"For the most part," he said, leaning in closer to her, his cheek to hers. He was obviously trying to get the view she had and to see what she was seeing. "Some were sealed, others were blocked off at key points with bars or steel doors and some more, specifically in the downtown, were filled with the expanding foam stuff," he murmured. "Did you see something we missed, love?"
"For just a moment I could have sworn I saw a flash of light. I know how stupid that sounds. I know how strange that sounds, but there it is. I felt as if I had seen something but just as fast it was gone. That was what drew my attention to the circle impression in the ground."
Nodding against her cheek, he drew back and kissed her skin lightly. "Ax, can you get underground and see if anything at this spot's been moved or disturbed?"
"Uh, yeah, I've got another cover not that far from my spot. But I need someone to move over here and take over my location," the Vhampire replied.
"Jonas," Zhubin said over the comms. "Work your way around to Artaxias's position. Slowly though, we don't want to tip anyone off, especially since we all know our target is out there watching this location."
"Copy that."
"I'm going to feel really, really bad if I'm wrong on this," Lacey whispered. "Like crazy bad if I am wrong. But let's hope and pray that I'm wrong." She would rather it be that than have Ax get hurt underground in such close quarters.
"Better to be wrong and know it than to sit here and wonder and find out later you were right," Artaxias said. "At least the damn things are out of service now. I would seriously hate to go mucking around down there like they were before the Veil fell."
Ansell gave a shudder next to her and made a face. "Amen to that."
"Sorry," she whispered again. "I promise if you get dirty I will wash your clothes myself." She laughed when she heard several "no's" all spoken at once. "One red sock in your gym clothes. I'm sorry but I didn't know that colors could bleed like that." And they had. All over Zhubin and Ansell's white shirts, and the white shirts of several of the other guys on the force that had tossed their clothes together in the washer at the department.
Artaxias's laugh could be heard over the comms. "It's all right, Lacey. I wear leather for a reason, it's very easy to wipe off with a slightly dampened cloth. And if I get dirty enough that my clothing requires cleaning, I'll just toss out these and buy new." A moment of silence before he was back on the comms. "Jonas is here, I'm moving to the manhole cover and heading below. I'm going comms dark," he said, then silence from his end.
She looked to Ansell and this time she turned off her comms. "Am I silly for thinking this way? Is this just the pregnancy nerves that have me jumping at every flash or shadow?" Was she still an effective and good cop? That was the question. She certainly had changed an assload with this pregnancy, but now she wasn't so sure.
He reached up to turn his off. "You're not silly to be thinking this way, Lacey. You are thinking outside the box and considering something none of us would have ever thought about. Who would ever think about using the old sewer system to get around? It's so bloody obvious and yet none of us even gave it a passing thought."
"It's only because at one time I was hooked on those old movies on DVD or whatever they were called back in the late 1990s. I liked them, though. I know, I know, I'm an odd duck but you love me all the same." She looked at him and smiled, her hand covering his. "I just really hope I'm wrong because if not, we have no idea where he will pop up."
"We may not know but Ax is pretty damn talented at tracking anyone and anything. He seems to be able to pick up vibrations, no matter how faint, and track them. At least that's how he describes it, but I know for a fact that's not actually what it is, just the closest thing he can compare it to."
"I've heard that before. That he's got the best tracking skills of anyone on the force, ever." Which was a wild thing. One would think that the Luhpynes would have a Vhampire beaten but from everything that she had learned, Ax had them all beaten which was totally weird, but good in her book. So long as the perp was found.
"He's scary good. If I was a bad guy on the run, that Vhampire is the last being I'd want tracking me. Hell, if I was the bad guy and knew Ax was on my tail, I'd just give myself up to the nearest officer to avoid what he'd do to me when he caught me. Not if, when."
"Damn, that's wild," Lacey muttered. "Oh lord, let's hope that he's never around when we have our child. Between baby poop and puke I think that his poor sensitive nose would whimper in pain." She was teasing, mostly. "But babies can also smell so good. Especially just after a bath with powder on them." She sighed. Shit. She was losing her edge now and thinking of all this mommy stuff. Not good. God blessed it all.
Ansell was grinning at her and shaking his head. "Right off the edge," he teased. "You are so in mommy mode these days it's actually a little freaky. The woman who was ready to hit me and Z at the drop of a hat is now thinking diapers and all sorts of baby stuff. My how things change when you actually grab hold of life, funny that, huh?" Clicking his comms back on, he listened and looked at her. "Everything will be fine," he said softly.
"I hope that you are right," Lacey whispered and turned her comms back on. She just hoped that she would get that edge back. If not, she would have to quit the force. "If I have to leave my job, you guys will be okay with it, right?" she spoke quietly into the comms, knowing that the rest of the team would allow her mates to answer that question alone.
"If that's what you want, Lace, we'll always support you," Zhubin said, his voice gentle in her ear. "We love you, sweetheart, and you have to do what is best for you first and foremost."
Ansell was nodding. "What he said," he murmured with a smile. Taking her hand in his he gave it a squeeze as he lifted it to his lips to kiss her knuckles.
She nodded and tried to once more put her head in the game. It was rough though and she had no idea why she was having such a hell of a time focusing on what needed to be done, but she tried all the same. "Thanks, guys." She spoke to the whole team, for letting them have that moment and for understanding her breakdown. "Ax, have you found anything?" she asked even though she knew that he was still in silence with the comms.
A single click of the comms came through and Ansell shook his head. "Negative," he murmured. Leaning his head back, he rubbed the heels of his palms to his eyes. Checking the time, he frowned. "Uh, is anyone else seeing the time here? We're plus five minutes on our deadline."
"I'm telling you. Something happened." She felt it. In her gut she felt that when that van stopped, something happened but she didn't know what. She just knew that there was something that changed in the game in that moment, but had no fucking clue what it was.
The comms double-clicked, then and Ansell went perfectly still. "Ax, what's going on?" he said. Then the comms started clicking all over the map. "Got it," Ansell said and looked over at her. "He's picked up a trail that's fresh and he's following it. Says that it's a Luhpyne and a human. They appear to be walking together toward an unknown point."
"Well that's just not good," Lacey muttered. "Should we get down there and help him flush the trash from the systems?" She didn't necessarily want to, but she wouldn't leave one of hers out to hang either. Period.
A single click that had Ansell grinning. "Negative." He chuckled. "But he has a point, the less people down there the easier it is for him to track the ones he's looking for. No muddying of scents and whatever it is he uses to follow them." Some more clicks sounded and Ansell frowned as he listened, his head cocked to the side. "They are heading toward the warehouse we have staked out, he's picking up voices but the words are too distorted from the echo down there for him to get anything. He's moving in closer."
"Well let's hope that he is able to get something from this." She sighed and shook her head. "I'm still thinking that something is just hinky. I really do." She shrugged however, trusting them all to ensure that things went the way that they should and that no one would be hurt. "Just make sure that they don't get hurt in the process, please."