"Works for me," Shabazz said. "Us old-heads need to be on point, first, and maybe Hubert and his crew can take the other wing that has a tower, near the library, since that's his thing, and he and his boys can man the towers like gargoyles."
"That's where I was going with it, 'Bazz," Carlos said. "Put the newbies in the middle, with senior squad flanking them in the center hall-sharpshooters in rotation up in the towers."
"Cool," Jose said. "Y'all heard the man. The sooner we get sup�plies in and this joint protected, the sooner we can all crash."
"Then, if everybody is cool," Carlos said calmly, "while I've still got some energy, me, 'Bazz, and Berkfield can make a run to Nevada."
Rider looked at the threesome. "On this one, I'd like to come along, fellas."
"You sure you're up to it, man?" Shabazz asked with concern. "It's an in-and-out job-we go get Gabby and then come home."
"I need to do this," Rider said, checking his weapon clip. "I don't wanna stand around useless with Jack Daniel's calling my name."
The moment they entered the condo, the hairs stood up on Carlos's neck. Shabazz's locks crackled with static charge, and Rider hocked and spit. Berkfield was the first to move, holding up his hand, his de�tective instincts keened.
"Don't touch anything," Berkfield said as they slowly advanced on guard.
"There's blood everywhere," Rider muttered. "This ain't a good sign." He inhaled deeply and his attention shot to Carlos. "Your boy's signature is all in it."
Carlos didn't respond but advanced to the dining room table. Rider was right. Yonnie's definite blood signature was in the room. So was Gabrielle's. But something else was wrong. He touched the dried blood-splatter on the table that had thickened and crusted over, and then bent to sniff it better. He looked up. "Yonnie was here... but so was Lilith."
"Lilith?" Berkfield whispered. "I thought we flat-blasted that bitch in the Himalayas."
"Me, too," Rider said, rushing over to the table to deeply inhale the scent.
"Yonnie was here, but his signature is slightly altered," Carlos said in a far-off tone, thinking.
Old scent patterns near Yonnie's blood formed a maze in Carlos's mind. The male scent he'd detected didn't jive. If there was one vam�pire heknew was dead, it was Fallon Nuit-he'd neutered the bastard with his own hands.
"Lilith was definitely here, and so was Gabrielle," Carlos finally said, then walked away from the table and looked out the window.
"He killed her, too?" Rider said, crossing the room quickly to grab Carlos by the arm. "He murdered Gabby!"
"Don't jump to conclusions, man," Carlos said, forcing calm into his voice. "You know how this goes. Everything you see ain't always what it is."
"Why are youstill protecting that motherfucker after what you saw him do to Tara with your own eyes, Rivera?" Rider shouted. "The woman wasn't even in the ground yet, and he-"
"Hold up, man," Shabazz said, coming between Carlos and Rider. "All we got is circumstantial evidence on both counts, now that we know Lilith is loose. That's important info, and you know I loved Tara, too. She was one of us, so I ain't siding with anybody that could've done her. But you also saw some foul shit slam the inner team-us old-heads, right? I saw my own woman go were-jag with my own eyes, man. But I also knew something beyond that was wrong. Get a grip."
Rider lowered his weapon and began pacing while dragging his fingers through his hair.
"That's true, Rider," Berkfield said. "I'm no psychic, but I didn't have to be one to see Marlene, Mike, and Jose...and you turn back at the hacienda to know something went way wrong. That shit still gives me the heebie-jeebies. So, I'm going with two possibilities as a cop theory, all right?"
Rider begrudgingly nodded, standing down once both Shabazz and Berkfield had spoken. "Only because you weren't his friend and are both married men, I'll hear ya out and won't cap that sonofabitch on sight."
Carlos let the dig pass, knowing where Rider was. He kept his mouth shut, but gave Berkfield the go-ahead with his eyes.
"Okay," Berkfield said, rubbing a shiny spot on his bald scalp. "First theory goes like this. Whatever made members of our team flip was caused by an evil outside agent-Lilith, possibly the same one that made Yonnie accidentally flatline Tara. If so, the man is somewhere eating his own heart out right now... and I'd lay bets on that being why he can't send or receive messages from Carlos."
Carlos nodded. "A Level Seven communications block, just like they'd blocked all vamp turns before-seen it done."
"My point exactly," Berkfield said, his eyes on Rider's. "Yonnie may be a lot of things, but he never struck me as stupid."
Rider turned away from Berkfield to stare out the window.
"If dude figured out before we did that Lilith was on the loose," Shabazz said, going to Rider and putting a firm grip on Rider's shoulder. "And knew Lilith was somehow in cahoots with Cain to break this family's back, then he went to protect the only one in the fold who was outside the net-Gabby."
"I think that could be part of the answer as to why you guys picked up three scents and three vibes," Berkfield said slowly, casing the room and looking at the toppled chair. "Here, she's sitting at the table trying to do a crystal ball divination to get info to warn us through Heather and Jasmine... something blows in and scares the bejeebers out of her, and she stands quickly, the chair goes down. Hopefully it was Yonnie in his right mind and trying to get to her fast. Lilith comes in, walks in on 'em, and there's a struggle... Yonnie gets her out of there in a black, master vampire's cloud. Blood is everywhere, but Gabby is somewhere recovering. The girl knows how to purge a vamp nick, running the joints she used to have."