Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10)

“Well done!” Thomas said, nodding at Luther.

Eddie walked up to Luther, slapping him on the shoulder. “It all went smoothly. Thanks for helping us.”

“Does Katie know yet?”

Eddie nodded. “We called her the moment we knew Forrester was dead and Isabelle safe. She’s very relieved.”

“Good.” He looked past Eddie. “Are those all the recordings you have from the mission?”

Thomas joined them. “Yes, why?”

“Can you show me the beginning? I want to see Forrester.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow, but motioned him to the console that controlled the monitors. Eddie followed them.

“Is there a problem?” Thomas asked quietly.

“I’m not sure. I just want to make sure it’s him. From where I was I couldn’t see him.”

Eddie nodded. “I know. We watched your movements via your camera.” He pointed to Luther’s jacket, reminding him that he was still wearing the hidden camera.

Thomas pressed a few buttons and pointed to one of the monitors. “I’ll feed everything we have that shows Forrester’s position into here.”

Luther lifted his head and examined the images on the screen. The action started when the helicopter touched down and somebody jumped from it, either Blake or Samson. Moments later the frogmen appeared from the other side and were caught in Blake’s camera angle. Then the shooting started. One camera zoomed in on the window. The light from the helicopter hit just right, suddenly illuminating a face. Forrester. Luther recognized him from the picture Thomas had distributed before the mission. There was no doubt.

Luther watched as Forrester opened his mouth as if to scream.

“When he started shooting, we had to act quickly,” he heard Blake say to his colleagues.

Luther spun around. “Are you sure Forrester shot at you?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah, we heard the shots. Wasn’t one of our guys. They had strict orders not to shoot until I gave the okay.”

“That’s impossible.” Luther pointed back to the monitor. “Where’s his gun?”

For a moment Blake said nothing.

“Did your guys remove Forrester’s gun before I walked into the building?” Luther asked.

“No. Nobody touched anything until after you and I left.”

“Then how could he have shot at you when there was no gun? The explosion wasn’t strong enough to pulverize his weapon. Hell, I saw parts of a radio and some metal bits. But nothing that looked like a gun.”

Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck!”

Luther turned back to the monitor, staring at it again. He felt the other vampires in the room come closer, also looking at the monitor.

“Play it again from where we see Forrester’s face.”

Thomas followed his request and replayed the image.

“It looks like he’s screaming,” Eddie said next to him.

Luther looked over his shoulder at Blake. “Did you hear him scream?”

“No. Not a sound. And we were close enough. We would have heard him.”

“Thomas, can you zoom in on his mouth?”

Luther focused his eyes on Forrester’s mouth as Thomas increased the image by two hundred percent. That’s when he saw it.

“Oh shit!” Luther slammed a fist on the desk. “You know what this is?” He pointed to the charred looking inside of Forrester’s mouth. “Forrester’s mouth and throat were burned with a UV ray gun to prevent him from speaking.” He pivoted, facing the other men in the room. “Forrester was a patsy.”

“But how?” Blake stared at him in disbelief.

“Get Isabelle in here. She can identify her kidnapper,” Luther ordered.

Gabriel rushed outside, leaving the door open.

“Thomas, put the photo of Forrester up on another monitor.”

Without a word, Thomas executed the command and displayed the picture. Footsteps came closer a moment later and Luther looked to the door. Samson rushed in, followed by Delilah who had her arm around Isabelle. Samson’s two hybrid sons were behind them.

“What’s going on?” Samson asked, his voice tense.

“I believe Forrester was a scapegoat.” Luther looked at Isabelle. “Isabelle, was this the man who kidnapped you?” He pointed to the screen.

Isabelle took a few hesitant steps closer, clutching her mother’s hand. Her eyes moved, looking at the picture on the screen. Then she met Luther’s gaze. “No. That’s not him.”

Luther felt as if a vise was tightening around his heart and squeezing all life from it. “Shit!” The wheels in his head began to turn. There had to be a way to figure out who had been using Forrester to lead them on the wrong trail. “Thomas, you said you had a recording of when the kidnapper killed Mendoza and took Isabelle. Let me hear it.”

“Give me a sec.” Thomas clicked on an icon on the computer, then opened various folders, until finally, he clicked an audio file and turned up the volume for all in the room to hear.

“Here she is.”

“That’s Mendoza,” Thomas said.