Book 0- Part 3- Daniel Night
Fall into a trap
September 29, 2012
1.
The rain has already set in in the city of New York on this warm, autumn, Monday afternoon. The wind was strongly blowing, banging against everything it met. The streets were being covered with water, and pavements were slowly getting empty. A young man, in his early twenties, was sitting in front of his computer in the house situated in Queens Village. The grey walls of his room were covered with posters from Blade movie, and one map of New York. The computer was situated near the window, and above it, there was a shelf with photos. In the room, there was also a modern, wooden bed, a dark blue bag lying on the floor, and a vast, metal wardrobe near the door. The tall boy with rather short, dark blond hair was browsing some pages on the Internet, sipping hot coffee from time to time. Some electro music was being played from the four speakers spread in the room. As he was taking another sip, he heard a ring coming from his right side. He moved his head towards the direction of the sound, but his eyes were still fixed on the screen. The man finished reading the sentence on the webpage, then looked indifferently at the mobile, grabbed it, and checked whose name was displayed on the screen. He saw a picture of a man his age with short, black hair. The lad pressed the green button and brought the cell phone closer to his ear.
“What’s up Mike?” he asked turning down the music.
“Danny Listen up,” said the voice in the phone.
“Yeah?”
“One of our sources contacted us. They said that a transport is coming.”
“From where?”
“From Europe.”
Dan looked at the wet window and bit his lower lip.
“Where is it coming?” he asked inquisitively.
“To the New Jersey Port.”
“When?”
“Tonight,” the voice replied.
Dan leapt up from the armchair, and headed towards the wardrobe. Mike continued.
“Hunters from all the boroughs are coming. We wanna trap the package. It’s gonna be the biggest operation ever. “
Dan opened the wardrobe and pressed some button at the door. The bottom disappeared into the floor, and a metal container emerged. It was big enough to fit into the inside of the wardrobe. It looked like a modern safe with a palm recognition system at the front. Dan pressed his hand onto the screen. Beep, the door opened. There were lots of weapons, bullets, and flashlights of different sizes.
“You do realise it’s gonna be a slaughter out there,” he randomly took out the items from the metal safe.
“I do.... You won’t find anything on the web. The boss wants to avoid any leak.”
“I see.”
“Oh, and Danny,” the voice hesitated, “Come for me at six, I’ll tell you everything then.”
The boy looked at the clock on the shelf showing four o’clock, and replied, “Okay.”
“And one more thing Dan,”
“Yeap?”
“Take the grenades.”
“Already done. C. U. at six.”
“Right, C.U.,” Mike said and hanged up.
Dan put the phone back on his desk, looked out the window to check whether it was still raining, then he packed the selected items to a huge, dark blue bag lying on the floor, and finally he went back to his computer. He took another sip of the coffee. Having swallowed it, he sighed, hitting himself onto the forehead with an open palm. He forgot to close the safe. Not thinking much, Dan turned around, walked back to the wardrobe, and closed the safe door. Next he pressed the button on the wardrobe door making the regular bottom lift up again, and returned to his computer. When he finally sat down, he typed some address in the web browser. A weird site appeared. It showed a bunch of children drawn picture of flowers, houses, New York buildings, and people. Dan scrolled down until a picture presenting the Statue of Liberty came up, and clicked its torch. Then a small white window popped up with a note: Login and password is required to proceed. He typed something very fast, and pressed the enter key. The page changed. Dan looked at it. Now the screen was red and black. Big letters N.Y.V.H.A. were standing out at the top. He took another sip, and clicked the large banner; Current mission. Now the screen said; Number of hunters signed for the current mission- 58. The boy moved the cursor down to the sign in button, and clicked it. As soon as he did that, the door of his room opened and a woman entered. She was in her late forties, with long blond hair pinned back in a ponytail, a square face, and an athletic figure. She was wearing a checked pinafore and typical female jeans. Having heard the door creak, Dan quickly hit a hidden button under his desk. The website changed automatically into the Wikipedia site.
“Danny, sweetie, are you hungry?” The woman asked heartily.
He hated being called sweetie. He was twenty two for God’s sake. Old enough to be treated like an adult. But he greeted his teeth, took a deep breath, turned his head to the left side and replied with indifference.
“Actually, I am.”
“So, I will prepare something hot for you... A-Are you going somewhere?” the lady asked noticing his bag being full.
“Yeah, I am gonna stay at Mike’s for a night. We have some project to do.”
“OK, but why do you need such a huge bag?” The woman was getting even more curious
“I’ve got there some stuff for the project. You won’t understand,” the boy answered convincingly.
“What kind of pro... never mind. Anyway, I’ll be waiting in the kitchen, so when you’re done, come downstairs.”
“OK aunty. I’ll be there in a minute”
The women left and closed the door. Dan turned back to the shining screen, and turned it off. Next he turned the speakers off, and the room filled with the sound of rain drops knocking at the window. Afterwards, he stood up and went downstairs.
2.
The kitchen was connected with the dining room. There was a four-person table covered with nothing but an empty vase. The two seats were situated in such a manner that everyone who was eating could watch TV at the same time. The two windows had no curtains. There were only thick blinds installed outside. The fridge, the oven and other kitchen equipment were set in a perfect harmony.
Dan ran downstairs, dropped his bag in the hall, and sat at the table. His aunt was just taking a hot dog out of the microwave oven. She put it on a plate and served it. Dan licked his lips, grabbed the food, and started eating it. The woman leaned against the dishwasher and fixed her eyes on the floor. She seemed to be worried with something. A few seconds passed, and she boomed.
“I want to talk to you Dan.”
The boy raised his eyes and looked at her in confusion. He couldn’t say anything, as his mouth was full of food. She inserted her hands underneath her blouse from the top, and took out a necklace. It was a big, round charm attached to a gold chain. Then she placed her fingers on both sides of the round thing, used some force, and opened it. Inside, there was a tiny piece of paper. Dan was gazing at her in wonderment.
“Your parents wanted me to give you this,” she said calmly.
The boy put away the hot-dog, and asked,
“What is it?”
“I don’t really know what it is. It’s some piece of paper with numbers,” she handed it to the boy. “I’ve never figured it out.”
On this little sheet there was a square made of numbers. Dan scanned it carefully, but the picture didn’t appear to have any meaning.
“I have no idea how to read it,” he said with a grimace.
“Your parents told me that when you are ready you will know,” she added.
Dan pressed something on his hand-watch. A little pocket ejected, like a cd-rom. He folded the riddle and put it onto the pocket. It quickly disappeared in the side of the watch. He looked at the aunt and asked inquisitively,
“Why today?”
The women sighed and replied;
“I know about your inventions. I know that you are a hunter and I know about today’s mission.”
Dan shook his head, and his eyes grew wide. He was in shock. At first, he tried to say something, but his mind raced. All the memories of his sneaking out for the missions filled his head. He did it perfectly. Nobody apart from the hunters knew. Maybe she saw him once? Maybe she found his secret safe?
“B-But ... how?” he stuttered.
The lady rolled the right cuff of her shirt up, revealing a tiny blue tattoo. It was a minute triangle that looked like a labyrinth. He exactly knew what it was. He saw it every day or rather every night. Every hunter had something like that. It was their symbol.
“You are a hunter, too!” the man shouted.
“That’s correct, and so were you parents.”
Too much confusion. He didn’t know what to say. So many questions arouse in his head. Now he learnt his aunt was a hunter. But how did she manage to keep it away from him? He visited the headquarters every day. He knew 90% of the hunters. Yet, he never saw her there, nor on any of the missions.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he exclaimed.
“I wish I could, but this was your parents’ decision,” the woman explained.
“I don’t even know what to say. So many questions,” Dan said bemused.
“Say nothing, accept their choice,” she tried to console him. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want you to become a hunter. You were, I mean, you are perfect for this job. Your inventions, intelligence, fast learning. Just look at all these things. There is no way you could not became a hunter. But because of your parents’ choice, I decided not to engage in your career. Well, not exactly engage.
“How...how on earth I didn’t see you either in the base, or on any of the missions, huh?”
“That’s a good question, and you will definitely figure it out.”
“What?” he looked up trying to put all the information in one piece. “There are over 100 hunters in New York. I know most of them. I have seen all of them, but not you...” He scratched his head, clenching his eyes, and continued, “There are two possible explanations; you’re either new...”
His aunt slowly shook his head
“Or... or, you’re the boss.”
“Bingo!” she smiled. “I told you that you would figure it out.”
Dan was gazing at her, wiping his eyes.
“You could not possible see me because I didn’t let you. I sent you to all these missions, where I wouldn’t take part.”
“B-But… S-So your disappearing for whole nights wasn’t because you had to stay longer at work?”
“Well, I was at work, hunting them, you know,” she replied.
“S-So, all this time…”
“Yup, all ten years now.”
“OK, let’s say I understand this all, but there is still one thing that I can’t understand.”
“Which is...?”
“Why today? Huh? Why did you decide to tell me all of this today?”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you for all these years. I simply couldn’t. I didn’t know how. It was hard for me to go to bed with the same thought. How to tell you this? Or when to tell you this? But tonight,” she pulled her chair to the back and stood up. “Tonight, it’s the most dangerous mission of all time. We have this one opportunity to take down this huge vampire transport. 85% of the hunters are engaged. I had to tell you, because I don’t know what will happen tonight. If something goes wrong, I fear...”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Dan interrupted.
“As always, your optimistic. Natalie was a pessimist and you always cheered her up,” the woman referred to Dan’s former partner.
After that she went towards the kitchen window.
“It’s stopped raining. You’d better hurry.”
“What about you? Are you going too?”
“Yes, but on my own,” the lady smiled.
“All right then,” he tried to snap out of the confusion. “I’ll go for Mike now.”
His aunt only nodded, and turned around.
The man went up to his room, and walked up to his computer. He looked at the shelf above it, and grabbed a photograph of three people. There was a woman with long curly blonde hair. Next to her, there was standing a bald man wearing a suit. They were both hugging a seven-year-old boy, who looked just like Dan. The man took out the piece of paper he received from his aunt and scanned it carefully.
“What did you want to tell me, dad?" he tried to figure it out.
Then he put away the frame remembering he had a mission to go to. He quickly ran downstairs, took a glance at his aunt one more time, grabbed his bag and shouted,
“I’m goin’.”
“Good luck, Dan,” the soft voice replied, “Good luck.”
The door shut.
3.
Dan and his aunt lived in a white detached house with a garage attached to the right side. The streets were covered with puddles, and the sun was slowly getting closer to the horizon. The large, brown, rectangular, door of the garage pulled up and disappeared in the ceiling, revealing a blueprint of a sport car. Seconds later a loud sound of a car engine spread around. It was a silver Porsche Carrera 911; his dream. Dan has always liked sport cars. He had managed to earn enough money to buy this particular one. If it hadn’t been for his brilliant, innovative inventions, he wouldn’t have been able to afford such an expensive vehicle. Yet, what he earned was not enough to fulfil his biggest dream; Aston martin DB9. The man slowly pressed the accelerator, and the vehicle drove out. He turned into the street, then sped away.
4.
Half an hour later, he turned into a street surrounded by tall blocks of flats. This district was situated near the centre, and many rich people lived there. The streets were half-empty, as many people had already got to their homes. Dan knew exactly where he was driving. It wasn’t the first time he had to pick up Mike. Having passed the next traffic lights, he slowed down. There was a man standing near the corner of some building, leaning against the wall. It was a tall boy at the age of nineteen, wearing black leather jacket and denim trousers. There was also a backpack near his legs. As soon as Mike saw the car, he pushed himself off the wall and went near the corner. The car stopped, and its boot opened automatically in the front. The tall boy came to it and threw his backpack inside. There was already Dan’s bag. Next he closed the boot, opened the door of the car, and went inside.
“Hi, Mike,” Dan said reaching out his hand to shake.
“Dan, did you take the grenades,” the boy replied while shaking the hand of his mate.
“Of course.”.
“Why a sad face?” Mike asked looking at Dan’s grimace.
“Too much to talk,” he answered as he pushed the handbrake down.
“Oh come on. I’m your best friend, for God’s sake.”
“It’s not a good time. Everyone says it’s the most difficult and the most dangerous mission of all time, so I’d rather not talk about my personal problems right now.”
The car took off, and joined the traffic. It’s not usual to drive a car in New York. Most of the New Yorkers use public transport to get to their work, friends, or supermarkets. If anyone living in the centre of the city uses their personal car, it means that they either show off, they really love driving, or they work with their cars.
“So tell me Mike, what are the details of the mission?”
“The ship is coming at 11:10 to the New Jersey Port. There should be around thirty containers on the ship. And inside of only one there’s gonna be about sixty vampires. Pretty tight, right?”
Dan listened carefully to every word Mike said, and pictured everything in his head.
“There are already some of us preparing the trap,” Mike continued.
“Wait, wait, wait. How will we recognise which container is the right one?”
“Somebody would probably be there to pick up the frights.”
“I was on the webpage, 58 hunters signed in.”
“Actually, I was there before I left, and there were 73 hunters. Anyway, as soon as we get there, we’re gonna take the toys and go to the roof. Well, If our source was right, the package should be delivered right in front of the building, so we’re gonna have quite a pretty access to it.
“What about the attack itself?” Dan popped curiously.
Mike looked at him with a sneer.
“Don’t worry Dan. We’re gonna use the UV spot lights.”
“A slaughter,” Dan smirked realising the importance of the mission.
5.
The boys arrived at the port. It was almost 8 p.m. The sky was dark, and a few clouds were coming from the east. There were lots of cars parked in the parking lot. As soon as the beautiful Porsche stopped next to some other car, both of the doors opened and two men got out of the car. They opened the front boot, took their belongings, and headed for a large, ramshackle building near the docks. It used to serve as a warehouse back in the 80s, but now the building was waiting for demolition. Dan took a good look at the whole place. The vast area was filled with red and white containers piled up. They looked like a huge labyrinth. He could also see a few cranes at the side that were used to unload the ships, and a long cargo ship moored nearby. The lights of Manhattan were glowing in the distance. Dan could see a few people around the building fiddling with some cables.
“I hope, we’ll have more fun, than menace.” The man said putting his bag strip on left shoulder.
“Yeah, seeing all these leeches burning up simultaneously gonna be an unforgettable view.”
“We’ll meet upstairs, OK?” Mike suggested spotting a black BMW pulling up at the lot.”I’ll say hi to the guys.”
“Okey dokey.”
Dan was walking slowly towards the building. He was alone again with the memories from the afternoon. Yet, he quickly snapped out of it hearing a familiar voice.
“Dan! Dan!”
He looked up suppressing all the memories, and saw a short, plump men waving at him from the entrance to the building. It was Jake, his fellow hunter.
“Jake, bro, what’s up,” Dan exclaimed greeting his man by hitting each other’s knuckles.
“Tough mission, huh? Did you take the grenades?”
“Yup. About a dozen.”
“Great. They’re expecting you on the roof.”
“I’m on my way.”
Having said, Dan opened the wooden door, and went inside. At the same time Jake ran towards Mike and three other guys who had just got out of the black BMW.
6.
N.Y.V.H.A. stands for New York Vampire Hunters Association. It is an official governmental organ dealing with vampiric entities in the whole state of New York. Every capital city in the USA has its own association, which operates on their territory. In New York, the group employs over one hundred people. It was founded in the nineteenth century by two brothers, right after they had lost their third brother to a vampire. Before World War I, the association gathered over twenty members. They led a constant war with the underworld world of the vampires. Right after the World War II, the government legalise the organisation, and became its official organ. However, since its beginning, the organisation was kept in secret, and only few could join it. Nowadays, New York Vampire Hunter Association is the second largest in the USA, after Los Angeles Vampire Hunter Association. 15% of their members are underage hunters.
7.
The door on the roof opened, and Dan entered carrying his large bag. He saw many people around doing different things. Two people were installing another spotlight on the edge of the building. Some others were sitting next to them preparing weird looking pistols. There were also a few men on the other side of the roof. One of them was holding a tablet showing them a digital map of the docks. At the door, there was a long table with three monitors showing the view of the docks, and around the table there were five people. One of them was holding a walkie-talkie. Another one was looking at the screen. He turned around, noticed Dan, and said,
“Dan, nice to see you tonight.”
“Hi T,” came the answer.
At the same time, Mike rushed through the door. He dropped his bag at the table, nodded once to the man at the spotlight, and took a glance at the monitors.
“What do we have here?”
Dan put down his bag next to Mike’s, and came closer to T. T had black skin. He was medium-height, slim without any hair. He was wearing glasses, and looked like a nerd.
“As you can see, boys, we’re fully prepared for the mission,” He said proudly raising his chin.
“Yeah, and seeing so many familiar faces on this mission, brings old good times back.”
“Anyway,” T cut in, “Have you brought the grenades?”
“Everyone keeps asking me that,” Dan replied opening his bag.
“I have... let me see... 24 grenades. Will it do?”
“I hope we won’t have to use them, but 24 are enough. Go to Molly and the guys over there,” he pointed to the other side of the roof. “And give them a few.”
Dan nodded, grabbed four grenades and ran up to the other side of the roof.
8.
It was almost eleven. There were about thirty people on the roof. Everyone was wearing black clothes, and everyone was busy with something. Dan and Mike were at the screens with eight other people. There was Dan’s aunt among them, and Dan couldn’t help glancing at her from time to time. The camera was showing three men doing something at the main entrance to the port. Two people came in through the door carrying wide, cardboard boxes.
“Hey! Listen up! We have the remaining grenades.”
Almost momentarily, a group of hunters gathered around them and grabbed the weapons.
Mike banged a portable radio that was standing at the monitor with his fist.
“Is this thing on?”
T frowned, and grabbed the cable coming out from the back of the radio.
“Now it should be working.”
“Every single signed hunter arrived,” the voice on the radio said.
One of the men hanging around came up to the boys.
“Does either of ya’ want the grenades?”
“Nope Kyle, we’re good.” Dan answered directing his eyes at his aunt.
Some other hunter, who was standing near Mike, joined the conversation.
“I believe the spotlights should do the whole work. But... the grenades are just for the precaution.”
Suddenly, the noise of the ship siren spread around the port. Everyone looked at the sea.
“They’re coming!” the bold guy with glasses, sitting at the monitors shouted.
“Everyone, take your positions, and follow the plan,” another one shouted.
“Team 6 is moving towards the ship,” the female voice came from the walky-talky.
“Do not engage yet,” T said through the microphone.
“Which team are we?” Dan inquired, with a silent whisper while grabbing the two pistols from his bag.
“Wake up Dan,” Mike said with a little anger. “We’ve discussed this. We’re team 1, remember?”
“Yes, sorry,” he replied nodding noticing his aunt boring her eyes into him.
“Dan, focus, please,” she said calmly.
Dan stood up, and tucked the guns behind his belt. Some passing black man interrupted.
“I’m going to the roof edge to have a better view. Are you guys coming?”
“No,” Mike replied. “We ain’t gonna have such a good view there.”
“You don’t have night vision goggles, so you won’t see much.”
“I’m still going,” the black man insisted.
The ship was slowly approaching the dock. It was a long, rusty vessel, with dozens of containers on it. Many hunters gathered on the roof and were carefully observing the dock.
“This is it,” a plump man sitting next to T said.
Everyone was watching the ship. Some of them were using binoculars, others their bare eyes. A small group of hunters were observing everything on the screens on the other side of the roof. The video camera was situated on a crane near the water. Thanks to that position, the person operating the cameras could show almost everything that was going on.
“The ship has stopped,” said the voice on the radio.
“Keep reporting,” another one said with a low male voice.
The boys were looking and listening with interest.
“A track is arriving from the west,” the voice on the radio continued.
“Team 4, check it out!”
“Confirmed,” the woman’s voice whispered among fast moving steps.
“Team 5 is in position,” another voice interrupted.
“Zoom on the containers,” Dan’s aunt asked.
Dan dropped his eyes. He was thinking again about the true identity of his aunt’s. Mike took a peek at Dan.
“Dan, I know that something bothers ya’, but please, this is very important”
His thoughts were interrupted by another voice on the radio.
“The containers are being unloaded”
“Watch the container number 13,” another voice added.
“This is team 2. We have spotted the 13th container. I repeat, we have spotted the container number 13.
Mike grabbed the walkie-talkie, pressed some button and asked.
“What does it look like?”
“It’s red, the third one from the top,” came the answer.
“Zoom on it,” the boss ordered.
“There it is,” T said pointing at the screen.
Dan crouched at the table, and leaned his elbows against it. The containers were being unloaded and put on the concrete area near the ship. Lots of hiding hunters were watching the ship, preparing for the inevitable. Another husky voice spoke on the radio.
“This is team 4, the people in the truck are humans.”
“Understood,” another voice replied.
“Guys, prepare the spotlights,” came the order from the woman, as she turned around towards the huge lights behind her.
Then she quickly turned back.
“Team 3, prepare the grenades.”
T was observing two people at the right spotlight. They were checking whether the wire was inserted correctly. When they finished, one of them showed his thumb up. Then T took a glance at the other two guys at the left spotlight. When they confirmed readiness, he looked at Mike and nodded.
“This is team 1,” Mike used the walkie-talkie. “The spotlights are ready.”
The crane picked the large metal container with the vivid number 13, raised it and put it on the street next to the other containers. As the crane was moving for the next container, another voice interrupted.
“Team 3 in position. Team 1, direct all the spotlights at the container,”
“Roger that,” came the answer from Dan.
The man turned to the guys operating the spotlights, and drew a circle in the air with his finger. They didn’t have problems with understanding his gesture, and directed the spotlight at the container.
“Team 2,” the boss said, “Observe the area.”
“Copy that.”
“Team 3, move closer to the container and wait until it is opened,” another order came from a low-voiced man.
Team 2 consisted of five people; four men and one woman. They all were carrying assault guns; HK XM8. They were waiting at the containers that had been unloaded weeks earlier. These containers were only fifteen yards from the one with number 13. As they heard the order, they quickly ran to the side of the next container.
“This is team 4, there are two men approaching the container from the north.”
“North?” T asked with a doubt. “But that means they must have been here before us.”
“No time for questions,” Dan’s aunt interrupted. “Check their temperature.”
One of the men from team 4 pressed some button on his assault rifle, and looked through his scope. He pulled back his head, and looked again.
“Bloodsuckers,” he said through the radio.
“Do not engage,” came the order from a low-voiced man. “Let them open the container.”
“Luke, you’re right,” the boss interrupted. “We’ll take them all out with one rail.”
Luke was a former general. He retired at 47, and joined the NYVHA right after it. He and Leonora; Dan’s aunt, formed a perfect strategic team. They understood each other perfectly, and never disagreed. This was one of the reasons they both could give orders without any arguing. During this mission, Lukas was in a complete different place than Leonora. He and the remaining hunters were in the main base. He couldn’t take part in any of the missions, physically, because he was paralysed. Thus, the only way to give or