Page 14 of Sergi
No fire was lit, and they ate cold rations they’d purchased in Bucharest. They ran a tarp between two trees to provide shelter from the wind and slept in cold-weather sleeping bags. Three shifts were quickly decided, allowing two to rest while one stoodsentry. Before they moved out at four a.m., they stowed their packs behind rocks to be retrieved on their way back to their vehicle.
It was another five miles to their target location, and the terrain grew steeper. This time they moved faster, stopping occasionally to listen for movement. When they were two miles away, they changed their formation from single file to three abreast with no more than ten yards separating them.
They moved slower, constantly searching the dark. Being vampires and a shifter, they could see well enough to navigate their path and watch for unexpected movement.
When they were within a quarter-mile of their target, Sergi stopped, and the others grouped on either side of him. He sensed someone out there. But after a long minute of scanning the trees, he couldn’t discern any movement. The only sound was the chittering of early morning birds preparing for their day.
He didn’t like this.
He scratched the spot on his arm where the tracker rested. They’d left the burner phones with their gear. The key to the SUV was hidden under a rock near the vehicle. Nothing was being left behind that would point to their identities, and they still had an avenue of escape.
All the things the previous shifter teams would have done. Yet, they’d disappeared.
Would the GPS tracker be enough?
He shrugged off his concerns. He’d led a long life. Longer than he’d ever thought possible, considering the number of campaigns he’d seen with Devon. He rubbed the ache in his elbow that had returned that morning. It was always worse in the colder weather.
He studied his team, and they peered back for a long moment, then they both nodded. They knew the stakes. They understood the risk. They were ready.
He moved out, and the others fell alongside, staying ten yards to either side of him. This time they also remained three steps behind.
It didn’t take long before he spotted the light. He waved to the others, and they slowed but didn’t stop. The light was stationary, and his heart rate ticked up a notch.
They made it to the edge of the forest, where it opened onto a paved parking lot. A single asphalted road led off to the right that most likely changed to a well-maintained dirt road several yards down the hill. Across the parking lot, against the backdrop of a cliff were roll-up doors wide enough for two semi-trucks. A set of man-sized double doors were to the right.
Something important lay beyond those doors, hidden within the mountain. Whether it was the lab or not would require more surveillance.
Before he made the decision to back away, the sound of a spring-loaded latch caught his attention seconds before he spun around. A wide panel lifted from the surface of the forest floor, creating a doorway to an underground blind. They must have walked over unseen tripwires. Four heads lifted from beneath the door.
Vampires with rifles.
Sergi didn’t move, but he glanced at his teammates.
Another blind had sprung open to the right of the first. Another four vampires. Eight to three odds, and the enemy had rifles. Sergi and his team had their innate skills and daggers.
All three dropped to the ground when their supernatural hearing caught the click of safeties being released. When no bullets came, they scrambled toward the forest.
Sergi heard a single shot, but rather than the loud pop he expected, the only sound was a light whoosh. When Carlos went down, Sergi turned to Rafael, who had been the farthest from the blinds. He had reached the deeper protection of the forest whenhe turned back. Sergi was turning to run the other way when he heard the second shot, and something pierced his neck.
He reached up, expecting blood, but felt the light brush of fletching. He pulled out the dart, then gave Rafael a last glance. Their eyes met in acknowledgment. Rafael turned and ran. Three vampires climbed out of the blind in pursuit.
His last thought before he lost consciousness was that Rafael was quick, but the others knew the terrain. The odds of Rafael losing them were fifty-fifty at best. Then everything went fuzzy.
Flashesof intermittent light broke through the darkness as Sergi fought off the drug. He and Rafael had found a couple of unsuspecting blood donors before leaving Brasov, and his vampire blood dampened the effects of whatever had been in the dart, but it wasn’t easy.
Two vampires held him up by his armpits, his feet dragging behind as they made their way through a long tunnel. He fought for wakefulness if only to monitor where he was being taken, the route along the way, and anything else he could see or hear that might be useful.
There was nothing to see but rough-hewn stone walls. The only sound was the pounding of boots.
He had no sense of how far he’d been dragged before a door to his right opened, and the vampires holding him turned, shifting him sideways as they yanked him down a staircase. Bright lights and white walls greeted them at the bottom, and he was dragged across tile flooring before being turned and pulled down another staircase. Here, the light was muted, the walls once again made of stone, the air musty and cold.
With each step, it became more difficult to keep his eyes open. Random bits of information came at him.
Wooden doors.
Bars over the doors.
A soulful scream quickly silenced.
