Read The Relict (Book 1): Drawing Blood for Free Online Page B

he had taken no time to think about it.
    “You just donated two pints of blood, perhaps that could have impaired your memory?”
    “Sorry. Not ringing a bell.”
    Despite his answer, she kept walking with him. After several seconds of silence, her persistence eventually triggered another response from him.
    “I was drinking a lot while working for FSF. That could have something to do with it.”
    “Those of us who worked in the State Department used to say that the letters FSF stood for ‘Fuck you, Stop looking at me, we don’t Fucking work for the military’.”
    “I guess the State Department doesn't make it a priority to brief their employees on the use of acronyms...”
    “Perhaps you’re right. But they do allow us to attend parties put on by private security firms like FSF. That’s how I wound up meeting you in the basement of the McAlister hotel.”
    Matt stopped walking and looked at her.
    “We were doing vodka shots…?”
    “That’s right…” Tyra tried to smile, but she was sure her effort was similar to what she looked like as a teenager when her parents tried to take a picture of her.
    “So it’s all coming back to you?”
    This time he looked like he was making a real effort to recall more details.
    “Nope. Drawing a blank after the vodka shots. What did I do; skip out on the bill?”
    “There was no bill. It was a party.”
    He thought some more, but eventually just shook his head.
    “Around midnight you got this call from your mobile phone. After you hung up you took one more shot, then said something about ‘your package’ being on the move and… you needed to leave.”
    She revealed her words gradually, like she was providing clues to someone suffering from amnesia and that any clue might trigger total recall of the event.
    “Yeah, right… I needed to leave,” he said. “Now I remember: the ‘package’ was the Vice President of the United States. The phone call came from the point man on the security detail with a change of plans. The VP needed to fly back to the States that instant because…” It was there his memory came to an abrupt halt. Matt wasn’t surprised. He never gave a shit about such details.
    He started walking again. “Look, whatever reason the client had to leave, it meant I had to leave. It was my job.”
    “Just so you know, while you were jetting around on Air Force Two with the Vice President, I stayed behind in the Green Zone. That was my home for the next three years, dodging mortar attacks and insurgent bombs.”
    “Sounds horrific. Thank god you received the appreciation from a grateful nation,” said Matt.
    “Yeah, it was a real victory parade. For weeks I was removing confetti that had lodged underneath my nails.”
    He stopped walking. The last thing he wanted after being sucked dry by three vampires was some government employee yammering on about how bad things had gotten in Iraq.
    Like he hadn’t been there.
    Like he hadn’t experienced some of his men getting killed there.
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name…?”
    “Tyra.”
    “Tyra, in case you didn’t notice, it’s the end of the world. Why don’t we pick up this conversation the next time we’re both standing in the basement of the McAlister hotel?”
    “That would be great. Except that the hotel is gone. Along with everything else in the Green Zone.”
    He looked away. Took a deep breath, then turned back to her.
    “Why don’t you spill whatever you’ve got to say about what I’ve done.”
    “You took my last pack of smokes.”
    He looked around the compound as if their whole discussion was being shot by hidden cameras. “Is this like some vampire reality show and I'm being jerked for more than just my blood?”
    She was not deterred by his reaction.
    “When you fled the party at the McAlister hotel, you asked for a cigarette, and you ended up taking the entire pack. Taking someone's last pack of cigarettes in the middle of a war zone is a fucked-up thing to