Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

“Well, well, if it isn’t the little cop killer,” Suzy said, her tone dry but her eyes stormy with hatred.

The tension in her limbs increased, though not because of Suzy’s words. The vampire’s expression was one of amusement. Either he hadn’t yet seen the weapon in her hand, or he simply didn’t care because he knew she’d never have time to use it.

Heat washed over her skin, whispering secrets to her mind. A second vampire was behind her.

She spun, pressing her finger against the trigger as she did. The weapon bucked as it fired, throwing her back against the wall. A blue bolt of light hit the second vampire square in the chest. He made no sound, just fell down in a heap, gasping for air and clutching at his chest. He was lucky she’d switched the gun to a lower setting; otherwise he’d have a hole burned right through the middle of him.

Behind her, a chair lightly scraped across the tiles. She swung back around and fired a second shot. The blue bolt hit the first vampire in the side of the head. He went down fast, hitting the ground with bone-jarring force. She swung around, centering the weapon on Suzy.

“Unless you want to end up lying next to your coffee-swilling friend, get up and drag this thing into the kitchen for me.” She lightly toed the vampire at her feet and then stepped back.

Suzy rose, hate warring with fear in her eyes. Moving with a model’s grace, she walked across and grabbed the second vampire by the arms. With some effort, she dragged him to the table, dropped him next to the first vampire, then crossed her arms and resumed her glaring. Sam couldn’t help noticing the slight rounding of her stomach. Suzy was pregnant. She wondered if Jack knew.

Sam stepped back into the room and kicked the door shut, ensuring no one else could sneak up on her. “Now sit back down.”

Suzy did. “How dare you come into my house and assault my friends like this?”

Sam snorted. “Say that with a little more venom and I might just believe these two are actually your friends.”

“What are you here for, Samantha? Come to finish the job you started with Jack?”

“The man I shot wasn’t Jack, and we both know it.”

Amusement flickered through the hate. So she’d guessed right. Suzy did know about the clone.

“And that’s your defense? It wasn’t Jack?” Suzy gave a mocking, hard-edged laugh. “They’re really going to believe that.”

“They will when I produce the real thing. Where is he?”

“Like I’d really tell you if I knew.”

She knew, all right. The cynical half-smile touching her artificially full lips said as much.

“Then tell me why you came back here today,” Sam said.

“I live here, remember?”

Not recently, she hadn’t. Maybe she’d come here to collect something Jack had forgotten—like a certain set of digital disks. Sam frowned. If Jack was a vampire, it made sense he’d keep Suzy near to do his daytime work. What didn’t make sense was the fact that he’d sent two guards, both of them vampires.

Apparently, they could move around in sunlight. But how? Her gaze flicked down to the two men. There was enough light coming in through the kitchen window and back door to cause them discomfort, yet their skin remained a pasty white, untouched by the slightest hint of burn.

It also appeared shiny, as if someone had taken a roll of cellophane wrap and stretched it tightly across their faces.

Had someone figured out a way to enable vampires to move around in the sunlight? Foreboding began to beat through her. If that were true, it could be very, very bad.

“Don’t move, Suz. Or I will shoot, love of Jack’s life or not.”

Suzy gave her a mutinous look and crossed her arms. A sign of rebellion and compliance in one action, Sam thought grimly. She knelt next to the men and lightly touched the first vampire’s face. He glared at her, brown eyes promising death—or worse—when he could move. Not that she was planning to hang around until then. His cheek felt as shiny as it looked, and sort of wet.

She looked at the vampire she’d shot in the head. What looked like skin had peeled away from the wound near his temple. She grasped it and pulled. With a weird sucking sound, a three-inch sliver came away.

Though it felt like real skin, the odd shininess suggested it was some sort of plasticlike substance. She shoved it into her pocket. Maybe Gabriel would know what to make of it—once he’d finished throwing the book at her for escaping his noose yet again. She rose and returned her gaze to Suzy.

>

“Time to cut to the chase. I know, and you know, that Jack’s alive. I want you to arrange a meet. Midnight tomorrow at the Dragon and George.” Hopefully, that would give Gabriel enough time to calm down, and her enough time to convince him this was a good move.

“He won’t come.”