Page 89 of Cooper’s Passion

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The command center was getting busier again. After Cooper, his parents, and his colleagues had left to catch the serial killer, Anita and her father had been alone with Nicholas, Thomas, and Luther for a short while. Virginia had joined them shortly after, and told them that Wesley had gone straight to his lab to meet with the other witch in Scanguards’ employ in case anything went wrong, and their skills were needed.

Over the next half hour, more people had joined them, among them Vanessa, who she’d met the night she and Cooper had questioned the prostitutes and homeless in the city. Anita had listened in on the communications between the members of the rescue team and the command center staff.

“Thank God the woman is alive,” Anita said with a sigh of relief, though she was disappointed to hear that the killer had escaped.

Nicholas looked over his shoulder. “The ambulance is about six minutes out.”

Anita exchanged a look with her father.

He sighed heavily. “He got away. I thought that finally, tonight, we’d get closure.”

She squeezed her father’s arm. “So did I. But they’ll find him. If not tonight, then another night.”

He nodded slowly, then addressed the Scanguards staff. “I must say I’m impressed with the setup you people have here. Looks like state of the art. Can’t say that at my station we’re as well equipped as you.”

Luther rose and stretched his legs. “If you’re impressed with this here, you should see the vampire prison.”

“There’s a vampire prison?”

He didn’t get a reply to his question, because in that moment, an alarm sounded and a photo flashed on one of the monitors on the wall. It was a photo of Yvette.

Instantly, everybody in the room was on high alert, and several curses echoed against the walls.

“What’s going on?” Anita asked, her heart beating like a jackhammer.

“Yvette’s sending a distress signal,” Nicholas said quickly, then turned with his chair and addressed Thomas, “Haven’s car is closest to her.”

“Got him,” Thomas confirmed and typed frantically on his keyboard.

“Not Cooper?” Anita asked as people started to talk over each other. “He’s driving back with her in the same car.” She gripped her father’s arm for support. “Dad?” Her chest heaved, and panic choked off her air supply. “Where’s Cooper?”

“Haven and Amaury are making a U-turn,” Thomas confirmed, calling out over his shoulder. “ETA to Yvette’s position: ninety seconds.”

“Where’s Cooper?” Anita yelled, finally managing to be heard over the din in the room.

Nicholas looked over his shoulder. “I can’t ping his cell. The car and Yvette are two blocks from the place where they freed the woman, but—”

“His phone is off, or somebody disabled the GPS,” Thomas confirmed.

“How about his comms?” Virginia asked.

“Offline,” Nicholas replied. “Thomas, the drone.”

Thomas hit his fist on the desk. “Damn it! The drone was too low. It didn’t see anything farther than fifty yards from the house. Redirecting it now.”

Anita felt fear grip her, making every breath painful. It seemed to take forever until Thomas finally projected an image onto one of the wall monitors.

“That’s the live footage of the drone. The car’s there. Fuck!”

When Thomas zoomed in, Anita could see it too. Not only was there smoke coming from the car’s engine, and the doors were open, but Yvette lay on the sidewalk, her body twisting in agony, blood drenching her clothes.

Anita pressed her hand on her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Her father put his arm around her, holding her, just when two men entered the drone’s field of vision: Haven and Amaury. They rushed to Yvette, and Haven crouched down.

A moment later, Haven’s voice filled the command center. “Yvette’s been shot with a silver bullet. Maya, turn the ambulance around. We’ve gotta get it out now before it’s too late.”

“And Cooper?” Anita choked out, tears welling up in her eyes. “Where’s Cooper?”