Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2) (37 page)

“I will. Don’t do anything stupid. Ace.” Mirko turns around and Ace walks over. Mirko whispers to Ace as they pass. “Watch her. Leave without me if you have to.” Mirko gives him the keys.

I squint at him. Does he know what I plan to do?

He must. He knows me too well not to.

Mirko follows the man who made the phone call. The other two keep their post as Kaitlynn, Hawk, Ace, and I walk back to the car.

“Take the front,” I tell Kaitlynn and step in front of her to get into the back with Hawk as Ace gets in the driver’s seat.

Once we’re all in, I stretch across the seat and rest my feet in Hawk’s lap.

“What are you doing?” Ace scolds me.

“Shhh.”

“They can still see us!”

“I know. That’s why I’m lying down.”

Hawk rolls the ring in his lip under his teeth and wraps his arms around my ankles, like that can stop me from going anywhere. “Even if you do go in all invisible, you can’t just walk around opening and closing doors. The cameras will pick that up.”

Good point. “Where’s he at, exactly?” I ask Kaitlynn.

“Toward the back of the house. To our right of center. Can you pop in and out of rooms until you find him?”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure they don’t even know I’m there.”

“Brooke, no,” Ace growls. “You can pop in and out of there, but Mirko can’t. You get caught and you’ll put him in danger.”

My pulse pounds in my ears, and Hawk’s grip around my ankles tightens. I don’t want to put Mirko in danger. Ever. But he went in there by himself. He doesn’t have any backup.

That makes me nervous.

And I want to at least see my dad, even if I can’t talk to him.

I wrestle with myself until I’m convinced that I’m going in there more for Mirko than to see my dad. “Mirko can use the backup. I won’t get caught.”

I flex to where Kaitlynn said my father is because I don’t know where Mirko is any more than where he’s supposed to be heading.

I cover my mouth to stifle my gasp when I land in an exquisite room. My dad sits on a grand sofa in the corner across from where I arrive.

I stay frozen in the corner as the door opens and Mirko walks in.

Good. They’ve at least kept their word and didn’t take him to a prison of his own. Though, I don’t know if this place can really be called a prison with how luxurious it is, even if it is windowless. A tapestry woven with rich reds and bright yellows hangs from the wall behind the grand sofa. The fireplace next to the oversized four-poster bed is framed in floor-to-ceiling travertine with a rich mahogany mantel matching the bed and heavy end tables.

My dad looks up, but he doesn’t stand. “Mirko?”

The door shuts behind Mirko. He strolls over to my dad with the same confident swagger he always manages. “You’re not my favorite person right now.”

“If she were your daughter, would you have done anything different?”

Mirko glances around the room and stops for a brief second before continuing his perusal.

I hold my breath again.

Crap! Does he know I’m here?

I look over to the wall where Mirko’s eyes stay the longest and spot a camera.

I slowly exhale in relief.

Mirko rolls a chair out from a large desk and sets it in front of my dad, sitting with his back to the camera, effectively blocking their conversation from prying eyes. “She’s not my daughter.” He shrugs. “And I still hate you.”

My dad nods once.

I want to hate my dad.

“How’d you find me?”

“Someone I know has
Locirati. And they tell me you might have it as well.”

No one told him this—certainly not Kaitlynn—but Mirko must be baiting my dad to see if he’ll admit it.

My dad cracks a grin. “And if I do?”

“It’ll explain a lot of things: how you knew we were on the roof when Emerik attacked Brooke, how you knew to find us in the gym yesterday. A lot of things.”

“I guess it does then.”

Mirko smiles and shakes his head.

There’s so much about my dad we don’t know.

“What brings you here?”

“Brooke. She wanted to see you, but they wouldn’t let her.”

My dad quirks a brow and glances to the corner, as if he can see me.

My heart stops. I’m still using Nestati, but I have never felt more exposed.

My dad half-smiles as if it’s at me. Will he be mad at me for being here? Wouldn’t he have told me if he could see through my Nestati?

I want to laugh at myself. Of course he knows I’m here. He just freakin’ admitted to having Locirati.

He can feel me here. But … that also means he could feel where my mom was. The whole time after she ran away from him, he knew where she was. I’m hurt by this. I have to ask him why he didn’t come for her when he
knew
where she was.

My dad regards Mirko again. “But they let you?”

Mirko grins and his dark eyes light up. “They did.” He clears his throat and leans forward. “What changed, Zladislov? Why did they arrest you?”

Mirko already knows. Is he baiting my dad again?

“Oh, Mirko. There is plenty you don’t know.” My dad actually looks regretful. Is he really going to tell Mirko?

I want him to. It’ll feel like an act of good faith on his part if he does.

“I’m sure there is,” Mirko says, “but I only have time for the most important stuff.”

My dad sighs. “Secrets I am not yet ready to unveil.

Mirko leans in even farther. “I already know Emerik is a melez.”

My dad’s eyes bulge. “What on earth would make you think that?”

“Lijepa knew and told someone before she died.”

My dad grins. His teeth are so white, they’re a stark contrast to the dark couch. “You may be more resourceful than I gave you credit for.”

Mirko nods in agreement, not correcting him that the information fell in our lap. I don’t mind, though, because my dad really doesn’t give Mirko enough credit. “So you’ll ask to testify again, say that Emerik is a melez and then the Commission can forget this whole thing?”

“I wish that were the case.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Mirko’s more than annoyed.

“I’m at a stalemate with Orell. He knows something about me, and I know something about him.”

“Somehow this doesn’t surprise me.” Mirko’s eyes narrow at my dad. “So give us the proof we need, and you won’t have to say anything.”

“I don’t have any,” my dad says and holds his hands out.

“The person we got the information about Emerik from mentioned there was a journal and a painting we could use as evidence, but those things are with Kresimira in Croatia. Is there anything else you’re aware of that we could get?”

My dad considers that. “No, there isn’t. You’ll have to go to Croatia.”

“And how am I supposed to find her?”

“You told me you have a friend with
Locirati. Use them.”

No. Not Kaitlynn.

“How will they find Kresimira if they’ve never met her?”

“If they know Emerik, they’ll be able to find her. Their signature is similar. As is their power.”

Mirko frowns. “She can nullify as well?”

All of a sudden, I’m not as anxious to go find her. Now I’m scared because I realize I might be the only one who can get close enough to Kresimira without being detected. 

“Yes, and I cannot feel her right now. Let’s hope she has no reason to use it regularly. And that your friend can detect her. She should be in Zagreb or Zadar.”

Mirko studies my dad. “And what if this person is of value to you—would you risk them going to Croatia to get the evidence?”

Is Mirko trying to throw my dad off, or is he considering I might have to go as well?

My dad is quiet as if pondering it. “Yes, the evidence is now crucial for us to get out of this. It’s as important for Brooke as it is for me.”

Mirko sits back in the chair and runs his hands along his buzzed head. He takes a few deep breaths and drops his arms.

He rolls the chair closer to my dad, his whisper growing angry. “Brooke testifying shouldn’t even still be on the table. Her life is at stake. Your position is at stake. The freedom of my Zao Duh brothers and sisters is at stake.” Mirko looks back at the camera and then sits up as if to compose himself.

My father’s lips curve jovially. “Out of everyone in my line, there isn’t anyone I could’ve been happier with than you to be the one to look after my daughter while I am away. However—”

“Too bad it’s not enough to date her,” Mirko snarls.

My father continues, unfazed. “You must not forget who you are speaking to.”

Mirko’s face tightens. “Everything about this situation is unprecedented. Since when can they actually arrest you for procreating with a human? Anyone else, and they would be disposed of. But with you, there should’ve been a meeting—involving you. When did it become okay to arrest the Head of the Commission?”

Good question.

“Since I have this secret of theirs that they don’t want me telling anyone about. If you’re smart, you’ll go to Croatia and get that evidence.”

Mirko meets my dad’s cold, blue eyes in challenge. “So much for your plan B. You’d better hope we find Kresimira and bring back the evidence.”

The door opens. “Time’s up.”

Mirko stands and pushes the chair toward the desk. It stops short, but Mirko doesn’t put it back. “I’m done anyway,” he says and goes toward the door. He pauses and turns to my dad. “Oh, yeah, and Brooke said to tell you she doesn’t hate you.”

My dad’s lip twitches in the corners. He glances over at me and nods.

“But I still do,” Mirko says as a final jab before the door closes behind him.

I count to two and then flex to the other side of the door and follow Mirko out. The rest of the house is as opulent as the room where they’re keeping my dad.

Once Mirko makes it out to the porch, I flex back into the Land Rover. “Don’t tell Mirko I went in there.”

“You know I’m going to tell him,” Ace says.

“Why? He’ll only be mad at you for not stopping me, and you know it.”

Ace sneers at me in the rearview mirror. “You owe me.” He hops out of the car when Mirko reaches the door.

I sit up and make room for Ace to sit next to me in the back.

Mirko puts the car in gear and takes us out to the main road. “Well, it looks like we’re going to Croatia,” he says to Kaitlynn.

I can tell he’s pissed, so I won’t mention how he’ll need me and my flexing skills, or “jumping space” as he calls it. I’ll let him cool off first before I announce I’m going with them.

CHAPTER THIRTY-
FOUR

Mirko

We’re three hours outside of Lexington when Garwin calls with the information about using the Društvos’ plane. “Pavao is at JFK Airport and should be able to pick you up at a small landing strip in Oak Ridge, North Carolina, in little more than hour. He’s going to file a false flight plan with the FAA because you’ll be leaving the country without the proper passport information.”

I
’ll have to turn around and drive a half hour in the opposite direction, but we should get there in enough time. It sucks Brooke is coming. I don’t want her anywhere near Croatia like this. “I hate to have him do that, but we don’t have enough time to drive back for Brooke’s documents, and Kaitlynn doesn’t even have a passport.”