"You saw me. In your meeting last night. You at least sensed me somehow. I thought something, and it surprised you. I was in the corner of the conference room," I told Harbinger desperately. "Then I was gone, and that's when the monsters landed. When the big one touched the ground, that's when everybody got that weird feeling."
As I have said before, Harbinger was not a man that I would want to play poker with. He did not normally display his emotions, but right now they were as easy to read as the name on the side of this cursed ship. His jaw dropped open, and his eyes widened. That had shocked him.
"How in the hell-"
He was interrupted midsentence as Julie came back on the radio.
"Earl. I take back what I said. Looks like they had a motor launch or something. There is a pulley system rigged near the end of the ship. Looks like it was used to lower or haul something out of the water. It's empty and the cables are dragging in the water, I repeat it is empty and the cables are in the water. There was a boat of some kind, but it is gone."
"Thanks, Julie. Keep your eyes peeled," he responded, took his hand away, thought better of it, and then keyed his mike again. "Boone, get over here. We need to have a little meeting."
Sam clutched his.45-70 warily. "No way, Earl. Seven Masters? That don't sound right. They don't work together. At least they never have."
"Are you guys crazy? The Newbie is full of it. He needs-"
"Grant. Get back on the perimeter," Harbinger stated flatly.
"But I-"
"Go," the Director snapped. Grant angrily complied.
Boone joined us with a worried look. Harbinger gave him a quick rundown. Julie had told me that Harbinger was much older than he looked, but right now he appeared to have aged a decade right in front of us. Boone looked at all of us as if we were crazy.
"So are you supposed to be like a psychic or something?"
"Not that I know of. I'm an accountant."
"We've seen weirder things, Boone," stated Harbinger. "Remember, flexible minds."
"No shit. But this is weird even for us," Boone replied. Then turning towards me, he asked, "All right, big guy, how did you know they were Masters?"
"I don't know. I could just tell. But they worked together, like a military unit."
"Come on, Earl. That's impossible. If vamps worked together, they could have taken over the world by now. It's been twenty years since there was a confirmed report of a Master."
"Closer to thirty. I know. I'm the one that killed it," Harbinger answered. "But Pitt is right on one thing. Something surprised me last night. I couldn't see anything, but there was something in the conference room with us. How else could he have known that?"
The four of us jumped when the radio sprang to life.
"This is Priest. You lot aren't going to believe this, but I've got signs of life. Somebody must have heard us arrive."
"What?" Boone responded.
"Listen, I'm going to put my mike on it. I'm getting this through a duct."
Every Hunter on the ship strained to hear. It was a series of seemingly random clicks, repeated over and over. I did not immediately recognize it. Sam picked it up first.
"Morse code," he translated. "SOS… T R A P P E D space E N G I N E R O O M space D A R N E space SOS."
"Priest, send a message back," Harbinger ordered.
"No can do, chief. Don't know Morse code."
"On it, Earl," Sam responded and hurried off in that direction.
Harbinger got back on the radio. "Okay, folks. Mission parameters have changed. This is now a rescue." He released the mike. "Boone, gather your men. Let's clear this ship!"
"Won't be the first time Americans have saved the French," the Special Forces vet shouted over his shoulder as he ran to rejoin his team.
I waited for my boss to address me. I could not tell what he was thinking.
"Pitt."
"Yes, sir?"
"Cut the 'sir' crap. Can you think of anything else from that dream of yours that might help?"
"Not really. If the dream is right, then the really bad dudes have disembarked. So do you believe me then?"
He did not answer my question directly. Instead he got back on the radio.
"Holly, send up every stake we have. We need to kill us some vampires."
"So is that a yes?" I asked again.
"Come on… We're burning daylight. Nobody's ever killed a Master in the dark."