Dragon Gate

by Gary Jonas

The next few things happened so close together, they probably seemed simultaneous to the Marshalls.

  Thomas squeezed the trigger.

  Brand threw his shuriken.

  The gun didn’t fire, and I moved quickly to grab the barrel and twist it hard and down, breaking Thomas’s finger.

  The shuriken stuck in Nathan’s face, and he screamed in pain.

  Brand followed the shuriken, charging Nathan.

  I took the Beretta from Thomas.

  Brand knocked the Glock out of Nathan’s hand and tackled him.

  The other Marshall boy whose name I didn’t know but who held the MP5, froze for a moment. That happens a lot when sudden violence erupts.

  I thumbed off the safety and put three rounds into MP5 boy’s head. He dropped. I turned slightly and fired two rounds into Kent’s chest. He went down hard.

  Brand snapped Nathan’s neck.

  I pulled Thomas to his feet and put the gun in his face to see how he’d like it.

  The look on his face told me he didn’t care for it.

  “Sit down,” I said.

  His ears were probably ringing from the gunfire. I know mine were. I told him again to sit, this time much louder. He sat.

  I took a deep breath.

  “If my math is correct, Thomas, you and two of your sons are still alive. Peter is in the hands of the Boulder Police Department. Your other son, whatever his name is, is probably at the hospital, but he’s also technically in custody.

  “Matthew,” Thomas said.

  At first I thought he said “Meth You,” but then I realized he was telling me the name of his other son. Maybe he was trying to tell me he remembered all their names.

  “Whatever,” I said.

  He looked defeated. He held his broken finger and refused to look at me.

  “What about us?” Wesley said.

  “What about you?” I asked.

  He turned around and wriggled his hands to show he was still zip-tied. “You gonna cut us free?”

  “You brought these assholes down on us.”

  “But I gave Rayna a warning so she could tell you and you could either be prepared or be gone.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Brand asked.

  “He called Rayna and made sure not to disconnect the call. That way we could hear Thomas make his plans to come after us by tracking the GPS on Rayna’s phone.”

  “That was clever,” Brand said. He grabbed a dagger from the table and went to cut them free.

  “You were much better than I thought,” Lucas said.

  I ignored him and focused on Thomas. “What am I going to do about you, Thomas?”

  “You defeated me in battle. You have swords over there. I shall do the honorable thing and accept my death.”

  “I’m not sure that’s the right way to handle this.”

  “I have been defeated. You must do me this honor. My gods will not be pleased if I’m held captive.”

  “So now you’re telling me your gods will come after me?”

  He shook his head. “No, they will not allow me access to the afterlife. You are a worthy warrior, Jonathan Shade. The honorable thing for you to do is to take my head.”

  “There’s already more blood on the floor that I’ll have to clean up later. I don’t want to make an even bigger mess.”

  “Then take me outside and do it.”

  Brand finished freeing Lucas and his sons. They rubbed their wrists.

  “I’ll do the honors,” Lucas said. He looked at me. “It is the way of our people. To deny him this is wrong.”

  “Even after he killed so many members of your family?”

  “It is our way.”

  “Can you lay down some plastic first?” I asked.

  “Kelly has some trash bags in the back,” Brand said.

  “This doesn’t feel right to me,” I said.

  “Having us cure Alzheimer’s didn’t seem right to you either,” Lucas said.

  “Please,” Thomas said. “I know you don’t owe me anything, but now that you’ve seen to keeping Rayna alive, it costs you nothing to grant my request.”

  “Honor is good,” Brand said. “It has the added bonus of getting him to shut the fuck up.”

  “There is that,” I said.

  “I’ll handle it,” Lucas said. “I know you’d see it as murder, and as you’ve saved us, I’ll take it upon myself.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “I’ll get the trash bags,” Brand said.

  Junior and Wesley shuffled their feet a bit while Lucas led Thomas toward the front door. Brand returned with two large black trash bags.

  “Hey,” I said. “If you’re going to do it, at least do it out back to avoid potential witnesses.”

  “Good idea,” Brand said. “This way, guys.”

  Brand led Lucas and Thomas out the back door.

  Wesley and Junior moved to follow them.

  “Hold up, guys,” I said.

  They turned toward me, their backs to the tables of weapons.

  “We want to watch this,” Junior said.

  “Fine, but answer me one question first.”

  They nodded. “Anything.”

  “You guys took my guns, so you had two handguns and a submachine gun, plus you thought you had a dragon.”

  “We heard the dragon leave, but what’s your question?” Wesley said.

  “How did the Marshalls get the drop on you when you had them outgunned?”

  Wesley and Junior looked at each other then sheepishly turned back to me. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

  “Why would I laugh?”

  Junior cocked a thumb at Wesley. “Because this loser fell asleep when he was supposed to be keeping watch on the back. They came in the back way and got the drop on me. Father gave up because Thomas promised to let us live if he’d cooperate.”

  “You fell asleep?” I asked.

  “Well, they took forever to get to the castle, and I got bored. I’m not cut out for this kind of shit.”

  I shook my head.

  “Can we go?” he asked.

  I motioned for them to leave then turned toward the front. Esther popped in.

  “Where the hell were you?” I asked.

  “I went to see Kelly and Rayna. I got to ride a dragon!”

  “So you just left us?”

  “I didn’t want to watch you die.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Thanks for that.”

  The front door opened and Rayna entered. She saw the bodies then looked at me. “You’re okay!” She ran over to me and grabbed me in a tight embrace. She kissed me. “I’m so glad you’re okay that I’ll forgive you for stealing my phone.”

  “All’s well that ends well,” I said. “Clara?”

  “She dropped me off out front then hopped on the roof. Where’s Thomas?”

  “Out back. Lucas is going to decapitate him.”

  “I want to watch.”

  “You people are sick,” I said, but I followed her out the back door.

  Esther shook her head. “I’ll be with Kelly.”

  In the back, Brand stood slightly in front of Junior and Wesley, who had both helped themselves to swords from one of the tables. Did they plan to cut Thomas up afterward? I wasn’t sure how this whole thing worked. I remained close to the door.

  Thomas knelt on the black bags, and Lucas stood before him, sword in hand.

  “Rayna!” Thomas said. “You’ve come to watch me die?”

  “Call it closure,” Rayna said.

  I heard something scrabble across the roof, so I looked up and saw the dragon perched there, watching. We were certainly a macabre bunch.

  Thomas looked up at the dragon. “And there is Clara. She shall have a long life after all.”

  Lucas nodded. “Do you have anything to say before we end this?”

  Thomas smiled. “I’d like to repeat Graham’s last words because they seem particularly fitting.”

  “Really?” Lucas asked. “What d
id he say?”

  “He said, ‘I’m not ready to die.’ And then he knelt, bowed his head, and accepted his fate.”

  “As you are,” Lucas said.

  “Do it now,” Thomas said and bowed his head.

  Lucas raised the blade.

  I didn’t want to watch this, and while I knew Rayna did, I didn’t want her so close to the execution, so I pulled her back a few steps.

  Those few steps saved her life.

  Lucas spun around, swinging the sword toward Rayna.

  As I said, most people freeze when sudden violence erupts. Rayna froze.

  On the other hand, I’ve seen so much violence in my day that I don’t freeze. I knew something was wrong the moment Lucas started to spin.

  I grabbed Rayna and pulled her farther back.

  The sword swished around harmlessly.

  I was so focused on protecting Rayna that I saw Wesley and Junior only out of the corner of my eye.

  They stuck the swords they’d grabbed into Brand before he knew anything was amiss.

  Once Lucas’s attack went by, I darted forward, grabbed him, and drove him to the ground. I landed on top of him and saw Thomas bolt toward Rayna. I slammed Lucas’s head against the concrete a few times with one hand while fumbling for my gun with the other, but as I pulled it, Lucas bucked, and as I didn’t have a good grip, the gun slipped from my grasp.

  Brand dropped to his knees then Wesley and Junior yanked their swords out of him.

  I heard Rayna scream.

  Lucas kept bucking, so I rolled off him, grabbing the sword he’d dropped. I got to my feet as his sons attacked me.

  Fighting two swordsmen at once looks great in the movies, but I don’t recommend trying it in real life. If Lucas hadn’t been trying to get up, I’m not sure I’d have survived, but he was in Junior’s way, which allowed me to focus first on Wesley.

  I parried his first attack then kicked him in the chest. He staggered back and I drove my sword into Lucas’s chest. Releasing the sword, I jumped back to avoid Junior’s attack. I wanted to thank Lucas for blocking his direct line to me. I darted in, grabbed the handle of the sword sticking out of Lucas, and pulled it free while kicking him toward Junior.

  Wesley was on me again, but I parried and attacked. I whipped around quickly because I sensed Junior approaching, and I lopped off his sword arm at the elbow. He screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his stump.

  I spun back just in time to parry Wesley’s next attack. I circled around to position him where I wanted. His footwork was pretty good, but he wasn’t paying close enough attention to where he was on the battlefield.

  I pressed forward in a hack-and-slash manner that relies more on berserker rage and speed than any real skill. While I am skilled with swords, I didn’t need that skill at the moment. I just needed Wesley to retreat. And of course, he did retreat without looking back, and he tripped over his dead father. He hit the ground hard, and I stabbed him in the gut then kicked his sword away.

  I knew he’d live, but he and his brother were done fighting. Losing an arm and getting a deep stab wound in the gut will do that to you. I knew they were going to into shock, but I didn’t give a shit. Thomas was after Rayna, and I had to save her.

  RAYNA NOBLE

  Rayna didn’t know what to think when Lucas spun around and tried to kill her. If not for Jonathan’s quick reaction, she knew she’d have been killed.

  Then Jonathan was dealing with Lucas, and Thomas bolted toward her. Rayna ran back inside with Thomas on her tail.

  She burst into the dojo where there were tables lined with weapons. She grabbed a dagger from the first table, stopped fast, and spun around as Thomas ran into the room. She threw the dagger, but he didn’t slow down, and it hit him handle first in the shoulder then dropped to the floor.

  “Kneel and accept your fate!” Thomas said, grabbing a sword from one of the tables.

  Years of conditioning made her stop. Tears filled her eyes as she grabbed the table in front of her. She tipped the table over as she dropped to her knees. Daggers and swords scattered on the floor in front of her.

  “Before you kill me, can you answer a question?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Did you tell Lucas he could live if he killed me and spared you? Is that why he attacked me?”

  “No. He knew he was going to die. Honor required it of him the same as it requires it of you. Our deal was that we would allow his sons to live. And if Mr. Shade hasn’t killed them, I’ll stand by that agreement.”

  “How honorable.”

  “I think so. Now do you have any last words?” Thomas asked.

  “I do,” she said. She sobbed and mumbled something unintelligible.

  Thomas rolled his eyes. “Women. Must you always cry? Your mother cried too, but at least I could understand what she said.”

  She leaned forward so far, she had to put her hands on the floor to keep her balance. “I’m sorry,” she said around the tears.

  “Try again. That way you can die with dignity.”

  She looked up at him. He had the sword raised high. He waited for her to speak. Her fingers curled around the handle of a dagger on the floor.

  “Honor this,” she said.

  His eyes grew wide as she thrust the dagger into his groin. He gave her a look of surprised betrayal then blinked several times and dropped his sword.

  Rayna pulled the dagger free then rose. “This is for my parents, my brother, and Lucas’s daughters.” She plunged the blade into Thomas’s heart.

  “Unnnhhh!” Thomas said and dropped to his knees.

  Rayna took a sword from a nearby table. Thomas was already bent over, so she raised the blade. “And this is for me,” she said and brought the blade down hard.

  Thomas’s head bounced on the tatami mats, rolled over to balance momentarily on the ear, then dropped back to settle on its face.

  JONATHAN SHADE

  I raced into the dojo and stopped when I saw Rayna holding a sword with one foot propped up on Thomas’s fallen body. His head lay off to one side.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Thought you’d have to save me?” she asked with a grin.

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Thought I was some helpless little rich girl?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “I’m actually well versed in various weapons,” she said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because you seemed to need to protect someone. I didn’t want to steal your thunder.”

  “I think I’m in love,” I said.

  “What about Brand?”

  I hurried out back. Brand had rolled over onto his back. I knelt beside him and touched his neck. He had a pulse.

  “Don’t even think about kissing me, Shade,” he said.

  I laughed. “Don’t worry.”

  “That said, I could use a healer. Getting stabbed fucking hurts.”

  There was a lot of blood. He made it seem like it wasn’t that big a deal, but I knew he was hurt bad. I also knew that I could get him to Lina inside of ten minutes because we had our own Flight for Life in the form of a dragon named Clara.

  “One healer coming up,” I said. “This is going to hurt, Brand.”

  “I’ve come to a surprising conclusion,” he said as the dragon dropped from the roof at Rayna’s call.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m not a big fan of pain.”

  “Don’t be a baby,” I said.

  We got him loaded onto the dragon, but Clara couldn’t carry three of us. Rayna promised to take Brand, but she needed to know where.

  “Leave that to me,” I said. I gave her directions to Lina’s place. “Watch for the flashes,” I said.

  I placed two phone calls once the dragon took off into the night sky with two passengers. The first was to Lina. I told her to wait five minutes then start flashing her lights, both the inside and the porch light since the switches were next to one another.

  The s
econd call was to my friend Patrick O’Malley of the Denver Police Department. He was used to calls from me about injured assholes and dead guys. I knew he’d help me through the days of interrogations and paperwork to come.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  JONATHAN SHADE

  A few weeks later, Rayna and I met up with Kelly and Brand at the dojo. There were still loose ends with the police departments of both Denver and Boulder, but with O’Malley and Kramer, respectively, plus Rayna making some rather substantial donations to the right police charities, I knew everything would work out fine.

  Brand was in good spirits, and he was completely healed. Lina does excellent work. Esther moped around for a week because she wasn’t happy I was dating Rayna, but she got over it.

  “Ready for lunch?” I asked as we entered.

  “I need to work up an appetite,” Kelly said.

  “And how do you propose to do that?”

  “By kicking your ass.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me,” I said.

  Kelly laughed. “But it does to me.”

  “Are you all better now?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  “In that case, I’ll pass.”

  Kelly shook her head. “Right before all this started, you took Brand down a little too easily. Then you were a lot faster than I expected. I won that matchup partially because Mike distracted you.”

  “You’d have won anyway.”

  “Let’s find out.” She stepped onto the mats, which I have to tell you were a royal bitch to clean. There were still a few spots where if you looked closely, you could see bloodstains.

  “I forfeit,” I said.

  “Come on, Jonathan.”

  “I don’t want my girlfriend to see you kick my ass. It hurts my masculine pride.”

  She laughed. “Fine,” she said and stepped off the mat. “Brand, when he wouldn’t fight you, what did I tell you to do?”

  “You told me to hit him because he’d probably hit back.”

  I tried to back away, but Rayna pushed me forward.

  “Hey,” I said. “Whose side are you on?”

  Kelly grabbed me and threw me onto the mat. I rolled to my feet, and she was on me in a heartbeat. To my credit, I did manage to block a few of the punches before she proved to me that she was back to full strength.

  As I flew through the air, I heard Esther say, “Atta girl, Kelly! Show him who’s boss!”