Operation (26 page)

“From what I understand of the creature’s character, I would agree with your assessment. But there was another in the group that was opposite in opinion of Dimitri; I believe his name was Josip.”

“Josip was a radical element and a hot head,” Reese said. “He was killed by the civilian, Lauki, as an act of revenge for the murders of his two daughters.”

“Yes, I understand that,” she agreed. “That was how the whole investigation began, was it not?”

“That’s correct, the discovery of the bodies.”

“Do you know what happened to the bodies of the two girls?”

“It’s all in the report,” he said, frustrated.

Samantha just looked at him expressionlessly, waiting for him to go on. He continued, “They were brought back to Camp Bondsteel and autopsied. This occurred about the same time that I was called to meet with General Stone for the first time. I read the report of the girls on the flight over to Kosovo.”

“And after that?”

“I arrived in theater, confirmed the creatures’ existence and began the op to capture the vampires with the Navy SEALs. End of story.”

“No. I meant, what happened to the bodies of the two girls after that?”

“I assume they were buried,” Reese said, but he was not sure. There had been too many other things happening at the same time.

“But you don’t know, do you?” she pressed.

“No.”

“Well, they weren’t buried,” she said, as she slammed the flat part of her hand against the top of the desk to emphasize the point. “Details are the key to success. Remember that.”

Reese was caught off-guard by her emotional reaction to this point. It took a few seconds for his question to come out. “Well, if they weren’t buried, then what happened to them? Please enlighten me as to the details that I have apparently overlooked.”

Samantha smiled and continued. “General Stone had them brought back here to the States for further study. He wasn’t sure if his suspicions were correct, but he brought them back anyway. It cost him some pretty significant favors, which was how we learned what he was doing, in the end.”

“Suspicions? What suspicions?” Reese asked, but as soon as he had said the words, the realization of what Stone suspected about the two children hit him hard. “He thought that Josip hadn’t just killed them, but that he had changed them. Didn’t he?”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Apparently this vampire, Josip, was looking for the ultimate revenge to bestow upon Lauki. Instead of just killing the two girls, he wanted to really rub his face in it. Think about it: he wanted to take the things this man loved the most by killing them and if that wasn’t enough, he wanted to change them into the object that he despised the most. How’s that for the ultimate revenge?”

“Son of a bitch!” Reese exclaimed, shocked at the audacity of Josip. “He wanted to make this man’s daughters into vampires…damn him! The cycle never ends.”

“Cycle? What do you mean?” Samantha asked.

Reese exhaled strongly and then explained. “It’s a family feud thing, like the Hatfields and McCoys. Idriz Lauki’s parents were killed by vampires, so he killed one of the members of the brood of vampires who was Josip’s friend. When Dimitri learned of this feud, he decided it was best for them to go into an extended period of hibernation to let things cool down. When they awoke, Josip got right back into the swing of things by planning revenge against Lauki by attacking his daughters. His attack is what brought General Stone and me into this whole affair. After the brood was captured, Lauki planned his revenge on Josip. He goaded him into attacking him after Lauki had saturated his body with the elixir. Josip attacked and killed him, but also doomed himself because of the poisonous elixir. These two had finally ended their feud, but at least Josip’s plan never came to fruition. Or so I thought.”

The thoughts of such anger and hatred between these two people sickened Reese. They both were consumed by nothing else than thoughts of destroying the other. Reese found himself distracted, remembering things that these creatures had said and done, while Samantha kept talking. 

“What I have found out,” Samantha continued, “was mostly by some guesswork and a lot of surmising. Josip began the process when he initially attacked the girls and then finished
it later. I suspect he snuck into the medical compound at Camp Bondsteel and completed whatever the process required while you were in the early stages of planning what you were going to do.”

Reese was only hearing some of the words Samantha was saying. He was deep in his own thoughts, remembering how elusive Dimitri had been when he had been asked questions along this line.

“This reproduction,” he said. “this making of a vampire, was one area that Dimitri never discussed with me. It was something…I don’t know…very personal to him and the others. But Major Barkley would have noticed something.” Reese was more thinking aloud than taking an active part in the discussion.

Samantha continued as if Reese had not said anything. “The bodies were removed quickly and quietly and brought back to the States. Barkley was told they had been buried. As far as he was concerned, that part of the op was over with.”

 “Wait a minute…” Reese said, as her insinuations finally came to him. “You said the method was completed? What do you mean?”

“Josip succeeded in making the girls into vampires,” Samantha stated flatly.

“No,” Reese said. He didn’t want to believe what he was hearing.

Samantha continued. “At the time, Stone didn’t know it for sure. He only suspected what had happened, but this one time, being as thorough as he was paid off. He had the bodies brought back and placed in a special isolation chamber. It took months but they finally awoke, not as humans but as vampires. The information we have about this period is pretty sketchy: most of the records were destroyed, but apparently the process takes time for…I guess you could call for rebirth as a vampire.”

“My God, but how would he know what to do? How to keep them?” Reese asked.

“From you,” she said. “Whatever you did, he did. You gave him the blueprint to success, so to speak. He just copied it on a smaller scale. He used cattle as their food source as you did, the same collars you designed…everything.”

“Christ…so Josip got his ultimate revenge in the end. That’s why he still laughed at Lauki even after he realized that he was going to die from the elixir. He knew he would still win.”

“This Josip might have been a cruel individual, but he wasn’t stupid,” Samantha added.

Reese mulled this over in his thoughts. It still didn’t make sense to him. “But why?” he said aloud. “What purpose could they be to Stone? The girls were so young—they were just children. What use could they have been to him?”

Samantha leaned closer to him. “Think about it, Reese. It was so perfect. If the girls possessed all the powers that your team members had, Stone would be ecstatic.”

“I still don’t follow. They’re just children.”

“Come on, Reese, think about it” She exhaled strongly, and then continued. “What is the object that conveys pure innocence? A child. Especially little girls. Dress them up in cute little outfits, voila, an even better killing machine than your team. These children would become master assassins and never be suspected.”

“But they are only children, for God sakes!” he repeated, not wanting to believe any of this; that he unknowingly played a role in it.

“They are vampires now!” she stated, as if to get Reese out of his denial. “Stone could form their minds into any shape he chose. Given time, I’m sure he would have shaped their thoughts and predatory skills into becoming the ultimate killing devices.”

“What do you mean, if he had been given time?”

“They’re missing,” she said.

“Missing? What do you mean, missing?” Reese asked. At the same time, everything fell into place in his thoughts.

That’s what this is all about—that’s why they have me here.

“Someone or some group has taken them,” she said.

“What—where—”

“After you destroyed your team, the two girls were moved to the facility at Little Creek. Previously, they were being held at a quarantine area at SOCOM at MacDill Air Force Base.”

“But the compound—the collars—it was impossible to escape. We…I designed it to be foolproof.”

“Apparently not. Whoever did it had inside information on the facility. They knew what and where all the safeguards were and the procedure for moving them.”

“But how? Why?”

“That’s what we want you to find out. You know all the ins and outs of the facility, as well as the habits and motivations of the vampires themselves. Perhaps you can find something to indicate how they escaped and who helped them.”

Reese’s head was spinning with this new information.

“I’m sure you have others looking into this,” Reese said, although he knew the answer. They wouldn’t have wasted any time trying to recover the vampires, but apparently those attempts were not successful if they had called him here.

“Of course. But you have unique expertise in this area. We are obviously trying to keep this quiet. We have a special team headed by SOCOM and comprised of SEALs from local units. We want you to be part of the investigative team as well as the advisor to the team that will be used to either recapture or destroy the girls.”

“Destroy?”

“Commander Reese,” she indignantly, “You must realize that we cannot allow these girls to infiltrate the population or fall into the wrong hands. That is, as you said earlier, against the natural order of things.”

Reese felt his anger rise. “You like doing that, don’t you?”

 
“What?”

“Using my own words against me as justification.”

“It’s the truth and you know it,” she replied. “If they escaped on their own, then we have to get them out of the civilian areas before they go on a killing spree. If someone has facilitated their escape, then we have a potential threat to national security. In either case, all measures will be utilized to capture or neutralize them.”

Reese couldn’t help letting a wry chuckle escape from his lips.

“Is something amusing, Commander?” she asked.

“Just the irony of the situation: if we have the vampires to send out and kill, everything is okay. If someone else has them, it’s a threat to national security.”

“It’s all about power, Commander Reese. You realize that, I’m sure.”

“And where do they fit in?”

“Who?”

“The vampires—these children? What have they done wrong? Nothing. They were created through the misguided actions of another.”

“They are casualties—”

“—of war,” Reese said, completing the sentence. “Yes, I know. Dimitri understood that as well. It’s so strange. Whether vampire or human, some things transcend both worlds.”

“So what’s your answer, Commander? I need to know if I can trust you.”

“Of course I’m in,” Reese said. He knew he had no other choice. If he opted out, he would be conveniently removed. He couldn’t allow that to happen: they had had inside help to escape. He feared he knew who the inside help might have been. If Dimitri and the others had been in on the escape—and if that was discovered—he would become very intimate with Fort Leavenworth.
Very intimate
. 

“One more thing, Commander,” she said. “You need to understand exactly where I am coming from. I am committed to doing my job. I will let nothing stand in the way of that. Nothing. Try and trick or fool me about something and you will be dealt with accordingly. This is not like the Team of Darkness op. There is no leeway for you to fulfill your academic desires by analyzing the motivations of these creatures. General Stone gave you too much freedom in that regard. I shall not.”

“So I am to do what, then? Hold your hand and—”

“Basically find these creatures. Nothing more.”

“Sure, I understand,” he said. “How long have they been gone?”

“Seventy-two hours.”

“They could be anywhere by now.”

“We have cordoned off the entire area of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the surrounding areas. Working with the Homeland Security Office, we were able to attribute the high level of security to a presumed terrorist threat. We have local authorities searching every truck, plane and ship. We are confident that they are still in the area.” 

“That is still a pretty large search area.”

“That’s why you’re here,” she said, smiling too widely at Reese. He felt his stomach sicken at the thoughts behind that smile.

“You are an expert on these creatures. You know their social and behavioral patterns. If they are on their own, they will need to find a place to live, eat et cetera . If they were taken, the same things apply. Their captors will need to acquire things for them. You understand and know what those things are.”

“Well, when do we get started?”

“Immediately. You will give a briefing to the search teams this afternoon at Little Creek Amphibious base at the SEAL compound. You know the area.”

“Of course, I worked there for years.”

“Mr. Smith will be your associate throughout this process,” she added.

“Is that really necessary?” Reese asked. “We don’t exactly see eye to eye on things.”

“For the immediate period, it is. After you have met with the teams, we’ll see what happens from there.” She glanced at her watch. “You should get going if you’re to make the meeting this afternoon.”

Reese eyed the folder on the desk in front of her. “Is there anything else in there I should be aware of? I wonder if you are telling me everything I need to know?”

“You have what you need for now,” she simply said.

“Ah…a need-to-know basis,” he said sarcastically.

“That’s correct, Commander. Need-to-know basis.”

“Well, then, I guess I’ll be on my way.”

Reese rose from the chair and turned toward the door.

“I don’t get something, Commander,” she said.

Reese turned back toward her.

“What’s that?”

“I’ve read the reports from the Team of Darkness op, over and over again.”

“And?”

“It paints a clear picture of the vampires but…”

“But what?”