“Understood,” I said. “We’ll call when we are in place.”
Heading back to my room, I started packing gear. I’d cross-trained in the SEALs as a sniper, and I had urban combat experience. I pulled out the case holding my urban sniper rifle. It was a suppressed and scoped AR-15 chambered in . 300 Blackout that I used for hunting wild boar. The combination of the silencer and the subsonic round reduced the sound to that of a hand clap. The downside was that the slow and heavy round wasn’t good at long distances. With the zero at a hundred yards, the bullet dropped eight inches at 200 yards, twenty-eight inches at 300 yards, and over five feet at 400 yards. I made sure my Glock was secure in its inside-the-waistband holder behind my right hip and made sure my loose shirt hid it well. “We’re going to have to get some food and water for the wait,” I told Maribel.
“I already have that,” she said.
Ken was ready a moment later, his weapons a scoped AR-15 with a collapsible stock, carried in a gym bag. He’d grabbed Matt, another Pack warrior, to serve as his spotter and backup. “You Marines can’t stand being alone,” I teased. SEAL snipers often worked alone, while Scout Snipers trained in pairs.
“Gets boring,” he said. We loaded into the SUV, and Maribel followed the navigation system to the first dropoff point. I handed out the radios and headsets as we drove; they were short-range but effective. We’d use the phone for anything else.
Maribel parked in the alley, and Ken and Matt ducked out. It was still pitch black before the sunrise, and nobody was at work yet. The two were scaling a fire escape as we drove off.
Maribel drove around and parked behind the hotel, and I started to get out. “No, stay here,” she said.
“You should go back,” I said.
“These guys won’t speak English, and you need a room. You also need backup. Wait for me to wave you in.” She got out and walked around to the front desk; a few minutes later, she had opened a side door and waved. I crossed the lot with my bag, and we took a stairway to the third floor.
She’d gotten us a corner room facing the street. I went to work setting up my hide; I’d be shooting at an angle through the window and down. I made sure the blinds were closed, then went to work moving things around. I ended up lying on top of the dresser, using pillows and blankets to make it more comfortable. The drapes and blinds were closed except for the hand-sized opening I would look and shoot through. The cheap hotel air conditioner was struggling as is, so I left the window closed. The thin glass wouldn’t affect the shots after the first one.
“Wolf one, in place, nothing visible,” I heard over the radio.
“Wolf two, same.”
“Wolf one, sending the tracker out on recon. He’ll stay well clear.”
It wasn’t a bad idea; six werewolves in one place for days would leave a strong scent, perhaps carried through ventilation ducts outside the building. It was just after sunrise when I got the word back. “Wolf two, wolf one, positive contact with multiple friendlies,” he said. “I’m calling it in.”
Bingo. Daylight would bring people and traffic, so we would have to wait until after dark to go in. Meanwhile, I’d make sure none of these fuckers got away.
**********
Alpha Steven Dauntless’ POV
Our command post had been busy since the tipster called us on our hotline. I’d listened to the recording of the call a few dozen times, hoping to pick up any more information than she had given us.
Lynette had taken the call, and I’d put on headphones to listen when she waved for everyone to be quiet. It wasn’t a long call, but she had her code, and she’d given us the things we needed to know. We had a location, and we knew they were vampires. In Mexico City, that meant Master Vespucci.
Our group agreed the call was credible, so my next call was to Alphas Leo and Adrienne. Leo sure kicked over a hornet’s nest with his antics in the Northeast. The Alphas had watched the conference call in horror. Later, Alpha Lance informed the Packs that Leo had killed the Chairman before his men could stop him. The entire Werewolf world was teetering on the brink of war, just as Master Vespucci had planned.
It didn’t leave us much time, but Adrienne’s gambit to go to Supreme Vampire Cyprian Pontalba had paid off spectacularly. I hadn’t believed how fast our new allies had organized, helping to smuggle in dozens and dozens of people and their gear to Mexico City.
Early this morning, we had confirmation that the girls were there. “The tip was correct, Steven,” Adrienne said over the secure videoconference. “One of the Three Sisters trackers picked up their scent. We have two sniper teams with eyes on the building now.”
“When are we going in?”
“Tonight,” she said. “There are too many civilians around during the day. We’re busy making plans for a coordinated assault after sunset, which is at six-oh-three. Target time is nineteen hundred.”
“That’s twenty-hundred here,” I replied. “I’m taking out the local Coven at the same time. The Coven ordered the abduction, and they’ve been stroking us off the whole time we’ve been here. I want Mateo’s head on a fencepost.”
“You’ll have no arguments from our end. We had to be coordinate it perfectly; if Vespucci gets a warning, our people will die. If it doesn’t work out, let them go, and Pontalba can round them up later.”
There was no way I was losing this one. “I’ll handle my end. Stay safe, everyone. We’ll talk this afternoon.” I ended the teleconference and pulled all my people together into the room after breakfast. I updated them on our target time and asked them to start thinking of the best way to take out our local vampires.
“You look like hell,” Colleen said after the meeting broke up. “When was the last time you slept?”
“I got an hour in last night,” I said.
“Respectfully, Alpha, we need you to be ready for tonight. Trust your people with the assignments you’ve made, and get some sleep. I’ll handle this room for you.”
I looked around at my people and knew she was right. “Fine, but you wake me up if anything important happens.”
“Of course, Alpha,” she replied.
I walked back to my room, took a quick shower, and was asleep moments after falling into bed.
“ALPHA, WE NEED YOU BACK IN THE ROOM,” one of my warriors sent me.
“On my way,” I said as I rolled out of bed. My body was protesting my getting roused from a deep sleep. I looked at the clock, and it was just after noon. I’d gotten maybe four hours of sleep. I reached for clean clothes. “What’s happening?”
“Our girl called back.”
“Share it over the link,” I said.
I finished dressing as I heard the phone call over the mind link. “… will recover in time, but Master ordered me to take two more pints from all of them in three days. Taking that much blood a week after the last two-pint withdrawal will leave them weak. I’m worried that after the miscarriage, Vicki won’t heal properly.”
“Did he say why he needs more in three days?”
“No, but Master is getting passports for everyone, and they should arrive before the end of the year. I think he’s planning something big then, and he’s trying to get as much blood stored before then as he can. He might even plan to drain them before he departs because I can’t take more blood that early.”
Shit. If our informant hadn’t called, Vespucci’s army would be unstoppable by then. I finished dressing and headed out into the hallway.
“Can you tell us anything about his home?”
“He’s excavated a huge underground safe room below the mansion. The entrance main entrance is in the library on the main floor, hidden behind a bookcase. It’s like a vault door, and the stairs to the door on the bottom are booby-trapped; there’s a system to flood it with liquid nitrogen and other defenses. There’s another entrance, a fireman’s pole from the master bedroom upstairs, plus there is an emergency exit that leads to the sewers. They showed it to me this morning; I think he’s going to stash me there if it gets dangerous.”
“Are you out of the way now? Safe?”
“I’m at work now, but I’m nowhere near safe,” the girl said. “Master is raising and training an army. He must have over a hundred vampires he’s turned in the last few months, and they need blood. I’ve been skimming bags from work, and Master ordered me to take twice as many. The familiars can’t keep up, and the older vampires are hunting every night.”
Fuck me. A hundred vampires? Cyprian was going to shit. “We have eyes on the place you told us about, and we haven’t seen anyone go in or out yet. Are they holed up there?”
“Not in the main building, but they live and train in the warehouse attached. I haven’t seen them, but I’ve heard them.”
“That’s good to know. We’re going to move soon, and you won’t be in danger much longer. When we start the attack, we’ll text a code word to you with the time. When we come in, shout the code word and stay on the ground. Our people will not harm you.”
“I don’t know if that will matter,” she said. “Something else is going on. Master never paid much attention to me, but I was called to his office this morning before work. When I arrived, Master Vespucci had a priest waiting, and we got married.”
“Married?”
“Yes, he had me sign the certificate and everything. He killed his last wife, but I have no idea why he picked me.”
“We’ll figure it out. Keep your head about you and wait for our signal. You’ve earned that reward and more.”
“It’s not about the reward; it’s about being free from this man. I wish I could go back to what I was, but I know it’s impossible.”
I heard a click just before I arrived at the command post. “Let me in.” The door opened, and everyone looked at me. “We got that on tape?”
“Yes, Alpha,” Colleen said.
“Get it ready to play,” I said. “I’m getting the other Alphas up on videoconference.”