Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  “Well… We also need for you, Kaitlyn, Judy and most of your buddies to have an alibi while these six buy the farm. There’s no way to make that kind of thing really seem like an accident. No one will buy it. Your best bet is actually just to wire the office there, and taking it out… I suppose that killing innocent office workers won’t fly very well?”

  Avery had to play mental catch-up, but had to agree with that idea, when she got it.

  “That should be avoided, unless they’re in on the bad things? Then it won’t matter as much. I… Really, I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will. They tried to have one of my people murdered. That isn’t going to be allowed to stand.” She sounded soft and a little weak to her own ears.

  A large vulpine grin crossed Ambassador Sin’s face then.

  “In that case, you just need to take out an office building. I have the address for you. It’s in New Zealand, which makes sense from the rest of the data. That’s as close to a homeland as the Alede have. The space they use is well away from a node, which they assume will keep them safe from the Line Walker… Even though they also know that won’t protect them at all. Heh. I can even get you the room number. Now all you have to do is find out how to make bombs.”

  Avery took a breath then, and wrote for a minute, getting everything down. She’d have to burn the notes as soon as she could. Otherwise, if anyone ever found them, it would point directly to her as being the murderer.

  “I already know how to make bombs. I’ve had years of classes on it, in fact.” It was true, though the Ambassador looked impressed for some reason.

  “That’s pretty nifty. They teach that in school here then? The Alede I’m looking at don’t know how to do that. They do have an impressive amount of information when it comes to getting people off though. And here I thought the Kama Sutra was complicated…”

  Interestingly, Avery had heard of that book before. Mainly thanks to working with sex fiends at a store that sold it. She’d even glanced through it a few times, so that she’d have ideas of things to do with Phillip. That thought got her to make a face and feel a bit miserable.

  Across from her the Ambassador perked up.

  “Second thoughts about taking out these people? They really are pretty evil. Cherise and her crumb buddies have had a choke hold on the Alede for nearly fifty years. Judy isn’t wrong, either. She told you about how they were enslaving people? It wasn’t just a few dozen in that one room… They’ve been holding hundreds of Humans captive. Maybe thousands. Using them to death, for years. A few people from other groups as well. It’s pretty much a sex trafficking ring. That’s about half of how they make money. You really don’t need to feel too bad about killing them. Though, I can probably do it, if you can get me there? It won’t be a bomb, but an office filled with corpses is still going to fix the problem. I can wear a mask, so their cameras won’t see it’s me. Then I go home and no one will be able to track me at all.”

  Blinking, her mind smooth and blank, Avery shook her head. It was a slow and ponderous thing. Then, no one had ever claimed that Dragons were mentally quick. Intelligent enough, in their own way, but it didn’t always come in at a rapid pace.

  “It wasn’t that. I was just recalling that I have a boyfriend. One that I’ve totally been neglecting for a while. I’ve been busy, but… That isn’t going to keep him, is it? I think I’m just not good at that kind of thing.” Really, she knew it to be the case. It had taken work for her to keep things going for a few months, and then, one day, she’d kind of let it all go.

  There was a somber nod from the woman at the head of the wooden table.

  “I’d give you advice, but the truth is that I suck at relationships, myself. I used to think that it was all about me being a serial killer, but no, now that I’ve had that part of me fixed, I can see that it’s just a lack of fucks given. It’s hard to make someone feel loved when you really aren’t capable of that kind of thing. On the good side, I only miss it a little.”

  That sounded oddly familiar.

  “You were a serial killer?” Avery had heard the term before, after all. “I killed six people once, when I was twelve. Then more, after that, but it was in combat. Now I’ll add these to it. I guess that makes us the same?”

  “Not really. You might kill people, but you don’t really seem to be doing it for fun. That part makes a difference. Besides, these folks need some killing. Trust me on that one. Taking this crew out will make the world a better place.”

  She had to hope so. Regardless, it was her plan.

  There were more hints, notes and help after that, but Avery was able to get the woman back to her own office, in a different world, without even using the travel hut outside. It was practice, if nothing else. Harder to do, but needed for her plan. Their clever idea, really. The woman, who was cheery seeming, kind to her and polite, more or less, was more than willing to help her kill some creepy ass tramps. That had been how she’d put it, anyway.

  Avery thought the whole thing seemed complex, but it was really just three steps. The first was getting, or in her case, building, four fairly powerful bombs. That would require a safe place to work, away from prying eyes that might track that sort of thing. That and work materials.

  The second was placing the explosives, which wasn’t going to be that hard, though she was going to need to visit the correct space first, to investigate. Then, the evening before the meeting, which would be in three days, they needed to be placed around the office, creating a massive single blast zone. That way none of the officials would survive. A lot of their people, secretaries and such, would die as well, most likely.

  Each of them, all of the Alede at least, were in on the enslavement and Human trafficking portion of things. She decided not to feel bad about their deaths, even if they weren’t strictly needed.

  At the same time, when the blast happened, Avery also needed to have an alibi. It would be a work day, so that would work for her and Judy. Kaitlyn and the others would need to have that kind of thing as well, which was the hard part. Really, the best bet was probably some kind of party or meeting. The issue there was that it would be in the middle of the night for their part of the world.

  Only the line walkers would need to be covered though, since they were the only ones that could be taking people around to secret meetings like that.

  Even that probably wasn’t a huge issue. She needed to be able to look innocent, because she wasn’t. Kaitlyn as well, since people might have noticed that she had an ax to grind with her own Governing Body, over the years. Eve was dating Kait, so she needed to be covered as well. The rest of them had no particular reason to hide what they were doing at any given point. They were just so disconnected from the Alede that no one would think to blame them for it.

  The real trick then, was to just be careful enough that tracking her was hard. She was a line walker though, so it wasn’t a huge issue for her, really. To start with, she just went back to the IPB. Carrying ten pounds of gold coins in a cloth sack. It was heavy canvas, but new, having been made for the purpose just a few hours before.

  When that was dumped on Marcia Turners desk, she looked up, her face wry.

  “What’s this now? Your coin collection?”

  Trying to seem innocent, and nearly making it, Avery shook her head.

  “No. It’s your coin collection. I just brought it back to you. I need to purchase some things, if I can? They might be hard to get. Illegal, in my world.” Not impossible for her to procure there, but she didn't want a link back to the Shifters.

  The woman stood up, her tan outfit seeming well pressed, with sharp creases on the front of the legs that day. Her boots were a nice black color.

  “Walk with me, Rome. Outside the wire.”

  That was different enough to catch attention. Her light blue skirt brushed at her lower legs as she moved over the dusty ground. The sun was bright that day, with only a few fluffy white clouds in the sky. They traveled in silence for a while, passing through the front
gate, not even speaking to the uniformed guards, and moving about two kilometers away. Then the Director turned to her.

  “If it’s drugs, then I have to tell you to just say no. Unless you have a really good reason for it, of course.”

  “Nothing like that. I need some chemicals. I can give you a list? I need to make some Semtex… That’s a kind of explosive? I’m going to use it to murder some people. Government leaders. Not mine. They’re corrupt and tried to kill a friend of mine. One of my people.” She knew that telling the woman the truth might get her to say no. Murder was a big deal, after all.

  “I see. I can probably get what you need. Pre-made, actually. This is an action that can’t come back on us here? In another world? I don’t want to start some kind of reality war. The one we have going on is bad enough, so far, thanks.”

  She actually thought for a bit, then was able to nod.

  “Nothing in this will come back on anyone here. Probably not even on me, as long as I’m careful enough. If not… Well, then I can move here, right?” She tried to seem hopeful about that, even if it was too much to ask of anyone.

  These people didn't think of her as an Unclean Serpent however. Just as Avery. Some girl from a different world. Maybe even a friend.

  “All right then. I’ll need… Call it three hours? I’ll want to have your plan gone over as well. The best result here is for you to get away with things, totally. Can you wait here? I’ll send someone out with what you need. Don’t talk about it on the base. We’ve fixed some things there, recently, but the chances of being monitored are too great, still. Plotting to kill people is illegal here.”

  It was back home as well, Avery didn’t doubt. That wasn’t going to stop her.

  “I’ll wait here. Under the trees?”

  “Good plan. Three hours.”

  The woman walked away, leaving her there. Under a pine tree. Avery sat, not caring about pine needles that day. Her powder blue hose would probably be ruined, but standing for hours wasn’t going to work for her. Instead she sat, then focused her mind sharply, waiting.

  Being a Dragon had some positives, she realized. To her mind, she sat and clearly time was passing, but it didn’t feel like anything at all to her. The world moved, but if it was supposed to hold a pattern, or sense to her mind, it failed to impress her.

  Which meant she was still alert and watchful when she noticed a man walking toward her, carrying a back pack. He had light hair, which was kept military and short. His frame was fit seeming as well. From the face, he was probably in his forties, if not slightly older. There were lines near his eyes on the side, but his face was smooth otherwise. It was a person she’d seen before.

  Above his left breast pocket, he had a name. Lancaster.

  She stood up as he got about thirty feet away.

  Holding the bag up, using one hand for it, the man didn't smile.

  “Ten kilos of high powered plastic explosives. We need to go over how to use it. It isn’t hard, but I was told not to let you blow yourself up. Let me unpack this.”

  He worked quickly, but she was able to simply nod.

  “I have training on this. We even call it the same thing in my world. Det-caps, primers, Semtex, even timers… Do you want me to assemble one of them?”

  There was a nod, the face actually seeming skeptical for some reason. That would be about seeming young, she didn’t doubt.

  When the thing was put together, properly, the man just laughed a bit.

  “Placement options. You have a plan? I want you to build a model of the space and where you want to put the explosives. We can use sticks and rocks for that.”

  It was a normal enough thing to do, having been part of her own training on such things. Looking around, she started with tree bark, to make the walls. Then the conference table, which was shown by a long rock the size of her hand. There were ten chairs, but she pointed at them.

  “There will only be six people in the room, unless someone is bringing drinks. That or a sex slave being there. It shouldn’t happen, but there’s a chance of that kind of thing. They’re slavers… I want to put things in a ring, if possible. Here are the cameras. That’s going to be the hard part. I can go into the room directly, warping space, but I don’t know if I can get around that kind of thing without being noticed. I mean, just breaking them, or putting paint on the lens, but…”

  Looking at her model, the man pointed, a strong looking finger drawing a cone out from each camera. There were only two of them.

  “Can you come in right here? That won’t let you ring the room, but if you use enough explosive, placed in the wall, then it won’t really matter. You have enough to take down a good-sized building here. It’s a compromise, but… Not being seen will increase your odds of being successful, so it’s probably worth it.”

  Seeing his point, Avery could only agree. That really did make sense.

  “I also need to get alibis set up for my friends. A few of them, anyway. Now, I… Actually, I need to hide this for a few days. I didn’t think it would be this easy to get this kind of thing. I was going to make it. I have a place though, that should be safe enough.” With friends.

  Lancaster didn't ask about that part of things. It wasn’t needed for the operation that he understand that.

  “Be careful. It’s better to abort the mission than to get caught. There are lots of ways to make people die, after all. Report in here when you’re finished? What’s the timeline on that look like?”

  “Three days. If it works, I’ll get with you in four. I have instructions not to discuss anything inside the wire.” Orders, actually, from the base commander herself.

  The man repacked the materials for her, taking them apart first, making the whole thing much safer, if not really safe. Then he patted her on the arm, near the shoulder.

  “Four days. Report in at that time. We can come out here for that. If not, we’ll be very vague. Good luck.”

  Then, without saying anything other than that, he stood up, turned his back and walked away. Avery watched him for a while, not thinking about anything, just standing and holding what she needed for her operation. The assassination of people that she didn’t even know. Except in passing. On the great side, she didn't really care.

  Sin had been correct in her words. They needed killing. They’d set their own fate in motion before Avery was even born. Feeling bad about removing evil from the world wasn’t going to help anyone. So, she decided not to do that.

  Instead she rather slowly, taking a while, warped and bent space, using her new trick, then moved into the void. It was easier to get out from there, even without using a node. Her destination was a slightly odd one, of course. She’d been to the place before, but didn’t know if she could really count on aid from the people she wanted to approach.

  Rather, she thought that Countess Thomson would store the things for her, even knowing what it was. She just didn't know if getting through the front gate was going to be happening that day. If the woman was even home at all.

  The world was dark when she got there. Pitch black, in fact. That meant she had to navigate by the low thrum of her own footsteps. It painted the world an electric blue, the slow waves moving around objects, instead of bouncing away. Showing everything in negative.

  The guards both looked a bit frightened as she walked up, their glowing hearts pounding as she did it.

  “I’m Avery Rome. From another world? Sorry about coming so late. I was hoping to talk to Countess Thomson? I have no clue what time it is, so…” She spoke using Standard, her accent much smoother than it had been, after having several weeks of practice not long before.

  The man on the right, who was the older of the two, nodded.

  “Very good, Ambassador Rome… I’ll need to see if anyone is available to identify you? It… I don’t wish to be rude, but it is rather late. Perhaps Master Willum? He’s in, I believe? Is he known to you, Ambassador?”

  “Willum Baker? Yes. He’s a friend of mine. That should do.
Thank you.”

  Then, for the second time in what probably was about ten minutes if not less, she got to wait. This time though, Will came at a jog. Waving when he saw her.

  “Avery! I was just about to leave. Back to Soam. Would you like to come with me? It isn’t pressing. Everyone else is asleep right now. Unless… Do you have news of Clemance? I haven’t wanted to check on him, but he’s been gone long enough that his mother is starting to worry. Teaching the IPB folk, or their military at least, how to use Jump Ships.”

  She moved to walk back toward where the red hut was kept. She hadn’t come in that way herself, but it was probably the polite way of doing things. They had them for a reason after all.

  “I haven’t heard anything. I also didn’t know to ask. I just came from there though. I need this bag stored. It holds a lot of powerful explosives. In three days, my time, I need to use it to assassinate several people.” She held her breath, since it was a dangerous admission to make, to anyone.

  Her friend just held out his right hand.

  “I can keep it for you? Or rather Aunt Taman will. Come on… We can set that up now. I have news for you and your people, actually. About those Larval Assassins? I found the world that they came from.”

  They didn’t talk, just walking then for a while. When they came out of the red box, at the Soam spaceport, thousands of miles away, Will put his arm over her shoulders.

  “I followed them to their world of origin. I was confused for a long while about where it was. They were hidden in an incredibly large underground complex, in a desert. The place was called Nevada? The thing is… Well, it’s your world, Avery. I have the location of their base there. They have some kind of technological magic that allows them to shift realities. Not well, thankfully. It takes a lot of energy, and there are limits on where they can travel that we don’t have. I couldn’t get much on them.”

  He seemed ready to comfort her, his arm squeezing a little bit tighter around her then.

  “Oh? Um…” She had to stop walking for a while, in order to think. Even at that, she needed Tarsus to come out and just hand her the data she needed. “Right. There was a report from some people in the south on my planet. Their cloning technology had been stolen. So that makes sense, I guess. Can we get the location of that spot? It’s probably linked to the military people that have been hunting my kind and our friends, over the last half year.”