“This is Transylvania,” Dahl said seriously, with an accent. “There are far worse things out there than colds.”
The team looked at him, surprised, and then all laughed together. It lightened the situation considerably and put a temporary end to Lauren’s suggestions. As on every previous day, they would revisit all the diverse solutions later. It had become an unspoken agreement.
The team would stick together.
They watched without word as a whorl of mist seeped under the ill-fitting door and swirled around. The night pressed hard against the windows, the walls and the foundations of the house, as if representing the new enemy that hunted them.
Another enemy. So many, they had lost count.
“Y’know something,” Hayden said. “I never mentioned this before. But winning, succeeding in whatever you do… simply paints you as a target. In many ways.”
“Not just a target,” Dahl said. “We could be on anyone’s agenda, and used in a thousand ways. Even us, a team that supposedly does not exist.”
Gravity was returning to the room, thick and fast. Alicia sensed it and all the morose gloom it brought; she rose quickly to her feet, and started to undress.
Pausing with her T-shirt raised above her head she looked around and said, “So, you guys gonna fuck off, or what? Drake promised to do the Time Warp on me tonight.” She threw the shirt in the corner. “Now, I don’t really know what that means, but I’m dying to find out.”
She started on her jeans, unbuckling the belt.
The room emptied fast.
CHAPTER TWO
It was no coincidence that the shrewd, streetwise New Yorker, Lauren Fox, mentioned returning to DC that night. She’d thought it all through and planned it for days. She’d walked the roads, learned the routes, found out the time the first bus stopped by. In addition, she had scoped out a car that she knew how to hotwire. Leaving a double trail was better if they decided to follow.
Smyth would want to, maybe Mano too. Maybe even Dahl. But the others had seen right through to the core of her plan, considered her role and resolution, and saw that it might succeed. She was willing to accept whatever consequences came her way.
Wrapping up warm, cursing the cold she’d picked up, she left her room just before dawn when the night was still dark. The mist helped conceal her but also jabbed at her lungs. She managed to stifle another cough before moving on. Soon, she was clear of her room, walking a familiar path toward the center of town. Around her, though she could not see, homes were built atop the undulating slopes, all following the angles of the mountains and valleys. Some flickering lamps shone out against the darkness, sparse and bare, promising a safe haven, but Lauren pressed on through the wet murk, head down, and stuck to her pre-planned route.
Vague sounds caught her attention, sharp over her softly padding footsteps. A dog barking, a large bird taking flight. A car burbled over up ahead to the right, revealing that she wasn’t the only one abroad in the chilling gloom, and offering an odd, small amount of comfort.
The long walk. The last walk. Would she ever see them all again? A team of strangers that had gradually become family. A bunch of misfits that had accepted her, befriended her and valued her opinion. She wasn’t like them at all, wasn’t built to fight and hunt and kill enemies. She hadn’t even had much chance to showcase her skills, but when she did… they all respected her.
They would respect her again now.
Drake awoke to see Alicia staring out of the bedroom’s single window, the glass foggy, a weak, stray beam of sunlight trying to find its way inside.
“Dawn?” he asked.
“A little after.”
“Come back to bed. We have nothing to rush out for.”
“Yeah, ain’t that true.”
Drake propped himself up on an elbow. Alicia was fully dressed as though prepared to head straight out on a mission. “Is something wrong?”
“It’s all wrong. We should be out there. Fighting. Hunting. Putting the fear of the Devil into every would-be killer that crosses our path.”
“Nobody asked for this.”
“That’s not the point.”
He shifted a little. “Don’t you… ache?”
She turned her head toward him, the blond of her hair catching the fragile light. “For what?”
“I don’t mean mentally, Alicia, I mean physically. All the injuries, the wounds, the bruises; they add up.”
“Of course I ache. I just get on with it.”
“So take some time to heal.”
Alicia shook her head. “Shit, Drakey, do you even know me?”
Of course he did. He knew her innermost thoughts and feelings, her fears and ambitions. He knew that right now she wanted nothing more than to keep moving, with friends; simply set her feet on a forward course. It was the inaction that hurt her.
“If it helps we’re gonna have to leave here soon. We don’t need more attention.”
“How are the funds?”
“Not bad, love. Not bad. Yorgi appropriated a small fortune from that safe near where they were keeping the Sword of Mars.”
She managed a smile. “Ah, yes, well at least that promises another future adventure.”
Drake climbed out of bed naked and padded over to her. “Plenty more to come.”
“Are you trying to distract me?”
“Who?” Drake bent down to kiss her. “Me?”
The sudden knock at the door was like a grenade going off. Drake felt his heart leap into his mouth. Alicia was off her chair and taking cover just as a familiar voice rang out.
“You decent?”
“Smyth? What the fuck do you want?”
“We have a problem. Main room — two minutes.”
Alicia wrenched the door open, sparing Drake no embarrassment, but Smyth was already gone, knocking hard on the next door.
Drake dressed quickly and followed Alicia to the meeting room. Most of the crew were already assembled, and within minutes the rest had joined them.
Hayden addressed the team.
“Lauren has taken off. Sometime during the night. We don’t know how far away she is or how she’s traveling.”
Drake was surprised but spoke up immediately. “Bus station is a short walk.”
“Tried it,” Smyth said. “The first bus left two hours ago. We can catch up pretty easily.”
Drake saw where this was going. “You want to catch her? Bring her back? And then what?”
Smyth stared as if he didn’t understand the question. “What are you talking about?”
“She hasn’t been kidnapped,” Hayden said softly. “She wasn’t coerced. Lauren left of her own free will. Do you want to be the one that makes her come back?”
Smyth bristled. “Well, well, yeah. If I have to. She can’t… she can’t just…” He ran out of steam.
“First of all,” Mai said. “Are we sure she left of her own accord?”
Hayden shrugged. “Her room’s tidy. Nothing amiss. Her luggage is all gone. Why would anyone just take Lauren? Oh, and we found this note.”
She placed an A4 sheet on the table, on which were written just a few lines.
Don’t come after me. I’ll be in touch. It’s my turn now.
Smyth looked away. Drake felt a rush of admiration for the New Yorker. “She’s going to help us. Like she said — don’t underestimate what she can do.”
The team sat down, reflecting on what Lauren might have to endure. The outcome was entirely unknown, and she knew it.
“We should leave this place,” Mai said. “Today.”
“Sprite’s right,” Alicia said instantly, then. “Whoa, what did I just say?”
“Alicia,” Mai glared at her. “We’ve been working together for what: five years now? And before that, on occasion. You really need to come up with a new and improved name.”