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I parked several houses down from the suspect’s, then climbed out and walked back The curtains were all drawn in the front of the house, and even the glass near the front door was covered Which was no surprise, given the oas a vah the carport and headed for the front steps From inside the house ca our vanized the ad I pressed the doorbell and resisted the urge to peer through the s via the gap in the curtains When there was no i on it a little longer this ti footsteps, but my skin craith awareness, and several seconds later, a wary voice said, "Yes?"

"Mr Surrey?"

"Who wants to know?"

Was it ination, or had a whole heap of tension just crept into that quiet, wary voice?

"Riley Jenson, from the Director - "

I didn’t even finishfor the backyard I leapt the picket fence dividing the two yards one-handed and ran around the back of the house, looking for the rear door I’m not entirely sure why he’d run this way, because if he was a va out in this sunshine anytie

The back door was locked I swore again and thrust a shoulder against it, s a hole in the wall, I ran through the laundry, following the thick scent of vampire

It led ain then knelt down beside it, peering cautiously into the hole It was a tunnel, and little h for a ht feet down through the concrete and into the earth, widening out just enough to turn, then it disappeared sideways into the earth The hole barely looked big enough to crawl through

It could be a trap I could drop down into that hole and find myself staked or shot But the sour s, and really, anyone who’d bolted at the first mention of the Directorate didn’t really seem the type who’d stand by ready to kill

I took a deep breath, then gripped the ried out of the darkness The vaet rid of unwanted visitors

With the scent of rich earth thick in my nostrils, I squatted down and had a look at the side tunnel It appeared even sle than it had from up above, and I really didn’t think h it all that well Which meant that either he was smaller than I was, or he also had an alternate shape

Like a rat, I thought This certainly seemed the sort of standby escape a rat-shifter would have

I shifted shape, then in wolf for the scent of vae, and little rivulets of earth cascaded down every ti I foundwhen he’d dug this bolt hole, because right now, it felt like the whole thing was going to collapse on top of me

Of course, it would have been better if I’d chosenju back The seagull was useless for that sort of stuff

The tunnel stretched on My pawsseemed to echo loudly I had no real sense of direction, since the darkness and the heavy feel of the earth seee in the flow of air It was sharper, cooler, s less of earth and more of oil and car exhaust And those s up

The bastard had not only an escape tunnel but an escape vehicle

Which didn’t uilty of the crime I’d come here to question him about, because lots of vampires had either safe rooms or escape hatches built into their homes But the fact that he’d used his certainly wasn’t pleading his innocence

The wolf couldn’tthe tunnel collapse around ull forray wings Only to findvan

It was a white Ford transit - one of those big square vehicles with no side or rear s, and tinted front s The perfect vehicle for vampires, in other words

Surrey drove at breakneck pace onto the Nepean and headed back toward Frankston, weaving through the traffic like a hts He slowed down as he neared central Frankston,off the Nepean and onto a series of side streets, until he reached an industrial area Finally the van slowed as it approached a line of basic, gray-painted warehouses The heavy steel door of the warehouse in the an to roll up, and the van pulled inside I swooped in after hi on one of the rafters as the van came to a halt and Surrey climbed out

He looked like a man in a panic Sweat beaded his face, and the scent of fear was so intense I are of it even in seagull for his hands through his thin hair and generally looking like ahis phone out of his pocket

"Co with anxiety

Whoever he was calling didn’t answer "Fuck," he said, then spun, throwing the phone at the wall It hit with force, s into a hundred different plastic and metal bits before it even hit the floor

I wondered if Cole and his team would be able to pull information out of them It probably depended on whether the ain and stalked toward a small office tucked into the far corner I leapt offshape as I neared the ground, landing lightly and silently at the rear of the vehicle

Surrey reht have been a vampire, but he obviously was in such a state of panic that he hadn’t yet registered h the driver’sThere were guns on the front seat, which meant Surrey himself was more than likely armed

I wasn’t All ers under the door handle and flicked it upward as carefully as I could The resulting click was soft, but it still seeunshot

"Who’s there?" Surrey deuns, then said, "Riley Jenson from the Directorate, Mr Surrey Put down any weapons you’re holding and come out of the office with your hands up"

He didn’t reply, but the tension and fear riding the air seelanced down to check whether the gun was loaded, then flicked off the safety and wrapped a finger around the trigger

I didn’t want to shoot him, but I didn’t want to take any chances, either