Chapter Three
A nna watched as Evander Gunn closed the door and kept staring at it for several seconds after. She had to work to resist the urge to fan her face. She’d seen many beautiful men over the years, some elegant, others rough, but none radiated the power and danger Evander Gunn did.
His wide shoulders and height took up more room than physics should have allowed. Unlike most soldiers, his dark hair was cut to give him a rakish look, but it was his eyes that had punched all the air out of her lungs.
The sexual hunger in his pale blue gaze all but set her on fire.
She’d expected the people who kidnapped her and Brian to make the first move and attempt to charm information out of her. She’d encountered many questioners over the years. None of them stayed charming for long.
None of them had the ring this man did on his little finger, either. It was one of a kind, and she should know, it had resided on her own finger for hundreds of years. She’d given it to an American soldier during the Second World War. A man she thought long since dead and buried, the ring with him.
She’d given him the ring as a way to say thank you. He’d discovered who and what she was and treated her with the same respect and compassion as he always had. He hadn’t told anyone what he knew. She’d never given the ring to anyone else during her long, long life, but he’d earned her trust and friendship.
Seeing it now brought back a lot of memories. Some horrible, some courageous, some sad. He’d been a true friend.
This Evander Gunn had the same smile as the soldier she’d fought side by side with. Perhaps he was a grandson or great-nephew of her old friend? Bernard Gunnerson. The last names were similar, but not the same. She couldn’t, however, recall anyone who was more than six feet tall and had the hardened muscles his clothing couldn’t hide.
The presence of the ring and a familiar smile didn’t automatically make him her friend. Did he know who she was? What she was?
Would he smile at her if he knew?
When he walked into the room, he’d looked at her with admiration. As if she were desirable, and not someone to be feared. That lack of fear was...seductive. So few people looked at her like that. Especially if they knew her horrible secret.
The whisper of fabric rubbing together brought her awareness back to the here and now. She glanced at Brian and noted a slight tightening of the skin around his eyes and mouth.
And there it was. Alarm. Dread. Anxiety.
She turned away with a sigh. After so many years of seeing those emotions on so many faces, it was no wonder why she longed for the softness of a genuine smile.
“What’s wrong?” Brian asked hesitantly. “I thought that guy was...okay.”
Even his voice sounded strained.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Brian,” she said. Exhaustion sat on her shoulders, growing heavier every second, while thirst dried out her throat. “And that guy was polite for a reason.”
Brian blinked a couple of times before he rubbed his face with both hands. “He was trying to be the good cop.”
She nodded. “To both of us.”
“I apologize.” He rubbed his face with both hands again. “I’m very tired and I’m not thinking clearly.”
There were dark circles under his eyes, a clear sign of fatigue and pain. “Sleep now, while you can. Even a few minutes will help improve your cognitive function.”
He nodded. “Okay.” He moved around in his chair, but it was too small for anyone to find a comfortable position to sleep in.
“Sleep here,” she ordered and slid off the gurney. “The blood is dry.”
He snorted as he got to his feet. “I’ve got plenty on my clothes, a little more won’t make much of a difference.”
They switched places. She sat in his chair, while he lay down on the gurney. He grunted and flinched as he laid down, favoring his left arm.
“Are you injured?”
He nodded. “After the Homeland Security agent shot you, he shot me, but I was moving when it happened, so it grazed my arm rather than punching a hole through it. Then he sat and watched me bleed for fifteen or twenty minutes before he let me bandage it up.”
So, the agent didn’t know who was different and who was normal. He’d had to shoot Brian to figure it out.
The room was silent for almost a minute before Brian said quietly, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Anna asked, just as quietly.
“I didn’t think anyone would try something this stupid.” Contempt dripped off each word. Hopefully, the person who ordered their kidnapping was listening.
Anna laughed softly. “People are stupid all the time. All we can do is hope that they will eventually listen to reason.”
Several more seconds passed before Brian asked, “And how often do men who think their stupidity is justified, stop, apologize, and make things right?”
She thought about it. “Actually, I’ve never seen that happen.”
“So, we’re doomed?”
She laughed again. “You remind me so much of Yvgeny when he was younger.” She sobered. “Yes, we’re doomed.”
“Great.”
“Rest, Brian. Live in the moment. Worry later.”
“You sound like my mother.”
“Then she is a wise woman.”
He didn’t answer, but his breathing did deepen and even out as he fell asleep.
Anna envied him. She hadn’t slept in so long, she sometimes wondered if she ever had. Not everyone who became a vampire could cope with the inability to sleep. While meditation worked for most of them, a few went crazy within weeks and had to be put down.
It was another reason on the long list of reasons why their numbers were so low.
Only a few people in the whole world even had the potential to develop the autoimmune disorder that made them different. A few hundred, a thousand at most, out of eight billion people.
Some couldn’t mentally cope with the changes, going on a rampage of assault and murder before they had to be terminated. Usually, by her. Though, in the beginning, her son Baz had done it. Until he decided they were all better off dead.
Perhaps he’d been right all along.
Perhaps she should finally stop trying to keep their entire insane, bloodthirsty bunch of lunatics from killing themselves. Withdraw from the world and let it burn.
Except, Baz had found something to live for again, and Yvgeny, for the first time, showed some real interest in leadership.
Anna frowned. These thoughts were unlike her, but perhaps this was a sign of how badly she’d been injured. Healing took a lot of energy, and she’d lost a lot of blood. She would need to feed soon, and something told her that none of the soldiers in this place would be volunteering to provide her with a pint or two.
The memory of Evander Gunn, his arms crossed over his chest, putting the ring on his little finger on display, rose up in her mind. His sharp gaze and almost friendly smile reminded her so much of her old friend from the war. She’d fed from Bernard, only once, but he’d volunteered and hadn’t been afraid of her afterward. It was why she’d given him the ring. Anyone in her family who saw it would know he was under her protection.
Would Evander Gunn allow her to feed from him? He was taller and more muscled than her old friend. The smile was the same and so was his watchful gaze, as if he couldn’t wait to hear what you would say next.
Thinking of Evander Gunn did something to the pit of her stomach. Anticipation? Desire? It had been so long since pleasure had been part of her life.
Anna let her head fall back, her eyes close, and her breathing deepen. Putting herself into the meditative state that allowed her to get the rest she needed. She was still fully aware of her surroundings, but she could ignore them.
How long would their kidnappers allow them to rest?
***
E van marched down the hall, fighting to control the anger and outrage roiling through him. Ledger had just thrown a damned diplomatic grenade into a situation that could easily develop into a political nuclear blast.
Shooting a foreign diplomat and an FBI agent, then kidnapping both of them with the intent to torture and experiment on them. The man had lost his mind, and now Evan had to figure out how to defuse the situation without causing a diplomatic incident or a shoot-out.
God damned entitled asshole.
Evan walked into the security room to find Ledger with two other men he hadn’t seen before. They had their heads together, whispering, as they watched the feed from the room Stettler and Anna were in. They were both dressed in suits, expensive ones, tailored to fit them properly.
They should give Ledger some tips on dressing for success.
They turned to stare at him as he walked up to them.
“You’re awfully chummy with that... creature ,” the man on Ledger’s left said, with a sneer twisting his average features into something ugly.
Evan stopped a few feet away, braced his feet shoulder width apart, and just stared at the man.
The other man on Ledger’s right said nothing, but he studied Evan with a cold expression.
Great, just what he needed. Two more fucking politicians.
Ledger looked disgusted as well with a side order of regret. Right now, he was probably wishing that he hadn’t called in a US Army Intelligence officer to run this interrogation.
All three of them waited for Evan to respond.
He didn’t. He had to establish some credibility for himself, and he had to do it now.
As the seconds ticked by, all three of them began shifting their weight from foot to foot. They couldn’t maintain eye contact with him, either. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of the face of the guy on the left.
They were ready.
“What is the first rule of interrogation?” he asked them.
His question surprised them. All three frowned, glanced at each other, then looked at him for the answer.
He sighed, shook his head, and deliberately relaxed his body posture. “Look, I don’t tell you how to do your jobs, please don’t tell me how to do mine.”
The three men grumbled a bit.
Then the one on the left brought out his sneer again. “So, there’s a reason for your behavior?”
“The first rule of interrogation is: establish a rapport . It can be positive or negative, but no one is going to tell you anything useful unless you’ve created a relationship between you that they understand.” He pointed at the screen, showing Anna and Stettler. “That woman is like nothing you’ve ever encountered before. I was in that room for two and a half minutes. She was cool, calm, and confident for all of it. I’m a big man, but she didn’t blink an eyelash at having me close enough to grab her by the neck.”
All three of the men in front of him stared at him with rapt attention.
“You think she doesn’t know what’s going on here?” Evan asked them. “She was shot in the head. She woke up and smacked an armed soldier into a wall like he was a fly. She knows what’s going to happen next, or she thinks she does.”
Ledger’s eyes widened. “She expects to be hurt, threatened, and forced to talk.”
“Yes. That’s why we flip the script now.” He made eye contact with each man, giving them every non-verbal cue that they were a team, that they had the same goals. “Now, she can’t anticipate what happens next. If we’re polite and respectful, provide some small comforts, like water and food, we may gain some useful information.”
All three nodded.
The one on the left hardest of all. “Bad cop, good cop.”
“The long game of bad cop, good cop,” Evan agreed. “And we’ve already learned something interesting.”
“What’s that?” the man on the right asked. The first words out of his mouth since Evan had walked into the room.
“The baby FBI agent, Brian Stettler...is fucking brilliant.”
Ledger’s frown returned. “He’s on her side,” he almost shouted.
Evan grinned. “Rapport, remember. He’s been completely truthful with the woman and her family. They know exactly who he is, and they welcomed him into their organization anyway. He hasn’t broken character once. When he’s finally extracted from this assignment, I’ll be recommending the US Army recruit him.”
Realization and understanding dawned on their faces.
Ledger’s expression turned a little sour. “I told the FBI he was dead.”
“The best cover story there is,” Evan said, spreading his hands, then patting the other man on the shoulder. He discreetly dropped an audio and GPS device into Ledger’s suit jacket pocket. “And when it’s revealed that he isn’t dead, you tell them the opportunity couldn’t be passed up. They’ll thank you for it.”
Ledger nodded slowly. “Exactly. Exactly.” He grinned briefly and gave the men on either side of him knowing glances. “So, do you think you’ll be able to get her to cooperate?”
“Whatever she is, she’s also a woman.” He gave the men a smug side-long glance. “She’ll talk.”
They chuckled and moved off to speak in another tight huddle across the room.
Shit, it was official. None of them had ever wanted something from a powerful, determined, angry woman before. One with as much to lose as she did.
This was not going to end well.
Evan moved away so he could watch Anna and Brian while he listened in on the conversation behind him with the earpiece he had in his left ear. The device he’d planted on Ledger was connected to the earpiece, his encrypted phone, and a high security cloud storage bank. New audio files were created and uploaded every five minutes.
They were whispering softly enough that he couldn’t hear everything they said, but he could hear enough.
Time sensitive.
Absolutely confidential.
What if...
...no, paper or electronic trail.
Ledger’s voice grew louder. “Keep the FBI, CIA, and NSA out of this. If they get involved, we’ll lose control of the subject.”
“Under whose oversight is this operation running?” lefty asked.
“Mine,” Ledger said.
“What about Army Intelligence?” Righty asked. “He’s going to report all this to his chain of command.”
“He’s not going to report this to anyone,” Ledger said, in a dark tone.
It took a few seconds before lefty cleared his throat. “Are you sure that’s the best course of action? Army Intelligence doesn’t react well to the loss of their officers.”
“Once he’s gotten all the information he can out of that creature, he’s going to die heroically defending the base from a terrorist attack.”
“Ah, you thought about the circumstances then, before you brought him in?”
“I plan two steps ahead,” Ledger said, arrogance coloring his tone.
Well, this put the situation in a new light. The bastard planned on killing him.
Evan ran down his mental list of contingency plans and settled on the one most likely to succeed. It hinged on Anna Breznik and Brian Stettler trusting him to some degree though. He didn’t have much time to convince either of them that he was on their side.
He also needed to alert his chain of command of Ledger’s plans. He seemed to think his position at Homeland Security could cover any action, no matter how criminal.
Arrogant prick .
The only problem was, he might be right. Proving to those in higher positions that you had an asset like Anna might be enough to justify kidnapping and murder. And Ledger’s brother was the Secretary of Homeland Security.
“Gunn,” Ledger said, coming to join him in front of the security screens. “What’s the next step?”
“I show up with some food and water.” He turned to Ledger slightly. “They’re going to need to use a bathroom. I could take them, one at a time. It will give me a chance to talk to each of them individually.”
“How would we keep control of the...woman?” His pause and the flash of disgust across his face made it clear he didn’t think of Anna as a woman or a human being at all.
“The baby agent.” Evan had to work to keep his body language and tone neutral. “As long as we control him—in the short-term—we control her.”
“I see.” Ledger chewed on his bottom lip. “We could use that to get blood samples and other tests done on her.”
“Start small and painless, maybe a few x-rays or a CT scan.”
“If she’s cooperative, we can start there.” Ledger’s voice insinuated that if she wasn’t, they’d start with the invasive tests first. There was a cruel twist to the man’s lips that told Evan that Ledger wouldn’t hesitate to torture Anna to get what he wanted.
As he studied Ledger’s face, Evan understood something important. Ledger would torture and kill anyone who stood between him and what he wanted.
Which was what, exactly?
Knowledge? Control of Anna if she could be reasonably contained? Or were his goals bigger than that?
Lefty and Righty were both politicians, men who were members of the Senate and Congress. He bet his left nut that they didn’t have the security clearances to be on this base, let alone this deep into this operation.
Ledger could very well be planning to go rogue at any point, and do...what? That was the real question.
“With your permission,” Evan said. “I’m going to hit up the nearest vending machine for a couple of chocolate bars and a bottle of water.” He glanced at the security feed. “Is all this being recorded?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like the opportunity to study the recordings later to make sure I don’t miss anything.”
“You can view them in this room, but nowhere else.”
“Understood.” Evan nodded at him, then headed out of the room. He grabbed the food and water at a couple of vending machines, then went back to the room where the FBI agent and Anna Breznik were waiting.
There was a set of two guards with heavy weaponry in the hallway outside the room now. One man was stationed six feet to the left of the door, and the other was stationed six feet from the right.
Evan nodded at them, then went into the room.
Anna was sitting in the chair with her eyes closed and her head leaning up against the wall as he began opening the door, but by the time he took his first step inside, she was looking right at him.
Brian Stettler, on the other hand, slept on, his breathing at the same pace as before.
Evan took a couple more steps into the room, allowed the door to swing shut behind him, and held up the food and water.
Anna got to her feet and walked over to Brian, giving him a gentle shake. “Brian, wake up. Your breakfast is here.”
The baby agent opened his eyes, his gaze focused and aware, yet his breathing still hadn’t changed.
Damn, the kid was good.
Hopefully, whoever was watching the security feed missed it.
Brian slowly sat up and rubbed his face. “How long did I sleep?”
“About twenty minutes,” Anna replied, her attention on Evan. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Gunn?”
“About that,” he agreed pleasantly. He held out the chocolate bars and water.
Anna took them from him before the kid could move off the gurney, turned, and handed them to Brian. She glanced over her shoulder at Evan. “These haven’t been tampered with, have they?”
“No, ma’am. I got them from the staff vending machines right before I came here.”
She stood in front of Brian while he tore open the first chocolate bar and shoved half of it into his mouth.
She was like a lioness watching over her cub. Brian Stettler had completely won her over.
Evan watched him chew and swallow the whole bar in about five seconds flat. The kid chugged half the water, stuck the other bar in his pocket and capped the water bottle. “So you’re the good cop and that other guy is the bad cop?” Brian asked, his tone hostile. “What’s next, torture devices and burning at the stake? Then maybe a shower and a soft bed?”
Evan’s eyebrows shot up. The kid wasn’t all that far from the truth, but bringing it up was an interesting tactic to take at this stage. He was trying to control the direction of the interrogation by calling out the most common rapport building tactics.
Evan laughed. “How about we skip the torture and campfire, and get straight to the hot shower? I figure you two might want to get out of those bloody clothes and into something that doesn’t stink or make other people wonder where the crime scene is.”
“Do we have a choice?” Anna asked.
“You always have a choice,” Evan said smoothly. “But there are consequences with any choice you make.”
She rolled her eyes. “Typical man, offering two poor options with one hand while the other is raised to punish if the wrong decision is made.” She shook her head. “I have been threatened and hurt by many men. You are all small, sorry, sad creatures trying to make yourselves feel big and strong.” Her lips twisted. “It won’t work. Real strength comes from within.”
Wow, that was a hell of an insult, and a damned dangerous thing to say if he was who Ledger thought he was.
“So...that’s a yes, right?” he asked, though he didn’t wait for an answer. “Just one at a time, I’m afraid. Agent Stettler first.”
Anna took a step toward Evan. “How do I know you’ll bring him back?”
“Because I’m giving you my word that I will.” He met her gaze squarely.
They stared at each other for a moment, and her gaze took him apart, as if she could read the story of who he was in just that second or two.
She let out a breath, then said, “Fine. Brian, you may go.”
“Whatever you say, mom,” the agent whispered, under his breath.
Anna glared at him before turning her furious face back to Evan. “If he is harmed, harassed, or threatened by you or anyone else I will not be happy.”
And retribution would come on swift wings , or some shit like that. He’d laugh, but he was sure she was serious, and he didn’t want her to tear off any of his limbs.
“He will come to no harm in my company,” Evan promised.
She narrowed her eyes and nodded.
Evan went to the door and turned the knob. He waited until Anna moved a step or two forward so Brian could hop down from the bed.
Evan pulled the door open and walked through it. The two guards were still there.
“Stay here. Monitor the occupant,” Evan said to them. “I’m taking him to the bathroom around the corner.”
“Yes, sir,” they said at the same time, their voices melding into one.
Evan stepped out of the doorway and gestured at Brian should follow him. The door closed slowly behind him.
They took a few steps before Evan spoke. “She treats you as if you were one of her kids.”
Brian let out a sigh. “I know. It’s irritating and nice all at the same time.”
Evan chuckled. “My hat’s off to you, kid. You’ve put yourself into an unbelievably advantageous position.”
Brian stopped walking. “Fuck you. Having a gun pointed at my head for an hour and being told I’ll be shot, my brains splattered all over the rear window if I so much as twitch, didn’t feel like anything other than a threat.” Brian’s voice was so coated in acidic sarcasm, his words burned on Evan’s skin.
“Yeah,” Evan said. “Sorry about that. The people who said that to you are amateurs.”
“And you’re not?”
“Nope.”
He gazed directly into Evan’s eyes and said, again, “Fuck off.”
Evan laughed. “Yup, if I were in your shoes, I’d be saying the same thing. But sorry to say, I’m not in your shoes.” The smile fell off his face. “A word of advice. Don’t pick fights until you have to, kid.”
“Someone else brought the fight,” the kid said. “I’m just trying to not get killed.”
They marched around the corner and stopped in front of another unmarked door.
Evan opened it to reveal a large bathroom with a stall toilet and a second stall with a shower in it.
Evan let the door close behind himself and his unhappy companion, then gestured at the shower stall. “After you.”
Brian studied him with a disappointed expression on his face.
Putting a finger over his lips, Evan pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to the kid.
On it, he’d written in pencil: the agents who kidnapped you have gone rogue. Follow my lead .
Brian read the note twice, then glared at him and mouthed, really ?
Evan nodded.
“Look, I don’t want to be a pain in the ass,” Brian said. He handed the note back. “But I don’t trust you. At all.”
“That’s fair, but I’m hoping you’ll keep an open mind.”
“Yeah, sure, dude,” Brian said, with all the sincerity of a car salesman on the last day of the month. He used the urinal, then went to the sink, washed his face and neck, hands and forearms. “I’m finished here.”
“Sure you don’t want to shower?”
“I’m fine. Let’s go before Ms. Breznik gets impatient.”
“You were injured?”
“Yeah, that jackass Homeland Security agent who shot Anna, also shot me. It nicked my arm.”
“Do you need any first aid?”
“I’m fine. For now.”
And from the stubborn set to his jaw, the baby FBI agent was done talking.
They returned to the holding room, the same two guards posted in the hallway.
Anna seemed genuinely surprised when Brian walked into the room. She inspected him, going from the top of his head to his shoes.
She quirked an eyebrow at him.
He sighed, like he was some put upon teenager and said, “I’m fine. No one bothered me.”
She pointed at the gurney and Brian walked over and hopped onto it like the good boy he was.
“Ma’am,” Evan said, gesturing at the door.
She shook her head. “No, thank you.”
“You don’t wish to use the bathroom, to wash the blood off at least?”
She glared at him, then bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile. “No, thank you.”
“Okay,” he said. He gave her a nod. “Would you be willing to consent to some non-invasive tests?”
“No.”
“Not even a CT scan or some x-rays?”
“My body is nobody’s business but mine,” she said, her face without any expression at all.
The hair on the back of his neck and arms rose as something in the back of his head warned him that danger was imminent.
His grandfather had told him about an incident during the war when a German collaborator was caught by the resistance. The collaborator wouldn’t talk, until Anna entered the room. She didn’t say anything, just stared at the man. Gramps said the look on her face was the scariest thing he’d seen in the entire war.
The collaborator must have thought the same thing, because he told them everything he knew without her having to say a single word.
Now Evan understood what his grandfather meant. It was like looking into the eyes of a cobra about to strike. Cold, hungry, and pitiless.
He needed to get her out of here before she massacred them all.
Evan heaved a slightly dramatic sigh, rubbed his chin with his left hand again to flash the ring, and nodded. “Perhaps I’ll leave you two to think things over for a bit.” He went to the door, but paused before he opened it. “Get some rest. When I come back, it might be a while before you’ll have the opportunity to relax.”
He left as quickly as he could, before she decided to rip out his throat.