Cooper's Passion: Scanguards Hybrids #5 (Scanguards Vampires Book 17), page 18
Diaz nodded, then turned to Cooper, extending his hand. “My apologies, Mr. Montgomery, for treating you the way I did.”
Cooper shook his hand. “Please call me Cooper. We’re not very formal here.”
“Thank you, Cooper. Then please call me José.”
“Now that that’s cleared, do you have any updates on the case?” Donnelly asked with a look at Cooper.
“I do. We’ve got a sketch of the suspect. My people already did some canvassing last night, but we can only cover so much ground. I need your help, Mike.”
“What do you need?” Donnelly asked.
“Distribute the sketch to every police officer in the city, unis, undercover, detectives, even the administrative staff. I want everybody to know what he looks like. But give them strict instructions not to approach him under any circumstances, even if they’re armed. He’s extremely dangerous.”
Since Donnelly already knew that the suspect was a vampire, Cooper didn’t have to make it any clearer that a human wasn’t equipped to fight a dangerous vampire.
“Got it. You want them to report to Scanguards’ command center if they see him?”
“Yes, make sure that everybody has the number. They can send a text to the same number in case they can’t speak without being overheard. Thanks, Mike.”
“Not a problem. The sooner that guy is off the streets, the better. Any other plans I should know of?”
Cooper looked at Anita. When she nodded firmly, he sighed. Apparently, he couldn’t change Anita’s mind about playing bait.
“Actually yes,” Cooper started. “Since we know that the suspect was trying to abduct another woman a few days ago, we know he’s looking for a new victim. We’ve decided to give him what he’s after: a woman fitting the victim profile.” He tipped his head toward Anita. “Anita has agreed to play bait.”
For a moment, it was completely silent in the room. Nobody breathed, and only Cooper could hear the three humans’ heartbeats. But the silence lasted for only a second.
“You’re out of your mind!” Diaz protested loudly. “My daughter will not play bait! I won’t allow it.” He glared at Cooper. “How dare you even make such a suggestion to her?”
“José, please, I know exactly how you feel,” Cooper said, trying to calm him.
“No, you don’t!”
Cooper was about to reveal to him that he was in love with Anita, when Anita gave a light shake of her head, so he took a breath, before adding, “I was against it too, but I’m afraid your daughter has a very stubborn streak.” And that was one of the many things he actually loved about her: her tenacity. She was no pushover.
“What Cooper is trying to say, Dad, is that it was my idea,” Anita said.
Diaz whipped his head in Anita’s direction, glaring at her now. “Are you crazy?”
“She’s not,” Cooper interrupted. “Let me assure you that Anita will be protected by myself and a team of my colleagues. If the suspect gets within five yards of her, we will take him down. He’ll never lay a hand on her.”
He would make sure that the most experienced bodyguards would be taking part in this sting.
Sheriff Diaz grunted with displeasure, while addressing Anita, “Why would you do this?”
Anita took a visible breath. “Dad, maybe you should sit down for this.”
“I don’t need to sit down.”
Cooper caught Anita’s look and knew instinctively what she wanted to tell her father.
“Dad, I recognized the serial killer suspect. I saw him once twenty-one years ago...”
Something in Diaz’s face changed. It was as if all blood drained from it, but he remained silent.
“I saw him the night Mom disappeared. I woke up. He was in our house. He took Mom. She didn’t want to go, but he threatened her… He said he’d take me instead, if she didn’t go with him…” Tears suddenly welled up in Anita’s eyes.
Cooper registered her last sentence with shock. Anita hadn’t mentioned this to him before. Her mother had sacrificed herself for her daughter to live. He could only imagine what that knowledge did to Anita, and why she’d kept it to herself until now. No wonder she wanted to take the killer down. This was even more personal than he’d known.
“You were only nine…” Diaz said, his voice shaky.
“He’s the same man… He took her. And he killed her. She protected me. She loved us, Dad, she loved us both.”
Cooper wanted to take Anita into his arms to console her, but this wasn’t his moment. This moment was for her and her father. Finally, Sheriff Diaz bridged the distance between himself and his daughter, and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m so sorry, honey. Please forgive me.”
Anita sobbed into her father’s chest.
Cooper motioned to Donnelly. “Let’s give them a minute.”
He and Donnelly left the room and remained in the ante office.
“No wonder she wants to play bait,” Donnelly said. “How are you gonna keep her safe?”
“I’m bringing in the big guns: Zane, Amaury, Luther, Mom and Dad, Orlando, maybe even Samson. This asshole won’t get away, I swear.”
“I hope you’re not gonna scare him away before he’s in the net.”
“You and me both.”
But Anita would be protected heavier than Fort Knox, because she was much more valuable than all the gold in the world. Anita was his, and he wouldn’t allow anybody to hurt her.
31
Anita’s tears dried, and for the first time since her mother had disappeared, she felt that her father understood her, and they were pulling in the same direction.
“Thank you, Dad.” She lifted her head from his chest.
Cooper and the police chief entered the room. She caught Cooper’s gaze, and smiled at him, thanking him silently for giving her and her father privacy.
“Sheriff,” Donnelly said, “as you can see, we have the situation under control. We’ll be running the sting tonight. Or rather, Cooper and his men will. They know what to do.”
“If you say so. But I’m going to take an active part in the sting,” her father insisted.
It was a terrible idea. She wanted her father nowhere near the crazy vampire who’d abducted and killed her mother. And she couldn’t very well tell him that the killer was a vampire. And that Cooper was too. She looked at Cooper for help.
“Sir, uhm, José,” Cooper corrected himself. “Trust me when I tell you that this isn’t the first time I and my team have dealt with a brutal killer like this one. We’re a well-oiled machine and know what we need to do. There’s no need for you to put yourself in danger.”
“That may well be, but you’re not gonna change my mind. I wasn’t able to save my wife from this killer, but I’m gonna make damn well sure my daughter won’t become his next victim. So save your breath, ‘cause I’m not going anywhere.”
Cooper hesitated, meeting her eyes. Anita shrugged. There was nothing she could do. Once her father’s mind was made up, there was no way of changing it.
“Fine,” Anita said, resigned. “Dad, why don’t you get a hotel, and then we can organize the sting?” It would give her and Cooper some time to talk in private.
“All right, honey, I’ll get us a two-room-suite. There’s no need for you to wear out Cooper’s hospitality.”
Fuck! That wasn’t the plan. She had no intention of staying in a hotel with her father. She wanted to stay with Cooper.
“José, it’s really not necessary for you to book a hotel,” Cooper interrupted, clearly having the same reaction. He wanted to be with her just as much as she wanted to be with him. “There are plenty of guestrooms in my uncle’s house. You’ll stay with us. Please, I insist.”
Her father hesitated. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be a burden.”
“It’s not a burden,” Cooper said quickly. “It’ll be much more comfortable than in a hotel.”
He cast her a stolen glance, and she read the promise in his eyes. Yes, it would be much more comfortable for her and Cooper to sleep in the same bed.
“All right then,” her father conceded. “Thank you for the offer, Cooper.”
Cooper nodded. “Let me make a few phone calls to apprise my team that we’re on our way to HQ, and get a few things prepped.” He nodded to Donnelly. “Mike, maybe you and the sheriff could look over the sketch I sent you a few minutes ago, while Anita and I use your assistant’s office to make the calls?”
“Yeah, sure, let’s do that,” Donnelly said instantly.
“Excuse us for a few minutes,” Cooper said and motioned to Anita to follow him outside.
When the door shut behind them, and they were in the ante office, where an assistant was typing on a computer, Cooper took her hand and opened another door, and led her into an even smaller office used for storage. He closed the door, and they were finally alone.
“Okay, so we have a little issue,” Cooper said.
“You mean the fact that my father wants to be part of the operation? Yeah, I’d say that’s more than just a little issue. How are we gonna keep him from finding out that we’re hunting a vampire? And that you and your team are vampires too?”
“I’ll make sure that everybody knows to be extra careful around him.”
Anita rolled her eyes. “Famous last words.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” he said, chuckling. “It’ll turn out fine.” He put his arms around her and drew her into an embrace. “So, the other little issue…”
“What little issue?”
“The fact that you don’t seem to want him to know that we’re together. What’s that about?”
Anita took a long breath. Would Cooper understand? “My dad is kind of old-fashioned. I don’t think he would approve of you if he knew that you got me into bed so quickly, you know, without us really knowing each other. He would think that you’re just using me.” But there was something else too. She sighed. “And he would think that I’m reckless for trusting a man I barely know.”
“All right. We won’t tell him yet. But just so you know, I will not spend the night without you in my arms.”
She leaned closer, her lips only an inch away from his. “Nor will I.”
“I’ll tell Wesley to give him the guestroom at the other end of the hallway, so he won’t hear us.”
He’d barely finished his sentence, when his mouth was on hers, and he was kissing her deeply, his tongue dancing with hers, their breaths mingling, while he thrust his groin against her, one hand on her ass to press her closer.
Within a second, Anita lost all coherent thought and didn’t even know where they were. Cooper’s kiss and touch were all-consuming, and if they’d had time, she wouldn’t have objected to him taking her in this storage room, her back pressed against a filing cabinet, while he thrust his cock into her. But they didn’t have the luxury of time.
Reluctantly, she freed her lips from his and pressed her forehead to his, breathing hard. “You’d better make those phone calls…”
Cooper breathed raggedly. “Yeah, I’d better.” He took her hand and pressed it over his fly, where his cock was already hard and big. “And later, I need you to take care of this for me.”
“Oh,” she murmured, squeezing him through the fabric. “That’ll be my pleasure.”
He slid his other hand between her thighs and rubbed over her pussy, making her gasp. “And it’ll be mine when I take care of you.”
The sun had already set, when they reached Scanguards’ headquarters in the Mission. Cooper had made phone calls to arrange for everybody necessary for the sting to assemble in one of the smaller conference rooms on the first floor, just opposite the H lounge. He’d also notified Wesley that Anita’s father would be staying with them until the killer was caught, and not to let it slip in front of Sheriff Diaz that Cooper and Anita were lovers. He would find out soon enough.
“This way,” Cooper said, ushering Anita and Sheriff Diaz into the conference room.
Inside, several vampires were waiting for them. Cooper was pleased to see Samson among them. As the founder and owner of Scanguards, Samson had many responsibilities, yet he was always ready to jump in where he was needed most. Cooper made the introductions.
“José, Anita, this is my boss, Samson Woodford. Scanguards is his company. Samson, these are Sheriff José Diaz and Anita Diaz from the Elko County Sheriff’s Department.”
As Samson shook hands with the guests, Cooper noticed Sheriff Diaz peruse Samson, before looking at the others assembled in the room. Was he wondering why everybody looked so young? Even Samson, who was well over 250 years old looked like he was in his early to mid-thirties.
“It’s a pleasure,” Samson said and turned to introduce the other vampires in the room. “Have you met Cooper’s parents yet? Yvette and Haven Montgomery.”
They greeted each other, before Cooper introduced Orlando, a massive vampire who could scare the shit out of anybody. Next to him stood Zane, the bald vampire who had a decidedly mean streak, even though he’d softened over the years, thanks to his mate, Portia. Amaury, Samson’s best friend and a director at Scanguards, was almost as big as Orlando, and nobody would guess that he was tightly wrapped around his mate Nina’s little finger, and that he was like a big soft teddy bear when in the company of Nina.
“Meet Orlando Carlisle, Zane Eisenberg, and Amaury LeSang. They’ll all be taking part in the sting.” Cooper motioned to the large table for everybody to sit down.
“Luther is joining us later,” Haven announced.
“Good,” Cooper said. “Then let’s start. We’ve got a lot to discuss to bring everybody on the same page. And we have to pick the right spot where to set the trap.”
“Yeah, about that,” Diaz interjected. “No offense, but San Francisco is a large city. How are you gonna figure out where he’s gonna show up?”
Cooper looked at Diaz, then at Anita, who sat next to him, close enough to touch. But he refrained from doing so. “We’ve been working with our IT team to run Janet’s photo and the suspect’s sketch through facial recognition. We’re cross-referencing this with sightings of white vans and—”
“There must be hundreds if not thousands of white vans,” Diaz interrupted.
It wasn’t difficult to guess that Diaz wasn’t keen on his daughter playing bait, and that he was trying to pick the plan apart so Anita wouldn’t be put in the path of the killer.
“José, you need to trust us,” Cooper said. “We know what we’re doing. We have decades of experience dealing with cases like this.”
“Decades?” Diaz shook his head. “If anybody has decades of experience, it’s me. Look at yourselves: you’re barely out of college.”
He gestured to the others in the room, breathing hard, clearly readying himself for coming up with more protests, when Anita put her hand on his forearm.
“Dad, please. Let them explain what they’re trying to do. This is not their first rodeo.”
“Well, it sure looks like it.”
Cooper exchanged a look with Samson.
Samson nodded. “Sheriff Diaz, let me assure you that Chief Donnelly would have never assigned us this case if he didn’t think we could handle it better than the SFPD. You’ve met Mike. He’s a very level-headed man, and he trusts us. I hope you can too.”
Before he could respond, there was a knock on the door, and it opened. Vanessa popped her head in.
“Sorry to disturb you, guys,” she said with a smile. “Anita, you wanna come with me? We need to get you ready.”
“Doing what?” Anita said with a surprised look on her face.
Cooper turned to her. “They’ll put a wire on you, and put you in the right outfit.”
“All right,” Anita said. “But won’t you need me here?”
“I’ll catch you up on the operation just as soon as we’ve decided on where and how to run this,” Cooper assured her, leaning in, ready to give her a kiss on the cheek, when he stopped himself in mid-movement. “Uhm, so, take your time with Vanessa.”
Anita rose. Her father put his hand on her forearm. “You can still change your mind.”
She shook her head and leaned down to him, kissing him on the cheek. “I have to do this, Dad.”
She pivoted, and followed Vanessa out of the room.
32
The room Vanessa led her to was located a floor below the conference room. It looked like a cross between the prop room of a midsize theater and the dressing room of a transvestite. A young woman with dark hair sat on an armchair in a corner and jumped up when she saw them.
“Scarlet, hey,” Vanessa greeted her, before turning to Anita. “Anita, this is Scarlet, my sister-in-law. She’s blood-bonded to my brother Ryder.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Anita said and stretched her hand out.
Scarlet shook it. “Likewise. So you’re with Cooper.”
“Yes, it’s just… you know… we’ve only seen each other for a few days,” she said, feeling a little awkward about Scarlet mentioning her relationship to Cooper.
“Cooper wanted to give you a chance to talk to one of the humans blood-bonded to a vampire hybrid,” Vanessa explained. “And you can’t very well do that while your father is hovering.”
She wasn’t wrong. Her father had eagle eyes, and it would be difficult to keep things from him. “I appreciate it.”
“Scarlet is human, and my brother is a vampire hybrid like myself.”
“And I’m happy to answer all your questions,” Scarlet offered.
“Oh.” Anita ran her eyes over Scarlet, her gaze zeroing in on her flawless neck. There was no sign of bitemarks at all. Hadn’t Cooper said that a vampire bit his lover during sex?
She caught Vanessa and Scarlet exchange a conspiratorial look.
Vanessa chuckled. “I’ll leave you guys to it. Nicholas will stop by shortly to bring you the wire.”
“Bye, Nessie,” Scarlet called after her as Vanessa turned on her heel and left the room.
