Riding My Dragons (The Dragons Of Tellus #1)

CHAPTER 12

Cade

I dropped out of the night sky towards my target, my tail thrashing and my wings beating as fast as my heart pumped.Ricocheting around in my dragon head was the question, How, Cade?How did you get into a fix like this?How did you get here?

The only answer was, not your fault, Cade.Just your luck, being born to gamblers and thieves.Most of us aren’t born to a golden cloud life like Byron.We’ve all got to work with where we came from.

Right below me was the roof of the Pendrake Tech warehouse, with its skylight and, next to it, the Ambience generator that powered all the lights, heat, and security systems including cameras for the building.On my scaly wrist was one of the gadgets that Ross gave me from the client, whoever that might be.Just a press of the button on this wristband would create a pause in the flow of Ambience in the building, long enough for me to get in, find what they’d sent me to find, and get out.I aimed my wrist down at the skylight as my wing beats brought me closer.

I reminded myself, the interruption won’t last long.You can’t do this twice.That might attract too much attention from the guards.Doing it once will look suspicious, but you might get away with it.Twice will look even more suspicious.You’ve got to get in close enough to take out the power for the whole building, but not get caught by the rooftop camera.Careful, now.Careful...

I dropped down a little lower, trying to calm my breathing, which might make my heart calmer—hating that I had to think like a thief now.Whatever this damn thing was they were asking me to steal, I wanted it out of my hands as fast as possible.Then maybe I’d go somewhere and rethink this stupid thing I called my life.

Hissing a small dragon laugh at myself, I thought, when this is over, you’ll rethink your stupid life, all right—after you’ve helped yourself to some more of what Bryon and Elliot are probably getting right now.Silently, I came down a little lower.

The special lenses glued around my eyes would help me find my way around once I got inside.Some light would come in through the skylight, but I couldn’t expect it to be enough to locate what I’d be looking for in the mostly dark space.The eyesight of a Scaler in dragon form was sharper than a human’s, but still had its limits.It was something else that the mysterious client provided to help me do this thing I was hating.Damn considerate of ‘em, I thought.

On one side of the skylight, the Ambience generator was a metal box, about as big as a carry bag.It took the energy of the Ambience out of the air and fed it into the power systems for the warehouse.But with one little interruption in the incoming power flow, there would be something like a hiccup in those systems that would let me lift open the unlocked skylight and get in without having to break in.All I needed was to interrupt the jumping of my nerves long enough to use the wrist gadget.A deep breath made me as calm as I was ever going to get.Then I pointed my arm with the gadget at the generator and used the claw of the other hand to hit that button.

It happened almost silently.My dragon ears picked up a tiny click.That meant the skylight was now unlocked and I had a few seconds to act.I landed on the rooftop and dashed for the skylight to lift open the handles on its hatch.They came open easily.I swung them open wide, spread my wings again, and dropped down into the dark space of the warehouse.

Another special piece of equipment that I had, which I knew had to be illegal, was the device around my neck.It sent out electromagnetic signals that I couldn’t begin to explain, that had affected the camera on the roof and would do the same to any cameras inside the warehouse.They’d pick me up as nothing but a blurry shape with no features or details that anyone watching the input or recording from the cameras could make out.I’d look like a ghost with a dragon neck, horns, wings, and tail—which was good, because if I got caught, I’d end up wishing that I really was a damn ghost.

I didn’t have much time to get my bearings in a dark place where I’d never been before.Luckily, I was also equipped with a layout of the warehouse interior with all the sections labeled and the box that I was supposed to be looking for pinpointed.I took out my glass and did another quick study of the layout, which I’d done a few times already.And as I’d already done a few times, I seriously wondered about who was this client that my family had taken on and how they got their intel about where the University had things stored away, which probably hadn’t seen the light of day for years, even decades.Who were those folks?

Since I had less time to wonder than I had to get used to the place, I moved fast and found the section where I needed to be.The layout said it was “Section AWC”—whatever that meant.The box I wanted was on top of a stack of other boxes, which was good because it meant I wouldn’t have to move other boxes to get to it, which would take more time and maybe put me at more risk.I carefully flapped my wings and hopped up to the top of one stack of boxes next to the target, and just as carefully used my claws to pry open that one box.Setting the lid quietly aside on top of still another stack of boxes, I looked inside with my special lenses making it as clear as if the lights were on.

The wooden case was full of weapons.Old weapons.Their metal looked dull, as if polish hadn’t touched it since a long time before I was born—a really long time.There were rifle-type energy weapons, with long, flattened barrels; and pistols with barrels attached to cup-like things that someone could stick his entire hand into and work the triggers inside with his fingers.Their power sources were gone, and probably would be useless after all these years even if they were still there.These things must have been relics of the Old Wars, just sitting stored in this box for who-knows-how-long.But the old weapons weren’t what I was after.There was one other thing in this box.Some data that went with the layout of the warehouse told me what that one other thing was.

I found it in the corner of the case, just lying there with the old guns.It was a little square box, no thicker than my finger, made of some out-of-date artificial ceramics that I guessed people had also stopped using after the Old Wars.Thinking back, I seemed to remember hearing, maybe in school, that little boxes like this were used for storing all kinds of information.I hissed a little, thinking about that.Relic weapons and…relic data?Did the old data have any relation to the guns?Whoever wanted this thing would know better than I would.

All right, here it is, I thought.Let me just pocket the thing and get out of here.So, into my trousers pocket went both my glass and this mysterious little item.I put the lid back on the wooden case where I’d found it and hopped back down onto the floor.I started back for the spot where I’d come down, where I’d just fly back up through the skylight and close it back up again, and fly off, my job done and good riddance to it.

That was the idea, simple enough.I should have known this was one of those damn times when the universe, which doesn’t like simple things, would have other plans.

I hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when I heard a click on one side of the inner warehouse space.I whirled around in that direction, where there was a door—whose handle had made the click.The door would slide open in a second, and I wouldn’t be alone.I hissed a soft little curse and whirled back around, looking for a stack of boxes to hide behind.Fast, Cade, fast!Move your tail!

With a couple of careful bounds, I ducked around the side of one pile of crates and moved behind it, taking care not to have my tail sticking out, while at the same time I heard a man’s voice—a guard—saying, “You take the left side; I’ll take the right.”

Great, damnit.Two guards.Carefully peering around the corner from where I crouched, I saw beams of light moving along the floor and the stacks.Holding my breath, I pulled myself back and sat as still as petrified wood, listening to the sounds of footsteps in the warehouse.

“Still think it was a glitch in the system?” said another man’s voice, which must have been the other guard.

”Eh.Could be,” said the first one.I didn’t hear anything else from them.I stayed still, carefully measured my breaths, and kept listening.After less than a minute, the footsteps seemed to be going back to where they came from and getting fainter.Maybe the two guards were satisfied that no one was in here.

I listened more and heard the door sliding again, followed by another metal sound—probably the latch closing.I exhaled quietly.They must have gone back out.All I have to do is run out and fly back up to the skylight and I’m free and clear.

Thinking about nothing but that, I leapt out from where I was and bounded back towards where I’d first landed; and only then did it occur to me that I’d left the skylight wide open and anyone who came in and looked would have seen it that way.And that was when I heard a sharp voice calling out, “Stop right there!Don’t move!”

Cursing in my head, I stopped and saw the two University guards with guns raised, coming towards me.Idiot! I realized.The open skylight was the tell.I’m caught!

One of the humans was closer to me than the other, but both had their guns on me.We were all in the pool of light from the open hatch up above us.The closer one said, “Keep your hands where I can see them.What are you doing in here?”

”Me?” I said, trying to sound innocent, holding my claws out at my sides and not looking as if I’d make any sudden moves.“Just visiting.”

”Yeah?” the guard said.“You’re gonna have to convince the Constables about that.”

A sinking feeling went from my dragon neck to the pit of my stomach.The Constables…!If they really got the law on me, it would be as good as having my wings cut off.

“Look,” I said, trying to take a laughing tone, “this was just a little prank.Somebody dared me to come in here, just to see if I’d do it.”

The guard said, “And whoever put you up to this little prank, they just happened to know some way to cut the Ambience long enough for you to get in here, is that it?”

”Oh, the Ambience,” I said, as innocently as I could, while the other guard took another careful step forward and to one side of his friend.“Listen, it’s a little gimmick they wanted to test out, that’s all.I can show you if you want.”I lifted up the wrist with the Ambience jammer on it.

The second I moved, both guards twitched their weapons threateningly at me.“Careful!” the nearer one warned.

”It’s okay, really,” I said.“This on my wrist isn’t dangerous.I can’t hurt anybody with it.I just want to let you see.”And I slowly held out my wrist for him to have a closer look at the gadget.

Warily, the guard darted his eyes between the wristband and my dragon face.“Who gave you this?” he asked.

”Somebody who’s gonna want it back,” I answered.Before he could say another word, I moved—or my tail did, slashing out from behind me and catching him across the face.

The guard shouted in shocking pain and crashed down to the floor, his gun spinning out of his hand and away from him.Everything next happened all at once.I leapt up with all my strength, wings pounding the air and tail slashing hard, and became a blur moving up to the source of the pool of light.I heard the sizzle of an energy bullet slicing through the space where I’d been.With just a few wingbeats, I’d be at the skylight.Flying fast straight up, I heard the voice of the other guard shouting, “Stop!STOP!”

In another second I felt something hot and cruel against the small of my back, between my wings and where my tail came out of my rear trousers slit.There was another across the spines of my neck—and a third one punctured my left wing!I closed the rest of the distance to the open skylight with a screech of pain like I’d never felt in my life!I was shot!Because of the way I was moving, the bullets had just grazed me, but still—the pain!I’d actually been shot!

It hurt so badly that when I came up through the skylight, I spilled dizzily up onto the roof and lay there, my wings thrashing and tail twitching with spasms of pain that I knew I had to fight, because the guards would have reinforcements on the way in seconds.If I morphed back to human now, or passed out from my injuries, I was done for.Puffing hard, taking big gulps of air, I wobbled my way back to my feet and launched myself from the warehouse roof, hoping I didn’t get too woozy in mid-flight and crash onto the University grounds.If I did and couldn’t get back up, I could be surrounded; and I wouldn’t get off the ground again.

Flying like a giant moth, dipping dangerously close to the ground before forcing myself up, almost swerving into treetops and crashing into light posts, I somehow got myself to the University’s outdoor statue gallery, where there were big, massive statues of great dragons of sea and air through history—and lots of shadows to hide in.I staggered to the biggest of the statues, a figure of a mighty sea serpent where I’d stashed my clothes in the carved waves at its base.I relaxed my body back to human, and the morphing process immediately cut the pain in half and made the burns on my body disappear.Back in human flesh, I fought the dizziness and slipped back into my clothes.I crumpled there at the base of the statue while the wail of sirens welled up in the direction of where I’d been.All I could think was, the rooftop camera must have come back on.What if it caught the direction that I flew off in?That would tell them where to look first.I’ve got to get up, get moving out of here.

Somehow, I made my body do what my brain said it had to do.My next thought, on my feet again but still shaky, was, what if those guards got a scan of my scale patterns?I was moving fast, but what if they got just one good, clear scan?I couldn’t morph again; if what I was afraid of was true, they’d be looking for a dragon guy with scale color shapes matching mine.I had to get off campus and I had to be human while doing it.Next, I’d need to get this damn thing in my pocket back to Ross.And then…my thoughts turned to Byron.

If I did get caught, I had to hope Byron could help, with his family’s resources and contacts.My family might deny knowing anything about what I’d done for them just to keep investigating eyes off them.They’d probably get me one of the advocates that they kept on retainer for things like this, but they’d stop short of doing anything that would incriminate the family elders.Byron might be my only hope.

Keeping to the shadows as best I could, I made my way back out into the night.