Page 87 of Hunted

“Without Rossi noticing and blowing up the building,” Fallon added dryly.

Because this day just kept getting better and better.

I sighed. “August, you’re an engineer. If they blow the control building, what are the chances the dam will hold? I mean, someone must have thought of worst-case scenarios when they were building it.”

“Yeah, so… the Tom Miller dam was constructed in the 1940’s at the same site where two previous dams failed during catastrophic floods just like this one. Dozens of people downriver in Austin died during those dam failures. To answer your question, I’m not sure the engineering team a century ago was actively anticipating an attack by a psychic madman using vampire drones and pipe bombs to gain control of a werewolf pack. Although after tonight, I’m pretty sure civil engineering classes will update their curriculum to account for this scenario.”

“Downtown Austin is far more populated today than it was eighty years ago. If the dam fails, we could see hundreds of casualties. Maybe more. We can’t let that happen.” I turned to my brother. “Brody, get on the horn with local law enforcement. They need to start evacuating everyone downriver from here right away.”

“I’m on hold with emergency operations right now.” London pulled her phone away from her ear. “They’re scrambling to shut down the highways over the river, but it’s rush hour and they’re understaffed. There was a huge SWAT call a few hours ago that diverted police units to the north part of town.”

“Tell them to do whatever it takes to get low-lying areas clear. We’re not screwing around here. Get everyone off those bridges. They also need to clear areas of downtown that are in the flood zone and make sure the unhoused population knows to move to higher ground.”

“That’s going to take time,” Brody said. “Austin has a population of over a million people.”

“Most of those people aren’t in the path of the river.”

“No. But downtown is densely populated and the river runs straight through the middle of it. We could be looking at hundreds, maybe thousands of casualties if the dam fails, especially if they can’t get the bridges shut down in time.”

“What about a trade?” Cris leaned against my SUV. Rowan and Vlad stood together a short distance away, watching him warily. “We have Lorenzo Rossi in custody.”

“He’ll never go for it.” I shook my head. “Matteo Rossi is a narcissistic psychopath. I guarantee you, he’d shoot his own brother in the head and throw his body over the side of the dam before backing down. I have to go. He said ten minutes. Ellie could be bleeding out as we speak.” I dipped a finger beneath the collar of my shirt, gently tracing the bite mark she’d left on my bicep. I felt the fluttering echo of Ellie’s heartbeat synching with mine, faint but alive. I’m coming for you, baby. Hang on.

My mother and Cal were at the back of the SUV with London, checking their tactical gear. “London and Brody will be ready to move into sniper range as soon as you signal the go ahead,” my mother said. “Vlad, Cris and Rowan will be monitoring the live feed from the dam with August in real time. If anyone goes into the water, they’ll go after them.”

“Can vampires dematerialize underwater? Do they even train for that?”

She shot me a look. “Rowan didn’t seem worried. I suspect their training is just as good as ours. Trust your team to handle themselves.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

“Cal and I will take care of the snipers and then disarm the bombs.”

“If you get too close, Rossi will know you’re there. He’ll blow the dam and dematerialize away with the vampire he has guarding Ellie and Hayden.”

“Cal and I know what to do.” My mother nodded. “But you’ll have to hold him off for a few minutes on your own.”

“Understood.”

Brody came over, holding out a cell phone. “It’s muted, but I’ve got Guillermo on the line. Says he wants to talk to you and it’s urgent.”

“Not now.”

My mother raised an eyebrow. “We may need your uncle before this is over.”

I turned to the two Tracers Fallon had brought with her, both of them loyal to Alek’s faction. “You are hereby authorized to use everything short of lethal force to prevent Guillermo Montemayor from approaching the dam. Is that understood?”

The one on the left swallowed. The other one looked like he wanted to piss himself. Understandable, since we all knew damn well there was little that could stop my uncle short of a freight train. The only person I was sure could control him would be occupied trying to prevent the dam from being blown up.

“Yes, sir.”

Brody swore. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Riv. There’s… no going back from this.”

“I know. Tell him—”

“I know what to say. I’ll buy you a few minutes if I can.”

“Thanks.”