Angel wanted to scream, but her voice was frozen in her throat. The beast glided toward her, growing ever closer and ever more frightening. She had nowhere to go, but she’d be damned if she would sit there. If she was going to die, she’d die trying to escape. She looked down, searching for a soft place to land. She was up on the balls of her feet, ready to make the leap, when a shot rang out and the creature in the air shrieked.
Two more shots rang out, one tearing a gash in one of the creature’s winglike membranes and causing it to veer off into the woods. The second shot caught it in its belly, and it tumbled to the ground and thrashed about in pain.
The creature at the bottom of the tree cocked its head, sniffed the air, then tore off down the path toward the sound of the gunshots. As Angel watched, another shot came seemingly out of nowhere, pinging off its skull and tearing a ragged hole in its frill. It hissed and kept moving. The thing was tough.
Another shot rang out, the bullet striking the beast in the foreleg, and she thought she saw a muzzle flash in the middle of the pathway, but that couldn’t be. There was nothing there, but somehow she knew who had come to her rescue.
“Maddock!” she shouted. Suddenly, all the fear and uncertainty of the past few days overwhelmed her, and she burst into tears. Crap! She didn’t want Maddock to see her acting girly, but right now, she couldn’t help herself.
The creature continued to charge, ignoring its wounded leg. Angel wanted to help, but what could she do without a weapon? As the tears welled in her eyes, the world became a kaleidoscope, where a myriad of crystallized lizard beasts attacked an invisible assailant.
Two more shots rang out. She didn’t see where the first one struck, but the second one did the job, catching the beast in the eye and dropping it in its tracks. Ten feet down the path, the air rippled and Maddock appeared, holding a pistol in one hand and a weird-looking knife in the other.
Sobbing and laughing, Angel shimmied down the trunk of the tree and, by the time she hit the ground, he was there. She wanted to save face by saying something sarcastic but, before she could open her mouth, Maddock swept her up in his arms and kissed her. She kissed him back, the way she’d wanted to for years. He broke the kiss all too soon, and she was suddenly aware of the sounds of more of the lizard things approaching from all directions.
“I love you,” she blurted.
“Yes you do.” He winked and smiled, and she punched him in the chest.
“Ass.” She kissed him again. “You were, like, invisible. How...”
“Not now. We need to get out of here.” He took her hand and turned to lead her back in the direction from which he’d come, and froze. Two beasts barred the way. “The other way, I guess. Hop on my back.”
“I can run,” she protested.
“Just do it. I’ll explain later.”
She saw no point in arguing. She hopped up on his back and, as they headed along the path back toward the castle, something strange happened. The air shimmered around them and the world got weird for a second.
“What did you do?”
“The knife is a cloaking device.” If he was feeling any strain from the added burden of her weight, he didn’t let it show. He kept up a steady pace, though she could hear the beasts on their tail coming closer.
She was about to steal a look behind them when she saw one of the beasts leap from a tree up ahead and come soaring at them. She called out a warning, but Maddock had already leveled his pistol and fired two shots. Both of them caught it in the wing and sent it spinning into the trees. Now she looked back.
“Maddock, I think they can smell us, and probably hear us. They’ve almost caught up!”
He quickened his pace.
Angel held her breath as the castle appeared in the distance. Would they make it?
“Come on, come on,” Corey urged as he waited for Jimmy’s program to worm its way into the cracks of Modron’s security system. It hadn’t taken this much time at the museum. Surely it wouldn’t be much longer. He wondered how Bones and Maddock were faring. If he couldn’t break into the system, they might not be able to get out again. No, he couldn’t think that way.
He looked down at the spinning icon that indicated the program was still at work and tried to hurry it along by tapping the screen. Waste of time, he knew, but he hated this impotent feeling.
Just then, he heard voices close by, and the cargo area was suddenly bathed in sound and light as someone rolled up the back door. They were finally getting around to unloading the truck. Corey performed a few mental calculations. If it was only a couple of guys and they worked slowly, he might have ten minutes before they found him.
He was keenly aware of the weight of the pistol on his hip. He wasn’t much of a shot. Heck, he didn’t even know what kind of gun Tam had given him, but he would have surprise on his side. No way they’d be expecting an armed geek to be hiding here. Maybe he could get them first. He’d have to try.
Heart racing and palms sweating, he sat back and waited, hoping the computer, or Maddock and Bones, or both, would hurry up.
“You sent my sister out there with those things?” Bones snapped. “You’re dead.”
“No! I was trying to help her escape,” Jacob protested. “I couldn’t take her out the front door, so her only chance was the security gate in the back. The dragons don’t attack unless the signal is sounded. I thought she could make it.”
“What security gate? This whole place is walled and fenced in.”
“There’s a hidden gate in the wall at the far end of the property. Morgan thought it would give people a sporting chance against her children, as she calls the dragons. The path leads directly to it. You can’t see it from the outside.”
“How many people have made it out?”
“The next one will be the first.” Hands still outstretched, Jacob slowly turned to face Bones, who kept his Glock trained on the man’s head. “I don’t expect you to trust me, but you’ll need me to get you past the security system if you want to go after her.”
Bones knew Jacob was right.
“Fine, but consider this an audition for the rest of your life. You do anything else to piss me off, I’ll kill you, and I just might shoot you in the gut first. You know, to make sure it hurts.”
Jacob nodded and, hands on his head, led Bones back the way they had come.
“The suit of armor hides a passageway leading out,” he explained, “and there’s a security gate at the end. I have to put in a code to open them.”
They turned a corner and Jacob stopped short, his hands falling limply to his sides. The suit of armor was swinging open of its own accord. Behind it, Bones saw a gate slowly rising, and daylight glimmered beyond. Jimmy had done it!
He clubbed Jacob in the temple with the butt of his Glock and dashed past him before the man hit the ground. Maybe he’d just been knocked unconscious, maybe Bones had scrambled the guy’s brains. He didn’t care about anything but finding Angel.
He dashed out of the tunnel onto a manicured lawn. The overcast afternoon gave everything a dull, gray overtone, matching his mood. He ran toward the distant forest and the path Angel had taken. He was a hundred yards away when three dragons burst forth from the forest, making a beeline for him. He dropped to one knee and took aim.
“Bones! Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” Maddock’s voice came from somewhere in front of him, but where was he?
Then it clicked in Bones’ mind. The dagger! Maddock was cloaked. Bones concentrated on the space between him and the charging dragons and, in an instant, he spotted it. A rippling outline, like heat rising in the desert, coming right at him. Now that he knew where Maddock was, he took aim again at the dragons, who were gaining ground fast.
“He said don’t shoot, you assclown!” It was Angel. Maddock had found her.
“Relax. I got this,” he shouted as relief spread through him.
“Go for the legs!” Maddock shouted.
Bones took careful aim and fired two shots at the closest dragon. One bullet found its mark and the dragon shrieked and stumbled, but got right back up again and continued its pursuit. The other two dragons quickly overtook their wounded counterpart, and Bones stepped up his rate of fire. Most of his shots deflected off their solid skulls or grazed their tough hides, but a few were on target, and soon all three were hobbling along, slowed, but still relentless in the pursuit of their prey.
Suddenly, Maddock appeared, carrying Angel on his back.
“Let’s move!” he shouted. He slowed long enough for Angel to hop down, and the three of them headed for the open gate.
“Corey took control of the security system,” Bones said, “but who knows how long he can keep it?”
“Just lead the way.” Maddock was clearly winded from the run, but he kept pace with Bones, as did Angel.
“Take the dagger,” Maddock said to Angel. “Press the butt to activate the cloaking mechanism. Don’t argue. Just stay close and, if it comes to a fight, don’t get in our line of fire.”
To Bones’ surprise, Angel did as Maddock said without a word of complaint. Moments later, she vanished. Bones thought he’d never get used to that. It was too creepy.
As he ran, he ejected his Glock’s magazine, which was nearly spent, and replaced it with a fresh one. He had a feeling he was going to need it.
“The cameras just shut off,” Morgan said. She clicked the mouse a few times, but nothing happened.
Locke circled around behind her desk, grateful for the distraction. They had discussed his failures at length, and he had grown weary of the conversation. He knew he was still useful to Morgan, but she was very unhappy with him right now.
“It’s probably your computer,” he said. “Try shutting it down and restarting it.”
The computer was in the process of rebooting when he realized they had greater problems than a frozen computer. A loud popping sound came from somewhere in the distance.
“Are those gunshots?” Morgan rose from her chair, a little slower than normal, and tapped a button on her phone. “Jacob, where are you?”
No reply.
“Jacob, can you hear me?”
Still no answer.
Locke heard another rapid burst of gunfire, and then all was eerily quiet. He hurried to the window and looked out. The forest was alive with dragons. They charged out of the woods or launched from the trees, all headed for the castle. What the hell was going on?
Then he spotted three dragons hobbling across the lawn. They had clearly been injured. But by whom? He knew immediately.
“We’ve been infiltrated by Dane Maddock.”
Bones led them through a series of twists and turns, moving deeper into the heart of the castle. They made their way without encountering resistance but, when they reached the underground garage where Bones had left the truck, Morgan’s men were ready.
A torrent of bullets zipped through the space where Maddock’s head had been only a moment before. He hit the ground, rolled, and came up firing. One man went down, but the other retreated into the truck’s cargo bay, took up a defensive position, and continued firing. Maddock cursed. It would take time to dig this guy out- time they didn’t have.
He was about to tell Angel to give him the dagger when a single shot rang out. Seconds later, a stunned-looking Corey appeared at the back of the truck. He dangled a pistol loosely at his side. He looked at them in shocked amazement.
“I got him.”
“Hell yeah!” Bones shouted as they dashed for the truck. “I’m driving.” He ran to the left side of the cab and cursed when he remembered he wasn’t in America.
Maddock took the wheel and fired up the engine while Angel joined Corey in the back. Tires squealed as he stepped on the gas and the truck peeled out of the garage. In the rear-view mirror, he saw a body go tumbling out- the man Corey had shot. As they barreled down the long drive, Maddock was pleased to see the security gate standing open. Corey’s hack had done the trick.
He was not pleased, however, to see armed men barring the way, and others dashing across the moor in hot pursuit. Modron’s grounds suddenly resembled an upset anthill. Shots rang out, and bullets pinged off the sides of the truck. Bones returned fire, sending the attackers diving for cover. Up ahead, the gate guards leveled their weapons at the oncoming vehicle...
...and went down in a heap.
Matt and Willis had entered the fight. They now turned their fire on the rest of Morgan’s security force. Surprised by this new development, many of them retreated, while others went down, never to rise again. At the gate, Maddock slowed down so Willis and Matt could climb inside.
They continued firing at the remaining security guards, keeping them at bay. For a moment, Maddock thought they were home free, but then a new threat reared its head. A group of riders on motorcycles shot down the drive and fell in behind the truck. As they gained on the vehicle, they drew weapons and began to fire.
Maddock yanked the wheel hard to the left, then back to the right, zigzagging across the road.
“You’re making it kind of hard for us to shoot back!” Bones shouted. He leaned out the window and fired off a shot at the pursuing motorcycles.
Maddock glanced back and had to laugh as folding tables came flying out of the back of the truck and tumbled across the road. Angel and Corey must be unloading the remainder of the cargo. The motorcycles scattered, one rider losing control and skidding off the road.
One biker managed to skirt the flying furniture and accelerate past Matt and Willis’ line of fire and, as he drew even with Maddock, he raised his weapon. Before he could pull the trigger, Maddock kicked the driver’s side door open, sending him tumbling off the road. Behind them, the tables kept flying, followed by chairs. Two more bikers crashed and another fell to gunfire. After that the pursuit melted away. Maddock turned to Bones and managed a grin.
“We did it. Now, call Tam and tell her we’re ready for a pickup.”
Locke stopped his bike on the side of the road, dismounted, and went to check on his men. It galled him that Maddock had gotten away, but a squad of men on motorcycles stood little chance against men who could aim and fire from the back of a truck. He also had to admit that pitching the tables and chairs onto the roadway had been resourceful, and it had been the girl who had done it.
For a moment, he considered following them on his own, but the appearance of a helicopter landing atop a tor farther up the road told him he’d missed his chance.
He smiled, in spite of the grim circumstances. He hadn’t lost them entirely. As long as the girl remained alive, he could track their every move.