"Banks, L A - Vampire Huntress 5 - 2005 - Forbidden" - читать интересную книгу автора (Banks L. A)

When the choppers touched down in a deserted section of airport runway, and the
illusion of humans helped him toward a crest-bearing private jet at the end of
the landing strip, he had to wonder just what the chairman had in store for him
now. And could he bear it?
Carlos opened his eyes, his breathing labored as he tried to form words. He
searched the impostor Damali's face as she led him by the hand with Big Mike on
his flank helping him walk. "Where?" was all he could manage to get out.
"Ethiopia," she said quietly, tears shining in her eyes. "Baby, we have to get
out of Sydney and go to a Christian stronghold there. It's said that is where
the Ark of the Covenant is held. The clerics all agreed this is the safest
route. By nightfall, the Vampire Council might send a cleanup crew to look for
your ashes that don't exist, so we have to leave now. Then, we'll take a
transcontinental flight to Algeria… the mosques there are old, but we have to
avoid the site of the pending Armageddon, the Middle East. Understand?"
None of what she was saying made any sense.
The big brother—an international courier?—was pulling him down the tarmac with
the impostor of Father Pat jogging beside them to keep pace. Knowing that
resistance was not an option within the inquisition chambers, which only seemed
to steal his strength faster, Carlos stopped struggling against them. He had to
be strategic.
"As soon as we get clearance, we have to get you behind the walls of the
Vatican," the cleric said. "Until they're sure of what you are… all the Covenant
can do is keep you on the move, from fortress to fortress."
Carlos cocked his head. He didn't believe that the chairman knew how the
Covenant operated, not at this level of detail.
Carlos peered at the man who'd spoken, then looked at the one who was supposed
to be Rider.
"Dude, the Vatican is like the Pentagon for the guys with the collar—just like
Asula can't just waltz you into Mecca until you're checked out, dig?" the
supposed Rider said as they walked up the jet's narrow steps. "So, they're gonna
have to take you to their hideaways in the hills… sorta like being an alien and
getting shuttled to Area 51 till ya spec out. Now why we all have to go along
for the ride with your boy, Berkfield, is beyond me. I, for one, know I didn't
get bitten, although Damali's case is a little—"
"Everybody get on the plane," a tall brother with locks said, his gaze lethal.
His tone made the group stop walking as he slowly pointed to each person.
"Damali has already been compromised. Jose and Damali had a twister of harpies
on their asses, and came into the church bloodied and beat up. Jose, Dan, J.L.,
and Rider were also riding in the VIP vamp limos, alone, with what was then a
council-level master vamp—Rivera. Me and Mike were on the yacht, like the others
eventually were, and in unseen, dark corridors away from the group at times long
enough to get nicked. Mar, Father Pat, Father Lopez, Monk Lin, and Imam Asula
were all on standby, in speedboats, out in the open, in the dead of night. My
point is, any one of us could have gotten nicked. You think the powers-that-be
are going to let us roll up on the pope with who knows how many vamps and a
potential daywalker in our midst?" He shook his head, then turned his back to
the teams and strode up the jet's steps. "Our side ain't taking no chances, and
I don't blame them."
"Shabazz is right," the woman named Marlene said in a weary tone. "Life as we
knew it has just ceased to exist."