Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Seth leaned back in his chair. “I think it’s safe to say that the same people who kidnapped Nicole now have Tessa.”

Murmurs of agreement rumbled all around.

Nicole looked from face to face. “What about Marge? What happened to her?”

“They took her to an advanced research facility,” Seth said, “in an isolated location in Texas used to study diseases and develop pharmaceuticals. Based on what I heard, Marge is about to become the subject of their latest study.”

Sean shook his head. “Seriously, what is up with Texas? The facility they tortured Ami in was there. Gershom infiltrated a top-secret military base there. Now this?”

Chris dragged his gaze away from his screen. “It’s a big damn state with a lot of land to get lost in and plenty of places to hide things.”

Henderson nodded. “Real estate is also more affordable there.”

“And it’s home to the largest medical city in the world,” Chris added.

“Where’s that?” Krysta asked.

“Houston,” Nick, Kayla, Henderson, and Reordon replied.

Chris spoke. “Scott and I have been coordinating our efforts to investigate Augustus Benford, his holdings, and his relationship with Roubal. The link to Roubal still doesn’t appear to be a strong one. And we found no digital communication between the two in the weeks that led up to Roubal’s untimely demise.”

“Our investigation,” Henderson picked up, “led us to several shell companies, one of which handles all business and transactions conducted by the research facility. Several months ago, the facility beefed up security. Corporate espionage is on the rise in the pharma industry, so they already had fairly decent security before. But now it’s so tight that you’d think every employee was carrying the nuclear football.”

Becca bit her lip. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It’s the president’s emergency satchel,” Henderson elaborated. “The president of the United States is always accompanied by a military aide who carries the case, which would enable the president to launch a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers like the Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.”

“In other words,” Chris added, “security at that facility is even tighter than at network headquarters.”

Multiple whistles of awe filled the room.

The network did not skimp on security.

“I parked Rafe outside the facility,” Henderson continued.

“Who’s Rafe?” Sean asked.

Nick answered. “He’s an Immortal Guardian stationed in Texas. I’ve hunted with him many times.”

“According to Rafe,” Henderson said, “no cell phones or smart watches are allowed on the premises. Every employee received a photo ID tag and a personal code when hired. To get past the first level of security, they must show the guards their ID and enter the code into a touch screen after walking through a metal detector to ensure they aren’t carrying hidden phones or other recording and listening devices. They must then undergo a second security check that requires fingerprint scans, and they can’t leave without passing through the metal detector again. No one can take any work home with them.”

Sean frowned. “Is that normal?”

Henderson shrugged. “The fingerprint scans aren’t. And many pharma companies are laxer about employees taking work home with them. But if you’re in pharma and are onto something big like a cure for cancer, the last thing you’d want is for some employee to take a laptop containing twenty years of research with them to the airport and have someone use the airport’s public network hub to hack it and enable a competitor to come out with a cure six months later based on your research.”

“Or,” Chris added, “have an employee take his work home, absently toss some papers in the trash, and have the same thing happen after a competitor engages in a round of sneaky dumpster diving.”

Henderson nodded. “And bypassing the security protocols on the wireless routers used in most homes is easy for those in the know, providing access to all home computer systems that use it.”

“Some companies,” Chris went on, “will learn the names and home addresses of competitors’ employees for just those reasons.”

Most of those present looked as stunned as Sean felt upon hearing that. It was like something you’d see in a freaking James Bond movie.

Seth, David, and the other ancients seemed unsurprised.

Henderson reached into his satchel and drew out a stack of papers. “Rafe also believes there are soundproof rooms in parts of the building that boast the highest security and safety protocols. He said there were several instances in which conversations he listened to shut off abruptly when a door closed.”

Chris nodded. “The same way they do when network employees enter restrooms.” All restrooms at network headquarters in North Carolina were soundproofed to keep the vampires housed below from complaining about having to listen to employees evacuate their bladders and bowels all day.

Nicole frowned. “What kind of research do they usually do there? When they’re not hunting immortals, that is.”

Henderson glanced at Seth. “You want to take that one?”

He shook his head. “I was focused on those surrounding Marge.”