City of Whispers (City of Whispers #1) (20 page)

“When, Scott?” I shook my head. “Anyway, this is all
irrelevant, I’m going to get my sister out of there and that’s that.”

“By yourself?”

“You
wanna
come?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay what about your family? You’re not bullet proof
either, you may not even be immune. You probably
aren’t
immune.”

Scott sighed. “I might never see my family again,
Ailis, but you’re here right now. I miss them, but I’ve accepted that. You and
everyone else here…you’ve all become my family. I’m coming with you or I won’t
let you go.” He smiled. “I’ll bet you twenty worthless bucks James wants in
too.”

“Why not make it $1,000? We’re about to be
millionaires anyway.”

We waited until after Leila’s burial to speak to the
others about London.
I insisted we burn Leila’s body in her grave, just in case the vampires tried
to dig her up. We didn’t need to seek them out, James, Paulo, and Beth—the
people we needed to tell—came to us.

“I told them about London,” Paulo said.

“Is there anything you need?” Beth asked.

I explained Naveen’s, or rather Richard Ashdown’s,
interest in me. I told them Scott and I were going to take him up on it. Beth
sighed and nodded, and Paulo put an arm around her. Just as Scott had predicted
James volunteered, “I’m going too.”

I smiled. “Scott said you would say that.”

“Well I was the one who had the bright idea of wearing
the dog collar wasn’t I? Now you and Scott are doing it. I have to share my
wisdom with the world. Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of this dump.”

“I think we all have,” I said. “If you really want to
go, you’re welcome to join.”

“I’m in. When do we leave?”

“We have to talk to Mr. Ashdown about that.”

Beth shook her head. “You all can’t be serious, it
must be chaos over there right now.”

“I have to go Beth,” I said. “You know that.”

“I know, I know.” She sounded like she might be
choking up. “And of course these two fools can’t let you go by yourself.”

“Who are you calling a fool?” James asked. “There’s
nothing to keep me here anyway. You in, Paulo?”

“No, I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I have to stay.”

“You’re too important here, Paulo,” I said. “Keep
fighting. I think they’ll have to let you out someday.”

We went back with Naveen to his apartment. “Naveen, do
you still have family in London?”

He shook his head. “After my father was infected, I
told everyone else in my family to leave London
and move to one of the smaller villages. You know I feel responsible too, I
should have alerted others.”

“Let’s not go there,” I said. “Let’s just call Mr.
Ashdown.”

Naveen used his radio to connect with his people in Oxford. He told them I
was ready to speak to Mr. Ashdown and a gruff voice came on the radio. “Is this
Ailis? Ailis Laurent?
The
Ailis Laurent?”

“Yes,” I said, “I’m the only Ailis in New York.” I felt
awkward.

“Have they explained to you about my son?”

“Yes, Mr. Ashdown.”

“Please call me Richard.”

“Yes, they’ve explained everything to me. Have they
told you I have a sister there?”

“No, they haven’t. How horrid.”

“Yeah, well that’s what I think too, and that’s going
to be part of my terms. Non-negotiable you understand.”

“You want to get your sister out.”

“Of course.”

“The powers that be won’t allow you to rejoin society
as of now, but I can arrange for you to stay in an estate I have in Scotland for as
long as our governments see fit.”

“Scotland
is lovely, and I would certainly be happy to spend my summers there. But in the
winter, I was thinking more along the lines of somewhere in the Virgin Islands.”

Ashdown was silent for a moment, then said, “That can
be arranged. What else?”

“I have two friends, both men, both as experienced at
killing vampires as I am.”

“That must be Scott and who else?”

“James!” shouted James, sounding offended. “Don’t tell
me you haven’t read about James in the papers!”

“Oh yes, of course, James, of course.” said Mr.
Ashdown.

“We want fifty million U.S. Dollars each,” I said.
“Twenty-five will immediately be deposited into back accounts for our families.
The other twenty-five will be deposited into accounts in each of our names if
and when we succeed in finding your son and getting him out alive. Our families
will be named beneficiaries in case we don’t make it out with him.”

“Fifty million each?”

“Yes.”

“Done.”

“I will speak to my parents when I arrive in London,” I continued,
“and if they don’t have that money, Mr. Ashdown...”

“Of course, of course. It will be there before you
even leave New York.”

“We’ll need a good supply of stakes of course, and our
people can help you with that. We’ll need dark-colored comfortable clothing. It
cannot reflect any light. I hear it rains a lot in London so water-resistant might not be a bad
idea. We’ll also need athletic boots. They need to be tough, but not too heavy.
We have to be able to run and maneuver quickly. At least every other day we
will need a supply drop of food, stakes, and anything else we ask for. We can
figure out the arrangements when we get there. London is going to be crazy when we arrive,
not just with vampires, but with looters and all kinds of scum. We will need
guns as well.” I continued to list other supplies such as extra collars and
walkie
talkies.

Ashdown agreed to all of our requests. After we had
listed everything we could think of that we might need, we discussed travel
arrangements.

“Unfortunately your transportation will not arrive in
the United States
until this evening,” Ashdown said. “As you cannot take off during the night, we
will pick you up first thing in the morning. The time change will cause you to
arrive at Heathrow after dark. Although the government has closed Heathrow in
an abundance of caution, the virus did not make it that far out so you will be
able to land there.

“Accommodations will be arranged for you tomorrow
night. In the morning, if you feel well enough, you will go by helicopter to a
location near my son’s flat. He should be in his panic room, but we have been
unable to contact him there. You will be able to communicate with me and my
staff twenty-four hours a day by radio. If and when you find Richard Junior,
you will notify us by radio immediately and a helicopter will be sent for him.
At that point you will each receive your additional twenty-five million U.S.
Dollars.

“If you wish to leave then, you may so long as you
have not been infected. If you wish to stay and search for your sister we will
remove you, your sister, and your team when you are ready. If this is
acceptable, I will have my solicitors draw up the paperwork tonight. Do you
agree?”

I looked at Scott and James who nodded. “Agreed,” I
said.

“Very good. I’ve read a lot about you, Miss Ailis, and
I have no doubt you and your team will be successful. Despite anything you may
have read about my eccentricities, my son is a good man. We will provide you
with photographs, his address, and all the information on London that you will need. As I mentioned,
you will also have my support staff on call at all times.”

“Thanks. How are you going to get us out of here
anyway?”

“I have a Gulfstream that will take on fuel at Newark and then pick you
up on one of the Avenues. I will trust your advice regarding which one has the
least debris.”

I had to laugh at this. I could just picture a
Gulfstream landing and taking off in the middle of Manhattan. “I think Sixth might be your best
bet, Richard. Most of the cars are on the East and the West Sides where people
tried to escape. Are my people just going to let you fly your jet in here?”

“Yes, that will not be a problem.”

“Okay, well I wish I had that kind of influence. Any
chance you could get any of my other friends out of Manhattan?”

“I’m pushing it as it is.”

“Well then I guess that’s it.”

“Indeed. Thank you, all three of you, for your help. I
look forward to your success.”

“Sure, no problem.” It sounded rather silly, but I
didn’t know what else to say.

I couldn’t believe we’d be leaving in the morning. We
had so much to do before we left. It was already time to call the radio man
back and speak to my parents. James and Scott now wanted to speak to their
families as well so we went over to Paulo’s apartment.

We were able to reach the man on the radio. He told me
that he had contacted my parents and placed the speakerphone by the radio.

My mother was on and she sounded horrible. “Ailis,
they said you know about London.
You know Nina’s still there?”

“Yes, Mom. She’s definitely still in the city?”

“She was the last time I spoke to her and she wasn’t
planning any vacations. We haven’t heard from her in four days.” I could hear
my mom crying. “How could this happen to both of you?”

“Mom, listen to me. Nina is a survivor, like I am. She
worked in a hospital where maybe some people knew about this. Maybe she had a
warning and got out or was at least able to lock herself in somewhere safe.”

“God I hope so, but even then, she’ll be stuck there,
just like you. I’ve begged them to let us join one of you, so you aren’t all
alone...”

“Mom I’m not all alone. There are wonderful people
here. But, listen, I’m going to London
to get Nina.”

Silence.

“Mom? I’m going tomorrow morning and listen, Richard
Ashdown, I’m not even joking, is going to get us out of there when I find her.”

“What are you talking about? You’re going to London?”

“It’s a long story, but apparently our government has
agreed to let us go—”

“Now hold on,” the radio man interrupted, “I’m not
sure you should be talking about all this.” He didn’t seem the least bit
surprised at what I was saying. Mr. Ashdown must have made his deal with the
government before he even spoke to me.

“Okay, okay,” I said, “I have to get ready to go Mom,
but I have two guys going with me, Scott and James, and we’re going to go get
Nina and get out of there and live in Scotland or the Virgin Islands or
somewhere else without vampires.”

My dad came on. “Ailis, are you sure this is a good
idea? You seem like you’ve made yourself a safe place there in Manhattan. I don’t want you going to London and getting
killed. Can you trust this Ashdown? I didn’t even know he had a son.”

“Yes, his son is there and just like you would, he’ll
pay any price to get him back.”

“What if you’re bitten, Ailis?”

“Dad do you remember that time everyone got the
stomach flu at Grandma’s at Thanksgiving? Everyone except me?” Scott gave me a
warning look. I wanted to tell my parents about my immunity, but I didn’t want
the man on the radio, or anyone else listening to know.

“Yes, that was amazing. Why do you...” he stopped.
Either he or my mom had understood me.

“I was just remembering that’s all,” I said. “Besides,
you know I kick serious vampire ass and we’re being provided with weapons so
that we can take care of any of the shady people as well.”

“We just want you to be safe, Ailis.”

“We’ll be in touch with Ashdown’s people twenty-four
seven. I’ll make sure they let me talk to you and send you updates so you know
we’re okay.”

“If you have to, you have to,” my dad said. “You sound
like you’ve made up your mind. I just hope you’ll stay safe and find your
sister. You’re mother and I love you very much.”

“Listen Dad, Ashdown is going to deposit twenty-five
million dollars in an account in your and Mom’s name in the next twenty-four
hours. His people will contact you about it. I’m going to talk to you before I
go into London
and I want to know it’s there okay?”

“Twenty-five million dollars?” My dad sounded
dumbfounded.

“Yeah, make sure you get it.”

“We’d rather have you back,” my mom broke in.

“I know Mom. I will be back, with Nina. I bet it will
only take a couple of weeks.” I tried to stay upbeat and optimistic. I could
tell Scott and James were becoming impatient so I knew I had to go.

“I have to go, but I love you both, and I’m going to
find Nina and we’re going to get out of there okay? I’ve made it this far, I
bet she has too....I know she has.”

My parents both told me they loved me. I could hear my
mother crying and I felt a pang of homesickness. I tried to stay optimistic,
but I knew this would be dangerous. We would have to spend the next twenty-four
hours coming up with a serious plan of action. We couldn’t just waltz into London and start killing
vampires and looters and then just waltz back out with Nina and Richard Junior.