by Riley Storm
The hacker might have been a criminal and an accomplice in the attempt to rob Clan Aterna, but in Pace’s eyes, that didn’t matter. He had still been human, and to kill him was an inexcusable crime in the eyes of the dragons. When whoever it was, was presented to the Dragon Council, he would likely be immolated. On the spot.
“So much of this is destroyed.”
He looked up, feeling the complaint in his bones. The farmhouse itself wasn’t damaged, but it was clear that their suspect had been hiding out there for a few days at a minimum. If not more. Somehow, he’d caught wind that they were coming and had burned most of the stuff they might use as clues.
“Keep looking,” he encouraged, trying to mask his own increasing lack of confidence. “We’ll find something.”
Carla just made a noise, but she didn’t stop sifting through the fireplace while he examined the kitchen table and the scraps of burnt paper scattered across its top.
“If he was a fire dragon, like you suspect, then why is this so haphazardly burned?” she asked. “Like, couldn’t he just incinerate the paper and be done? So much of this is half-burned. We might be able to eventually extract some stuff, but it would require a real crime lab to do that. I can’t see anything just by looking at it.”
“Yeah me neither, I—wait a minute,” he said, picking up the corner of a piece of paper. “I might have something here.”
“Me too,” Carla said. “But I don’t know what to make of it.”
She brought her clue over to his table, and they laid their pieces of paper down. His had part of a symbol on it, that he didn’t recognize. It looked like a curved line, two hash marks through it and the top of what might have been a medieval armor helmet.
Carla’s, however, had a word on it he did recognize, though it wasn’t in any language that she would.
“Valen,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“Clan Valen,” he explained. “The Five, as you know them, the five families on the mountains around town? They’re all different dragon clans. Aterna, Teres, Atrox, Rixa, Valen.”
Carla nodded, slow and exaggerated. “Ohhhh. That, that actually makes things a lot clearer. No wonder they’re all so removed and distant.”
He nodded. “That’s the name of Clan Valen,” he told her, pointing to one of the barely legible words on her burnt paper. “Then some numbers under it obviously, but who knows what they mean. Not enough of it survived.”
“Yeah.” Carla leaned over, turning the paper she’d found back toward her.
Pace, meanwhile, studied his little burnt piece of paper. “If we knew what that meant, perhaps we could figure it out,” he said.
Carla looked over. She frowned, reached out and took it, flakes of blackened paper falling off.
“Careful,” he urged as she turned it ninety degrees.
“I know this symbol. I know it; oh crap, where have I seen it before!” Carla exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
“Okay, think very carefully,” he said. “Close your eyes, picture the entire thing. What do you see?”
“Darkness. Cause my eyes are closed.”
He sighed. “Great. That’s not much help.”
It was a moment later that he picked up on the fact she was teasing him. “You remember?”
She nodded. “I do. That’s the symbol for Five Peaks Credit Union. I bank there myself.”
Pace jerked, then reached out and took her piece of paper, staring at it, visualizing the strings of numbers as if they continued.
“I think I know what this is,” he said, stunned. Had they just cracked the case wide open?
“What is it, Pace? Tell me!” she said, slapping the table.
“These are bank accounts,” he said, pointing to two lines near the top. “These are password strings. And this," he said tapping the very top line.
“That’s a date,” Carla said in sudden understanding.
“That’s today’s date,” he said.
“Holy crap!”
Pace nodded.
“He’s going to try and steal Clan Valen’s money. Today.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Carla
“We have to do this by the book,” Carla said as they raced into town, sirens blazing.
Wee-ooo, wee-ooo. She smiled at the memory, knowing it was one that would stick with her for a long time. Then she sobered, knowing that if their quarry hadn’t already pulled off his caper, they would be trying to take him in a crowded space.
“There’s a lot of innocent, vulnerable people in there,” she said. “We can’t let them come to any harm.”
“You take care of them,” Pace said. “I’ll handle our suspect.”
Carla grit her teeth. “It won’t work like that, Pace. We need to act as a team.”
She saw him flex angrily in his seat, but he nodded. “What’s your plan?”
“We go to the bank, we wait in an office with a view of the front. Once he comes in, we close off the bank, order everyone out. Then…” she shrugged. “We take him in, or we take him down.”
“Your gun won’t harm him,” Pace said. “He might bleed a bit, but unless you hit him in the eye and penetrate with a perfect shot into his brain, he’ll all but shrug it off. Our skin is too tough for that.”
She cursed. “Seriously? Crap. Okay, new plan. I’ll get the other people out of the bank. You take care of him. But I want him alive, Pace. You understand me?”
“Oh, trust me. I want him alive too,” he snarled.
Several blocks out from the credit union building, she killed the sirens. They didn’t want to alert the quarry in case he was on his way or inside when they arrived. For the same reason, she parked around the corner and they walked over.
“Shit,” Pace said, throwing out an arm.
She walked right into it. “Ouch. What was that for?” She rubbed the bridge of her nose, wishing for once that his arms had some more padding on them.
“He’s already in,” Pace said, nodding at the parking lot.
She frowned, scanning it, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. “How can you tell?”
“Because that’s a dragon truck,” he said, pointing at a white heavy duty pickup. “Look at it. Brand new, perfectly clean. The people around here don’t buy trucks for show. Certainly not with that much chrome.”
Carla could think of a few idiots with too much money in the area, but she had to admit it made sense, and if nothing else, certainly upped the likelihood that their suspect was inside.
“What’s the plan?”
“Stop others from going inside,” he said, striding forward.
Carla hurried to keep up. They paused at the edge of the glass doors.
“Five Peaks Sheriff’s office, folks,” she called as loud as she dared. “Please back away from the doors. Do not go inside.”
The three people—an elderly couple and a young woman—looked at her, glanced at the doors, then backed away.
“Thank you,” she said, watching as word spread to the other person in the parking lot as well. The credit union wasn’t a busy place overall, but she still had to ensure nobody was hurt.
A young male emerged from inside.
“Hey, you,” she said, motioning for him to come over. “How many more people inside?”
“Huh?” he asked, looking at her blankly.
“Customers. Inside the building. How many are there?” she repeated slowly.
“Um.” His eyes unfocused for a moment as he thought about it. “Three customers. Some workers, I don’t know how many. Why?”
“Thank you, you can go,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Pace to ask him what to do next.
But he was gone.
“Shit,” she swore as the doors slid open and Pace walked inside. Hurrying after him, she thought about radioing in for backup. More units to help. But if Pace needed to fight him, she wanted as few people around as possible to witness anything unusual.
Not really sure what els
e she could do, Carla raced after Pace, following him into the credit union.
“Everyone out!” she barked, coming up with a wild plan, pulling her gun and waving it in the air. “Right now. Everyone outside!”
The customers raced for the door, blowing right past her. The employees crouched down behind their desks.
“Out the back door!” she growled, brandishing her gun. “Just get outside. It’s for your own good.”
The two tellers exchanged a look, and then bolted for the back. That just left her and Pace.
“I thought you said he was—” Carla dove for cover as one of the glass doors to the offices exploded off its hinges and flew across the floor.
It missed her completely, but it slammed into Pace hard enough to spill him to the floor.
She looked up to see a man come out into the main area. He was wearing a white shirt a size too small, and dark blue jeans. His black boots stomped across the tiled floor as he headed straight for Pace. Blue eyes were narrowed to slits above a short, thick beard that covered the lower half of his face.
All in all, he looked mean, and she wanted Pace to get out of there already. There had to be a better way.
A noise from the office caught her attention, and she saw a middle-aged brown male hiding behind his desk, his head peeking out to watch. Carla hissed at him, getting his attention.
Come on, she mouthed, waving at him and pointing for the door. They needed to get out of there, and now. This wasn’t a fight she could help with.
Meaty thwacks sounded, and she knew the fight behind her had been joined. Someone grunted and then Pace went sailing past, landing on his side. He pushed out as he slid across the tiles and popped back to his feet, skidding to a halt.
With a savage growl that filled the inside, he stormed past her, seeming none the worse for wear.
The officer manager emerged and Carla duck-walked over to him, grabbing him by the shoulder and together, they started running for the entrance.
Someone behind her cried out in pain. She thought it was Pace, but she couldn’t afford to look. They had to go.
A second later, the manager was lifted out of her grasp. Carla dove forward into a roll, coming up with her gun drawn. The other man was standing, holding the credit union employee by the back of his neck like he was a stray cat.
“It’ll be okay,” she assured the manager.
“She’s right,” the target growled. “As soon as you complete what you were doing for me, everything will be okay. You’ll be free to go.”
“He’s not going to do that,” Carla said as Pace picked himself up out of the wreckage of a teller’s desk, brushing wood chips and other debris off him. “Put the banker down, and everyone will walk away unharmed.”
“Put your gun down,” the man said. “Or someone is going to get harmed.”
Carla’s pistol didn’t waver. “That would be you,” she said with a confidence she didn’t believe.
A wide grin split his face. “Oh, I don’t think so. You know why. I know why.” He winked. “Stay where you are, Pace. Come any closer, and the vertebrae go bye-bye.”
Carla gritted her teeth, but stood her ground. “There is no situation in which this ends well for you if you do that,” she said. “Put him down, and we can do this peacefully.”
The man thought about it. “Nah,” he said. Without looking, he chucked the banker like a ragdoll backward, right at Pace.
Bang!
Two things happened next.
Pace caught the banker and the pair went down as he tried to ensure the human wasn’t harmed.
And her bullet bounced off the side of the suspect’s face, grazing a line along his temple, starting just past his eye. He’d moved when he’d thrown the banker, and that little motion had spoiled her aim.
The man looked at her in shock, touched his face. Seeing the blood, he ran at her in a roar, moving faster than she’d seen anyone move.
Anyone except Pace when he’d saved her in the warehouse.
She dove aside, hoping against hope she would make it out of his path.
Carla hit the ground and covered her head in her hands as the doors behind her shattered, as their suspect ran through them and out into the parking lot. They heard a truck fire up and tires screeched as he fled.
“Carla!” Pace shouted, glass crunching under his shoes as he dropped to his knees at her side.
“Watch the glass,” she said, breathing heavily. “Go after him. Don’t worry about me.”
Pace ignored her instructions and reached under her arms. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’ll be fine. Can’t really hurt me,” he said, brushing her off before picking her up as if she were a strawman. “Are you okay?”
“What? Yeah, I’m fine. Just…scared. Worried. But I’m fine.”
“Okay good.” Pace growled, “Come on, let’s go, I want to track this asshole down right now so we can turn him over to the Council to face the punishment he deserves.”
Carla frowned, the words getting through her mind. “Wait. What? Council? Punishment? Pace what are you talking about?”
Pace looked startled, then looked down at the ground. “Um.”
“Pace. What Council?” she ground out. “What punishment?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Pace
He sighed.
This was an issue he’d feared, a topic he’d avoided broaching with her ever since they had agreed to work together. Mostly because he simply did not know how. It was going to be emotional, and she was going to be mad. At him. Like, really mad.
This is why I didn’t want to get any closer to her, he growled mentally at Emma and Clarice. Because of this exact reason!
“Pace what the hell are you talking about? Are you holding more back? Explain yourself!” she snapped.
Hanging his head, he searched for the right words. The ones that would resolve her anger, and get her to understand why things had to be the way he said, and not as she wanted.
“This man can’t face your justice system,” he said quietly. “They have to face mine.”
“Yours?” she asked incredulously. “You have your own justice system? Under what authority? Who said? What criminal code do you follow?”
“Oh come on, Carla,” he snapped. “Don’t give me that. You know perfectly well whose authority and why we do it this way. It has to be this way, and you know it as well as I do!”
“What way, Pace? I think you need to go into a bit more detail here.”
“The Dragon Council,” he growled. “The ruling body of the five clans here in Five Peaks. They will oversee his sentencing and punishment. In a system designed to handle people like him.”
“You have a lot of experience with criminals then?” she challenged, her temper shining through as she refused to back down.
For once, Pace wished she wasn’t as tenacious as she was, that Carla would understand when to give up, when to realize that it wasn’t a battle she could win.
“No,” he snapped. “But we have places that can hold him.”
“So do we,” she growled, not backing down. “It’s called a jail cell.”
Pace barked. “He would simply break out. Your bars cannot hold him, Deputy.”
Green fire filled her eyes as he used her rank. For most, it would be a sign of respect, but she knew that when he did it, he was being the opposite. He admired that about her, and even now, on the opposite side of it, it was tough for Pace to do anything but respect this woman. She knew what he was, what he could do, and here she was getting in his face, telling him that no, he couldn’t do it his way.
Unfortunately for Carla, this wasn’t a situation she was going to win. Ever. Handcuffs and a police car wouldn’t hold him. A jail cell designed for humans wouldn’t either. Only the dragons could do this properly. Pace didn’t like it, but he quite literally did not have a choice.
Any other option would lead to more destruction and possible deaths. He couldn’t and wouldn’t be t
he one to allow that to happen. Even if it meant hurting someone he was coming to care about a lot.
“What are you saying, Pace?” she asked, visibly bracing for his answer.
“I’m saying that, regardless of emotion, the straight facts say that you can’t be the one to take him in,” he said, pleading with her to see reason.
“I can’t go home from this empty-handed Pace. I just can’t.” Some of the steam went out of her glare. “If I can’t bring him to justice, then what am I supposed to do? Dunbar is going to screw me over. If you don’t remember, I’m the one who has their job on the line here.”
He clenched his jaw. There had to be another way to deal with Dunbar, something that could be done to alleviate any pressure being exerted on Carla. Regardless of his own feelings toward her, it was clear she deserved to be higher up the chain.
Everything that Pace had seen about the Sheriff indicated that he was a useless fop, and should be removed from office as soon as humanly possible.
By this point a crowd was starting to gather out front. Other sirens were sounding in the distance. Then the real fun would start, including filling out far too much paperwork, he was sure about it.
“What would you have me do?” he asked her quietly, releasing his hold on his anger. Carla deserved better than this, but he didn’t have any other options. “He will literally escape from anything you have available to you. It can’t contain my kind.”
Carla bit her lip, visible frustration crossing her face. “I hate this.”
“Me too,” he agreed, careful not to get too close to her.
Pace had known that this moment was coming, from the very start. He’d pushed it aside though, tried not to think of it, to avoid it. There was no easy way around this, nothing that would make both of them happy, much as he raged against it internally.
“It’s not that I want to,” he began, but stopped when she raised a hand.
“Just don’t,” she said quietly. “I know it in my mind, but right now it feels otherwise.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked quietly.
“Deal with this mess,” she said. “Then we’re going to go get Barton, take him out from his hotel room, walk him, get lunch, and we’re going to try and come up with some sort of solution to the problem. I refuse to believe that it has to be this cut and dry. Not without both of us putting our minds to it.”
