Page 74 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

I asked Gunnar to pull up alongside and tossed Sidnee some spare men’s clothes that were baggy as hell, but it was better than her remaining in her birthday suit. Everyone was politely looking away, but we still had to watch for the enemy and having a nakedmermaid distract the team didn’t seem like the best way to avoid getting shot.

Thomas looked tired, dirty and dishevelled and he was wearing ill-fitting black combat gear. Since that was pretty much what he’d been wearing when he was abducted, I wondered what had happened to his own clothes. I looked forward to hearing his story when we were further away from the enemy. And after sleep. Lots more sleep.

Thomas and Sidnee joined Connor and I on Gunnar’s boat and we tied up the Zodiac to tow it back. ‘It’s so good to see you, Thomas,’ I greeted him. ‘We’ve all missed you.’

‘Yeah?’ He seemed surprised that anyone other than Sidnee might care for him.

Connor held out a hand. ‘Yeah. Good to see you, Patkotak.’ Thomas took it and they shook.

I turned to Gunnar. ‘We’re all here, fixing for a fight, ’ I said slowly. ‘Should we continue to Elizabeth Island and clear the Knight Stalkers out before they become entrenched?’

Thomas gave a slow grin, the kind that had an edge of mischief. The kind of grin that made you think,uh-oh, what have you done now?

‘What did you do, my friend?’ Gunnar asked, hands on his hips.

Thomas shrugged. ‘I promise there’ll be nothing left to clean out. In about…’ he checked his waterproof watch ‘…ten sec—’

KABOOM! The concussion hit us first, followed by a series of waves that lifted the boats and slammed them back down.

‘I might have rigged their ship to blow,’ Thomas finished. ‘Guess I was a little off on my timing. There shoulda been eight more seconds.’ He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘I was working under pressure.’

Calliope called Gunnar on the radio and said she and her team were going to check the wreckage. Stan volunteered to do the same but Gunnar wanted to return to town to get Thomas checked at the hospital. Despite his stoic façade, Thomas’s body spoke of his exhaustion and I’d seen a wince or two that he’d tried to hide from Sidnee. He was safe, but he wasn’t without injuries, no matter how blasé he was trying to appear.

‘Sit down,’ I said, gently pushing him towards the bench by the table. He sat and Sidnee squeezed in next to him, wrapped her arms around one of his and laid her head on his shoulder. I smiled; I hoped Thomas was prepared to have a mermaid limpet on his person for the next few weeks until she adjusted to the idea that he was safe again.

‘What happened, Thomas?’ she mumbled into his shoulder. ‘We looked everywhere for you. Gunnar had his MIB contacts searching.’

I wondered if he’d answer but he surprised me by replying straight away. ‘They hauled me from place to place, tried to recruit me to the Knight Stalkers. I kept slipping away. They moved us several times because I kept exposing them. They were arguing amongst themselves and some of them decided their best bet was to execute me. I didn’t agree. When they came back near Portlock, I took my chance.’

That was more than I thought we’d get – Thomas was notoriously close-lipped. It was also exactly what I imagined he would do. I had some serious hero worship going on for my favourite human; he was a force to be reckoned with, and I was glad the Knight Stalkers had learned that the hard way.

Sidnee whispered something into his ear and his colour rose. Whatever she’d said, he looked happy and leaned into her. I guess he’d found his true purpose in life – when he wasn’t busy blowing up black-ops groups.

Gunnar cleared his throat. ‘So, you blew up their boat. What else?’

Thomas straightened up. ‘Not much. They’d only just begun setting up camp. I'm sure a few escaped the explosion, but hopefully it will discourage them from returning. If not, we’ll be ready to hand them their asses again.’

I looked at Sidnee and hoped she’d forgive me for bringing up He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Breathing. ‘Did you see Chris Jubatus?’

Sidnee stiffened and glared at me, but we needed to know. At the moment he was Portlock’s enemy number one, though admittedly when I went through the barrier that was the beast. Portlock’s enemies liked to revolve so we never got bored.

‘I saw Jubatus at the Reef Mine. He cracked me a good one over the head, and I assume it was him who took me. He’s the one who’s been trying to turn me to work for the Knight Stalkers. Unfortunately, he didn’t come on this trip and as far as I know he’s still at large.’ He shrugged. ‘I’d have changed that if I could, but I never got the chance.’

Jubatus was as slippery and dangerous as the Steller sea lion he shifted into. I hated that he’d got away. Again.

We made it back to the harbour in what felt like record time, mainly because we were riding high on our ‘rescue’. It was laughable really: we’d finally found Thomas and gone to his rescue, only to find him rescuing himself – and blowing up the enemy as he did so.

The only ones who’d needed rescuing were his captors, and it turned out we weren’t so interested in that.

Chapter 46

Despite his protests, Thomas was checked over by a medic. He had some impressive bruises from his many beatings; his captors had healed his bones so they could continue torturing him. Such charmers. He was also dehydrated and starved, but time would heal his injuries and Sidnee would happily remedy the rest so he was discharged.

By the time we’d finished at the hospital, Calliope and the others had returned. Gunnar decided that since we weren’t exterminating the Knight Stalkers, we’d better deal with another foe instead.

We had Stan, Calliope and Connor to hand, so we summoned Mafu and Liv and tried Bob Sampson. His lawyer squawked a lot, but the evidence against Sampson was substantial and it was no surprise when he was found guilty and sentenced to jail. Since we’d been all but sure of the outcome, the prison plane was already waiting for him.

I waited to see the outcome of the trial but once the case over I was ready to go home and sleep for a week. Despite Reggie’s offer to look after Shadow, all I wanted was my own four walls. Connor drove me home, neither of us quite ready to talk about all that had transpired.

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