“You should have let me do it,” Seth admonished.
“It wasn’t necessary. I knew no one was there, so the risk was minimal.”
“Your new contacts provided you with the satellite imagery?”
Launching a satellite into space tended to attract attention, so the network didn’t itself own one they could use when needed. That was where Chris’s contacts came into play: men and women recruited from agencies, bureaus, and other groups shrouded in secrecy who were willing to risk all to help the Immortal Guardians whenever they needed special intel.
“Yes.”
“How did that go?” Seth asked.
“Smoothly for them. Hard as hell for me.”
Chris’s last group of contacts, as well as their spouses and children, had either been tortured to death or shot execution style by Donald and Nelson’s mercenaries. A quick peek into his thoughts told Lisette that Chris feared history would repeat itself.
“Speaking of which . . .” He drew a cell phone from his back pocket and held it out to Seth. “I instructed the men who got me the satellite photos to call this number if they have even the tiniest suspicion that they’re being followed or have been compromised.”
Taking the phone, Seth nodded. “I’ll teleport them and their families to safety if such should occur. Then you can work with the other network heads to create new identities for them and relocate them, preferably out of the country.”
“Thank you.”
“What did your men find?” Lisette asked.
“It was a small frame house. The little bit of furniture we found inside was broken and turned over. From the looks of things, the vampires scuffled. You know how volatile their tempers can be, even when newly turned.”
All nodded.
“We found the tracking device under a chair and assume it came off during the fight.”
Lisette shook her head. “That was our only lead.”
“I know,” Chris said. “And Cliff risked a hell of a lot to get it for us. I didn’t tell you at the network, because I didn’t want him to overhear.”
“Give me the tracking device,” Zach ordered.
When Lisette looked up, she damned near took a step back at the fury she saw reflected in his face.
Chris frowned. “What?”
“It still works, doesn’t it?” Zach asked.
“Yes.”
“Is it waterproof?”
“Yes. My tech guys made it damned near indestructible.”
“Then give it to me, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t fall off the next vampire.”
“How exactly do you plan to do that?”
Tired of waiting, Zach took the tiny device from Chris. “I plan to shove it down his fucking throat.” He tucked the tracker in a front pants pocket. “If the vampire swallows it, it won’t fall off. It can’t be knocked off in a fight. He can’t lose it. And I’ll make damned sure he doesn’t remember swallowing it. This shit needs to end.” Zach looked to Seth. “Does that work for you?”
Seth nodded. “Sounds good. And, since he’ll swallow it, the virus won’t view it as shrapnel and eject it.”
Lisette tightened her grip on Zach’s hand. “I’m going with you.”
“The hell you are,” he denied.
“Then let me put it this way,” she said sweetly. “I’m going hunting tonight, with or without you. If I should happen to come across one of these new supervamps, I’ll try to tag him myself. I can’t make him swallow a tracker because I can’t wipe his memory or do the mind control thing, but I guarantee you I’ll get close enough to plant it on him somewhere.”
Zach swore.
She grinned. “You can’t love that I kick ass, then try to keep me from kicking it.”
“Why the hell not?” he grumbled.
She laughed.
“Fine. I’ll shove it down his throat. You can cheer me on.”
Lisette winked. “Let’s just see how it goes, shall we?”
Zach and Lisette found no newbie vampires that night. Or the next. On the third, they fought two skirmishes with the usual vampire fare. Few in number. Easy kills. Zach spent more time admiring Lisette during the fights than he did combating the vampires.
She was such a fascinating combination of fragility and strength, of vulnerability and ferocity. The way she wielded her shoto swords, the agility with which she evaded the weapons of her opponents . . .
It just made him want to pounce.
The last vampire in the second battle fell.
Zach collected the vampires’ weapons and tried to get his mind off all of the things he would be doing to Lisette if they were in the privacy of her bedroom.
The bowie knives, folding knives, and machetes were all of poor quality. Some of the blades had broken upon contact with Lisette’s superior shoto swords. “What do you think?” he asked, holding them up. “Toss them?”