Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Iris frowned at the map on the screen. “Is it one of the network’s?”

The network owned airports?

“No.”

Oh, hell no! Sean wasn’t letting Nicole get on a plane with assholes who may intend to do more than hit her in the head with a football. He opened his backpack, drew out a bag of blood, and sank his fangs into it.

Rick’s mouth fell open. “Holy hell. You do drink blood.”

Darius glanced at them in the rearview. “They don’t drink it. Their fangs act like needles and carry the blood directly into their veins.”

When Sean sank his fangs into a second bag, Darius’s eyes narrowed.

On the third bag, he swore. “Whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t.”

“I’m not letting her get on a plane with them. We don’t know where they’ll take her.”

“That’s the whole point,” Darius reminded him. “We need to find out who’s running the show. She’s still wearing her watch, so we’ll track her the whole way.”

“And if they ditch her watch?”

“We’ll use the tracker Dr. Lipton implanted in her wrist to keep tabs on her.”

“And if they get that one, too?”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that. These aren’t vampires. This wasn’t a hasty snatch-and-grab. This was a shrewd, well-orchestrated plan that enabled them to take her in broad daylight on a school day on a college campus full of thousands of students without raising alarms. We don’t know how technologically advanced these people may be.”

Iris shared a look with Darius. “I don’t know. Whatever they knocked her out with sure seemed advanced. One little spritz and she went down. And I think there might have been something on that woman’s glove, because Nicole kept looking at her hand after the woman touched her.”

A long moment passed.

Darius swore. “Reordon’s going to have my ass for this,” he muttered. Then he met Sean’s eyes in the rearview. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

“I’m going with her.”

Darius stared at him. “You’re just going to show up at the airport? You don’t think that’ll look suspicious?”

“I’ll tell them we had a lovers’ quarrel and I tracked her with her watch. If they’ve been surveilling us, they know I’ve barely let her out of my sight this past week.” Fortunately, he still sported the tattoos, and he’d applied the blond hair wax when he got dressed.

Darius shook his head. “You think they’ll let you on the plane with her?”

“If they don’t want me making a very loud public scene, they will.”

“How do you even expect to reach them? I’m sure all passengers have to pass through the FBO.”

Rick frowned. “The what?”

“Fixed Base Operator,” Darius supplied, “otherwise known as a terminal.”

Sean pointed at the map. “It doesn’t look like they are.”

The vehicle carrying Nicole paused only briefly before circling around to the back of the airport.

Darius frowned. “Whoever is behind this must be as wealthy as Roubal if they can bypass the usual checkpoints.”

Iris nodded. “Either that or someone in the SUV is well known there.”

“And you don’t have that luxury, Sean,” Darius pointed out.

“No, I don’t,” he agreed. “But I do have preternatural speed. No one will see me until I hit the tarmac. Let me out at the end of the drive.”

Instead, Darius pulled over to the side of the road half a mile early. “If you run that distance, the sun will blister you. Take the SUV as far as you can.” Putting it in park, he turned to the others. “Iris, stay where you are. Anyone who sees you will assume you’re his wife or girlfriend dropping him off for a flight. Keep us apprised and—if all goes well—circle back to pick us up.”

She nodded.

Darius and Rick thrust their doors open and stepped out.

Sean swiftly ducked out his door and jumped into the driver’s seat. “Tell Reordon I shoved you out and took the car.”

Darius shook his head. “Nope. I lead the team. I make the decisions. Just keep Nicole safe and use that enhanced hearing of yours to pick up every piece of information you can.” He closed the door. “You know they won’t let you take your phone.”

Sean had no difficulty hearing him through the raised window but lowered it a crack so Darius would catch his response. “Seth can track me. Give me time to get on the plane before you call Reordon.”

Nodding, Darius stepped back.

Sean put the SUV in drive. But before he could floor it, Darius leaped forward and banged his palm against the door several times.

Sean frowned at him. “What?”

“Don’t forget to call her Becca. I know you’re upset, so I just thought I should remind you.”

Sheesh. It was a good thing he had. Sean’s thoughts were so scattered that he probably would’ve blown it and called her Nicole. “Thanks.” He stomped on the gas pedal.

Iris said nothing as they raced forward. The little tracking dot on the map halted. Sean’s heart pounded as he quickly swung onto the airport’s drive. He didn’t slow down until he approached the parking lot.