“Yes,” Hammer said. I pulled my dress off, and he attached a shorter knife, more like a Gurkha blade, between my shoulder blades and under my bra strap. I had another knife hanging from a chain around my neck, the sheath between my breasts where I could pull down to draw the blade. The last knife I attached to my left thigh.
“What about you two,” I asked as I pulled my dress back on.
He tossed Brent one of the bags. It only took them a few minutes for the two to dress in the matte-black combat armor with the helmets. Semi-automatic combat shotguns were last out. “Shouldn’t you be using rifles,” Nicholas asked.
“The shotguns do more damage in a short time,” I replied. “It won’t kill them, but it will slow them down until they can use the swords.” The last item to come out of the bags was a pair of Katanas, which they put in the back seat on the floor. “What else did you buy?”
Hammer smiled. “Rockets, satchel charges, and thermite grenades. If we have to fight our way in, I’ll make a new entrance.”
Of course, he would. I shared all I knew about Master Pontalba’s hideout; I hadn’t seen much. We used a satellite view of the buildings on my tablet. I drew the hallways to Cyprian’s office, the cameras, and the guard posts I’d seen as we drove towards Bourbon Street.
We stopped two blocks away, and I handed Nicholas the introductory letter. “If you can’t get in, call me,” I told him.
“I got this, Aunt Adrienne,” he said. He stepped out of the SUV, adjusted his suit, and walked towards Supreme Vampire Pontalba’s headquarters.
***********
Alpha Leo’s POV
I had very little time to make my escape before someone would wonder why Alpha Stan wasn’t responding, and a search would quickly find him. I had to get out.
The silver would prevent the link, but that wasn’t enough. In the bar, I found some large cloth napkins. I used one to gag Stan, tied one around the knife wound in his thigh to stop the bleeding, and two more to bind his legs together. I saw keys hanging near the door; I grabbed the one for the 2010 Ford Mustang GT500 and pocketed that as well. I slipped out the office door, locking it behind me, then ducked into my room. I grabbed what I needed, putting them into my North Face winter jacket, and left the bag on the bed. I went back out to the hallway, trying to act like nothing was going on as I walked through the Pack House.
I only saw a few people, and I smiled at them as we passed. They bowed their heads respectfully and went on, which was good. I passed by the kitchen, where people were still cleaning up, and entered the large garage attached to the house. The building had thirty or so bays and a full-service area at the back. I pressed the remote car open, and the red Mustang’s lights flashed from the second bay. Climbing in, I adjusted the seat then used the door opener. I started the car as the door was rising, driving out and closing it again as quickly as possible.
I was on edge as I drove out the access road towards the guard shack near the state highway. I had to slow down, but the guard waved me through without a second look. As I turned south, I let out a breath I’d been holding.
I used my phone to access the navigation program and set it for my next destination. I didn’t know if I would make it from New Hampshire to the New York Adirondacks before someone found Stan. Then, I didn’t know what he would do when he woke up. Best case, he wouldn’t want anyone to know I got the best of him, and he’d keep it to the Pack. We both knew that in a fight between us, I’d win.
Worst case? He’d say I went feral and attacked him. He could pull in all his regional allies and the Council, hoping someone would kill me on sight.
With that in mind, I drove away as fast as I could. That meant just five to ten miles an hour above the speed limit because getting pulled over for speeding in a stolen car wouldn’t be good either. I had to hope that Stan wouldn’t involve human law enforcement, but he just might.
Staying to the main roads, I avoided crossing into any Pack lands on my way to the Lake Placid area. I was lucky that we were close to the Winter Solstice, as it was still pitch black when I made the turn onto the road leading to the Keene Valley Pack. I found a place to pull off the road, then hid my clothes in the woods before I shifted.
The sky had cleared, and the moon was still high enough to see my way through the trees. I ran past the NO TRESPASSING- NO HUNTING signs and then the border patrol trail. The scent was relatively fresh, so someone had been through recently. That was good; I might have a few hours before my incursion onto their land was noted.
Leland and Bonnie Carver based his North American Council chairmanship out of a small Pack office building in Keene Valley, and they built a large home in the hills a few miles from the Pack House. His eldest son ran the Pack, and like most previous Alphas, Leland stayed clear of his son’s rule. I followed the creek until I saw his house, then made a break for the back of the house.