Blood Royal (Page 45)

"Bill and I have checked all the flights out—there weren’t any commercial or private flights scheduled during the time he was taken," Tony said. Now I knew why he and Bill had been huddled around Bill’s laptop during our flight. Even I knew the vampires would have to hole up somewhere for the day unless they were willing to be hauled around in body bags. Somehow, I couldn’t see that happening with Xenides’ bunch.

"Larry the lizard still has patients?" I stared incredulously at Bill and Tony. That bothered me—a lot.

"He has some of the cases that come back to us; potential germ warfare and that sort of thing," Tony frowned and coughed into his hand. He hadn’t appreciated the lizard comment. Gavin was now frowning at me as well—I wasn’t being circumspect. Again.

"And how much of that sort of thing is Frazier responsible for?" I snapped at Tony. Germ warfare? That sounded right up Frazier’s alley.

"Lissa, we understand that you dislike this man," Gavin placed an arm around me, pulling me against him in a tight grip. He was silently telling me to shut up. I shut up. For the moment.

"Where do you think we might start looking?" René asked.

"Any dead bodies?" The words just came right out of my mouth as I pulled away from Gavin.

"We will be looking for slashed throats or for those who are listed as missing," Gavin added, pulling me against him again. "Or reports of weakened conditions with no medical explanation."

Bill made calls, asking for updates. "Does a burglarized blood bank interest anyone?" he asked, terminating a call. I slapped a hand over my mouth before Gavin could.

The blood bank was near the National Naval Medical Center, where Dr. Lawrence Frazier’s patients were hospitalized. No doubt, the vampires were using his knowledge to their advantage. Bill got us into the building after hours by flashing his ID. The Deputy Director of Operations met us there, although he had no idea why the newly appointed Director of the Joint NSA/Homeland Security Department was interested in his break-in. Bill wasn’t about to tell him, either.

"The door was forced," the Deputy Director informed us after we were led to the break-in site. It was a metal door at the back of the facility, where employees came and went.

"Was anything taken?" Bill asked as we examined the replacement door.

"Some medical equipment—needles, bags, IV poles, tubing, just about anything necessary to take blood or give a transfusion, plus frozen blood from the freezer. Those vandalized rooms are still taped off, but the military police have already processed everything. We were going to clean it up tomorrow." The Deputy Director was military, with a buzzed haircut and neatly creased clothing. He didn’t appreciate the mess left behind and wanted it gone as quickly as possible.

I learned the blood bank was one operated for the armed services and that was why military police had investigated the crime scene. All of us examined the vandalized rooms. Equipment and supplies had been flung recklessly about, but the scents inside both rooms told me that the vampires, one of the humans and Lawrence Frazier had been there. Winkler moved behind me—his nose was good, but he couldn’t separate the scents as well as I could while he was human.

"I’ll see about making contacts and running any fingerprints and other evidence in the morning," Bill said, thanking the Deputy Director and shooing the rest of us away from the building.

"It was them," I told Bill as soon as we were inside the van he’d commandeered for us. "Both vampires, Larry Frazier and one of the humans."

Bill grumped a little—if he released that information, NCIS would come in to investigate further on the blood bank break-in. I figured he was going to call the President as soon as the man was up and coherent in the morning.

We had a hotel set up for us, and Roff and Michael’s room connected to ours while Tony and René’s room was across the hall. Winkler’s was down the hall a bit. Bill called in day guards, just so nobody would disturb or attack us. Winkler, Michael and Roff were going to sleep part of the day, too—they’d been up most of the night, just as we were.

* * *

"Lissa, wake up," Winkler was shaking my shoulder. Bill, Michael and Roff were standing right behind him. I figured Winkler was the brave one of the bunch; the one willing to wake a vampire during daylight, anyway. Thank goodness, I’d gotten my PJs on again after Gavin’s amorous advances before daybreak.

"Winkler, I hope there’s a good reason for this," I slapped a hand over my face, trying to convince my eyes to open. Yeah, I knew he and the others were there by scent only.

"Bill needs you," Winkler said as I removed the hand from my face.

"What’s up?" I asked, blinking at the four faces staring down at me.

"Admiral Hafer has been abducted," Bill answered my question.

"My other favorite person," I grumped. "If you tell me a senator from Oklahoma has been abducted next, my life will be complete." I sat up with help from Winkler and pushed hair away from my face. I couldn’t begin to imagine what I looked like right then. I allowed Winkler to help as I slid out of bed as quickly as my sluggish brain and body would allow, running into the bathroom and almost slamming the door. There’s nothing like a male committee watching you wake when you have bedhead and are wearing rumpled pajamas.

I cleaned up and dressed as quickly as I could, scribbled out a note for Gavin and left it with Roff (he and Michael were staying to watch over Gavin, Tony and René) and off we went. It was three in the afternoon and hot in the D.C. area as Bill drove us to the site. Admiral Hafer had been abducted from his home, just as Larry Frazier had. The same scents from the blood bank were inside Admiral Hafer’s house.

"Did Frazier and Hafer know each other?" I asked, after telling Bill what I’d scented.

"It’s possible—Larry Frazier worked with most branches of the military," Bill acknowledged. "NCIS is definitely involved now, and I have to share information as much as I can, although the President is keeping all of you out of it for the moment. I had to agree to this in order to get the information exchange from them."

Bill didn’t sound terrible happy over that revelation and I wondered what Tony was going to say about it. He knew Larry Frazier better than any of us. Maybe he would know if Hafer and Frazier knew one another.

"Lissa, do you want a drink?" Winkler herded me into a bar a little while later after Bill dropped us off at our hotel.

"I’d rather have a cinnamon roll," I said. We found one at the hotel coffee shop on the main floor. My cell phone rang while I was wiping gooey frosting off my face. It was Merrill.