Dragon Eruption

by Amelia Jade

  In her sleep-addled state the best she could manage was a “Whadafuggll?” as she reached for the phone to see who it was. It was Noah. She tried to answer it, but she must have caught it on the last ring because it went silent before she could press the green button. But her phone lit up with the missed call notification.

  Except there wasn’t one missed call. She had ten of them, all from Noah, along with double that in text messages.

  Something’s wrong.

  Immediately she was more awake, and when his next call came in she answered it right away.

  “Hello?”

  “Finally!” he said, his voice tight.

  “This had better be good,” she warned, not impressed by his greeting.

  Noah told her all about his encounter with Chase, how he was now confined to his room, unable to be there.

  “So that’s what you called me about? To tell me that you got grounded?” She glanced back at the night stand. “It’s one thirty in the morning, Noah. Couldn’t this have waited until, I don’t know, seven, or even eight?”

  “No,” he growled. “It couldn’t. I think he’s up to something. Don’t you get it? Chase is the spy! He’s threatening you, and now I can’t be there to protect you!”

  “Nothing that he said in that conversation indicated he was the spy,” she said tiredly. “It sounded like he was trying to do what you are, but just clumsy and inept.”

  There was a pause on the other end. “Maybe,” Noah said at last. “That would explain why he agreed to the punishment, without speaking up.”

  She sighed. “Why would the spy do something so obvious like that? Think Noah. I’m half-asleep and even I can see this. It was a bumbling move by an amateur trying to sleuth something out. Nothing more.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that,” he told her. “I’m uncomfortable with you being alone.”

  There was genuine worry in his voice. Not overprotectiveness like she’d expected, but an actual show of emotion. He hadn’t ordered her to go somewhere, or to come to him, which she knew would have resulted in her simply ignoring him. No, instead he’d told her that he was uncomfortable with the idea. It put his feelings on the table, but left the decision in her court.

  Angela blew air out between her lips.

  “Would you feel better if we went and stayed with Rachel?”

  The relief in Noah’s voice was so strong she thought it was going to reach out through the phone. “Yes, very much so.” There was a pause. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

  “You’ve got one week,” she told him. “Figure out what’s going on, and when you can finally play your get-out-of-jail-free card, you end this, understand? No more games. If you have to, you go to Gray and you tell him all you know. I’ll back you up.”

  “I can’t do that,” he said. “You know that. Unless I have concrete proof, it won’t do anything to convince him that I’m not the spy. He can’t take that risk, and we all know it. If he wasn’t directly affected by it, then I would, you know that. But I have to do this, Angela, on my own.”

  “You’re not alone,” she reassured him. “You have me.”

  The phone rumbled with his growl. “I know. For that, I am very thankful.”

  “You’d better be,” she teased, knowing full well she was just as grateful to have him.

  “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

  “You won’t lose me,” she reassured him. “I promise.”

  There was only silence on the other end, but she could hear him breathing.

  “I’ll call Rachel and wake her. But don’t think she’ll forgive you as easily for disturbing her slumber as I will.”

  Noah laughed. “No, probably not. But she will understand, and I will just have to take solace in that.”

  Despite her tiredness, and the sliver of worry his phone call had awoken in her, Angela laughed as well. “That’s true.” She grew serious. “You be careful, Noah. Okay? Find out what the hell is going on, and put an end to it. But you do so carefully, got it?”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  They both knew he was lying.

  “I’m going to go get ready now,” she said, not wanting to discuss it anymore. “I’ll text you when I get to Rachel’s safely.”

  “Call me instead, please,” he requested. “Just…so I know it’s you. I know it’s paranoid, but please humor me on this.”

  Angela shrugged mentally. What did it cost her to call him? Nothing, really. “I can do that,” she promised. “I’ve got to go now.”

  “I know.”

  “Talk to you soon,” she said, reaching for the end button.

  “Angela, wait!”

  “Yes?” She perked up at his tone. What was he going to say?

  “I…” he started to say, then fell silent.

  Waiting, she listened to the struggle on the other end of the phone, of his attempts to say whatever it was he was going to say. In the end, she could tell he lost the inner war. Part of him obviously wanted to say more, but he couldn’t get the words out.

  “Thank you,” he said at last.

  “You’re welcome, but for what?”

  “For believing in me when nobody else does. You’ve been willing to trust me this entire time, giving me the fullest amount of your own confidence. I…well, saying I appreciate it just doesn’t do justice to how I feel about that.” She heard him swallow. “I just wanted you to know that.”

  Angela grinned. She had an inkling on what it was he had struggled to say, but though she longed to hear it, to speak the words herself, she agreed. Now wasn’t the right time. But what he had said was lovely in its own right.

  “I’m glad,” she said. “Just don’t do anything that might make me regret giving you that trust. It’s freely given until it’s broken.”

  “I promise never to do anything to endanger that trust,” he said solemnly and without hesitation.

  “I know. Now I’m going to go call Rachel and then a cab. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  They hung up and she looked over at the crib where her son was thankfully sleeping peacefully. So much for a good night’s rest. Heaving herself to her feet, she stretched. Moving to the bathroom, she splashed some water on her face and then dialed Rachel’s number, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear while she started to pack a bag.

  It took only two rings before Rachel picked up.

  “What are you doing up at this hour?” was the greeting she received.

  “Hello to you too,” Angela replied. “What are you doing up?”

  “Feeding.”

  “Ah. Right. Well, I have a surprise for you.”

  Rachel wasn’t too enthused. “Oh joy. At this time of night it must be a fun one.”

  “Oh yeah. We’re coming to visit.”

  “Okay, I’m free tomorrow. But why are you calling me now to tell me this? What if I was asleep?”

  “Well,” Angela said. “That would be because I’m not coming tomorrow. I’m coming now.”

  “Run that by me one more time,” Rachel said.

  “Something went down at the embassy today with Noah and one of the other new guards. He’s confined to quarters, and he thinks things are starting to move. He said he was uncomfortable with me being alone. So I told him I’d come stay with you.”

  Rachel made a noise of understanding. “Okay, see you soon. You know where the spare key is. I can’t promise I’ll still be up. The spare room is all ready, crib’s still there too of course. If you need anything, help yourself. You know where it all is.”

  “Thank you. We’ll be quiet.”

  “Yep. Be safe,” Rachel said, then they hung up.

  Angela was lucky to have a friend like Rachel. Never once had she asked what was going on, or why Angela had to arrive at such an ungodly hour. Her friend needed her, and she was going to be there for Angela. It was that simple. The hour of the morning did not matter, though it certainly had made it easier that she was already awake.

  Wit
h her bag packed, and a bag for Cooper as well, she called a cab. Only then while she was waiting did she glance outside. It was snowing heavily. Three inches at least had already fallen, and the pure white of the sky told her it wasn’t likely to stop any time soon.

  “Oh lovely.”

  She let Cooper sleep until the last possible moment, only waking him when the cab finally pulled up front, windshield wipers slowly going back and forth, clearing the window of the big, wet flakes of snow that constantly landed on it. She woke him, bundling him gently in winter clothing and gathering up all her stuff. With the help of the cab driver, a delightful older gentleman, she got everything stowed, carseat fixed, and everything ready to go.

  “Thank you so much,” she said as they headed off into the storm at a painfully slow rate.

  “You’re very welcome, miss,” he said cheerfully, peering through the glass.

  “It’s bad out,” she remarked.

  “Very. But don’t you worry, I’ll get you there in one piece.”

  She settled back into the seat, reassured by the man’s confidence. They took the roads slowly, only speeding up slightly in the inner “core” of Cloud Lake, where the streets were somewhat more traveled and ruts had already been worn for the tires. But they slowed again once they passed through that, headed for the north end of town.

  The driver took a corner and the car started to slide around it. She panicked and sat upright stiffly, but the driver just chuckled as they came to a halt halfway through the intersection, straddling the lanes going both ways.

  “Nothing to worry about, ma’am. Not at this time of night at least,” he said, giving it a little gas. The winter tires crunched over snow and they started forward once more, getting into the proper lane. The driver looked over his shoulder and flashed her a reassuring grin.

  At the same moment the headlights stopped piercing the snow, showing only a wall of white. For an instant she thought it was a whiteout so bad they would have to simply stop and wait. But then the snow moved, and she realized it wasn’t snow at all, but a gargantuan polar bear rearing up in front of them.

  Angela screamed. A paw the size of an extra-large pizza slammed into the side of the car. The lack of traction and the sudden shift in direction sent them into a spin. The driver was yelling and trying to slam on the brakes, but that was the wrong move. The spin got worse.

  A roar sounded from behind them and Angela turned to see the polar bear come charging out of the snow-darkened night, giving the car another slam from the back. Cooper began to wail and she joined her son as the car went off the edge of the road and down into the ditch.

  She slammed forward into the seat, and blackness claimed her.

  ***

  The first thing she knew was pain. Her head felt like it had spent several hours in the ring with a professional boxer.

  “Ow,” she said, but even the sound of her own voice set off new alarms and set white stars ablaze behind her eyelids.

  Angela winced, but the movement hurt, and so she just lay there for a second, trying to figure out why everything hurt so much. What had happened? Why was she in such pain? Her mind was trying to tell her something, to remind her of what had happened, but she wasn’t ready to hear it just yet.

  Another minute. Just give me a minute. Then I can breathe, and things will hurt a little less. Then Cooper and I can figure out what’s going on.

  Cooper.

  “Cooper?” she called out, forcing her eyes open as adrenaline rushed through her, batting aside the pain as if it were nothing.

  Her eyes focused at last, and she saw the inside of a car. Right, the taxi cab. She’d been riding in one, going to Rachel’s, where she would be safe. Noah had asked her to. So why did the car seem to be on its side? And why wasn’t Cooper making any noise?

  Then it came back to her. The snowstorm. The bear. The attack. The car had spun out and gone into the ditch. She’d hit her head and blacked out. Now, stiff with fear, she turned to look at the seat next to her where Cooper had been buckled in.

  The seat was empty, only torn remains of the restraints to even indicate a carseat had been there. The door itself was open too, and snow was beginning to make its way in. A second later she noted that the door wasn’t open, it was gone. Just straight gone, ripped away.

  “Cooper!” she screamed, but there was no response.

  From the front seat there was a wheezy sound. The cab driver must be waking up. That didn’t matter to her then, because her child was missing. Parental instinct was kicking into overdrive and she needed to do something about it. Someone had taken her baby.

  “Where is my child?” she shouted, tears streaming down her face in the cold. “They took Cooper!” Frantically she searched for her phone. She had to find her phone. Noah would help. Noah would know what to do. He would find Cooper, would make everything right again. She knew it. He had to.

  Her fingers shook as she tried to use the device, and she dropped it. The phone banged hard against the window, reminding her once again that the car was on its side. She reached for it, picking it up and trying again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Noah

  He eyed the phone, pressing the button that lit up the screen.

  No new phone calls. No next messages. Nothing.

  “She should have been there by now,” he said, the words sounding almost petulant to his ear.

  It was snowing out. Who knew how long the cab could have taken to get to her place, and then to drive through half the city to take her to Rachel’s. With the storm as bad as it was, they were probably doing no better than crawling along. He was panicking for no good reason, and he knew it.

  That didn’t help him calm down, however. So he sent her a text message.

  Noah: I know you’re going to roll your eyes when you get this and sigh, but how is it going? Everyone okay?

  He tossed the phone onto the bed next to him and lay back, taking one deep breath, trying to steady himself. Even before he was finished exhaling he snatched up the phone and lit the screen up, checking to see if she’d replied while he was breathing and he’d missed the noise over his own breath.

  Nothing.

  “Come on Ang, let’s gooooo,” he urged, hoping his words would magically make the phone work.

  Impatient, he bounced up from the bed and began walking back and forth along the length of his apartment. His pacing was interrupted every five or six strides as he reached the end and was forced to turn around, which certainly didn’t help his mood.

  He wasn’t going to be able to wait much longer. There was no way the trip should have taken this long! They should have been there by now. Something was wrong. He needed to go out looking for her.

  Noah looked behind him at the door. At the moment he was under house arrest, but Gray had taken him at his word that he wouldn’t leave the embassy, and would stay in his quarters other than to eat or during an emergency.

  “This qualifies as an emergency,” he muttered. “It has to.” He justified it because he wasn’t leaving the embassy, and was in fact going to see the very man who had said he couldn’t go anywhere.

  He headed down the hallway and then down the stairs.

  “What are you doing here?” Gray asked, looking up from where he was seated at the front desk with Braden.

  “We need to talk,” he said firmly, motioning with his head toward the conference rooms at the back of the embassy. Somewhere private, the look said.

  Whether he understood or not, Gray didn’t seem to care. “I’m busy. Say your piece here.” Almost before he’d finished speaking his head had turned back to the paper he was going over with Braden.

  Noah gritted his teeth. He wished Gray would extend him a bit of trust, that perhaps he might believe in him just a little more than he did. Of course, that was a dangerous slope, and if he did that, maybe he slipped up and said something he shouldn’t have.

  “Are you sure you want me to talk about this in front of Braden? You might not wan
t him hearing it.”

  Gray looked up sharply. His eyes narrowed as he took in Noah’s facial expression, stance and mood. “Very well,” he said, standing up. But instead of walking to the conference room he headed out through the front doors, motioning for Noah to follow. They waited for the doors to close.

  The entire time Noah kept checking his phone, hoping he would see something, anything to indicate that Angela was okay, that she’d arrived at Rachel’s safely.

  “Speak,” Gray said without preamble as the door closed firmly behind them.

  “I know,” he said bluntly. “I’ve been to the north of town. I’m aware of all that.”

  He could see Gray tense, getting ready to attack him, to ensure that he couldn’t report back to Cadia.

  “I’m not the spy,” he said firmly, staring directly into his superior’s eyes, hiding nothing from him. “Though I’m aware of the fact that one exists.” He took a deep breath in. “And I’m fairly positive I know who it is.”

  Gray didn’t say anything. “What are you talking about?”

  “I figured you would say that. Not admitting anything till the end. Though, I can see you ready to leap at me and kill me. I wish you wouldn’t. For my sake, and for Angela’s. She can tell you that I’m on your side. That I’ve known for several days now, and haven’t said a word to anyone.”

  He looked at his phone again. “Or at least, she would tell if she was able to respond.” Noah looked away. “Gray,” he said, using his boss’s first name, something he rarely did. “I think something is wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Fiery anger sprang into life somewhere deep within him, fueled by a rage he’d never known before.

  “Chase is the spy,” he said. “He threatened Angela if I didn’t reveal to him what I know. That’s why I hit him in the lounge with the bar. I asked Angela to go to Rachel’s, so that she wouldn’t be alone.” Noah pulled out his cell and showed that he had no messages. “The cab arrived over an hour ago. Something is wrong. Either they crashed, or—”

  He broke off as pieces suddenly fell into place.