Part Four

Christy opened her eyes and stared at the phone as if it was an alien creature. Two blinks later the fog cleared enough for her to realize that she was getting a 4:00 AM phone call. "Oh God!" She mumbled as she brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?!"

"Hey Dearie!"

Harrison braced herself. In the twenty-nine years she and Kim had been friends the only middle of the night phone calls had concerned death, childbirth, wrecked automobiles and one hell of a midnight madness sale down at Lazurus. "Kimmie? What's wrong? You said you were going to call.."

"Yeah I know, last night. But we got kinda delayed waiting on the cops to interview everybody."

"Cops? As in cops? What happ..." Christy flipped on the light.

"Well, it's not really important." Kim interrupted. "I just wanted to tell you that you don't need.."

"Back to the cops Darlin'!"

"Oh hell! Reader's Digest version, this redneck called me 'Rupert's bitch girlfriend' and Rupert broke said redneck's nose and." Kim giggled then busted out into a twenty-five year old Sweet tune. "And the man at the back said 'Everyone Attack' and it turned into a ballroom blitz! And the girl in the corner said boy, I wanna warn ya, it'll turn into a ballroom blitz..."

"KIMMIE!"

"Ballroom blitz, ballroom bli.. huh?"

"For God's sake don't sing!" Christy stood up and waved her hand as if Kim could see her over the phone. "Where are you? Are you drunk? What is going on?"

"You know what Dearie? You don't sound too professional at four in the morning."

"ANSWER ME!"

"Chiiiilllll Dearie! I'm in Daytona Beach at the payphone outside the motel office... slightly... and same old same old." Kimberly answered. "And I just called to tell you not to worry. Harvey, Laura and Michael teamed up with us so now we have some help watching our backs for vamps and to help us get the Slayer's Cross."

Christy decided to ignore the additional information and launch straight into Kim's badly needed therapy. "Darlin', I know this trip was a stressful decision... wait a minute. You are standing outside at a payphone at 4:00 AM? Do you have some kind of death wish?"

"You tell me, remember you're the shrink. Anyway, don't worry, I took Rupert's big stake out of his pants while he was asleep. And there's no sign of that 'yall-haul full of vamps." Kim snickered. "You know, this is kinda exciting! You should have seen the demon that was trying to carry Tam off! But I just couldn't sleep and I heard other teams leaving so..."

"Kimmie... are you just 'drunk'?"

"... I thought I'd better call you like I promised so you didn't worry. By the way, would you call Jim and tell him that I'm going to be...be... oh hell you think of something. I don't want to call home and slip up and let these things find out where I live, even though I bet the boys could have them screaming for mercy in ten seconds flat."

Dead silence came through the phone from Ohio.

"Dearie? You still there?"

Christy's voice was steady. "Kim... honey, I want you to give me the name of a pharmacy down there. I am going to call in a prescription for you. I want you to follow the label directions."

"Naaa, I don't need any drugs. I just need a piece of Jeff Gorden." Kim said quite mater of factly. "And on that note, I gotta go and get everybody up. Remember to call Jim and the kids for me, don't tell them about the vampires. Bye!"

"Bye." Harrison mumbled. She sat there staring at the phone for a long time before hanging up. She blinked a couple of times. "She took what out of his pants?"

"Have you lost your mind?" Rupert whispered as he met Kim at the door.

"I promised Christy I would call her back and I didn't want to wake you guys up." Kim said with a shrug, then pointing to the stake continued. "Nothing creepy crawly was out there but I liberated this just in case. Guess what? Christy wanted to call in some drugs for me."

"A splendid idea."

"Oh come on."

Rupert gritted his teeth. "This is not a game. You have no idea how dangerous a vampire can be and furthermore you have no idea how to defend yourself against one."

Kim tossed the stake in the air and caught it. "See? I'm a natural and to top it off I read Dracula and saw the movie."

"Well, offhand I would suggest that you make sure the pointed end of the stake is facing your attacker." Rupert reached over and repositioned the stake in Kim's hand.

Kim gave him a sour look. "Details."

Giles held his hands off to the side. "All right now, I am a vampire... try to stake me."

"Get real..." Kim said with a roll of her eyes then she lunged forward with the stake. "Gotcha! Tag your ummmff!"

"Shall we critique your 'style'?" Rupert said barely able to hide a smile as he let go of Kim and took a step back. "First aim for the heart not the liver. Secondly, a successful frontal assault takes years of training. You would do better to come in from an angle so you can better sidestep the return attack. Also, that would make the vampire have to go slightly off balance as he tried to grab you. You don't want to be running straight into his arms."

Kim rubbed her shoulder. "Got it."

"I hope so." Tamara muttered from the bed. "Did I miss reveille? Is it time for calisthenics already?"

"Hey! You're awake." Kim said as she flipped on the light.

"Like I had a choice!" Tamara grumbled glancing at her watch. "It's a quarter after four!"

"Yeah, and two teams have left already."

"What?" Both Rupert and Tamara said in unison.

"We need to get our coconspirators up and get over to the Speedway. Our rest time is long gone and I think something's going down."

******

"Closed!" Nigel beat his fist on the bookstore door. "It can't be closed!"

"Looks sodding closed to me." Philip muttered. "What's your thoughts Patrick?"

Patrick nodded. "I might be wrong, but I would say it's closed." He rubbed his face and sat down on the hood of the car beside Philip. "Let's see. It's three-forty in the morning. lights are off, door is locked and there's this big friendly red sign that says 'closed'. Yes, I think it's closed."

"I am going to kill both of you." Nigel growled as he paced back and forth. "Shut up and let me think."

"They look upset." Marvin chuckled from his seat in the U-Haul parked cross the street from "Book Ends". "I would venture to guess they want their directions."

"I just want heeerrrrr! You said I could have heeerrrrr!! But now she's gone!"

Marvin rolled his eyes and backhanded the lovesick demon draped over the steering wheel.

"OW!" Earl rubbed the side of his head and glared at his boss. "That wasn't nice."

"I'm a vampire remember? Nice is not in the program." Marvin held up two packets. "I wonder if they are team eleven?" He pursed his lips and rolled down the window. "Joey! Come here!"

Joey finished depositing the bookstore treasure hunt clerk into the dumpster and came over. "Yeah?"

"Do you recognize..." Marvin curled his nose and pointed to his own teeth. "You have something stuck between your fangs."

Joey reached up and started to pick.

"No. The other side." Marvin said. "Looks like a piece of lace collar." He nodded. "There.. you got it. You have to remember to check your fangs when you bite through lace. Now you were team nine, correct?"

"Ah... yeah, nine."

Marvin dropped the team nine packet to the floorboard. "All right, now do you recognize those three across the street? Are they part of the treasure hunt?"

"Yeah! they were right behind us in line." Joey grinned. "Can we put them in the dumpster too?"

"No. We can't take out too many at a time." Marvin said as he got out of the U-Haul. "Get back into the cargo box with the others and all of you stay out of sight."

Earl rolled down his window as Marvin passed. "Ask them if they'll give her a note for me!"

Marvin hissed at Earl and kept on walking.

"Heads up... someone's coming." Nigel whispered as he noticed Marvin approaching.

"Are you team eleven?" The vampire called out as he drew closer.

"Finally!" Patrick said, hopping down off the car hood. "We though we had run out of luck."

"We ran out of luck before we left Pennsylvania." Philip mumbled. "I still think we should cut out losses and..."

"Shut up." Nigel hissed to his fellow mercs as Marvin got within earshot.

"So are you team eleven?"

"Yes sir!" Nigel answered as brightly as possible. "We were delayed a tad by unforeseen circumstance, but..."

"Unforeseen?" Patrick mumbled leaning toward Philip. "Any one with eyes could see that clapped out car you leased was..."

Philip gave him a push back. "Your fat headed driving.."

"...but NOW WE ARE HERE!" Nigel yelled over the two.

"I take it the first part of your trip was not 'good'." Marvin observed with a smile as he handed Nigel their packet.

"Are we in last place?" Philip asked.

Marvin's smile spread across his face. "No. Team nine was delayed when they stopped for a bite."

Nigel dumped the contents of the packet out and held up the tickets. "Daytona International Speedway?" Then he read the clue outloud, twice. He exchanged a confused look with Patrick and Philip then turned back to Marvin. "What is that suppose to mean?"

Pointing to the main drag two blocks down Marvin filled them in. "See all that traffic? I would suggest you follow them to the racetrack. Have a good day." With that the vampire turned on his heel and went back to the U-Haul.

"Will they give her my note?" Earl asked as Marvin got back in the truck. "Look I wrote to tell her that I'm willing to hold off 'till she's conscious because I like it that way too."

"Save it..." Marvin muttered as he ripped open the direction packet and scanned for the next stop. "...because we are on our way to... humm... Memphis. Yes, the primate canyon exhibit at the Memphis Zoo. That's where the next contact will be."

"Memphis! I want to go to Graceland!" Earl said while adding a PS to his note. "I bet Chickie would love to see the Jungle Room."

Marvin pointed forward. "Drive!"

******

The six stood before the chained and padlocked maintenance gate. Laura nudged her brother and tossed her head toward Rupert. "Stone Cold T-shirt and dress pants. Cool!"

"Goes real nice with his tattoo." Michael snickered back. "At least Tam convinced him to leave the suitjacket in the van."

"Okay Ms. 'I have a plan', now what?" Tamara whispered loudly as Kim gave the chain a jerk.

"I can get us in." Rupert said with a sigh. "Even though I can not believe I'm doing this." He looked at the group. "Since I'm sure no one has a proper lockpick, does anybody have a piece of wire, or a hairpin?"

"This I gotta see." Tamara said pulling out the van keys.

Rupert shook his head. "No, a key will not work."

"I'm not giving you a key. Lookie I just ripped the Terry's service tag off, but the loop thing is still on here." She worked the wire free and handed it to him.

Harvey raised an eyebrow as Giles worked the lock. "Librarian huh? You must be really serious about getting those overdue books back."

"Let's call it misspent youth and leave it at that." Rupert dryly mumbled as the padlock fell open. He cracked the gate a few feet and motioned for them to squeeze through. "Hurry! Get in!"

One by one they entered the speedway grounds. Rupert pocketed the lock and muttered something under his breath about how all of them going to prison then slipped through himself.

"Oh shit! Someone's coming!" Tamara whispered. "Hide! Hide! Hide!"

In a scene reminiscent of some one dumping a pack of squirrels out of a sack, the group scattered. Tamara and Michael crawled under a semi trailer, Rupert and Laura hit the drainage ditch along side of the road, Harvey and Kim found themselves plastered up alongside of a beer trailer, each and every one holding their breath as the strangers drew near. Tamara half raised up and took in the scene. "Busted!"

"Who? What? Get down!" Michael whispered back, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her back flat onto the ground.

Tamara spit the sand out of her mouth and glared at Michael. "Watch it..." She hissed, the gave her head a toss. "Looks like another team got caught."

Mike peered out as a half a dozen security guards came by escorting three familiar looking souls. "Whoa! You're right, busted."

One of the security guards began to play his flashlight over and around the parked semi's, each sweep of the light coming dangerously closer to reveling Tamara and Michael. They hunkered down into the shadows as best they could waiting for their inevitable discovery. Michael whispered something and pulled Tam over on top of him locking her in an embrace and burying her face against his a second before the beam hit.

"Hey you two!" A guard yelled. "Zip it up and get out from under there!"

"Uuummphh?" Tamara answered through locked lips.

Two guards approached. "I said, get out from under there!"

Tamara looked down at Michael. "Nice timing, per usual."

"Better than yours."

"What do you mean by that?"

Before Michael could answer their company had arrived and was making it clear that they had two seconds to get out from under the truck and start talking.

"What do you two think you're..."

"That's what I want to know!" Harvey yelled. "I hired them to work the beer concession not to roll around in the sand!" He got within a few feet of Michael and grabbed him by the shirt collar. "Rent a room! On your own time!" Harvey gave Michael a push toward the beer trailer. "Get in there and do what I hired you to do!" Then he pointed at Tamara. "You too!"

"Sure.... boss." Tamara said with a blink as she took off in Michael's footsteps.

"You just can't get good help anymore." Harvey muttered loudly as he turned on his heel.

"Wanna beer? Breakfast of champions."

Michael and Tamara shook their heads at Kim who met them at the trailer door.

"You look like you could use one." Kim said with a grin as she smoothed her Budweiser shirt. "You know these fit nicer than the uniforms we have at work. Grab one, there's a whole rack of them."

"This thing was open?" Michael queried as Kim began to flip switches acting like she knew shit from shinola for the benefit of any guard who might be coming over with Harvey.

"Mostly." Kim said with a grin.

Tamara grabbed a Budweiser shirt off the rack and glared daggers at Michael boring a hole in the side of his head with her scowl.

"What now?" Michael sputtered as 'the look' began to drill into his skull.

"What did you mean by that crack?" Tamara snapped.

"Play nice." Kim piped in while going through drawers.

"So your pissed that I saved our asses?" Michael shot back. "Sorry about that, I'll know better the next time."

"Harvey saved our asses, YOU shoved my face in the dirt then..."

"Then I kissed you! What else would we have been doing under there? Playing Scrabble?"

Tamara pointed her finger at Michael. "You just don't get it, do you?"

Michael flung his hands into the air. "What's there to get?"

"Never mind!" Tamara barked. "Just forget it!"

The other three slipped into the trailer and stood for a second trying to get their bearings. Harvey stepped between Tam and Michael looking confused as Michael ripped a shirt off the rack mumbling. "Mars and Venus? Like hell! We ain't even from the same solar system."

"How did you get in here? Is there anything useful to be found?" Rupert asked trying to bring everyone back to the business at hand.

"No! There's nothing useful in here!" Tamara grumbled giving Michael one last shot.

"Oooo! Lookie." Kim tossed a small plastic box to Rupert. "Here 'ya go, bet you could use these."

Laura looked over as Rupert opened the box. "Neat! Little, itty-bitty screwdrivers and allen wrenches."

"How did you get in here?" Rupert asked again.

Harvey shrugged. "I don't know. I heard something snap and then she was going through the window."

Kim stuck her head into a cabinet and began to rummage around. "Aaah! No sweat! It was just like the time Christy and I went down to that Alice Cooper concert and we decided to go backstage and.... uh, never mind."

Tamara began to giggle snort despite herself. "Backstage Alice Cooper? You know, there is a side to you that just might be scary."

"I believe we should get out of here." Rupert said as he buttoned his Budweiser shirt.

"Here! You need uniform pants too." Tamara observed, going through the rack. "Here's your size."

"How do you know his pants size." Laura grinned.

"I-I-I told her." Rupert sputtered. "She bought me a pair of swimming trunks." His mouth twisted up a bit as he thought to himself. "Two sizes too small."

Attired as beer vendors the treasure hunters made their way to toward the grandstand. A 'fly by the seat of the pants' plan began to form; get close to the pits, blitz on over there, grab something of Gorden's; run like hell; meet back at the van.

It should work.

******

"It might work." Nigel muttered.

"Of course it will! All we have to do is find their van." Patrick said with a grin.

Philip shook his head and walked away.

"I suppose you don't like it?" Patrick snapped as he observed the motion. He muttered a couple of profanities and went after his departing comrade. "Get back here you bloody moron!"

"At this point in the game, I don't like anything that doesn't involve a shower, copious amounts of alcohol and my head on a pillow." Philip turned back around and stepped up into Patrick's face. Waving his arms around he began to shout. "This entire thing has been an exercise in Sod's Law and you think we have the first bloody chance in finding their van? Look at this crowd! The sun is barely up and we are surrounded by a million unwashed Yanks all well into their fifth pint.." Philip stopped as a hand curled tightly around his collar.

"What 'ya mean 'Yank'?" The mobile mountain wearing a 'Big Johnson' T-shirt growled as he pulled Philip back off balance.

"Unhand me! Yes, Yanks! From my perspective you are all Yanks." Philip sputtered.

As Philip went into a headlock, Joe yelled to his cousins. "Hey Billy Ray! Here's two more of them there funny talkin' fur-eners! And he just called us 'Yanks'!"

Nigel blinked and took a step back as a second man with a broken, bruised nose smashed a beer can between his palms and came over with three others in tow. He quickly calculated the odds. Philip was lodged face first into 'Mr. Rude T-shirt's' armpit; Patrick was making that odd 'erk' sound again; they were outnumbered five to three; could it get any worse?"

Billy Ray looked at Patrick. "Yall running with that other guy and his two uppity girlfriends?"

"Erk!"

"I asked you a question, boy."

Patrick nodded. "Ah... maybe. Tall man in a suit with one redhead and one brunette?"

"Yup... that's them." Billy Ray smiled as he said it.

"Yes! They are close friends of ours. Do you know where we can find them in this crowd? Have you seen them?" Patrick grinned for a split second before the punch landed between his eyes.

"You.. all... have fun... now you hear. Or something along those lines." Nigel mumbled as he slipped away.

******

Michael peered through the chain link fence. "There's the pit area, now what?"

"Maybe we should wait until they let everybody in." Tamara glanced at her watch. "It's only twenty 'till eight."

Rupert stared around the grandstand. "Tamara! What was that clue again?"

"Aahh, I don't have it with me. Why?"

"I'm just wondering if it's really Mr. Giovanni's intention that we break the law."

"What you gettin' at?" Kim asked. "I can hear those wheels turning."

Rupert pointed at a souvenir stand. "There... front and center, Jeff Gorden posters suitable for framing and hanging in a place of honor above one's mantle."

"That would be sarcasm?" Tamara piped in, then she stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Maybe. It would be like Uncle G. to set everybody up to do something stupid then sit back and say 'Of course I meant for you to purchase the item'."

"But mom! You said we could play in the pits!" Laura whined in her best eight year old voice. "Youuu prooomised!"

Tamara shot her a look. "Not until you clean your room!"

Harvey frowned as the logic began to sink in. "So you guys are saying we just buy a poster and hit the road?"

Kim shook her head and sighed. "Your call Tam. You know how he thinks."

"It's logical.." Rupert began.

"That's the problem.." Tamara sighed as she sat down on a ledge. "...Logical and Uncle G. are two words you don't hear in the same sentence. Oh hell if I know." Her voice faded out as she put her head into her hands.

Kim stretched and took a couple of steps toward the souvenir stand. "Well here's my two cents. "Buy the poster, scalp our tickets and head to Memphis. What do you guys think?"

"I say we go with the original plan." Michael countered. "We need a piece of him. That's what the clue said."

"Yeah right! Giovanni wants us to cut off his ear." Harvey snotted. "I say we buy and blow out of here."

Laura shook her head. "That's not what it means! It means we have to take something of his. Michael is right, we stick with plan 'A'!"

"Okay Rup, let's hear what you think." Kim said with a bow toward Giles.

"I will concede with Tamara's decision."

Tamara raised her head. "Thanks a lot!" She stood and glanced back and forth between the souvenir stand and the pits. "Okay, we buy and blow."

"Very good! Then maybe we can swing by that trailer and collect my suit pants?" Rupert added hopefully.

Kim busted out laughing. "Oh yeah! I'm sure the guy would understand that we just broke in to borrow these shirts." She slapped him on the back as she passed. "Anyway you look good in a uniform. Come on let's get the stuff and go."

"This is becoming an interesting trip." Rupert muttered under his breath as they made their way out into the parking lot.

"Sure is." Tamara agreed. "Come on man, relax. There's the van, we'll be on the road in ten minutes. Hey navigator! Where we goin'?"

"Ah.. 95 to 10 to 75 for starters, then it gets hinkey." Kim answered.

"I hope that means something to you." Rupert grumbled as Tamara unlocked the van.

"See you slowpokes at the Memphis Zoo!" Laura yelled from two rows over.

"We'll see about that!" Tamara yelled back as she hopped into the drivers seat. Rupert settled into the front passenger seat and fastened his seat belt.

"Tamara! Start your engine!" Kim said from the back seat.

"Damn it! That's them!" Nigel hissed as he caught sight of Tamara pulling out of the lot. "I should take a moment to thank the two of you for stopping to play with the natives." He turned his back on his two comrades, stepped out of the first aid tent and sarcastically waved 'bye-bye' toward the departing van.

Philip and Patrick stared at their leader for a moment then exchanged a glance. As one they stood, picked up a trash barrel and brought it down over Nigel's head.

******

Tamara pointed toward the back seat as Rupert lurched awake. "And she claims she doesn't snore."

"We should record it as evidence." Rupert rubbed his face and stared out the window. "Where are we? Are we still in Florida?"

"Yeah, but we're on I-75 now. Got about another ten, fifteen miles to Georgia."

Rupert shifted a bit in his seat. "Amazing, we have driven for three hours and are still in the same state." He paged through the directions for a moment. "Eight hundred and thirty miles, a sixteen hour drive just for one leg, I've never thought about how large this country is."

Tamara giggled. "Yeah, that's why we have a CD player in here. You want to pick something out." She reached over, turned on the radio and began to cycle up through the stations. "In the meantime let's see if the race has started."

"Yes Bob! There is something going on down in the pits! From out vantage point it looks like twenty to thirty people have jumped the fence and are attacking Jeff Gorden."

"Huh?" She turned up the radio a bit.

"I've never seen anything like it Jim! At least five women have pulled Gorden out of his car and seem to be cutting his pants off!"

Rupert leaned forward. "Oh my God!"

"Here comes track security! Look! Another group is removing the lug nuts!"

"Correct Jim! They have a wheel off and are throwing the lug nuts to each other."

"Gorden's pit crew has been overwhelmed! More security has arrived! We'll be back with more on these strange events here at Daytona International Speedway after these messages."

Tamara whistled and shook her head. "Sounds like we missed all the fun." She giggled nervously for a second then pointed at the CD case. "How about Concrete Blonde?"

"What?" Rupert said still transfixed by the events in Daytona.

"Concrete Blonde. Dig out the Concrete Blonde CD."

Rupert blinked and opened the CD case. "Who?"

"Yeah. 'Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man' my favorite. Wouldn't mind hearing it."

"What?" Rupert began to rummage through the CD's.

"Bet you're sorry you left your eight tracks at home." Tamara grinned.

Rupert opened the jewel case and held up the CD. For a few seconds he eyed it as if he expected it to morph into a hellmouthish creature before he relented, placed it into the unit and hit 'play'. "For your information, I have a CD player." He halfway huffed.

"No kidding? So you really are with it." Tam cracked as she cranked up the volume a bit.

Rupert raised an eyebrow at the sound. "Yes I am quite modern. The only difference being mine plays 'music'."