Sookie watched helplessly as the men stared at the concrete shield blocking the entrance to the cubby. She desperately wished she could hear what they were saying, but realized it probably wouldn't do any good, since they were likely speaking Japanese. She looked at the monitors and the controls anyway, and thankfully found what looked like a speaker icon, similar to her computer. She turned up the volume, internally thanking Eric for his paranoia as she could hear the men above her now. As she suspected, they were speaking Japanese, but it would help when the others got here.
Within a few minutes, a car pulled up on the outside monitor and parked next to the mens' cars. She watched as James, Jessica and Keith got out of the car, surprised to see Keith take the lead, not James. Then again, she was pretty sure Keith was the oldest, so maybe that made sense. They strode up to the porch at human speed, acting for all the world as if nothing were bothering them. She watched as Keith pulled out what looked to be the keys she gave to Lafayette earlier and went to unlock the door.
When the men in front of her cubby had heard the car approach, one of them gave brisk directions to the rest, who seemed to have disappeared throughout the house, taking with them the debris from the armoire. The two that stayed behind quickly closed the doors as best they could and moved closer to the front door, hands on their weapons.
Sookie watched as the front door opened and Keith peered cautiously into the room, spotting the two intruders. "Hello gentlemen. Care to explain what you're doing in Miss Stackhouse's home while she is out of town?"
"Out of town?" replied one of the intruders.
"Well, yes. By now you've noticed that her car isn't here, and as I'm sure you noticed when you went through the house, there are obvious signs that she has packed some of her things. She will be gone for a couple of days," Keith replied, smoothly.
"Why are you telling me this?" asked the man, appraising Keith with a calculating look.
"Miss Stackhouse asked us to keep an eye on her home while she is away. She said people may come looking for her and she didn't want her home destroyed if they did." Keith paused here, looking at the obvious signs of abuse the armoire had taken, "I see her fears were not without merit."
"I do not believe you. There is a concrete barrier in this cupboard, I believe she is hiding behind it," the man said, opening the door to the armoire.
"As you must already be aware, Miss Stackhouse keeps acquaintance with several local vampires. As a very hospitable woman, she likes to have a place in her home for them to rest, should they need to. This is not uncommon," James replied.
"If the girl is not here, where is she?"
"This I do not know, as we did not think it wise to know where she was going for this very reason. But we could call her, prove she is not here," supplied Keith.
Sookie's heart rate shot up as she scrambled to pull out her cell phone and turn down the volume. Even though she knew they couldn't hear, she couldn't help but remember in horror movies where the cell phone ringing gets some idiot killed. She watched as Jessica pulled out her phone and dialled her number, and her phone lit up. She waited two rings and answered, breathlessly saying,"Hello?"
"Sookie, it's Jess. We're at your house and there are some men that want to talk to you, to prove you aren't here."
Sookie noticed Jess shoot a warning look at the camera nearest her before she responded. "Are they Japanese? With scary looking weapons?" she played along.
"Sure are. Wanna tell us what this is about?" Jess asked, feigning ignorance. Sookie hoped Jess had put two and two together with what she'd told her about the money they were receiving, and what it was for. But maybe she really didn't know why they were there. This would probably be better.
"Not particularly. Put 'em on," she said, resolutely.
"Miss Stackhouse," one of the men said into the phone.
"Yeah, and who the hell are you?"
"We are associates of Eric Northman, he sent us here to speak with you about a recent trip you made to his bar," the man said. Sookie noticed Jessica's eyes widen a bit at this, but it passed quickly.
"Like hell you are. Eric was the one who told me to run. Try again," Sookie retorted.
"Where are you?" he asked, rather than come up with another cover story.
"And why the fuck would I tell you that?".
"Because we have your associates, three young vampires by the looks of them, surrounded in your house and if you do not, we will kill them."
Sure enough, the men who had dispersed throughout the house earlier had been working to surround the room and Sookie could see them outside of the house and in the living room and entryway facing where Keith, Jess and James were standing. Judging by the looks on their faces, none of them were surprised by this turn of events and likely heard all the men moving into place. This calmed her, as she could tell they obviously didn't feel endangered. She played her part once again, "You asshole, let them go! They have nothing to do with this!" she shouted, to buy herself some time while she pulled up a map on Google and picked a random location.
"I will let them go if you tell us where you are."
"Fine! I'm in California," she said, following a freeway line on the map, "I flew into San Francisco this morning and I've been driving ever since. I'm at a hotel in Lake Tahoe now."
"This is not possible, as we have checked all flights for your name, we would have known if you'd boarded a flight," he said, frowning.
"Please, I'm friends with Eric Northman, you really think I couldn't find out how to get on a plane without anyone knowin' about it?"
"Which hotel are you at?" the man demanded.
"Not part of the deal. I will stay where I'm at and if you let my friends go and leave my house, you can call me when you reach California and I will tell you exactly where I am, and you can call the hotel to confirm it. Deal?"
"We will leave men at your home, in case this is a ruse, but we will let your friends go," the man countered.
"Fine by me, but they stay outside. I'll know if they don't, I've got eyes on my house 24/7," she added.
"Agreeable. We will be in touch soon," with this he ended the call, writing down the number before tossing the phone back to Jessica. "You are free to go. We will be leaving now to find Miss Stackhouse. You will not harm the men we leave behind or her life is forfeit." He then switched back to Japanese and began barking orders at the rest of the men. Eight of them piled back into the cars, leaving two to stand sentinel out front.
As soon as she had hung up, Sookie dialed a number for a random hotel in Lake Tahoe she saw advertised. "Hello? I need to make a reservation but it's a pretty strange request. Can I speak to your manager?"
There was a moment's pause as the woman who'd answered went to get the manager. An older woman answered the phone. "Hello, I'm Andrea and I am the manager. I understand you have a strange request, and I'd be more than happy to help you with this. Who am I speaking with?"
"Adele Brigant, as far as you know. I have a lot of money, and I'm prepared to pay the highest rate you have if you can help me out with a little problem I'm having. I need a room booked starting from tonight and lasting for the week and I need it under that name. My credit card will be under a different name but no one is to know about that."
"Certainly, and when will you be arriving?" Andrea asked, professionally.
"I won't be. But I need the room to be checked in as of this afternoon, and I need the lights and television to be turned on as though I'm there."
"I see," the woman said, sounding very much like she didn't, but not wanting to cause any problems.
"Some men are going to come looking for me there, and I want them to think I was there. So I'll need to know the room number to give them. If you can tell them that I checked in earlier, and ordered room service, and let them believe I left, I would greatly appreciate that. And I'd be inclined to add a very, very generous tip to any fake room service orders you want to place. I'm talking about a four digit tip, if you catch my drift."
"Certainly, Miss Brigant. I believe we can take care of this. Was there anything else I can help you with?" Andrea asked, clearly very good at her job.
"Can you recommend any hotels in Vegas that might be willing to do the same thing?"
"Absolutely," the woman replied, and Sookie could hear the smile in her voice.
It took Sookie a long time to set up her trail, and she realized she might need to take that check from Eric after all to pay for it. By the time she'd called the last hotel, in Santa Fe, she realized she should probably check in with everyone. She glanced at the monitors and saw that the two sentinels were still posted, and nothing had changed. She called Jess first.
"Hey, Sookie! Good thinking back there. I was hoping you'd pick up on what the plan was."
"Not sure I did, but I came up with one of my own. I've got a plan to lead them on a chase."
"Sookie, you are not leavin' that cubby!" Jess exclaimed, angrily.
"Relax, Jess. I'll be here the whole time, but they don't need to know that. You should probably stay away from the house, though, in case they figure it out."
"Not gonna happen, Sookie. One of us will be watching your place until Eric tells us otherwise," a male voice interjected. She realized after a moment it was James.
"Alright, alright. But just stay back, don't approach them," she countered, wearily. She realized it was very late and she was exhausted, but she knew she had much more to do. "I've got to go, I need to let Eric know what's going on and then I expect my phone will be ringing any minute when they get into California."
"Let us know if you need us," James said, before the line disconnected.
Sookie sent Eric a series of text messages letting him know what had happened, how they had dealt with it and what her plan was. Within a few minutes, she heard her phone chirp with a response.
"I'm very proud of you. That is something even I would not have thought to do. I'm wiring money into your bank account as we speak to cover what you've needed to spend tonight. I will not be in touch again until this is done, but do not worry, we know exactly what we are doing and you should be free by the time the sun rises here tomorrow. We will talk soon. x E"
She felt relieved after reading this and thought back on the day. Chuckling to herself, she remembered what Lafayette had said, and typed back a response.
"I'm gonna need a vacation after this. Stay safe."
"Consider it done. x E"