Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(63)

He rose and smiled down at her. “Exactly how you like it, baby.”





32


Blake had left his Aston Martin in Scanguards’ parking garage and was riding in one of the blackout vans with Samson and John. Amaury and Wesley were following with Oliver in a second van, while Haven and Yvette followed in their car. It was unusual for Samson to take part in a mission these days, but given the serious implications of a drug that could control humans, he’d decided to get intimately involved in all aspects of the case. He’d been briefed on every detail and now knew as much about the case as Wesley and Blake.

It was busy on the bridge as they crossed the bay, and while John concentrated on the rush hour traffic, Samson turned to Blake. He’d insisted on both of them sitting in the back.

“How’s Miss Schroeder holding up?”

“I think you might want to start calling her Lilo.”

Samson raised an eyebrow. “So I wasn’t wrong then.”

“She saw me at my worst when I got shot. I couldn’t control the beast inside me. She didn’t flinch. Didn’t run.” Blake smiled at the recollection of how she’d tended to his injury, even though he’d been behaving like a wild animal. “She’s brave.” And that was the thing he admired most about her.

Samson chuckled. “Reminds me of somebody I know.” He paused. “Actually, reminds me of a few women I know. Very special women.”

“Me, too.”

“You trust her?”

He didn’t even have to think about his answer. “With my life. Did Ryder tell you how she got the silver bullet out?”

Samson smiled. “Quite ingenious. I’m glad you’re alright.” Then he turned serious. “A few things about this case don’t make sense for me yet.”

“Just a few?” In Blake’s mind, there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense.

“There’s something about this Ronny that doesn’t ring true. We believe him to be behind the disappearance of his girlfriend and the manufacture and distribution of the drug. But what’s not consistent with that picture is this: why go through the trouble of dropping Hannah’s terrier off at an animal shelter?”

“I’ve been wondering about that, too.” Blake shrugged. “Maybe he’s an animal lover.”

“It’s possible. I just don’t see him being the caring type. Especially considering he shot you—which by the way is another thing that doesn’t make sense. Why attack you?”

Involuntarily Blake rubbed his shoulder where the bullet had entered. “I was wondering the same thing. First I thought maybe he was after Lilo, but considering the bullet was silver, I believe it was meant for me. Maybe he followed us after we left Hannah’s flat. Maybe he was watching it?”

“To what end? His associate, Norwood, had already been there earlier.”

“True, but he left empty-handed. Well, he got Lilo’s cell phone. But from what I could tell, he didn’t find what he was looking for. Why else would he ask Lilo where it was? I can only assume that he wanted the USB stick. Maybe to cover his tracks.”

“That would mean he knew it existed. How would he have found out?” Samson rubbed his nape.

“Assuming that Ronny didn’t know about the camera in Hannah’s flat, the only person who could have told Norwood or Ronny about it is Hannah.”

Which could actually be good news. Samson seemed to think so, too.

“They didn’t kill her. Maybe they have no intention of killing her,” his boss said.

“You think they’re using her? Like they use the other humans for their crimes?” The thought sent a shudder down his spine, and chilled him to the bone. “That means they’re using the drug on her.”

“To make her compliant, yes, it’s possible, though they could do that with mind control, too. No need to waste the drug on her,” Samson said.

Blake nodded and fell silent again. He hoped that in the woods in Napa they’d find not only Ronny, but also Hannah. Ronny hadn’t returned to his house in the Excelsior since he, Wes, and Lilo had searched it, so he had to be holed up somewhere else. And what better place to keep a kidnapping victim than in a remote cabin where nobody would hear Hannah’s screams for help?

“How much longer, John?” Blake asked.

“According to my GPS, we’re almost there.”

Blake glanced out the window. Dense vegetation lined the narrow road on both sides. “Where are we?”

“On the border between Napa county and Sonoma county. It’s only thinly populated. Lots of off-the-grid people out here from what I’ve heard,” John informed him. “Probably why Ronny chose this area.”

Samson nodded. “Twenty, thirty years ago, there were a lot of marijuana growers up here. The feds conducted a ton of raids here. But they weren’t always very successful. The growers chose pretty secluded spots. That was before they legalized cannabis, of course. Now there’s no need for those secret farms anymore. It made space for other illegal operations to move in.”

Blake grunted. “Well, let’s evict the bastard.”



~



The GPS only got them as far as a dirt road that culminated in a dead end a hundred yards off the paved road they’d been on. There was no sign of a house or any kind of habitable structure, though according to the latest map, this was supposed to be a legitimate address. Not that any mailman would ever find it: there was no number posted anywhere, and no mailbox either.