Chapter 393
"Where's Ume?" Katelina scrambled into a seat next to Loren as the helicopter lifted off. No one answered and she quickly scanned the passengers. The Black Vigil sat at the opposite end, a gulf of empty seats between them and the others. In the corner nearest the cockpit Sushel bent over an unfamiliar vampire. A prisoner?
Verchiel leaned nearby, half-naked, and pressed a folded cloth to the wound on his shoulder. She had a momentary view of his bullet marked back before he turned and winked. "I don't suppose you have some tweezers?"
She glared and Etsuko quickly dug through her overstuffed backpack and presented him with a small first aid kit.
The redhead grinned. "Thanks. Now would someone mind taking the bullets out?"
"You?" Micah asked sarcastically. Katelina turned to him and gasped. His chest and stomach were chewed up like raw hamburger and bled freely. "I got at least a dozen of the fucking things. Someone wanna help me?"
"I think Kately is volunteering," Verchiel teased.
"Fuck that. Lunch would use the excuse to stab the tweezers through my heart, right vampire killer?"
If only that would work. She looked to the other passengers. Oren and Jorick were talking in low tones, and Torina stood in the middle of the aisle, unabashedly sliding out of one dress and into another. Ume wasn't there.
Katelina's stomach twisted. Was the vampiress really - she couldn't think the word, so she poked Loren and asked hesitantly, "Is Ume-"
Loren shook his head. "She was just wounded."
Katelina relaxed. "Thank God. But where is she?"
"They took her." Katelina gaped, and Loren gave her a long play-by-play that wound up with "so this helicopter gets lower and lower. It had this ladder hanging down, and Cyprus jumped onto it. Jorick told him if he ran we'd slaughter everyone he left behind and Cyprus shouted, 'I don't care, kill them all.' And then the helicopter took off with him hanging on the ladder, like something out of a movie. That's when Ronnell clocked me and took Ume, and they disappeared. Jorick said not to worry. We're going to get her back."
Katelina stopped from saying she hoped he was right. "What were they doing there? Why did Cyprus think Wolfe was with us?"
Jorick took the seat next to her and looked to the pair of huddled Russians. "We'd have to ask Sushel about that."
"Why?"
Verchiel moved to join the conversation. "Sushel told our Russian host Yaroslav that Wolfe was traveling with us." He nodded to the pair of humans. "The male overheard it. Though I don't speak Russian I can hear Sushel saying the name 'Wolfe' in his memory."
She tried not to look at the shirtless redhead. "Maybe they were talking about a wolf?"
"Then why use the English word?" Jorick asked. "They speak Russian."
"Even if Sushel said that, how did Cyprus find out? Unless you're saying Yaroslav told him."
Jorick nodded. "No doubt he used the radio to contact the Children of Shadows, or at least someone who would pass on the message. Maybe while we were there." He turned his gaze back to the humans and narrowed his eyes. Katelina could imagine him scraping through their memories, trying to make sense of the foreign words.
"The question is whether Sushel knew the Russians would betray us," Verchiel said. The humor left his violet eyes and nothing but cold anger remained. "I don't doubt he did and hoped the false information would lure Cyprus."
"I should've paid attention," Jorick said with something close to self-reproach. "When we parted he was thinking about fighting Cyprus, but I assumed it was more a wish than an expected outcome."
Katelina thought of the plot she'd overheard. "We're stronger than they are and better fighters. We'll survive but they won't, and if Ume happens to get killed in the crossfire..."
"That was his plan," she whispered. "The one he was working on in Finland to kill us."
"I'm sure," Jorick said. He glanced at Sushel. "I can't see into his thoughts. He's blocking me. I could force the issue but-"
"That would raise the alarm and we'd have the others to contend with," Verchiel said. "If we could get him alone we could break him."
Jorick nodded and Katelina tried not to stare at the vampire in question. "Do you think kidnapping Ume was part of the plan?"
"No," Jorick said. "I think Sushel planned to kill her 'accidentally'. When Wolfe wasn't there, I believe Cyprus improvised. No doubt he chose Ume because she was wounded, unconscious, and a woman. Men will always fight harder to retrieve a female captive, even one they have no emotional attachment to, because their pride is wounded at the loss; their basic instincts say they must protect the women, and when the women are taken it means they've failed."
"That sounds like chauvinistic crap," Katelina muttered. "But why kidnap anyone? Is he after a ransom?"
Jorick nodded. "He wants Wolfe. However, even if we planned a trade, the first thing we'd have to do is find him."
It felt like a moment of karma. Finding Wolfe was the one thing Jorick hadn't planned to do, and now it looked like they might have to. It served him right.
***
They made it to their previous refueling stop. From the relief on Fethillen's face Katelina suspected it had been close. The airport wasn't particularly large, but there were still official looking people. Fethillen handed over a wad of cash, probably bribes for everyone, and they were given permission to refuel. Someone came out and pantomimed looking through luggage and checking passports. The man's eyes went to the prisoner more than once, and then his hand drifted to his pocket, as if reminding himself of his priorities.
When he was finished Katelina made a quick trip to a staff bathroom and Jorick managed to buy several bottles of water. She was tempted to slam one, but knew if she did she'd have to pee again and there would be nowhere to go until they landed.
When they got back on the helicopter Fethillen was already onboard. Katelina overheard her saying she'd radioed Hector and he would make all the arrangements. The name Hector was familiar, but Katelina couldn't place it.
