“But I feel only dragons can do what is needed,” Smithfield added. “Not even the best-trained SEAL team or Army Rangers can do what you boys can do. You can appear as human, then fly while breathing fire, and kill selectively.”
Kane cocked his head. “Kill selectively?”
Smithfield nodded; his eyes once more roaming across them all. “There are factions in both Russia and North Korea who do not want this war. If they can take control from the current dictators, the tensions will ease instantly. The threat of nuclear war ends.”
“You’re talking assassination,” Jude exclaimed. “You want us to kill the leaders who want this war.”
Matthias glanced at Smithfield. “I told you they were smart.”
“I never doubted it.” Smithfield smiled slightly. “That is why you were sent from the clan. To have you find a reason to want to fight for us.”
His eyes took in the ladies, one at a time. “Yes, I freely admit we used you. We wanted you to fall in love, to have something you were willing to fight for. Thus, you were sent south to discover that humans may be weak, but worth killing for. And you have.”
“It was never about your flying,” Stavros went on. “Your flying skills made you stand out to us, yes, as those will be needed in the days ahead. And you have all killed to protect your mates. Are you willing to kill to protect the world?”
“Gee,” Jude replied, his tone caustic, “let us think about that.”
“You certainly are asking a lot,” Drake grumbled. “Send us away without knowing your real reasons. You could have trusted us, you know.”
“Could we?” Matthias asked, leaning forward, his eyes intent. “What if you lads simply decided to forget the fate of the world and lounge on the beach until the world ended? Then we would have wasted a year and had been left with nothing.”
“If you couldn’t have trusted us,” Neil snapped, furious, “you would have sent someone else. We deserved the truth.”
“And this way,” Stavros said, “you displayed every bit of courage and protective instincts you possessed, and without our guidance. You showed us what you were born for, and had we told you ahead of time, you might not have. But you killed, and thus are blooded, and are now true warriors.”
“So, you come here to demand our mates assassinate for you?” Daryl snapped, furious. “You want them to risk their lives? Where does that leave us?”
“Oh, my dear.” Matthias smiled. “You will be going with them.”
That statement was like throwing a bomb on a bonfire. Inflamed talk and accusations flared around the table as dragons and their mates all spoke at once. Neil tried to inform Jordan that under no circumstances would she be going anywhere while she, telling him yes, she was, and made plans with Daryl on what to pack.
A sharp piercing whistle cut through the intense and inflamed babble. Silence fell as Smithfield lowered his fingers from his lips. “The women must go, boys,” he said quietly. “They are not just your cover, but from what I have seen of them, they are as resourceful as you.”
“I refuse to put Daryl in danger,” Ronan growled, glowering at a defiant Daryl. “She goes home.”
“Jordan is going home, too,” Neil stated flatly. “Caitlyn needs her.”
“There is something we also observed in the women you have chosen for your mates,” Matthias went on, raising his voice to be heard over the protests and denials that ensued. “These ladies displayed as much courage and skills as you lads. Not only are they essential to your cover, but should you get into trouble, I am expecting them to bail you out.”
His sally into humor fell flat as Neil, Jude, Kane, Drake, and Ronan scowled darkly, yet only Taylor spoke up. “Sure, we will do anything for them. Yet, none of us, not even the dragons, have military experience. I can fire a gun, yes, but I haven’t the faintest idea how to infiltrate a military installation. Or the Kremlin.”
General Smithfield smiled. “But that’s just it. You don’t need to infiltrate the Kremlin or bomb a base. Your cover will be five couples on vacation in Dubai.”
Neil stared hard at the general. “Dubai? Why there?”
“Because the Russian Prime Minister and the North Korean President will be meeting at the Burj Khalifa,” Smithfield replied. “Our intel has them meeting in two weeks' time.”
Emily glanced around in confusion. “Isn’t that the world’s tallest building?”
“Indeed, yes,” Smithfield answered with a nod. “You will also be staying there, courtesy of the American government.”
“So, what,” Drake asked, his scowl not fading in the least, “we stay there, pretend to be on vacation, then fly to the top of that place and pluck these guys from their rooms?”
Smithfield’s smile widened into a grin. “Something like that.”
“This must not appear to be an assassination,” Matthias added. “It can’t be a military operation, nor can it be burning the hotel to the ground with these men in it. You must make it look like an accident, or—”
“Burn them until nothing is left.” Kane put his face in his hands.
“In that fashion,” Smithfield said, glancing around, “no blame can be spread to us or the heads of state in Europe. Their respective countries will make excuses as to their disappearance, or explain their leaders died of an illness, and bury empty caskets. But their deaths will open the way for others to step in, leaders who are less prone to triggering a nuclear war.”
“How can you be certain their successors won’t say, ‘thanks,’ and blow the world up anyway?” Drake demanded. “All those guys are loco.”
“The successor to the Russian Prime Minister is Vladimir Sokolov,” Smithfield replied. “He was educated at Harvard University, opposes war, and is pro American. Once the North Korean dictator, Moon Kim Yung, is killed, his nephew, Moon Kim Jong, will step up. He has been in secret negotiations with both our government and that of the United Kingdom. We place him in power, and he promises to eliminate all nuclear weapons in his country.”
“All good reasons,” Ronan commented, rubbing his forehead as though he had a headache. “But why don’t you send in your own guys? Why us? You can make them disappear.”
Smithfield shook his head. “Our guys can’t fly to the top of the Burj Khalifa without being seen and heard. You have natural night vision, and you will be next to invisible up there. You can locate them, take out their bodyguards, then kill them.”
Neil shook his head with a sigh. “You’re asking for us to murder in cold blood.”
“I’m asking you to save the lives of hundreds of millions of people.” Smithfield met his gaze steadily. “A handful of murdering bastards against the lives of millions of folks going about their everyday existence? How does that weigh in your conscience?”
“Hey, you’re the boss of soldiers, the CIA, and NSA for all we know,” Kane growled. “You have people trained for this shit. Yet, you come to us because we killed to defend our mates. Don’t talk to us about our consciences.”
“Our people cannot do what you do,” Smithfield said quietly. “They will fail because the Russian and North Korean leaders are expecting us to assassinate them. They make preparations against human assassins but are not defended against fire breathing dragons.”
Neil glanced around the table. “Might we discuss this amongst ourselves? In private?”
Smithfield stood up. “Of course.”
Without speaking, Elders Matthias and Stavros followed him out the doors and shut them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kane
For long moments, no one spoke. Kane stared at the chip crumbs and drops of salsa on the table in front of him, his thoughts on Taylor’s twin girls. They were three years old now, happy to call him “Daddy,” and Kane adored them as much as he might his own offspring. What will happen to them if we get killed in this fiasco?
Taylor’s mother, Jackie, would no doubt take them in and raise them. Still, they needed their mother. He knew these dictators would br
ing with them armed guards and plans in place to protect them from any possible attack. Taylor could easily be killed.
“Anyone else having trouble with this dilemma of cold assassination?” Jude asked. “Or am I the only one?”
“You’re not,” Neil replied, his voice low. “Knox was coming after Jordan with a rifle when I chased him away and burned him out of existence. We’re supposed to do that to men who have not directly harmed us or those we love?”
“Assassination has been a tool in the hands of both the good as well as the evil,” Emily said slowly. “I’m not condoning it, nor am I fully opposed to it.”
“We aren’t soldiers,” Drake protested. “The general’s people can do this, not us.”
“I think I am agreeing with him that they can’t,” Ronan admitted, looking around. “We dragons aren’t supposed to exist, so their guys won’t be expecting us. I’ll guess that we also don’t look like military assassins, either. We can get close enough to kill them.”
“Their bodyguards are trained to kill,” Drake snapped. “We aren’t bulletproof. And has anyone considered the idea that we may get caught trying to murder men in a hotel? I imagine the government isn’t too partial to attempted murder, or murder, on their turf.”
“What jail can hold us?” Kane asked quietly.
Drake stabbed his finger at Emily. “She can be jailed. Or any one of our mates. Sure, we can try to break them out and get killed trying. If we are killed, they’re stuck in a desert prison run by who knows what.”
“I’m willing to risk it,” Emily announced, meeting Drake’s hot stare. “Risk even getting killed. The American government didn’t spend all this past year exiling you without good reason. You are tough; you are predators. Now, why don’t we put your skills to a worthy cause?”
“I’m with Emily,” Daryl stated firmly. “We have to stop these yoyos from throwing nuclear bombs at us.”
“The general is right to ask us to weigh a small number of lives against millions,” Taylor added softly. “The needs of the many and all that rot.”
“But when your life is put on the line,” Kane rumbled, “then I have a problem.”
“My life is already on the line,” she answered. “It’s the same for everyone here. If I get killed averting nuclear war, then I count it a good death.”
“You’ve been watching too many fucking movies,” Kane said, scowling. “This isn’t a movie. What about the girls? Don’t you think of them?”
“I’m thinking of them, dammit,” she snapped, her dark eyes flashing. “They’d never survive a nuclear war, Kane, and you know it. This is our chance to give them a future.”
“She’s right,” Jordan added. “My Caitlyn will grow up, even if I’m not there to see her do it.”
“Smithfield should have left us dragons out of it and asked our mates to kill these guys,” Ronan complained. “They have the most enthusiasm.”
“I think they have hero complexes,” Neil muttered.
“Except that they’re right.”
Kane felt the weight of every eye in the room and met them without flinching. “The needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few, and those few include us. Guys, we do have the skills to accomplish this. The bad guys aren’t expecting dragons and will shit their pants like any other human if they see us as dragons. We have a terrific advantage here, more than the military.”
“Murder is a human thing,” Ronan pointed out. “Dragons don’t assassinate, and we don’t murder. Let the human military handle this.”
“I’m human, too,” Daryl said quickly. “I want to protect my people, even if you don’t. I’m going.”
Ronan gaped at her. “You know that if you get killed, then you sentence me to death, too. I can’t live without you.”
“Neither of us will get killed.” Daryl leaned over and kissed him. “You’re too smart and too tough, and you’ll protect me.”
Kane laughed. “She’s got you there, brother.”
Muttering something unintelligible under his breath, Ronan glowered but said nothing else. Kane glanced around at their faces, observing the indecision on Neil and Drake, then lingered on Jude’s half-smile.
“I’m guessing you’re willing?” Kane asked, catching his gaze.
“Yeah, I am,” Jude replied, then looked at Natalie. “These dictators remind me of Peterson, the guy who thought he could bully her into giving up her lodge. Then when that didn’t work, he tried to kill her. Men like that should be stopped before they can do more harm to innocent folks.”
He glanced back at Kane. “I’m in.”
Natalie took his hand. “So am I. Where you go, I’m right beside you.”
Ronan drew a deep breath. “Since Daryl has delusions of grandeur, I reckon I’m in, too. She’s not going without me.”
“I knew you would.” Daryl tossed her arms around his neck and kissed him. “We’re doing the right thing.”
“I doubt that.”
Kane spent a long moment just looking at Taylor. Such was their love and their closeness; he had no need to speak. They understood one another perfectly. “I’m going,” he said softly, not shifting his gaze from hers. “For the girls’ sake.”
“I suppose Matthias was right,” Neil commented. “By sending us down here, we created bonds we can’t break, not without killing us. I’m in if Jordan is.”
“You know I am.”
Drake swore bitterly. “I’m not letting you lizards fly into trouble without me. Emily?”
“I believe in this, Drake,” she told him. “Your people, my people, all will suffer if those idiots aren’t stopped.”
“I know. I don’t have to like it, do I?”
“I’m glad you don’t,” Emily said, smiling. “You aren’t supposed to because you’re the best there is.”
A sly smile stole over his lips. “Flattery will get you laid.”
Emily blushed a bright pink as chuckles and grins abounded around the table. Covering her embarrassment, she wiped her face with both hands, sniffed, then glowered. “Yeah, yeah.”
“So, we’re an agreement?” Kane asked. “We’re doing this?”
“It looks like it,” Drake replied gloomily. “But as we’re doing this as a team, then a team needs a captain.” He gazed at Kane. “I nominate you, old buddy, old pal.”
“Whoa, me?” Kane stared in surprise, the refusal already forming in his head.
“I agree,” Neil added. “You’re the most logical, and I know we tended to follow you when we were youngsters. Without a selected leader, we’ll just fall to sitting around a table discussing it for hours on end.”
“There may not be time for that in a crisis,” Ronan went on with a smile. “You have the best head among us, Kane.”
“I don’t know about that,” Kane replied. “Jude isn’t one to fall apart under pressure, either.”
“None of us are,” Jude said. “I’m in agreement, though: you’re the boss until this is over.”
Kane glanced around at the women. “And you all agree as well? This has to be unanimous.”
“I have no problem with you as our leader,” Jordan told him, smiling. “I just met you, and I can feel your charisma.”
“He just oozes with it.” Daryl grinned impudently.
Kane rolled his eyes. “Whatever. If you insist, I’ll be the boss. I reckon we should tell the elders then.”
Standing, he stood up and went to the double doors. Swinging them open, Kane eyed Matthias, Stavros, and Smithfield as they stood in a cluster, talking. All three glanced up. “We’ll do it.”
“Thank you,” Smithfield said simply.
“You’re doing the right thing,” Stavros added quietly while Matthias merely nodded.
The three followed Kane back into the room and sat down in the chairs they had taken before. As Kane took his own next to Taylor, he said, gesturing around at the assembly, “As a group, they voted me the captain of this adventure. Do you have a problem with that?”
&n
bsp; Smithfield grinned. “Not at all. I had planned to suggest that very thing.”
“So, what’s next?” Neil asked.
“Tomorrow morning, you will board a military plane to an air force base in Texas,” Smithfield replied, his hands folded on the table. “There, you will learn all you need to know about your targets as well as Dubai and the Burj Khalifa. You will study their faces, their histories, as well as those who will doubtless accompany them. We will also supply you with small arms training and the arms themselves.”
“How will we get to Dubai?” Jude asked. “We can’t board a commercial aircraft with guns.”
“That’s why you’ll meet one of our people in Dubai and receive your equipment there.” Smithfield gazed around at them all. “You’ll fly commercial just like any other tourist. Once established in the hotel, two of you will meet our contact and collect the weapons and radios. Then you wait for your targets to arrive. We plan to have you there, waiting, four days before the leaders come for their meeting.”
“What if they change the location of this meeting at the last minute?” Kane asked. “And they don’t come to the Burj Khalifa at all.”
“That is a risk we have to take,” Smithfield answered. “Our intel has them arriving by private jets, not military, and using names not their own. They are counting on absolute secrecy for this and will be watching you as you are clearly American or European. Your acting skills will be counted on, ladies and gentlemen, for eyes will be on all of you.”
“That’s why it’s essential your mates come along,” Matthias added. “Your love for one another will be clear to anyone who sees you. Our targets and their people won’t be expecting lovers to be killers.”
“We can but hope for that,” Kane said dryly. “Or we’re all dead before we get started.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Drake
“Boys and girls, these fine fellows are your targets.”
Sitting beside Emily in a large classroom, Drake gazed at the pictures on the wide screen in front of them. The photo on the right showed a human male with thinning gray hair, piercing blue eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips. He shouldn’t be too hard to identify, not with those eyes and a sunken chin.
Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset Page 66