Chapter Twelve
E van adjusted his hold on Brian’s arm as he half propelled the younger man up the escalator. They were in the middle of a pack of Chinese tourists, who weren’t tourists at all. One little old lady was helping Brian into a purple rain jacket. He also wore a floppy hat on his head.
He looked ridiculous, but then ridiculous seemed to be their dress-code.
Another lady sidled up to Evan and threw a scarf around his neck in some attempt to hide his urban camo uniform and ballistic vest with way too many weapons tucked into it.
Yup, ridiculous.
Below them, on the escalator, a rush of people started running up, chased by gunfire and screams.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Brian said.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Evan asked. “Agent obvious.”
“Do you think Anna is okay?” Brian asked, his voice sounding small and scared. “She bled so much the last time she was shot. So much. Can we go back? She saved my life. I want to help her.”
One of the ladies standing next to Brian turned to stare at him. “And you are not afraid of her?” she asked in perfect English.
Brian blinked at her. “She didn’t hurt me. She protected me.”
“She lost blood?”
He nodded so hard whiplash might be a concern. “They shot her in the head.”
They reached the top of the escalator and followed the rest of the mob of civilians to the nearest exit.
“Brian,” Evan said, on a growl, trying to warn the younger man with his tone, to shut up.
“She didn’t drink your blood when she woke?” the lady asked.
“No.”
“I gave her blood a few hours later,” Evan said, as they walked up the last flight of stairs.
“When did this happen?” the lady asked, nearly running to keep up with him.
As they reached street level, he scanned the area. There were several ambulances lined up along the curb as well as fire trucks, police cars, and a SWAT vehicle.
He might be able to get by them without attracting attention, as long as he didn’t do anything stupid.
“About twelve hours ago.”
The lady studied him. “She has great control over herself.”
“Where is the next subway station?” Evan asked, loud enough to be heard by several people in their odd group. A few pointed, and they all set out in that direction.
He frowned at the lady. “You say that like it’s not common.”
“It isn’t. Sometimes when an immortal is deprived of blood or after an injury where they bleed, they’re unable to restrain themselves. They...often kill until their bloodlust is satisfied. Sometimes, all it takes is being in the presence of someone who is bleeding for it to happen.”
“Anna isn’t the only one who has control over herself,” Evan said. “Her son, Bazyli was a medic in the army. I served with him. He was in situations where there were many people bleeding and he never did anything to anyone except save their lives.”
“Are you...” Brian asked the lady in a loud whisper. “Like Anna?”
“No, we’re family, but not immortal.”
“Immortal, I like that better than vampire,” Evan said.
“The family you serve has much to teach other immortals.”
The lady sounded sad and anxious.
“You have helped all of us today,” Evan said to her. “That’s what a community is, people helping each other.”
The lady bowed slightly.
Someone ahead of them, a younger woman wearing headphones, turned so she was walking backwards and said something to the lady who’d been speaking with him. It didn’t look like good news.
“The big men,” the lady said. “The ones who look the same? Do you know them?”
“Yeah, why?”
“They are still at that Home place, but not for long. They are to be transported to a black place.” She frowned. “Black place? What is that?”
“Black site,” Evan said. “They’re going to take them somewhere and torture them for information.”
“Are they...”
“Immortal? Yes.” He looked at her again. “How do you know this?”
“We were there, taking pictures, and looking around.” She smiled at him, a secret smile. “We left a few things. Small things.”
“You planted some listening devices?”
“Yes.”
“Brilliant.” He grinned. “Have they talked about when they’re taking the twins and what airport they’re going to use?”
“I will ask.” The lady spoke to headphone girl in rapid Mandarin.
They exchanged several sentences before she turned back to him. “They will be taken to Teterboro Airport.” She was going to say more, but the echo of gunfire, some of it large caliber, jerked everyone’s attention back to the subway entrance. They’d passed it, so it was behind them.
A bunch of police rushed down the stairs.
Headphone girl spoke again.
“We still have a couple of our people down in the subway station,” the woman said. “Lady Anna is in danger. She was gravely wounded, lost a lot of blood, and has disappeared into the subway tunnel system. About a dozen Homeland Security agents are trying to find her.” She paused as the headphone girl told her something else. “They want to capture her.”
“Of course they do.” Evan considered his options.
He could go back to the station they just left, but it was full of Homeland Security agents who were finding out just how hard it was to kill an immortal.
Or he could go to the next station and work his way back via the subway tunnels. The latter idea had more merit.
“Can you take Brian with you? Keep him safe? I need to get into the subway system.”
The lady nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Evan, don’t forget,” Brian said.
“Don’t forget what?”
“You’re not immortal.”
Their group stopped at the closest corner and parted ways with him.
He kept the scarf on, flashed his photo op sign, and smiled at every person who passed him on the street.
He reached the next subway station and made his way down to the turnstiles. There, the police were telling people that the trains weren’t running due to a maintenance crew performing critical work. Everyone was to use street-level transit or ferries.
A cop came up to him, his hand on his weapon.
Evan showed him his photograph with a soldier sign with a shrug and a grin.
The cop rolled his eyes. “You must get stopped a lot.”
“I do, but that just tells the tourists I look authentic, so it’s worth the hassle. I’ve got about five hundred dollars in my pockets right now, and the day isn’t over yet.”
The cop shook his head. “The subway isn’t running right now. Power outage.”
“Well, shit,” Evan said. “I guess I’m walking.” He stepped back and angled his body as if about to turn around.
The cop nodded, then returned to his post, blocking access to the platform.
Evan pulled out the phone he was using and pretended to be completely mesmerized by what was on it. All he needed was a small distraction.
A guy in a suit rushed up to the police line and tried to pass through. They wouldn’t let him, and he quickly devolved into a two-year-old temper tantrum. Insisting he had a right to use the subway.
He kicked up so much fuss that more than one cop became engaged in calming him down. Fortunately for Evan, other people started complaining and shouting and it pulled all the police out of position.
Evan moved until he was out of the way, his back to the far side of the stairs leading down to the platform. When someone shoved one of the cops, he let it push him down a couple of the stairs.
No one noticed, so he kept going down the stairs. Once he was out of sight of the entrance, he kept moving down, watching and listening for more police or security.
The hum of several voices told him there were a bunch of people ahead of him. He glanced at himself. The flashy scarf and photo op sign wasn’t going to cut it anymore.
He dropped it all on the stairs, then pulled out his Army Intelligence ID and held it up as the people he could hear came into view.
Several of the police and security personnel told him to stop and go back.
“I’m with Army Intelligence,” he shouted.
The cops looked at each other and put their hands down.
Evan approached them. “I’m here to do a little recon for Homeland.”
“How can we help?” one of the cops asked.
“Keep on doing what you’re doing. I’m not here to interrupt your operation, but to support it.”
The cops nodded. “We can do that.”
Evan nodded back, then headed toward the platform. He looked down the subway tunnel in both directions, then made a show of examining the tracks from the platform, leaning over the edge as if looking for something.
He jumped down onto the tracks and noted that a couple of the cops were watching him. He continued looking around, as if searching for something specific. He used a grid search pattern for large open areas, like they teach at most police academies.
After a few minutes, the cops and security guards returned to what they were doing before he arrived. Good.
Evan moved down the tracks, neither rushing nor changing his search pattern. He slipped quietly into the tunnel. Out of the light. Into the dark.
There were some light sources in the tunnel, low-level lighting spaced out, leaving deep pockets of shadows between them. Enough light to see by. He had a couple of flashlights in his gear, but his eyes had adjusted well enough to go without one.
He wasn’t looking for something small. He was looking for Anna.
The tunnel did something funky to sound. It bounced around, echoed, and reverberated in some places. It turned whispers into shouts, and shouts into a painful garbled static.
He heard a long-drawn-out scream that raised the hairs on his arms.
More cries, swearing, and shouts coming from in front of him. No gunshots, but there was too much stress in the voices he could hear. Things weren’t going well for someone.
Those Italian bastards had no interest in playing by the rules. They didn’t care who saw them do impossible things. It made them extremely dangerous. It made them difficult to predict.
Anna, on the other hand, was easier to anticipate. She would do whatever she had to, to stop them.
Including sacrificing herself.
She was a lot like her son in many ways. The same protective drive, the same willingness to sacrifice herself if that was the only option left. The same devotion to friends and family.
It was time someone showed her that devotion.
As the noise got louder, Evan slowed down to hug the tunnel wall. The weak lighting threw huge shadows, and he wanted to be undetected until after he decided on what his course of action was. If he was spotted before he could make that decision, he’d be at a disadvantage.
A couple of gunshots ricocheted off the walls.
A man bellowed something in Italian and there was a short, panicked scream.
The quick patter of footsteps was the only thing he heard for a few seconds. Then there was a dull thud.
“You two have lost all your ability to reason,” Anna said, not in a shout, but loud enough that her words echoed back to him. “There is no way this situation will end well for either of you.”
“I’m going to enjoy killing you, Anna,” a male voice said, full of malice and perverse joy. One of the Italians. “You and your whole family have held us back for far too long. When you’re dead, we will take control and change everything. We won’t have to hide anymore, and we can infect as many people as we want to increase our population.”
“We will become,” a slightly different male voice said. Must be the other brother. “The dominant species on the planet.”
Anna made a disgusted grunt. “If you’re going to give a villain monologue, could you at least make it somewhat original?” she asked. “Your bullshit is boring, as the Americans say.”
Evan heard a scuffle, the sound of quick footsteps on concrete, then metal against metal.
One of the men cried out. “You fucking bitch.”
Anna’s voice floated through the air. “Oops.”
Something crashed and rattled across metal and rock.
Evan moved closer, following the line of the tunnel as it went around a slight corner. He stopped when he could see the edge of the fight, not just in shadows, but the actual fighters.
Anna had her back to him. She was facing one of the Italians and the back of her clothing was oddly dark. She shifted, and he realized it was blood. It covered a huge area from her right shoulder down onto her pants.
Shit.
She moved, dancing over the tracks like she was a boxer, her body loose, but ready for an attack. Whatever injury she’d had, it had healed itself enough not to slow her down. Which was good and bad.
Had anyone witnessed her getting hurt and then moving around like it didn’t bother her at all?
Two against one was not fair. He might not be an immortal, but he did have other skills.
Evan inched along the wall until he found a slightly elevated concrete pad in front of a door marked High Voltage .
He laid down on his stomach and arranged his rifle so it was propped up on a tiny tripod attached to the exterior of the weapon. Using the scope, he took a good look at the area around the fight and the combatants.
The Italian held a sword, and Anna had a long piece of metal, possibly part of a rail, in her hands. She held it like it was a baseball bat.
The Italian came at her so fast he looked like he was flying. He wasn’t, of course, but the speed at which he moved made it look that way. He had his sword over his head and brought it down as he reached Anna.
She blocked his strike and the next one, but the third changed to a stab halfway through, and the tip of his blade sank into her thigh.
She punched the asshole in the face.
Blood spurted from his nose, but he was laughing despite it. The jackass was getting off on stabbing her.
He pulled his blade out of her leg and, with a big grin on his face, lifted it to strike her again.
Evan took the shot, his shoulder absorbing the recoil of the weapon.
A bullet hole, centered between the Italian’s eyes, appeared, and he dropped to the ground in an untidy heap. The first asshole’s brother came at Anna out of the shadows from the side, a blade in his hands.
Anna dodged his first strike and his second. The moron paused to smile at her, his teeth gleaming weakly in the poor light.
Idiot.
Evan shot him in the head, too.
He fell, and for a moment Anna just stared at him, flopped in an untidy tangle of limbs on the ground. Then she spun around, searching for the source of the shot. It didn’t take her long to find him.
She glanced over her shoulder at the platform in the distance, then ran over to him. She ran so fast she looked like she was flying too.
She reached him as he got to his feet, putting her arms around him and nearly knocking him over.
He loved it until he realized she was trembling.
“Hey,” he said, holding her close. “I’ve got you.”
“Evan,” she whispered. “I can’t...stay. It’s too dangerous for both of us.”
“Shit is still hitting the fan?” he asked.
“That’s a disgusting visual, but...yes. Homeland likely believes they have their proof. Both Italians were shot, then recovered enough to try to chase me. Several took videos of the whole thing.” She paused to take in a breath. “Is Brian safe?”
“Yes, the ladies were taking care of him. I came to help you.”
She shook her head. “I have to go back and you need to get to the hotel’s safe room.” She pushed on his shoulders, trying to move him back in the direction he’d come from.
“Wait,” he said, grabbing her hands with his so he could hold them. “I also came because Homeland has the twins and they’re going to fly them somewhere. I’m not sure when they’ll take off, but if someone doesn’t stop Homeland, they’re going to have their hands full of two guys who have no problem killing everyone they see.”
Her whole body deflated a little, and she made a panicked sound at the back of her throat. “I can’t leave here until these...these buttholes are contained.”
Evan almost laughed, and she was right. Asshole was too good a word for them.
“So, what should we do? Cut off their heads?” Evan asked.
She hesitated only for a moment. “Yes, but...” She looked around, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “How are we going to get the bodies out of here without also being charged with murder?”
Yeah, the whole situation was FUBAR.
Wait a sec .
Evan pulled out his phone and punched in Aaron Marek’s number. “Hey, remember when you told me to call you if things went sideways and upside down? Well, that’s my address right now.”
“How bad is it?”
“Well, I’ve got a couple of bodies who really shouldn’t go to a regular morgue.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Is anyone else injured?”
“Nope.” Evan looked at Anna, taking in her torn and bloody clothing. “But some clean clothing would be a bonus.”
Marek grunted. “What size.”
“A lady’s small.”
There was a pause, then Marek said. “As it happens, I’m not far away. Give me a few minutes to get there.” The call ended.
Shit, he hadn’t told Marek where he was. The sneaky fucker already knew.
He put his phone in a pocket. “We need to go French Revolution on both of them right now. My boss is on his way, and I don’t think it’s going to take him much time to get here.”
She gave him a long look. “I guess I should have packed my guillotine.”
Anna returned to the first Italian he’d shot, picked up the bastard’s sword, and cut his head off in one smooth motion. She knew what she was doing with that thing.
A few seconds later, Anna cut off the head of his brother.
She returned to Evan’s side, putting the bloody sword on the ground as if it were a live snake. “We just...wait?”
“Yeah. If he says he’ll be here, he’ll be here.”
She didn’t reply.
Evan kept glancing at Anna, who was silent next to him. Her mouth was twisted up as if she’d put something sour in her mouth.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
“I am now,” she said. “I was stabbed then shot, but those injuries are mostly healed.” She looked down at herself. “I look like I massacred a lot more than two people. I can’t appear in public until I can clean up and change.”
“Marek is bringing you some clothes.”
Anna closed her eyes for a moment. “Are you sure we can trust him?”
“He hasn’t been surprised by any of this,” Evan told her. “I know him. There is more going on than you or I knew about. He’ll be here.”
“He’ll want to talk, understand...things, and I don’t know if we have time for that. If Mason and Magnus are being flown out soon...” she let her voice trail off. “Then there’s Brian, Baz, and Nika, who are also vulnerable to capture.” The expression on her face was bleak. As if she’d lost hope. As if she’d been treading water for hours, had used up all her energy, and had taken her last breath.
“Let’s tackle the situation one step at a time,” he told her. “Focus on our next step, not the twentieth.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Okay.”
He took her hand, and she gripped his like she’d never let go.
He loved it. Especially because she was so strong and tough. For her to allow herself to lean on him for support was huge.
“Hey,” he said. “Look at me.”
She met his gaze.
“You aren’t alone.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m all in, all the way.”
She swallowed hard. “Things aren’t looking so good, Evan. You might regret saying that.”
“Nope. Nada. Never. You’re my ride or die.”
For a moment, her face reflected every emotion she was trying to keep from escaping: Fear, worry, hopelessness, anger, despair, and at the very end...joy.
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?”
“Crazy for you,” he replied, with a smile in his voice.
She snorted and, for a moment, he’d never been happier.
Movement ahead of them caught both of their attention and they crouched near the tunnel wall.
A flashlight appeared in the poor light, weaving back and forth across the tunnel in a searching pattern.
Shit .
Evan eased forward so he could push Anna behind him. She resisted at first, but finally moved to where he wanted her, out of sight.
The movement resolved into the outline of several bodies coming their way, walking at a slow, deliberate pace he recognized. This was no SWAT team. He’d done this exact mission before when he was in the special forces.
Advance recon in a potentially hostile environment.
These guys were Army.
He could feel Anna behind him, and was aware that she was peeking over his shoulder at the oncoming team.
“They’re dressed like you,” she said. “Exactly like you.”
One of the flashlights passed right in front of him and suddenly the men coming toward them all stopped.
He’d been seen.
The holder of the light didn’t move it. It stayed in front of him, not on him. Not blinding him. An interesting choice.
“Lieutenant Gunn?” a man asked. Not Aaron Marek. Shit.
But they were being courteous, so he’d return the favor. “Yes.”
“Are you alone?”
There wasn’t much point in lying. “No.”
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Are you operating under duress, sir?”
“No.”
There was a whispered conversation, then the same man said, “Please stay where you are, sir. Our team will be setting up a secure perimeter.”
“Fine by me,” Evan said.
Three figures passed them in the shadows on the other side of the tunnel. They kept moving until they took up positions all around them.
“Please wait here, sir,” the soldier repeated, then he and the rest of his team retreated until they disappeared into the dark.
“What’s happening?” Anna asked him.
“I’m not sure, but they’re being awfully polite if they plan to incarcerate or shoot us.”
“So, I guess we wait.”
Evan looked at her, covered in blood. At least some of it was hers.
He held out his wrist. “Drink,” he said.
She shook her head.
“Anna, you’ve lost blood, and you need to be sharp. Drink.”
She sighed, but brought her hands up to cup his wrist. She licked his wrist, and it sent a shiver up his spine.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “You’re about to bite me and I’m hard as a rock.”
She put her lips on his skin and sucked.
“Anna,” he said, in a warning tone. All she had to do was touch him and he was on fire for her.
She chuckled and bit him. Again, just one tiny hole that restricted the flow of blood to a trickle.
She was so damned careful with him, and that care told him all he needed to know about who she was. This was not a woman who took anything for granted. She didn’t assume. She cared.
He had to force himself to keep watch on the men surrounding them. Force himself to keep his distance from the woman who was driving him wild with nothing more than the touch of her tongue.
All too quickly, she was licking the small wound on his wrist, then pulling away.
“Did you get enough?”
“Yes, thank you.” She sighed. “I really wish we were somewhere private with a bed.”
His cock, already hard, turned to stone. “Anna,” he growled.
She laughed, a light, happy sound that carried farther than he liked.
The sound of footsteps on the concrete floor of the tunnel had him examining the shadows.
A man stepped out into the meagre light, moving toward them. After a few seconds, Evan could make out the other man’s face. “Good to see you, Major.”
Major Marek nodded and continued closer until he was about six feet away. “Gunn, ma’am,” he said. He studied them for several moments, then said, “I have to say, the last couple of days have been pretty damned interesting.” He smiled. “Had I known who Ledger had gotten his hands on, I would have sent more than one man to assess the situation.” Marek shook his head and addressed Evan. “I put you in a bad situation involving an idiot. I’m sorry.”
“What do you know about me?” Anna asked.
“I know you’re the head of a powerful European family and a government official. You have an amazing number of contacts in governments all over the world. You have some serious martial arts training and you’ve been alive a lot longer than should be possible.”
Evan tried to hide his reaction to that bit of news, but Marek’s gaze tracked his every move.
“My apologies for taking so long to get all my ducks in a row,” the major said. “But we couldn’t have this conversation until I had all my people and resources in place.”
“What conversation is that?” Anna asked.
“The one where I explain that Gunn and I have something in common.” Marek winked at him. “My grandfather and great uncle were in the Ghost Army during World War II along with his grandfather.”
“What were their names?” she asked.
“You wouldn’t recognize them. They didn’t work directly with you, but they knew Gunn’s grandfather and were close enough to see you do things that no regular human being could do.”
She grunted. “Good grief. How many people know?”
“I’m not quite sure of the number, but we’re sprinkled throughout the Federal government, military, and a few other alphabet agencies.”
“So, Ledger found out by mistake?” Evan asked.
“No, we think those two Italian bastards ratted Anna out.”
“We?” Evan asked.
“All of us in the know. Thank you, by the way, for taking those assholes out. We were considering bringing in some heavy artillery until you cut off their heads. New York should throw you a parade for saving their subway.” He grinned at her.
“You’re welcome.” Anna tilted her head to one side. “What do you want?”
Marek glanced between Anna and Evan a couple of times. “First, I need to know if you two are a unit or if this—” he waved his hand between them. “Is just a situational thing.”
“We’re a unit,” Evan said, immediately. “We stay together.”
Marek glanced at Anna, and she nodded.
“Okay,” the major said. “In that case, the first order of business is to get you out of here and somewhere more comfortable where we can talk.”
“I will need clothing,” Anna said. “I am covered in blood.”
Marek nodded. “It’s coming, but it’ll take a few minutes.” He looked at Evan and raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, all I needed to do is show people my sign.”
“Your what?” Marek asked.
“My get your photo with a soldier $10 sign. I made some serious cash with that thing.”
“New York is a strange city,” Anna muttered.
The major just shook his head. Something on his person beeped. He pulled out a phone and looked at it.
“Wait here. I’ll be back.” Marek stood and walked in the direction he’d come from.
“So many people know,” she said, worry in her tone. “Too many.”
“It sounds like they’ve known for a long time,” Evan pointed out to her. “Just like me, and no one has approached or done anything until Ledger.”
“But why would they stay silent? Why wouldn’t they try to use what they know to gain money or power?”
“If all these guys were part of the Ghost Army, maybe they didn’t care about those things more than they cared about their integrity. Those guys had a code of honor, and information about the Ghost Army wasn’t declassified until the mid-1990s. So, they had to keep their mouths shut until at least that long.”
“Do you think he’s going to let us go free?” she asked Evan. “Or will we end up in the same place we started in with Ledger?”
“I think he’s going to make us an offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
“Intelligence gathering. Your situation is unique in a lot of ways. You’re a diplomat, you run a large family like it’s an international corporation, and you’re a financial wizard. I can see him wanting your insights on a lot of things.”
“I have tried to give men advice over the years,” she said dryly. “It’s never received with the promised enthusiasm.”
Evan thought about that for a second. “Yeah, that tracks. Most successful men in history have been conquerors, tyrants, and dictators. None of whom are interested in advice from anyone.”
“We will have to proceed carefully.”
The sound of footsteps coming closer grabbed Evan’s attention. He turned to find Major Marek returning, a bag in one hand. “Okay, here are some clothes.” He crouched down. “Here’s what’s going to happen next. We’re going to join the rest of the soldiers at the station behind me. Evan you’re fine as you are. Anna, you’re going to join the medics. The uniform in the bag has all the correct insignia. Grab one of the bags of medical supplies when we hit the platform.”
“Are there only soldiers waiting on the platform?” she asked.
“No, there are some other law enforcement types. FBI and police. My team will keep them distracted as we reach the platform.”
“Where are we going after that?” Evan asked.
Marek smiled. “The best delicatessen in the city. I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving.” He stood. “I’ll give you some time to change.” He walked away and joined one of the men standing guard around them.
Anna opened the bag and dug around in it. She pulled out a pair of pants. Urban camo. She changed quickly.
“Is everything where it’s supposed to be?” she asked Evan.
He examined her. “Yup, and you look sexy as hell in uniform. Mind you, you look sexy all the time.”
She smiled. “Men never change.” She put her bloody clothes in the bag. “Let’s go.”
They walked toward Marek. He saw them coming and joined them. With one hand gesture, the soldiers guarding them formed up behind them in two rows.
“Anna on the right. Evan, you can walk on her left. I’m point. Let’s roll.” He nodded at one of the soldiers. The man trotted ahead of them, reaching the platform in time to call everyone there to come in for a debriefing.
By the time their group reached the platform, there was no one around the first aid supplies and no one blocking the way out.
Anna and the men in her column diverted to pick up the bags of supplies, shouldered them, then rejoined the other column again. As a group, they marched toward the exit, through the turnstiles, and up the escalators.
Marek turned to address them. “Transportation is waiting for us on the street. An SUV and a bus.” He looked at Evan and Anna. “You two, you’re with me in the SUV.”
“Is the area cordoned off?” Evan asked.
“Yes. The Subway is shut down until we can get it cleaned up.”
They reached street level and found the area blocked off with tape and a few street cops. Their group of four, Marek, Evan, Anna, and their driver, headed for the SUV while the rest of the soldiers went to the bus. Both vehicles were black with tinted windows.
Anna gave her first aid bag to the driver who took it from her and put it in the back. Evan got in first to take the window seat. As soon as everyone was in, the driver shut the doors and got in.
“We’re going to the deli,” Marek said to the driver.
The SUV pulled away from the curb. They went deeper into the city, taking a circuitous loop that eventually dropped them outside a small delicatessen located in a narrow alley only a couple of blocks off Times Square.
They got out, went inside, and the three of them joined a man who was eating a huge sandwich at a four-seat table in the farthest corner of the room.
Marek sat down next to the man without hesitation. Evan pulled out a chair for Anna next to the wall, seated her, then sat down next to her.
The man saluted them with his sandwich. It took him a few chews to free up his mouth.
“Best sandwiches in the city are right here,” he said, rather than hello. “I’m Daryl Taft, I work for the CIA. No need for introductions, I know who you are.”
“You should order a sandwich,” Anna said to Evan. “And some coffee. It’s been a while since you ate.”
Marek turned and raised a hand at the man behind the deli counter. “Two coffees and two lunch specials, please.”
The man waved.
“Nothing for you?” Taft said to Anna.
She smiled at him, showing off her sharp canines. “I already ate.”
Taft choked on his mouthful. He pounded one fist against his chest. “Really? Who did you...I mean...” He stared at her like she was a serial killer holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other.
“I donated,” Evan said blandly. “She doesn’t take much.”
Both Marek and Taft stared at him.
“You volunteered?” Marek asked.
“Of course I volunteered,” Evan said, abruptly angry. The man claimed to know what Anna was, but obviously hadn’t thought about the logistics of having their autoimmune disease. “I thought you knew everything you needed to know about her.”
“I know the high points, but not specifics.”
Evan covered his face with one hand. “In other words, you know the stories and what you learned from observing from a distance, but nothing else.”
“That sounds about right.”
Evan looked at Taft. “How about you, Mr. CIA, do you know more than my boss does?”
Taft took another huge bite of his sandwich, then smiled with his mouth full.
“Cute,” Evan said, with a shake of his head. He’d have to pay attention to this guy.
The owner of the deli arrived at their table with coffee and sandwiches. They thanked him and Evan decided food was more important than composing explanations or demanding them.
“What do you think you know about me?” Anna asked. She watched Evan eat with a faintly pleased expression.
“You’re a lot older than you look,” Marek said.
“You heal fast,” Taft said.
“You’re stronger too and you drink blood,” Marek added.
Anna glanced at Evan with questions in her eyes.
He turned to the two men across the table from him. “How old do you think she is?”
“We figured about one hundred years,” Taft said. “There’s no records about her before then.”
They didn’t know much then. Just enough to get them all into trouble.
Evan met Anna’s gaze. “I don’t think you can keep your existence a secret anymore without a lot of help.”
She pondered that for a few seconds. “Agreed,” she finally said.
She lifted her head and pinned Marek and Taft with a tired look. “I am eight hundred years old.”
Both men stopped eating.
“What?” Marek said, his eyes nearly bugging out.
“How?” Taft asked.
“It’s not magic, gentlemen,” she said, with a wan smile. “We didn’t know the mechanism or method or reason ourselves until the nineteen seventies. We have an autoimmune disorder caused by our body’s reaction to a very specific viral infection. No mumbo jumbo, no invisible force, no hocus pocus involved. We don’t age, don’t get sick, and if we’re injured, we heal at a miraculous rate. We still don’t have a complete understanding of the change our bodies go through, despite the years of research dedicated to the question. We do know we can’t go back to being normal .”
“Those are some huge benefits.” Taft said, watching her with a speculative expression on his face. “How many of you are there?”
“The number of people in the world for whom this autoimmune disease is possible is extremely small. There are currently less than two hundred of us alive in the world. Our numbers have been dropping quickly due to infighting and too many potential candidates dying.”
“It’s really not...magic?” Taft asked.
“No.” She smiled briefly, a sad, tired smile. “Though we thought it was at first. Magic or a gift from God. That kind of thinking led to...nothing good. Believing you’re special, favored, or better than everyone else turned us into despots and worse.” She paused to swallow hard. She looked like she had so much to say, all of it bad. “It’s a horrible disease.”
“Horrible?” Marek asked. “Why horrible?”
“Because of what happens to us, the disease has other side effects.”
She held up a finger. “We don’t sleep. That alone caused quite a few to commit suicide after only a few years. Most of us have learned to how to enter a deep meditative state that manages to provide the rest we need, but it isn’t quite the same.”
She held up a second finger. “We can’t eat real food. Our digestive tracts don’t work the same anymore. The only way to obtain nutrients is to drink the blood of a living person. No feeding from a corpse or sipping on a unit of blood from a blood bank.”
She held up a third finger. “The human mind was never designed to live as long as we do. A lot of us have developed significant mental illnesses and disorders. Paranoia, obsessive compulsive disorder, psychotic breaks, severe PTSD, and others.” She winced. “There are a handful of us that require significant assistance to remain alive. In the past, those suffering from the worst issues, often died of starvation. It took a very long time.”
She held up a fourth finger. “We are sterile, both men and women. The only way to expand our numbers is to infect someone with the same virus we fell ill with and hope they survive and develop the same autoimmune response that changes them. And as I said, only a tiny number of people in the whole world have the right genetics for that to happen.”
“So, you’re saying there’s no way to create an army of super soldiers?” Taft asked.
“Correct.”
He looked disappointed.
“You don’t want a lot of us around, Mr. Taft,” she said to him. “We’re controlling, short-tempered, and most of us are more than a little insane. We have treaties in place with every one of us across the world to prevent what the Italians did from happening.”
“They did it anyway,” Marek said.
“Yes. Their mental health deteriorated until they weren’t rational, then acted accordingly.”
“Do you usually police yourselves?” Taft asked.
“Yes, but that’s gotten harder as technology has gotten more sophisticated.”
“So, incidents like today’s aren’t common?” Taft asked.
Anna’s smile was cold. “No, or our secret would have been out a lot earlier than now.”
“What did happen with Ledger?” Taft asked. He held up a hand to stop her from speaking right away. “I already know what happened from our side of things. I’d like to hear it from your perspective.”
Anna told him, leaving out a few details that were none of his business, like the existence of the safe room and secret staircase in the hotel.
“Shit,” Taft muttered, when she was done. “Both Ledgers are fucking idiots.”
“He’s no worse or better than any other power-hungry donkey butt,” Anna said.
“We say jackass,” Evan mumbled in her direction.
She didn’t look away from the CIA agent. “I will ask again. What do you want, Mr. Taft?”
“I would like a relationship with you.”
“I’m sorry,” Anna said, with a completely straight face. “You’re not my type.”
Evan chuckled.
Taft coughed and added, “Of a non-romantic nature.”
“What kind of relationship?” she asked. “Do you see us as equals or do you plan to use your knowledge of me and others like me as leverage to get us to do whatever you want?”
“I take it you’ve had to deal with that sort of thing more than once?” he asked.
“Several times. The occasional despot, tyrant, or dictator has discovered there are people who were different. Stronger, faster, harder to kill. It always went the same way.”
“What way was that?” Marek asked.
She smiled, showing off her teeth. “With the tyrant dead, of course.”
“Of course,” Taft said, with a weak smile.
“I am not an attack dog, Mr. Taft. I am not an assassin, or a spy. I do not take orders from anyone.” Anna leaned forward as she spoke, pinning Taft in place with a direct gaze.
Taft looked like he hadn’t been spoken to like this in a very long time.
“What I am is a business woman, a diplomat, and the matriarch of my family. I have a wide information gathering network across Europe and the rest of the world. I have relationships with people in almost every country, and I speak more than twenty languages. My focus has always been and will continue to be to keep my family safe.”
“I have no problem with that,” Taft said. “Information gathering about potential conflicts, terrorist attacks, and international crime is what I’m looking for.”
“That’s all well and good,” she said. “But what do I get out of this relationship? Do you have enough power and authority to stop people like Mr. Ledger from attempting to use me for their own gain?”
“We are in the process of doing that,” Taft said. “We’re setting you up with a background file indicating that you’re an asset of the CIA. When you’re in the United States, you’re a consultant for various law enforcement agencies on the topics of international crime and terrorism. Marek and I will be your handlers. You’ll be off limits to anyone else.”
She sighed. “How many will know about all this?”
“I think we’re up to ten?” Taft glanced at Marek, who nodded.
Anna shook her head. “They’re not going to be able to stay quiet. It might not be today or next month, but they will tell someone. My disease and its effects are too fantastic, too incredible for people to keep quiet.”
“Like our grandfathers,” Evan added. “And they did it in an attempt to help her.”
“Exactly,” Anna said.
“Your story is too fantastic and incredible,” Taft said. “That’s what makes it work. Most people would laugh at anyone who believes you can do all the things you can do. Even if someone happens to take a video of you doing incredible things, it’s easy to say the footage was doctored in some way.”
“What happens when you retire?” Anna asked. “Will the next person in your role have the best interests of your country and me in mind as you do?”
Taft drummed his fingers on the table. “I hadn’t considered that. We might have to plan for you to retire or even kill you.” He put air quotes around the word kill .
“I’ve done that several times. Then re-emerged a few years later as my own daughter or granddaughter.”
She turned to Marek. “What do you get out of this, Major Marek?”
“My goals are the same as Taft’s. Information, though I’m probably looking for more onsite intelligence if a threat is detected at an event or targeting someone in particular.”
“So, Mr. Taft and the CIA are looking at bigger pictures while you and Army Intelligence are concerned with specific incidents?”
“That’s a fair description,” he said. “What do you want?”
She looked at Evan and the question on her face made his heart beat a little faster. He reached out and put a hand on her thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.
The vulnerability faded from her eyes as she turned to Marek. “I want Evan.”
That made Marek’s eyebrows rise. “For how long?”
She looked at Evan, and this time her eyes were warm. “How about forever?”
“I’m only human,” he said, unable to keep the smile off his face and the love out of his voice. “Forever isn’t as long as you think.”
Her smile grew wider. “I don’t care.” After a moment, she looked away, back at Taft. “Something needs to be done with Ledger. He’s determined to prove I’m...different. He took two members of my family from the hotel. He may also try to kidnap Brian Stettler again.”
“The twins are supposed to be flown out of Teterboro Airport, and soon,” Evan said.
Taft looked surprised. “We’re handling all that now, but we only found out about it shortly before you got here. How did you find out so fast?”
“From a whole bunch of little old ladies,” Evan answered.
“You were seen in the company of a bunch of older Chinese tourists. Are you saying you were working with them? Are they like you?”
“Nothing so formal or planned, and they’re normal people,” Anna said. “I know some of them from my diplomatic work. I’d done them a favor and they wanted to return it. They were at the right place at the right time.”
“I see,” Taft said. But he didn’t sound entirely sure. “Any chance they might be willing to talk to me about what’s going on in China?”
Anna smiled. “Do you speak Mandarin, Mr. Taft?”
“No, but I have friends who do.”
“I would be pleased to introduce you and your friends to some of my friends over tea and cheesecake. They absolutely adore New York cheesecake.”
Taft nodded, as a wistful smile crossed his face. “Sounds delightful.”
Evan had to cough to cover up his chuckle. Those little old ladies were going to run him ragged.
“Okay, next question,” Taft said. “Where would you like to go next? Somewhere we can meet.”
“At my nephew’s hotel,” she said.
“Not the Slovenian embassy?”
“No. The Ambassador would not appreciate all the suspicious people coming in and out of his kingdom.”
“No problem,” Taft said. “Hotels work great.”
“I spend most of my time in Slovenia and traveling for my work, however.”
“Even better,” Taft said, with a grin.
Anna turned her gaze on Marek. “What do you need from me, Major?”
He glanced at Evan before answering her question. “I’d like to keep Evan in uniform and visible when you’re out in public.”
She tilted her head to one side. “An odd request for someone who usually keeps out of any spotlight.”
Marek leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Ledger is not going down quietly. I want Evan visible and in your inner orbit to remind anyone from the FBI, Homeland, local law enforcement, whoever that you’re operating under some federal American oversight.”
“A fact my government will not appreciate.”
“So, you tell them that this gives you a direct line for assistance from us should you need it. International terrorism is at an all time high. Having a partnership with another country, however informal, means faster access to more intelligence.”
“They still aren’t going to like it,” Anna said, her hand on Evan’s thigh tightening for a moment.
“We tell them the truth,” Evan said. “Mostly.”
Everyone looked at him like they had no idea what he meant.
“It’s a romantic story, the way we met. A bad guy had kidnapped you, thinking he could turn you into some kind of spy. He asks for help from Army Intelligence and I show up. I recognize you and know that your grandmother was in the French resistance and helped my grandfather who was in the Ghost Army.”
Taft nodded with enthusiasm. “Everyone loves a good romance.”
“And those two Italian guys?” Marek asked. “How do we explain them?”
“They were high on a cocktail of drugs,” Anna suggested. “ They were the terrorists, planning to destroy a section of the subway.”
Taft turned to Marek. “That’s a believable story. It ties up all the loose ends.”
Marek paused, then extended his hand out to Anna. “Deal.”