29. Christopher #2
“The traitors haven’t figured out yet that they’ve lost their bargaining power.
They have no idea that a vampire has moved Zinnia.
We’re tracking her signal. She’s headed to the area labeled ‘Pirate’s Den’ on the map we have.
The northernmost high-elevation point. But the signal isn’t strong enough to latch on and flash her out of there. ”
I unclench my jaw and glance at Tig. I never want to play poker with her. She has a faint smile on her face, as if everything is fine and we haven’t just heard the worst news possible.
I channel Tig’s poker face and give Rose my friendliest smile. “You know, Tig, we need to be more generous, given how reasonable everyone’s been. Do you have any red bags in that box?” I make eye contact with Rose. “Higher alcohol content. You and your crew will love them.”
“Got it,” Willow says. “Plan Red. We’ll see you outside the Pirate’s Den tunnel. If there’s no escape hole there, we’ll create our own. I’ve sent the standby contingent to the main entrance, armed and invisible with orders to wait for Tig’s signal to breach the doors.”
Tig passes out the pouches. I toss three of the red bags to the guards behind Rose. Then Tig passes dummy pouches to Maria and me. By now, we’ve built up enough trust that we hope Rose isn’t going to insist on swapping bags again.
Maria side-eyes me, likely confused by my friendliness now that negotiations are over, but she doesn’t question it openly.
She can’t hear the conversation with Willow, and she also doesn’t know what busting out the red pouches means either.
She’ll likely slap me silly when she finds out I left her out of the full plan.
But I couldn’t trust she’d control her reactions if the news took a turn for the worst—which it did.
Rose, Diego, and Ed finish their bags quicker than their guards do. Rose stands, wobbling for a moment, before falling over backward onto the dirt. Diego and Ed don’t even rise from their seats before slumping onto the picnic table.
“It’s a trap,” yells one of the guards from behind them.
Dammit. We were hoping to drug all the renegades at the same time.
I slap the switch for the invisibility bracelet Maria wears, turning it on, then activate mine, pulling her backward with me. We fall onto the hard clay dirt with an oof.
The renegade guards fire wildly at the table, chewing it up.
Tig disappears, but not before she yells, “Fuck.”
Keeping to the ground, I grab Maria’s wrist and slide us over until our bubble merges with Tig’s and I spot her. We scramble away, crawling to the side, out of the line of fire, as fast as we can.
Bullets start flying from our side as Zeke, Colin, and the rest of our team disappear and pick off the renegades one by one.
Maria covers her ears, using elbows to support herself, and buries her face against my side.
Then silence. The shootout is over.
Tig’s mouth bleeds profusely, leaving a muddy trail in the sand. When we come to a stop, she opens a fastened pocket on her pant leg and slaps a gauze pad over the wound. A bullet or shrapnel must have penetrated her face. Our mouths are the only body area not covered by armor.
Maria whooshes over to Tig. “How can we help?”
Tig removes the gauze pad from the side of her face, which reveals a bloody mess. “You c-can’t…” she slurs, cringing. “Go—go get your daughter.”
Maria looks confused. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Jawbone shattered.” Tig presses the pad to her mouth again and mumbles, “You and Chris go to the rendezvous at the Pirate’s Den. I’ll follow in the van. Need… Fuck…” She squeezes her eyes shut. “Need blood.”
I grab Maria around the waist and run with her to the truck. Colin, Zeke, and the others are visible again, and they fasten leather-lined silver handcuffs on the three negotiators and any guards left alive.
Once we’re in the truck and I’m driving at top speed, Maria flails her arm in frustration.
I duck to avoid getting unintentionally hit.
“What just happened?” she demands.
“Rose’s nest turned on her and took another vote after she and her team left.
They want to keep their enslaved mortals and are demanding seven more trucks.
To prove they’re serious, they plan on hurting Zinnia.
But one of their own—some vampire in charge of Zinnia—grabbed her and took off for the Pirate’s Den cavern before they could. ”
“Oh my God. I swear they’re all getting staked.”
“That’s up to Tig to sort out. Our job is to rescue Zinnia. Willow is going to help.”
Maria growls. “You kept things from me.”
“I did. I’m sorry. I knew you’d likely kill them on the spot when you heard.”
At this, Maria nods once, her body wound so tense I can feel the vibrations coming off her. “I don’t like it, Chris, but this time, I understand.”
She rides in silence for a while with a death grip on the door handle as I drive us over the chewed-up road, bouncing hard with each dip. Then she glances at me. “What was in those bags?”
“A powerful tranquilizer. Inject it into a clone, and let them process it, then take a pint, and what you have will knock a vampire off its feet.”
“Was that always the plan?”
“No, but we couldn’t be sure they’d keep their word. It was one of many contingency plans. Because no way in hell will I let them hurt Zinnia.”