by Nina Croft
“Yeah, Cole here.”
Lily paused. She should have thought through what she was going to say first.
“Hello?” He sounded annoyed. “Look, whoever this is it had better be good because you just woke me up.”
“Detective Cole?”
“Who is this?”
“It’s Lily Palmer. We met—”
“I remember.” He was silent for a moment. Lily could almost hear his mind ticking. “What is it you want, Lily?”
“Have you found the men who kidnapped me?”
“Not yet, we’re still working on it. Lily, are you with Mal?”
She glanced down at the unconscious man. “Sort of.”
“What the hell does ‘sort of” mean? Can you put him on?”
“No.”
“No. What the…?” He obviously thought better of whatever it was he was going to say. She could hear him breathing hard. “Lily, tell me what’s happened.”
“Mal’s collapsed. He’s unconscious.”
“Did you hit him over the head with anything?”
She almost smiled. “Not this time. Look, can you get over here?”
“Where are you?”
She gave him the name of the hotel and the room number.
“That’s a couple of hours away, but I’ll speak to the local force and get somebody to you quicker.”
“I don’t think Mal would want that. I don’t think he’d want anyone else involved. It’s why I phoned you. And if it makes it any easier to get away, we saw your suspects last night.”
“Lily, what going on there?”
She shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. What was she supposed to tell him, that Mal was a dragon, she was a princess, and they’d just been attacked by a bunch of sorcerers? Yeah, she could see that going down well. “Mal will no doubt tell you what he thinks you need to know when he wakes up.”
“Mal will tell me? Why can’t you tell me? You’re not planning on going somewhere, are you? You stay there. I’ll be with you soon. Just wait for me.”
“I’m leaving as soon as I put the phone down. Just get here and take care of Mal. And Detective Cole?”
“Yeah?”
“Whatever Mal has told you, it’s not true. He doesn’t work for any government agency.”
“Lily, I’ve known him for years.”
“That just means he’s lied to you for years. And Detective Cole, ask Mal about dragons.”
“Dragons? What the…”
Lily smiled and put the phone down. Hopefully, she’d got some payback there. With a bit of luck Cole would at least give Mal a hard time when he woke. Provided Mal was still here in a couple of hours’ time. The detective was going to be pissed if he got out of his warm bed, made the long drive, and Mal was gone. She wished she’d kept the cuffs.
She took one last peek at him and left the room, pulling the door closed and flipping over the do not disturb sign. Not that anyone was likely to at three in the morning. A quick flash of guilt shot though her. What if the sorcerers found him now, alone and unconscious? But Mal had been sure they hadn’t been followed, and she’d done what she could. She’d called his friend, what more did he expect?
She had to look out for herself.
Lily got in the car and drove. She wasn’t sure why, but she continued heading north as they had been before the stop.
The reason came to her after a couple of hours. North to where it had all begun. She’d been thinking it had started when she’d woken and first seen Mal, but that wasn’t the case. It had started three days ago at the standing stones.
It all came back to the standing stones. The portal as Mal had called them. She had to find out more, and Joe had told her he knew a man who was an expert. Some old local professor who had spent his life studying the stones. Maybe he would be able to tell her nothing of use, but at least it was a plan, a place to start, and what was the alternative? Wandering around aimlessly, until one of the bad guys eventually tripped over her.
She was free, she had money, she had a car, she had loads of weapons—most of which she hadn’t a clue how to use—and she had a plan. Life was good. Well maybe not good, but at least it was marginally better than it had been for the last forty-eight hours.
***
Mal had no clue where he was apart from the fact that he was on the floor and bloody uncomfortable. What the hell was he doing on the floor? Then the whole thing came back.
The fight at the farmhouse, his use of magic, and finally—Lily.
Shit.
He could have sworn she was about to turn. He had done the only thing he could, and drawn in her fire, but the effort had taken more power than he’d had left.
He’d fainted.
Fainted?
Dragons didn’t faint. He just hoped he hadn’t been out long. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Lily,” he called.
“I’m afraid not,” a masculine voice replied. Not Lily then. Mal stared at the ceiling a bit more. He had a horrible feeling things were about to get a whole lot worse.
“Mal?”
He came up on one elbow and looked at the man in the chair.
“What does Mal stand for anyway?” Cole asked. “You don’t look much like a Malcolm.”
“Malachite,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I remember now. Isn’t that like a lump of rock?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Hey,” Cole said, “don’t get grumpy with me, Sleeping Beauty. I got out of a nice warm bed and drove over two hours to get here.”
“Why?”
“Because your lady friend said you needed me, and you know how us cops love to feel needed, especially in the middle of the night.”
Mal sat up, raking his hair back and rolling his shoulders to ease the stiffness, but he realized he felt better. He unwound the bandage from his wrist and found the wound almost healed, just a clean red line.
“We didn’t move you,” Cole said. “We couldn’t—too heavy. But the doctor said you’d be okay where you were.”
“Doctor?”
“Yeah, Lily said you’d collapsed, so I called a doctor.”
“Lily phoned you?
Cole nodded.
Mal glanced around the room, but they were alone. “Where is she?”
“Long gone.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “How long exactly is ‘long gone’?”
“Well,” Cole said peering at his watch. “She phoned just after two-thirty and said she was on her way out. It’s now after five.”
“Shit,” he said again. He had to find her. She was unprotected. There was a whole load of sorcerers after her, and that was just the good stuff. Hell, she’d almost turned. What would happen if it occurred again, and he wasn’t there to control it?
Pushing off the blanket, he stood up losing his towel in the process, which appeared to be the only thing he was wearing. Ignoring Cole’s expression of surprise, he stalked to the bathroom. He found his clothes and pulled them on—at least the blood was dry. His short knife was also there and he strapped it around his waist.
Cole was still sitting in the chair when he came out. “You want some breakfast while we talk?” he asked picking up the phone.
Mal’s first instinct was to get out of there and after Lily, but he had no idea what her next move might be. He was sure she wouldn’t involve anyone else—she knew how dangerous these people were, and she had no contacts in his world. What could she do? Why had she run off? She must have known he would die protecting her.
Yeah, a little voice whispered in his head, right up until the point where you handed her over to that asshole, Vortigen.
If he’d done what he should have, and not told her anything of Vortigen’s true nature, would she still have run? But he’d had to tell her. He couldn’t let her meet him without some forewarning. It was irrelevant now. He had to find her. Cole could help with that, and besides, he was ravenous. “Yeah,” he said. “Order me two full breakfasts and two pots of c
offee. Large.”
Cole raised an eyebrow but called in the order. “So,” he said, putting down the phone. “What’s going on?”
“First, I think you should call in my vehicle, see if we can’t locate Lily.”
“Your vehicle?”
“The keys are gone. I presume she’s taken it. Tell them to find her, but don’t apprehend.”
“Why?”
“She’s not only taken my vehicle, she’s taken everything in it.”
Cole’s eyes widened as he took in the implications of that. “She’s got weapons?”
“Just a few,” he replied dryly. “On the up side, I don’t think she knows how to use them.”
“Jesus,” Cole muttered. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Exactly, and I don’t want Lily harmed if it comes to a shootout. So just tell them to call it in if it’s seen.”
“Okay, give me the details.”
He got up and made the call, then turned to face Mal. “What happened? What was wrong with you?”
Mal shrugged. “I was tired. I guess I just passed out.”
Cole frowned. “Yeah, I know, and if you tell me what really happened, you’d have to kill me. That excuse is getting a little worn out.” He paused. “Lily said you don’t work for the government.”
“And you believe her?”
“No. You’ve got way too many inside contacts, and too high up, not to be in there somewhere, but I’d love to know why Lily thinks you’re not, and just what her involvement is in all this. All I can think of is terrorists, but she doesn’t fit the profile in any way.”
“Lily’s innocent. She just has some information that a few people would kill to get. My job is to keep her safe until she can give it to the proper person.”
“And that would be?”
“No one you know.”
The detective appeared about to argue, but at that moment there was a knock on the door. Room service. Mal sat down, and started eating. Cole watched in silence, and then picked up his own fork. “Lily said you ran into my suspects last night.”
“Just how long were the two of you on the phone? I’m finding it hard to believe I actually slept through all this.”
“Long enough.” Cole shrugged. “So, my suspects—talk.”
“I arranged to hand over Lily last night, and we were ambushed at the meeting site.”
“Which was where?”
Mal gave directions to the farmhouse. He had no reason to hide it. The sorcerers would have cleaned the place up. They had no more wish than Mal to draw attention to themselves.
“And my suspects were among the people ambushing you?”
“I don’t know,” Mal replied. “I’ve never seen them before. But Lily seemed pretty certain that she saw the men who had picked her up.” He finished his first cup of coffee, and poured a second. He was feeling better. He wanted to get out there. Find Lily. Save Lily. He glanced up to find Cole watching him, his expression more than a little uncomfortable. “What?”
“Lily said something else. I’m just a little conflicted about bringing it up.”
Mal shrugged. “Go ahead.”
“She said to ask you about dragons.”
“What about them?”
“How the hell should I know what about them? She just said to ask you.”
Mal shrugged again. “She’s under a lot of strain.”
Cole studied him, lips pursed. “And that’s all you’re going to say on the subject?”
“What do you want me to say?”
Cole rubbed a hand over his face. “I get the feeling that there is a lot more going on here than anybody is telling me.”
“And you think it’s got to do with dragons.”
“No, I don’t fucking think it’s got anything to do with fucking dragons,” Cole snarled. He took a deep breath, then another. “Sorry, but Lily’s not the only one under a lot of strain. I lost two good men, Mal, and twenty-four hours later, I am no fucking closer to finding out who did it. Or why.”
His phone rang. He picked it up and listened. When he put it down, he was smiling. “Our girl’s been spotted. She’s heading north on the motorway. Come on.”
“Where are you going?” Mal asked suspiciously. He did not require company.
“Well unless you’re planning to walk after her, I’m coming with you. Or rather you’re coming with me as it’s my car we’ll be driving.”
Mal gave in to the inevitable.
Chapter 9
Lily pulled into the car park of a roadside cafe and closed her eyes. She didn’t dare sleep. Her only hope was to keep ahead of whoever might be behind her. Plus, she had to phone Joe. The clock on the dashboard showed it was just after seven, but he was a farmer, and they always got up early. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and climbed out of the car. Stretching, she reveled in the warmth of the newly risen sun.
She punched Joe’s number into her phone, and he picked up straightaway.
“Joe, it’s Lily—Lily Palmer. I wanted to ask you a favor.”
She explained what she wanted and Joe was more than willing to help. He seemed quite excited about the whole thing.
“I’ll give the professor a call,” he said. “I’m sure he’ll see us. He loves talking to anyone who’ll listen about the stones.”
A pang of unease went through her. She hated involving anyone else in this, but after all, they were going to visit some harmless old eccentric whom Joe had known all his life. What could go wrong?
After arranging to meet in an hour’s time outside the pub in the village, she sat down on the grass verge enjoying the warmth of the sun. Without letting herself think too hard, she pulled the card with Cole’s number from her pocket, and punched it into her cell.
“Detective Cole?”
“Lily,” he replied. “Where the hell are you?”
She ignored his question. “I just wanted to know if Mal was okay.”
Cole was silent, and Lily’s heart started to pound.
“Yeah, he’s okay,” Cole said after a moment. “He’s sitting right next to me, and he’s not happy.”
Lily was sure that was a huge understatement. Suddenly, she grinned. Mal was okay. Despite the fact that she’d pushed it to the back of her mind, the worry had been there, nagging away at her as she drove. Though why she should worry about somebody who was quite happy to hand her over to a “fate worse than death” she didn’t understand.
Okay, maybe she understood a little. He’d kissed her back at the farmhouse. Kissed her like he cared, like no one had ever kissed her before. For a brief moment, in his arms, she’d felt like she belonged.
Then everything had gone to shit.
“Lily? Are you still there?”
“Yes. Did you ask him about dragons?”
“Yeah, he said you were under a lot of strain. So are you going to tell me where you are?”
“No.”
“Lily?” It was Mal, and warmth ran over her skin. “Just tell us where you are right now, and we’ll come and get you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I know you’re heading to the stones, Lily. Don’t go near them. They’re dangerous.”
She didn’t answer.
“Lily, where are you?” When she still didn’t answer, he sighed. “Just don’t go near them. We’ll be there in a couple of hours.”
She put the phone down without saying anything further. What could she say? Anyway, she wasn’t too worried. After all, she had no intention of going anywhere near the stones. And talking about them couldn’t hurt—she’d just get what information she could, and get out of there.
Joe waited outside the pub chatting with the landlady. He glanced across and grinned as Lily pulled up. After switching off the engine, she climbed out and walked toward them.
“Hi,” she murmured. She held out her hand, but Joe pulled her to him and gave her a hug.
“Lily,” he said. “I thought we wouldn’t see you again.”
“Hoped you wouldn’t, you mean. Don’t worry,” she said. “If we’re lucky, you won’t have to carry me anywhere today.”
“I don’t mind.”
She smiled. “So, did you manage to arrange it?”
“Yes. He’s expecting us sometime this morning.”
They went to the meeting in her car, or rather Mal’s. She didn’t want to leave it outside the pub, where Mal and his detective pal would spot it the moment they arrived in the village.
Joe gave her directions, and they drove through twisting back roads, only wide enough for one vehicle, overhung by huge old trees. Luckily, they met nothing coming the other way, and after thirty minutes, they arrived at a set of metal gates. They stood open, and Lily drove through, and then pulled up in front of a beautiful old manor house. It wasn’t what she’d expected. Neither was the man who came out to meet them.
He was of medium height, slender, around fifty, with blue-grey eyes that gleamed with suppressed excitement. There was something familiar about him. Lily frowned but couldn’t place it.
He proffered a hand to her as she got out the car. His palm felt cool in hers, or rather, hers felt hot, and she snatched it back. He didn’t appear offended, if anything, his smile widened.
Joe came around the car to stand beside her. “Professor, this is Lily Palmer. I spoke to you about her.”
“Please,” he said, “call me Weyland. And I shall call you Lily, if I may.”
“Of course. Did Joe tell you what I wanted?”
“Yes. I must admit I was a little surprised until Joe told me of your background. Then I was fascinated. Why don’t you come into the house and we can talk?”
He led them through the front door, along a dark hallway and into a large study lined with books. Pictures covered the walls, and Lily’s eyes widened. Dragons. They were everywhere. Her hand moved to touch her right shoulder. The professor caught the movement and smiled.