The Ring of Fire: The Dragon Dream: Book Two

by Robin Janney

  The

  Ring

  of

  Fire

  The Dragon Dream: Book Two

  Robin Janney

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design by GetCovers Design Team at www.getcovers.com

  The Ring of Fire

  Copyright © 2020/2014 Robin Janney

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9781720220145

  To all the English teachers who ever encouraged me, especially:

  Carol Myfelt

  Jan Jannone

  James Curyk

  May they forgive me for what I’ve done to the English language!

  Author’s foreword

  This is more or less the same book it was when it was published as just “Ring of Fire”. Once I started fixing Farmer’s Daughter and making changes, those changes had to extend to this novel as well. I think the changes make both novels, and by extension the series, better.

  acknowledgments:

  Where to begin?

  My thanks to Jacqueline Brown for her friendship and her constant encouragement. It was she and another unnamed coworker who helped me iron out a wrinkle of the plot.

  Fellow author C.P. Stringham for her friendship, for her vision of our blog Broads of a Feather. There are some things only a fellow author can understand, including the madness of trying to live life and write a novel at the same time. They don’t always mesh.

  My husband Justin, for his friendship and his love. We don’t always understand each other, but we never stop trying. For the little things he has done over the years to show his support for me. For loving me when writing and living don’t mesh well.

  Every English teacher who had to grade my papers and assignments!

  My mother-in-law Susan Janney for her input and encouragement.

  Jessica Jablonski, whose friendship means even more to me than her proofreading…and her proofreading means a lot!

  And every reader of The Farmer’s Daughter who asked for more! Thank you for your patience and encouragement!

  Books by Robin Janney

  The Dragon Dream Series

  1 – The Farmer’s Daughter

  2 – The Ring of Fire

  Coming soon:

  3 – Bigger than the Beetles

  “Be sober, be vigilant;

  because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,

  seeking whom he may devour.”

  1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

  PROLOGUE

  I t was almost dark when Maggie Witherspoon drove her sleek red convertible into the gravel parking lot of Dodge’s apartment building in Tyler’s Grove. Just returning from the party out at the Carman farm, she was happy and content. The food had been good, the ceremony lovely, and the reception afterward pleasant. By the time Craig and Angela Moore left, the young couple whose marriage they’d been celebrating, the party had turned into more of a family reunion. But Maggie had stayed on for some time, thinking it would be a good idea to get to know the family better.

  The plump woman wasn’t sure what the connection between the Carman family and Everett Crane was, and she sorely wanted to find out. Her superiors agreed with her about that much. At this point, all anyone knew for certain was that Angela Carman, now Moore, was somehow Everett Crane’s biological daughter and had been adopted by Philip and Maude Carman at some point early in her childhood. That juicy morsel had traveled the gossip lines quickly.

  All this time, while Maggie had been working her way into the lower levels of Crane’s organization hoping to uncover enough evidence to lead to his arrest, she’d been living next door to the man’s daughter. While the woman in question had not known herself until recently, Maggie chided herself for a missed opportunity.

  With a sigh, the plump woman climbed out of her ride and secured her vehicle for the night. Tyler’s Grove was a small town which had been innocent once, but Angela’s violent abduction in February had even the most skeptical residents locking the doors to their houses and their vehicles. Even her previous landlord, the irascible Anthony Dodge had surrendered and installed locks on all the apartments in the large building he owned before his death; locks on the doors and windows.

  Not that there were many skeptics in the town. Too many had witnessed Angela’s daylight abduction. And those who missed it had either seen the video the skateboarders managed to capture or had heard about it from Flo Jamenson. Flo had managed to be front and center for the small piece a news station had done on the event once the teens’ video went viral. The old widow certainly got around.

  Shutting her apartment door behind her, Maggie flipped the kitchen light on and jumped. She was so startled, she gave a feminine yelp at the sight of the trio of men in her kitchen.

  “Hello Ma-ggie,” her present landlord Everett Crane greeted her, emphasizing the syllables of her name while calmly seated at her small square table in the middle of the narrow kitchen.

  “Mr. Crane,” Maggie replied in return, far calmer than she was feeling. He might be her landlord now, but mentally she added breaking and entering to his list of crimes. But, in her undercover role, she knew that the farther down in the hierarchy you were, the more a personal visit or phone call from this man meant you were in trouble. The kind of trouble you didn’t walk away from in one piece. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “In a moment,” answered Crane. The red-haired man flicked his fingers at the man standing to his left. “First, let’s get some unpleasantries out of the way. Kyle, frisk her please.”

  Maggie jumped again as the tall bulky man moved towards her, obeying the seated man without hesitation. He crossed the room with a deliberate casualness, spinning his index finger around as he motioned to her.

  “Hands against the wall, babe,” he instructed emotionlessly.

  Pressing her lips together in impatient disgust, Maggie turned away from the men and placed her hands against the thin wall separating her apartment from the one Angela used to live in. The other apartment remained empty; Angela’s belongings had been moved out months ago while she was still in a coma. No one wanted to live in an apartment where someone had been murdered.

  Kyle’s large hands slid along the sides of her body, and Maggie had to grit her teeth. She stiffened when his hands came around her body and cupped her breasts. How she wished she dared slap him down for his violation.

  “I told you to frisk her, not fondle her!” Crane’s voice was as sharp as the slap of his palm on the tabletop.

  Kyle’s hands fell away from her as though he’d been scalded. “Sorry boss, you know I like my women with a bit of padding.” He returned to frisking her, his touch far more professional now. Still, even though she’d worn a loose skirt for the party, the man felt the need to run his hands up the skirt and along her bare legs. His touch was light, and didn’t linger, but it was still invasive to her.

  “I dare say your flirting is wasted on this woman,” said Crane, his voice impatient. “Is she clean?”

  “Yeah,” Kyle confirmed, giving Maggie a friendly smack on her bottom. “No heat, no wires.”

  “Of course not,” commented the suited man on the other side of Crane. His voice was snarky. “No chance of finding anything interesting out in farm country. Nothing but cows out there.”

  “Stow it, Lloyd,” Crane snapped.

  Maggie turned and made a show of putting herself in order. Crane’s green eyes were sharp as he watch
ed her. “Satisfied?” she asked.

  “Hardly.” Crane motioned for her to have a seat at her own table.

  Maggie hesitated, but took the seat across from him without a word. Kyle remained at her back. No pressure there.

  “How was it?” asked the older man, tiredly. “Did the kids have a good day?”

  “They did,” Maggie confirmed. “Angela looked every bit the angel that Moore calls her. If you’d like pictures, I have some.”

  “I have other sources, but thank you,” answered Crane. “Forgive my intrusion, Agent Monroe, but there are a few issues I’d like to address.”

  “Excuse me?” asked Maggie, hoping she didn’t start sweating nervously. How could the man have made her? When had he made her?

  “Ah, yes. You don’t know. Aside from the fact that Anthony Dodge was a voyeur who had all these apartments wired with cameras, I have several connections who let me know of your arrival. I likely knew of your assignment before you did.”

  Maggie cast a wild glance around her apartment but didn’t see any evidence of cameras. Since she’d heard about the ones in Angela’s apartment, she didn’t doubt the powerful man. “All the apartments? So…?”

  “I’m not here to kill you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Crane assured her. “And don’t worry, the devices have all been removed. I have no need to stoop so low.”

  Maggie was sweating by now, and not for the first time she wondered how her former landlord had really died – and why. “If you’re not here to kill me, then what exactly do you want?”

  Crane’s fingers began to beat an impatient tempo on the table. “Your help. I didn’t have the microphones removed from your apartment, because of your dual identities. So, I’m aware of the information Angela shared with you during her haircut. I’m not surprised it lines up with the information her father-in-law’s detective uncovered about Susan and Cori. While I don’t exactly understand my daughter’s desire to protect those who helped arrange her kidnapping, I will honor it.”

  His eyes gleamed. “Although I promise you, I will go to great lengths to make their lives miserable no matter which side of the bars they end up on. However, there are also indications of one of my rivals helping those two twits. I’m certain there is someone else behind the harassment Angela endured other than the dead. Neither woman had the motive or killer instinct to have killed Harry Flynn in the manner he died.”

  “From the pictures I saw, there was a lot of rage in his murder,” Maggie acknowledged. “I wasn’t home, otherwise I’m sure I would have heard it. Wasn’t it caught on the cameras?”

  “Unfortunately, those videos were deleted.”

  “So, Dodge was helping them?” Which was probably why the old man had died.

  “The only one he spoke with was young Foster.” Everett’s face flickered from one emotion to the other and Maggie wasn’t able to follow them all. What was in the videos that hadn’t been deleted? “And before his heart attack, I gave him ample opportunity to tell me everything he knew.”

  Even now, he was careful enough not to implicate himself in an actual murder. But if Dodge had been cooperating with the men who had kidnapped her neighbor, Maggie wasn’t sure she’d blame him if he had done it personally.

  “So, you see my problem?” asked Crane.

  “I do. My superiors aren’t concerned about it since all the men involved are dead. They only want information on you.”

  “And you, Maggie?”

  “Angela is a good girl, and we were kind of friends before all this happened. Before I ever learned she was your daughter, so it wasn’t like I was going to use her or anything.” She shrugged. No need to tell him she would have done so had she learned the information sooner, no matter how much she liked Angela. “I lost track of how many times her nightmares woke me up. Thinking she might still be in danger bothers me. A lot. Bothers Erica too.”

  “As it does me. I have no doubt that Craig’s moving her away from here will buy them some time, but I’m afraid if I can’t get her true enemy uncovered, then it’s only a matter of time before he or she strikes again.”

  Maggie couldn’t stop a cold shiver at the thought. “What do you want me to do then?”

  “Find them. Do whatever you have to and find out which of my rivals were helping those two twits, infiltrate them and hunt them down as they’ve hunted Angela.”

  “You’d ask me to defy my superiors then.” The plump woman sighed. Could it serve their case in the long run? “You do realize the position you’re putting me in?”

  “I do, and I apologize. But my daughter’s safety is my top priority. I was hoping you would join me in this cause. I realize I’m taking a gamble, but from the audio of Angela’s visit, I believe you have a genuine affection for her.”

  Maggie nodded, for it was all too true. “I do. She’s one of the few who never blinked twice when I came out. I can think of a few places to start, Mr. Crane. It will take some doing and some time.”

  “So long as it works, I don’t care what you have to do.”

  “Alright. How will I get information to you?”

  “Start a new contact in your phone and pass it to me,” said Crane, rising from his seat.

  Maggie pulled her cellphone out from her purse and did as he’d requested. Handing the phone to him, she wondered what he would make of the name she’d put in for him.

  But he gave no reaction. With surprisingly deft fingers, he put a number in her phone. “This will ring to a private line. Very few have it, so when it rings – I answer.” He passed the phone back to her.

  Maggie closed the phone after making sure the information had saved. “Mr. Crane, can you do me one favor?”

  He nodded, waiting for her to continue.

  “Please let Erica know I’ll be in contact when I can.”

  Crane nodded his head again and motioned to his two bodyguards to follow him.

  Maggie breathed a deep sigh of relief as the trio of men left. She watched from the window above the sink as they walked to a large black SUV in the parking lot she hadn’t noticed before.

  She waited until she could no longer see the vehicle’s taillights and retreated to her bedroom. She quickly packed a bag, clothes, and a few mementoes. Less than an hour had passed since she returned to her home in this quaint town, but when she drove away, she didn’t look back.

  T he Beast sat upon the top of Sawyer’s Peak, the brilliant orange and lilac sunset fading rapidly as full night set in. With the departure of Angela and Craig Moore from his kingdom, he was once again free to be every bit of the monster he was.

  He stretched his wide leathery wings to their full length, enjoying the freedom of movement. He dug his talon tipped toes into the rich earth beneath his feet, exulting in the feel.

  And then he sighed and slumped down in a heap. His wings tucked tightly against his back. What was the point of posturing when your favorite adversary was gone? There was no one in this pathetic area he could test his metal against.

  Unless you counted the Carman family. But he could no longer torment any of them. They were as free from him as anybody could be. Because their pain, would also be her pain.

  Of all the children born to men and angels, Angela was one of the few who could not only stand up to his kind but also undo their power as well. And if she ever discovered her true power…they’d all be in trouble. She’d been his adversary since the day her parents had brought her to the area. He was going to miss being her tormentor and envied whoever was going to be assigned to her next.

  The Beast liked ruling the darkness, didn’t he? Even more reason to be glad the couple had left the area, right? And yet, he could feel the irresistible pull of her light as it faded into the distance. He’d be able to follow her anywhere. Were he human, he would ascribe romantic notions to that pull of light: the aroma of fresh strawberries and lilacs, and the trail of glittering moonlight across the dark ocean, a brilliant rainbow after the storm. But he wasn’t human, and he wouldn�
�t entertain such ridiculous ideas.

  The fact that her dog Princess was his old mate in disguise had nothing to do with anything, either. They had parted so long ago, he didn’t even remember her given name.

  It was Aurora.

  He cursed and continued his dark musings.

  With Craig at her side, the greater Angela’s power would be. But she was afraid of it. She had seen glimpses during her coma, even if she didn’t remember that part. The Beast would have to tell Craig someday, because the Beast couldn’t undo the plans which had been set into motion years ago. They had too much momentum, despite their recent setback.

  And as soon as the Angel had appeared in the Dream, the Dragon Queen had begun plotting. Well, changing the plot she’d already set upon years ago. Beast had seen the Dragon Queen sowing her seeds at the picnic, had seen them land on fertile soil. What a despicable woman she was. She would cause more trouble than he ever had. For a human, she could rival any of his kindred. Her heart was darker because she chose her own darkness.

  Beast would soon have a choice to make. For now, he would be content to remain where he was and ruling in the restored darkness. He would ignore the Carmans. And he would resist the pull to follow the Little Angel and her Princess.

  He would.

  Really.

  1

  P oetry in motion.

  From the floor to ceiling windows in his large home office, Craig Moore watched his wife in the fenced arena he had built barely three years ago when she’d expressed a desire to own a horse after being in equine therapy to help her recover from her kidnapping back in 2006.