Kiss of the Vampire(88)
“Wow.”
She gave Dante a second to adjust to her new image, then said, “Come on, let’s do this.”
They flipped the desk to its front, the remaining items on the top spilling to the floor, and she gave a cry of elation. Reaching over, she pulled a taped manila envelope from beneath the base of the desk. “See?”
“Well, aren’t you the clever one?” Dante leaned his hip against the desk. “So was Braithwaite, apparently.”
She opened the envelope and peered inside, then held it over the bottom of one of the desk’s pedestals. Several folded papers and a flash drive fell out. She picked up the small drive and looked at Dante. Already she could feel the demon receding. “Do you suppose this is Rinda’s?”
He took it and slipped it into his jeans pocket. “We’ll find out as soon as we can get to a computer.”
“Yeah, you can do your computer mojo magic.” She unfolded one of the papers. “These look like blueprints of some sort.”
“Schematics,” Dante said. “May I?” He held out his hand. She gave him the drawing, and he studied it more closely. “I’m no engineer, but this looks like a radio transmitter.” He pointed to one specific area.
“How do you know?” She leaned in to get a better look.
“I’ve done some messing around with ham radios.” He didn’t look up from the schematics. “This here, it kind of looks like a variable frequency oscillator, this might be whatever they’ve constructed to open a mini rift.” He handed the paper back to Nix.
She looked at the other documents. “More of the same,” she murmured. She folded them all up, smaller than before, and tucked them into the back pocket of her jeans. “We’ll need to get these to an expert. Someone we can trust.”
Dante nodded.
She blew out a breath. “All right, then. Let’s go after Tobias.” And if he knew what was good for him, he’d better be all right.
Chapter Sixteen
As Nix and Dante went through the back gate of the property, they both drew their weapons. Dante pulled a small flashlight from his jacket pocket and flicked it on. He shone it on the ground, lighting their way.
Even though he was no longer in sight, Tobias wasn’t hard to track. He’d left a wake of pheromones a smell-impaired hound dog could follow. But more disturbing, the blood trail left by Natchook was equally easy to follow.
Within fifteen minutes Dante had taken off his jacket and had it slung over one arm. Neither one of them was dressed for a hike, but they couldn’t let Tobias go off on his own to face his enemy. For one thing, Tobias wasn’t thinking clearly and so was at a disadvantage. For another, from what she’d heard, Natchook tended to surround himself with people willing to martyr themselves for the cause, whatever it might be.
Tobias, as strong as he was, could very well be outmanned.
She pressed her lips together and picked up the pace. Already she might be too late. If anything happened to him…
“Nix?” Dante kept pace with her, his gaze darting around their surroundings. His eyes reflected his concern that they were fast approaching the outskirts of town and soon would be heading up the White Tank Mountains. “Something wrong?”
“Natchook rarely travels alone” was all she said.
“Damn it.” Dante’s voice was low, his epithet heartfelt. He was quick; she knew he realized the danger Tobias was in. The peril they all were in.
Another twenty minutes and they had left civilization behind. There wasn’t much of anything except sand and scrub. The lights of town were far behind them, only Dante’s small flashlight and a sky full of stars lighted their way. The moon provided some light but kept ducking behind clouds.
They reached a rocky area and scrambled over it, taking care where they placed their hands and feet. Rattlers could be sleeping among the rocks. Neither one of them wanted or could afford to be bitten.
Nix stopped, taking a deep breath. She’d lost the blood trail. And Tobias’s pheromone scent. Her heart, already pounding from exertion, began banging against her ribs. “Damn it!”
Dante looked at her. “What?”
“I’ve lost the scent.”
“What?” He glanced around. “How could you lose the scent?”
She scowled. “It’s not like I’m a hound dog, Dante. My nose isn’t nearly as good as a werewolf’s, or a vampire’s for that matter.” She spread her hands. “The blood trail ends here. And Tobias must have scaled his pheromones back so far I can’t smell them anymore.”
“He can do that?”
“When he wants to.” She remembered the waves of pheromones he’d given off at that first crime scene and how she’d told him to ramp it down. He hadn’t paid her any attention then. Now when she wanted him to be putting off a chemical trail he didn’t. A coyote howled, the sound lonely and sad. It seeped into her soul, heightening her fear. She couldn’t stop the shiver that sliced down her spine.