Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) by Jon F. Merz Read Free Book Online Page A

drama of dealing with the Kensei, I'd almost managed to put Belfast behind me.   I smirked and walked away from the approaching train.   So much for that.
    After the call from Niles, I called the JR Tohoku Shinkansen and managed to get a reservation aboard the Hayate train.   It took a little over an hour and a half to reach Sendai, but the ride was brisk.
    At Sendai Station, I caught the train out to the airport that sat much closer to the coast and rented a car that looked about the same size as the box my last pair of Kenneth Coles had come in.   But it did the job.
    My cell phone buzzed as I was driving back into the city and I fished it out.   Niles.   "Whatcha got for me?"
    "She's downtown.   The Koyo Grand Hotel."
    "Niles, we don't even have her real name.   How the hell did you guys manage to locate her?"
    "The squirrels ran a list of new foreigners that had arrived within the last week, took a glance through the databases and managed to winnow the list down to a few potentials.   We cross-referenced it with some of our human counterpart agencies and came up with a hit."   He sighed.   "Honestly, Lawson, if I tell you how we did it, then it ruins the magic."
    I stepped on the gas pedal a little more.   "You sure this is solid?"
    "Rock."
    "Why Sendai?   Any ideas?"
    "There's a fairly large community of our people living there.   One of the apartment buildings downtown is one of ours.   Most of the folks living there are with us."   He paused.   "Maybe one of them is a target?"
    "You think?"
    "With her, anything's possible, right?"
    "Most likely."
    "She's dangerous, Lawson.   You know that better than anyone.   Put her down fast and get back here."
    "Okay.   I need a piece.   You got a depot around here?"
    Niles paused and I heard him tapping some keys.   "There's a drop box in Kasugamachi, near Tohoku University.   Can you find it?"
    "Yeah."
    "1782"
    "Thanks."   I hung up and tried to coax some additional power out of the shoebox.   I found my way to Kasugamachi and hidden among the other storefronts on one of the side streets, I saw the chalk mark on one of the walls - a character unlike any other nearby.   I slid the car into a tiny space and wandered over.   Up a set of stairs leading to a decrepit second story apartment, I knocked on the door and waited.
    The old woman who answered looked older than the city I was in.   She eyed me up and down.   And said nothing.
    I took a breath, but I didn't speak in Japanese.   " Porag jul dachol ."
    She nodded once, understanding the ancient vampire language of Taluk, and then shut the door in my face.   When it opened again, she handed me a pouch with a small combination lock on it.   I ratcheted the number dials until I'd set the code Niles had given me.   Inside, I saw the Heckler & Koch USP Compact and three magazines.   I nodded and then walked back to the car.
    Now I was armed.
    From Kasugamachi, it was under a half a mile to the Koyo Grand.   Good.   The sooner I could find the Silencer and put her away, the better.   Niles still had a job waiting for me back in Boston.
    I slid the tiny car down Higashi Nibancho-Dori and then turned left onto Hirose Dori and passed the hotel, a brown brick number complete with a small statue of what looked like three angels out front.
    The Silencer was certainly going to need all the divine assistance she could get today.
    I parked the car near the JR Sendai Station and sat there for a moment, checking the USP.   I dropped the mag, racked the slide and ejected the round before quickly field stripping and reassembling it.
    Some might think it unnecessary, but I never try to rely on how well others have supposedly kept their weapons.   Doing the field check took some time, but I was walking into a situation where anything was possible.   The fewer variables I had at play, the better.  
    I checked the tension on the magazines as well, making sure there was enough pressure so they fed the bullets like