Never Deal with Dragons (18 page)

I blinked. “What happened?”

“Rime told me that the lab techs—all human—offered the dragon a demonstration of the biomaterial. The presentation went smoothly, and the dragon flew back to the mansion for his report. By the time he reached Hian-puo’s, he was struggling to stay airborne and his lungs were full of liquid. The next day he drowned in his own body fluids. Same thing happened to the next dragon Hian-puo sent.”

I grimaced. Death by drowning was number two on my “Ways I Don’t Wanna Die” list. But if it happened with my own body fluid? I think that might move it up to first place. “So the machine killed him?”

Trian nodded. “Hian-puo had a medical team look at the second dragon immediately before and after exposure. They determined the biomaterial became airborne, and triggered a massive increase of white blood cells near the dragon’s lungs.”

“And I bet Hian-puo didn’t spend much time looking for a treatment.”

“Nope. First thing he did was ‘confiscate’ the prototype, and bully a group of scientists into researching how to turn it into a weapon. According to Rime, the last progress report they sent was dated last week. They said the weapon’s lethal range could be as much as one hundred miles.”

“One hundred!” It could completely annihilate the dragon population in Tulsa, and most of Oklahoma City. The majority of Relobu’s dragon population would be killed within days. “How many machines are out there?”

“As far as I can tell, only one. It was shipped to Budapest three days ago.”

“Does Adelaida know?” Budapest was the seat of the Hungarian dragon lord, Lady Adelaida Toth, former fiancée of Hian-puo. Known for her exquisite yellow color as well as her blatant dislike of the Chinese dragon lord (she’d reportedly discovered a plot by Hian-puo for her assassination on the eve of their marriage), Lady Adelaida was the only thing standing between Hian-puo and the rest of Europe. If Hian-puo managed to destroy her reign, it would allow him almost unimpeded access to conquer all of Eurasia.

“Relobu informed her, and she sent a team to the drop-off point; but the machine never arrived. Hian-puo must have canceled the shipment when he realized Rime was attempting to defect.”

I mulled over the information for a few moments. “So Hian-puo is the only one who can tell us where it is.”

Trian nodded. “I’m on my way down to the basement now.”

I stepped in front of his scaled black body. “No, you’re not. Do you really think Hian-puo will tell you anything at all?”

“I have to try. If we don’t get that information, a lot of dragons will die.”

“You’re right. But I really don’t think you and Hian-puo are as friendly as you think you are.”

I’d seen the hate in Hian-puo’s eyes when he looked at Trian. The old dragon resented Trian—probably because at every turn, Trian had managed to outfox and outmatch the dragon lord. And I couldn’t be certain, but I don’t think Hian-puo knew of Trian’s dragon-morph status before our trip here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trian frightened Hian-puo, simply because the dragon lord was used to being at the pinnacle of the food chain. If dragon-morphs were as rare as Trian said, Hian-puo was likely unnerved by the threat Trian represented.

“I have an idea.” I looked at Trian. “Let me go in, see if I can get him to tell me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because he could kill you.”

I threw up my hands in frustration.

“I get it, okay. You’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m only here because Relobu needed a mediator. Is this another reason you didn’t let me in on your nocturnal activities? Because you didn’t want me to know the truth about what’s going on? What do you think DRACIM will say when they find out I was busy distracting Hian-puo with invitations to mediation sessions while you were breaking into his office? Do you even care that your actions will probably get me fired?” I stood up and paced up and down the stone walkway. I’d been a pawn in another of Trian’s ridiculous assignments.

“Dammit, Myrna! I already told you. I didn’t break into his—”

I held up a hand and kept talking, so furious I could hardly speak. “Hian-puo sees me as harmless, weak.” I shot Trian a glare. “He’s right. He’d be more likely to tell me something and assume I wouldn’t have the brains or the physical strength to follow through on the information.”

“He knows I’m here.”

“So? I don’t think it’ll be too hard to pretend like we’re not getting along so well.”

Trian opened his mouth to argue.

“Don’t even think about it. You’ve done nothing but cause problems for me since the day I took this job. Your way didn’t work—it’s time to try mine.”

* * *

“Well, what do we have here?” Hian-puo purred as he noticed me on the stairs. “They sent me dinner.”

“Not quite.” I looked him over. Unlike Trian, the dragon lord had returned to his human form. He sat, cross-legged, on the worn stone floor with his shoulders hunched.

Trying for the sympathy card, I guess.

I took a moment to look around. The basement looked exactly as I expected for a sociopath’s dungeon. Sparse, badly lit, and with torture instruments dangling with care from the walls. Based on the stains, Hian-puo hosted both human and dragon guests.

Yes. It was creepy.

Dreru’s dragons had placed a shackle around Hian-puo’s neck but left his other limbs free. Which I guess made sense; it was the only part of him that stayed roughly the same circumference in either form. My hand unconsciously drifted to my collarbone. It looked uncomfortable.

I guess he was better at this sympathy thing than I thought.

He returned the examination. “The day didn’t turn out quite like you expected, little girl?” He smiled, settling comfortably against the stone wall.

I ignored his question. “Are you okay?” Hian-puo’s pale skin was streaked with dirt and bruises, and the arm I’d stabbed a knife into was still oozing blood. Why wasn’t he healing? Both he and Trian looked every bit as bad as I did.

He peered down at the injury. “I suppose I’ll survive. What do you think the dragon council will think about a human dragonspeaker attacking a lord?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I assume they’ll tell me good job, when I mention you were trying to kill me.”

He was silent, no doubt trying to find another avenue of attack. “Why don’t you find the key to this,” he pointed a shaky finger to the shackle around his neck, “and I’ll make it worth your time. You can have whatever you want. Money, land, children. Take Jia’s brat. And Jia too. They’ll be my gift to you.”

Well played.
I had to admit he wasn’t all brute strength and violence. He’d noticed my preoccupation with Cai and her mother. But I wasn’t so bad at this game either.

I flicked my eyes toward the stairs. “I can’t help you. Besides, Trian is right outside.”

I squatted down a fair distance away, putting my face at eye level. “How about this? I spoke with Richard. At this exact moment, the dragon council is planning your trial. You tell me where you shipped the bioweapon, and I’ll make sure DRACIM gets involved in your trial defense.”

Hian-puo laughed. “What makes you think I need a group of humans helping me? I’m a dragon lord. Humans hold no sway over my rule.”

“Yeah, well, after the stunt upstairs, you’re about to be an extinct dragon lord. And humans may not have a voice on the dragon council, but with the right PR, we can possibly influence the vote.”

I held up a hand, ticking off the fingers as I named the dragon lords who had regular dealings with humans. “Lord number one, Relobu. He’s well-known in his region for working with humans. Many of his business interests tie back to human-owned companies. Same for Pontal and Sapul.”

I tapped my middle finger. “Lady Adelaida is highly invested in the Paris fashion rebirth, also dominated by humans. Not to mention she not-so-secretly hates your guts. Lady Savitri has mining interests with a major human-run operation in Nepal. Almost every ruler on the council can be swayed by humans if we can find the right buttons to push. If you help me now, I’ll use my standing at DRACIM to make sure your jury is feeling lenient.”

Hian-puo regarded me silently for several moments before slipping his thin tongue to taste the air around me. I should have asked Trian whether Hian-puo could truly ferret out a lie with his taste buds. When he mentioned it earlier, I’d almost laughed. But the thought of a dragon who could walk around as a human had seemed kind of funny yesterday, and here I was with two of them on my hands.

I’d danced a fine line by telling him I’d use my position at DRACIM to help with his case. Emory’s boss hadn’t really wanted DRACIM to be involved with my current assignment. I could only imagine his reaction when he found out I’d offered to defend a murderer.

Whatever the real reasons behind my feelings, Hian-puo was satisfied. He gave me a slow grin.

“Ms. Banks, I accept your offer. On one condition.”

I frowned. “What’s that?”

“I get Rime.”

“Why?”

Hian-puo scanned the room full of torture equipment. “I’ll make him regret stealing from me.” Hian-puo’s face lit up at the thought of punishing his former commander.

“I can’t promise you that. But I will take the offer to Mr. Green.”

“Ms. Banks, I’m sorry, but my position is final.”

“You’d rather die than give up the chance to kill someone?”

The dragon lord’s face went tight with rage. “He stole from me. Nobody steals from me and survives.”

Hian-puo was crazy. I mean, of course, I’d joked about it before, but now I understood that he was truly mad. He didn’t care that the entire dragon council was about to pass judgment on his actions. It was simply inconceivable to him that he would be forced to answer to anyone.

“Like I said, I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s not good enough.” The dragon lord glared at me from the floor.

“I’m sorry. It’s the best I can do.”

I couldn’t turn Rime over to this dragon. Not even to save thousands of other dragons. Rime might be rude, but he’d helped us. He had a family who loved him, and he had taken the first steps to work through his addiction. I’d spent years of my life praying my father would care enough about me, about himself, to try and sober up. It had never happened.

In normal circumstances, Lord Relobu would agree with me. But Rime wasn’t his subject by blood. And there were other dragon lives at stake. I needed to figure out a way to get this information from someone else, or Rime was as good as dead.

Hian-puo roared with rage; all pretenses of the old man had disappeared.

Trian’s voice echoed against the walls. “Myrna! Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine. I’ll be up in a minute,” I shouted back up the stairs.

Hian-puo studied my face, trying to judge my sincerity. “You’ll never find the bomb in time. It’s set to go off in three days.”

Well. That made this a little more difficult. But it didn’t change my mind.

I turned back to Lord Hian-puo. “I’ll get back to you.”

Without a backward glance at the furious dragon lord, I pivoted and climbed the stairs to the main floor.

Chapter Fourteen

“Are you okay?” Trian crouched just at the top of the stairs with his long neck and snout pushed halfway down the hall. “Did he hurt you? I shouldn’t have let you go down there alone.”

I held a finger up to my lips for silence and headed outside. Behind me, Trian mumbled something in dragonspeak, but followed me out the door, limping heavily. Once I was positive Hian-puo could no longer hear our discussion, I turned to Trian.

“I need to get in touch with DRACIM.”

Trian frowned. “We can probably do that. Lord Relobu just arrived with a contingent of dragons.”

He smiled at my obvious surprise. “Relobu tends to micromanage just a bit.” Trian paused, weighing his words. “It wouldn’t hurt if you’d mention you have no intention of selling your story to the news outlets. The dragon-human negotiations are important to him.”

Suddenly, it made perfect sense why Lord Relobu had always been so willing to work with humans. “It’s because of you.” He’d had Trian growing up in his house, and the dragon lord knew that sooner or later, the two races would have to coexist.

Trian nodded. “I imagine his knowledge of my...condition factored into this push. He’s been a father to me in many ways.”

“Then I’ll make sure and assure him of my silence.” I squinted in the direction of the mansion.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Hopefully I’m going to need DRACIM’s help to lean on the dragon council for a more lenient sentence for one of Hian-puo’s generals.

Trian’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hian-puo wants one of his men saved?”

“No. I do. I’m hoping it might loosen his lips.”

He opened his mouth as if to ask something else.

“I’ll answer your question in a minute. Just trust me. I have a way to find out where the weapon is being sent. Does Relobu have any experts on the type of biomaterial? It would help if he had something to track it with, once his team lands in the general area.”

Trian eyed me suspiciously, but nodded his head. “Relobu brought a scientist to look at the papers we found, to see what type of bacteria we’re dealing with. If you can give him the general area where it’s located, he has a sensor that should be able to pinpoint its location.”

“Okay, good. I need to find Hian-puo’s general.”

“Rime’s friend from dinner? No way. It’s too dangerous.”

I wanted to smack him. Of all the patronizing speeches in the world, this one was the most ridiculous. “It’s too dangerous? Trian, this is what I do for a living. I talk to dragons. I figure out what they want, and I figure out a way to get it for them. Right now, I have a bunch of dragon lords who need to find a weapon, and a general who I’m guessing would be perfectly happy to stay alive a bit longer.” I started past him to the barn.

He blew out a frustrated breath. “Look. I’m scared, okay? That fight in the throne room? It was my fault. I put you in danger, and almost got you killed. I’ll never forgive myself for that. You were this close,” he held up two sharp claws, barely a millimeter apart, “to getting your head knocked off by a wooden club.”

“I’m fine. No harm, no foul.”

I was forced to stop walking when Trian rotated until his large scaled body was directly in my path.

“It wasn’t me who broke into Hian-puo’s office. The dragon was lying.”

I wanted to believe him. But these past few days had been a roller coaster for my emotions, only instead of the nice, safe stop at the end of the ride, my heart had fallen from the highest rail and been shattered into a million pieces.

If Trian was lying...I simply couldn’t deal with any more pain. Especially not now. I shoved past him.

But Trian grasped my arm with an enormous claw and swung me around.

“Do you remember what we talked about that night? The night I left?”

It wasn’t hard to remember. The memory of that day had burned into my mind just as deeply as the deaths of my parents. Trian leaving was something that just wouldn’t let me alone, no matter how much I wanted to forget. I remember thinking at the time that it might have been easier if Trian had died in an accident. Because what really hurt was knowing he’d made the choice to leave me.

My voice was dull. “Yes.”

“Tell me.” His eyes were fierce as they met mine.

“I told you about my dad.” It had been a long day at work. We’d had a couple of teenage dragons accidentally burn down a barn while they were roughhousing. The farmer had lost his youngest daughter in the flames. He’d been beyond grief. I’d come home, so happy to find Trian waiting for me. He held me while I told him about how my dad just disappeared emotionally after my mom had died, and I’d told him I didn’t think I could handle that happening again.

Trian nodded. “You told me how your dad started drinking. But do you remember what else?”

“Of course I remember!” I didn’t want to drag my old feelings out, but Trian continued to stare at me with his huge unblinking eyes. I burned with shame at the memory. “I told you there was a part of me that was glad he finally died. That his label as the town drunk would stop rubbing off on me.”

Even now, I remembered how close I’d been watched each and every time I walked into a convenience store. As if the fact that my dad was an addict made the chances that I would steal something shoot through the roof. Or the pitying glances that I received when adults thought I wasn’t looking. The entire town expected that somewhere, somehow, I’d end up sleeping in ditches just like him. Or worse.

When he’d died, I’d jumped at the chance to move away, if only a few miles. And I’d gone the instant I’d been old enough to apply to college, in an effort to show the owners of those wary glances that I was more than they expected me to be.

Trian interrupted my wistful reflection. “Think about it, Myrna. How do you think you would have been treated if it were known you were dating a dragon-morph? Just how well do you think the general human population would take that?”

“Trian! With the picture gone, your secret was safe. Don’t pretend this is about the stupid paperwork. You didn’t just steal from me—you left. Without even asking me how I would feel about it.”

“Relobu thought it would be better if—”

“Exactly. Relobu thought, and you followed. Not only did Relobu’s
thoughts
cause me to almost lose my job, but they also caused my boyfriend to disappear. Don’t stand here and tell me you did it all for my benefit. You had a choice. Your job, or me. You chose the job.”

The sound of wings made us both look up. Lord Relobu’s party had arrived. We watched as ten dragons performed the complicated maneuvers required for group landing on a small site.

Seconds later, the gusts of wind had slowed as all claws hit the ground about two hundred feet away.

“Who’s that?” I asked as a tiny figure tumbled from the back of one of the dragons before disappearing into the tall grass. His head peeped higher than the plants just in time for his stomach to give up its contents. He dry heaved for another few minutes, and then must have sat down, because he was again obscured from view.

Trian put a claw up to shield his eyes. “I think that’s your geneticist. Doesn’t look like he enjoyed the trip.”

I sighed, consciously shaking off the emotions churning just under the surface. “All this vomit. I’m beginning to think it’s me. Dragons, humans—everyone vomits in front of me.”

Trian smiled a toothy grin, but it was short-lived. “Do me a favor? When you go in there, let me set one of my dragons outside the door. He doesn’t have to be visible. I’m not comfortable abandoning you to a barn full of vicious monsters. Most of those dragons willingly followed Hian-puo. Very few of them will be willing to help like Rime.”

I smiled faintly. He wasn’t going to argue about my involvement. “That would be great—thanks.”

“I’ll go brief Relobu.” Trian paused. “And if you’d feel more comfortable, I can ask Richard to assist you in any way that you need.” Meaning Trian would step back and allow me some space. In his mind, the job came first. Always.

“I think that would be for the best.” I couldn’t meet his eyes, afraid that if I did, I’d never be able to let him go.

Before I could say something truly stupid, I headed for the barn.

* * *

I sat across the table from an incredibly handsome man in an outdoor cafe in Budapest. And I’d never been more miserable. I sighed and took another sip of my wine. The stupid sunshine was getting on my nerves. I was jet-lagged and achy. And to top it all off, my nerves were shot.

The general I’d singled out—the brown goat-swallowing dragon from dinner—had been only too willing to spill the beans when I mentioned his help would go a long way toward saving his life during the dragon council trials. He’d told me when, where and how the machine was supposed to make its way to Budapest.

After Lord Relobu thanked me for my help in retrieving the information, he’d gently informed me that I’d be required to provide testimony in Hian-puo’s trial at the dragon council meeting. In typical, fearless dragon fashion, they’d decided to hold the council meeting in the very city where the bomb had been sent. When I’d asked Lord Relobu why, he’d simply given me a confused look, and told me—quite matter-of-factly—that the council wanted to make it clear to their subjects that they would never allow threats to dictate their actions.

Which didn’t make any sense to me at all. Circular reasoning, much?

Richard insisted I make the trip with him in the jet.

The genetics expert was supposed to join us on the flight. But no one—least of all the scientist—had expected he’d experience the world’s worst case of airsickness. Apparently some people didn’t handle open-air dragon flight well, and by the time he’d reached China, it was all the man could do to slide from the dragon’s back to the ground.

It was decided Richard and I would deliver the scientist’s schematics upon our arrival at the airport. Lady Adelaida had promised the team, well-versed in weapons neutralization, would be waiting for us when we hit the ground.

Unfortunately, she’d been wrong. It seemed there’d been a slight delay in the team’s flight schedule. The computer system in their plane had gone out—I guess Lady Adelaida’s maintenance schedule wasn’t as meticulous as Relobu’s—and they’d had to wait on a replacement to be readied before they could make the trip from Paris.

I’d spent the entire flight pouring over the sheaf of papers the scientist had shoved in my hand before we left, trying to interpret his instructions on how to deactivate the device without accidentally arming the weapon.

Just in case.

Richard hadn’t been particularly worried; he didn’t expect it would take more than a half hour before the team was shuffled onto a new plane. But now, after several hours of silence, he’d decided to drive to the drop point to “make sure we have eyeballs on the situation.”

I didn’t tell him our eyeballs were as useless as a screen on a submarine. If it made him feel better, then so be it.

We only had one shot to find this machine. If not, Hian-puo would succeed in sending earth on a collision course with total destruction. If this machine was activated in Adelaida’s territory, she’d have no choice but to declare war against Hian-puo. And despite the Chinese dragon lord’s obvious insanity, he had a lot of dragons who’d be more than willing to meet Adelaida’s reaction with some attacks of their own.

It would be a full-scale dragon war.

My mind conjured an image of the planet hurtling through space toward a massive fire-breathing dragon. Thank you very much for that mental picture.

As the minutes ticked by with no word from the team, I mentally kicked myself for turning down Trian’s help. Who did I think I was? I had no experience chasing down nefarious criminals with world destruction on their agendas. Trian had promised me he would fly to Budapest as soon as he was able, but with his wing in such bad shape, he’d be forced to stay in dragon form until it healed and I wasn’t sure how long that would be.

And we still hadn’t been able to get information on the exact location of this hastily assembled group of specialists.

My nerves must have been showing, because I glanced up to find Richard watching me with worried eyes.

“Myrna, what is it? Did you see something?”

“No. It’s nothing. Just my imagination running wild.” I glanced at my watch for the thousandth time. When people said stakeouts seemed to last forever, they hadn’t been joking. It was even worse trying to sit still with worry eating a hole in the lining of my stomach.

I recrossed my legs and shifted in my chair. If there were Hian-puo agents nearby, my motions were screaming “spy.” Either that, or they were screaming overactive bladder.

“Here. Have a bit more wine.” Richard handed me a glass he must have refilled while I was rubbing a hole through my chair.

I accepted the drink gratefully, raising the red liquid to my mouth for a sip. I studied the other restaurant guests suspiciously. I hadn’t decided whether the eighty-year-old woman or the three-year-old girl were more likely to be involved in a plot to kill a quarter of the world’s dragon population.

The little girl pouted when her mother took the spoon she’d been banging against a plate.

Yes. Definitely the girl. Anger management issues were always the first sign of a life of crime.

“Hmph. The waiting is driving me crazy.” I looked at Richard. “Still no word from Relobu or Trian?”

I wasn’t the only one worried. Richard’s face was lined with the same signs of fatigue. “Nothing.”

“Well then. Talk to me. How are you and Carol? You guys seem to be getting along really well.”

It was terribly obvious that they were getting along just fine, but I figured the disgust I’d feel hearing him gush over my best friend would take my mind off the waiting.

He smiled. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Ha. But you don’t mind publicly comparing Carol’s boobs to enormous dragon heads.”

“No comment.” He grinned and tipped his wineglass in my direction. “You’re one to talk. Ever since DRACIM, you and Trian have been walking pheromone clouds. How’s that working out?”

I scowled, because only an idiot could have missed the way Trian and I had been tiptoeing around each other since our “discussion,” and Richard was no idiot. “No comment.” I looked at my watch again.