"This way." Stone led them across the vast storeroom and up a narrow flight of stairs.
"Me first." Gregori drew his sword.
"Of course." Stone let him pass.
Gregori cracked open the door and peeked outside. "It's clear." He led them down an empty corridor. The sound of clashing blades could be heard in the distance. As Toni passed beneath a security camera, she could only hope they were being watched by Phineas or Dougal and not the Malcontents.
"This is it." Gregori stopped by a door with a sign that read Control Room. Clashing blades could be heard inside. Gregori flung open the door. Toni followed him just in time to see Zoltan slash his sword across a Malcontent's neck, then skewer him through the heart. The dead vampire turned to dust.
Zoltan swiveled to face them and bowed. "The room is yours." He zoomed out the door.
"Wow." Toni watched Zoltan disappear around a corner.
"I'm glad that guy's on our side," Carlos muttered.
Gregori cursed. "Look at this." He motioned to the wall that was covered with twelve monitors.
Toni gasped. All twelve monitors showed the same scene, the studio where the Nightly News was aired. Ian had been stripped to his kilt, and Nadia was casually looping silver rope around his bare chest. Red welts appeared on Ian's skin, and the sizzling sound made Toni's stomach lurch.
"We have to get him out of there." Toni pulled her dagger from her belt.
"We will, soon," Gregori assured her. "Ian wanted to make sure we had the rest of the building completely under our control and as many Malcontents as possible killed before we make our final move on Jedrek."
Howard stood guard at the door, while they all watched the monitors, unable to help Ian.
"Ye have the drug," Ian spoke through gritted teeth. "Let the hostages go."
Jedrek lifted the vial of greenish liquid. "How can I be sure this is really the Stay-Awake drug? You might have filled it with poison. Is it poison, MacPhie?"
Ian glared at him.
"Is it poison?" Jedrek shouted.
Nadia looped some silver rope around Ian's neck and pulled it tight. His neck sizzled.
Toni swallowed hard at the bile rising in her throat.
Ian glowered at Jedrek. "It's no' poison. Try it and see."
Jedrek nodded slowly. "You want me to drink it." He strode to Corky and ripped the duct tape off her mouth.
She screeched. "That hurts, you bastard."
"This might hurt worse. Hold her!" Jedrek ordered, and Yuri held Corky's head still.
Corky glued her lips together, but Jedrek pinched her nose till she opened her mouth to gasp for air. Jedrek poured some of the greenish liquid down her throat.
Back in the control room, the door opened slowly and Phineas peered inside. "Don't shoot," he told Howard.
"Do you have the security office?" Howard asked.
"Yeah. I left Dougal there. Zoltan and Jack are doing one final sweep. We're almost ready to move on Jedrek."
"Thank God." Toni motioned to the monitors. "Have you seen what they're doing to Ian?"
"Yeah." Phineas grimaced. "There's a monitor in the security office that shows us what's on air. More importantly, the whole vampire world is seeing what they're doing to Ian. And he has a bunch of admirers out there."
"So?" Toni didn't want to hear about all the Vamp women who still wanted to date Ian.
"So, they're all showing up outside," Phineas said. "We can see the parking lot on a monitor, and there's got to be fifty angry Vamp women out there. They're all screaming that Ian MacPhie must be released."
"Good grief," Toni breathed.
"It's getting wild out there," Phineas continued. "Those women have whips and baseball bats."
"I have an idea." Gregori went to the wall of shelves and grabbed a camera. He turned it on and looked at the monitors. "How do I get this to show up there?"
"Here." Stone went to the control panel and flipped some switches. A bottom monitor showed them in the control room as seen through Gregori's camera.
"And how do we get this on air?" Gregori asked.
Stone showed them which switches to use. He handed Carlos the earphones and took a small one for himself.
"I'll let you know when we're ready." Gregori headed out the door. "Let's go, Stone."
Phineas and Howard stood guard while Carlos studied the control panel. Toni watched the monitors, wondering how Ian was faring. She couldn't see him at the moment because the cameraman was still focused on Corky. The Vamp world was waiting to see if Corky was going to die from poison.