got this? I’ve got some really good Wi-Fi, and I’m not afraid to use it,” Kayleigh muttered.
“Paige, take point. Toy, hang back,” Nadia ordered.
“Oh, you mean stay back and cover your lily-white—”
“LaToya, is anyone a better shot or getaway driver than you are?”
Lorcan asked.
“Well, no,” she admitted. “But if you guys get into some epic bloodsucker brawl and I miss it, I’m gonna be super pissed.”
“Can we please avoid any bloodsucker brawls?” Kyle asked.
“I’m in total agreement, Kyle,” Lorcan said as he slipped out of the far side of the van. Both Paige and Nadia had to help keep him steady on his feet until he could get a good position with his cane.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Steve called from his end of the parking lot.
“Why don’t you stay back, Lorcan?” Nadia asked. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Believe me, if that little snit can get to me through three werewolves, I deserve to die,” Lorcan said. “The Atlanta gambit worked. The sheriff and her men are still searching for us there.”
Paige tensed as the breeze changed. A fresh, sickening wave of rotting fish gut smell assaulted her nose. She finally pulled menthol
rub out of her purse for some blessed relief.
“I suppose being nose blind is better than vomiting,” Nadia sighed as Paige offered her the little tub. Soon the entire gang smelled minty fresh.
Steve finally gave up waiting and sauntered towards the group.
He raised a brow as Paige stepped between him and the other vampire. Even in the dim evening light, Paige could see something bulging in Steve’s pocket.
“Yes, it is a pistol,” Steve said with a smirk. “Anything else would just be disturbing, Pipsqueak.”
“So, why are we all here?” Lorcan asked. “You’ve been following us somehow, just as we’ve been tracking you and your misfortunes.”
“Well, I thought you were trying to get my attention, Lord Pendragon. Isn’t that why you sent the rabid bean counter to audit my California operations and then totally rip my books to shreds? I mean he literally ripped. . . the books. . . to shreds!” Steve said.
“He’s still here?” Paige asked hopefully.
“No, I thought he went back to you—” Steve said.
“I’m afraid that we are as mystified as you are about the intentions of Mr. Blaylock,” Lorcan said. “The young man decided to venture out on his own.”
Steve looked right at Paige. “You’re honestly telling me that you didn’t sic the dog on me?” he asked. “He started working at the docks under the name Thomas Baker, but he was apparently also working in the supply office under the name Matthew Smith—”
“There’s something familiar about those names,” Paige muttered.
“Look, he decided to go off and hide with the other guys—”
Steve whipped out his phone and showed the video of Morgan roaring at the camera. “Really awesome hiding there,” the vampire muttered. “Look, Pipsqueak, as a favor to you, I just had him thrown out; but if he’s gonna come after me, I’m not gonna take it forever.”
“He hasn’t talked to me at all. I’m sorry,” Paige said.
Steve rested a hand on her shoulder. “So, is that why you avoided talking to me? Are you, like, all bummed out? Did you want to talk or something?” he asked.
“No, I’m good for now,” she said. She then pointed to the stinky fish building. “So, why are you here too?”
“Shouldn’t that be my question? This factory is one of the Matsuoka’s shell companies, but it’s under the protection of my family. Why is a Pendragon lord showing up uninvited?” Steve asked.
“This address was forwarded to me by a trusted agent,” Lorcan said. “I was supposed to meet someone here with information on the disappearance of two Pendragon bondsmen.”
Paige whirled around to face Lorcan. “Who gave you the information?” she asked.
“It’s not important right now—”
“What was the name?” she asked.
“Miss Paige—”
“Tell me his name,” she barked.
“Colin Baker,” Lorcan spat out instantly. All the other werewolves stared in shock as the normally calm and collected Lorcan snarled at Paige.
“Thomas. . . Tom Baker, Mathew. . . Matt Smith—” Paige muttered as she ignored the stares. “Do none of you guys see a pattern here?”
Paige was rewarded with blank stares and shrugs. She continued with, “Colin Baker now? Steve, did anyone else contact you about this place? Anyone named Christopher or David maybe?”
“What are you going on about, Pip?” Steve asked.
“Morgan was trying to get both of your attentions,” she said. “The names Tom Baker, Colin Baker, and Matt Smith. They are all actors who played Dr. Who!”
More blank stares.
“What? Do none of you guys watch Sci-Fi or public television?”
she asked. “It’s the show where the same part is played by all these different actors. Lorcan, it’s British, don’t you. . . ? Never mind! It’s Morgan’s favorite show of all time, so, of course, if he wanted to send a message. . . why are you all just staring at me like that?”
“You think that the rabid bean counter lured us here with a television reference?” Steve asked. “Why not just, you know, call?
Text? Talk to his girlfriend?”
Paige’s eyes darkened. “I’m pretty sure I’m not his girlfriend anymore after he just ran off,” she growled. “But he’s usually pretty paranoid, so he might be trying to be obvious without being obvious.”
“So, Mr. Blaylock wanted us to go to a warehouse that stores fish?” Lorcan asked.
Kyle looked up from his phone. “Apparently a David Tennant transferred $61,019.44 from your Cayman account this morning, Grandpa,” he said.
“That’s an awfully odd amount,” Paige asked. “Did Morgan have access to those accounts?”
Lorcan grit his teeth. “I’m not amused at this, at all,” he said.
“Well are we just going to stand here and gawk at the bean counter’s little pranks?” Steve asked. “I’m kinda curious now. Oh, and this isn’t a warehouse for storing fish. It’s a processing plant for turning fish bits into fertilizer.”
He led them to a sliding door. “That’s odd,” Steve said as it opened automatically.
“Um, what’s going on?” Kyle asked as he stared at the little black sensor over the door. In the meantime, Steve jumped back as if a snake had bit him.
“Guys?” Paige asked.
Lorcan made his way towards the door next, trying his best not to show how much he was favoring his cane. As he approached, the door slid open as well. He poked at the welcome mat and looked for any strange wires or plates.
“I didn’t think that those worked for you guys,” Kyle said.
“Unless it was built just to detect vampires,” Lorcan said. “I’ve never seen such technology. Do the Matsuoka perhaps have something, Mr. DeMarco?”
“If they do, they haven’t told us, which would be really, really disturbing. It sure as hell wasn’t here the last time I visited this place,” Steve said.
“When was that?” Paige asked.
“Not long ago. . . um, 1993, I think.”
Nadia bristled as she approached the door. “Actually, I saw a sensor like that, but it was when I was a kid,” she said as she approached it. This time the door remained shut. “It would let the masters out but not us.”
“Lung technology?” Lorcan asked.
“Excuse me, old man?” Steve said.
“Yeah, I’m not liking the whole door that opens specifically for vampires thing,” Kyle said. “If anything happens—”
Steve walked in front of the door again. “If we’re going to do this thing, let’s get it over with before it gets fully dark, if you know what I mean,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like the Lung would dare just set up shop in California, in one of my mom’s warehouses, no less. I mean there are people with brass balls, and then there are those with solid gold impossible cojones.”
“As loathe as I am to agree with anything this brat says, I think he has a point,” Lorcan said as he stepped inside.
Everyone else piled in quickly before the door slid shut. Paige turned to see the same little black sensor on the inside wall. Nadia studied the door itself.
“I’m guessing that is solid steel,” she said.
Paige picked at the paint on the wall. “And cinderblock construction,” she added.
“Now that isn’t up to seismic code,” Steve said, shaking his head.
“On the bright side, I do see tanks of fermenting fish guts and the assembly line is just as I remember.”
The group walked between big stinky vats and empty plastic baskets. Lorcan wandered over and found the freezer. He opened the door slowly. Inside Paige could see piles of hacked apart fish just waiting their turn to be loaded on the conveyor belt running along the far wall. Said belt led to a ferocious looking machine with crisscrossing blades and a particularly nasty looking screw in the middle.
“That’s what turns the fish bits into fish paste,” Steve noted, complete with tour guide gestures. “I think they used to make like cat food with it but it’s now fertilizer and stuff.”
“Why does a vampire family run this again?” Paige dared to ask.
“Technically owned by a servant family, but, um, it never hurts to have easy access to cold storage when you are a vampire,” Steve said.
“Or easy access to dispose of a body,” Nadia added as she inspected the shredder. She pulled out a rather fancy looking watch off the side guard. The thick red crust inside the band made Paige suddenly nauseous. The Russian continued with, “Does the average fishmonger wear Cartier?”
“That’s not fish blood, Mr. DeMarco,” Lorcan said as he sniffed the grisly find.
The other vampire peeked into the monster machine. Paige winced again as her great-grandfather ran his finger along one wall and then licked it clean. “It’s mostly mackerel, but definitely mackerel mixed with—” He took another taste. “AB negative. Also, some spicy notes and a bit of valium for good measure.”
“Those are definitely arm chunks down there. I can’t tell if they are covered in bruises, tattoos, or both,” Kyle added as he peered in.
Lorcan decided to explore the freezer again. “I think that you should see this,” he called back to the pack.
“Just a little bit of gore, just a little bit of gore. You’re a werewolf for chrissake,” Paige repeated to herself.
“I just want it known that I didn’t put the dude in the chipper shredder,” Steve said as he walked by the shaking Paige. “I think we’re going to need to have a little chat with the Matsuoka on this one.”
“And how do you explain this, young master Jaeger?” Lorcan asked as he peeled back some plastic sheeting to reveal a frosty blue corpse tucked among the tuna scraps.
Paige shivered. No matter how quickly she rubbed her arm, the cold sunk into her skin. She tried to look away from the glassy, frozen stare but became mesmerized by the cadaver’s horrified face.
“He looks like he got caught by surprise,” Kyle said as he immediately started examining the corpse. “I really can’t tell if he has rigor mortis because he’s frozen stiff, but I can tell you one thing—”
“He’s been exsanguinated,” Lorcan sighed as he wrenched the frozen man’s chin up to reveal a slash from ear to ear.
“He was Russian mafia,” Nadia said as she pointed to the tattoos on his chest and arms. “Been to prison at least twice. I’ll get some photos and see if Toy or Kayleigh can get an ID.”
Steve stumbled away from the corpse and covered his mouth with his hand. “His name was Belinsky, Knives Belinsky,” Steve said.
“You knew him?” Paige asked.
“He worked for my sister,” Steve said softly.
“What did he do?” Kyle asked as he continued to check out the corpse.
“His name was Knives Belinsky, what do you think?” Steve muttered. “He was a bill collector, a very persuasive bill collector.”
“Well judging by the wound on his back, his coloration, and the slit on the throat, he was hung and bled out,” Kyle said. “Who did he piss off?”
“Isn’t it a traditional Jaeger punishment for servants who fail, Mister DeMarco?” Lorcan asked.
“Yes, yes, it is,” Steve said softly. “My mother is particularly fond of it.”
“How many more are we going to find, Mr. DeMarco?” Lorcan asked.
Steve waved away the elder vampire. Instead, he approached Nadia. “Can I see that watch again?” he asked.
“How many more?” Lorcan asked a little louder.
“I don’t know!” Steve snapped. “Just let me see that damn watch again.”
Nadia looked to Lorcan. Once he nodded, she pulled the crusty watch out of her satchel. Steve stared at the face and then rolled it around to look at the back. He started gnawing on his lip.
Paige finally had to look away from the corpse and the drama.
Instead, she walked to the end of the aisle. She leaned against the wall and let the frigid air from the vent blast her face until her breathing finally settled down. A little piece of blue and white plastic caught her attention. She blinked a few times as she saw a blocky letter S.
“What the hell?” she asked as she picked up a broken Schuler Sani-Tech flash drive. “He was here.”
“We need to get out of here,” Steve said still shaking his head.
He scraped a bit of blood off the watch and took a taste. He gagged and shook his head even harder. “We really need to get out of here
—”
“Morgan was here,” Paige said as she held up the little hunk of plastic. “He found a way to get in, and I have a terrible feeling that he’s in trouble.”
“He made it this far?” Lorcan asked. “Are you certain?”
“Know anyone else who’d have a flash drive from my old job?”
she asked. She popped off the cap and found a tiny rolled up strip of paper. “You will meet a handsome stranger soon,” she read as her eyes misted over a bit. She then flipped it over to get her lucky numbers. In between a seven and a forty-two were the tiny letters CYM.
“It looks like there is another door,” Nadia said, pointing to the wall next to Paige.
“Great, a secret lair in a freezer in a secret lair,” Kyle muttered as he grabbed a sample from the Russian Popsicle. “What could possibly go wrong?”
As if on cue, a loud click echoed through the cold storage. Nadia ran back to the freezer door and jiggled the handle. She glared at the sheepish redhead.
“Oh, come on, who didn’t see that one coming?” Kyle asked as he too ran to the door and started fiddling with it. Steve joined in, but even the addition of vampiric strength wouldn’t make the door move.
Paige rubbed her arms again. “Is it just me, or is it getting colder in here?” she asked.
