Dragon Passion

by Amelia Jade

It wasn’t until after he burst into the house and searched it for occupants that things began to click into place.

  “We need to go,” he said, wiping soot and embers off his arm. “That house was unoccupied, and the flames went up too quickly.”

  A crowd was already beginning to increase, and sirens were growing closer with a rapidity that none of them were used to. Most of the time the local authorities stayed out of any sort of fight between the Underground and the Agency. They were supposed to be on the side of the Underground, but everyone knew they had been either bribed or ordered to stay neutral.

  That, he thought, might be about to change. People were already pointing fingers at his team, whispering as they realized they had somehow been involved with whatever had happened. Something had happened that night, but he wasn’t sure what just yet, and that bothered him.

  “Signal Echo,” he muttered to Justin in disgust. “Get us out of here.”

  He looked around, but Hannah and Chad had already disappeared into the night. That was one thing to be thankful for. At least he didn’t have to hope that the bystanders would only see overly large dogs.

  Shay, or Echo as she was now being called, pulled up in less than a minute, piloting a big extended truck. He hopped into the bed before it even came to a halt, and the others followed suit or got into the cab itself. Justin took shotgun, sitting next to his mate, but everything else was up for grabs.

  The truck roared as she pulled away, the engine working hard to haul all of the extra weight.

  Jared sat back in the bed with a sigh and looked up into the night sky. The stars were mostly obscured by the ambient glow from the city itself, but he had spent enough nights out in the mountains to know what it looked like.

  The rules had changed this night. He just wished he knew how.

  Chapter Two

  Nadia

  Lines of data and imagery were spread across the three monitors attached to her workstation. Her eyes glazed over as she looked at it for the dozenth time that hour. There was something here, she knew it. Her brain was trying to tell her, but it wasn’t providing the final clue.

  Instead of getting angry she rocked back in her chair, trying to identify which piece of information wasn’t fitting. Her eyes settled on one camera stream. Without a second of hesitation she wiped it from her screen and pulled up the next one on her long list. She thumbed through it on fast forward, hoping to see something.

  Wait. What was that?

  She hit the pause button and rewound it to the specific point, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she input commands to manipulate the feed in the few ways available to her.

  That looks familiar. I wonder…

  She cross-referenced it with several other data feeds, and suddenly realized she was getting close. A few more clicks, requesting bits of data from other sources, and Nadia had her answer.

  “Holy shit,” she said aloud. She pulled a USB stick from the desk and shoved it into the port on her computer, saving the data to it. Her fingers were shaking slightly as she got up and went over to the door to her supervisor’s office. The blinds were closed, but she knew he was in there. Probably just dozing off, like normal.

  Not that that’s unusual. Half the office is just sitting at their desks with blank stares. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one doing any work around here.

  The sad part was that it wasn’t too far from the truth. Most of the people in the office had been there for decades, and were content with their lot in life. Not Nadia. She wanted to move upward to the fancy new outfit downtown, where they had cutting-edge technology and were apparently on the cusp of doing some very interesting things with their data surveillance.

  That was her goal, and if she was right about this, she might just be able to demand her way in.

  Her fist rapped sharply against the pane of glass, and she waited just long enough for Bruce to regain his awareness before she knocked a second time, knowing full well that he would be mildly embarrassed he hadn’t told her to come in after the first time.

  “Come,” he said, his voice tinged with anger.

  Nadia didn’t care; she held the ultimate bargaining chip.

  “What?” he said as she stepped inside.

  “Before I tell you, I want writing in triplicate that I presented it to you,” she stated.

  “Presented what to me?”

  Nadia just stared at him expectantly. Bruce was known for stealing the work of his subordinates.

  Not this time you arrogant, misogynistic asshole. This is my triumph, not yours.

  Bruce finally relented and scribbled a form, signed it and presented it to her. She filled it out, had him photocopy it and present her with several copies, which she promptly took a picture of and stored in her phone and backed up in her email, just in case.

  “What do you have?” he asked with a tired voice when she was done.

  “My promotion,” she told him, holding out the data stick.

  He held out a hand, but she just arched an eyebrow. “This is worth my transfer to that new place downtown. It’s going to get you anything you want from them. One of the things I want you to ask for is to have me transferred there, understood?”

  The door opened behind her with a smooth precision she could hear. Nadia whirled, both because of the unexpected intrusion, and because of the look that crossed Bruce’s face. He was quick to cover it up, but she knew what terror looked like.

  “Who are you?” she asked before the newcomer—a tall man in a black suit—could speak.

  “His boss,” the man said in smooth, unclipped words. “You have something?”

  She frowned. The man wasn’t lying, but he certainly wasn’t telling her the entire truth either. “I do. But before I give it up, I want an agreement that my price will be met.”

  “And your price is?”

  “I want to be transferred to the new branch downtown. Out of here,” she said with a wave of her hand.

  The bald man adjusted his suit jacket. “Conveniently, that is my department, Miss…”—he peered at her ID badge—“Samson. We aren’t actively recruiting, but depending on what you have found, perhaps we could help you out. What, exactly, do you have?”

  “See for yourself,” she said, flicking him the data stick.

  The man caught it out of mid-air without looking at it, his eyes still focused on her. The ease of his motion made her a little unsettled, but she pushed past it. Dealing with him, as weird as he was, would be worlds better than having to put up with Bruce’s constant attempts to touch her and seduce her in the office. The man might scare her, but he struck her as a professional, which is all she asked for.

  He stepped toward Bruce’s desk, and her immediate supervisor practically launched himself from the chair, though he stayed near enough to be able to watch the screen.

  The suited man sat down, plugged the data stick in and began to look at what she had compiled. His lips ticked, and then as she watched, they began to turn up into what she supposed he thought was a smile.

  Personally I think it just makes him look creepier. What is it with guys in the data world? Why can’t any of them be normal?

  “This is good. Very good,” he said.

  “I know,” she said confidently, her arms crossed below her breasts, pulling the gray suit she wore tight around her shoulders.

  “Yes, I can see you did,” he agreed, looking up from the screens at last. “I think you will work out just fine at our downtown location. Report there tomorrow morning, and we’ll get you squared away.”

  Nadia felt her jaw drop. “Just like that?”

  The man nodded. “Oh yes, we need people like you there. I don’t want your talents wasted here in this dump,” he said. “Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow will be tough, I can guarantee you that.”

  Bruce looked ready to explode, but he didn’t say anything. Nadia strolled back to her desk, on cloud nine as she packed up the meager things she had kept in the office. There wasn’t mu
ch, and in less than half an hour she walked proudly from the building, hoping to never again set foot in the government facility. She was moving to the private sector branch. Harder work, but much better pay and working environment. She couldn’t wait!

  ***

  Nadia drove her little sport hatchback crossover vehicle cautiously through traffic, keeping one eye on the car in front of her as she leaned over the wheel and stared up at her new office. It wasn’t a picturesque skyscraper, but that didn’t matter to her. The seven floors of drab, utilitarian beige hid what she knew to be—among other things—a very advanced data collection and analysis hub.

  Visions of computers less than a decade old, monitors that didn’t force her to squint, and as many screens of data in front of her as she wanted all flashed through her head, serving as a distraction.

  “Shit! Sorry!” she said, slamming on her brakes, the vehicle screeching to a halt so that she didn’t slam into the car in front of her.

  The sedan behind her followed suit, with the driver laying on the horn as he was forced to come to an unexpectedly abrupt stop. Her fingers bounced on the wheel as she tried to ease her jitteriness, taking deep breaths that were supposedly calming. At least, that’s what her yoga instructor had said, but right then, Nadia wasn’t buying it. All it seemed to do was increase the flood of blood through her body. She was so excited!

  Her new office was a corner building, and she didn’t see any entrance for parking on the side she came up along, so she turned right at the intersection, and almost immediately saw the ramp that led down into the basement. A white sign with a green P on it hung on top. She followed it, descending swiftly below street level.

  She found an empty spot, sliding the crossover into it with practiced ease and killed the engine. Then she just sat there, staring at the door handle.

  Get out, Nadia. Grab the door handle, like it was your life. Take it by the horns and control it. Come on. You can do this!

  Finally, with a determined bang of her fist off the armrest she pulled on the lever and the door swung open so fast it almost hit the concrete support pole running from floor to ceiling.

  “Get a grip,” she said, shaking her head as she gathered herself, and began looking around for where to go.

  At the end of the lane of spots she saw two men guarding a doorway. That seemed like a good place to start.

  “I’m sorry, miss, you can’t be down here,” one of the guards said as she approached, holding his hand out to halt her.

  She frowned. “I’m Nadia Samson, I was told to come here. I work here now, I guess,” she said with a friendly shrug. “My boss said to report to the lobby, where I’d get processed in.”

  The guards looked at each other, then the one who hadn’t spoken turned and said something into a microphone too softly for her to hear. A few seconds later he nodded and looked back at his partner. “She’s clear,” he said, before resuming his rigid position.

  “Okay ma’am, you can go ahead,” the first guard said. “Press the big button labeled Lobby. Don’t go anywhere else, understood?”

  She nodded, trying not to be condescending. What did they think she was, some kind of spy? “Of course,” she said in reply to his expectant look and then brushed past him and entered the elevator.

  It was shiny solid stainless steel, and the rumble of the doors as they closed made them seem heavy and intimidating. She waited for the elevator to start moving, which left her feeling surprised when the door dinged pleasantly and opened to reveal the lobby. That was indicative of some heavy-duty tech if she hadn’t even felt it begin to move.

  Impressed, and excited that her new workplace clearly didn’t skimp on things, she stepped out into the lobby area, her eyes sweeping it for a visitor desk of some sort. She didn’t see anything, so she stepped forward. The wall that the elevator was in was set at a diagonal to the building itself, forming a triangle with the two exterior walls. She was facing outside, and the area around her was mostly marbled floor, with a few plants, some chairs, and a handful more men, all dressed like the ones in the basement. They were hanging around the doors. They didn’t impede anyone who came in, but they were certainly not lounging, though they tried to make it look that way.

  Why does this place have so much security?

  She turned around and saw a giant staircase run up the middle of the wall, to a loft that overlooked the rest of the lobby. She could just make out the edge of a desk, and as she proceeded up the steps, couldn’t help but be overcome by a feeling of awe and power. It was like approaching the throne of some incredibly powerful king or emperor. Nadia knew it had to have been designed with that effect in mind. It was too strong an impression to be a happy mistake.

  The person standing—not sitting—behind the desk looked up as her shoes clicked on the floor.

  “Hello, how may I help you today?” he asked. The tone was perfunctory, but not overly polite, and she felt guarded as his eyes inspected her. Not from a physical standpoint, but a precise, military-style evaluation, as if to ensure she wasn’t carrying any weapons.

  “My name is Nadia—”

  “Ah, yes, Miss Samson,” he said without taking his eyes off her. He pulled a bin out from under the desk and placed it on top. “We’ll need your phone, as well as any other electronic devices you may have on you, and we’ll need to inspect your bag as well please,” he said.

  Again, his tone was polite, but none of that extended to his eyes. The look gave her a shiver as she removed her purse from her shoulder, setting it down in the bin and removing her phone from it.

  “I didn’t realize security was so tight here,” she said, pulling the hooded jacket tighter around her as another man approached from off to the side.

  “Mmm,” the man said noncommittally as he pawed through her belongings. “This is Ray. He’s going to give you a pat down; is that okay?”

  Nadia frowned. She wasn’t overly enthused by the idea, but if this is what it took to get the job, she could endure it. After today it would hopefully be a more regular entry and exit from the building.

  “Very well,” she said, extending her arms to the sides.

  Ray was polite and his hands didn’t stray, nor linger on her rear as he checked any pockets she might have had there. Nor did his fingers come up overly far on the inside of her legs either. It still wasn’t enjoyable, but she hadn’t been fondled, which was a relief. He spent an extra moment examining the hood of her jacket, which was odd, but she had to commend him on being thorough.

  It didn’t do anything to help the sinking feeling that came over her as she waited on the man behind the desk, however. He printed off a slip and gave it to her. “This will get you your phone back at the end of the day,” he said. “Just give it to whomever is on duty here.”

  “Thanks,” she said with an unhappy grimace, taking the little square piece of paper from between his fingers.

  The man nodded and returned to his screen.

  Nadia waited, but he didn’t seem to be doing anything else, so she cleared her throat slightly.

  “Yes?” the man asked, looking up. The politeness was gone from his face, which caught her off guard.

  “Umm,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t instructed on where to go next,” she said awkwardly.

  The man’s cold eyes bored into her. “Third floor, through that elevator,” he said, pointing at the rightmost of the bank of four.

  “Thank you,” she said with a sniff of disdain and headed off.

  Ray fell in step next to her.

  “Uh,” she said, unsure of what to say. The feeling of wrong intensified as the big man stood silently next to her while she waited for the elevator.

  The door opened at last, but the sigh of relief died in her throat as she saw two more men, both dressed the same, standing inside the elevator.

  “What floor?” one of them asked, stopping her hand as she went to punch the button.

  “Three,” she said, slowly lowering her hand back down.

&nb
sp; The elevator, like the first one, simply opened its doors a few seconds later, without any sensation of moving at all. Nadia stepped out, and to her dismay all three men went with her.

  “Which way?” she asked, looking at the hallway.

  “This way,” Ray said, pointing and stepping off. Nadia, coming to a decision that she realized she should have made much earlier, pretended to take a step forward, then reversed her movement and ducked back into the elevator just as the doors shut. Her finger jabbed down on the door close button and the button marked B. She hoped that meant basement, where her car was.

  She knew that this was drastic action—running away from a job before even getting close to it and abandoning her cell phone in the process—but her gut had always been good to Nadia. When she listened to it, she often avoided trouble, and when she ignored it, things had a tendency to go sideways.

  And her gut was telling her to get out of the building as fast as she could. The door opened to reveal the basement, and the two guards who had stopped her progress.

  “Leaving so soon?” one of them asked, turning and half-stepping into her path.

  “What?” she asked with as much derision as she could muster. “No, I forgot the form I was given in the car like a moron,” she said, reaching into her purse. “You think I would leave my cell phone here?” she said, waving the slip around as if it were proof she would return.

  The guard seemed to buy it however, and he stepped out of her path. Nadia tried not to walk too quickly to her car, but she didn’t have much choice. Not long after she passed by the guards, she heard their shoulder radios buzz.

  “Miss!” one of them shouted. “Stop!”

  Nadia burst into a run, keys already in hand as she hit the remote start and unlocked it from a distance. Thank goodness she had splurged for the technology package on it!

  Her lead was enough that she was able to leave them behind. Unfortunately, they too realized this and veered off course, heading instead for a pickup.

  Why are they pursuing me? Something is very, very wrong.

  The radio in the car came to life, set to her preferred news station.