"Rapid Wrath, Chpt 1" by James C. Oliver

"Hey, buddy, got a light?"

            "Yeah, right here."  He pulled a zippo lighter out from his left pocket.  But before he could bring it up to the stranger's cigarette, his head took a round from a .45 caliber bullet.  The only sound that was heard was the casing hitting the ground and the slide of the weapon moving back and forth.

            "One's in," the first man said into the throat mike.

            "Two's in."

            A few seconds passed.  "Three, what's your status?"

            "Three's in," there was a pause.  "With some trouble.  Why again did I get the skylight?"

            "Cut the chatter, three.  Four?"

            "Four's in, no problems."

            "Return to radio silence."

            The man quietly walked down the corridor he was in.  The few lights that were on in the hall provided plenty of light for the stranger's night vision goggles.  He saw someone step into the hallway and he ducked into the nearest doorway.  After peeking around the corner to see if the other person had left, he continued on his path.  He turned when he found the doorway marked H-330.  Opening the door, the man pulled his suppressed .45 out of the holster.  A secretary turned and started to scream, but a bullet went through her windpipe and exited at the base of her neck.  The man caught the woman and gently lowered her body to the ground so as not to make a sound.  He picked the casing up and put it in a pouch on his vest.  Walking further into the offices, he found his target.  Holstering his pistol, he looked at the House Majority Whip.  "I give you a choice: either die in a most painful way, or give in to the power of the Imperium."

            "I chose to live!"  The Congressman pulled a snub-nose .38 caliber revolver from a desk drawer and shot the intruder five times in the chest.  The intruder, in response, drew his pistol and shot the congressman, emptying the remaining eleven .45 caliber rounds into the man's torso.

            A light flashed in front of the intruder's eyes.  "Mission failed.”  "I wasn't supposed to shoot him like that, was I?"

            "No, most definitely not," said a disembodied voice.  "Lieutenant Nick Fitzpatrick, call sign Celtic, you're trying to join the blackest of Vampire Special Forces, and you couldn't even get the congressman to drop the gun?"

            "No ma'am."

            "Why again are you called Celtic?"

            "Ma'am, I'm the biggest Boston Celtics fan in the Western Hemisphere, and I’m Irish."

            "And have you ever been in combat?"

            "I can’t tell you that, ma'am."

            "Have you ever killed anyone?"

            "Yes ma'am.  Beyond those killed in the line of duty as a SEAL, three."

            "Who?”  The piercing stare of the woman would have melted any normal man into a pile of goop, but he was unfazed by the look.  It was one of those things that he could deal with.

            "Two males and a female.  The two guys ganged up on this woman and were raping her.  I put two into each of them and I bit the woman."  He answered calmly.  He took off the glasses that reminded him of Cyclops and handed them to the military instructor.  He also handed over the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Mark 23A .45 caliber Offensive Handgun.  It was modified to work only with the trainer, but all members of the Vampire Special Forces carried the real version of the weapon.  "She tasted like," he paused to think of the right word, "Fear."

            "Well, we need killers, but the kinds of killers that we need are ones that know when to shoot and when to turn someone."  She looked at him and shook her head.  "Definitely not what you seem to be thinking about.  Get your head in shape, soldier."  The woman turned on her heel, flipping her coppery hair over her right shoulder.

            "She's got your number, dude," another, more familiar, voice said.

            "Yeah, well, I'll get on the team.  It might kill me, but I'll make the team."  Nick turned to his best friend, Lieutenant James Cunningham.  "Your turn.”

            "Yeah, and I'll bet you ten bucks that I'll beat your score on this sim."

            "You're on.  See you in twenty minutes."  Nick left the simulator and headed up to the control center.  He punched in his code and entered the room.  He stood and looked around and then saw an open chair and grabbed it.  "Alright, Jimbo, let's see how you do," Nick uttered under his breath.

            On the screen, Nick watched as Jim simply walked up to the guard and shot him three times, twice to the chest and once to the head.  He walked into the corridor and ran up to the office.  Jim shot both secretaries and burst into the office.  Nick grinned, as he knew what would happen.

            But instead of pulling the snub-nose revolver out and shooting Jim in the chest, the congressman was cowering behind his desk.  Jim went over to him and bit the congressman.  Finishing the turning ritual, Jim silently walked out of the office and jumped through the skylight and on to the roof of the Capitol Building.  From there, he leapt off into the night.  "Darn, Jimbo's fast tonight.  He just finished that mission in three minutes.  And did it right the first time."  The instructor turned to Nick, and looked him right in the eye.  "It’s going to be hard for you to recover from that blow to your grade."

            Nick didn't flinch.  To show anything, especially an emotion like discomfort, he considered a weakness and to be avoided.  "Well, we'll see."  He got up and went back down to the chamber.  On the way, he thought about his career and how he ended up in this sort of mess.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Irish parents and attended Tulane University on an NROTC scholarship.  He graduated and was accepted directly into Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL School and became a US Navy SEAL.  While with the teams, he picked up his call sign, Celtic, after he showed intense dedication to the basketball team during their run for the championship.  But it was at the Championship game where his life took a radical turn.  Nick met a girl named Melissa Clark, a blonde who seemed to wear sunglasses everywhere to Nick.  Nick fell into what he knew was love.  It turned out that he was actually chosen to join the Vampires and help train their security forces by the US government and USSOCOM.  Granted "permanent" posting with the Vampire Special Forces, his records were sealed and would never be opened again.  He tried to get out, but was turned by Melissa.  Shortly thereafter, a group of marauding drunks in New Orleans came across Melissa and killed her.  Nick never forgave himself for letting Melissa down, and the authorities never found her body.  But he realized that wishing for anything would be fruitless.  It wouldn't bring back Melissa, but it could give him the mental fortitude to do the blackest jobs he was assigned.  As he walked into the training room again, he looked at Jimbo with fire in his eyes.  "Guess I should learn from the master, huh?"

            "Yeah.  That and fork over the ten bucks, Celtic."

            Nick broke out his wallet and pulled a ten from his small wad of bills.  "Taking my combat pay, like always Wraith."

            Jim's face broke into a wide grin.  "You know me; steal from the rich to support me!"  The woman who was head of the VSF walked in and glared at what she knew was the only unbeaten team.  In the scenarios when the two worked together, they were invincible.  She wanted them to be on the teams, but they acted so, so human.  Other members of the team didn’t know how the two would react to some of the ribbing humans took in the locker room.  She gave Nick a new objective and sent Jim to another room to play the role of the opposition.  “You will infiltrate this building, capture this woman, and return her to the command facility.  Enemy forces are protecting her with orders to kill her if she should fall into enemy hands.  Do not let me down again, Celtic.”

            “Yes ma’am.”  With that, she nodded to the instructor and left.  He handed Nick his practice weapon and another weapon, an MP5 SD6.  Lastly, he handed Nick the glasses and nodded.  Nick cocked his head to listen.

            “He’s gonna throw everything at you.  Jimbo’s the enemy commander, and you can bet your life that he isn’t gonna be keen on failing.  It’s gonna be hard to win this one.  Speed should be your first priority.  Getting the package should be next.  Don’t bother trying to kill people you don’t need to kill.  It wastes time.  Got it?”

            “Yeah, I got it.”

            “Good luck.”  The technician turned his back and thought to himself, you’re gonna need it.

            Nick put on the glasses.  In front of him, he saw the image of the girl he needed to capture.  She looked familiar, but Nick shrugged off the coincidence.  He saw his proposed route to the objective and thought it a bit long.  “I gotta do this?”  He thought out loud.  “Let’s get it over with.”

            The screen flickered and changed to look like his insertion point, a safe house close to the objective.  He walked outside and immediately saw Wraith’s handiwork.  A field of claymores and tripwires.  Nick looked up and saw that Jim was going to try and funnel him towards a certain spot, one where Nick could not escape nor hide.  He looked at his planned method of getting to the objective.  It was crawling with people, 99 percent of whom would not forgive him of carrying two military grade weapons in plain sight.  He thought for a second before turning and seeing the perfect way to get around it.  An old BMW Z3, top down, was sitting no more than fifteen yards away from where he was standing.  Nick thought it almost too easy.  But upon further inspection found it to be clean.  He got in and began to hot-wire the car.  Celtic also pulled back on the hammer of his pistol to make it single action.  He started the car, and drove into the main stream of traffic.  After reaching a point no more than a block away from his objective, he parked the car and began to look around for any pedestrians who would reveal his presence.  Finding none, he stepped out of the Z3 and flipped the selector switch on his MP5 to full automatic.  He ran, only the speed a vampire could run, to the side door he had noticed in the briefing.  Knowing that it would be booby-trapped, he jumped to the roof of the building and landed quietly as he could.  Celtic put the MP5 into his shoulder in the ready position.  He looked for another way in.  Finding none, he pulled out a package of C4 plastique.  He set up his own charge to blow the roof in.  Nick backed away from the area he had set the explosive.  With one hand on the detonator and the other over his crotch, Nick applied even pressure to the button.  With a reverberated roar, the roof of the building caved in.  Nick put the MP5 back into his shoulder and jumped into the hole.  He heard shots coming through the hole and turned to return fire at the hostiles that were down the hall from him.  Nick turned and stood up, firing his weapon as he did so.  Three of the enemy soldiers were killed in the initial volley, and the rest ran away, falling back to the command center of the building.  Left with no choice, Nick followed, changing magazines on the run.  Before he turned the corner, Nick felt that he was closer to the objective than he thought, and flicked the lever to burst.  He also pulled a flash-bang off of his lapel and yanked the pin out of its place.  He released the spoon and tossed the grenade down the corridor with some force.  It exploded and stunned the force of soldiers that was there.  Nick followed the explosion and took down the soldiers with no problem at all.  He noticed a door marked “Brig” but knew that there was no one in it.  Wraith was not stupid and would not have left the girl somewhere where Nick could get to her and get her out faster than his soldiers could respond.  Celtic began looking for Wraith, knowing that wherever he was, the girl would be too.  Nick creeped down the hallway and peeked around a corner.  There he saw a number of guards and the door leading to the room where he was certain that Wraith was sitting in and with him, the woman he was to rescue.  A radio message broke his thoughts.  “Celtic, be advised: the hostage is a female vampire who goes by the reporting name: Clark.  She is a trained VSF operative and can assist in her own escape if provided access to weapons.  Ice out.”

            “Well that gives me a boost.”  Nick turned the corner and killed the remaining four guards.  He walked to the door and opened it.  He shot the two attendants and turned to Cunningham.  “Well, I’ll see you later, Jimbo.”  Nick emptied the remaining rounds into Cunningham, and then went over to secure the body.  “Nothing personal.  You know what I mean.”  With that, Celtic turned to the girl.  “Clark, I want you to grab his weapon and help me get you outta here.”

            “Yes sir.  Who are you?”

            “Name’s Celtic.  I’m VSF, and here to get you out.”

            “OK, then Celtic.  I’m loaded.  Let’s go.”

            Nick nodded and changed magazines again.  He motioned her to follow him and led her to the new skylight he had punched into the ceiling.  He pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist.  “This could be fun,” he stated flatly.  With that, he jumped out of the building and back into the waiting car.  Clark was already in her seat.  She looked hard at him and put on her seat belt.  “It’s a shame you didn’t let me finish him.”

            “Why?”  Nick started the car and pulled into traffic.

            “Because I wasn’t the girl you were there to rescue.”

            Nick slammed on the gas pedal and pulled up to the side door again.  “What?” he yelled.

            “I’m just kidding.  Better start driving.”  She motioned to an LAV-25 that appeared behind them.

            “If you’re not kidding, I will kill you.”

            “That’s nice.  Do you have a bazooka in here or something?”

            “Nope.”  He looked at her weapon.  “How good of a shot are you with that?”

            “Excellent.  Why?”

            “Would you mind taking care of our friends who seem to be stationed every five feet from here to our extraction point?”

            “Fine.”  She unhooked the belt and knelt in the chair, leaning over the glass.  She began pumping round after round into the enemy forces on the right side of the road as Nick used the side view mirror to steady his shot on the soldiers on the left-hand side.  Nick activated the throat mike for his radio and called for immediate close air support from any near-by Vampire air force units.  He was refused everything but a Huey with a Minigun on the side of the bird.  “Better than nothing.  Get it to take out the LAV.”  He ordered.  As soon as he said that, he heard the normal whump-whumping of the UH-1Z Super Huey’s rotor blades and the ripping sound of a Minigun in operation.  He heard the explosion of the LAV as the 7.62mm rounds penetrated the engine compartment and gas tank of the armored car.  Nick smiled and then asked the helicopter to clear the path to the extraction point.  “Roger that, Celtic.  Clearing the extraction LZ.”

            It passed overhead, and dropped hot casings into the car.  “Ouch!”  Clark stopped shooting and pulled empty casings out of her shirt.  “That hurt.”

            “That’s nice.  Just keep shooting at the hostiles, will ya?”

            “Right.”  She leveled her weapon out the window and began firing again.  Celtic looked at the helicopter and watched it waste the rest of the street.  He found the rest of the operation a nice easy drive and found the extraction point without incident.  As soon as the car stopped, Clark and Celtic jumped out and ran to the chopper and got aboard to get out.  “You never told me who you are, or what your real name is.”

            “Real name is Jennifer.  I’m VSF, Red Squad.  And what about you, Celtic?”

            “Nick, VSF.  Hopeful Black Squad.  Nice to make your acquaintance.”  He held out his hand.  She took it and leaned back against the bulkhead of the Super Huey.  He nodded to the door gunner.  “Thanks.  You saved our butts out there.”

            “Just doing my job.”  The scene went blank and ‘Mission Accomplished’ flashed in front of Nick’s eyes.  He smiled.

            “So, how does it feel to finally complete a mission today?” came the same voice as earlier.

            “Righteous.”  Nick smiled and pulled off the glasses.  The woman actually smiled as he looked at her.  She looked down at her clipboard and walked out.  Jim and Jennifer walked in.  Jimbo dropped behind Jennifer and signed that she knew of him.  Nick did the slightest of nods to acknowledge the sign and turned to face Jennifer.

            “So I finally get to meet my sister’s lover.”

            Nick raised an eyebrow.  “Sister?  Lover?  What are you talking about?”

            “Don’t you remember Melissa?”

            “Yeah, what about her?”  Nick became defensive.

“I’m her sister.”

Nick felt a rush of emotions rise in his throat, and looked away from the girl who, he finally realized, looked almost exactly like her sister.  He turned suddenly and simply walked out of the room.

Jennifer turned to Jim.  “What was that all about?”

“Nick doesn’t like to be reminded about Melissa.  He always thought it was his fault that she’s dead.”  Jim paused and looked Jennifer in the eye.  “That means, you go trying to make him feel any worse, or put more onus on him by agreeing with him and you’ll answer to me, understood?”

“Yeah, I get it.  Don’t bother him, right.”  She bent to look out the door at Nick’s retreating back.  “Was it his fault?”

“No.  A bunch of these human ‘slayers’ got it in their head to kill her.  Thought she was a high-level official.  They were wrong, and she killed most of them before they could manage to get too many rounds in her.  But what really got Nick’s goat was that they publicized their kill on national TV.  Her body was never recovered by the VSF for burial.  So, you can imagine his angst.”

“Yeah, sounds like he wants to recover her body quite a bit.”

“Right, well, he tried and did his best.  That is all anyone can ask.”  Cunningham walked out of the training simulator with Jennifer and turned to head down to the chow hall.  His suppressed thoughts were once again broken by Clark’s interruption.

“What did he mean by ‘nothing personal’ back in the sim?”

“You don’t stop asking questions, do you?”

“I just happen to be very inquisitive by nature.”

“Whenever we kill each other in a simulator, we remind the other that it is just business.”  He finally turned into the chow hall and left Jennifer to meet up with Nick.  “Just like you to get hit in a nerve and punch out, right?”

“When you lose a girl, and someone turns up who was a relative, and you know they’re gonna ask you questions, you’ll punch out too,” Celtic turned back to the line and grabbed a salad.

Jim shrugged and began loading a tray for himself.  He despised having to drink blood and so always mixed his drink with soda or juice to cover the flavor.  Now ready to follow Nick to where he was sitting, he noticed Jennifer talking with a circle of vampires who were on the Black Squad.  Jimbo pointed out the fact to Nick as he sat down.  Nick’s eyes practically shot death rays at the group, and Jennifer noticed.  She excused herself and flitted over to their table.  “Hey, look, I know that meeting the sister of your dead girlfriend is hard, but I think you owe me an apology for thinking that you have more reason to be angry than I do…you didn’t lose the sister.”

Nick thought about what she said for awhile and nodded.  “Yeah, you’re right, I shouldn’t have been so mean, and I do apologize.”

“Thank you.  Now with that out of the way, do you all want to come over to the bar tonight?  We need to celebrate.”

Jim turned and looked at Clark with a quizzical face.  Nick simply shook his head.  “Why not?”  Jennifer asked as if hurt.

“We don’t have much to celebrate.  Gotta prepare for the op tomorrow.”

“What op?”

“The final where we go out and do an actual mission.”

“Why do you have to study for that?”

Wraith motioned for Celtic to answer.  Nick studied Jennifer again before answering.  “The final exam is not only a real mission; it lasts for however long it takes us and will cover every bit of knowledge gained by us during our stay here.  It is very important to us that we get the proper amount of sleep and some studying done.”

“Well, OK then.  If you don’t want to have any fun, I won’t bother trying to force or convince you.”

Jennifer walked away again from the duo.  “I think she might be trying to pick up one of us,” Cunningham said lazily.

“And I wonder who it could be,” the response came with Fitzpatrick looking right at his opposite number.  He smiled and went back to eating.  Jim again looked at the female form that had just disappeared around a corner.  He shook his head and also began to eat.

VAMPSPECFORCOM (Vampire Special Forces Command) Briefing Room

“You will insert by commercial aircraft to your planned AO.  There will be instructions downloaded into your computer three hours after you arrive.  Both of you will be separated at that point.  Objectives will be downloaded with the instructions, any questions?”

“What weapons will we be carrying into the field?”

“None.  Your weapons will be supplied to you when you arrive in the safe house.”

“Are we allowed to carry personal weapons?”

“No.  If you request, you can have certain weapons beyond those that are provided by us at the house.  Just be sure to tell the S-4 and the armorer.”

“What is the situation?”

“That will be covered in the brief you will receive.”

“Then I guess we better leave,” Jim and Nick stood and gathered their things.

“Not quite yet.  Here are your flight plans and documents.  Good luck and good hunting.”

They reluctantly took the manila envelopes.  After leaving the room, Jim said to Nick in the characteristic way, “Nick, here’s the letter.”

“No, sir.  Not anymore.  I will not be your death-letter mailer.  Who do you have left to mail it to, anyway?”

“Momma Cunningham’s little heart would be wrecked if she had heard you say that.”

“Yeah, well, she’s gone man.  Better let her go.”

“Well fine.”  Jim stopped in front of the weapons diagram.  “What do you think they’ll give us?”

“Probably enough ammo, but only a few pieces.  I’m thinking of requesting a SOPMOD.”

“Really?  I was thinking of getting a PSG-1SD.  Maybe both?”

“Sounds good.  While we’re on it, how ‘bout a SAW… no?  Well, maybe just a M60E3.”

“Naw, not that much firepower.  I think that the limit of our firepower should be our rifles.”  Jim asked about side arms.

“You know the answer to that,” Nick turned and headed down to the S-4 and the armory to request the weapons.

Later on that night, Jim and Nick were packing the last of their clothing that they were going to bring when they heard the knock at the door.  They looked at each other, and not knowing who it was, drew their pistols from their holsters.  Nick nodded and took up a position behind a door frame as Jim answered the door.  “Who is it?”

“Just me.”

“Who is just me?”  Jim responded to the voice on the other side of the door.  He thought about looking through the peephole, but decided against it, as it might present a would-be attacker with an easy head-shot.

“It’s Jennifer.”

“Really?  How should I know?”  Jim replied testily.

How else could I speak inside your mind?  Would you just open the door?  I already know that Nick’s in the other room and that both of you have your weapons ready.  Just let me in.

“Right then.  If you are all that is out there, come on in.”  Jim opened the door and let in Jennifer.  She walked in practically laughing at the pair for having assumed that she might be hostile.

“Haven’t you practiced the sensing abilities?”

“We don’t like to use it much.  It isn’t what they taught us out at Coronado.”

“Well, fine.  Don’t use the best ability that vampires have.  It only could save your rear end one day.”

“Whatever.”  Jim moved back to where he zipped up his luggage and set it down where he would pick it up later.  “Well, why are you not out partying?  I thought that you were supposed to be with the rest of Black team?”

“I was.  But I thought I would help you by taking you to the airport.”  She turned and looked to where Nick was hidden.

“Yeah, yeah.  I know.  Just stay outta my head, there’s stuff in there that you don’t want to see.”

“Good.  But enough chit-chat.  When is your flight?”

“That is information that you do not need to know.  We do not need much in the way of help, other than to get the bags in the car.  Then you can help us by showing up when we tell you to.  That is how you can help us.  Just make sure your slate is clear for the next two weeks.  We might need to call upon your services.  Also, get in touch with a certain Commander John Trinity.  Tell him to keep a team ready.  I will contact him to make sure that he has an idea as to where to deploy his team in support of our op.  I might be able to get some regular tactical support.  But that is a distant possibility.  I really doubt some American area commander is going to chop us any support.  So, we are left to our own devices.”

“No.  I will make sure that you two are supported in full by my team and any forces we can spare you.  Even if it is only a few; a few can make the difference.”

“Yeah.  We figured that out in Iraq and Afganistan.”

“Well then, just make sure that you know when to call in reinforcements.  As much as the skipper likes to think that you are invincible, you and Nick aren’t.  No one is.”

Nick turned with a raised eyebrow.  He was holding two naval officer swords, made of silver, coated in tungsten and teflon, and sharpened.  The swords were meant to be used against other rogue vampires, but that happened so rarely in most parts of the world that many had left the tradition behind.  Celtic and Wraith were two who did not, as they would rather be prepared for any eventuality.  “Really?  She thinks we’re invincible?”

Jennifer looked at them as if she had been hit in the chest with a baseball bat.  “Yeah, because in the sims and you both are on the same side, you never get killed or wounded.  You both survive.  You might lose the mission, but you have never lost each other.  I should know.  I organized every single opposition force against you in the sims.  You both were never fazed by whatever I threw at you!”  She blurted out.

It was now Nick’s turn to be amazed.  “Well, that’s nice.  We’ll be going now.”

“Fine.  Just one thing.”  She kissed both on the cheek.  “For luck.”

Jimbo smiled, Nick frowned.  “Thanks.  Both grabbed their kit and walked out the door.  Not ten seconds later, Nick popped his head back in and said, “Oh, would you mind keeping Gunny fed?”

“Who?”

“My fish.”  Nick pointed at a small bowl on the bedside table.

“Yeah, sure, gimme a key?”

He tossed one to her and left without another word.

Baltimore-Washington International Airport

Their bags checked, swords stowed, and tickets and passports ready, Lieutenants Nick Fitzpatrick and James Cunningham stepped on to the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400.  Both were planning on catching as much sleep as possible, as they thought they wouldn’t have much time in the field for such luxuries.  When they sat down, they noticed that the personal entertainment stations were set up with quite a few interesting movies.  They chose “Underworld” and leaned back into their first-class seats.  It would be a long flight.

Undisclosed Location…

They moved silently.  If they were discovered, it could spell doom for their project here on Earth.  The group did not use radios or cell phones, just hand and arm signals.  The leader signaled to keep moving.  They carried no obvious firearms, just swords.  These resembled the samurai Kantana, made out of silver and came with a spray-on tungsten and Teflon coating.  When they came close to their objective, they drew the swords and made ready to rush the room as soon as the door was blown by their demolitions expert.

But as soon as he touched the door, it exploded into a hundred thousand small pieces of shrapnel, and no one on the team lived long enough to see the five vampires step out and immediately begin to clean up the bodies.  In their place, they left a group of human bodies ripped up in a similar fashion.  The vampires immediately set off the fire alarms and lit the incendiary device they had placed.  The team then scrambled from the building before the device exploded, covering their tracks.  It had been a successful first night for Black Squad.

Heathrow Airport, London

They got off the plane, if not in as good a condition than when they got on, then close.  Nick and Jim headed straight toward their connection flight.  They arrived in good time and checked themselves in on this flight as well.  While Nick sat and guarded their carry-on bags, Jim when to grab chow for the pair.  He tried to blend in as much as possible, but knew that it was not all that hard to disappear in the middle of a crowd of literally thousands.  Looking over the choices, Wraith knew that Nick would prefer something that would remind him of home.  “Not that hard.”

Wraith walked towards a McDonalds.  He stopped short of getting in the line when he noticed something was not right.

Immediately assessing the threat and deciding that it would be better to tell the authorities than engaging the threat himself, Jim headed over to the nearest Territorial Army SAS trooper.  Unfortunately, the threat had seen Wraith heading for the soldier and pulled a Beretta pistol from underneath his jacket.  Wraith yelled and pointed at the hostile and the SAS soldier immediately understood.  Hefting the SA-80A2 to his shoulder, he fired two rounds in quick succession that took the guy by surprise.  Both hit their target in center of mass and knocked him down, never to get up again.  Suddenly there were swarms of plain-clothed police officers and soldiers sealing off the area.  People were still screaming in reaction to a combat rifle being discharged in such close proximity to them, and a man was rushed to the hospital with powder burns on his chest.  Jim was immediately detained by constables, and Nick knew better than to try and interfere.  And as the plane was boarding, Nick simply grabbed all of their kit and disappeared into the plane.

New Scotland Yard Headquarters

They had brought him here to talk to him, but were immediately put at ease when he whipped out his US Military ID card.  “So, Leftenant, how come you’re in the UK, under false identification?”

“Sorry, mission stuff.  Classified.”

They took him at his word, and then asked him how he had figured out that the hostile was a bad guy.

“The situation felt wrong, and he looked the most like he had something to hide.  I thought I saw the bulge that comes from carrying a sidearm, and when to turn him into the SAS.  He noticed me, though, and was going to fire on me.  So I simply yelled to the SAS guy and pointed at the hostile.  The SAS took care of putting steel on target, and I should say that he is an excellent shot.”

“Well, thank you Leftenant.  Before we let you get back to making the world safe for democracy, is there a number we can contact you at?”  the detective smiled.

“No sir.  Sorry, but I am late for my stuff.  I need to get back to the airport.  Is that possible?”

“Of course.  I’ll need to drop you by the American Embassy first—“

“Not possible.  My appearance here is not going to be allowed by the US Embassy.  If I am dropped by there, they will not accept me in.”

“Not even a phone call?”

“Not to the diplo-pukes.”  Jimbo turned and held his hand out for the phone, “But I might be able to get some back-channel stuff through the Marines, that is, if Gunny Hurdle is still there.”

“Very well.  If that is all, we can accept that.”

Five minutes later, Jim Cunningham was in a Scotland Yard vehicle headed to the airport.  He had just lost two hours of his life, and now had to catch up to Nick.  And he thought to himself, why did I ever join the SEALs?

Geneva, Switzerland

Nick checked into their hotel and set up his computer.  He was finished in three minutes, and then disconnected it from the Ethernet cable.  He opened up his orders and read them very carefully.  They were fairly simple.  He had one week to find and set up a safe house.  “Thanks.  So I guess we don’t get the weapons that we requested, do we?” he said to no one in particular.

Shutting down the laptop, he opened up his dock kit and went into the bathroom.  It had been close to 15 hours that he had been going without a shower or a shave, and so he felt fairly nasty.  When he stepped into the shower, he wondered about how Jim was getting on.  Nick figured that it was probably better to assume that he was not going to be available to the mission.  Oh well.

After a few hours, Nick was sleeping when the phone rang, waking him.  He lifted it and heard just one word, “Airport.”  Then the line went dead.  Nick smiled.  He stood and walked to the lobby of the hotel.  “May I get my car, please?”

“Yes, sir.  Right away.”  The concierge waved a bell-hop over and told him in German to get the car.

Nick turned and walked out the front door.  He bumped into someone slightly as he left, and felt surprised, he had never had a brush pass accomplished so perfectly.  He felt the small piece of paper in his pocket and decided that it would be better to read it in the car, instead of in front of the hundreds of people on the sidewalk.  His head turned and watched his Mercedes SLK320 Kompressor come around the corner.  One of the best things that being a vampire gave him the ability to check for anything wrong with his vehicle without having to give it a complete security check.  Sensing nothing was wrong, he got in after the valet got out.  He programmed his destination into the onboard computer.  “Destination: Airport.  Thank you for renting from Hertz.”

“Do you have to say that every time I talk to you?”  Nick asked the car.  He shook his head and started driving.  It took him only 30 minutes to get there, and as he drove through the passenger pick-up lane, he spotted Jim standing in front of a city map, staring at it blankly.  In reality, he was probing the crowd and other vehicle drivers on the road, seeing into their minds to determine whether or not they were hostile or just ignorant of the vampires that were sitting in their mist.

            Nick stopped and stepped out of the vehicle to yell to Jim in Gaelic.  “Hey, idiot!  Get in the car, numb nuts!”

            Jim turned at the sound of a language he knew only to be coming from the mouth of his comrade.  He responded in the same tongue.  “Thanks for coming to get me.  Hope that wasn’t too much trouble.”

            “Not at all.  But let’s go, OK?  I’d rather not just stand around here.”

            Jim wasted no time in chucking his bags into the back seat and threw himself into the passenger side of the Mercedes.  As soon as his door was close Nick sped off and back to the hotel.  They went back to English as the car wormed its way back to the hotel.  “So, did we get what we wanted for Christmas?”

            “Not yet.  We have to set up the safe house first.”

            “Lovely.  Well, lets get started on that tomorrow, and then hopefully they’ll send us our gifts.”

            “Oh, hey, when is the Embassy Marine Corps Ball?”

            “Three days.  Need tickets?”

            “Oh heck yeah.  That, and I need a date.  Not like me to go to these things stag.”

            “You did freshman year at Tucker.”

            “And?”

            “Never mind.”

            Undisclosed Location

“Why did your team fail their assigned mission?”

“We do not know.  It would seem that a fire erupted in the building that they were in.  I do not know how this happened as the team was using only explosives that would be found on this planet.  They were not carrying any of the normal human weapons, only their eiras.”  [See: Introduction for definitions!]

“Why then did they fail?  I grow impatient with your indirect answers.”

“I would assume that the vampires discovered our operation and decided to counter it.”

“Vampires.”  The commander got out of his seat and walked up to the porthole.  “These vampires are becoming meddlesome.  Either neutralize them, or face the consequences of war with Earth.”

“Jahet.”  Yes sir.

Somewhere Outside Geneva

“It everything in order?”  Nick asked the real estate agent.

“Yes.  I am glad that we could find you a suitable house in such a short time.”

“That’s great.  I hope to move in today, if at all possible.”

“Of course.  You may move in after 14:00 today.”

“Thank you, Herr Detwiler.  See you later.”  Nick shook hands with the agent and went back to the hotel.  They decided to have Nick get the house while Jim tried to make contact with the local vampire community.  Nick walked back to the car and got in, pulling out his cell phone at the same time.  It was almost identical to the one seen in The Matrix, other than the fact that it was dark grey instead of black.  “Jimbo, how’s it coming?”

“Not well.  They’re proving hard to find.  But I got in touch with VHQ and got the address of the local garrison.  ETA to target, 10 minutes.”

“Good.  And we have a house.  As soon as you get in touch with the head, we should get our goodies without a problem.”

“Roger.  Out.”  Nick closed the phone and drove off to the hotel.  Looking up at the rear view mirror he noticed a car that looked eerily familiar.  He tried to mentally scan the driver and passenger, but couldn’t.  Their minds were locked to him.  Which meant only one thing.  “Yallis.  Damn them.”

He punched a button on his cell phone that connected him with Jimbo again.  “Man, we got a problem,” he stated passively in Gaelic.

“What’s wrong?”

“Possible tail, I see two, but there could be more out of my view range.”

“OK, you have your sword?”

“Yeah.  Thinking I want my Mark 23.”

“I hear you.  OK, go to building four blocks down from the US Embassy.  Marines here won’t be allowed to come out of the building with their weapons, and we don’t want to tip them off to the location of the garrison.  I’ll see what I can do to help you.  Stand by.”

“Roger that.  I don’t think that they are trying to kill me though.”

“OK, well, still.  Get into the embassy as fast as possible.  I’ll try and get there to provide some moral support.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad,” the sarcastic reply came.  Nick calmly reached his target, parked and headed towards the American embassy.  He noticed that the same pair who had been tailing him were joined by another team of two who were across the street and moving in his direction.  Nick tried to check for weapons, but could not tell.  They were still blocking his mental queries, and that made them hostile in Fitzpatrick’s mind.  He made a random turn and bolted down and across the street to put some distance between himself and his pursuers.  He noticed that only one group followed him in his run, the other pair turned and ran for the corner behind them.  “Trying to trap me?” he said to himself.  He drew his sword and stood ready to meet the oncoming elves.

But there they stopped.  Their eyes grew wide, and then they waited.  Suddenly, as if they had received orders from persons unseen, they snapped back to the original stoic stare, and they drew what appeared to be small Roman close-fighting swords.

Nick leapt forward and initiated the encounter.  He swung the naval saber with such force that it knocked the enemy’s sword away from where it was at the ready, and in one fluid motion he brought it around and decapitated the right-hand elf.  The other elf immediately responded with a swing, ended by Nick’s sword, short of its objective.  The two swords danced as if alive, parying and thrusting all in sweeping motions that belied their intended purpose.  Time had slowed for the combatants, but the entire encounter had up to that point had lasted only a period of mere seconds.  Shots rang out in the street, fired by a Swiss police officer who had been alerted by the screams of the few civilian humans in the area.  The bullets impacted with air as both of the fighters seemed to vanish from sight.  The other pair appeared from around a corner with weapons drawn, and were shot dead by a second police officer.  Seeing no other threats, they holstered their SIG P226 pistols and cuffed the pair of people they had shot and called for back up.

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah, just a bit shaken up.”

“Mind telling me what the ------ just happened there?”  Jimbo always self-bleeped his statements when he was in a major fit.

“I took a turn to determine if they were following me, and they let their guard down.  They were aiming to capture me, but they mistook me for a type one personality and didn’t realize that I’d be armed.  So when they turned the corner, they were presented with an armed target and not the person they thought they were going to get.  They made another mistake by again letting me into their heads and received orders to kill me.”  Nick took a breath.  “So I killed one and was fighting another when a team of cops showed up and shot at us.  We scrambled, their other team didn’t notice and got their just reward.  I just hope that the cops are on our side, and can be trusted to simply leave it off.  If not, our operation here is done.”

“Right.  Well, it could have gone better.  That is one more team of elves down.  But we need to send back to HQ and see what they are up to.