ALEXANDER WAITED FOR THE GIRL TO return home from his seat on the dragon’s back. Since nightfall, they had hovered a safe distance above the Intracoastal waterway directly behind Cassidy’s house. The wind currents at that height allowed Gothrodul to remain relatively steady with nothing more than the occasional shift of his broad wings.
What if she doesn’t return home? the dragon asked.
Alexander patted the sleek, scaled neck. “Patience, my friend, she will return. In the meantime, I have another matter to address.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, and tapped in a number. “The twit had better answer.”
“H…he…hello?”
“Oh, man up, Revost. I have a job for you.”
“Alex? Is that you? I hardly ever get a call.”
Alexander rolled his eyes and the dragon’s sides heaved in laughter.
“Yes, Revost, it is Alexander.”
“Brother, it’s been so long.” Revost took a deep breath. “I haven’t talked to you for ages. I didn’t think this phone worked anymore. How is Florida? I bet it’s nice.”
“Revo—”
“It snows here every day and it’s cold, but the cold is good for the machines. They like it. They told me they did. When are you coming to visit me?”
“Revos—” Alexander slid more power into his voice, tried to break through the ceaseless chatter.
“Fall is a nice time in the Yukon, Alex. You can come then. I’ll turn up the heat a little, but not too much. The machines will be unhappy if I do. They don’t work well if they’re unhappy. Oh, I got another character to level ninety. A hunter. He has a big crab for a pet. I named him Cra—”
“REVOST.”
“Yes, Alex?”
“I need your help.”
“Do you need information? Money? Credit? A robot? I like to build robots.”
Alexander bit his tongue. Dealing with Revost always took far longer than it needed to so he did it sparingly.
“We have an enemy.”
“Ohhhhh, another bad person out to harm father’s company?” A dangerous change came over the voice on the other end of the phone. “You want me to clean them, right?”
Clean. I would think erase or delete would be more accurate.
“Yes. One Cassidy Sinclair.”
“C.a.s.s.i.d.y. That’s a pretty name.”
A quick series of clicks sounded through the phone.
“There are over four thousand Cassidy Sinclairs in the United States, Alex. Which one?”
“The one in Florida, Revost, near Tampa.”
Alexander rubbed his forehead and checked the house for a sign that she returned.
More tapping. “Okay. Still have over two hundred references.”
“She works at the Tampa Weekly.”
“Oooh, that will help.” Click. Click. “Got her. She’s beautiful.”
“But evil, Revost.”
“The pretty ones always are, brother. Give me a sec.”
Alexander pictured this odd shadow warrior concentrating with the tip of his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth, fingers flying over the keys. His ability to interface with machines of all makes, models, eras and technologies was nothing short of magic and his father and older brother kept him tied in to every aspect of the global business. He had a backdoor into every corporate system in the world. Revost, and therefore the Gray Lord, knew the major decisions made in every boardroom before the actual members of the board knew.
A car pulled into Cassidy Sinclair’s driveway.
Why do you doubt me, dragon?
She’s not alone, Alexander. The Knight of Earth is with her.
So? It does not change our plans.
“Squeaky clean, Alex. I deleted her credit cards, bank accounts, driver license, school records, social security number, tax ID, pr—”
“Good work, brother. Once again you have foiled the bad guys.” Alexander felt his brother’s pride swell. “Now I must go.”
“So you’ll come visit me, right? Soon?”
“Absolutely.” Alexander terminated the call with his brother and placed one more. He left a short message on Cassidy Sinclair’s answering machine then turned off his phone lest his lonely brother call back to chat.
“Destroy them.”
The dragon banked its wings and dove. Shadowed bands of power strapped Alexander into place against the speed of the near-vertical descent. I hate this part. Air rushed past too quickly to breathe.
“Pull up you stupid beast.” The hard reality of the water came closer. “You will kill us both.”
This, Shadow Lord, is what it feels like to be dragonkind. Gothrodul unfurled his massive wings at the last possible instant and pulled out of the dive low enough to drag the knife-edge tip of its forked tail in the water, trailing a vapor cone in its wake.
Alexander swallowed his stomach, which tried to escape during free-fall, and marshaled his strength. As they’d done hundreds of time in the past, Alexander’s magic would shroud the house in silence while their combined attacks leveled the place.
“On my mark.” Alexander took control. The dragon leveled out ten feet above the surface of the water and closed in on ground zero.
Goodbye, Cassidy Sinclair.
“Mark.”