Page 85 of Grayson’s Challenge

Grayson’s eyebrows pulled together. “He left hours ago to find Matt Smith.”

“Exactly.” Isabelle shook her head. “First he makes a big fuss about wanting to stay at the house and doesn’t even leave to sleep, and then he’s gone for hours on end? Something is up.”

“Do you think he’s warning Abel?” Monique asked.

“It’s possible,” Isabelle said, though she didn’t sound very convincing. “But then why would he even tell us the name Matt Smith now uses? It doesn’t make sense. He could have just kept his mouth shut, and we wouldn’t be the wiser.”

“Unless he wanted us to chase a ghost,” Grayson said.

“You mean by sending the tracker on a wild-goose chase?” Monique asked.

Grayson nodded. “So he can’t chase a more promising lead. And to give himself a convenient excuse to leave the house.”

“I don’t know,” Isabelle started. “Orlando may be a big brute, but I don’t see him betraying Dad’s trust.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Grayson said and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll give Striker Reed a heads-up.” He navigated to the cell phone number for the council tracker that Luther had sent him earlier and tapped on it. It rang several times, before it went to a recording.

“Leave a message, or don’t,” the gruff recorded voice said.

“Striker, there’s a chance that Orlando is playing us, and that Matt Smith isn’t the name of the suspect after all. Be careful. You could be walking into a trap.”

Grayson terminated the call and looked back at Isabelle and Monique.

“I need to get going,” he said. “The sun will be down in a few minutes.”

“Wait,” Isabelle said. “I forgot the blood.”

“What blood?”

“Mom’s.” Isabelle motioned to the entry of the house. “I drew her blood so that you can give it to Dad the moment you find him. We have no idea what shape he’s in.” She already hurried up the few steps to the house, passing by the two human guards flanking the entrance.

When Isabelle disappeared in the house, Monique turned to him. “Promise me you won’t get yourself killed.”

He pulled her into his arms. “You’re not getting rid of me, remember?” He kissed her, then let go of her lips. “But you have to promise me something too.”

“What’s that?”

“Stay in the house with your mom, my family, and the guards. Don’t under any circumstances believe anybody telling you that I might be in danger, and I asked you to come save me. That’s a ruse.” Years earlier somebody had tricked Blake’s now-mate with such a lie, and she’d almost gotten killed. He didn’t want that to happen to Monique.

She nodded. “I know that. Oldest trick in the book. I’m not gonna fall for it.”

“Good.” He smiled.

Isabelle came out of the house again, a small thermos in her hand.

Grayson reached for it. “Thanks, Isa. I’ll make sure Dad drinks it the moment we free him.” It would lend him instant strength, and hopefully heal whatever injuries Abel had inflicted on him. Grayson assumed that for Samson not to be able to communicate with his mate, he had to be in bad shape. Very bad shape. But he didn’t voice his assumption, knowing that Isabelle was assuming the same. That’s why she’d thought ahead and drawn the blood.

With a quick reassuring smile, he turned his back and walked to the driver’s side of his car. He got in and started the engine. He glanced back at Isabelle and Monique, and saw that Isabelle had put her arm around Monique’s shoulder. Knowing that Monique was safe with his family, Grayson kicked the gas pedal down and headed for headquarters where he’d join his colleagues to take several vans to the abandoned postal facility in Silver Terrace.

38

Two blocks away from the postal facility, and out of sight of any cameras, several of Scanguards’ blackout vans were parked on the street. Both vampires and vampire hybrids were waiting in the vans. The two witches, Wesley and Charles, were in Grayson’s van, together with three Stealth Guardians, Hamish, Zoltan, and Enya. They were tasked with giving them an inside view of the building by invisibly walking through the exterior walls into the facility. Their mission was strictly a scouting mission. The battle would start once the hybrids and vampires entered the building.

Everybody was equipped with an earpiece and a mic in order to communicate during the rescue mission. And everybody was armed to the teeth, both with weapons that killed silently like stakes, and weapons that killed from a distance like the small-caliber handguns that many of the Scanguards’ staff preferred. Nobody had bothered with silencers, because once it was time to employ guns, the kidnappers would already be aware of them.

Grayson nodded at the Stealth Guardians. They were adjusting their headbands which were equipped with tiny cameras that transmitted in real time what the Stealth Guardians were seeing. Thomas sat in the van with them, making sure the three cameras fed into the monitor correctly. Should anything go wrong with the feed, he would be able to fix it on the spot. Eddie had stayed back at headquarters to manage any other technical issues remotely.

“Okay,” Thomas said. “Feed looks good.”