“She took your car. Let’s see…”
What was she planning to do with his car?
“She left with it. I don’t know where to, but she drove out of the garage about twenty minutes ago.”
“It makes no sense. Why would Norwood make her steal my car? They must realize that we can trace it with its built-in locator chip. Something isn’t right.”
“I’ll go through all the footage again to see if we’re missing anything, or if she let anybody else in, but so far I see nothing.”
“Blake!” Ronny suddenly called out, holding his cell phone in the air. “It’s Norwood. He wants to talk to you.”
“Stay on the line, Thomas,” Blake ordered and took Ronny’s phone with his other hand, already barking into it. “Norwood, you little shit! What’re you up to?”
“Is that a way to greet the man who’s in possession of the one thing most precious to you?” Norwood drawled.
“I know you drugged Hannah,” he started, but Norwood cut him off.
“But I’m not talking about Hannah. I’m talking about Lilo.”
Blake’s heart stopped.
“Such a beautiful woman. A little limp right now, but,” Norwood continued, “she’ll wake up eventually.”
“You really think I’m gonna believe you have her?” He pressed the mute button, then switched to his own cell phone. “Thomas, run to my office and check on Lilo. Now!”
“On my way.”
He pressed unmute on Ronny’s phone and concentrated on Norwood’s words, continuing to listen with one ear to his own cell phone.
“I’d like to trade her and Hannah for Ronny and the drugs. And this time, no games,” Norwood warned.
Meanwhile, Thomas’s voice came through the other phone. “She’s gone, Blake. Disappeared.”
Blake’s fangs descended and his hands turned into claws. “I’m going to rip your throat out when I find you!”
“Such idle threats,” Norwood said coolly. “Guess you believe me now. So let’s see how much she’s worth to you.”
~ ~ ~
Blake slammed his fist into the wall of his office, leaving a dent in the drywall. “How could this happen?” He’d failed Lilo. He hadn’t kept her safe. She was in the hands of a madman. “Why didn’t I see this coming?”
John stood in silence next to Ronny, who appeared to be crushed by this setback.
Wes put a hand on his shoulder, but Blake shrugged it off. “Nobody saw this coming. They must have drugged Hannah to somehow get her to trick Lilo into meeting her. The guard said Lilo went rushing out the door, but he didn’t see where she was heading.”
Blake nodded to himself. “Lilo is smart. She wouldn’t have fallen for it if Hannah hadn’t been convincing.”
“Maybe that’s why Hannah stole your car,” Wes mused. “What if she needed it to convince Lilo that you sent her?”
For a moment, he contemplated the question. “However they convinced her, we need to find where they’ve taken her. Quickly.”
“We’ve already located your car. I’ve sent a team there, but I’m pretty sure they just dumped it. Hannah knows the car is equipped with a GPS tracker. She would have ditched it as soon as she didn’t need it anymore,” John said.
Blake turned to Wes. “Can you scry for Lilo?”
“With what? It was hard enough finding something with Hannah’s DNA in her flat. And the little I found didn’t get me a reading on her. It’s even harder with Lilo. So unless you have a vial of her blood, I’m afraid, we’re out of luck. A couple of hairs won’t be powerful enough to make the crystal work.” Wes gave an apologetic shrug.
Ronny suddenly lifted his head. “You said with blood you could locate somebody?”
“Yeah, I can.”
“Maybe you can find Norwood or one of his associates. The drug they put into that human with the motorboat has blood from one of them in it.”
Wes approached him. “What do you mean?”
“But you can’t scry for vampires, it doesn’t work,” Blake interrupted. “You weren’t at Ronny’s interrogation. He already told us about the other vampires’ blood.”
Wes lifted his hand. “Let me hear him out. How is it done?”
“Well, I give them the raw drug, but if we don’t individualize it, it won’t work over long distances. We might as well use mind control. So if the vampire wants to control the human over long distances and make sure nobody else can control him, he has to mix some of his own blood with the drug. Like a bond, so to speak. So the human will respond to his master, and only to him.” Ronny looked at Wes, as if to verify that he understood.
“I get it.” Wes paused and started pacing. “Hmm. Like a homing pigeon. Clever.” A spark appeared in his eyes. “I think I have an idea.”
Blake’s heart beat excitedly. “What kind of idea? Please tell me you know how to find them.”
Wes nodded. “I might. But I’ll need Ronny’s help in the lab. Where’s your recipe book? I didn’t find it in the cabin.”
“Recipe book?”
“The formula for the drug.”
Ronny tipped his finger to his temple. “That’s the only place it’s safe from Norwood. That’s why I’m still alive.
Wes nodded. “Good. Blake, keep that drugged human we picked up tonight ready for me. I think there might be a way of using the bond to his master as a way to turn him into a homing device. If I can isolate the vampire’s blood from the drug and alter the composition a little, I think I can do it.”
Blake’s chest swelled with hope. “Wes, if you can do this and find them, you know I’ll owe you big.”
“And this time I might just cash in on all the favors you owe me.”
Blake met Wesley’s look and nodded. To get Lilo back, he’d do whatever was necessary.
40
Lilo felt groggy, her limbs were stiff, and her head ached. She was coming out of a daze, somebody shaking her with both hands on her shoulders. With difficulty she managed to open her eyes. At first, she had trouble focusing.
“Lilo! Oh God, Lilo!”
The voice brought her back to reality. In an instant she remembered everything. Her eyes flew open.