Other Places 3: Detours (13 page)

If
watching him eat was annoying, no one mentioned it at all, meaning he was able
to do that quickly and then go wash up in the restroom, since careful or not,
he managed to get red sauce all over his hands. Then, looking into the last
room, ready to be attacked, he walked through the node, ending up in Idaho,
which wasn't that far away at all.

Harland
jumped, but was alone. He bowed, going lower than he needed to, and making a
small flourish with his right hand.

"Line
Walker."

Zack
put his hand out, trying not to seem wary, but there were no councilmen left to
be part of the plotting. It pretty much meant that he was the one, or would, in
a story. He was totally innocent however, and it showed clearly.

Titling
his head a little, Zack spoke, his words sounding nicely firm.

"You
have people you wish to get into place at the summit? I've already taken the
Vampire ambassadors, but if you wish to trade something for it?"

Manthori
Vampires tended to have the strongest psychic abilities of all the different
types. That meant the man picked up on the fact that his mind had been rather
neatly read, and also that he didn't pretend to be shocked about it. He had to
be powerful that way himself after all, or he wouldn't be their leader. They
didn't fight with fists for the position after all.

"Would
you be open to a trade of information?"

"Possibly,
what do you have?"

"I
have a man, one of my people, who came to me recently, begging aid. He claims
to know where there are some twenty Human children being kept as sex slaves,
and seeks help in retrieving them. It has been said that you have some interest
in granting such aid?"

Zack
looked at the man, as if he were stupid, since even he could see that wasn't a
real trade at all. It was, ultimately, more work, wasn't it?

Still,
what you did each day counted, right?

"If
you put together a group to get them back, and help find their families, I'll
get your man into place to do it. In exchange, I'll take your people to the
summit tonight."

It
wasn't lost on Harland what that meant, it seemed, since a small tear came to
his eye.

It
was fake, Zack knew, but the effort was appreciated.

For
the next four hours, Zack ran. Sometimes literally. The first moments, taking
about ten minutes, went easily enough for him. All he had to do was move
Harland to Westfield, and make certain everyone knew not to kill him, then move
his chosen ambassador to the summit.

After
that, things got strange. For him at least.

To
start with, he needed to make a call. That meant, for him at least, going to
his store, since he didn't own a cell phone, and everyone else was standing
around arguing. It was a soft thing, with Bey clasping his hands, as if
worried, and Marissa glaring at Gene, who was, as he proclaimed, innocent in
her captivity. Harland watched Keeley, and occasionally Balthias, as if
wondering when they were all going to die.

It
was probably a fair question, since she was standing there watching all of them
like they were food, and she was a hungry lion. Tasty little Vampire treats
that she couldn't wait to get her paws on.

His
Vampires.

"Back
to the book store then. Keeley, Balthias, would you both come with me?
Rebekah..." He looked at her and then the much older beings of her kind
that sat around the space. "Maybe you could stay and answer questions
about your new projects? Let me know if we need Richard Swerlin for this, too.
We can probably arrange a meeting." Not that he knew that for certain, but
it was night and the man was a Vampire. One old enough to not need sleep, so he
was probably available for this group of people.

The
chalk white woman smiled at him, as if he wasn't planning to leave her with
what had to be the four most powerful people in her Vampire centric world.
Then, she worked with Keeley day in and out, so maybe it was just a relief for
her? The Demon girl was trying. For him at least.

"That
would be good. I can wait in the other room with the embassy staff?" She
asked at least, and looked, oddly enough, at Harland, not any of the others. He
smiled, showing rows of shiny white fangs that made his face look like a true
horror, and happy at the same time.

"I
think we can do that, Miss Rebekah. Thank you, Line Walker." He turned to
the others, very ponderously then and bowed slightly. "I know it takes
from the moment, so please, forgive me Marissa, but I have need of a combat
group. The Line Walker has agreed to aid us in the recovery of some Human
children. One of my people has requested it."

That
would have normally started a long discussion, he was sure, but Zack waved his
right hand.

"Twenty
plus kids being kept as sex slaves. I'll get the people into place, and it
probably won't take that many, but we need to get the children to someplace safe
on the other side of this. I'll be ready in... Call it an hour?" He didn't
know, but made himself sound very certain, as if he had a real plan.

Keeley
stared at him, but didn't say anything, though Bey did.

"Ah!
Very good. I shall assemble a team. Lenore, dear, would you arrange that?
Perhaps the Denver group would aid in this, since they have worked with the
Line Walker before? I will go myself."

Zack
shook his head.

"Not
needed. We should probably have a small group of people that can fake being
friendly. One for each child? You four need to work on figuring out who took
one of your members. If a combat group and I can't handle this alone, then we
deserve to die." Then, as if he was important or something, and everything
would be taken care of, he walked out.

At
the front counter of the place Barb smiled and handed him a large chocolate
caramel thing with extra whipped cream. Lenore followed him and touched his
shoulder.

"Are
you well, Zack?"

He
smiled, ate a few bites of the treat and shook his head.

"No.
I'll live however. Let's get through this first? I could use that team."
Then, a bit coldly, he walked away. It was mean of him, and not what he should
have done, for best interaction with his girlfriend, but he also had to
convince everyone there that he wasn't just vapid Zack now. Especially Keeley.
The rest of the people were more likely to think of him as a person, or an
equal. She just wanted to use him for her own projects, and that had to end.

He
waved at Edom as Lenore moved to the phone, getting the man to follow along.

As
they walked, quickly, down the red brick central area of the mall, he spoke,
his voice low and a bit steely.

"I'm
taking people in and out. The rest of this needs to be done by your people. If
you'd run this for us, it might help your career. Don't go in. I want you to
handle the organization of the thing with the man Harland mentioned. Are you
in?" He made it a question, though really, Edom wasn't going to say no,
was he?

"Do
you have a number for this man?"

He
did, pulled directly from the head Manthori's mind even. He marched into the
back of his store, eating from the paper cup in his hands the whole time. The
frosty thing was good, if poorly made. The ingredients were well made, but Barb
had sort of slapped the thing together, which probably meant she was secretly
freaking out. There were too many high ranking and powerful people around and
for a fairly young Vampire like herself, being only about fifty years dead,
that wasn't a good thing.

Anyone
in that room might rape her, or simply kill her out of hand, after all. Even
Rebekah might, as far as she knew. It was bad enough having Edom and Lenore
around all the time, and they were
her
people. Bey was basically the
baby Vampire boogie-man, for goodness sake. He was the threat that came during
the day and killed you, if you didn't learn fast enough, or wouldn't behave. It
was a huge thing that the girl hadn't lost control of bodily functions with
them all there.

It
was probably good for her. Unpleasant, but it would eventually be important for
her to be known to the higher ups.

He
signaled Edom to go directly back to his little office, and pointed at the
chair, so that the man would sit. As that happened, he picked up the small
black phone and dialed, then put the thing to his own ear.

"Hello?"
The voice was spooky deep, meaning a large person, since there was a hollow
tone to it. People that were faking a deep voice like that always sounded
strained and fake. This man, whoever he was, didn't need to bother with that.

"John?"
It was just polite small talk, since that was the name of the man he was
calling.

"Yeah?
Who's this?"

Not
wanting a ten minute conversation about what a nice guy he was, and only there
to help, Zack
lied
. It was a new enough thing that he almost added magic
to it, before he realized he didn't need to.

"This
is Edom's secretary. He's the one the Council has tasked with seeing to the
project you mentioned? Please hold." Then, smiling he handed the hand unit
over. It didn't have a cord, and the black man didn't smile, taking the whole
thing seriously.

"This
is Edom. What's needed?"

The
conversation was short, and after about three minutes, Edom looked at him and
nodded.

"We
have the Line Walker contracted to get us into place. A full strike team as
well. It doesn't sound like we'll need them all, does it?" There was a
pause. "Yes... The Line Walker. The Council traded this with him for other
work. We aren't supposed to mention it, but this, saving these children, is his
payment
."

There
was a deep voice from the other end, and finally Edom smiled, though he kept it
grim.

"Perhaps.
Do you have a map?"

That
turned out to be needed, since the children were being kept on a small island
twenty miles off the coast of Cuba. In international waters, so no one had real
control of the situation. That meant, oddly enough, that what they were doing,
taking in a strike team, wasn't even illegal at all. It was a first, as far as
Zack knew. Useful.

John
the Manthori was actually at the Florida Nexus, which was a place that Zack had
been before, pretty often even. He glanced into the node, and saw the nearly
seven foot tall white being easily, though he was in the other room. That place
was basically like a real embassy, or an office building, rather than a store.
That was a shame, since he needed to keep eating. It meant that he was going to
have to raid the cafe. Luckily there was a baked goods tray that had been left
on the counter for him. At least Zack had seen it and assumed it was for him.

He
was going to eat it at least, and just had to hope that Palma wouldn't get too
mad about it.

The
operation itself seemed to take forever to put together, right until the armed
and armored troops from Denver were in place, and ready to go. The hardest part
was that Zack needed to create a node point using his own energy, on the
island. What he wanted was a permanent one, if possible. There was a technique
for doing that in the library of memories that Tarsus had given him a few weeks
before. All he needed to do for it to work... was kill about ten thousand
virgins. Violently while they writhed in pain would work best as to the needed
energy release.

He
smiled, and analyzed what was needed, which honestly just required him to make
a point, which he could already do, and tie it into the lines, so that space
itself would feed into it. There was a time component, but he could set that
without too many problems. If he wanted he could make it last for a few hundred
years, for about the cost of that tray of food he needed to go and munch. He
sort of understood that most Greater Demons just wouldn't have been able to do
it. He was special, that way.

It
got done, and then he assembled everyone in Denver, since it was faster that
way. John was, as he'd noticed, vast. Not just tall and thin, but thick and powerful
looking. It probably meant he could have cleared the island himself without any
problem, but what he'd needed the whole time was a way to get there and people
to help with the kids on the other side of the event itself. He'd actually
contacted Harland's secretary in hopes of getting funds to pay for a
boat
,
planning to do it all himself.

Still,
faced with a Greater Demon or not, the being knew what had to be done and had a
plan. The Vampire hit team didn't like all of it, since, as the Hispanic woman
that spoke pointed out, it left them with almost nothing to do. They had all
those weapons, and it was a shame not to use them.

John
nodded, but grumbled at her, his voice actually quite pleasant.

"We
have twenty Vampires of good age, ready to face five drug using Human men of no
particular power or combat ability. I do not think we need to frighten the
children. I'd like to take these men alive, if allowed?" That got
addressed to Edom, who nodded.

It
did make sense, after all.

"To
see if they have useful information, as to your work?"

"Indeed,
sir."

"All
right. Line Walker, we'll move when you allow it." That was him being
polite
and
not making it seem like Zack had asked him to arrange the
whole thing. It was smart, as far as career building went.

He
just moved to the node, the back room of the Denver node actually being
carpeted. It was nice enough, but not great for heavy traffic. In years past
that hadn't been a thing really, but in the last months business had picked up
there, hadn't it? Thanks to him. Martinez, the woman, touched his arm, ready to
go first.

"So...
Demon
? And here I was planning on inviting you over for dinner."
She grinned, meaning that she wanted to eat him, and not in a way he ever would
have found pleasant in particular. He wasn't into biting. It was an issue with
Lenore, too. Vampires always got bitey during sex, apparently. It was one
reason why he'd done Rebekah face down. Mirror Him had considered that,
apparently. He knew it now.

She
had short hair and was cute, but in a slightly butch way. Now that he was
picking up information from people he touched, he got that she didn't just look
like the woman he recognized from the movies, normally playing a female marine,
or space marine to be exact, but she actually
was
that person.

Zack
smiled.

"Well,
my blood won't help you, but we can still get together and chat sometime?"
He didn't particularly want to think about sex at the moment, but a small part
of him, one that probably once belonged to Mirror Him, was wondering if she did
anal on the first date. Odds were, he knew, that she would, at least for him.
The thought took magic to suppress however, since a cascade of pain tried to
fill Zack's mind then, the old memories wanting to flood into place again.

It
was still taking a lot of energy to hold things together. It didn't seem right,
but he was using nearly as much to do that, suppress some emotions, as it had
taken to make a semi-permanent node point where one hadn't existed at all an
hour before.

"Ready
to move?" He changed topics smoothly enough, and she nodded.