C.O.T.V.H. (Book 2): Judgment (14 page)

Lucas looked from Jake to Ortega.  “So, how’d he do?”

Ortega laughed.  “Not bad, not too bad at all.  He could use a little more finesse but the kid’s got guts.”

“Good to hear.”  Lucas nodded.  “I’ll tell Castle then.”

What the hell is going on here?
  “Uh, excuse me Sergeant but what . . .”

“We knew you’d come to call your old man once we told you, you were out.  We wanted to see how you’d react when pushed.  You passed.”  Ortega smiled.  “Not bad kid.  I honestly thought you’d piss yourself.”

“Man that’s messed up,” Buck said, shaking his head.

“Turner, it turns out you did alright yourself.  I thought you were just a loner that didn’t care about anyone or anything.  But you showed up when a member of your team needed you the most.  Nice job.”

Buck rolled his eyes, “Yeah whatever.”  He pushed his way past the two sergeants and out into the yard.

Jake crossed his arms defiantly.  “I wasn’t going to call my dad.”

“No?” Lucas asked.  “Then what were you doing?”

“Earning my spot,” he quoted Sergeant Major Castle

“Oh yeah?  How do you plan on doing that?”

“I called an old friend.  Now I’m just waiting for him to call me back.”

“Yeah.  Sure.” Ortega said, his voice reeking of sarcasm.   “And who might that be?”

Jake smiled at him remembering the feel of his throat in his hands. “Nathan Bishop.”

Chapter 5

Jake

The Williams Ranch

February 17, 1999, 7:00pm

At seven on the dot, the phone rang.  Castle arched an eyebrow as he rocked back and forth in a chair across the desk.  “Here we go kid.  Good luck.”

Taking a deep breath Jake picked up the phone after the second ring.  “Hello.”

“Jake?  It’s Nathan.  What’s going on?  Is everything okay?”

Jake instantly felt guilty for telling Joe it was a family emergency, but at the time, he couldn’t think of a faster way to get a hold of him.  “Hey Nathan.  Yeah, everything is fine.  We’re all okay.  I just needed to talk to you.”

“Thank God,” Nathan said his voice flooded with relief.  “When Joe told me you’d called saying it was a ‘family emergency’ I feared the worst.”

“Yeah I’m sorry about that.  I just really needed to talk to you.”

“What’s up kid?  What can I do for you?”

“I need your help with something.  Something big.”

******

It had been a tough sell, but Nathan and the Georgia Hunters leadership hesitantly agreed to a meeting with the leaders of both the Coalition and U.S. military with the leadership of the Georgia hunters.  Two days later Secretary Hernandez had a government jet fueled and ready.  As a courtesy for setting the whole thing up, he invited Jake to tag along.

Jake leaned his seat forward into its upright position and buckled his seatbelt.  Their small private jet was preparing to land on the airstrip outside of Hometown, Ga.  Next to him, Hernandez stuffed his paperwork back into a manila folder then tucked it into the briefcase under his seat.  His aide Derek Carson sipped from a luke-warm Diet Pepsi and tapped his hands nervously on the arms of his chair.  Billy Williams snored loudly across the aisle.

“Nervous Mr. Carson?” Jake whispered across the aisle.

“Yeah.  Just a little.”  He began tapping his feet as well.  “I
really
hate flying.  I’ve always had this fear that that’s how I’ll die.”

“You’ll have to excuse Derek,” Hernandez said giving his old friend a hard time.  “He’s tough as they come when it comes to filing papers or making copies, but if you get him more than six feet into the air he whines like a little girl.”

“Keep talking Danny and soon you’ll be making your own copies,” he said without a bit of humor in his voice.

The fasten seatbelts sign came on and the plane started its descent.

“Billy.”  Jake called out to him.  “Billy!”

“Mother fu . . .” he mumbled half jumping out of his seat only to be caught by the seat belt.  Derek nearly jumped out of his seat.  “What’s going on?” Billy asked, looking around the plane.

“We’re landing,” Jake said, giving him an odd look.  “You okay?”

Billy breathed heavily for a few seconds putting his hand on his chest.  “Yeah, I’m okay.”  He leaned his seat forward and actually raised his feet up looking under them.  When he saw that nothing was there, he dropped them back to the floor relaxing a bit then leaned back into his seat running his hands over his face.  “Man I was having the weirdest damn dream.  We were on a plane and there were these . . . these damn snakes all over the place, crawling under seats and biting passengers.  Scared the living hell out of me!”

Jake chuckled and Secretary Hernandez cracked a smile.  “Yeah, that’s definitely pretty uh . . . scary I guess.”  Jake laughed.

“Hey don’t laugh.”  Billy grimaced.  “I
hate
snakes!”

“Billy, you hunt
vampires
for a living!”  Jake laughed even harder.

“Yeah well, they aren’t scaly and slimy are they?”

“Technically snakes aren’t slimy either,” Secretary Hernandez added.

“Yeah well . . . I still don’t like them,” Billy said pulling a black handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his forehead. 

The plane hit the runway and after a couple of minutes came to a stop.  The lone flight attendant dropped the stairs and the four men climbed off the plane with their duffels strapped across their backs.  “Pretty country,” Billy said eying the snow covered trees around the runway.  “Damn pretty.”

“You said, it Billy,” Jake agreed zipping up his coat.  “It sure is different than the plains of West Texas.”

“Is this the same airstrip those lawyers brought you to?” Billy asked stretching his legs.

“Yeah, it’s the same one.”  Jake nodded looking around at the empty buildings dotting the landscape.  “I wonder if they all got turned into grunts, or if it was just Murphy.”

“If you ask me it serves them right,” Billy said.  “You just can’t work with vampires.  It will come back to bite you every time.” he said, laughing at his own bad joke.

A Jeep Grand Cherokee with the back hatch open sat just off the runway.  Nathan Bishop, in a pair of ripped jeans and a short sleeve shirt, sat inside smoking a cigarette.  He waved them over.

Shouldering their bags the four men walked over the slushy runway and Jake made introductions.  “Nathan, I’d like you to meet Secretary of Supernatural Affairs Daniel Hernandez, his aide Derek Carson and Billy Williams head of the Hunters Coalition.  Billy, Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Carson, this is the man I told you about, this is Nathan Bishop.”

Nathan shook hands with all three of them, “Please to meet you.”  Then clapped Jake on the shoulder shaking his hand.  “Good to see you Jake.  Man you’ve grown!  What are you now 5’11?  Six foot?”

Jake smiled, “Right at Six.”

“That’s great kid.  Keep growing and before you know it, you’ll be taller than your old man.  I hear he’s what?  Seven feet?”

“Almost!” Billy said, with a laugh.  “But man, one giant in the family is more than enough for my taste.”

“Nathan, you aren’t cold?” Jake asked pulling his own coat a little tighter around his shoulders.

“Nah,” he shrugged.  “Actually I kind of like the cold, beats the summer.  Have any of you boys ever been in Georgia in the middle of summer?”

Derek nodded his agreement.  “I did some training here back when I was just barely out of my teens.  I don’t think Hell could be much hotter than Georgia in the middle of July with a hundred percent humidity.”

“Man that’s the truth.”  Nathan nodded dropping his cigarette to the pavement and crushing it under his sneaker.  “You gents ready to head out?”

“Sounds good,” Hernandez nodded.  “How far are we going?”

“Oh not far, about twelve miles.  I’ve got you all rooms at The Tear Drop Inn.  A buddy of mine runs it.  He’ll set you up with everything you need.”

They tossed their duffels into the back of the jeep.  “Training?” Jake asked Derek.

“I was in the Army for six years,” Derek replied.  “I made it all the way to a Lance Corporal before being honorably discharged.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Jake admitted.  He’d always thought of Derek Carson as just a pencil pusher.

Billy climbed into the front seat while Jake, Derek, and Hernandez climbed into the back.  Jake’s long legs were scrunched up tight against the back of Nathan’s seat but he didn’t complain.  He wanted to make the best impression possible with Secretary Hernandez.

His Instructors had been pleased with the way he’d stood up to Ortega’s assault, and even more so that he’d been able to set up the meet with Nathan, but Jake wasn’t making any waves.  He didn’t want to mess up a good thing. 

As if reading his mind Nathan moved his seat forward giving Jake some legroom.  Jake smiled and nodded his thanks.

Nathan put the jeep in gear and pulled onto the highway.  “So what’s the story with Riker?” Jake asked leaning forward in his seat.  “Did he rebuild his house after the fire?”

“Oh did he!” Nathan said, rolling down the driver’s side window and letting in some fresh air.  “I’d take you by there but his security would stop us before we could get close enough to see anything.  It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”

“I can’t believe he’s still alive,” Billy added.  “I met that racist son of a bitch way back in ‘79.  Hell, he was ancient even then.  I never could stomach him.” 

“I’m assuming Jake told you the story of his kidnapping?” Nathan asked Hernandez.

“Yeah I’ve read the report.”  He nodded thoughtfully.  “Interesting to say the least.”

“’Interesting?’”  Nathan eyed him suspiciously.  “That’s all you have to say?”

Hernandez gave him a quizzical look, “What else is there?”

“I don’t know,” Nathan said lighting a cigarette. “I was just curious as to why you G-Men haven’t done anything about it?”

“Would you please not smoke that in here?” Hernandez asked peevishly, waving at the smoke forming around his head.

“Sorry,” Nathan said, taking one final drag before snuffing it out in the ashtray.  “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s simple.  It’s not our jurisdiction,” was his cold reply.  “We’re not law enforcement; we have enough on our hands without going after United States citizens.”

“Oh?  I would have thought one of the wealthiest people on the planet making contacts and possible alliances with Vampires would definitely be in the interest of the all-powerful United States government.  Guess I was wrong.”

“If you’ve got a point, make it,” Hernandez said, going on the defense. 

“Oh no point.  But just so you know, the
only
reason I set up this meet was because Jake asked me to.”

“Now, now,” Billy said, trying to play the mediator.  “We’re all friends here.”

“So you’re the legendary Billy Williams?” Nathan asked, changing the subject.

"I wouldn't say legendary,” Billy leaned forward in his seat.  “I’m just a guy trying to do my part.”

“Oh now don’t be modest.  We’ve all heard the stories of how you single handedly killed four Makers on that job up in Utah.  Fine work, truly.  I’m impressed.  Not just anyone could have pulled something like that off.”

“You seem to know a lot about us Mr. Bishop,” Hernandez stated, “Mind if I ask how?”

“Oh I’ve got my resources too, Mr. Secretary.  Speaking of which, would you mind if I asked why you took your mother’s maiden name instead of your father’s?”

“That’s none of your business,” Hernandez said, growing angry.

“I didn’t mean any disrespect, sir,” Nathan said, “it just seems strange to me you’d enter the same field of work as him but not claim his name.”

Billy gave Hernandez a strange look, “Who was your father?”

“Oh you don’t know?  I’d assumed since you let them set up training grounds on your property you would have known.  Secretary of Supernatural Affair Daniel Hernandez’s father was Michael Casino.”

“Big Mike Casino!” Billy exclaimed.  “You’re kidding?”

“Nope,” Nathan said,

“Pull the car over,” Hernandez said, angrily.  “I didn’t come all the way down here to take shit from someone that knows absolutely nothing about me!”

"Nathan . . . come on man,” Jake said, wondering how the situation had gotten so bad so fast.  “These are my friends.  I brought them here to work . . .”

“I know why you brought them here Jake,” Nathan interrupted, pulling the Jeep to a stop.  “But I can already tell you you’re not going to like the answer you get.  We don’t trust the U.S. government.  Too many of us have a bad history with them.  Things that cannot be forgiven, and if Mr. Politician here can’t answer a few simple questions without getting hot around the collar, I might as well turn the car around and take you back to your big shiny government plane.”

“I’m not with the government,” Billy said, joining the conversation.  “Jake’s not with the government and n
one
of my people are government.  We don’t take orders from them, we just work with them occasionally and they’ve been kind enough to train my kids so they don’t get themselves killed.  So don’t take this hatred out on us.  I’ve never done anything to you or your people.  I just came here looking for some help.  We share a common enemy, so why not pool our resources and do some serious damage for a change?  If you aren’t even remotely open to that, and then I guess, sadly we have nothing to talk about.”

“Mr. Williams . . . you’re right.  I apologize.  And Jake, I’m sorry too.  Mr. Hernandez you are probably a good man, and I have nothing against you personally.  I really don’t.  Your father, from what I’m told was a great hunter.  I just don’t trust your bosses.”

“My father was a dirt bag; he left my mom high and dry when I was six months old.  I’ve never even met the man.  I got into politics and made the connections I made on my own.  I wanted to help people a different way, a smarter way, without a gun in my hand.  I met the President years ago when he was still Governor of Arkansas.  He knew about my ambitions and agreed that it was time to make a serious dent in vampire attacks.  So he appointed me as Secretary of Supernatural Affairs.”