Chapter 7
Hawke called Kohl to let him know where he was. He didn’t answer, so he left him a quick message telling him he was just doing a quick look at the layout and wouldn’t be in any danger, and that he would check in before dawn, then he turned off his phone and stuck it into his back pocket.
Well aware his fondness for bright colors wasn’t conducive to activities such as breaking and entering, he kept a black utility jacket in the back seat of his car—which was also black, with tinted windows—just in case, and he pulled it out and put it on.
He loathed the color, but sometimes there was no avoiding it.
Parasupe was located in the middle of Bumfuck Nowhere, Texas. Devon had given them the location, although she’d never been to this particular facility, so she couldn’t give them more than that. The building she’d worked in was part of the façade put on for the general public, sixteen stories of modern architecture located in the heart of downtown Dallas, and when she’d tried to hack into the system, she’d found herself completely locked out. He knew she was working on that, but with Everly’s plea for help, Hawke now had a new sense of urgency. And he was tired of waiting. So, he would just have to scope it out himself. He needed to know what was so damn important to her that she’d risk herself to get it back.
Leaving his car parked off the side of the road a few miles away, Hawke set out on foot. He expected the highest level of security, which meant there would most likely be cameras everywhere within a good two-mile radius. So, he kept low to the ground, moving fast and steady until he hit the perimeter, marked by a chain link fence at least fifteen feet high with rolls of barbed wire across the top. A bit overkill, considering he could feel waves of electricity rolling off it. The only one who would make it to the top—human or not—would be fucking Livewire from the DC Comics.
Or a vampire who could jump really high.
Cameras were at the top of every pole, the red pinpricks of their eyes easily spotted with his superior vision. Every few seconds, they would move silently on their necks, scanning the area before them. He counted the beats in between until he was certain their movements weren’t random, then he moved. He began to skirt the perimeter, keeping low to the ground and staying out of sight of the eyes above him by using whatever he could as camouflage. Hawke kept his breathing slow and easy, refusing to give in to the serious case of WTF are you doing? that was threatening to overwhelm him. He could freak out later. Right now, he needed to stay out of sight, and get in and out without getting caught. If he could make it inside the main building without getting captured—or worse—he figured his odds of getting back out again were pretty good. But he didn’t expect it to be easy. If that were the case, an army of supernatural creatures would’ve taken this place out months ago, as soon as it became clear this was not, actually, an environmental protection agency. Hawke could already see it would be near impossible for a large group to take the people there by surprise. But, perhaps, one lone vampire would have a better chance.
Three more barbed wire setups, two electric fences, numerous cameras, nine guards, and five infrared tripwires later, Hawke was outside the large center building with a stolen key badge in one hand and multiple dismembered body parts in the other. Not knowing what he would need from the lab guy who’d been stupid enough to work late tonight of all nights, Hawke had kept both of his hands in case he needed a fingerprint or palm read, and the head for the likely event of face recognition or a retina scan. He really hadn’t planned on killing anyone, but the opportunity had presented itself, and Hawke had jumped on it. Quite literally. He’d take the body with him on his way out if he made it that far. If not, well, then the gig would be up, wouldn’t it? A random dead body should come as no surprise.
The key badge got him inside a side door and into a vestibule barred by another door. This one needed a retina scan. Tucking the hands under his arm, he pried open the lab guy’s eyelids and held the head in front of the scanner. With a green light and a soft click, he was in.
Hawke paused, listening for the sound of an alarm and letting his eyes adjust to the bright lighting. The first thing he did was look for the cameras, and he had to immediately tuck and roll around a corner to avoid being seen. Crouching on the floor in the shadow of a metal cart like they used in hospitals, he kept the severed limbs tucked against his jacket so blood wouldn’t drip on the floor while he caught his breath.
That was too fucking close. He needed to be more careful.
Peering around the edge of the cart, he again watched the cameras. Unlike the ones outside, these appeared to be stationary, which was almost worse. At least if they scanned the halls, it would give him a little more room to move, depending on the timing. However, these would cover a larger area and overlap each other’s viewing area.
Hawke retreated back to his hiding spot.
Fuck.
Chewing one corner of his bottom lip, he weighed his options, but not one of them ended with him getting out of there unscathed. Or, at all.
The bottom line was, it was too big of a risk. There was no doubt in Hawke’s mind those camera feeds were monitored twenty-four seven. Like all vampires, he could move pretty damn fast, fast enough to be practically invisible on most feeds. But Parasupe would know that, wouldn’t they, and they would adjust their system accordingly. One hint of something unusual on their feed, and all of those guards he’d left alive outside would be in here shooting at things they couldn’t see until one hit him by a pure stroke of luck.
But he’d already gotten this far. He had to at least try, right? If he got caught, Kohl knew where he was. And unless they killed him immediately, there was a good chance Hawke would stay alive until reinforcements were sent to get him the hell out of there and away from these psychopaths.
So, fuck it.
Taking a deep breath, Hawke prayed whatever high school dropout was monitoring the feed would be jacking off to his latest fetish on his cell phone, and he began working his way down the labyrinth of hallways, keeping his head down and his face out of sight. He didn’t pause anywhere long enough for the cameras to get a good look at him, but he didn’t need to. As he made his way through the building and in and out of rooms, he easily memorized it all, and would be able to precisely recall everything to Kohl when he got back to the caverns. As there were no signs or other indicators of direction, he watched for anything that would help him know where he was in the stark white interior—a piece of gravel missed by a broom in the corner. A slight scratch in the paint on a corner of the wall. A discolored spot in the grout of the white floor tiles from a past spill. Hawke noticed and memorized it all.
He was nearly to the center of the building when he heard something that caught his interest. Veering immediately to the right, he took the next hallway.
No guards stopped him as he followed the sounds, and he soon found himself outside an unmarked door located at the end of a short hallway that seemed out of place. But he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at the architect, for this way, he was out of sight of the cameras. The scanner was a fingerprint from the left hand, which was good because the limbs had lost all sense of warmth by this time. Hawke pressed the dead finger to the flat plate, and the lock clicked, allowing him access inside the room.
Hawke opened the door slowly, but there was no need for caution. A quick glance around proved there were no cameras in here, either. And no one was working late. Metal tables lined the walls, cluttered with microscopes and glass dishes and other odds and ends, except for the one just inside the door that held a large computer screen, mouse, and keyboard. The only lights were over what appeared to be a row of holding cells. But these weren’t the kind you’d find at the local jail to keep the occasional drunk off the road.
They had bars, yeah. Titanium, if Hawke were to guess. But it seemed the bars were there only as a second resort to hold whatever they’d caught if it happened to get through the first layer of defense—walls of some type of glass, probably bulletproof and stronger than the stuff used to protect the heads of state.
There was a large cell dead center of the row, and it held a prisoner. A man. He sat in the corner of the bare room, his nude form curled in on itself with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head resting on his folded arms. Lank, dark hair that looked as though it hadn’t been washed in weeks fell forward to hide his face.
Releasing the door, Hawke let it swing closed behind him. At the sound of the soft click of the lock, the man raised his head to stare at Hawke. His bloodshot eyes touched on the dismembered parts tucked under Hawke’s arm before sweeping back up to his face. There was no surprise there. He struggled to his feet, obviously weak and emaciated, yet still a formidable figure of a man.
Lean muscle covered his tall frame, and his sallow skin was covered in goose flesh. His hair was on the longer side, but it appeared to Hawke it was from the lack of a haircut rather than a sense of style as his jaw was also covered in an unkempt beard. The sharpness of his cheekbones and the unnatural thinness of his frame showed he was obviously being starved. But why? Who was this person? What threat did he impose on Parasupe? And, more importantly, how the fuck did Everly know him?
The male didn’t bother to cover his nakedness but stood proud and defiant. “Who the fuck are you?” His voice was gravelly from lack of use.
Or, perhaps, from screaming for help.
Instead of answering, Hawke prowled the perimeter of the cell, looking for something that would tell him who this man was and/or why he was being held against his will. Seeing nothing of interest, he returned to the table near the doorway and the computer on its surface. It was still on, but it was in sleep mode and he had no idea what the password would be. He tried to override it, but his hacking skills weren’t exactly up to par. He’d have to have Devon give it a shot remotely later.
