Chapter Twenty Three

Jasper

The room had gone silent at Darius' words, Maria was the last name I expected to hear. I guess I could understand her being interested in my double but to go to the trouble of stalking him and then kidnapping him didn't make sense, he was so far away from her sphere of influence. Also Darius had found out that bounty hunters were used and Maria wouldn't bother with them, she couldn't afford to pay them and she had an army of her own more than willing to carry out the task. No, she was being employed but for what?

"So Major it looks like we'll be taking a trip to Mexico, that's gonna be fun."

Peter hated Mexico and Maria but he wasn't going to back out of this, and that was loyalty. Charlotte looked concerned too but she also would come along. I was however worried about taking Bella into the hell that was Maria's world. We could take Maria and her newborns I was confident of that but it would be dangerous for a human and I wasn't going to put her in harms way.

"Right Darius, get us a flight Hunter, I want satellite pictures of the compound blown up and printed out. Peter, transport when we land."

I sensed something and turned to Alice,

"What do you see?"

She shook her head then turned to Charlotte,

"You weren't mistaken were you? You meant me and Jasper Whitlock? I didn't believe it could be me because I didn't feel anything but now."

"Now what?"

She glanced at Bella who was hanging on her every word. Alice tried to smile but it was weak and false,

"I feel something now, what does that mean Charlotte?"

Alice

I didn't get a vision, I hadn't had any visions since those showing Bella and I both with Jazz, the ones that had confused me so much. No this was a gut feeling, an ache that started out in my chest, nebulous but there none the less.

"I'm not sure what it is, just a strange dull feeling deep inside."

I saw Charlotte and Jasper exchange a glance and Charlotte nodded.

"What? Tell me Charlotte."

"If you can feel the ache now it can mean only one thing, Jasper Whitlock has become a vampire. You'll feel it more and more strongly now until we find him. We could even use this to trace him if necessary."

"Its gonna be necessary Major, come and take a look at this."

I followed him over to look at a photograph Hunter had just laid out on the table. It showed a compound but it was deserted.

"This is Maria's last known camp, she's moved out and left this as a decoy."

"Fuck! I knew that bitch hadn't finished with us Major."

"Any sign where they went?"

"No Major, nothing but this camp's been empty a long time by the look of things."

"Really Hunter? And just how the fuck can you tell that?"

"Simple Peter, there's a small human settlement about five miles to the north and I don't imagine it would have survived if Maria were still in the area. If the humans feel safe enough to camp here then she's gone and been gone a while."

Alice

I had thought we were onto something, that we could find Jasper and save him from Maria but now we were back to square one we had no idea where she might be. It was down to me and this nebulous feeling that Charlotte insisted was the beginnings of a mating pull.

"Do you think you can lead us to them Alice?"

I shrugged in answer to Darius question,

"I don't know, the feeling is so faint at the moment. I'm not sure I can use it to trace him."

"It will get stronger as he completes his transformation."

"Thanks Charlotte but that's no help now and he's suffering I know he is."

Jasper put a comforting hand on my shoulder,

"You'll do it Alice, I know you can, its just going to take some time."

Peter snorted but didn't comment on what I'd said, instead he had his own observation to make.

"The trouble is once we find him and that scheming Mexican bitch he's not going to be exactly glad to see us now is he? I've never met a rational newborn yet."

"That's not necessarily the case Peter. If he knew what was about to happen to him then he might be controlled or at least a lot better than most newborns."

"Oh yeah? And what exactly makes you such a fucking expert on newborns Hunter?"

"Actually Peter I'm a case in point. I knew I was going to be turned at least a few days in advance and something just told me I should get myself ready for the ordeal. I knew what was coming and I steeled myself for it. I never went through the blood crazed newborn phase and I put it down to knowing."

"Yeah well lets hope you're right or that the Clone isn't a complete copy or we could all be deep shit!"

Remembering something I had heard the Quileutes say about Jazz I understood Peters concern. When Carlisle had introduced us to the elders as new members of his coven willing to agree to the treaty I heard the pack leader refer to my husband as "power, speed, and death rolled into one."

"Right, everyone get ready to move out. Plane Darius?"

"It'll be waiting at the airport first thing in the morning Major. I assume were still headed for Mexico?"

"For now."

"OK well our pilot is pretty accommodating so a change of flight plan shouldn't be too difficult."

"What about Bella?"

Her head shot up at Charlotte's question,

"What about me? I'm going with you."

"No Bella, it's too dangerous."

"And leaving me here isn't?"

"Charlotte will stay with you just in case."

"Leaving you a fighter short? That doesn't make sense."

"I won't put you in danger Bella, we'll manage."

Bella

There was the sound of a car pulling up and Alice went to the door,

"Actually we have an extra hand and someone to stay with Bella. I rang Emmett and Rose, just caught them before they flew back to Switzerland and they were only too happy to help out."

The door opened and Emmett strode in breaking into a smile as he saw me and rushing across the room, which was suddenly much smaller, to hug me, while Rose followed more sedately but still broke into a smile when she saw Jasper and went to hug him as if they hadn't seen each other in years.

"I missed you Jazz and now you've got yourself tangled up in something? Alice said it had something to do with Bella. Didn't I tell you she was dangerous?"

I froze hearing Rose's words, she'd never been a great fan of mine but then she glanced over and winked,

"Just not dangerous in the way I thought. Great to see you again Bella, you're looking good."

"Thanks Rose, with the exception of a few recently broken ribs I am."

Emmett guffawed as he put me gently down,

"Nah, I never broke any, I remembered how delicate you are. So who we fighting?"

He had turned to Jasper and rubbed his hands eager for news.

Jasper

I explained as best I could with help from Bella and Peter,

"A double? Wow scary man!"

"Scary for him at the moment, we think he's been bitten and is transforming now."

"But you have no idea why Jazz?"

"No Rose. Listen I'm not taking Bella into Mexico, it's just too dangerous so I need someone to stay here with her."

Bella blew her top but understood after a few minutes that this was an argument she wasn't going to win and it was decided Rose as the least experienced fighter would remain behind, Alice had to come, she was our only way of tracking my double down. I didn't want to leave Bella but I had no choice although I did have tonight to spend with her and I had to tell her how I felt about her just in case anything went wrong in Mexico.