Page 101 of Whispers at Dusk
But Della felt good. So good. They had taken down the king of the vampires, and she could pray the young women taken in Louisiana might survive as well.
She and Mason walked slowly as they all started back to the water and the boats. They were in silent agreement, she knew.
They had to thank Gideon.
And they did. Crawling through the overgrowth, they had their chance. Gideon had stayed right with them.
“Thank you. Thank you again, my amazing friend,” Mason told him.
“I think you might have managed without me. You have amazing aim, Mason. You could have hit and killed Dante before he knew what was happening.”
“It would have been taking a chance. He might have managed to pull the trigger on the Glock.”
“And I’d be dead,” Della said.
Gideon shrugged, but he was smiling. “This is a hell of a team,” he told him. “You have a Frenchman on it and an Englishman and... I don’t know Bisset, or the people at your headquarters, but I have seldom been so impressed. In so many years!” he added.
Della and Mason smiled at one another and then at Gideon.
“The fact remains. You, Gideon, were an outstanding member of this team.”
“Then I am grateful. And I am equally ready to be of service at any time. This has all made sense of my life, and my death. For now... I have some friends I must brag to! I will, of course, see you again.”
He started to leave them but then stopped himself, grinning. “The best thing about being the dead member of the team is I don’t have to do any of the paperwork.” He frowned. “There is one thing.”
“The killings in England,” Della said quietly. “I just wish I could have gotten him to tell the truth, to give us a name.”
“Well, we do know he was the active killer in Paris,” Gideon said.
“I know. But Edmund Taylor is, of course, worried there might be morevampirebodies in London. Though nothing has been reported since Dante moved on to Norway.”
“Still, if someone has gotten away with such a thing...” Gideon murmured.
“He will show himself in time, or...” Mason paused and shrugged. “Angela can pull records out of thin air. We will discover this man somehow. Forensic teams here and in Europe are still working on any minuscule item they might find.”
Gideon nodded.
He lifted a hand to them.“Au revoir, à tout à l’heure!”
He disappeared into the brush. Mason looked at Della and smiled and took her hand.
“I’m still shaking, I think.”
“Thank you, too.”
He grinned. “For saving your ass?”
“For having the faith in me to do what we needed to do to bring him down.”
He nodded. “It’s not easy. But... Well, I am a professional. Oh, yeah. So are you!”
She grinned.
They cleared the heavy brush. The others were waiting, but she didn’t care. Hand in hand, they ran the last few yards to the waiting boat. Even as they boarded, they saw the EMTS heading out with Dante’s last victims.
Later, they’d be able to contact the hospital and hope that the news they received regarding Dante’s last victims would be good news.
But for now...
