"Let me explain. We realized shortly after nine-eleven that any large gathering was vulnerable. And the more innocent the partic.i.p.ants, the more tempting the target.

"The society immediately called for a discussion about procedures to follow if we were attacked by terrorists. Many of us took self-defense cla.s.ses. We also created a SIG, that's a special-interest group-and its members came up with a broad-based defensive plan. The indexers who are librarians have been carrying out drills at their workplaces to stop a terror attack on our nation's libraries."

She gave us a broad smile. "I am proud to say we have proven it works."

I felt I had to say something. "If those men had automatic weapons, you'd all be dead."

Cheryl gave me what I took as a pitying look.

"We're not fools. I a.s.sure you we are not. In the first place, our security chair, Richard, served in Vietnam. The years may have pa.s.sed, but his courage has not diminished. Second..."

She opened the Guatemalan striped cloth bag she carried by a woven band over her shoulder. I could see the interior. A long-barreled, menacing-looking Luger rested inside.

She closed the bag quickly. "About thirty of us carry. Quite of few of us compete in international marksmen compet.i.tions. You met Deborah, another of our security team. Colleen, the tall woman by the door where you entered, was actually coordinating the members' response to the invasion.

"Had the a.s.sailants been armed, plan B would have been put into operation. We would prefer not to use our weapons in such a crowded area, but I am quite certain that if those men had had weapons, instead of heading for a jail cell they'd be going to the morgue."

Chastened, I apologized for underestimating the indexers and for my prejudices. I fell silent as the floor indicator light above the doors blinked from number to number during the rest of our descent. I realized something important: The indexers had been prepared. We Darkwings escaped because we were lucky. And luck had a way of running out.

When we reached the main floor we followed Cheryl through another narrow hallway back to the lobby. A dozen uniformed police officers were charging toward the other bank of elevators.

"Is there another exit besides Lexington?" I asked Cheryl.

"Take the Forty-ninth Street one." She pointed. We headed for it, hoping no other hunters were lurking about in the side street.

"What now?" Benny asked when we were back out in the night.

"I'm going to the Palace," Audrey said, a little whiter than her high rose of earlier tonight but otherwise calm. "I'm supposed to give Shally the communique."

"It's only a block," I said. "We'll walk you over."

"I'm going to try to call Cormac," Benny said as we started toward Madison Avenue, keeping to the shadows. I periodically glanced behind us and kept a close watch on any cars that traveled down the mostly empty street.

Our footsteps made a lonesome tapping on the sidewalk. A damp wind blew in from the East River. It lifted up sc.r.a.ps of paper and sent them scampering down the sidewalk. It brushed by the buildings, moaning as if expressing some secret grief.

I had an increasing sensation that something was dreadfully wrong. I saw Benny talking into her cell. I watched her anxiously as she flipped the phone closed.

"They're fine," she a.s.sured me. "The other bikers came piling out of Charlie's and beat the c.r.a.p out of the two vampire hunters who had followed them. Cormac says what was left of them is floating out to the Atlantic with the tide."

"Anything else?" I asked, twisting around and looking behind me again.

"Yes. Rogue wants us to meet. To come down to Charlie's. He says we have to do something about the current situation. And he heard something interesting."

"What?"

"Reports have been coming in about a ghost ship on Long Island Sound."

I slipped my hand through the crook of Audrey's bare, braceleted arm as we approached Madison Avenue. Her flesh was cold. I whispered to her, "Benny and I can wait for you in the lobby while you deliver the letter."

She gave her head a small shake and kept walking, not looking at me. "I'll try to catch up with you later."

I didn't argue. She was old enough to make her own mistakes. "All right," I said, glancing at her profile and catching a flash of tears. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope so too," she said.

"You look awfully pale," I added. Her high color earlier must have been a postcoital flush. "Have you been getting enough blood?"

She shook her head no, not speaking.

"Please at least eat a rare steak or anything tartare. Tell Khan you need to order a steak from room service."

She didn't acknowledge me. We reached the corner of the hotel's block, kitty-corner from St. Patrick's across the broad avenue. I pulled Audrey to a stop and turned her around to face me. Benny watched us as if wondering what was going on.

Audrey looked like a hurt deer. Her arms felt thin and fragile under my hands. "Listen to me," I said as if speaking to a child. "If you get too hungry you won't be able to stop yourself. You will bite him. Do you understand that?"

Audrey's white face turned ashy gray. She stared at the ground and nodded yes.

"Well, h.e.l.l's bells," Benny cut in. "It ain't the worst thing she can do. He won't even remember it afterward. Why not have your cake and eat it too?"

Audrey started to protest. I shot Benny a disapproving look but thought about what she'd just said. I kept my hold on Audrey's arm with one hand and used the fingers of the other to tip up her chin. I brushed some loose strands of hair back from her face.

"Audrey, sweetie. It's not love. Not this quick. It's infatuation. Benny's right. Hold on to your heart and drink your fill of him."

Color flamed into Audrey's cheeks. She stared into my eyes with fire in hers. She jerked her arm violently away from my hand and spit out her words: "Who are you you to tell me how I feel? I don't care what either of you think. I know I love Shalid. I loved him the minute I saw him. I'd rather die than turn him into one of us." to tell me how I feel? I don't care what either of you think. I know I love Shalid. I loved him the minute I saw him. I'd rather die than turn him into one of us."

"Well, sugar, you just may do that." Benny's voice was sad.

Benny and I saw Audrey safely into the New York Palace. We stood out near the fountain while she climbed the stairs to the glittering bra.s.s of the front doors. The former mansion was a veritable fortress. No vampire hunters could by stealth or force get past the security of its gated entrance and well-monitored courtyard.

As soon as Audrey entered the lobby, a slim, dark man walked quickly to her. She turned toward him. His arms stretched out to her and took her in his embrace. Shalid had been watching the doors and waiting for her return.

Retreating to the street Benny and I hailed a cab. We were headed downtown to West Street when her cell phone rang. She looked at it.

"It's the Looie," she said, surprised.

She answered the call. She listened for a moment, then told him we were all fine, thank you. Then she listened some more. She said, "Uh-huh," a few times, and finally asked, "Are you certain?" Then she clicked off.

"What's up?" I asked.

"The Looie says the police took all four of the vampire hunters into custody. Two of them needed to go to a hospital. n.o.body else was hurt."

"That's good news," I said.

"But there's something else. Some kids found a body washed up on the beach at Breezy Point. The man had been shot in the head, execution style. Dead a couple of days. The Looie says they just identified him."

I raised my eyebrows. "And?"

"It's a naval officer. He was a.s.signed to the U.S.S. Intrepid Intrepid."

Chapter 17.

"Can life be a blessing,Or worth the possessing,Can life be a blessingif love were away?"-John Dryden, "Troilus and Cressida"

Benny pulled out a hand mirror and makeup kit from her purse to begin repairs. I slunk down in the seat. My hair could use brushing, I supposed, but at present I had no interest in my appearance.

Our battered chariot carried us through late-night Manhattan's half-empty streets. It jolted us along the uneven pavement, stopped suddenly at traffic lights, jerked forward across the intersections.

Inside the cab the air held the odors of rides past. Grime and greasy fingerprints covered the part.i.tion between us and the driver, who was a bony man. Sour of expression, as if embittered by some private insults, he muttered curses as he drove.

Uncomfortable, uneasy, I felt foreboding grip me again. I could find no specific source for my anxiety, except it focused, if on anything, on Darius. Like a startled flock of starlings my thoughts flew in all directions, only to circle back and light upon him again.

Death had ventured close tonight. It had come in chains and leather. Now, having found the love I had looked for, I had a reason to hold tight to life, a purpose for fighting for my existence. But I knew somehow that the fear that wrapped around my bones was not for myself. It was for Darius.

An ice-cold bottle of beer awaited Benny. A Guinness ready for me sat on the table near the back wall of Charlie's. The hopeful eyes of Cowboy Sam watched me walk across the room. He touched his Stetson with his fingertips as I pa.s.sed by.

Just the other day this hole-in-the-wall bar seemed dingy and unfriendly. Now the stale smells and the room crowded with vampire bikers lifted my spirits. It had become a down-scale version of Cheers for me and my pals, the Bloods Club crew.

Cormac stood and gave Benny air kisses next to her cheeks. He wouldn't dare try that with me, so he settled for a wave executed from the wrist up, like Queen Elizabeth's as she pa.s.sed through a crowd. This perfectly mimicked move came from a vampire in a biker jacket. I gave him a look that said I thought he was an idiot.

I sat in front of my Guinness. I stared at it a moment before lifting it up and chugging it down. It wasn't the smartest of decisions. Alcohol lowers my inhibitions. I needed to keep a tight rein on my desires, especially in a testosterone-drenched atmosphere like Charlie's. My dark pa.s.sions tend to get loose at inopportune times.

I finished the bottle and gave a ladylike burp. I smiled and felt okay again. I thought for a moment. I think I felt good.

Rogue had watched me drink the Guinness. His face betrayed nothing of his thoughts. When I was through, he sent Cormac for a second round and began talking. He wanted to tell Benny and me about the "ghost ship" spotted off the North Sh.o.r.e of Long Island.

"It even made the local paper." Rogue pulled a news article ripped out of the Village Beacon Village Beacon from the breast pocket of his T-shirt. He handed it across the table. I held it between Benny and me. The light was dim in the bar, but we could see well enough to read the brief report. from the breast pocket of his T-shirt. He handed it across the table. I held it between Benny and me. The light was dim in the bar, but we could see well enough to read the brief report.

FLYING DUTCHMAN MYSTERY.

Port Jefferson, NY. Two striped-ba.s.s fishermen reported yesterday that a large ship appeared, then suddenly vanished on the waters of Long Island Sound about a mile from Port Jefferson.The two men, Alex Norton and Joe Rosenbaum, were fishing off the bow of the charter boat May's Lark May's Lark at the time of the sighting. at the time of the sighting.According to Norton and Rosenbaum, an aircraft carrier suddenly appeared about a quarter mile in the distance from their charter boat."I know it was an old aircraft carrier," Norton said. "My dad showed me pictures of his ship hundreds of times." Norton's father served on an Ess.e.x-cla.s.s aircraft carrier in World War II.The men said they watched the ship a few minutes; then a mist or a cloud covered it and the ship appeared to vanish. The day was sunny and clear, with no fog on the sound.Norton and Rosenbaum said they are convinced it was a ghost ship.The U.S. Navy currently has twelve aircraft carriers in service. A naval spokesperson said none of their ships operate on the sound.

Rogue reached over and retrieved the newspaper clipping. "That wasn't the only sighting, just the only one to make it into the papers. People I spoke to at a couple of marinas told me the 'ghost ship' has been appearing all week. Everybody's talking about it. It will be sitting out in the water for a few minutes, then disappear.

"Most of the sightings were in the sound. But a dog walker saw it off Block Island, and a few reports came in from the Hamptons, which means the ship was out in the Atlantic.

"Just like J said, the cloaking device used on the ship must be having trouble with its power source. At least, that's what I think," he added.

I felt a surge of hope that we could find the ship. "Benny got it right. The Intrepid Intrepid didn't go far," I said, and she smiled. didn't go far," I said, and she smiled.

Cormac returned to the table with the beers. He set them down and pulled up a chair for himself.

Rogue continued. "I've heard the military's sending lots of air surveillance over the sound too. The air force must be looking for the ship. I guess we a.s.sume they haven't found it."

I thought for a moment, my eyes fastened on the Guinness label. "Do you think they're going to blow up the ship out on the North Sh.o.r.e? It's a wealthy area. Million-dollar homes. A strike at the rich, something like that?"

Benny answered, shaking her head. "I don't think that's it. A ship that size couldn't get close enough to sh.o.r.e to do any damage."

"So if we were the terrorists and we were planning to blow up the Intrepid Intrepid, where would we do it?" I asked, and looked around the table at the faces of the Darkwings.

Cormac broke his silence. "For maximum effect? For drama? Why not go for the biggest splash? Bring the ship back into New York Harbor. It's only a couple of hours away. They can ram it right into the Battery or bring it in at the World Trade Center site, then go kaboom."

The possibility struck me as being sick enough to be their plan. "I think you got it, my friend," I said. I suddenly felt like I needed a drink. I chugged down the second bottle of Guinness.

Rogue lit up a Camel. He took a deep drag and blew the smoke above our heads. Everybody smoked at Charlie's. Rules did not apply. Vampires didn't get cancer. In any case, n.o.body could pay a city official enough to want to come in here.

"Here's what I think," he offered. "Benny gives J a buzz. Tells him where the ship is and that we think the ship will be moved. Tells him to make sure the military keeps a close watch on Arthur Kill and any other channel into the upper New York Bay. If the cloaking device is failing, they should see the ship. If she's still invisible but she's moving, they should spot her wake. And, Benny, make sure he keeps us in the loop."

"If they spot the ship, then what?" Benny asked.

"The military will scramble some B-52s. Bomb it."

"You think they'll do that? Some of the crew might still be alive," Benny said, standing up and pulling out her cell phone.

"Yeah," Rogue said, grinding out his b.u.t.t in an ashtray. "I think they'll do that."

I sat there thinking dark thoughts while Benny walked out toward the back of the bar to make the phone call. Rogue broke into my woolgathering by saying we should have our driving lesson in a couple of minutes.

"Are we done for the night?" I asked. "It's still pretty early."

"We're not done. We're a long ways from done, but you need to know how to operate your bike."

He told us why when Benny came back.

Rogue said what I had been mulling over since the vampire hunter invasion at the Marriott East Side. We had been playing defense with the vampire hunters. To quote the old sports truism, "The best defense is a good offense."