There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (18 page)

“
Seriously?” He looked up at the woman finally. “You’ve
switched allegiance?”

“
He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” She smirked, the
Cheshire cat sitting in the tree.

“
So your loyalty is available to the highest bidder?” Scorn
dripped from his voice. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“
Don’t be so quick to judge, assassin.” Annoyance swept the
smugness from her face. “You don’t know anything about
me.”

“
As much as I’d love to play relationship coach,” Gabi
interjected, “we have more pressing issues. You can resume your
lovers’ squabble on your own time.” She took subtle pleasure from
the venomous looks both of them shot her. “Do we or don’t we trust
this missive, assassin?”

The muscles in
his jaw began twitching again: “Yes, the missive is from my
employer. It appears he has done some recruiting recently. If he
trusts her, we can trust her.” His reply was enigmatic, but also
emphatic.

Gabi turned her
attention to Julius, who was reading the second letter, trusting
Fergus and Razor to watch the two humans. The tic in her Consort’s
jaw wasn’t a good sign.

“
We need to get going. Now,” was all he said, handing the
letter to Gabi and focusing on the raven-haired woman.

“
You may tell your employer we will see him soon,” he told
Astrid, his tone curt as he signalled the guards to close the gates
and took Gabi’s arm to guide her back into the grounds while she
read. She followed him, reading and rereading the message as the
Ducati roared to life.

“
How long will it take us to get there?” she asked in a hushed
tone. “This isn’t much time.”

“
No, it isn’t,” Julius agreed grimly. “He’s keeping us too busy
to come up with any other plan. The flight alone will take us at
least fifteen hours.”

“
So we have less than three hours to spare to get into the air
and then to get from the airfield to the meeting place.” Gabi was
thinking aloud, her brain trying to process the logistics of the
journey ahead of them.

“
Exactly,” Julius agreed. “No time to try to circumvent his
plans, no time to make contingency plans of our own.”

“
Do you truly think he’ll give us my mother’s location in two
hours?” Gabi was surprised by his offer to give them a direct video
link to her mother. “That seems risky from his side.”

“
He won’t be doing anything risky,” Julius muttered. “Something
tells me we won’t be able to get to her before the meeting
either.”

“
Hoo many can ye tak’ with, Sire?” Fergus asked from just
behind them. The assassin was jogging to keep up with the rest of
them.

“
Six in total,” Julius told him. “Gabi, myself, Tabari and the
assassin, plus two others.”

“
Fergus and Mac,” Gabi said, without hesitation.

“
Lea, I’m not sure about taking Mac this time,” Julius told
her, his tone neutral but firm. “He’s still young and the daysleep
pulls at him stronger than with older Vampires. We need to consider
taking someone else.”

Gabi wasn’t
going to argue the point with Sicarius in earshot, but she knew he
could sense her dissatisfaction with his suggestion.

“
Fergus, escort our esteemed guest back to his quarters and
then deliver his letter to Murphy,” Julius said over his shoulder.
“I want to know if there’s anything unusual about it and if there
is an encoded message of any kind. Then join us in the conference
room.”

Forty-eight
minutes later they were boarding Julius’s private jet. Gabi didn’t
even want to know how he’d been able to get the flight plan
approved so quickly. Urgency was crucial. The GPS coordinates in
the letter directed them to an abandoned citadel on a remote
mountain in Mauritania, of all places. They would have to land the
jet in the capital city of Nouakchott and take a helicopter to the
edge of the mountain reserve. After that they faced an
eighteen-kilometre uphill hike to the citadel itself. A tourist
website proclaimed the hike as suitable for experienced hikers only
and set a time frame of five to six hours to complete the upward
trek. Gabi was fast but not as fast as the Vampires; at Dhampir
speed, Alexander estimated she could do it in closer to two hours.
They would make the meeting by the skin of their teeth, and there
was not one centimetre of wiggle room. If they were delayed
anywhere for any reason, they wouldn’t make the deadline.

Gabi had got
her way in the end; Mac, Tabari and Fergus dumped their travel bags
in the first of the sleeper cabins. There were four spacious bunk
beds inside, enough room for all of them. Sicarius was escorted to
the second cabin and told to stay put. He didn’t argue. They’d
covertly snuck another member of staff into the mix as their
co-pilot. Butch was not only a pretty good driver and a medic with
a military background, but had also flown military aircraft in
Afghanistan. Julius’s offer to have him requalify as a commercial
pilot for the jet and helicopters had paid off handsomely. In
another life, Gabi might have fallen for the gruff Werewolf. He
would co-pilot the jet to Mauritania and then fly the chopper to
the base of the mountain and shadow them on foot to the top,
scouting the area for signs of a double-cross and acting as
emergency backup. None of this had been discussed in Sicarius’s
hearing, of course, so for the duration of the trip they would be
treating Butch as simply the co-pilot, nothing more, nothing
less.

Julius ducked
his head into the cockpit to speak with the pilot, who was a
Conscii, a human who was fully aware of the supernatural world.
They were few and far between, but Julius had several on his
payroll. He paid them well and protected them fiercely. Gabi went
to the on-board kitchenette and opened the fridge for a Coke.
Summer was relentless this year; even the early hours of the
morning hadn’t brought any relief from the heat. She twisted the
lid off the bottle and took a long swallow before pulling out a
perspex bowl from a small cubicle next to the fridge. She filled
the bowl with cold water and set it on the floor in front of
Razor.

“
Drink up, bud,” she told him as the shudder of the plane’s
engines rippled underfoot. He did, and once he was done, she poured
the leftover water into the tiny sink and stowed the bowl away
safely, next to several large tins of premium cat food. She smiled;
there weren’t many planes that catered to regular feline
passengers. She took a seat in one of the soft leather seats as
Razor hopped up in the one next to hers. There certainly were
advantages to being the Consort of a wealthy Master Vampire. Not
even business class could compete with this level of
luxury.

Julius, Mac and
Fergus joined her moments later and the plane began to taxi down
the runway.

A loud
vibration roused Gabi from the doze she’d been lulled into by the
light drone of the jet engines. Sleeping on board the plane had
become a staple of life; she’d become a pro at doing it. She lifted
her head from Julius’s shoulder and blinked, easing a crick in her
neck. Realising it was Julius’s phone vibrating, she was instantly
wide awake and fully alert.

“
Is that him?” she demanded as Julius reached forward to get
his mobile from the small table in front of them. Mac and Fergus
sat forward; they were all anxious for news.

“
Yes, it’s a message from Murphy. He’s got the link
established.” His thumb flew over the phone in a quick reply. Mac
stood to retrieve a small laptop from an overhead storage
compartment. He flicked it open and set it on the table so that
Julius and Gabi could see the screen. The computer flicked to life,
and as soon as the main screen appeared, he opened his mailbox. He
clicked on the first of several messages and double-clicked on the
link embedded in the message. Another window opened on the screen
and a grainy image appeared.

The image was
of a room, something like a parlour out of a Bronte sisters novel.
Ornately carved Victorian furniture sat in the centre of the room
while heavy, brocade drapes covered what Gabi suspected was a large
window, and gold-framed portraits of people from a vastly different
era hung on the walls to either side. In one of the high-back
chairs next to the round table sat a woman. Gabi’s mother. She was
still wearing the same clothes that she’d worn to lunch with Gabi,
and she was leafing through a magazine.

“
Mom,” Gabi gasped. Leaning in to take a closer look, she
searched for signs that her mother was hurt or upset.

The Skype icon
flashed with an incoming call. Julius clicked on the icon and
Murphy’s face appeared in a screen alongside the one showing her
mother.

“
This just arrived, a messenger left a note at the gate, and
I’ve just established contact,” he explained, not bothering with
pleasantries. “I haven’t had time to trace the source of the feed
yet. I thought you’d want to see her as soon as possible. There’s
no sound feed, just the visual.”

“
Thank you, Murphy,” Gabi said. A chunk of the heaviness
weighing her down evaporated, giving her more room to breathe.
“You’re sure this is a live feed?”

“
It looks good on the surface; I’ll know for sure once I trace
it.”

Gabi could hear
the rapid click of the keyboard as he spoke. On the grainy video
her mother looked up as though someone else had entered the room.
Her mouth tightened in a look that Gabi knew was annoyance or
disapproval. She certainly didn’t seem scared or intimidated. Maybe
Julius had been right; her mother was a different woman from the
one who been left mentally crippled by the death of her first
love.

“
Can you take a screenshot and send it to Evan?” Gabi asked
Murphy. “I’m sure it will ease his fears somewhat to see her alive
and unharmed.”

“
Of course,” he told her, “give me a few minutes to activate my
tracker. I’ll call back once I have something concrete.”

His face
disappeared and Julius closed the Skype screen so that they could
focus on the image of her mother. She was speaking to someone, the
magazine lowered to the table, her body position ramrod straight
and her eyes narrowed. A few seconds later she visibly blew out a
breath and sank back into the chair, rubbing her face with her
hands and appearing tired. Gabi’s heart tightened in concern, and
Julius leaned his shoulder against hers, offering silent comfort.
She looked away from the screen, out of the small cabin window at
the pervading dark outside as she fought to collect herself.

Then Julius
nudged her, making her glance back to the screen. Her mother was
rifling through her handbag. She pulled out a handful of small
items, set them on the table in front of her, and set to work
redoing her make-up with sure, determined movements.

“
She’s strong,” Julius whispered. “She’ll be fine. We’ll get
her back.”

Gabi nodded,
the tiny sprout of hope once more unfurling tiny, newborn
leaves.

They were still
waiting for word from Murphy when the sky began to lighten, ever so
slightly, outside the plane.

“
Mac, get to bed, and tell Tabari to rest as well,” Julius
said. “Fergus, let the assassin out to stretch and use the
bathroom, get him some food, and then retire yourself. I’ll wake
you to help with the others when we land.”

Fergus grunted
acknowledgement and Mac rose, giving Gabi’s shoulder a quick
squeeze on his way to the sleeping cabin. They’d been through the
plan several times already and put in contingency plans for
anything they could envisage going wrong. They’d Skyped Alexander
and Kyle, getting their input and playing off their expertise. They
were as prepared as they could possibly be. There wasn’t much more
they could do now. Gabi would wake Julius as the jet began its
descent to a small private airfield west of Nouakchott. He would
wake Fergus, and between them they would load Mac and Tabari, still
in daysleep, into the waiting helicopter, in the safety of a
private hangar. They would cover the windows at the rear of the
helicopter with a spray-on film of Savanna’s design, to protect the
Vampires from the last rays of sunshine.

They needed to
land the helicopter at the base of the mountain just as the sun set
to give them enough time to make the hazardous climb to the
abandoned citadel. The chopper would be equipped with specialised
cameras that picked up heat signatures from more than a mile away.
It was a highly dangerous flight in the dark, but Butch assured
them he could pull it off. Gabi had seen the Werewolf in action
driving a car; his piloting skills were the least of her
worries.

The Skype
jingle sounded again, dragging Gabi from her contemplation. A quick
click and Murphy’s face appeared once again.

“
We’ve got a location,” he said, but his expression was grim.
“It’s as you expected. She’s a long way away.”

“
Where?” Gabi snapped, not in the mood for
vagueness.

“
Um.” He shook his head. “You’re not going to believe this, but
we’ve triple-checked it. She’s in Romania.”

“
Did you just say Romania?” Gabi asked; her brain had frozen on
the name.

“
Yes,” Murphy confirmed. “To be more specific, she’s in
Transylvania, actually.”

Gabi didn’t
know how to respond to that. It was too ridiculous to be true.

“
You have a precise location?” Julius asked.

“
Yes.” Murphy nodded again. “That’s why it’s taken so long to
get back to you. We employed the services of a PI there to go and
scout the area and confirm that the location exists. It turns out
it’s a small hotel. We obtained photos of the interior of the rooms
from a tourist website and compared it to the background of the
video feed. It’s definitely the right place; we even know which
room she’s being held in. It’s well secured though, and a note on
the gate out front says it’s closed for renovations. It will take a
decent-sized team to safely raid the place.”