With a few more keystrokes, he brought up still another camera view on the satellite connection. This time the focus homed in on a large, heavily secured room, which had in its center a cylindrical cell constructed of light beams. The ultraviolet rays emitting from that cage of tight vertical bars was nearly blinding, even onscreen.
And contained inside that UV cell crouched a hairless, naked creature who would stand likely seven feet tall. His nude body was immense, every inch of him covered in dermaglyphs. He looked up as the camera lens zoomed in on him from somewhere across the room. Amber eyes, pupils all but devoured by the fire blazing out of the sockets, narrowed with lethal awareness. The creature came out of its crouch and lunged to attack, only to be thrown back by the searing heat of the UV bars that held it prisoner. It opened its mouth and let out a furious roar that didn't need to be heard in order to be understood.
"My God," more than one of the attendees gasped.
Dragos turned a deadly sober look on the group. "Behold...our revolution."
Lex's cell phone vibrated on the center console of the SUV. Renata picked it up and glanced at the digital display: Unknown Caller.
Shit.
She couldn't be sure if the call was actually for Lex or if it was for Nikolai, since he'd been using the phone to call back and forth with the Order. She didn't know how long he'd be out running reconnaissance, and she was about to lose her mind cooling her heels waiting for him. She needed to be doing something. At least feeling that they would be making some good progress toward finding Mira soon...
The cell phone kept buzzing in her hand. She hit the Talk button but didn't say anything. Just opened the line and let the caller reveal himself first.
"Hello? Niko - you there, amigo?" The deep voice rolled with a Spanish-tinged accent, as warm and smooth as caramel.
"It's Rio, my man - "
"He's not here," Renata said. "We're in position at the site north of the city, waiting for you guys to arrive. Nikolai's out on recon. He shouldn't be long."
"Good," said the warrior. "We're almost there, ETA about forty-five minutes on the outside. You must be Renata."
"Yes."
"Gotta thank you for saving our boy's ass up there. What you did was...well, he's lucky to have you working on his side. We all are." She could hear the genuine concern and gratitude in the vampire's voice, and she found herself very curious to meet the other warriors whom Nikolai called friends. "Everything okay on that end? How about you? You doing all right, hanging in there?"
"I'm good. Just anxious to get this done tonight."
"Understood," Rio replied. "Niko told us about the little girl - Mira. I'm sorry for what you've gone through, knowing that a sick individual like Fabien is holding her. I know it couldn't have been easy for you waiting around all day to rendezvous with us either."
"No, it hasn't been. I just feel so helpless," she confessed. "I hate the feeling."
"I am sorry about that. We're not going to let anything happen to her tonight when we go in there, Renata. I'm sure Nikolai explained to you that getting our hands on Edgar Fabien is critical to the Order, but we're going to do our best so that the child comes out of this situation just fine - "
A sudden chill permeated her chest as Rio's words sank in. "What did you say?"
"She's going to be fine."
"No...that you wouldn't let anything happen to her tonight...in there..."
On the other end of the line, a long beat of silence ticked by. "Ah, Cristo. Niko didn't tell you about the video feed we have from Fabien's Darkhaven last night?"
The chill in her got colder now, ice spreading from her chest to her limbs. "A video feed...from last night," she replied numbly. "What was on it? Did you see Mira? Oh, God. Has Fabien done something with her? Tell me."
"Madre de Dios," he said on a long exhale. "If Niko did not...I'm not sure it's my place to tell you now - "
"Tell me, goddamn it."
She heard a rumble of rapid conversation in the background before Rio finally relented. "The child is with Fabien and several others we haven't yet identified. We picked up the intel from a security surveillance feed at Fabien's Darkhaven. They left last night and we tracked them to the property where you are now."
"Last night," Renata murmured. "Fabien's been holding Mira here...since last night. And what about Nikolai...Are you telling me that he knew this? When did he hear about this? When!"
"I have to ask you to just hang in there for a little while longer," Rio said. "Everything's going to be all right..."
Renata knew the warrior was still talking, still issuing reassurances to her, but his voice faded away from her consciousness as bone-deep anger and fear - a hurt so profound she thought it might shred her into pieces - engulfed her. She closed the phone, cutting off the call and dropping the device onto the floor at her feet.
Mira was here since last night, with Fabien.