The Gates of Byzantium (Purge of Babylon, Book 2) (72 page)

“I’m sorry about Josh,” he finally said.

“I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” she said.

*

Will stood at
the western cliff, beyond a large swath of untapped forest taking up nearly half the island, looking down at the ten-meter drop from the ridgeline to the water below. He had circled the entire island on foot, making sure there was no other way onto it except through the south side using the beach.

He kicked at a pebble and watched it drop into the water below. Climbing a cliff took skill. Someone had to come up first, then throw ropes down to pull the rest up. He and Danny could do it, given time and cover, but it would be a hell of a stretch for weekend warriors like the ones Danny had sent away earlier.

It was doable, but unlikely.

The beach. They’d have to storm the beach to get onto the island.

He was emerging out of the wall of trees when his earbud clicked, and Danny’s voice: “You hear that?”

Danny was back in the Tower with Gaby. They had decided Danny would be on the third floor for the entire night with the ACOG. Not that he could have pried Danny away anyway, with Carly on the floor just below him.

“No, what?” Will said.

“Vehicles. I think they just got more reinforcements.”

“How many?”

“Looks like three… No, make that four trucks. It’s always gotta be trucks, doesn’t it? You gotta love the South. Throw a rock on the road and you’re liable to hit a dozen trucks before you get to the first sedan. Yee haw.”

Will jogged back to the hotel through the grass. “I’m on my way back.”

“Oh, and you won’t believe this…”

“More good news?”

“Depends. You like fishing?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then not so much good news.”

“What’re you seeing?”

“They’re bringing over more boats.”

“How many?”

“I count two. That gives them four that we know of. I put a bullet through one of the boat motors, so maybe three and a half, depending on whether they have a mechanic who knows boats or not.”

“Keep an eye on them.”

“I was going to go bowling, but okay, just this once.”

Will met Blaine as he was coming out of the hotel with MRE bags.

“How’re the stitches?” Will asked.

“I’m not bleeding to death, so that’s good. Lara gave me some kind of pill cocktail that seems to be doing the job. I’ve lost all feeling except for my tongue.”

Will grinned. “You heard on the radio?”

“Yeah.” Blaine fell in next to him as they moved toward the beach. “Four more trucks. Assuming two to a truck, that’s eight people. And that’s lowballing it. It’s probably more like three to a truck, maybe four if you really want to get pessimistic about it.”

“Sounds about right.”

“All collaborators, too? Why are they converging here? The ones I met in Beaumont didn’t have any contact with any of the others. I got the feeling they didn’t even know the others existed the whole time I was with them.”

Will had considered the question, and he had always come back to the same answer:
Kate.

“There’s a blue-eyed ghoul,” Will said. “She’s in charge of the blood farms and pretty much everything that happens in Texas as far as I can tell. Maybe Louisiana, too. My guess is, she’s the one calling them over here.”

She wants me. No, not her. The
other
blue-eyed ghoul. She said his name was Mabry…

Blaine didn’t respond right away. Will wondered if the other man thought he was nuts.

But no, that wasn’t it. He saw something else in Blaine’s eyes.
Recognition.

“You’ve seen it,” Will said.

Blaine nodded. “A few nights ago, when Sandra and I were hiding in that house you patched me up in. I saw one. Then later, in Beaumont, Maddie told me she saw a blue-eyed ghoul talking to the guy in charge of the collaborators there. She thought it was a woman, but she wasn’t sure.”

Damn, Kate, you get around, don’t you?

“How many collaborators were there? In Beaumont?” Will asked.

“Five. You guys killed one of them, so they were desperate to recruit us.”

“You, Sandra, Maddie, and Bobby?”

Blaine nodded.

“So she’s bringing them from a lot of places,” Will said.

“You talk about this blue-eyed ghoul like you know her. Or it.” He shook his head. “Whatever it is now.”

“I did. Once upon a time.”

“How’s that?”

“I slept with her,” Will said.

*

At
7:14 
p.m.,
with nightfall an hour away and sunset spraying the horizon in a picturesque red and orange glow, he expected them to attack.

But they didn’t.

He waited in the relative darkness of the woods, watching the beach and the piers extending out into the lake in front of him, calm under solar-powered LED lampposts flickering on around the island. He couldn’t see Blaine, who was somewhere to his left, or Maddie, farther up the beach to his right. Bobby was somewhere between the hotel and the Tower, watching their backs in case they had to retreat.

Danny and Gaby had the Tower, with Lara and the girls on the second floor of the structure, watching over Carly. Sarah was on the first floor, manning the door. Everyone had a radio.

Finally, he heard what he had been expecting for the last half hour, coming from land. It was a low rumbling sound.

His right ear clicked, and Danny’s voice: “Hear that?”

“I hear it,” Will said.

“Are those engines?” Blaine asked through the radio.

“Outboard motors,” Maddie said.

Just as quickly as they heard them, the motors stopped.

For a while, anyway.

Then they heard the noise again, starting up, loud despite the distance. Then it went away again.

It went on like that for a while. One minute, two—five.

“They’re testing out the motors,” Maddie said. “They must be making sure the new boats they brought over are working.”

He glanced down at his watch. “It’ll be dark soon. Everyone stay frosty.”

“Maybe they got tired of playing with their motors and decided to take the night off,” Danny said.

“Captain Optimism,” Will smirked.

*

The solar-powered
lampposts did their jobs around them while darkness fell over the calm lake surface. There was no fanfare, just the exchange of day for night. Such a simple transition, but so monumental these days.

Will hadn’t moved from his spot in the last hour, the M4A1 on the ground next to him, the Remington slung over his back. With the blanketing darkness, he could make out lights from the shoreline with the naked eye. Straining his ears a bit, he heard what sounded like the hum of generators.

By nine, there was still no attack, but Will didn’t move from his position.

Neither did Blaine or Maddie, or Bobby behind them. Danny and Gaby didn’t wander very far from the four windows on the Tower’s third floor, either.

No one was going anywhere tonight.

Not by a long shot.

*

Midnight came and
went, and Will was starting to think the collaborators weren’t going to attack after all. He didn’t move from his position, but he did sit down and dig out a bag of MRE and laid the M4A1 on the ground next to him.

“I don’t think they’re coming, Kemosabe,” Danny said in his right ear.

“We’ll wait until the hour of the wolf,” Will said.

“What’s that?” Maddie asked.

“Three in the morning,” Danny said. “Otherwise known as the time when anyone with half a brain should be asleep, but the wicked are up thinking about their evil deeds. Or more affectionately known as the best time to attack a sleeping enemy because they’re at their lowest point of the day.”

“This MRE is good,” Blaine said through the radio.

“What are you eating?” Maddie asked.

“Turkey and mashed potatoes. Or it’s supposed to be turkey and mashed potatoes. Looks like something someone threw up, but it actually tastes like turkey and mashed potatoes. Sorta.”

“Welcome to the glamorous world of professional soldiering,” Danny said. “Don’t forget to grab some T-shirts at the gift shop on your way out.”

Will heard movement behind him and was about to reach for his rifle when he got a whiff of her scent and relaxed. She pushed her way through the branches and sat down next to him, laying a Benelli shotgun on the ground.

“Thought you wouldn’t mind some company,” she said quietly.

“I never mind your company.”

She smiled. “Wow. That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me. And that’s…kind of sad.”

He chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

“Eh, I didn’t fall in love with you for your ability to romance me off my feet. It was more the whole shooting undead creatures thing.”

“Have gun, will shoot.”

Her face grew a bit more serious. “How did the talk with Gaby go?”

“As could be expected. She’s a tough girl.”

“She really liked him. Josh. You want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“What happened with Josh.”

“He got shot and fell off the boat. That’s about it.”

“Will…”

“Lara, I’m not sure what you want me to say. I’m sorry about the kid. I liked him. But there was nothing I could do.”

She watched him intently, trying to read his face. “All right,” she said after a while. “You can talk to me about anything. Anytime.”

“I know. That’s why I love you.”

She climbed up on his lap and sought out his mouth in the semidarkness of the woods. Will tossed the MRE bag away and wrapped his arms around her. After a moment, she pulled slightly back and looked down at him as if trying to memorize every inch of his face. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, and he found himself wanting to become lost in the crystal blue of her eyes.

“You take me to the best places,” she smiled.

“Nothing but the best for my gal.”

“Now that’s the kind of sweet nothings guaranteed to get a girl’s pants off.”

She kissed him again and put her hands on his chest before trailing down. She started to unbuckle his belt.

“Lara,” he managed to say, pulling away from her for just a moment, “I want this. God, I want this. But this is probably not the time or place—”