Luka's Secret

by Jadyn Chase

  I weighed my position before I said anything else. I should have picked that up from Luka. He was too smart not to have gone to college. I remembered our conversation at the stream. He knew every detail of the case. He used advanced vocabulary about the location of the shoe and the last known evidence of the hikers’ location.

  “What do the Kellys do for income?” I asked.

  Larry looked sideways at a man standing at the bar a few feet to my right. He stood in the same position where Luka was the first time I set eyes on him. Nothing about this man appeared out of the ordinary. Only Larry’s glance told me there must be something significant about him.

  Unlike most of the other patrons in the bar, this man had tanned, olive skin, curly black hair, and deep black eyes. He wasn’t the tallest guy I’d seen in a while, but his presence radiated power and intimidation. His crisp striped shirt did nothing to hide his huge shoulders, and his massive thighs creased his pants around the fly area.

  When I glanced at him, he turned to me and answered for Larry. “What do you want to know about the Kellys for?”

  “I’m doing a story for the Savannah Sun-Times,” I told him. “I’m investigating all these stories about dragons. Do you know anything about that?”

  He shrugged and took a sip from his beer mug before he answered. After four years as a journalist, I learned to detect these subtle indications of hesitation. “I only know what I hear on the street and read in the papers.”

  I was getting sick of hearing that line of drivel. I scooted my stool back and took a step toward him. “I’m Louise Devereux. What’s your name?”

  His eyes twinkled when he smiled. “Jackson Hodges.”

  “Do you know the Kellys?” I asked.

  “Everyone knows the Kellys, but yeah, since you ask, I know them better than most.”

  “What can you tell me about them?” How long could I keep this up before he balked and slammed the door in my face? “What do you know about their involvement in these incidents?”

  He showed all his teeth when he grinned. He showed no sign of shutting down the conversation, even if he was laughing at me. “You don’t really believe that stuff about the dragons, do you? How could the Kellys be involved in something that doesn’t exist?”

  I took a sip of my beer while I considered my next approach. “I guess they couldn’t accept that most of the reports centered around Smokey Ridge.”

  “Most?” He raised his eyebrows. “Not all?”

  “Almost all. The most recent one came from Granite Gorge.”

  He turned back to the bar, drained his mug, and set it in front of Larry. “I think the more you dig around, the more you’ll find none of these stories has any basis in reality. Take it easy. See you around.”

  He strode out of the bar, but his casual dismissal didn’t give me any great assurance. Call it my suspicious nature, but the more people kept telling me these dragon stories couldn’t be true, the more curious I got.

  That man—Jackson Hodges—his sparkly black eyes teased me into believing he knew something the same way Luka did. All these people knew something, something incriminating.

  Jackson seemed friendly and casual, but a subtle unspoken current of tension simmered just below the surface. I glanced around the bar. I didn’t notice Jackson when I first walked in, but now I saw the scene in a new light.

  Jackson possessed the same magnetic good looks that separated Luka from everyone else in this town. Both men hinted at something forgotten, something buried and secret. Smokey Ridge emanated the same mysterious atmosphere over the landscape.

  I fingered the room key while I finished my sandwich and beer. After I finished eating, I made my way up the stairs in a daze and locked myself in for the night. I would probably never know what these people were hiding from me. I could live with that.

  6

  Luka

  I yanked the steering wheel sideways and skidded to a stop in the alley behind the grocery store. I ripped off my seatbelt and hopped out of the Jeep. I tore around the corner heading for the Watering Hole when I ran face first into Jackson Hodges.

  He grabbed me by the shoulders. “Thank God you’re here! I was just coming to look for you.”

  “Get in the Jeep, man.” I grabbed him by the shoulder. “We don’t have any time to lose.”

  “Do you know about that reporter poking around the Ridge?”

  “Forget that!” I shoved him toward the Jeep. “She’s investigating an incident out at Granite Gorge. She says the Lynches attacked a pack horse team at Horseshoe Falls.”

  He jerked out of my grasp and rounded on me with his hands balled into fists. “That’s impossible. I would know about it if they did.”

  I rushed up close to his face and hissed. “Do you realize what this means? The Lynches tried to encroach on our territory. They tried to destroy Clan Kelly and failed, so they’re going after Clan Hodges instead. I just drove up the Ridge to find my Pop and my brothers. No one is home. My Ma says they went down to Burridge for a conference with Clan Cochran. They won’t be home until Saturday. It’s you and me, man. We have to get up to the Gorge right now and warn your old man before the Lynches strike again.”

  He glared at me with steam coming out of his ears. I commanded my heart to slow down, waiting for him to take it all in. My senses told me to move and to keep on moving until I did what I set out to do, but I couldn’t rush him. No Kelly could get near Granite Gorge alone. I needed Jackson to get me inside so I could tell Clan Hodges what I knew.

  After what seemed like hours, he gave me a clipped nod. “All right. Come on.”

  He slid into the passenger seat and I got behind the wheel. I threw the Jeep into gear and screeched out of town. I gritted my teeth wrestling the vehicle from side to side. What was there to say? If we didn’t make it in time, more people would die.

  Clan Kelly battled Clan Lynch for generations. Those guttersnipes were always coming up with some cockamamie scheme to throw us off our land. We signed one neutrality agreement after another with them. No matter what they said to our faces or what they agreed to on paper, they always betrayed their word in the end.

  So now they were going after Clan Hodges. Typical. I sent up a silent prayer of gratitude to Louise for tipping me off. We probably never would have known the Lynches were moving in on Granite Gorge if she hadn’t told me about those horsemen. She might be causing Clan Kelly problems by snooping around, but at least some good came out of it.

  Jackson and I said nothing all the way out to the Gorge. The headlights swung back and forth in the dark. I couldn’t see a thing beyond the next corner. I turned down the Rim Road to head for his father’s compound when he laid a hand on my arm. “Hold up here, man.”

  I braked onto the shoulder. “What for? We have to get down there before….”

  He shook his head and got out of the Jeep. He approached the canyon rim and peered down into the dark. I snuck up next to him and whispered in his ear. “What are you looking for?”

  He raised his forefinger and tensed to listen. Far away, the steady hum of the Falls echoed off the rock walls. Other than that, I couldn’t hear anything. What was he doing? Time was of the essence, and neither of us dared to face the Lynches alone.

  He startled me by whispering back. “If they came all this way, they must have an encampment somewhere nearby. They must have a base somewhere inside the Gorge.”

  “Where?” I asked. “They wouldn’t dare….”

  “Up until tonight, I would have said they wouldn’t dare make a raid like that in our territory, but they did. Either they’re bolder than they ever have been in the past, or they’ve got a new leader with big ideas.”

  “Come on,” I breathed. “We have to get down to the compound and roust the rest of the Clan. Even if we do find them, we can’t go after them on our own.”

  “I don’t dare show up to the compound without knowing where they are. The first thing Dad’ll do is send out a team to find their base. If we alrea
dy know that, we can save that much more time. The whole Clan can tumble out and torch them to kingdom come.”

  Before I had a chance to argue, he lunged forward. He dove off the canyon rim, plunged into the dark, and disappeared. I threw up my hands and smacked my lips in annoyance. “Oh, for Christ’s sake!”

  The next minute, I jumped after him. The icy wind hit my cheeks, and I narrowed my eyes against the air ripping through my hair. I spotted Jackson halfway down the Gorge in front of me. While I watched, his human skin peeled back and he exploded into a long, sinuous rippling shape.

  The deep green tail and scaly neck flowed together as one in the night. Huge wings thumped the air when they unfolded from his sides, and a powerful dragon banked upwards to zoom northward into the canyon. His glowing red eyes burned into the dark. Other than that, no one could see him from the ground.

  If we were going to play that game, I better keep up with him. I gave in to the inexorable call of the wind whining past my ears, and my body turned inside out when I shifted into my dragon form. My wings caught the air, and I soared around in a smooth arc to catch up with him.

  I drew level with his shoulder, but he didn’t look at me. He scanned the ground far below. We flew wingtip to wingtip for a while before his head whipped sideways.

  I saw it at the same instant. A tiny dot of light pierced the gloom. Then another appeared. From our altitude, our dragon eyes could just make out three tiny fires winking in the forest high up the Gorge. Fifteen men sat around them drinking coffee.

  I sniffed the air for any scent trace, but they were too far away, and I didn’t dare descend to take a closer look. I didn’t need to. Only the Lynches would camp so far away from the main river cutting through the Gorge. Any human campers would stick close to the river and the designated Parks Service campsites, especially the ones with pack horses and tents.

  Jackson already swept up the Gorge walls and away south again. He found out what he came here to find out. Now he turned his head for home. He landed next to my Jeep and shifted into a man.

  His eyes sparked with inner fire when he nodded at me. “Let’s go.”

  I put the Jeep into gear and floored it down the Rim Road. The road ended at a ten-foot razor wire fence, and I braked in front of the gate. A man shone a flashlight into my eyes and pointed a shotgun in my face. “What the hell do you want?”

  Jackson leaned into the circle of light. “Let him through, Cody. It’s urgent.”

  The flashlight swiveled to illuminate his chiseled features. The next minute, a motor switched on, and the gate rumbled open. I drove inside with my heart in my mouth.

  I must be the first Kelly ever to lay eyes on Clan Hodges’ main compound. They built these fortified encampments dotting Granite Gorge defended by armed guards twenty-four hours a day. No one dared set foot near them, especially not the local law enforcement.

  Jackson pointed to one of the houses. “Park over there.”

  I switched off the motor and shut off the headlights. Heavy cloud blotted out the moon and stars. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the dark. A low hacienda stretched down one side of the compound. Men carrying guns drifted back and forth inside the fence and around all the buildings. These people took their defense seriously. Maybe Clan Kelly should take a play from their game book.

  Jackson strode over to the hacienda. He entered it without knocking and switched on the light. I looked in on a tasteful living room appointed with leather couches and a hewn wooden coffee table.

  He crossed the room. Then he returned to where I lingered by the door. He grabbed my sleeve and towed me inside. “Come on, man.”

  I hesitated to enter the house. What if the Hodges didn’t welcome me the way Jackson did? What if they considered me an intruder? That would be my worst nightmare. I could end up starting a Clan war with our allies.

  Jackson slid into a darkened hall and pounded his fist on the first door. “Wake up, Dad!” He crossed to another door and hammered on it. “Code Eight, Vince!”

  He traversed the whole hall. He drummed on every door calling out, “Code Eight.”

  In half a second, men stumbled out of the rooms half-dressed. They pulled on their pants and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. A short, sturdy man emerged from the first bedroom and scowled at me. “What is he doing here?”

  Jackson materialized out of the crowd. “This is Luka Kelly, Dad. He’s the one who gave the warning. Luka, this is my dad, Marvin Hodges.”

  “What warning?” Marvin snarled.

  “The Lynches are in the Gorge,” Jackson told him. “They already attacked a group of horsemen at Horseshoe Falls. They’re camped up near Parrot’s Perch. They’re making a play to invade.”

  Marvin ran his fingers through his disheveled grey hair and eyed me on the side. “Does your Pop know you’re up here?”

  “No, Sir,” I replied. “I went home first to tell him, but he’s out of the area on business. I ran into Jackson, and we came up here to confirm.”

  He nodded. “All right, son. You did the right thing. You and Jackson take ten men and go see what’s what. Drive them out or kill them. I don’t care. Get them off our land by any means necessary. Understand?”

  A dozen voices echoed down the hall. “Yes, Sir.”

  Jackson stormed past me, and I fell in behind him. Whatever happened, I had to stick close to him. I couldn’t go off playing John Wayne in another Clan’s territory. It was an honor beyond mentioning that Marvin assigned me to help his Clan run these vermin off their land. I had to stay on my best behavior and do everything by the book.

  None of the posse took weapons with them. They charged out of the hacienda into the dense night. One after the other, they exploded off the ground and vanished into the black sky.

  I jumped and took wing, but even flying at my top speed, I took a few minutes to catch up with them. They whizzed faster than any dragons I ever encountered before. I strained my wings to their utmost just to keep up until I found Jackson at the head of the formation.

  I assumed my place at his wingtip as before, but he didn’t look at me. I might be something special on Smokey Ridge. Here, I was a stranger and an unknown quantity. The way these Hodges dragons flew, I wasn’t even sure I could make myself useful if it came down to a fight. I felt puny and weak and way out of my league.

  Long before we got near the Lynch camp, Jackson plunged straight down. The others flanked him without missing a beat. They rocketed out of the dark until the river came in sight down at the bottom of the canyon. I gulped in fear. They were flying way too fast to avoid crashing into the rocks.

  At the last second, Jackson pulled up. He screamed parallel to the water and hurtled up the Gorge going a mile a minute. The others hung close on his tail flying full speed into the forest.

  Never in a million years would I have taken a risk like that, but none of the Hodges hesitated. They streaked around tree trunks and dodged branches. They never disturbed a single pine needle, much less snapped any twigs in their headlong flight.

  I had no choice but to fall back to avoid injuring myself. They got farther ahead, but I no longer cared about proving myself. If I came out of this alive, I would be more than happy.

  I couldn’t gauge our location on the ground. I didn’t know Granite Gorge well enough from the air to figure out where Jackson and I had seen the Lynches. I could only trust the Hodges to find their way. They knew their Gorge as well as I knew the Ridge.

  Just then, I caught sight of a blink of light up ahead. The next thing I knew, the whole forest exploded in fire. The Hodges burst out of the woods and devastated the camp with flame.

  All over the site, men jumped to their feet, only to fall victim to the dragons before they could act. The flames caught seedlings and dry grass on the ground around their feet. The light revealed dragon bodies circling the spot and spitting their sulfurous breath on their enemies.

  I flew out of the canopy and joined the onslaught. A few of the Lynches managed to shift befo
re they died along with their friends. They took wing and rounded on their foes ready to defend themselves.

  I couldn’t recognize any of them in the confusion. I banked to make another pass, but the Hodges already rained destruction on the camp and everyone in it. I wish I could say I helped kill those Lynch bastards, but by the time I got there, the job was done.

  One enormous red monster came to rest at the center of the inferno. The fire racing up the tree trunks didn’t touch his scaly hide. He arched his neck to glare at his adversaries. He screamed his challenge to anyone who would face him.

  A massive green lizard descended from the night sky to land in front of him. My blood pounded in my ears when I recognized Jackson. Only he would have the balls to face down one of the Lynches alone. The others knew to stay clear and keep to their flock for protection.

  Jackson strutted from side to side and cracked his long tail in menacing fury. He narrowed his eyes at the enemy, and the two dragons sized each other up for battle.

  Without warning, the Lynch dragon lunged for him. He snapped his teeth, and Jackson barely darted out of the way in time. Jackson whipped his head around and hammered a blistering jet of fire against his enemy’s side, but it did no good.

  I soared in a circle around the pair. A sinking pit of dread gnawed my insides, but I dared not intervene. Both dragons dwarfed me by a mile. No way would I be strong enough to confront either of them.

  Marvin told us to get rid of them. He didn’t say to get into a blood match with them, but Jackson wouldn’t listen to me or anybody else. He had a point to prove with this, even if he lost his life doing it.

  The red dragon reared and screeched to the skies, but Jackson kept up his barrage to hold his adversary on the defensive. The red dragon wheeled, but instead of attacking Jackson head-on, he writhed around in an arc. He twisted his neck high and then, without warning, he ducked down low to swoop under Jackson’s chin. He bit and sank his jaws into Jackson’s foreleg.