But it wasn’t Jeremy’s voice that came through the speaker. Instead, it was Henry, the red-haired goofball who had escorted me home one late night.
“Hey boss. I’m just about to head outside. Something screwy is happening with our north-facing reception camera, and I wanted to go check it out. I’ll grab them on my way back.”
“That will be fine. Just make sure they stay right where you put them. I’ll be there shortly.”
Cameron sat me in a chair and went through the other paintings one by one, stacking the frames against the wall. I guess he was just checking to make sure I hadn’t stolen anything else, but I was starting to get impatient. Prometheus had given me ten minutes to obtain the painting, and we were well past that point now. My stomach burned at the thought of poor Emma.
Finally Cameron—still not speaking to me—seemed to decide that there were no other canvases missing from their frames, and he gestured for me to rise.
The handcuffs made it a bit awkward to get up, but he didn’t offer to help, choosing instead to stare at me stone-faced while I struggled to my feet.
The expanse of lawn between cottage and mansion had never felt so long as one-by-one, wedding guests stopped their conversation to turn and stare as I was marched through the crowd, my feet covered in muck, and my clothes mussed from digging through furniture. Even Amanda, who stood near the DJ with clipboard in hand, was rendered speechless by the sight.
On any other day, the idea of causing this much of a scene at one of her weddings would have been amusing.
We entered the house through the very delivery door where I was supposed to meet Prometheus, but while there was a sleek yellow sports car in the bay, there was no sign of the gray-suited man. Or his van. Or Emma.
Cameron looked at me, disgust in his eyes, and finally broke his silence. “Was everything you told me a lie?”
“No! I—”
“Just shut up, Savannah. I can’t take it anymore. I trusted you, I loved you! And you repaid me with lies.”
The canvas tucked up under his arm, he yanked open the kitchen door, moving aside for me to enter.
* * *
“Well, well, well. I didn’t tell you to invite friends to our little meeting. I thought I’d made it clear that this was to be a private party. But at least he had the decency to warn us beforehand.”
David stood just inside the door, holding a gun. He gestured to the two-way radio sitting alone on the steel counter. “I appreciate you deciding to go with this particular model. I’ve had a little practice hacking into these, and I didn’t have as much time as I usually did to get my electronic ears in place.”
He ran a finger along the barrel of his gun. But this time, the gun wasn’t the cheap plastic model. No, this time he held a mean-looking metal version. After we’d been judged non-combative, David had shifted his aim, and now had the weapon pointed directly at Simon, who glared at him from over the top of Emma’s head. The poor girl was sobbing uncontrollably with her head tucked against Simon’s neck, while Jeanie did her best to soothe her tears.
I felt Cameron close the door behind me, and I knew he’d tried to pull his gun when I heard another male voice emerge from the vicinity of the dry supply storage room. “Don’t touch the gun. Put your hands up.”
Cameron froze, his jaw tightening when he realized at the same time that the voice belonged to none other than Henry. His hands moved slowly into the air.
“Really, Henry? This is what you do after I put you in charge of the camera system?”
Henry stepped out of hiding and popped the snap on Cameron’s holster, smoothly removing the gun before stepping back to point it at the center of Cameron’s chest.
And now I realized how David had managed to get a gun through the metal detectors. Why he’d seemed to already know when I told him Simon and I planned to retire. With Henry’s help, Relobu had supplied all the guns he would ever need, and the dragon lord’s entire house was bugged by his own security team. Even though I hated the man right now, I had to admit I’d never seen that coming.
Henry grinned, and I realized that there were two things I hadn’t seen coming. All traces of the shy boy who’d mooned over the girls of Bridal Visions while he was on guard duty were gone. David wasn’t the only expert in the room. In fact, I’d be willing to admit that for sheer acting chops, Henry might even rival Simon.
“Sorry, boss. But you gotta understand, this one here,” he said, hooking a thumb in David’s direction, “hired me first. Why do you think it was so easy to find a guy with my tech skills on such short notice? I’m what you might call the Prometheus advance team. We’ve been eying this job for a while, but until a few days ago, all the details hadn’t quite been ironed out with the client. Now that they have, I sure appreciate you giving me a chance.”
Cameron didn’t respond to Henry’s jab. He only turned to Simon and Jeanie, who’d managed to take Emma’s screams down to a few tired whimpers. “Is she okay?”
Jeanie glared at David, then returned her attention to us. “She’s fine, just scared. Henry clocked April on the head and grabbed her. They wouldn’t let me check on her.”
David frowned as if he were offended. “Oh, please. She’ll be fine as soon as she wakes up.”
Cameron looked once more to Jeanie for confirmation, then nodded.
“So you brought company with you. Did you bring the painting too?” David gazed pointedly at the canvas under Cameron’s arm. While Cameron growled in frustration, he nevertheless pulled it out and unrolled it just far enough for a single member of the British Parliament in white sleeves and a red shirt to appear.
“Excellent. Thank you both. You’ve done a wonderful thing.”
Satisfied that the painting was indeed Bright Seasons by Bernard Tofegaard, David motioned to Henry, who stepped forward and took it gently from Cameron’s arms.
“We gave you what you wanted, now leave us alone and get out of here.”
David yawned.
What a drama queen.
“You seem a little upset, and I’m not sure why. I told Savannah that if I received the painting, I’d be happy to leave her and her family alone, and I intend to keep that promise.” David tapped a spot on his chest just below the collarbone, and turned to Cameron. “Just as soon as you let all your guards know that we aren’t to be stopped.”
“I’ll find you.” Nobody threatened my family and got away with it. It was one thing to step on another’s toes in business, but quite another to involve a child in the game.
“Oh, I seriously doubt that. You’re retired, remember?”
He pointed at Cameron. “Now go ahead. Speak with your security team, and we’ll be on our way. We’ll be driving a yellow pre-war Maserati. Tell them if there is even one scratch on the thing, I’ll hurt the girl.”
Now it was Simon’s turn to growl. “You’re not taking Emma anywhere.” He squeezed his daughter tighter, his eyes almost daring Henry to try.
“Oh, no. I’m not really a fan of children.” He glanced pointedly at the still-sniffling Emma. “They cry far too easily. I was talking about your wife. Come now, you’ll go for a little ride, and as soon as we’re clear of the gates, you’re free to be on your way. I’ll even leave you a sat phone so they can come pick you up. Don’t worry, Henry has all the numbers preprogrammed. See? I can be a very generous person as long as people follow my rules.”
“Not going to happen.” Simon reached for Jeanie, intending to pull her behind his body.
But Jeanie shook his hand loose and stepped forward. “No, I’ll go. But if you harm one hair on my daughter’s head I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
“And if she doesn’t manage it, I will.” I could feel the burn in my fingertips as my claws begged to be set free.
Cameron definitely wasn’t happy, but he did as she said, instructing the gate team to allow David and Henry free passage from the estate.
The acknowledgment was short and sweet, and afterward, Henry cheerfully rem
oved Cameron’s radio and smashed it to bits while Jeanie leaned down to kiss Emma on the cheek. She did the same to Simon, then turned, her head held high as she, David and Henry left the room.
* * *
As soon as the door closed behind them, I looked at Cameron. “Are you afraid of heights?”
“No.”
“Good. Grab your gun, we’re going after them.”
I shushed Simon’s objections before he could voice them. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of sight until Jeanie’s okay. But there is no way I’m allowing that man to strut out of here with no negative consequences. We may be retired, but we still know how to take care of our own. There’s a thing called street justice, and I plan on enforcing it.”
“I don’t want Jeanie hurt. But I want to be there just in case David decides not to honor his promise.”
I looked to Cameron, who was in the process of verifying the firearm Henry had left on the table was still armed and ready to fire. “And even if he doesn’t hurt her, I intend on honoring a promise I made. I’m getting that painting back.”
Simon tried to argue, but I shushed him with a swipe of my hand, my legs already carrying me from the room.
Instead of heading straight to the front door, Cameron grabbed my arm and led the way down the hall as we ran toward the security control room. He shouted out instructions for his gate personnel to stop the car without getting Jeanie shot. But we were too late, alerting the surprised security staff to lock down the grounds just as we saw the car zoom through the gates on the monitor.
“Shit. Come on.” I grabbed Cameron’s arm and we headed for the front door. A string of dainty electric lights had been wrapped around the door frame for the wedding guests. I grabbed them, ripping the tacks free on my way.
I was already half-morphed by the time we hit the driveway, and I had only enough time to explain to Cameron that the lights were to be looped around my neck to give him something to hold on to once we were airborne. He nodded once, and with an odd skill, created a makeshift harness from the light strand.
“Wrap them tight, you won’t choke me. Just as a warning, this is going to be a bumpy ride.” I didn’t even try to control the volume of my roar as I completed the change, ducking my head so Cameron could get the cord of lights in place. I waited until he had a chance to scramble into a spot just between my wings before I jumped.
I’d cleared the outer fencing of Relobu’s property, and had just gained enough altitude to skim the tops of the trees, when Cameron yelled.
“Looks like the control room sent us some help!”
I glanced behind me, and sure enough, two of Relobu’s dragons were speeding our way. Banking slightly left, I was careful to stay high enough that I could keep an eye on David and Henry in the car, while doing my best to camouflage myself with the tree-cover. I didn’t want to be seen and cause Jeanie to be injured. When I’d managed to find a sweet spot about a half mile back from the vehicle that allowed me a good view, I adjusted my wings to allow the air current to provide some lift and take a bit of weight off my body and settled in for a wait.
So I was shocked when something slammed into me with the force of a freight train. I heard Cameron yell, and then watched in horror as he slipped from my back to dangle one-handed from the string of lights.
“Cameron!”
I felt the lights grind against my neck as he reached up for a better grip, and was relieved when he managed to get both hands reattached to his only lifeline.
Car forgotten, I scanned the ground, looking for a place I could land that wouldn’t put Cameron in danger of being dragged through the limbs of a tree, but the options were severely limited. I spotted a small pond a mile or so to the east and changed my trajectory.
But the dragon beside me—the one we’d thought was part of the reinforcement team from the Relobu camp—didn’t give way. Instead, he deliberately angled his body in preparation for another attack.
Praying Cameron could hold on for just a bit longer, I snarled, snapping my teeth at the imposter’s neck. I made contact, and the dragon, his own teeth now bared, snapped back but retreated a few feet, allowing me to alter my course.
That must have been the sign for his partner to take over, because I felt a thump as someone hit me from behind, causing me to drop several feet before I was able to regain my balance.
Cameron was struggling to pull himself up onto my back, but every time he closed the distance, I was forced to make a sudden movement that sent him dangling from the length he’d twisted around his wrist.
Please don’t break. Please don’t break, I begged the wedding lights as I slipped, dodged and bobbed my way doggedly toward the tiny mass of water, doing my best to avoid the worst of the damage as my pursuers did their best to knock me out of the sky.
Finally, there was a lull in the attacks as the two dragons appeared to drop back and confer on their next approach. Whatever they decided, I knew it wouldn’t bode well for us. I checked the ground. We were still too far from a clearing. We weren’t going to make it to the pond. Thinking fast, I looked down at the cord around my neck. It was knotted tight.
“Cameron! How good is your hold?”
He checked his hands. “Pretty good,” he yelled.
“I’m about to try something that’s really stupid.”
He laughed, his eyes flicking back to the two dragons who were once again closing the distance between us. “Can’t get any worse than it is now, right?” I caught a glance at his arm—the fingers on his wrapped hand were quickly turning purple from the pinch.
He was right. “I don’t suppose it can. Hold on!”
Straining my wings to their limit, I forced myself higher, until the trees were tiny specks on an endless green table. The two dragons were now only feet away. They followed me up, flanking me on both sides.
When I’d gone as high as I dared with Cameron’s cold-sensitive human skin, I took a deep breath. “Hold on!”
I closed my eyes, tucked my back legs, and deliberately dropped out of the sky. We shot down toward the ground like a meteor, the cold air whizzing by us at record speeds. When I’d gained enough momentum, I rolled, spinning my body horizontally until the ground and the sky were simply flashes of green and blue as they zoomed by.
Judging by the truly inventive string of curses, Cameron wasn’t a fan, but the movement worked as I intended, wrapping the lights tighter and tighter around my neck. I leveled out when I felt his body slap against my chest, and let out a whoop when he was able to scramble back on board.
Cameron whooped right along with me as he settled into his seat, using the lights like a bronc-rider’s harness to keep him in place. He leaned up to yell into my ear.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing these dragons don’t actually work for Lord Relobu.”
I jerked right, narrowly missing a dive-bomb attack from one of the dragons in question. I grunted out a reluctant laugh. “I think you may be on to something. Maybe instead of working at DRACIM, I should get a job with Prometheus. With the amount of help he brought on this trip, he has plenty of money to spread around.”
The speck in the sky that I’d assumed was a bird was getting bigger, and I suddenly realized it wasn’t a bird, but another dragon heading our way. “Oh crap. Incoming.”
Cameron followed my gaze, but instead of panicking, he grinned. “The real reinforcements have arrived. Unless there’s another giant black dragon in Tulsa, that’s going to be Trian.”
And sure enough, when the black dragon got closer, he didn’t even attempt to chew on my tail. Instead, he ignored me completely and wrapped his massive hind claws around the neck of the dragon on my right while using his teeth to tear into his wings.
The dragon screamed in pain, and then made a token attempt to defend himself, but he’d been caught unawares. In short order, Trian had completely shredded one wing and ripped the tip off the other. The dragon stuttered in air, then flopped, trying to gain some resistance to slow his ver
y rapid decent.
I let out a celebratory roar when it became clear that he would be unsuccessful. For the first time in my life, I was actually hoping that someone would get hurt.
The second dragon had a bit more time to prepare, but while he engaged in a pretty impressive mid-air scuffle it wasn’t long before Trian’s superior size and skill had him literally tucking tail and flying away. Well, what was left of his tail, anyway.
Our chief source of danger out of the way, I redirected my attention to locating the yellow sports car. There it was, cruising along the highway and picking up speed. It was too far away for me to see whether Jeanie was still a passenger.
I twisted my head, trying to get a look at Cameron so I could see if he was up for more flying.
When I did, the idea of continuing our pursuit didn’t seem advisable. His face was pale and twisted with pain and he was attempting to loosen the rope he’d wrapped around his wrist. All of our aerial acrobatics had twisted it so tightly, he was losing circulation.
Trian noticed as well, and flew into my line of sight. “Get Cameron to the ground! I’ll go after the car.”
Nodding to let him know that I understood, I tipped my wings and headed for an area from which I could comfortably ease Cameron and me onto a patch of grass.
As soon as my back feet touched down, I cut the lights from around my neck and leaned back. “You doing okay?”
He’d managed to disentangle himself from the wad of lighting, and made a move to clear away the remaining bits from around my neck, but even that slight motion caused him to wince. He spent another moment stretching out his hand, flexing the fingers to increase blood flow, and winced again when he tried to roll his wrist. “I don’t think I’ll be playing table tennis anytime soon, but otherwise I’m in one piece.”
Abashed, I ducked my head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t expect that Prometheus would have dragons on his payroll. Please tell me that wasn’t your first trip on dragonback.”
'Til Dragons Do Us Part (Never Deal with Dragons) Page 21