"What is the location?" Tony asked.
"They only gave coordinates. Latitude and longitude," Bill answered. "We've checked; that particular spot is a wooded area near Parkville, Missouri, located slightly north and west of Kansas City."
"Anything near there?" Winkler got in on the questioning.
"There's an underground business park nearby," Bill said. "They may be using that as a base; we're checking it now."
"You need to get Lissa up there, along with the rest of us to see if we can sniff any of them out," Gavin said. "What is the date?"
"They're being generous, they're giving us a month," Bill said, sounding puzzled.
"If we wrap this up quickly, we'll have time to return to France for the Annual Meeting," René observed. The meeting was to be held in France and was scheduled for the beginning of October.
"René, you have always been fonder of those gatherings than I," Gavin said.
"You work them, cousin," René reminded his only living relative. "I go to enjoy myself." He didn't bring Gavin's attention to the fact that he'd put in a bid for Lissa during the last meeting. Had Gavin not intervened, Lissa might be wed to him instead. Gavin would not appreciate the reminder; René was sure of that.
* * *
Albert sent a mental message to Everett Hancock. Can you hear me? he asked Anthony Hancock's father. Everett blinked at him instead.
"You must answer if you hear my mindspeech," Albert laid compulsion. Everett nodded. Albert tried again. Now do you hear me?
Everett sat there, unsure what Albert wanted him to do. Ken white was watching the one-sided exchange, feeling a bit bored. Albert was trying desperately to get Everett Hancock to answer. They'd held hope that the elder Hancock could hear Albert's mindspeech. The unfortunate truth, however, was that Everett Hancock seemed to be—as far as mindspeech was concerned, anyway—deaf as a post.
"We have tried for the past hour and he is unable to hear Albert's mindspeech," Chris Townsend relayed the message to Charles, who would pass it along to Wlodek. Wlodek was actually listening to the conversation. He took the phone from Charles.
"Take him to Oklahoma City," Wlodek instructed. "Introduce him to Lissa. She will have a message for me afterward." Wlodek handed the phone back to Charles. Charles gave the address of the safe house where Lissa could be found in Oklahoma before terminating the call.
Chris put the phone back in his pocket. "Looks like we're going to Oklahoma City," he sighed.
* * *
We were driving north on I-35 about nine in the evening, two days after I'd learned that Don's brother was dead. It was Thursday, August twenty-sixth; Gavin had bought Roff a nice watch with date and time displays, and taught Roff about telling time and using a calendar. Roff was happy with Gavin's instruction and was quite taken with the watch, reminding me in the mornings what day it was. I considered smacking Gavin and hiding the watch. Unfortunately, Roff never took it off—it was waterproof, too.
"There is a three-bedroom safe house reserved for us in Oklahoma City," Gavin informed me; he was driving the van Winkler lent us. It could seat up to nine people with room in the back for luggage. Tony and René sat behind us, with Roff in the back row. He didn't seem to mind. Bill had flown into Oklahoma City several hours ahead of us to continue his investigation. Winkler would be joining us in two days; he had business to see to before following us to Oklahoma. Dalroy and Rhett were planning to come with him as added protection. My cell phone rang as Gavin drove.
"Lissa?" Charles was on the other end.
"Hi, Charles, what's up?" I asked. I was glad to hear from him; I hadn't brought my laptop since Gavin had his. I could use it to send email—if I could get past his frown whenever I asked to borrow it, that is. He and Wlodek both forbade the use of my cell phone as a means to do email, saying it was much easier to lose a cell and they didn't want my contacts handed over to someone who'd managed to get their hands on my phone. They'd also discouraged me from taking my laptop. Therefore, I was forced to use Gavin's laptop as a means of electronic communication.
"The Honored One has instructed Chris Townsend and Ken White to catch up with you in Oklahoma City tomorrow evening," Charles informed me. "They are bringing someone with them. Wlodek wants to know whether you detect a kinship between this person and anyone else you may know."
"Oh. Okay, I can do that," I agreed. "Can you tell me who it is?"
"No. Wlodek doesn't want you to know," he said. Gavin was listening to the conversation, as were Tony and René. "Chris will come for you and Gavin and take you to this person," Charles continued. "But Wlodek only wants the two of you to go. Understand?" Gavin was nodding, so I said that was fine. Charles had to go so we hung up.
"Wonder what that's all about," I muttered, putting my cell away.
"You will find out tomorrow," Gavin said and kept driving.
Chapter 5
"We have to find a grocery store and get something for Roff to eat at the safe house," I told Gavin when we reached the outskirts of Oklahoma City. "Where is the safe house?"
Gavin rattled off an address in the northwestern portion of the city. "There's a grocery store not far from there," I said. "I can take Roff after you guys get settled in."
"No!" Gavin, Tony and René all said at once. That's how four vampires and a comesula ended up in a grocery store that stayed open late, walking down aisles while Roff and I discussed what he wanted to cook. René hadn't been inside a grocery store ever, I think. There hadn't been a reason for him to go, so this was a new experience.
Tony was staring at a display of snacks, a look of longing on his face. I just went to him and rubbed his back a little. I knew that feeling. The memory of what the food tasted like was still fresh in his mind. I also knew that René hadn't had time for the food lesson, yet. Poor Tony. That was a difficult experience for me, when Merrill forced me to hold onto the food until I was in a safe place to get rid of it. Vampire bodies and solid food don't mix very well.
We only bought enough food for a few days, since we didn't know how long we were going to be at this particular safe house. Roff and I packed groceries away in the upper level of the house—it had a full kitchen, just as the basement did. Gavin, Tony and René unloaded suitcases and carried them downstairs. Roff's things were dropped in the upper level—he would sleep upstairs; he didn't have a problem with daylight as the others did.