Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10)

“And then?”


“That’s all we have. Don’t worry, we’ll be there to swoop in as soon as he reveals himself. Your job is to secure Isabelle.” Blake addressed Roxanne, “You know what to do. Keep your cover for as long as you can so you can get close to him. You need to distract him from Isabelle. Understood?”

Roxanne nodded.

“I can’t give you any weapons. We must assume that he will be able to detect if you’re armed. We can’t risk it. It has to look like we’re ready to do the exchange.”

“Not a problem.”

“But I have one thing for you.” Blake dug into his pocket and pulled out a tiny item that looked like a button. “A camera.” He reached for Luther’s jacket and affixed the camera to the lapel. “That way we can see what you see. It’ll help us get into the right position. It doubles as a GPS so we’ll have an exact location on you.”

Luther glanced at the small item. It blended in with the color of his jacket, and if he didn’t know it was there, he wouldn’t have been able to detect it. “Guess we’re ready. Keys?”

Blake handed him the keys for the boat. “Good luck!”

Luther hopped into the boat and helped Roxanne into it. It had been a while since he’d been on a motorboat, but he still remembered how to steer one. He put the key in the ignition and started the engine. Blake untied them from the dock and tossed the rope into the boat.

In the distance, Alcatraz Island stood like a beacon in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Its main building, the cell block, which tourists visited during opening hours, was lit from the outside by large spot lights. The rest of the island, however, lay in total darkness. Abandoned buildings stood like eerie reminders of what this island had once housed: dangerous criminals.

A wooden water tower peeked out on one side of the island, a lighthouse overlooking it all. There was some vegetation on Alcatraz, a few trees and bushes near the dock where the tourists started their tour, but not much on the far side of the island.

Luther remembered a paved walkway spanning the whole island, as well as heaps of old concrete blocks that were dumped on the back end.

Luther gunned the engine and pushed the boat to its limit until he saw the dock appear in front of him. He throttled the engine down and pulled up alongside it. Roxanne threw the line out, catching one of the many hooks and tied the boat up. Luther turned the engine off and stepped onto the dock. He turned back to Roxanne and offered her his hand to help her out of the boat.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, remaining silent so she wouldn’t give herself away by her accent.

When they reached the end of the dock, a string of lights sitting low on the ground turned on. He pointed to it. “This way.”

Luther jumped over a low railing and lifted Roxanne over it after him. She could have easily jumped herself, but they had to maintain Roxanne’s cover and pretend she was human, and he her gallant lover. It was evident that Forrester was watching them. He’d switched the guiding lights on the moment they’d reached the end of the dock.

Luther glanced around as he followed the lights with Roxanne by his side. They were on a path leading not toward the cell block but away from it. They were on the part of the island that was facing away from San Francisco.

As they walked, passing a large building on their left, more lights appeared on the path ahead of them. He glanced behind him and noticed that some of the lights he was following had already extinguished. Motion-activated lamps, he assumed. He had to hand it to Forrester. He was sophisticated and had obviously meticulously planned this exchange, whereas Scanguards had only had an hour or two to come up with any countermeasures. Luther could only hope that his old friends could improvise well and outwit their opponent.

He gave Roxanne a sideways glance. He still couldn’t see her vampire aura, and to him she looked entirely human. Wesley’s spell was working. And he hoped that Wes was right about the length of time the spell would cloud Roxanne’s aura and disguise the fact that she was a vampire. Her life depended on it. His and Isabelle’s, too.

They passed the ruins of the old officer’s club on their right. The water tower came into full view ahead, hovering over them to the left of the path. The old power plant appeared on the right.