I ground my teeth together at the mention of Roman’s name. “What about Jack Aberdeen and his crazy mother? Layla told me she hadn’t been able to reach Jack or his wife, Tabitha.”
“A mystery,” Tripp said. “But we have them on our radar. Our priority is Roman and digging up more in the Catskills.”
I begged to differ. Harriet Aberdeen was part of Intech’s genetic-engineering plan. Therefore, she needed to be stopped as well. But I wasn’t in charge, and I wanted Carly Aberdeen more than Roman or Harriet at the moment. Carly was the brainpower and the queen of the colony. Take her out, and we might be able to destroy Intech’s operation—at least long enough to buy us time to demolish it completely. Sure, someone else could fill Carly’s shoes, but not quickly.
Man, desperation rode me hard to jump into the fray and murder my enemies. Sitting idle wasn’t my strong suit. My dad had traipsed off to war and had left my mother with Jo and me. But these circumstances were quite different from my old man’s. Jo and I were already born. We didn’t need his blood to survive.
A radio crackled, echoing in the control room. “Hawk, locate Sam Mason for me, please.” Petty Officer Olivia Brock’s voice blared in the room. “Let him know he has a guest. Also, inform Lieutenant Tripp that the perimeter is secure. No suspected activity.”
“Who wants to see me at midnight?” I mumbled, scanning the screens as my adrenaline ticked up a notch. Maybe Carly decided to grow some female balls and show up. After all, I believed she was more interested in the science behind the Masons’ powers than in controlling me. The latter was Adam Emery’s objective. But when I found the monitor with a direct view of the main gate, a feverish dose of excitement surged through me. “Are you kidding me?”
Ben and Tripp followed my line of sight.
“That looks like Jack Aberdeen,” Tripp said.
“That’s Jack Jr.,” I returned. He wasn’t Carly, but he was married to the woman, and that had me itching to interrogate him.
At the gate, Olivia frisked Junior Aberdeen. He had his arms out to the side as she tore the ball cap off his head and inspected it. Then she continued to pat him down. Once Olivia was done, Junior snagged his hat off the hood of his car.
“He’s clear,” Olivia said through the radio.
“Copy that.” Hawk stood and peered over the sea of cubicles in the distance. “Lieutenant and Sam, did you hear that?”
I nodded once. “Got it, man.”
“Ben, fill in for Olivia,” Tripp ordered. “Petty Officer Hawk, radio Petty Officer Brock and let her know to escort our guest to the conference room in the lobby once her replacement arrives.”
“Copy that, Lieutenant,” Petty Officer Hawk said.
Tripp clapped me on the shoulder, grinning. “Maybe we just got a breakthrough. I’ll meet you up there. I need to check in with the guards at the back gate. If Junior Aberdeen is here, I want to make darn sure he doesn’t have an army with him.”
Junior didn’t strike me as stupid enough to raid a naval base of vampires. If he did, I hoped Emery, Harriet Aberdeen, and Rianne were part of that army. If I couldn’t fight in the field, then bring the fucking battle to me. I was ravenous to hang Emery by his toes off a high-rise building, skewer Rianne over an open fire much like she’d done to me, and Harriet… Well, I didn’t have anything in mind just yet. In the meantime, we had prison cells with their names on them. For all I cared, they could rot until I was ready to inflict my revenge. Regardless, I shouldn’t be cocky. The Aberdeens were hunters with brazen balls and thick skulls, and with Harriet in charge, who knew what we were up against.
“I can walk the perimeter,” I said to Tripp. I would love to find Rianne waiting in the shadows.
“Nah, we have the base well protected and guards on the rooftops,” Tripp said.
Ben collected a bulletproof vest from the chair next to me. “I’ll do a sweep of the east wall on my way to the gate.”
With a plan in place, Ben and Tripp went one way, and I stalked in the other direction.
When I passed Petty Officer Hawk’s desk, he stood to attention. “Sir, I’m glad you’re okay.”
We exchanged a handshake. “Thanks. Are you ready to take a spin in the field?”
He crossed bulky arms over his barrel chest. “Commander London said soon.”
Webb London had handpicked Ryan Hawk to join our band of brothers. He had perfect grades in class and in physical training, but Petty Officer Hawk had a knack for strategic planning. He would give Olivia a run for her money since she was our best strategist on the team.
“I’ll see if I can put in a good word to speed things up.” We could always use extra eyes and ears on the ground.
But first, I had an Aberdeen to shake down.
25
SAM
Junior’s grassy human odor drifted out of the conference room and into the lobby as I exited the elevator maybe twenty or thirty minutes later. I’d taken a detour to my apartment. I’d forgotten to leave Layla a note and didn’t want her to freak if she woke up and didn’t find me.
