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With that done, I hauled him up and over my shoulder, letting him flop like a bag of grain over my back. If he happened to wake up, he'd be in pain.
Part of me hoped he did wake. Both Landsbury and tonight's victim might have deserved the death they'd received, but that didn't make their killer worthy of fair treatment.
Harsh, one part of me whispered.
At least he's not dead, another retorted.
All of which made me wonder if half the reason for the gaps in my memory was a desire not to remember exactly what I'd been or done in the past.
I turned around and trudged back toward Harris and the shattered helicopter. It might not have been far, but by the time I arrived, I was hot, sweaty, and tired. The vamp wasn't big, but that didn't mean he was light.
Surprisingly, there was no one else there yet. Harris obviously hadn't called in help. The helicopter rested on its side like some forgotten child's toy and the pilot lay beside it, trussed securely with wire that had obviously been ripped out of the copter. He was bloody and bruised, and looked rather the worse for wear. He was also unconscious.
Harris was leaning into the fallen helicopter, pulling out bits of papers and scanning them, but swung around as I approached. Relief touched his features as he dropped the paperwork and walked across to me, grabbing the vamp by the waist and hauling him off my back. I sighed in relief and rubbed my aching shoulder, watching Harris dump the vamp on the ground beside the pilot.
"How come you haven't called for assistance?" I asked.
"Because," he said, swinging around to face me, "I tried ringing Mike but he's not answering his phone. And if you're right about there being a plot surrounding you, then I don't think it's wise to let too many other people know that you helped me bring down a vamp."
I frowned. "The young officer saw me running with you, and the vamp certainly knows I brought him down. I wouldn't think either is going to keep my presence a secret."
"Did the vamp actually see you?"
I frowned. "No. Why?"
"Because you were shadowing when we were racing up here. Benny wouldn't have seen you, and he wasn't close enough to scent you. So if the vamp never actually saw you clearly, then we don't have a problem."
I'd had no idea that I was shadowing. Obviously, whatever had been done to my mind had somehow switched my "other" skills from conscious to automatic. "The vamp never bothered looking around to see who was chasing him, and I never gave him the opportunity once I brought him down."
"Good," Harris said. "Then leave, and make sure no one sees you. Loop back the long way if you have to. I'll take care of these two."
"Will the cells at the station be strong enough to hold the vamp?"
He smiled. "They're strong enough to hold werewolves. They'll hold a vamp."
I wasn't so sure, and maybe my expression said as much because Harris added, "But we have several pairs of titanium handcuffs. We'll use those on the bugger, just to be sure."
I nodded. "The Directorate will want to interview him."
"That's only if the Perth office considers our problem interesting enough to come down here. We still haven't had any communication from them."
"You might not. They might just show up on your doorstep tomorrow." I hesitated. "There's also the problem of the vamp's telepathy - "
"We have nanowires," he cut in. "This place may be in the middle of nowhere, but I've ensured we're equipped to deal with anyone and anything."
"And I'm betting all the fancy equipment came out of pack funds, not government." State governments Australia-wide were still struggling to supply the bulk of their city forces with nanowires, so it was doubtful they'd be wasting them on places like Dunedan, where vamps were likely to be few and far between.
Harris's gaze narrowed a little. "You know altogether too much about the workings of the police and the Directorate. If you're one or the other, and have gone missing, it's a wonder there's not an all-state alert out."
I shrugged. "Maybe there is. Driver's licenses can be faked, you know."
"Yours is in the system."
"That doesn't make it any more real."
"True, but the picture is of you, and that alone should have raised interest." He glanced at his watch. "You'd better leave, or I'll be dealing with questions as to why I waited so long to call this in."
"Then consider me gone."
