Breathing hard, he lay on Daryl, her legs sliding across the bedspread to lie flat. Her tongue licked sweat from his neck even as her arms around his shoulders held him close to her. Reluctant to leave her embrace, he rolled off of her body. Languid and sleepy, Ronan pulled her to him, his arm around her belly, and went to sleep.
Leaving Daryl in the company of Emily, Jordan, Jude, Neil, Natalie, and Taylor, Ronan eyed them in their full Arab dress and pretended he didn’t know them. They sat together at a table, two sheiks and their women, enjoying a beverage while discussing business. Kane and Drake also sat at the table with him, also ignoring the others.
At the late hour, the lobby still had foreigners as well as locals entering and leaving, but not nearly the number as during the day. Kane watched him approach and stood up. He didn’t speak but simply turned to head for the main doors. Ronan and Drake followed, just three tourists heading for a night of clubbing.
Ignoring the limos and taxis lined up to take them wherever they wanted, Kane led the way down the block toward the now closed and darkened businesses. Most of the traffic on the boulevard was made up of Burj Khalifa shuttles, cabs, and limousines. Ronan glanced back, observing how well lit the front of the hotel was at this hour.
Maybe it’s that bright all night long.
“I scoped this place out earlier,” Kane said as they walked down a few blocks. “Enough room for all of us to shift and fly out without being noticed.”
He pointed to the top of a six-story parking structure. “At this time of night, I expect there won’t be many folks out and about. If there are, we simply wait until they’re gone.”
Kane showed them the stairwell that wasn’t very brightly lit. “I bet muggers frequent this place,” Drake muttered as they climbed upward.
“It’ll certainly help us having it dark,” Ronan commented. “I’m not gonna complain.”
At the top, Ronan gazed at the collection of expensive cars the top story contained. “Do these rich folks think no one will bump into their treasures up here?” Drake asked, pausing to look at the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, McLarens, and a number of others he couldn’t identify. “Dubai also has sand storms. One of those babies will strip these cars down to the steel.”
“I don’t see anyone,” Kane said, pointedly ignoring the talk of expensive cars. “Let’s fly.”
Instantly, he changed forms and launched himself skyward, Drake and Ronan following immediately after him. Ronan gazed around for any possible witnesses to three dragons taking flight from a parking structure, but Kane had planned well. The area was so dark, only his keen night vision picked out his companions.
And the higher we fly, the lesser the chances we’ll be seen at all.
Kane made straight for the spire of the Burj Khalifa, climbing higher and higher. At this altitude, Ronan felt wind buffet him, straight off the open desert. It was powerful enough, but it wasn’t so strong that he couldn’t handle it. Circling over the spire’s top, he gazed out and away from the city.
That’s the Arabian Sea. Tiny lights, the size of pinpricks, marked ships on the open water. Closer was a marina, brightly lit, and then the whole of Dubai spread out before him, glittering like jewels in a bed of black velvet. Cars traveled with their headlights cutting the darkness; a daisy chain of red lights glowed as vehicles headed out into the desert.
Returning his attention to the task at hand, he saw Kane clinging to the narrow spire that didn’t look as though it could hold his massive weight. His wings furled, his head on his long neck turned this way and that as he studied the topmost portion of the Burj Khalifa. The blinking red light to warn aircraft cast him in a crimson glow every time it flicked on.
Drake circled around him, gradually dropping lower and lower. Ronan, absently wondering what Kane was up to, decided to find the suites belonging to Snowman and Nasty. As he knew their room numbers, he counted down as he circled. He didn’t have to count very far, as the dictators were only a few stories down from the top of the habitable portion of the structure.
He banked past the huge window, gazing into the room for a brief moment. Lights were on and the drapes opened, thus he clearly saw a bodyguard, a gun in a shoulder holster, pouring himself a drink. Then he flashed past the window and sought Nasty’s room.
Drake joined him, and together they flew past almost the same scene—lights on, drapes opened, and two armed men on night duty. So, our friends are asleep, their bodyguards watching over them. Wanting a closer look, Ronan studied the building’s structure as he passed. There were lips outside each heavily glassed window that he might cling to with his front talons.
Yet Drake found crevices in the steel structure and climbed up the sheer wall of the upper tower like a huge winged spider. Kane joined him, and both of them climbed up the side, but following suit did not give them access to the windows that Ronan wanted to look into.
Grabbing a hold of the lip, he hung onto it, his wings spread for balance. At floor level, he saw clearly into the suite, and saw the Russian bodyguard pace around the carpeted front room. The guy paused to gaze out over the city, his drink in his hand. Whether Ronan’s eyes reflected back the light, or for some other reason, the guard lowered his eyes and saw him.
Ronan didn’t move. The bodyguard’s grip on his drink slackened and the glass fell to the floor. His face, now the color of raw putty, had grown an expression of horror. His eyes and mouth opened wide, and he backed away from the glass. Then he bolted from Ronan’s sight.
Ah, well. That was fun. Ronan released his grip on the edge of the structure and dropped into freefall. His wings caught the wind, and he soared around the tower’s spire, searching for his companions. Kane had also clung to the side to gaze into Nasty’s room, but whether he was seen or not, Ronan didn’t know.
Kane, followed by Drake, coasted down the tall structure in lazy circles, slowly dropping in altitude. Remembering his promise to watch the front doors, Ronan needed to find a tall place from which to watch. Waving to his companions, he folded his wings and dropped like a stone. Before striking a building, he snapped them out and banked low over the street.
Cars crawled sluggishly along them, lights cutting the darkness, as Ronan flashed past them in an eye’s blink. Soaring upward again, he banked a hard left, circled around the parking structure, and settled onto the roof of a lesser hotel across the street. Furling his wings, he sauntered to the edge and peered down.
Perfect. From there, he could see everyone who came and went from the hotel’s front lobby. Sitting on his haunches, curling his tail around his feet, Ronan settled in to watch until dawn.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jude
“What the hell has gotten into that guy?”
Sitting at the table with Neil and the women, garbed in their traditional Arab attire, Jude watched as an armed man pushed his way through the lobby. The gun was in its shoulder holster, yet its presence sent a wave of near panic through the employees and guests. Two uniformed security men intercepted him not far from their table.
At first, the man, his face pasty gray, babbled at them in Russian. In English, the security guys tried to calm him down. “What is the matter, sir?” one asked, his hand on his own weapon. “You must speak clearly.”
“It is against the house rules to have weapons inside the hotel, sir,” said the other.
“I am a bodyguard,” the man finally said in English. “I have the right to this weapon. You must listen to me. There is something out there. In the night. It had eyes that glowed.”
Neil snickered. “Uh, oh. Maybe one of our boys got caught peeking into windows.”
“Sir, how much have you been drinking?”
“That does not matter,” the Russian yelled. “I saw it. Out the window.”
“What room are you in, sir?”
Snowman’s bodyguard told them, and the security guys looked at one another. “Nothing is out there, sir,” one told him firmly. “You had too much to drink.”
“No, no, I tell you it is big, huge, with glowing eyes. It looked at me from the window.”
Jude laughed, trying to cover it with a cough. “Our eyes do tend to reflect light.”
A crowd of employees and guests had gathered around the Russian bodyguard and the security men, whispering as they listened to the wild tale. If they understood English, which Jude guessed most of them did, they now knew strange creatures haunted the tallest building in the world.
“This is too much,” he commented, stifling his laughter.
“No one will believe him,” Taylor said, her mouth hidden behind her veil. “But, you’re right, it is hilarious.”
Emily snorted her own giggles, trying to prevent it from showing. “That guy is something else. But those people, look at them. They’re believing every word.”
“Sir, I am telling you, there is nothing outside your window staring in at you.” The security guy was clearly losing patience. “Your room is half a mile up from the ground. Now you either return to your room, or we will place you, and your weapon, in custody.”
The Russian finally gazed around at the crowd staring in rapt fascination. The threat must have gotten through to him, for he pushed his way rudely through them toward the elevators. Jude lost sight of him as the press of people was too thick.
Even as the crowd finally dispersed, muttering in different languages, Jude caught sight of Kane and Drake walking into the lobby. “Okay, Daryl, you’re on your own. Will you be okay?”
“You know it,” she answered, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she no doubt grinned. “Get some sleep.”
Jude and Neil led their harem to the elevators, ignoring Kane and Drake, who ignored them back. As they were alone in the car that took them upward, Jude, Neil, Taylor, Jordan, Emily, and Natalie removed their Arab clothes and shoved them into their packs.
When the doors slid open, Kane and Drake waited for them. Then as a group, they headed down the hallway to Kane and Taylor’s suite. “What was that all about?” Kane asked, his voice low. “In the lobby.”
“Which one of you let Snowman’s bodyguard see you?” Jude asked in reply, grinning.
“Sheesh.” Kane rolled his eyes. “That had to be Ronan. I looked into Nasty’s window, but no one saw me.”
“It was funnier than hell,” Emily muttered, grinning. “The guy was yelling there was something out there, but obviously, what could anyone believe?”
Kane opened the door to his suite, glancing around for any watchers as everyone filed in. “I know,” he said, closing the door. “I myself expect the drapes to be closed, but who knew a Russian would stare right into Ronan’s eyes?”
Jude and Natalie shed their packs and sat on a sofa together as the others all found places to sit. “Did you learn anything?”
Kane shook his head, pouring wine into glasses for everyone. “Only that our friends are inside and apparently asleep.”
“And that they have night guards,” Drake added. “Nothing we couldn’t have guessed.”
“Even so,” Emily said, taking a glass of wine from Kane, “it was still helpful to fly up there and peek. You could have witnessed their meeting, and then they might have headed home come the morning.”
“That’s a valid point,” Taylor agreed. “Now we can expect the meeting to happen tomorrow. Or, rather later today.”
“And we know where they are,” Natalie commented. “I think it’s a good thing to know where they are at all times.”
“Dare we fly around up there during the day?” Neil asked. “It’s not like we can be seen from the ground.”
Kane shook his head. “There’s no way to get to the top spire except by flying up there. I looked. I saw no doors, no openings. We’d be seen as we flew from the ground.”
Natalie frowned as she gazed at Kane. “That makes no sense. They have to perform maintenance on it. There has to be a door from the inside.”
“Okay, so I missed it,” Kane said, finally sitting down. “What good will it do us? So, we creep out that way, we’ll be seen by our targets if not anyone else who happens to look out their window and see dragons flying around. The risk isn’t worth it.”
Neil stared hard at him. “I disagree, Kane. We may have a reason to use that door.”
“He’s right,” Drake added. “We are amateurs at this spy business. I’d feel better if we had a way to fly that didn’t start from the ground. Not when we’re talking about a life or death situation we never planned ahead for.”
“Okay.” Kane gazed at them with wry amusement. “You two have the rest of the night to find it.”
Drake looked at Neil. “Are you up for it?”
“Are you?” Neil retorted. “Let’s go, bonehead.”
Neil shot Jordan a grin and a wink. “Don’t wait up.”
“You either,” Drake said, kissing Emily. “I may be gone for a while.”
“Just be careful.” She gazed significantly at Neil. “More careful than he was.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “Good grief. Let’s go if we’re going.”
The two of them left the suite, leaving only Jude and Kane with Emily, Taylor, Jordan, and Natalie. Taylor touched her radio’s earpiece. “Daryl, you okay, girl?”
As Jude still had his radio earpiece in his ear, he clearly heard Daryl’s cheerful reply. “Yup. Entertaining myself with people watching.”
“Call if you need us, honey.”
“You got it.”
“Okay,” Kane said. “We know our boys are snoozing; we figure they will meet tomorrow. Where?”
“Neutral ground.” Emily gazed around, defiant. “Neither will want the other to have a psychological advantage by going into his room. So where would they go for privacy?”
“A third room, rented but unoccupied.” Taylor nodded half to herself. “They wouldn’t risk asking for a conference room, nor do they need something like that. It’s only the two of them plus their advisors.”
“So, how do we find the room?” Natalie asked. “Slip the desk clerk a couple thousand for the room number?”
Jude chuckled as everyone started to grin even as Natalie gazed back, confused. “Great idea, Nat.”
Kane reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. “Why not? Maybe they don’t make much and wouldn’t mind looking it up on their computer.”
“Just how many Russians and North Koreans might be staying here?” Jude asked, frowning. “That may not be so easy.”
“Very few North Koreans,” Taylor said. “They aren’t allowed out much. Lots of Russians, though. So how would the clerk know a room that’s been rented but is empty?”
“One of them has to have taken the key,” Jude replied, sitting back on the couch to sip his wine. “A room for themselves and their guards, another for the meeting. Who rented two suites?”
“I guess I’ll go ask.” Kane set his glass on the table and stood up. Leaving the room, he closed the door quietly behind him.
“I hope all these assumptions are correct,” Jude said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “We are the amateurs Drake called us.”
“But we have dragons on our side,” Natalie replied, cuddling against him, under his arm. “Maybe Ronan scared that bodyguard into deserting.”
Emily laughed. “I think that is too funny. I can picture Ronan staring through the window with his eyes glowing.”
“Obviously, he scared the bejesus out of the guy.” Taylor joined in Emily’s laughter.
“How did he hang there in space?” Jordan asked, then sipped her wine.
The radio crackled in Jude’s ear. “What’s Kane doing down here?” Daryl asked.
“Getting intel from the clerk, if he can,” Jude replied. “Regarding the meeting place.”
“Okay, it looks like he’s talking to a clerk now.”
“Cool. Let us know when he heads back.”
“Will do.”
Jude kissed Natalie’s cheek and drank his wine as Taylor and Jordan speculated on what Kan
e might find out, and Emily stared into space, evidently thinking. “What are we going to do with our added millions?” he asked, grinning.
“Invest it, silly dragon,” Natalie replied, then took a drink of her wine. “Just like Bart’s millions.”
“Kane is on his way back,” Daryl reported.
She fell silent for a couple of seconds, then her voice came back filled with anger and fear. “Some dude is behind him—holy shit, the guy busted him across the head.”
Jude bolted upright, and Taylor stared at him wildly. “We have to get down there.”
“What—” Natalie began, but Jude hauled her to her feet and ran for the door.
“Daryl,” he snapped into the radio as he bolted through the door and down the hallway, the women on his heels. “What’s happening? Talk to me, girl.”
Only silence met his demands.
“Daryl,” Taylor pleaded. “What’s happening, dammit.”
Hitting the elevator buttons, Jude reached for and pulled his gun from its holster. “Daryl?”
Still no answer came from below. “Kane, do you read me?”
Only static filled his earpiece. Cursing, Jude lunged into the elevator as Natalie, Emily, Taylor, and Jordan followed him. “Drake,” Jude snapped as the car slid downward, “do you read me? Neil? Are you there?”
“Neil didn’t take his radio,” Jordan said, her face tight, anxious.
“I don’t think Drake did, either,” Emily said. “Who expected anything to happen in the middle of the fucking night?”
Though the elevator cars traveled faster than most, it seemed an eternity had passed before they slid open on the ground floor. Once again, a crowd had gathered in the lobby. Cursing, Jude pushed his way through, the gun in his hand forcing guests and staff alike to make way for him. At last, he reached the inner circle and stood gaping.
Kane, blood running down the side of his head, stood on his feet as he talked with security personnel. Not far away, the body of a stranger lay on the expensive carpet, overseen by an ambulance crew. But by their lax behavior, it grew clear the man was dead.
Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset Page 72