Dragon Deception (12 page)

"Can you transport all of us to the rally point?" Stockton asked.

"If we're finally ready to go?" Dane couldn't help adding his own disapproving growl—a lot less impressive than Nickel's since he didn't have the proper vocal cords for it, but still strong enough to emphasize his own unhappiness—into the mix. "Everyone who's going needs to stand up and come closer to me."

Dane sucked in more magic and then let it flow around all the people gathered. It took a second to weave them all into his usual transportation spell—without them touching him, he needed the extra effort—and then the conference room vanished around them.

They reappeared in a small parking lot about four blocks around the corner from the warehouse. The area was a mix of industrial and residential with apartments above crumbling storefronts directly adjacent to the warehouse. It wasn't a great part of town, another strike against the façade that the warehouse was being used to securely house police evidence, but the increased police presence would hopefully keep everyone safe until they could leave again.

Things moved quickly once everyone was present and accounted for. Nickel and Dane were placed in the middle of the SWAT team breaking through the front door. A second team was circling the back of the warehouse with Mercury and a pair of witches. Everything was timed so Dane's team arrived at the front door at the same time that Mercury's was arriving at the back. The man in front of the group holding the battering ram stepped forward on time to match the man with the same job at the back door. He swung, and the ram hit the door with a hollow gong sound. Runes flared brightly along the ram as the man pulled it back and thrust it forward again. This time when it hit, the runes swirled and rammed into the door along with the more mundane metal. Dane smelled a whiff of tainted magic as the runes fought against whatever was protecting the door.

An amazing bit of spell work was on the battering ram. Dane hadn't seen its like in at least two decades, but the height of runic spell work had come and gone before the advent of Christianity. Still, the runes destroyed the spell placed on the door. It popped open easily and then the runes faded from sight. SWAT poured inside; Nickel and Dane went with them like pebbles caught in a strong current. Dane was feeling a little superfluous at the moment. SWAT had infiltrated the evil lairs of bad magic users plenty of times before without his help; that they had included him with them this time was probably only because the SupFeds had insisted.

Dane forced his attention back to the task at hand as SWAT began to spread out and search the building. The warehouse itself was fairly large, larger than the one on the Chesapeake that Mercury, Nickel, and Dane had tackled five years ago. It wasn't nearly as high tech, though. Off to the right he could see heavy plastic sheeting hanging from the ceiling where a cleanroom had been set up. He could see some machines behind the plastic, but Dane didn't want to get closer to investigate. To the left were clapboard walls that didn't reach the ceiling. SWAT members cleared both rooms while Nickel and Dane stood ineffectually near the door with their guard.

The air felt heavy with magic. Since Dane wasn't doing anything else, he sent a tendril of his own magic out to investigate why. Magic could build up in the air from frequent usage or from big spells like the runes impacting against the door ward, but this felt different. It felt like an active spell, but it was unlike anything Dane had ever encountered before. He might have been impressed with what the otherwise magic-less humans had managed to come up with if he hadn't also been so utterly disgusted by their methods.

"It's something like Zinc's magic," Nickel warned, glancing around the room. He strode forward and Dane followed, their guard hissing at them to remain still before he trotted after them too. "It's the bad magic, though."

"So someone here is using tainted air magic?" Dane asked, although his own magic was confirming what Nickel had told him. This was a great educational moment for Nickel. They weren't being actively attacked, so Dane could take a few seconds to let Nickel parse out what he had already surmised. Dane let his magic flow through the warehouse and began to pluck and tug at the suffocation spell that blanketed the building. It was difficult to force the tainted magic to change to what Dane wanted it to be and it took far more magic than he wanted it to.

"Don't touch that!" Nickel shouted, suddenly dashing forward. He ran through the corridor between the clean room and the clapboard room and vanished around a corner. Dane followed more sedately while the guard growled about the difficulties of protecting two people who wouldn't damn well listen.

Nickel was squatting over a grate set into the floor, carefully not touching it. It was wide enough for an adult human to fit through when the metal bars were removed, and for those people who knew that the last facility had been underground, it was the perfect trap.

"Let me," Dane told Nickel. He squatted at Nickel's side and let his magic flare between his fingers. The suffocation spell was waiting for someone to touch the grate, either by foolishly walking over it or by trying to pry up the bars to investigate underneath. Dane let his magic hit it first and the grate shuddered as he started unweaving the spell. The air felt suddenly heavier, like it was trying to push down and force everyone to fall to the floor. The guard swore and spread his feet out to brace himself. Dane's magic continued to nip and push at the spell, tugging the strands of it apart.

He felt Nickel jump to his feet and then felt Nickel's magic flare, but Dane needed to get this spell unraveled more than Nickel needed his help. Water splashed in Dane's face and he heard the echoing bang as multiple guns fired. Someone screamed, someone else gurgled as they choked on water, and the suffocation spell collapsed underneath Dane's hands.

The air felt lighter as he stood up to see what he had missed. Nickel was standing in the center of a large puddle of water, somehow still in human form. Three bodies lay at his feet, dead. Their guard and three other SWAT members were staring at Nickel. Dane could see that their mouths were hanging open in surprise even through their mostly opaque helmets.

"What happened?" Dane asked curiously, watching as Nickel stepped through the puddle and around the dead bodies nonchalantly.

"We broke a concealing spell in our half of the warehouse," Mercury called from somewhere out of sight. He was apparently close enough to overhear Dane. "Three of them slipped past us. We've got O'Simmons in cuffs, but I could use your help on these cages."

Cages? Although now that Dane thought about it, the warehouse wasn't exactly set up for proper cells. Nickel and Dane both hurried further down the corridor, passing another two plastic-sheeted clean rooms before they found an open space with two large cages. O'Simmons was being helped to his feet by three SWAT members. He looked furious, but at the same time he had the slightly bewildered look Dane recognized from his colleges that had been drained of magic in the forest. Apparently even O'Simmons hadn't realized just how dangerous a drug he had ingested. Although, since he didn't have the death spell at the end of his spool of magic, Dane couldn't help wondering if they had managed to catch a big enough fish that they might finally get the information they needed to begin dismantling the operation.

Inside the cages were two dragons. The closest cage held a little boy approximately Lumie and Alloy's age of five. He had very long golden hair, unkempt and dirty from lack of care, and he was using it as a curtain to hide behind. Dane could see the gleam of his golden eyes through his hair as he stared worriedly at them. Mercury was kneeling next to the other cage and one glance told Dane why. Lying there was a woman with dirty silver hair cut as if she had fought with whoever had the knife so the result was uneven and ugly. Her stomach was bulging and she was snarling and gasping for breath.

"We're going to get you out of there and somewhere safe," Mercury was insisting as Dane hurried to his side. Nickel knelt down next to the boy's cage to try to coax him to sit up.

"They won't have my kits," the woman growled semi-coherently. "I'll die first."

"They won't," Mercury replied reassuringly. "You'll have your kits among other dragons and raise them as a dragon should."

The lock was a simple padlock that a pair of bolt cutters should pop open easily enough, except Dane's fingers tingled with magic when he touched it. Unless the bolt cutters were covered with the same runes as the battering ram, they would be turned into scrap metal. Dane pulled in more magic from around him and formed it into a hammer. The woman didn't have time for him to carefully unravel the spell; she needed to get to help now. Dane's magic hitting the lock made an echoing clanging noise. The woman shrieked, then clutched at her stomach with a groan. He banged again, harder, and the lock broke in two with a screech.

Mercury had the door open in seconds, and he climbed inside the cage to help the woman awkwardly crawl out. She clutched at Mercury's arm desperately, sobbing.

"She needs medical care," Mercury insisted to the SWAT leader who had joined them at some point. "Let me bring her somewhere where she can get help. You can get her statement after she's given birth."

The SWAT leader backed away with his hands up in the air. "Take her," he insisted. Apparently womanly troubles like babies weren't his forte, and he must have understood that a regular human hospital probably wouldn't be able to help a dragon lay her eggs.

Mercury wrapped his arms around her to support her. Dane felt his magic flare as he built his transportation spell. The young dragon apparently felt it too. He screamed, one hand reaching through the bars of his cage desperately.

"Not without Goldie," the woman gasped, turning around towards the kit's cage.

Dane hurried over to the lock, pulling more magic so he could get Goldie out. It took two tries while Goldie continued to whimper, but once Dane had pulled the door open Goldie dashed towards the woman. His legs were shaky and he mostly crawled, but within seconds he had his arms wrapped around her leg, much like Dane had seen Alloy do to Mercury.

Before leaving, Mercury caught Dane's eye, then looked around the cage area once more. Dane could see what he was thinking: Platinum, a dragon they knew was being held captive by the enemy, wasn't here. The battle to save the dragons wasn't over yet. Mercury altered his spell to account for one more and then all three dragons vanished from sight. Nickel and Dane stood and they both walked over to the SWAT leader's side. The situation felt anti-climactic to Dane. Yes, he had unraveled a big trap spell and he had gotten two dragons safely away, but he hadn't captured the enemy or really fought at all. Most of his time had been spent standing around waiting for something to do. Still, no one on their side had died and the mission had been accomplished. Dane shouldn't complain.

Nickel, on the other hand, had fought against three magic users and won. He might only have access to water magic, but he was turning into a very formidable creature.

Apparently, the head SWAT guy agreed. "When you turn eighteen, send your resume my way. My team could use a guy like you," he said to Nickel.

Nickel smiled, clearly flattered by the admiration of his hard work. "Sorry," Nickel replied with a shrug, "but I've already got a job waiting in Dane's consulting firm. Feel free to give me a call if you need my help, though."

Stockton walked around the clean room partition as Nickel finished speaking. "You'll blow your quarterly budget if you do that," he called. His grin said he thought the expense to be worth it. Dane would see what Stockton said after he saw the rate Dane charged to hire both Nickel and Dane, but for now he was glad to know the SupFeds and Dane were going to continue working together on occasion. Their money kept Dane's household flush with Cinnamon Bombs, which kept Lumie happy, which kept the rest of them sane. That was important.

"We done here?" Dane asked. He was tired from all the magic he had worked today and Nickel needed to get to bed.

Stockton nodded. "The evidence technicians and some federal agents I trust are coming by car to take over the scene. They're about ten minutes away. If you'll transport those of us who need to return to the office when they arrive?" Dane nodded and tiredly started pulling in a little more magic from around him. He could do one more big spell before collapsing into bed and sleeping for twelve hours straight.

Nickel yawned beside Dane, so Dane threw an arm over Nickel's shoulders to pull him close. He leaned against Dane, his head barely coming up to Dane's chest, and rumbled tiredly. Copper was the tallest of Dane's kits, but only because he had already hit one growth spurt. Dane had a feeling that in a few months Nickel might be taller than him. Nickel had the bone structure for it.

And Dane's mind was wandering, but admittedly thinking about his kits was far more interesting than watching people scurry around a crime scene.

Finally, the back-up crew arrived and Stockton organized everyone who needed a magical lift back to the office. Valerie grinned at Dane, her demeanor utterly changed from the first time he had met her. Apparently running a successful operation after years of stymied preparation agreed with her.

When everyone was ready, Dane let the spell take them away, the warehouse vanishing to be replaced with the conference room they had left just hours ago. The Secretary of Defense was sitting in one of the chairs. She had her phone held up to her ear, but she ended the call when they appeared. Stockton nodded politely to her, but he was listening to the SWAT leader's report. She got to her feet and walked purposefully in Dane's direction.

Dane blinked at her. She glanced from him to Nickel, who Dane thought had fallen fully asleep while they were waiting to leave. "Dragons are certainly very strong," she said softly, apparently cognizant of the fact that Nickel was sleeping. "I wish we had more like Mercury Chicago on our team." She hadn't phrased her sentence like a question, but Dane could sense the banked curiosity there.