Chapter 17
Laying the Groundwork
“What the fuck do you mean it’s in Tampa?” I asked, straining to keep from stammering out my words.
“According to these tracking documents, the emissary’s report was part of a batch of documents that was sent to the holding facility at the University of South Florida,” Vanessa explained, motioning to the display on her laptop, “From the address, the university is in Tampa.”
“Yeah, it is,” I confirmed, “I’ve operated near the school plenty of times.” My mind was racing in several different directions at once, and I couldn’t keep focused on any of them. I closed my eyes to pull my thoughts together. Elizabeth just haunted the sudden darkness. I pushed her aside – I needed to concentrate on the task at hand. “Do you know where exactly the records are? That campus is huge.”
“The records are stored in the main library,” Vanessa answered cautiously, “Mark, what are you thinking?”
“How the hell we’re going to get in there without causing a problem,” I answered. The main highways were bound to be watched, if not by the vampires and their minions, then by the lycanthropes of the surrounding counties who would be enforcing the border. How would I find her once I slipped in?
“Mark, stop thinking about her for a minute,” Vanessa said, “We’ve got to concentrate on our mission.” She waited with a patient look as I organized the barrage of thoughts and emotions that were running through me. I nodded for her to continue. “First, we’ve got to let Blackhawk know what we’ve found. He needs to know why we’re going to Tampa, and what we expect to find.”
“Yeah, okay,” I murmured, fighting against my dislike for Blackhawk. Vanessa was right. As our employer, Blackhawk needed to know what we were going to do, both in case he could provide additional details and in case he needed to be able to cover himself if we were about to cause problems. “As soon as we’ve advised Blackhawk on what’s happening, I need to start doing some more mission planning. Things have taken an odd turn.”
Vanessa volunteered to update Blackhawk while I began the revision of the mission plan. I was originally just going to skirt the east coast of Florida before heading inland to meet with one of Blackhawk’s contacts just north of the border of the disputed territories. Since this was a covert mission, Vanessa and I would not be allowed to make contact with any county-level lycanthropes, or let those same lycanthropes even know we were on their territory. That task alone was difficult enough because lycanthropes didn’t allow foreign lycanthropes on their territory without appropriate permission. Doing so, and getting caught, meant a pretty bad beating as punishment and a strong escort to the border with instructions to never come back. Now, we were infiltrating a sealed border where the punishment for crossing without permission was death. Needless to say, routing this kind of operation was something you pulled up on one of the mapping websites or got directions from Triple-A.
My cell ringing caught me by surprise. Annoyed at myself for being startled, I looked down at the display. My scowl deepened. I didn’t know why Blackhawk was calling me, and I damn sure didn’t want to talk to him. Unfortunately, if he was calling me, then it was probably something important.
“Ranger,” I said.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Blackhawk growled into the phone, “I do not like my operatives abusing my trust.” My first reaction was scrambling to figure out who in the State Guild was talking to Blackhawk.
“I told you that you would help in the retaking of Hillsborough, so why are you coming up with some bizarre story to get yourself down there now?” Blackhawk demanded.
“I need to know what the emissary told the prince,” I replied, finally understanding what Blackhawk was going off about. “You want me to traipse down into the most dangerous part of Florida and complete an operation, then I need good intel. An emissary from the folks I’m supposed to be contacting sounds like pretty good intel.” I heard Blackhawk take a few controlled breaths before he began again.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Vanessa. There is nothing in that report that will help you. Forget about it and get on with your mission,” Blackhawk ordered. There was something wrong. Blackhawk was being too forceful about the report. He could’ve just been clumsily trying to keep my focus on the job, but that’s not what my instincts were telling me. Blackhawk was trying to me away from that report – or from Hillsborough.
“I understand,” I told Blackhawk. He disconnected without any further words. I dialed Vanessa. There were a few things I needed to confirm. Vanessa was waiting for my call.
“Hi Mark,” she answered weakly, like she was expecting me to erupt at her.
“Hey Vanessa,” I answered back, “I just got the call from Blackhawk.” I could barely hear the intake of breath as she waited for the expected torrent from me. “What exactly did he tell you?”
“When I told him that we located the report and going for it, he just kind of exploded,” Vanessa said, “He wanted to know where we found it, and then told me that there was nothing in that report that would help us. We were just to forget it and get back to doing our job.” Vanessa’s recount confirmed a few things for me.
“Okay, continue to prep for our trip to Hillsborough,” I told her, “I’ve got to go back to the State Guild. Make sure you keep your appointment with the tailor. I may be out of contact for a bit. If Blackhawk asks, tell him we’ll be leaving day after tomorrow.”
“Mark, if there’s nothing in that report, there’s no reason to go to Hillsborough,” Vanessa said, “At least not in terms of the mission.”
“Vanessa listen to me, this has nothing to do with me trying to find the Lady-Apparent,” I told her, mostly truthful, “If there was nothing in that report from the emissary, why didn’t Blackhawk tell us what was in the report instead of just exploding at us?”
Vanessa didn’t have a good answer for that.
The State Guildmaster was holding a meeting with his lieutenants when I returned. The assorted leaders gave me a variety of evil looks as I barged into the State Guildmaster’s office. Most of them knew me. They had been part of the conversations that the State Guildmaster conducted with me. Most intel operatives would have called them debriefings. Ignoring the venom, I looked directly at the State Guildmaster. “We’ve got to talk. Alone.”
“I see,” he murmured, looking me up and down. He turned to his lieutenants and wordlessly ordered them out. The four lycanthropes gave each other confused looks. I understood their position. They had sat in on enough of my talks with the State Guildmaster, and they were the leaders of the different sections of the State chapter. What could I need to talk to the State Guildmaster about that they shouldn’t be privy to? The State Guildmaster trusted me to know if the matter was of such a delicate nature that his lieutenants were better off not knowing, such as most of the details of the workings of the Society of the Claw and the Fang.
“What is so important to drag you over here again?” the State Guildmaster asked, clearly curious.
“I think Blackhawk is setting me up,” I answered, “And I think I found a legitimate reason for you to send hunters into Hillsborough.” The office fell silent save for the slight hum of office electronics. The curious expression on the State Guildmaster’s face evaporated, and a neutral expression appeared. I didn’t know the head hunter well enough to find the slight facial signals that would tell me what he was thinking. The State Guildmaster said nothing for an eternally long and silent minute.
“Perhaps you should explain a bit further,” he said, giving me a short efficient wave of his hand to punctuate his statement.
“Okay,” I said, drawing my breath, “Blackhawk ordered Vanessa and I to infiltrate the disputed territories and try to extract the remaining lycanthropes.” The State Guildmaster nodded as I said this. “Doing our background research we came across reference to an emissary from the disputed territories.”
“Yes, I remember that,” the State Guildmaster, “I was busy dealing with a possible pathwalker in Orange County when the emissary reported to the prince. The prince told me that the emissary was little more than a half-crazed lycanthrope that couldn’t put together a coherent sentence, much less tell us what was happening in the disputed territories.”
“That’s very interesting,” I murmured, “Most of the references to the emissary were scoured from the normal databases. Why would the archivists do that?”
“I don’t know,” the State Guildmaster answered, clearly unsure of where I was going with this, “It could have been a simple mistake. Errors do happen. What does this have to do with Blackhawk trying to kill you or getting my hunters into Hillsborough?”
“Because I think the emissary gave a much more detailed report than you were told, and that Blackhawk is trying to make sure that the hunters are completely unaware of it.”
“Why?” the State Guildmaster asked, unconvinced.
“Don’t know for sure,” I answered, “Blackhawk was just a bit too forceful from getting the physical copy of the emissary’s report. There’s something in there that he doesn’t want you to know about, and Blackhawk knows I would tell you if it was something important.”
“I think you’re letting your dislike of Blackhawk color your interpretation of events Ranger,” the State Guildmaster said, sounding eerily similar to when my Guildmaster was “mentoring” me from doing something stupid. “It was the prince who told me about the emissary, not Blackhawk.”
“What if Blackhawk convinced the prince to tell you that?” I asked in response, “Blackhawk has the prince’s ear, or am I wrong about that?”
“No, but what is the end of all this?” the State Guildmaster.
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty damn sure that it has something to do with the disputed territories – and the war council.” The State Guildmaster leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
“You may be right,” the State Guildmaster said, “I can see Blackhawk trying to manipulate the war council to put who he wants on the throne. What’s the point of sending you down there and killing you?”
“Not sure there either,” I said, “Again, it has something to do with what’s going on in the disputed territories. For that, I’ll need the emissary’s report. Which leads to how to get your hunters into Hillsborough.” The State Guildmaster’s eyes shot over to me with a burning intensity. I was a little taken aback. I didn’t know how angry the State Guildmaster was over the fact he was forbidden to send in his hunters into Hillsborough. I took his smoldering glare as a cue to continue.
“The emissary’s report is being housed in Tampa,” I told him, “If I found something important in the report, wouldn’t you have to send hunters down to secure the information?” The State Guildmaster’s face scrunched down in thought.
“That’s skirting the edge of my authority,” the State Guildmaster admitted after a brief moment of hard internal debate. “Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t push my authority so hard. With the war council, I might be able to without being forced from the Guild.” I wasn’t aware that the prince was enforcing such a strict blockade around Hillsborough. A Guildmaster – at the state or county level – was removed only for the strongest of infractions.
“So, I could take Hangman along?” I ventured.
“Hell no,” the State Guildmaster snapped. I held my hands out to show that I didn’t really expect to be able to snag Hangman, but that I had to try. “I won’t be able to send in anyone until I have reasonable evidence that there’s something that needs to be secured by my hunters. That said, I think it would be foolish not to send the hunter with the most local experience with the team tasked with securing whatever needs to be secured.” The agreement was made. If I could provide something, the State Guildmaster would send down state hunters to “secure” it, and provide the remaining Hillsborough lycanthropes some much needed support. I got a bonus with the State Guildmaster tacitly agreeing that Hangman would be part of the securing team.
I was just hoping there were lycanthropes left in Hillsborough. Elizabeth’s face slammed through my mind.
Vanessa joined me at my house after her appointment with the tailor. I spread a map of Hillsborough County and the surrounding area on my table. She was carrying a black hanging bag, like the kind business travelers used to tote around their suits. Her annoyed expression let me know how she felt about the tailoring session. I returned her annoyance with bland indifference. Vanessa didn’t have to go through the indignity of a rush tailoring job of her Kevlar if Vanessa took the time to properly procure one when she knew that she was becoming a field operative. Sensing my apathy for her predicament, Vanessa turned her attention to the map that dominated my kitchen table.
“So, what’s the plan, Mark?” Vanessa asked, hanging her bag in a closet.
“The plan, so far is in the general stages,” I replied, fixing the two of us glasses of iced tea. We both sat down at the table. “The good news is that Hillsborough is too big and there are too few lycanthropes – especially hunters – to properly seal the border. What they can do is patrol the common routes into the county and randomly patrol the rest of the border. They will most likely be relying on the fact that they can spot a lycanthrope with simply a look, and then hunt that lycanthrope down. We’re limited in that we can’t do anything that might seriously injure one of those lycanthropes. This is why we’re going to have to be sneaky getting back into Tampa.”
“Exactly how sneaky?” Vanessa asked.
“It shouldn’t be too bad,” I answered, “It does mean that it will take more time than just a straight shot. Truthfully, the actual odds of us being seen on anything but the main roads is kind of slim. The problem being is that if we are detected, we’re going to be drawn into a bad situation. Those lycanthropes will do anything to stop us, including killing us.” Vanessa shuddered at the words.
“And there’s nothing we can do to them,” she replied flatly.
“Yep,” I answered. I tilted my head and looked her in the eyes. It was our unspoken agreement that what I was telling her was the Ancestors’ own truth. “The lycanthropes are doing what the prince told them, and they have faith that the prince has a damn good reason for it, even if they don’t see it. More importantly, we are going to need these lycanthropes when the war council convenes and the lycanthrope army is sent into Hillsborough. I don’t want any bad blood between us if I have to work with them. There’s too much at stake.”
“For someone who claims complete ignorance of state politics, you sure seem to understand a lot,” Vanessa chided, the smile on her face reassuring me that she understood my explanation, and accepted it.
“The State Guildmaster said something similar,” I answered, “To use a human phrase, I never had a dog in the hunt before.”
“You still think she’s alive.”
“I know,” I said softly, “Everything says she is probably dead, but I Just Can’t Believe It. I need to do everything in my power to get as much help into Hillsborough as I can, including doing this job for the Society.”
“I understand,” Vanessa said, “So how are we going to do this?” I had been thinking on this while going through the gear I would be taking down. The incursion into Hillsborough itself was supposed to be brief – and had to appear so for the sake of the State Guildmaster. Again, a matter of state politics. The whole idea of getting state hunters into Hillsborough to find and rally any surviving lycanthropes – and killing as many vampires as they could in the process – was based on the premise that I made a quick, completely unauthorized incursion and turned up something important enough that it had to be secured. The first few members of the war council should be showing up in Tallahassee while Vanessa and I were in Hillsborough, and their presence should be enough to shield the State Guildmaster. At least, that was what we all hoped.
“I have the idea, but I’m going to need you to do pretty much all the phone work for this,” I told her, “And you’re going to have to use your personal money to do this. If any Society funds get used, Blackhawk will get wind of it, and may pull us off the operation.”
“Okay, what?” she asked, annoyed that I was beating around the bush instead of just telling her what the plan was.
“First, we’ll need a hotel in Zephyrhills for tomorrow night. Then we’ll need to rent a limo for the trip into Hillsborough.”
“What the fuck?” Vanessa screeched, “Why in the Ancestors’ names do we need a limo for this? Do you know how expensive that’s going to be?” I held up my hands, silently asking her to calm down. The Society didn’t exactly pay its operatives as well as the Guild paid its hunters, mostly because the Society gave large allowances for items such as home and vehicle. The personal expense I was asking Vanessa to undertake was considerable for her. I slid a check across the table to her.
“This is a thousand dollars to help defray the costs,” I told her, “The reason we need the limo is because it’s so flamboyant. The lycanthropes patrolling the border are not going to be looking for lycanthropes in limos. The moment they see one, it will be automatically dismissed. Oh sure, some of the hunters might consider it, but the tint will prevent them from seeing me, and they’re damn sure not going to stop someone in a limo unless they have proof positive that a lycanthrope is in there.”
“So why not rent a cargo van?” Vanessa countered.
“Who’s going to drive it?” I asked, “Limo services provide a driver. More importantly, they are used to providing a driver for unusual requests. A cargo vehicle would be more non-descript, but that’s not necessarily what we want.”
“And when we get on campus?” Vanessa asked, “Won’t that attract notice? If there are ghouls on campus or someone else looking for lycanthropes like you, it could cause a problem.”
“Depending on where we get dropped off,” I answered. Vanessa looked confused until I explained further. She wasn’t fully convinced, but she didn’t seem to have any further objections. She opened up her laptop and began working on the details. I needed to finish my own preparations. My truck would be loaded with gear I would need, plus enough room for items I expected to retrieve from Hillsborough. One of my small goals while in Tampa was to retrieve my personal stock of weapons. I missed my Commando, and I was pretty sure I was going to need it when I did head down to the disputed territories.
One thing I was certain of was the need to complete the operation. Hillsborough was overrun with vampires. I still didn’t have a clue as to how the TCV managed to get that many vampires in undetected by our intelligence specialists. The TCV would have had to “recruit” them from inside Hillsborough or managed to acquire assistance from another council. As to the former, we would have known if that many humans suddenly went missing. Hell, the human authorities would have noticed it, and more than likely, so would have the pathwalkers. The TCV wouldn’t have been that suicidal. As to getting more vampires into the county from another council, that possibility was more likely. I still don’t know how we would have missed the influx of vampires from outside the county. Simply put, your basic vampire would not have the experience or training to avoid all of the common entrances into the county. We should have seen a few of them coming in, and then found out about the rest of the bastards. That we didn’t meant that there was something new and evil going on amongst the undead. Because of this possibility and the sheer numbers of vampires in the county, any attempt to take back Hillsborough was going to require extensive training for the lycanthrope army that the war council would authorize. That kind of training needed to come from lycanthropes experienced in constant, tiring, and nasty warfare. The kind of lycanthropes we would find in the disputed territories.
As I looked at the map spread out on the table, my mind plotted Vanessa and mine’s moves beyond retrieving the emissary’s letter. I intended to call in the State Guild no matter what the letter said. If we found lycanthropes in Hillsborough, the State boys would help organize and train the remnant. If not – my heart seized as I contemplated the thought – then the State hunters would be able to collect priceless intelligence. Especially if Hangman was among their number. Once I was sure that the State Guild was sending a team in, Vanessa and I would have to move to the disputed territories.
I was putting a lot of faith that the emissary letter contained crucial information. If not, this mission had all the trappings of a suicidal run into vampire-held Florida. At least I knew the ground in Hillsborough and knew enough people to help me. The disputed territories, on the other hand, were completely foreign to me. I had a few ideas of how to contact the lycanthropes that were still running around, but I wasn’t really thrilled about any of them.
These ruminations brought my nagging suspicions to the forefront. Why was Blackhawk only sending two operatives on a mission that should require at least two hit packs? Was he trying to kill me off in some politically acceptable manner, or did he truly believe that Vanessa and I would extract these lycanthropes out? What were the Society’s ultimate goals for the war council and the inevitable campaign to retake the territories the lycanthropes lost to the vampire? There were too many questions