Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (53 page)

“Yes, Detective...” Timms dismissed Lou’s earlier jab. “Lets not let your handicap delay us. Just toss her over your shoulder if you must.” Timms got out of the car as soon as Dillon started lifting Lou out of the seat. He tried to keep the gun trained on her but something shifted and he lost sight of her.

Even though it was a blur, Dillon had tossed Lou over his shoulder which enabled Lou to see what happened next. Once he had her secured, Dillon raced for the stairs and Lou watched as Yuri, Connor, Niko and Finn converged on Cameron Timms. What caught her breath was the sight of Max literally pushing Dillon’s car out of the way so the four men could pin the blood born to the ground. Niko kicking the rear passenger door straight off it’s hinges, sending it skittering down the driveway so he could put all his weight on Timms’ lower extremities.

“Close your eyes, Tallulah.” Max looked back at her as Dillon made his way up the stairs with Lou flung over his shoulder.

Lou recognized the glint of silver in Max’s hand. She remembered it like it was yesterday. It was the same glint she saw right before she lost consciousness after Albert tried to slice her throat open. But it had been Max’s sword, not Albert’s knife. She knew what that sword was for and when she saw Max turn and position himself over Cameron Timms’ head then raise his arm, Lou knew exactly what was about to happen. She did what he asked. Lou squeezed her eyes shut and didn’t open them until she felt Dillon put her down on what felt like her bed and she heard her mother’s voice rushing toward her.

“Tallulah!” Shevaun was on her knees in front of Lou as soon as she opened her eyes. “Are you alright?” Her mother began checking her daughter for any injuries.

“She’s not hurt.” Dillon assured her. “Well, any more than she was when she left this afternoon.”

“Oh thank God you’re alright!” Shevaun hugged her daughter too tight, causing her ribs to protest.

“Ow! I am fine.” Lou tried to hug her mother back. “Not so tight though, please.”

“Oh!” Shevaun loosened her grip and leaned back. “Well at least that one didn’t last too long!” She joked nervously. “But I’m gonna have to put my foot down and say you are forbidden from being abducted anymore. You hear me?”

“It wasn’t an abduction, Momma.” Lou corrected her. “It was more like a hijack. Or a carjack.” Lou turned her attention to her terrace doors where she saw Joe, Abby and Frank standing guard. “What’s happening?” Lou asked them.

“Never you mind that.” Shevaun instructed. “They have things under control.”

“What does that mean?” Lou wanted to know. “Exactly?”

“It means we wait.” Frank chided.

Abby slugged Frank in the shoulder but he never took his eyes from out the glass door. “It shouldn’t be long now. Abby looked at Lou and smiled but they all jumped when Niko appeared out of nowhere in the main doorway.

“Good job activating your beacon, bro.” He smiled at Dillon as he headed straight over to Lou and knelt down. “OK you.” He grinned at her then took hold of the medallion he had given her that morning. “I never thought I would be grateful that I forgot to show you how to turn this thing off and on.” For all intensive purposes the medallion looked like a small silver and gold compass, but much older. Niko took the disk in his hands and demonstrated as he told her what to do. “You line the stars up at the top to turn it on. Then you can turn it to any other position to shut it off.”

“OK.” Lou wasn’t quite sure she was understanding. She had been pretty drugged up when he put the thing on her.

“When the stars are lined up, we can turn our monitoring stuff on and hear every word you are saying. When it’s off, it’s just a GPS tracker.”

“So you heard everything that was said?” Dillon wanted clarification.

“When Dillon’s watch thingie went off, they immediately checked to see if Lou was still transmitting!” Shevaun offered the information since she was there at the time. “They heard everything from the point where Dillon asked you if your pain was kicking in.”

“Nice rouse too, by the way.” Niko looked back at Dillon.

“It was worth a shot!” Dillon admitted. “It was the only thing I could come up with since all I was thinking was that I really was a dead man. Our Dom was surely going to have my head for leaving Lou alone.”

“Nah, it wouldn’t have been your head.” Niko winked at Lou. “You alright?” He asked her.

“Yeah!” She blinked several times. “I’m still not sure I know what’s going on though.”

Niko chuckled. “All you need to know is that your chili dogs kinda got squished so you’ll need to beg your mom to make you something to eat.”

“What?” Lou had forgotten all about the chili dogs.

“Nevermind.” Niko stood up and patted her on the head. “Now, we gotta go.” He looked to Abby and Frank and they both nodded in some unspoken understanding. Frank stepped out of the way so Niko could exit through the balcony.

“Go where?!” Lou shouted after him but he already had disappeared from sight. “What the hell?”

“They probably won’t be back until Monday.” Abby informed her as she sat down next to her on the bed.

“I’ll go make up some sandwiches for everyone.” Shevaun kissed her daughter’s cheek before she got up and left the room.

“While we were preparing for you all to get here, Niko got a call from his South American counterpart, Lena Ruiz.” Frank explained. “They were able to apprehend both Ernesto Vargas and Manuel Rojas trying to leave Costa Rica.”

Abby nodded and took up the tale. “So the guys are taking Cameron Timms pieces back to Moshe, the African Dominor. It’s customary for the presiding Dom to dispose of any traitors. Max is extending that courtesy so that Moshe doesn’t look weak after letting Cameron get away with, well, bloody murder, for lack of a better way of saying it!”

“Once they take care of that...” Frank continued. “The South American Dom is giving us a shot at Manuel Rojas and Ernesto Vargas before they are executed. Max needs some questions answered before they go bye-bye.”

“What kind of questions?” Lou asked, having a few herself.

“That doesn’t matter.” Abby assured her. “I’m sure they’ll brief you once they get back.”

Lou thought she had an idea although they said they had only started listening in after Dillon got back in the car. As it stood now, only Lou and the recently departed Timms knew that he had helped Albert get away. Lou didn’t think she needed to add to the pot by telling them any of that right now. It could wait.

“Connor went with them too?” Lou asked.

“Yeah, why?” Frank looked confused.

“Max and the whole Council had to go.” Abby added.

“Damn.” Lou blew out a breath. “I was hoping he could open his trunk of tricks one more time for me.” She blew out another breath and Abby realized by the way Lou’s eyes were watering that she was in serious pain.

“Oh shit!” Dillon had seen it too. “Did I hurt you when I carried you upstairs?! I am so sorry Lou!”

“No, I just think with all the adrenaline, things are a little amplified right now.” Lou didn’t have the heart to tell him how bad it had hurt when he tossed her over his shoulder.

“Oh! I can take care of that!” Abby leapt up and went around to the other side of Lou’s bed where Connor’s first aid trunk was still residing.

“She needs to eat something before she passes out!” Shevaun came into the room holding a tray of food. Marta, the housekeeper following behind her with even more. “Everyone come on now, eat up.”

Another lie Dillon had told Cameron Timms, Marta rarely, if ever, took a day or night off. When Lou smelled her fresh baked empanadas, Lou had never been more grateful for that fact.

Lately it hadn’t
been unusual for Lou to not remember when she fell asleep, or what she was doing just prior. She hated needing pain medication. After her run-in with Albert Von Messenbach, she was on so much medication in general that Lou made a vow to herself that as soon as possible, one multivitamin a day was going to be all she ever took again. Clearly that was not working out for her.

She laid in bed for a long time after waking, staring at the ceiling, piecing events from the night before together as best she could. Lou didn’t like having the upper hand taken from her yet again. Her injuries and exhaustion had made her drop her guard, allowing Timms to get in that back seat. It royally pissed her off. She needed to get healthy again. She needed to be stronger. Lou’s mind immediately went to the character Sara Connor, from the Terminator movie. Yes, she needed to be like her. Wicked strong and always on alert. Prepared for any scenario she was bound to fall into given this new life she was leading. There was a faster way of accomplishing this goal, she knew. The whole concept of turning scared the crap out of her. Since her indoctrination, she had put that option out of her mind. Even with what little she knew about the process, it was not a choice to be taken lightly. Twenty-eight days of agony with a good percentage weighing towards not making it through. Yes, she would be stronger, less fragile, able to heal at an astonishing rate. Case in point was Dillon and his two gunshot wounds. The man barely had blemishes where the bullets had ripped through him only days ago. That was a serious advantage, indeed.

There were also very serious drawbacks to choosing to turn, though. Eventually Lou would need to move, relocate. Her lack of aging at a normal rate would draw suspicion. Sure, that was many years off but could Lou really leave? What of those she loved? Watch them all wither and fade away while she continued on? Could she really do that? She pulled a pillow over her face and screamed into it. Too much to think about. Too much to process.

“Lou!” Abby pulled the pillow away, her face awash with worry. “Are you alright? What’s wrong? Tell me what hurts!”

“I’m fine!” Lou assured her. “Were you in here the whole time?”

“We took turns during the night keeping an eye on you.” Abby sat on the edge of the bed. “Now why are you yelling into your pillow? Talk to me.”

“I’m fine, really.” Lou grumbled and tried to sit up as best she could without incurring too much pain. She knew today was going to be the worst of it so she just had to grin and bare it. “I’m just pissed is all.”

“What are you pissed about?” Abby smoothed Lou’s matted hair back and smiled.

“That dick getting the drop on me.” She was pouting. “I cannot believe I let him get in that car. What the hell is wrong with me? You think I would have learned by now!”

“Lou, you can’t do that to yourself! What could you have done, honestly?” Abby tried to console her as she got up to fetch her a cup of coffee. “I mean, really? What are the odds of this happening again? They were flukes we couldn’t have anticipated. You need to remember both Cameron and Albert are Sanguinostri! They are stealthy, quick and exceedingly strong.”

“Abby, you forget this is not the first or second time a man has snuck up and gotten the drop on me.” Lou gave her a weary look and Abby thought as the Keurig spit Lou’s brew into her mug. “Sawyer was just an asshat and he got me twice, remember? And, if we are honest, there are the two monkeys he hired to grab me at the barbecue place too. I mean, come on! This is getting silly!”

“That guy was a psychopath!” Abby shook her head as she returned with Lou’s steamy mug. “Maybe we are looking at this wrong, too.” Abby said as a thought occurred to her. “First of all, it’s clearly an occupational hazard that you need to take into consideration. You put bad men away. Statistically some are going to want payback.”

“I suppose.” Lou conceded as she accepted the mug gratefully. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Abby smiled then snuggled up beside Lou on the bed before she continued. “Now, another thing I bet you don’t even think about, let alone factor in to the equation is that you are freaking hot, unbelievably smart, completely awesome at your job and you take shit from no one!”

“Oh come on!” Lou scoffed.

“I am serious, Lou!” Abby insisted. “That and the fact that you’re a woman? Remember, God made man first, realized how badly he screwed up, then he made us! Men can’t help being jealous. And your awesomeness, well, that is going to draw some envy on any given day but lets be honest here! Part of your job is dealing with some seriously warped people so that’s going to amplify their jealousy. Especially now that we’ve got you mixed in with our people.”

“I thought Sanguinostri were above all that?” Lou reminded her. “Enlightened or some shit.”

“Uh, hello?” Abby gave her a sideways glance. “Yeah our physiology may lean to the erudite but you know as well as I do, everyone has baggage and no one is perfect. Sanguinostri are human, just evolved to an amplified level.”

“Amplified?” Lou asked.

“I’ll tell you how I see it.” Abby answered. “You know how some people say that alcohol amplifies normal character traits? If your a sappy person, when you drink too much you get even more sappy?” Lou considered and nodded. “And if you have a propensity for violence, as a drunk you turn in to a belligerent and violent jackhole?”

“Yeah.” Lou saw where Abby was going.

“Well, I think that who you are as a person is enhanced when you are turned. Which is why I think we have so many rules and criteria that have to be met before someone can be allowed to turn.” Abby sighed. “Look at the gene pool Cameron Timms came from! George and Alma Timms were not good people before they had a kid. I swear, there should be a test people have to take before they procreate. That kid never stood a chance.”

“That can be said for a lot of normal kids though!” Lou reminded her.

“Exactly!” Abby agreed. “But that’s an example of being blood born. Turning for a normal person, you need to really look at the person first. Are they decent? Are they kind? Are they deserving? I mean come on! Can you imagine amplifying Charlie Manson’s genetics by turning him?” Abby shuddered at the thought.

“Hello, Albert!” Lou laughed.

“You just made my point for me.” Abby joined in Lou’s laughter.

It did make sense the way Abby explained it. But Lou was still befuddled by it all. Once again she decided it was time to put all of that aside and go with her original plan. Get healthy, get strong, get ready for any bad situation that would inevitably come her way.