Our American headquarters was located just over an hour outside of the Court gates towards Lehigh University. It wasn't as ostentatious of a setup as the Russian Estate, but there was a certain air to it that was extremely fitting. Very old school Russian Mob.
If only she could see me now. She'd have a field day with it.
We had the stereotypical warehouse; old, broken down, and in a completely abandoned area. Not one of those nice and shiny new industrial park meant for new businesses and technology development but hidden away in the bygone era of the American rail system and its local train yard. There were more vagrants here than honest working men among the graffitied shipping containers and stacks of pallets, but that was to our advantage. Nobody missed the homeless.
Of course, we couldn't just stay in said warehouse. I had picked up a couple of row houses a few blocks from campus where some drunk and stumbling students from the bars and nearest frat parties wouldn't be raise eyebrows too quickly if they happened to miss a class here or there. With some other cities nearby, we were sure to spread out so we didn't make ourselves too noticeable to the local humans, though.
It didn't take long for us to start trading in favors and selling insurance policies in the week or so we established ourselves there. A side job or two for some state and local political figures and a nice new contract for few of them as well, and we were thoroughly into some good business by word of mouth alone. Lukas had done well in setting us up for a strong start here.
I had left Stephan in charge of running the Russian Headquarters for now. He was more than capable, and while I couldn't trust anyone completely, I doubted he would betray me. My two confidants worked for me as a team, like a pair of knives. Stephen could detect the slightest hint of dissent in my operation, and Lukas wasted no time in dispatching them at my order. But as they say, 'let not your left hand know what your right-hand does.' I wasn't above using one to kill the other.
I made my touchdown onto American soil the day Rose received her Promise Mark. It was a celebration for us both; the beginning and the end. Lukas filled me in on all the updates during my several-hour flight while Stephen waited to do the same the moment I called him.
"There has been plenty of movement at Court. We've been able to see some from the outside and our main contact has been relaying some information here and there. He's been dedicated to his job." Lukas handed me a newer phone, but one that I knew had been given several levels of protection. The guardians and Alchemist Association had just as much tracking information as most government entities.
"As you know, they should be prepping for the new influx of guardians to come in. St. Vladimir's will be arriving in a few days, as will a few select choices from some of the other schools. We'll see a large number of Royals coming in as well. Many have already arrived to select new guardians or trade out those they feel are slipping in age or ability."
Ahh, the aging out of a guardian. It was both humiliating and occasionally a blessing. Those that aged out of active duty managed to survive their tenure, but when you were deemed no longer useful to the Moroi as far as defense goes, then it was a toss up as to where you were placed afterward. Some were lucky enough to be offered a position with a school or the upper levels of the guardian headquarters's hierarchy. The truly honored ones were given a rare and respected full retirement with lifelong benefits. But the others...well, they usually ended up in the pits of paper pushing or finding low-paying grudge work that was befitting a strong man with little skills beyond combat.
The I had been given, one of many I would come into possession over the next several weeks, was one with a new American number and only a few other numbers programmed in. Luka's number would be changed out weekly, as would Stephan's, but the third number would change nearly daily. The only identifying and unifying mark would be the code name at the end.
"&"
Every text from that person would be information from our inside contact within the Court. I had located him just over two weeks ago, offering to waive his annual insurance fee for the year if he agreed to work for us until I could finish what I had started with Rose. While he initially questioned why I had more interest in the Princess's guardian rather than the Princess herself, those questions immediately stopped after I suggested that I find another person to work with and leave no loose ends to deal with.
The first text from the burner phone came the second day after the St Vladimir graduation.
New Guardian flight came in. She's aboard. Several Moroi aboard as well, including Princess Dragomir. -&
Confirmation that she was, indeed, where she was supposed to be was good. It meant that, so far, all was well with my plan. Now it was just a waiting game.
We were about to set up another business contact with a local University Bar to get better access to permanent feeders rather than always hunting when another text came, only one day later.
Tatiana is planning a birthday trip for the Princess to Lehigh University. Two guardians plus Rose will be accompanying. The trip will proceed in ten days. More information to come. -&
I was almost impressed with the efficiency of our inside man. He seemed to have a knack for providing good information in a timely manner, without wasting my time with inane details such as the whatever was happening within the Court that had little interest to me. I pocketed my cell with almost a twinge of regret that he'd never earn his reward, but a mental note to use this method to get information from within the wards in the future.
The very next day, a quick succession of text came, making my phone ring as if it was suddenly an alarm blaring.
Princess Vasilisa has been declared missing. -&
Rose is apparently missing as well.-&
They were both spotted at an event last night. -&
They are thought to be together, though nobody knows where they have gone. -&
Apparently, there are no records of them leaving through the gates. -&
Is this your doing? -&
I sent a single reply.
No.
I mobilized my team along the main arterial road leading out of the Court gates as well as a few of the side roads that split away. They all had the strict order to stand down until I said otherwise, forcing them to wait in the shadows, but I already knew that Rose was long gone.
The SUV's raced past them without bothering to check further than the first few miles surrounding the gates on foot. As long as they kept some distance, the guardians would never see the rather large amount of Strigoi just outside their reach. I sent a small group to track some of the guardian's vehicles to get an idea of where they thought they might be going, but I soon heard the word from Luka that there seemed to be no rhyme of reason for where they were checking. Their search spread everywhere from the nearby shopping center, towards Lehigh University, and the general bus/train/airport sweep.
As a last act of patience, I sent word to the various teams, calling them back to our headquarters before beginning my pacing ritual around the office. It was on the third pass that a book hit the wall, falling apart in a shower of pages as I accepted what this meant. She had taken Vasilisa and gone undercover.
The last time Rose had felt threatened – or more specifically, the last time she felt Vasilisa had been threatened – she had broken them out of the Academy and ran. It had taken the best guardians years to find them. Even as a novice without full training she had managed to evade authorities and move from city to city until I had finally caught her. Even then, that had only happened due to years of information gathering and a series of small mistakes made when she finally reached complacency.
She wouldn't make those mistakes again. If it had been hard to find her before, it would be nearly impossible to now. If she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be.
Several more items broke in shatters and curses. I should have known she would have run. I should have had someone posted at that gate all day, every day. I fucked up and if we couldn't find her someone would fucking pay for it.
Keep me posted and if you hear anything from the guardians or Court officials, let me know immediately.
I wouldn't be as scattered and random in my search as the guardians. We were the ones they were trying to protect them from. My team didn't have the same problem. We could move much faster without that annoyance.
I could easily track her, watch for the signs, and find them. After all, I had been the one to find her before, and I could find her again. True, she could be anywhere but I knew Rose better than anyone else and I could piece together where she might head based on some simple logic.
She had already told me some of the reasons why she had chosen certain places over others. Between that and what I already knew about her, it would be easy to narrow down where she would be.
She preferred areas that had more even patterns of day and night, favoring those with more evening hours. However, knowing what she knew now, I wondered if she would opt for more daylight hours even if it meant less mobility. If she was the only one guarding the princess, she would have to sleep at some point and sunlight meant safety.
I mentally scratched that thought for now.
She had also mentioned trying to find places with more overcast or rainy days rather than clear ones. The lower light, even during the day, gave them a bit more ability to move when they traveled during the day without sacrificing Vasilisa's health. If they were switching to a human schedule, or at the very least to a partial human schedule, then that would be a necessity.
Finally, she always tended to stay in college towns. Not only did they fit in better with that particular age group, they also offered lower cost rent and shorter contracts. Also, they could find roommates there and I doubted that Rose would be hesitant in using Vasilisa's compulsion anymore when it came to needing them as feeders. She wouldn't let herself be at anything less than 100% peak strength and awareness. Vasilisa would be the one with the bleeding heart and would try to sway Rose into waiting for official feeders.
A list started forming, with plenty of cities making fitting the parameters. I had even added Portland, though I doubted Rose would be foolish enough to hide there when that was where I had found her only a year before.
Guardians finally found a security image of the Princess, Rose, and another guardian named Edison Castile leaving for Seattle by plane. They should have touched down two hours ago. They're sending a jet immediately to work with Alchemists there. -&
I had slowly been narrowing my list down, one by one, until I could reasonably divide and send my team to search several cities when that text came in.
It was a two-toned message; both invigorating and infuriating at the same time. There was a trail to follow, but it could be cold by now. There was plenty of time for her to find a safe house for a few days or throw off guardians further by moving again, but the location was actually fairly ideal for her to stay for a while. It had been high on my final list of potential sanctuaries for them.
There were a few larger Universities and dozens of smaller community colleges or trade schools that had housing she could hide in. Between that and the weather, it was the perfect place to lay low for quite a long time. The Court would never give up the hunt (nor would I) but the longer she was hidden, the harder she would be to find.
Not to mention there were plenty of vampire enthusiasts in the area who would happily become feeders after that whole vampire love story debacle. It created a boom for our food source, but almost too much interest in our community. Watching the Alchemists trying to keep the hysteria from getting out of control was actually fairly amusing.
We moved as quickly as the guardians, touching down in a small airport rather than the larger, international SeaTac that they were most likely using. Rather than scrambling to find the trio, we'd wait for our informant to dictate the next step. Holding still for hours was a skill I had perfected as a guardian, and while I wanted nothing more than to chase her down like a wolf who had caught his prey's scent, I knew my patience would eventually be rewarded.
It was rounding on a full day though since her disappearance. Then it slowly pulled past that. My tolerance wearing thin. I was going to wait for nightfall before sending my team out to look through some of the campuses to find roommate ads when a text from our informant stopped me.
No word from the guardians, but some odd movement from A. Ivashkov. -&
I nearly dismissed it, ready to lash out at him for the uselessness of the comment, before remembering that Adrian was one of the few people that either Vasilisa or Rose might reach out to.
Adrian has booked a flight to Las Vegas. Much different than his behavior over the past day and a half. -&
While Adrian had always been erratic in his behavior, and I wouldn't put it past him to decide on a bender at the most inappropriate time, but my gut told me something about this was different.
"Fuel up the plane and collect our supplies," I ordered out to Lukas. "We're heading to Las Vegas immediately."
Slip a tracer in his bag. Do whatever it takes.
Thankfully, I had no doubt that my contact would do as told. He knew his life was on the line.
By the time we hit the Las Vegas heat, we'd know exactly where Rose and the others were.
Thanks for reading. Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr (gigi256)
