Legion

Anger boiled, but I forced a smirk and pushed past him, into the living room. “Near-death experience making you sentimental, St. George?”

“Maybe.” His voice remained the same. “But it doesn’t change anything.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Ember walked out of the hall, yawning as she came into the kitchen. Her crimson hair stuck out at every angle, and Cobalt stirred at the sight of her. With a brief smile at St. George, she walked to the coffeepot, poured the contents into a mug and padded back to join us in the living room.

“Did we wake you?” the soldier asked, ignoring, I noticed, the previous question. Ember shook her head and brought the mug to her lips.

“Couldn’t sleep. Heard the two of you out here and thought I might as well get up, go over the plan or something. Ugh, that’s awful.” She pulled the mug away from her lips, screwing up her face, then took another sip. “I assume it hasn’t changed, right? We’re still keeping to the same plan?”

I sighed. “Yeah.” I nodded, taking a bracing swallow myself. “Same plan. As soon as the others are up, we’ll head out. We need a few things before we can pull this off.”

* * *

“All right,” I said, pulling to a stop on the narrow, winding road that cut through the mountain. Up ahead, a yellow barricade blocked both lanes, and a single police car sat beside it, lights flashing blue. “There’s the security checkpoint.” I glanced at Ember and St. George in the backseat, seeing a pair of strangers staring back. Like me, both wore black suits—or monkey suits as Wes so elegantly put it—and dark shades, the “few things” we had to pick up for this plan to work. I resented the fact that Wes didn’t have to dress up for this stupid mission; he got to stay at the cabin. I hated G-man suits; the tie around my neck felt like a noose, and the jacket was tight in all the wrong places. St. George, obnoxiously, seemed perfectly at ease in a suit and tie, probably used to being in uniform, but I wanted this over and done with as soon as possible.

“Remember,” I told them and the Asian dragon sitting in the passenger seat, “I’ll do the talking, but if anyone asks, we’re with the Department of Homeland Security. You two are assistants in training, so any questions should be directed to me or Ms. Long here.”

“And what are you going to tell them?” Ember wanted to know. “You don’t know any more about this Security Department than we do.”

“Department of Homeland Security, Firebrand,” I corrected. “And I might not be a Chameleon, but I am a master at bullshitting. Generally, I don’t need to know what I’m talking about. I just have to bluster and act like the person I’m talking to is wasting my time—basically be a giant dick—and most humans will cave. If you act like you’re supposed to be there, people will generally assume the same. What about you?” I asked the woman beside me. “Think you can BS your way past a guard?”

The Eastern dragon’s voice was dry. “I’m sure I can come up with something.”

“All right, then.” I faced forward and put the car into Drive. “Let’s do this.”

We cruised up to the barricade, stopping as the door to the police car opened and an overweight human stepped out. I rolled down the window, watching him with as much bored disdain as I could muster as the officer strolled up to the side of our car.

“Sorry, folks,” the human said, peering in at us. “The road is closed for now. You’ll have to take the detour around.”

I flashed the fake badge Wes had given me that morning. “We’re expected,” I said in a bored, I-can’t-believe-I-have-to-deal-with-this tone of voice.

“The DHS?” The officer pulled back, shaking his head. “Damn. I didn’t realize a plane crash was such a big deal.” He gave me a furtive look, lowering his voice as if there were people around to hear him. “So, what’s really going on down there? You government types have been in and out for days. What, was this some kind of terrorist attack or something?”

“Sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say,” I replied stiffly, dropping my arm, and the badge, from view. “And you should know better than to ask. You’re lucky I don’t have time to report you to your superior.”

“Hey, don’t get all high and mighty on me, suit.” The officer stepped back with a sour look on his face. “You government hotshots think you can come through and order us around, but you’re wrong. This ain’t your town.” But he stepped back, waving us through the barricade. “Go on. The sooner you’re finished here, the sooner you can leave.”

Triumphant, I rolled up the window and continued down the road, watching the flashing lights get smaller in the rearview mirror until we turned a bend and they were lost from sight.

“That was easy,” Ember muttered.

I smirked. “Like I said, Firebrand. Master of BS, right here. Still, we shouldn’t press our luck. Try not to talk to anyone while we’re snooping around. And if you happen to see the Chameleon, let me know so we can clear out right away. The humans might not suspect anything, but she’ll definitely know something’s up if she sees three other dragons wandering around.”

As we turned a corner, the “town” came into view, a cluster of run-down houses and trailer homes huddled between the mountains on either side of the road. This is it? I thought. Town might be too strong of a word. Why the hell was Talon even here? What did they want? I pulled off the road, parking the car in the first driveway I came to, well away from the center of town and the scattering of people wandering the street. A lot of government types, I noticed. Men and women in black suits, along with a few in uniform. Something was definitely going on.

“Everyone stay together,” I warned as we exited the vehicle. “Remember, we’re the Department of Homeland Security, you two are our assistants and we’re here to assess the situation.”

“No civilians,” St. George muttered, gazing down the street. “Everyone here is an official or agent of some kind. The town is empty.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to shake the unease that had settled under my skin. “Something is wrong here. This sure as hell isn’t about just a plane crash. As Wes would say, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Then it is good that we came to see what is going on,” Jade put in, and if I didn’t know better, I would swear there was a hint of I told you so in her voice. I ignored it and started walking.

As we began seeing more houses up close, I understood why there were people in suits swarming all over the damn place. And it raised the hair on the back of my neck.

The houses were all burned. Some just had a few scorch marks here and there; others were nothing but blackened shells, crumbling to ash. For more than a few, only the foundations were left, blasted cinder blocks and scorched concrete lying beneath what used to be a home. Several front yards held a colorful assortment of lawn ornaments, kids’ toys, and junked cars rusting side by side. They were untouched, as was the vegetation and trees around the buildings. Only the houses were charred to nothing, as if blasted with fire from the inside.

“Jeez,” Ember whispered, her eyes wide as she gazed around at the devastation. “What happened here? It looks like a bomb went off or something.”

“No,” I said. “A bomb wouldn’t just destroy the houses and leave everything else untouched. Neither would a forest fire, or a damn crashing plane. What does it really look like happened here?”

St. George’s voice was grim. “Like this place was attacked by fire-breathing dragons.”

“Yeah,” I muttered as a chill crept up my spine and turned the heat in my veins to ice. “Though, if Talon is behind this, I have no idea what that means. They’ve never engaged in something so blatant. The cover-up would have to be massive, and I don’t see what they would gain from it. If this is Talon...” I shook my head, repressing a shiver. “Something is definitely wrong.”

Voices halted us. Up ahead, a pair of humans in white coats stepped out of one of the more intact trailer homes, arguing with each other, and went hurrying away down the street. Leaving the door wide open behind them.

“Come on,” Jade said. “Let us do some snooping.”

We slipped into the trailer, and I was immediately struck by the smell. The faint, acrid stench of smoke lingered in the air, baked into the flimsy walls and floors. Part of the kitchen wall was gone, blackened and scorched around the edges, and it looked like the flames had spread to the living room. Tables and chairs were tipped over, broken dishes were scattered over the floor and the windows had been shattered. I wondered what had happened to the people that lived here. Had they been eating dinner, or asleep in their beds, when a dragon clawed open their door and turned the place into an inferno? Or had something else, someone else, been responsible?

“St. George,” I murmured as we slowly picked our way through the rubble and charred furniture. “Is there any way the Order could have done this?”

He frowned. “It doesn’t seem like them,” he answered, though he sounded unsure. “They would have no reason to attack this place unless there was a dragon living here. But even then...” He gazed around the devastated living room. “They wouldn’t take out the entire community. That would raise way too many questions.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Which is why I’m having a really hard time believing that Talon was behind this. They’re just as paranoid about discovery as the Order, if not more so. I mean, that’s their entire freaking philosophy—stay hidden, blend in, don’t let the humans know about dragons.” I stared through the giant hole in the wall to the house across the street. Unlike this home, it had been completely devastated, burned to the ground, only a few twisted frames poking up from the ashes. “Something this huge...it flies in the face of every single thing Talon taught us since the day the organization was founded. Why would they be breaking all their rules now? It makes no sense at all.” I raked a hand through my hair, shaking my head as I groped for an answer. “Maybe this wasn’t Talon or St. George. Maybe this was a random terrorist attack, or something else entirely human.”

“Riley,” Ember said from the living room, her voice urgent. “Take a look at this.”

I walked to where she was crouched beside an overturned coffee table, staring at a patch of cheap carpet. The carpet was gray and thin, but when she moved the table aside, a large brown stain came to light. I winced.

“Yep, that’s blood. Dammit. Well, I’d say we have a pretty good indication of what happened to the people here.”

“No,” Ember said, putting a hand on my arm. “That’s not what I wanted to show you. Look at this.”

She pointed to the coffee table, holding it on its side. It was scorched on one corner, a large black burn mark covering half the surface, but below that, raked across the wood, were four long, straight gashes.

“What do those look like?” Ember whispered, and I closed my eyes.

“Claw marks.”

“Excuse me.”

We turned. Two men were entering the trailer home, frowning at us as they stepped through the door.

“I’m sorry,” the older one said, gazing around at us, “but this is an ongoing investigation. Who are you, and what authorization do you have to be here?”

Before I could stand up or say anything, Jade turned, flashing her badge for both men to see. “Department of Homeland Security,” she said in a firm, no-nonsense voice. “We are here to assess the situation and determine whether or not we need to escalate the current threat level.”

“The DHS?” The older human looked unsure. “No one said you were coming. When did—”

“Do you have evidence to support this was not a terrorist attack made on American soil?” Jade interrupted, stepping forward slightly. The man blinked.

“I...no, not really. We’re still—”

“Then it is possible this was a malicious attack carried out by extremists.”

“I suppose.” The human sighed and looked away, flustered. “Look, we don’t really know what we have yet,” he admitted. “The evidence we’ve gathered so far has been...strange. The inspector has been trying to keep everything under wraps until we figure out what really happened here. If you want, you can check out the evidence tent at the end of the road. See the weirdness for yourself.”

“Thank you,” Jade said, and gave a brittle smile. “We will do that.” She started to turn but paused, staring at the human as if surprised he was still there. “You may go now.”

The two men retreated, practically scrambling over each other to get out of the house. They fled, slamming the door behind them, and strode away down the road without looking back. Jade, standing at the edge of the room with her arms crossed, allowed herself a triumphant smirk.

“Damn,” I said as the Eastern dragon turned back. “That was impressive. I guess I’m not the only one with a master’s in BS.”

She smiled. “The DHS does have a public website,” she said. “They list their mission statement, job offers, history, everything. When Wesley told me how we were getting onto the crash site today, I did my research. But yes.” Her smile widened. “If it is necessary for our survival, I have been known to ‘bullshit’ with the best of them from time to time.”

I snorted a laugh. “Wish you were around a couple years ago. I could’ve used the help. Anyway...” I glanced out the hole in the wall, down the road where the two men had disappeared. “Shall we track down this evidence tent and see if we can uncover what the hell is going on?”

The evidence tent wasn’t hard to find, being a large white structure at the edge of the road and the only building that wasn’t charred, scorched or burned to the ground. Humans in suits and white coats were swarming in and out of it, but other than flashing my badge at the entrance, we didn’t really get a second glance. Inside, metal shelves ran the length of one canvas wall, each of them holding boxes marked with labels in clear plastic bags. Immediately, Ember headed to the wall, her innate curiosity no doubt driving her forward, while St. George hovered at our backs, watching the crowd. Grateful that the soldier was keeping an eye out, I walked up and peeked into one box.

It held an assortment of clothing in more plastic bags. But as I looked closer, I saw that most of the garments had large brown stains soaking the fabric. Blood. And a lot of it, judging from the mangled clothes. I looked at the next box in line and saw more of the same; only this time, I could make out several long, straight tears in some of the clothes, as if made by the edge of a knife.

Or the claws of a very large reptile.

“It seems the evidence against Talon is becoming more and more damning,” Jade remarked, also peering into the containers. “Between the fires, general destruction and the Talon agent on the news, it certainly seems like the organization is at least partially involved.”

“I still can’t believe they’d be this sloppy,” I said. “They had to have known that something this big would cause a huge investigation, with everyone scrambling to figure out what the hell happened.” I snorted. “Plane crash, my ass. I bet it’s not even Talon that’s trying to cover this up—the government has no idea what they’re dealing with, so they invented a cover story to keep things quiet until they can figure it out. And since Talon has agents seeded throughout all the government agencies, they’re only too happy to help.”

“That might be true, but it is not the question that needs answering,” Jade mused. “If the organization is involved, then the real question becomes why. What could they possibly hope to gain here?”

“Riley,” Ember murmured in a warning voice. She pulled a bag out of a nearby crate. I looked up, and my stomach flipped.

Resting in the bag was a small, flat oval, pointed on one end and glittering a dull iron gray. Even though the color was strange, one I’d never seen before, I knew what it was instantly. We all did.

A dragon scale.

EMBER

“Give me that, Firebrand,” Riley muttered, quickly stepping forward and taking the bag from my hands. It vanished into his suit pocket as he glanced around warily. “No point in giving the humans any more hints that dragons are real. Or at least that something very unnatural went down.” He eyed a human wandering by who looked like a scientist, then lowered his voice again. “Regardless, I think we’ve seen all we need to see here.”

“I agree,” Jade said, nodding. “From the evidence, it is safe to assume that dragons attacked this town in their true form, and that Talon is at least partially responsible. Unfortunately, that theory creates more questions than it answers. Why would they attack this community? Especially since, as Riley pointed out, the entire point of the organization is to hide the existence of dragons from the human population. Why risk that now?”

Riley shook his head. “I have no clue, but I get the feeling we’re not going to like the answer.”

Abruptly, Garret stalked back, his gaze intense as he swept between us. “The woman you described is approaching this location,” he said in a low voice, making Riley jerk up.

“Hell. Miranda is coming? Come on, we can’t be seen by her.”

We fast-walked toward the end of the room, passing more humans and looking for a way out as we went deeper into the tent. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a back exit, and the open room offered very few hiding spots.

“There,” Riley said, nodding toward a corner of the tent that had been sectioned off. Plastic flaps hung to the floor, and the area beyond was dark. With Riley leading and Garret watching our backs, we hurried across the room and ducked through the plastic walls.

My stomach recoiled. The room beyond the flaps was dim and cold, and the sickly smell of death lingered on the air, masked by chemicals and disinfectant. A pair of stainless-steel tables stood in the center of the room, and atop the farthest counter was something long and suspiciously body shaped, covered with a sheet.

I drew in a slow breath to quiet my heartbeat and nudged Garret, who was still peering through the flaps to watch for the Chameleon. He glanced at me with a puzzled frown, but it quickly faded when he realized what I was staring at.

“There she is,” Riley growled softly, not taking his eyes from the room beyond. “Hello, Miranda. What are you doing here? Covering up for the organization again?”

I tore my eyes from what was obviously a dead body and peeked through the plastic flaps again, seeing a dark-haired, smartly dressed woman enter the tent, followed by what looked like an assistant of some kind. The woman, or dragon, really, wasn’t tall or intimidating—not like Lilith, who could walk into a room and freeze you in place with a glare. But everything about this woman radiated charisma, charm and confidence, much like another Chameleon I used to know.

As a certain traitorous brother entered my thoughts, I swallowed the brief pang and forced myself to concentrate on the Talon agent at the end of the other room. She spoke briskly to the assistant and pointed to several boxes along the wall. The human bobbed his head in mute agreement, and the Chameleon smiled, then spun and exited the tent as suddenly as she had appeared.

“All right,” Riley mused, straightening and drawing back from the flap. “So Talon sent an agent to help with the cover-up, but also to make sure certain evidence just...disappears. Sounds like them.” He nodded. “I think we’re going to have to pay a visit to a certain hotel room in town.”

I frowned at him. “How did you get all that? They were clear across the room.”

He smirked down at me. “I was a Basilisk, Firebrand. Among my many enviable talents are picking locks, hiding in plain sight...and reading lips.” His grin widened at my surprised look before he sobered and glanced through the flaps again. “Seems that our lovely Talon agent is staying at a hotel not far from here,” he muttered, watching the human gather up a couple crates and leave the tent. “Those boxes of evidence are likely headed there now. If anyone knows what Talon was doing here, it will be Miranda. And if they’re planning anything else like this, I’d kinda like to know when and why.”

“I agree,” came Garret’s grave voice from behind us. I turned to find him standing next to the counter I’d pointed to earlier, only he had pulled back a corner of the sheet, revealing a truly hideous sight. The corpse lying on the table was barely recognizable as human, as shriveled and burned as it was. It looked more like a piece of charred wood than anything that had once been alive. My stomach heaved, and I had to look away, feeling bile rise to my throat. Was that what my victims looked like, after I’d blasted them with dragonfire? I’d killed both Talon servants and soldiers of St. George in battle. Had they all ended up like that withered corpse? Blackened skeletons of what had once been human?

“If Talon is planning another attack,” Garret continued in that same somber voice, though his steely eyes glinted in the darkness, “we need to stop it before this happens again.”

* * *

We followed the Chameleon from the “crash site,” tailing her white sedan until it pulled into a normal, innocuous-looking hotel, not the Ritz but not a Motel 6, either. From across the lot, we watched the Chameleon walk briskly into the hotel followed by two large men I assumed were bodyguards. Left behind, her poor assistant hauled several boxes out of the trunk and staggered after them.

I looked at Riley as the human vanished through the hotel doors. “So, how are we going to do this?” I asked. “Wait to sneak in tonight?”

He shook his head. “No time for that, Firebrand. She could be leaving today and taking all the evidence with her. If we want to see what Talon is up to, we need to get in there now.” He frowned and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Problem is, I can take care of Miranda and get us into the room, but if she leaves any of her guards behind, that’s going to make things difficult. If she comes back and finds an unconscious human lying on her floor, she’s going to guess someone was there and warn the organization.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jade said, surprising us all. “You just concentrate on getting the Talon woman away from the vicinity and finding her room. I will take care of the guards.”

He eyed her, raising a brow. “And how are you going to do that exactly? Eat them?”

“Please. I would very likely get food poisoning.” She wrinkled her nose and sniffed in clear disgust. “Do not worry. As I once told our soldier friend, a shen-lung has her ways. You get the Talon agent out of the building and find where her room is located. Leave any guards to me.”

Riley stared at her a moment longer, then shrugged. “You’re awfully certain about that,” he muttered, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. “But as we’re a little short on time, I guess I’ll have to trust you know what you’re doing. Hang on a second.” He pressed a button on his phone, then put it to his ear. “Wes. We’re at the Wingate Hotel, about ten miles from the crash site. I need you to find which room Miranda’s staying in.” A pause, and he rolled his eyes. “Of course we’re going to sneak in, what do you think?... I don’t know, the Eastern dragon thinks she can get past the guards.” He sighed. “Don’t argue, Wes. Just do it.”

A couple minutes passed, and he nodded. “Three-eighteen. Got it. I’ll call you if there’s trouble.” He frowned. “Thank you, Wesley, your votes of confidence are always so inspiring.”

“Okay,” I said as Riley lowered his arm. “One problem down—we know what room she’s in. How are we going to get her to leave long enough to search it?”

“Don’t worry, Firebrand.” Riley gave a wicked smile. “King of BS right here, remember? Watch and learn.”

Pressing in a number, he held the phone to his ear and waited a few moments as it rang. “Hello, front desk?... Yes, could you please connect me to Miranda Kent’s room? I believe she’s staying there tonight.” A pause, and he grinned. “Thank you.”

I held my breath, watching Riley and counting the number of imaginary rings in my head. At three rings, he raised his head. “Ms. Kent? This is Director Smith, from the crash site? Sorry to bother you, but we recently found something of an anomaly near one of the victims, and thought you might want to see it.”