We waited around for another hour for Karl and Oriel to come out. They didn’t look happy.
“We’re stuck here for another week,” Karl said as we walked across the compound. “Nothing major, just logistics. Trevor did his job, but the bureaucracy on this end didn’t follow through. Transfers for the people we’re replacing at Sarum were never processed, so they have to take care of them and get them out of the way so we have a place to sleep.”
I stared at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“They’re that tight for space?”
He shrugged. “Six months ago, the Knights officially had thirty-three thousand members worldwide. As of last week, the estimated head count was ninety-two thousand. And that’s in spite of the resistance killing almost ten thousand of them. Growing pains are a bitch, and their support systems are overloaded.”
“And how many of those ten thousand were experienced people in leadership positions?” Ian asked with a smirk. “Not to mention how many of that original thirty-three thousand are tied up with processing and training all their new recruits. I’m feeling more optimistic all the time.”
I nodded. “I overheard that most of their contingent here in Liverpool is actually living in tents at a big training camp outside the city.”
“Yeah,” Karl said. “And since we’re going to be here for a while, it was suggested that you three might volunteer to supplement the patrols. It seems some churlish locals have been taking potshots at the troops, and the garrison here could use a few more warm bodies.”
Ian swore.
“You mean we have to paint targets on our backs so people we actually agree with can shoot at us?” Josh asked.
I rolled my eyes. “This from a guy who goes out hunting rogue vampires for sport. Just shield and don’t shoot back.”
“You haven’t heard the best part,” Oriel said. “They’re short on experienced officers and non-commissioned officers, so Josh and Ian are going to be put in charge of the sorties they’re assigned to.”
That wasn’t good, but, “What about me?”
“You can’t shield, remember?”
My cover identity was as a witch, not a mage. The idea was to downplay my profile and make me easier to overlook.
“So, what am I doing?”
“Protecting us priestly types while the big bad mages are gone.”
“When they won’t let me into your quarters because I’m a woman? My head hurts.” A sign next to the door where Karl and Oriel were quartered said, “No Women Allowed.”
Karl shook his head. “You only have to protect us when we leave the compound. Their security is so good here that we have nothing to fear.”
I choked back laughter.
“But,” Karl said, “we need to get word to the other people involved in this venture that we’ve been delayed. If we just disappear in here, they may decide we’ve been made and go to a backup plan.”
“There are Fae inside here, right?” I asked. “Can’t we just contact one of them to relay the message for us?”
“I’m pretty sure there are Fae here working for both sides,” Oriel responded.
I took a deep breath. “Which means at least one of us has to go out.”
The extent of the Knights’ weakness became evident when Ian and Josh got their assignments. Ian was given command of a convoy hauling food and other supplies from the main railway station in Liverpool to the training camp near the town of Knowsley, northeast of the city. Josh was assigned to security at a Universalist hospital near the cathedral.
And I went to prayers three times a day with Sergeant Sabrina Mason, who made it plain that she considered my yawning during one of the services a lack of piety.
The second day of our enforced stay in Liverpool, I noticed her following me after she supposedly left for her assigned duties after breakfast. She broke off shortly before noon and went to a small, newly built structure near the gate where we originally entered the compound. The sign on the building said, “Security.”
She stayed inside for about an hour, then left and wandered around the compound for a couple of hours. Sometimes she met and talked to a person—always one person alone, away from anyone else—and sometimes she simply hid and watched people. Just to see what she would do, I walked by one of her hiding places and soon after spotted her tailing me.
At the end of the work day, she again reported to the security building for about forty-five minutes.
That evening I accompanied Karl and Oriel to prayers and told them what I had seen. It was agreed that Oriel would follow Sergeant Mason the following day.
In the morning, when Sabrina and I emerged from the dining hall after breakfast, Karl intercepted me.
“I need to go out into the city,” he said. “Come.”
“I guess I’ll see you later,” I told Sabrina and followed Karl as he headed toward the main parking lot.
“Oriel?” I asked as we walked.
“Invisible.”
“Where are we going?”
“The beach. I just want to get out of here for a while, and it seemed to be a good excuse to get you away from your roommate. Besides, if you’re being tailed inside, we need to determine if anyone follows us when we leave.”
So, we went to the beach. I shed my Knight’s jacket as soon as we got in the car, hoping to be less noticeable.
“I should have brought a swimming suit.”
Karl laughed. “You’d freeze your tush. The water temperatures here range from cold to frigid. You’ll have to settle for a long walk on the beach.”
“How romantic.”
He winked at me.
It was pretty but windy, and not warm. Of course, I hadn’t felt warm since I landed in Westport the previous autumn, and the trip to Ireland and England wasn’t intended to be a tropical vacation. We walked and ate fish and chips at a little café near the beach, then drove back to the cathedral in late afternoon. A car—not one of the black SUVs—followed us the entire time.
Oriel was waiting for us when we got back.
“Your buddy is a snoop,” he said. “I don’t know if she has a real job, but what she actually does is wander around the compound all day and spy on people, then runs back to a Knight in that security office named Josef Gottfried. She tells him all the gossip she’s picked up all day, including things she simply suspects, and he writes it all down.”
He laughed. “They’re a couple of unattractive prudes filled with repressed sexual tension, and most of what they track has nothing to do with security. But if I wanted to blackmail people, I’d start with that book of his.”
“Did they say anything about us?” Karl asked.
“Only about Erin. Mason is sure there’s something suspicious about her. But I’m not sure if it’s anything we need to worry about. From what I could tell, any woman that’s young and pretty is an agent of the devil.”
“Pretty much the impression she’s given me,” I said. “I think she’s waiting for me to strip in the dining hall or set up a brothel in our quarters.”
“But the exercise wasn’t a complete waste,” Oriel said. “I got a key card to the security building, Gottfried’s computer password, and the combination to the personnel files. I think that computer might contain records on the Knights’ undercover agents, at least the ones here in England.”
“And we were followed everywhere we went,” Karl said. “I’m sure I now have a black mark as a chaplain inappropriately entertaining a young female Knight. We need to divert their attention away from us.”
The next morning when Mason and I went to breakfast, Josh joined us. As we ate, he told us about the attack on the hospital the night before.
“Vampires,” he said. “They staged a raid on the blood bank.”
“Isn’t the building warded?” I asked.
“Yeah, but not the entrances. Rather unique means of attack. They hit us with mortars and machinegun fire, I guess as a distraction, while they snuck in a force close enough to rush a side entrance that wasn’t heavily defended.”
I saw Mason prick up her ears. “Why wasn’t it defended?” she asked.
Josh shrugged. “We had two men there, and the door was steel and locked. It was an emergency exit. I guess the chevalier didn’t expect a vampire attack. They killed the two guards and ripped the door open. Once they were inside, the attackers on the main entrance withdrew. In the confusion, it was half an hour before anyone realized the vamps were inside.”
“It sounds like you people weren’t prepared,” Mason sputtered.
“Well, I wasn’t in charge,” Josh said. “By the time we figured out what was going on, they hauled half the blood on hand up to the roof and were gone. The chevalier told us that if anyone asked us any questions, we should refer them to him. I think he and the hospital administrator want to cover it up.”
“Incredible!” The Knight sergeant was so worked up that she picked up her tray, dumped it in the trash, and stormed out, no doubt to report to her security friend.
Josh chuckled.
“True story?” I asked.
“Oh, we had a vamp attack, and two men died, but the vamps never gained entrance. We’ll see what kind of ruckus her false report raises. The chevalier at the hospital is the younger brother of the base commander.”
Chapter 16
Karl found me mid-afternoon. “Drive me into town.”
Instead of our SUV, he led me to a dark blue sedan with the engine already running. Oriel stood next to the car and grinned at me as I approached.
“Unless you know how to hotwire a car, don’t turn it off. It has plenty of gas.”
I grinned back. “Oh, I know how. This isn’t the first car I’ve stolen.”
His grin slipped a little as I slid into the driver’s seat. Karl got in the other side, and I drove out the main gate. As we drove by the security building, I noticed that it appeared to be locked up and two Knights stood guard outside.