“Were the bodies checked? Was anything found?”
Tate coughed. “The bodies are still here, Cat. Don ordered they not be moved until you looked at them. Nothing has been confiscated.”
Great. Don was too smart for his own good. “Have they been photographed? Documented? We can rip through them to look?”
Juan winced at my choice of words, but Tate nodded. The house was surrounded by exterior troops in case this was a trap. It was just before noon, so we were somewhat safer. Vampires hated to be up early. No, I had been brought here specifically, and I was betting whoever did this was getting their beauty rest.
“Okay then. Let’s get started.”
An hour later, Cooper was at his breaking point.
“I’m going to be sick.”
I glanced past the remains of what used to be a happy couple. Yep, Cooper’s mocha face was positively green.
“You throw up and you’ll eat it off the floor, soldier.”
He cursed, and I returned to examining the torso in front of me. Occasionally I heard his stomach heave, but he swallowed back the bile and kept working. I held out hope for his abilities yet.
My hand struck something odd in the chest cavity of the female. Something hard that wasn’t bone. Carefully I pulled it out, ignoring the squishy suction sounds it made as I drew it free.
Tate and Juan leaned over me intently. “Looks like a rock of some kind,” Tate noted.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Juan wondered.
I felt as hard as the stone in my hand. Silently I screamed inside.
“It’s not a rock. It’s a piece of limestone. From a cave.”
“Stay back five miles from all sides. Any closer and they’ll hear your heartbeats. No overhead air support, no radio. Hand signals only; we don’t want to give away our numbers. I’ll enter the cave from the mouth, and you will give me exactly thirty minutes. If I don’t come out, you use the rockets and blast it, then contain the perimeter and watch your backs. Anything comes out of that cave except me, you shoot it until you’re sure it’s really dead. And then you shoot it some more.”
Tate angrily rounded on me. “This is a bullshit plan! That missile would only kill you, but the vampires would just dig themselves out later. If you don’t come out, we’re coming in after you. Period.”
“Tate is right. We’re not blowing you up before I get a chance to show you my sausage.” Even Juan sounded worried. His innuendo was halfhearted at best.
“No way, Cat,” Dave agreed. “You’ve saved my ass too many times for me to flip that switch.”
“This isn’t a democracy.” Ice edged my words. “I make the decisions. You follow them. Don’t you get it? If I’m not out in thirty minutes, then I’m dead.”
We spoke while flying in the chopper to thwart any undead eavesdroppers. I was paranoid to a fantastic degree after finding that rock. I hated to believe it, but I couldn’t imagine who else could have left it except Bones. That memento from the cave was too personal for it to have been Ian. Bones was the only one who knew about the cave, and everything else. The thought of him tearing apart those people sickened me. What could have happened in four years to change him so much, that he’d do such a gruesome thing? That’s why I needed only thirty minutes. Either I would kill him or he’d kill me, but it would be fast regardless. Bones always did get straight down to business, and he wouldn’t expect a romantic reunion. Not when he just sent me a bouquet of body parts.
The helicopter landed twenty miles away. We would drive the next fifteen and I would walk the last five. The three of them argued with me the entire time, but I ignored them. My mind was numb. I’d wanted desperately to see Bones again, but never had I imagined it would be like this. Why? I wondered again. Why would Bones do something so horrible, so extreme, after all this time?
“Don’t do it, Cat.”
Tate tried one last time as I wrapped my jacket around me. It was lined with silver weapons, useful for much more than warmth. Winter was slow to release its grip this year. Tate gripped my arm, but I yanked free.
“If I go down, lead the team. Keep them alive. That’s your job. This is mine.”
Before he could say anything more, I broke into a run.
The last mile I slowed to a walk, dreading the confrontation. My ears were pricked for the slightest sound, but that was why the cave had been such a great hideout. The depths and heights played tricks with noise. I couldn’t pinpoint any exact sounds. Surprisingly, I thought I heard a heartbeat as I drew nearer, but maybe it was just my own pounding. When I touched the outer entrance of the cave, I felt the energy inside. Vampire power, vibrating the air. Oh God.