Chapter Twenty-Five

"Someone is attackin' Katya Grigorieva's territory and people." Brigid tapped her tablet with a stylus, and blurry images popped on-screen. "And I believe we are in agreement that Zasha Sokholov is most likely the perpetrator of all these attacks."

Brigid, Tenzin, Ben, Carwyn, Buck, and Jennie were in a makeshift conference room in the community hall set back in the woods behind Jennie and Buck's house in Ketchikan. The building was long and narrow, roofed with wood beams with a stone fireplace on one end. Running down the center of the great room was a carved wooden table with benches along either side.

A large TV hung from the ceiling opposite the fireplace, and Buck had done something with Lee on the phone to make Brigid's case files jump onto the screen.

"Yeah," Buck said. "I mean, that's what all you folks seem to think. And what we're hearing around."

"To clarify, Zasha is the one leading the attacks," Carwyn said. "All the raid sites so far show evidence of violence from fire vampires, water vampires, earth, and wind."

Brigid put up more pictures. "And these are copies of the pictures we took in Kenai and a few other spots farther north." More burned houses. More blood. More destruction. "These attacks were also orchestrated by Zasha Sokholov. In two cases, there were eyewitnesses that spotted them."

"Zasha and their friends are running wild," Ben said. "And they're doing it in Katya's and Oleg's territory."

"Correction," Jennie said. "Katya's territory. The Russian does not have territory in this state."

Brigid barely kept from rolling her eyes.

Buck said, "So this Zasha character wants to run Alaska? Take it from Katya?"

"That's one possibility." Brigid continued with the briefing that Jennie had requested at dusk. "It would be out of character for them—they only expressed interest in takin' over Las Vegas because they'd been hired by the Ankers; Zasha didn't want it for themself."

Carwyn handed her a thick manila envelope, and she opened it.

"But I want all of us to consider that there's another likelihood based on what Carwyn found on Henri Paulson's barge last night."

"One could call it a barge." Carwyn was sitting at the conference table and looking at a heavily insulated tablet in his hands. "Or one could call it what it is."

Brigid switched to another slide that brought up a picture of the welcome letter Carwyn had found on the boat.

Welcome to Bl? Havn, the beginning of a new world.

"Bl? Havn." Brigid flipped through more of the papers in the welcome packet. "Blue Haven. A new world according to Paulson."

Jennie and Buck were both leaning forward, reading the letter projected on the television.

Brigid continued. "Henri Paulson might be a tech billionaire and a very successful businessman, but he's also a conspiracy theorist with aspirations of empire."

She flipped through more of the welcome information that explained to Paulson's "guests" that they were part of a new world of vampire domination.

"He outlines his plans," Carwyn said. "Not in detail, but we can read between the lines. Fostering human dictatorships that will give immortals free rein. Dominating shipping and currency trading. Taking control back from the…" Carwyn read off the screen: "‘Irresponsible human element' that could endanger the most desirable class of vampires."

"The desirable ones are the rich ones?" Ben asked. "I'm assuming."

Brigid checked for Jennie's reaction, but her expression was a blank.

"Bl? Havn is only one of the boats we think Paulson has." She continued with the briefing she'd hastily put together. "And there are about a dozen vampires on it from what Carwyn could tell. All ridiculously wealthy guests with lots of money, lots of connections, and a hunger for…" She brought up the menu page of the welcome packet and let her audience scan it.

She'd been shocked, horrified, and unsurprised by what she'd seen in the files Carwyn had taken from Paulson's barge. It matched perfectly with what Gavin had told her about the vampire, and in Brigid's mind, there was no question what role Henri Paulson was playing in the sudden rash of violence that had marred the peace of Alaska.

"Complete live meals," Ben murmured. "Paulson's running hunts?"

"Isolated locations. Human and vampire victims." Brigid flipped to a blurry picture of Zasha. The only definite feature outstanding in the frame was a shock of red hair sticking up from a dark coat. "Remind ya of anyone?"

"Wait," Buck said. "You think the vampires on that barge, the ones hiding out on Paulson's ships, are the ones that are killing people with Zasha? Why would they do that if they're hiding out? That's dumb as shit."

"They're not hiding." Tenzin stared at Jennie. "Or at least, they aren't hiding anymore."

Carwyn watched her present the mass of information to Buck and Jennie, marveling at a mind that could pull all these disparate threads together and weave a picture of conspiracy that was as grand and twisted as any he'd seen.

Brigid set one of her tablets to the side and pulled up another picture of Henri Paulson on the screen. "Let's look at Paulson again. For sure, it was his ship, the Bl? Havn, that Carwyn boarded. His guests who have menus of people presented to them on a silver platter," Brigid said. "How long has he been in this area?"

Jennie was silent for a moment while she thought. "He showed up about twenty years ago. He was already rich; he was in computers even back then."

Brigid nodded and typed out a note on her tablet.

1990s—Paulson in Alaska

Ben sat back and crossed his arms. "Paulson's a billionaire. According to Gavin, he invested in technology at the end of the 1990s. Now he has fingers in so many pies he's had to get new fingers."

Tenzin blinked. "He has extra fingers?"

"It's a figure of speech," Ben muttered.

"And he's been missing for months now," Jennie added. "Whatever you all may suspect Paulson of, we don't know he's not one of Zasha's victims."

"Fair enough," Brigid said. "You're completely correct."

Carwyn made a mental note. Jennie was protective of her people, even those who might be on the grey edge of vampire society. It wasn't a bad thing as long as she could think with a clear head when she saw all the facts.

And as long as she wasn't a conspiracy theorist herself.

"But there were reports that Paulson was hosting strange vampires about a month before he went missing." Buck piped up, shooting a look at his wife. "Not strange as in unusual—Paulson was hosting vampires from out of the area and no one had reported them to Jennie."

Tenzin stared at Jennie. "Are you the VIC here?"

Jennie frowned. "My name's Jennie, not?—"

"Vampire in charge," Ben jumped in to answer. "That's all she means. Are you the vampire in charge?" Ben leaned toward Tenzin. "Jennie is Katya's lieutenant." He looked back at Jennie. "Was Paulson having strange vampires on one of his boats unusual?"

Jennie took a while to consider the question before she answered. "We keep out of each other's business. Paulson had dealings with people from out of the area. That's none of my business, and I don't think it concerns Katya either. As long as strangers don't hang around much or create problems, we're not going to make it a big deal."

Tenzin said, "But these strangers have ‘complete live meals' on the menu. On Paulson's menu. Does Katya know about that?"

Jennie leaned forward and rested her hands lightly on the table. "What are you trying to say?"

"Tiny." Ben put a hand on Tenzin's arm. "We're not casting blame here; we're trying to figure out what is happening."

"So Paulson shows up twenty years ago." Brigid raised her voice and tried to get the meeting back on track. "And by all accounts—as Jennie said—he lives a quiet life."

Jennie nodded. "Yeah. He's even hired some of Katya's people over the years. Who are fine. From what we know, the guy's a good boss."

"Except for the crew of the Dolphin," Ben added quickly, "who disappeared the same time that Paulson did."

"Exactly." Jennie's tone was more than a little terse.

"One thing to add." Carwyn glanced at Brigid, and she nodded. "Paulson does have ties to the Ankers." He looked at Ben and Buck. "The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it until the other night. One of my sons—his mate has distant ties to the Anker clan, and I remember she mentioned Paulson to me after the Ankers took Chloe."

Tenzin narrowed her eyes. "One of your children's mates is an Anker?"

Carwyn glared at Tenzin. "No, I said she has distant ties. Just like you used to have ties to some… less than upstanding vampires. We don't control who sires us." He turned back to Brigid. "She mentioned Paulson as a possible ally of the Dutch Anker clan, but only in passing. I would be surprised if Paulson would risk anything of his own for them."

"So maybe don't classify them as allies," Ben said. "They're more like stray dogs who frequent the same streets. They help each other if it works, but mostly they trade information. Feed from the same gutter."

Brigid cleared her throat. "Jaysus, thanks for that vivid mental picture, Ben."

He shrugged. "If the shoe fits."

Tenzin was staring at him. "I feel like you just insulted stray dogs."

Brigid jumped in. "Getting back to the briefin'."

His poor wife. Herding cats. It was absolutely herding cats to keep Ben and Tenzin on track.

"We know Paulson has been here for some time." Brigid flipped to another frame and another picture of Henri Paulson, this time a shadowy figure in the background of a picture that looked like it had been taken in the summer based on the lush flowers on the deck of the boat. "We know he has a connection to the Ankers."

"Maybe after the Ankers were defeated in Las Vegas," Tenzin said, "Paulson noticed that Zasha needed a new project."

"That's very possible." Brigid made another note on her tablet.

Last summer—Zasha and Ankers lose in Vegas

"Vegas was an expensive loss," Carwyn said. "And the Ankers will not hire Zasha for any new projects when the last two went south."

"So Zasha comes to Alaska to lie low after things got kyboshed in Las Vegas." She made another note and put it on the screen.

???—Zasha goes to Alaska

"They must have a house… somewhere," Brigid said. "A hideout. Probably away from both Oleg's and Katya's eyes."

"Wait." Buck raised a hand. "They rented that house around Sitka last summer, right? Did they do that and then go kidnap that kid in Vegas?"

Ben stood and walked to the screen, looking up. "They must have."

Carwyn frowned. "So if Paulson and Zasha started working together, it wasn't because Zasha was bored. Whatever happened must have started before Las Vegas. This was planned out well in advance."

Brigid added another note and amended the previous ones.

???—Zasha back to Alaska

"And sometime later in the fall," Carwyn said, "Henri Paulson and Zasha meet again."

Ben said, "That's when the crewman on the Pacific Lady said his girlfriend saw a very scary redheaded vampire who seemed to spook Paulson."

"Which probably means that Paulson is a victim in this," Jennie said. "Why would Paulson be spooked if Zasha and he were working together?"

Brigid remained silent, but she updated the timeline.

1990s—Paulson in Alaska

Last summer—Zasha rents house outside Sitka (meets with Paulson?)

Last summer—Zasha and Ankers lose in Vegas

???—Zasha back to Alaska

Last fall—Zasha and Paulson meet on the Dolphin

A few weeks later—The Dolphin goes missing along with the crew

Brigid looked around the room. "Zasha Sokholov is an opportunist. There's no way of tellin' if they approached Paulson or Paulson approached Zasha. But at some point last year, I think they decided they could benefit each other."

She used her stylus to bring up pictures of boats on the TV and looked at Carwyn.

"These are all vessels of various size and utility that Gavin Wallace sent to us last night," he said.

Brigid flicked through a dozen pictures, one after another. A barge. A fishing trawler. A yacht. Something that looked like a ferry. More barges.

Carwyn continued. "All these vessels were bought by anonymous buyers or shell companies inside of shell companies. And none of them are currently registered in any legal way."

Buck stared at the screen, shaking his head. "I don't recognize any of these ships."

Brigid leaned on the table. "They've all been tracked to the Pacific Northwest over the past twelve months, and then they disappeared."

Carwyn said, "And every single one belongs to Henri Paulson."

Dead silence filled the room.

Jennie narrowed her eyes. "How do you know?"

Ben raised a hand. "I actually know this part. Gavin is really pissed off, and he has a team of hackers. He followed the money. Paulson suddenly started shifting a lot of gold from known accounts in the Netherlands to vampire gold exchanges in Vancouver. Regular amounts sent monthly."

"To pay crew," Buck said. "I mean, you gotta have crew to run that kind of fleet, and you gotta pay 'em. And if it's off the books, they're gonna want cash."

"It may be a big ocean," Tenzin said, "but money is harder to hide."

Brigid continued, flipping the screen to more boats. "Paulson has mixed this growing shadow fleet with his legitimate fleet to expand his operations. These are not all in the Pacific Northwest—a good few of 'em are in Northern Europe." She looked at Jennie. "Have his tariffs for doing business in Katya's territory increased? Reportin' to human authorities is one thing, but he should have reported them to Katya."

Jennie glanced at Buck. "I don't deal with financial stuff. Not my area. Like I said, Paulson doesn't cause trouble."

Carwyn spoke quietly. "Are you sure about that? Why does he have all these ships? Why is he expanding so quickly?"

"He's a smuggler," Ben said. "That's obvious. And you know he's hiding vampires who want to disappear."

"That's not a crime in our world." Jennie leaned forward. "And Paulson's not the only one who's disappeared in the past, is he?"

Ben smirked. "I didn't disappear so I could avoid paying taxes or quietly foster a vampire regime change."

Tenzin opened her mouth, took a breath, then shut it, pursing her lips and letting out a soft "Hmmm."

Ben glanced at his mate. "I'm not answering for her."

Brigid raised her voice. "Smuggler or not—and all of us have known a few smugglers, hardly uncommon in our world."

Carwyn nearly laughed. Brigid would know. She'd worked for one.

"Paulson seems to be somethin' different," Brigid continued. "And thanks to Carwyn, we now know he's a conspiracy theorist who is attracting other immortals to his vision for a new world. A blue haven on the ocean so they don't have to be accountable to any vampire or human government."

Carwyn said, "Paulson has quietly amassed a shadow fleet of ships captained by humans and immortals who are only loyal to him, and he's hiding them along the Alaskan coast."

Jennie still wasn't convinced. "Katya's still in charge of this territory."

"But does Paulson recognize that?" Ben asked quietly. "You know where these facts are pointing." He looked at Jennie's husband. "Buck?"

Buck took a deep breath and watched his wife, but he kept his mouth shut.

Carwyn was watching Jennie herself. She was Katya's lieutenant. She was the one responsible for the vampires in this area.

And Paulson had floated under her radar.

"But it's not only the vampire boats." Carwyn kept his eyes steady on Katya's woman. "The Northwest Passage is no longer a rumor. It's going to be a reality in the next fifty years, and Paulson has money, power, and a fleet of ships in Katya's territory primed to take advantage of a new shipping lane."

"But he's a greedy fucker," Brigid said. "Oleg on one side of the Bering Strait, Katya on the other. He might not want to pay the tariffs they'd both charge to keep his fleet movin'."

Buck finally spoke. "Okay, so you're saying that Zasha is the one attacking these villages, but Paulson is the one pulling the strings?"

"It's exactly the kind of job Zasha would revel in. Maximum chaos. Very little risk for themself. Zasha doesn't want to be an emperor, but Paulson's been dreamin' about it for centuries I'd bet. I guarantee Paulson thinks he's too brilliant to answer to any authority other than himself."

"So Zasha is Paulson's attack dog." Tenzin's eyes lit. "He's trying to start a war between Katya and Oleg. Then, when they are weakened from fighting each other, Paulson will be well-positioned to make Alaska his vampire kingdom with all the rich vampires he has persuaded to join him."

Carwyn sighed. "Please don't sound impressed."

Ben put a hand on Tenzin's. "We are definitely not impressed, because Paulson's plan would be horrible and not desirable at all. But it would be clever."

"That's all I was saying," Tenzin muttered.

"It's also a real big stretch." Jennie leaned on the table. "Oleg is a Sokholov. If there's a vampire pulling Zasha's strings, doesn't it make more sense that it's someone from their own clan? I'm telling you, Oleg is behind these attacks, Katya's missing ships. All of it."

Brigid shook her head. "Oleg hasn't had anythin' to do with Zasha in years. And Tenzin and I saw the attacks in the north firsthand. Oleg's people didn't cause them. They think Katya is responsible."

Jennie rose to her feet and slammed a hand on the table so hard it cracked. "That's bullshit. Why would Katya attack her own people? Oleg may think he's got a foothold in Kenai, but those humans and vampires were under our aegis, not his! She would never attack humans or vampires she was responsible for."

"We agree," Carwyn said. "But the two of you have been blaming each other for months now, and Brigid and I needed both of you to hear each other before we could move forward and cooperate against a common enemy."

Jennie blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Carwyn looked at his wife, who nodded.

He flipped his tablet around to reveal Katya Grigorieva's face on the screen.

Then Brigid flipped her tablet around to reveal Oleg Sokolov's face on the other screen.

Jennie looked between the two vampire rulers. "Katya, give me the word. We have a perimeter."