Two more shots rang out, one tearing a gash in one of the creature’s winglike membranes and causing it to veer off into the woods. The second shot caught it in its belly, and it tumbled to the ground and thrashed about in pain.
The creature at the bottom of the tree cocked its head, sniffed the air, then tore off down the path toward the sound of the gunshots. As Angel watched, another shot came seemingly out of nowhere, pinging off its skull and tearing a ragged hole in its frill. It hissed and kept moving. The thing was tough.
Another shot rang out, the bullet striking the beast in the foreleg, and she thought she saw a muzzle flash in the middle of the pathway, but that couldn’t be. There was nothing there, but somehow she knew who had come to her rescue.
“Maddock!” she shouted. Suddenly, all the fear and uncertainty of the past few days overwhelmed her, and she burst into tears. Crap! She didn’t want Maddock to see her acting girly, but right now, she couldn’t help herself.
The creature continued to charge, ignoring its wounded leg. Angel wanted to help, but what could she do without a weapon? As the tears welled in her eyes, the world became a kaleidoscope, where a myriad of crystallized lizard beasts attacked an invisible assailant.
Two more shots rang out. She didn’t see where the first one struck, but the second one did the job, catching the beast in the eye and dropping it in its tracks. Ten feet down the path, the air rippled and Maddock appeared, holding a pistol in one hand and a weird-looking knife in the other.
Sobbing and laughing, Angel shimmied down the trunk of the tree and, by the time she hit the ground, he was there. She wanted to save face by saying something sarcastic but, before she could open her mouth, Maddock swept her up in his arms and kissed her. She kissed him back, the way she’d wanted to for years. He broke the kiss all too soon, and she was suddenly aware of the sounds of more of the lizard things approaching from all directions.
“I love you,” she blurted.
“Yes you do.” He winked and smiled, and she punched him in the chest.
“Ass.” She kissed him again. “You were, like, invisible. How…”
“Not now. We need to get out of here.” He took her hand and turned to lead her back in the direction from which he’d come, and froze. Two beasts barred the way. “The other way, I guess. Hop on my back.”
“I can run,” she protested.
“Just do it. I’ll explain later.”
She saw no point in arguing. She hopped up on his back and, as they headed along the path back toward the castle, something strange happened. The air shimmered around them and the world got weird for a second.
“What did you do?”
“The knife is a cloaking device.” If he was feeling any strain from the added burden of her weight, he didn’t let it show. He kept up a steady pace, though she could hear the beasts on their tail coming closer.
She was about to steal a look behind them when she saw one of the beasts leap from a tree up ahead and come soaring at them. She called out a warning, but Maddock had already leveled his pistol and fired two shots. Both of them caught it in the wing and sent it spinning into the trees. Now she looked back.
“Maddock, I think they can smell us, and probably hear us. They’ve almost caught up!”
He quickened his pace.
Angel held her breath as the castle appeared in the distance. Would they make it?
“Come on, come on,” Corey urged as he waited for Jimmy’s program to worm its way into the cracks of Modron’s security system. It hadn’t taken this much time at the museum. Surely it wouldn’t be much longer. He wondered how Bones and Maddock were faring. If he couldn’t break into the system, they might not be able to get out again. No, he couldn’t think that way.
He looked down at the spinning icon that indicated the program was still at work and tried to hurry it along by tapping the screen. Waste of time, he knew, but he hated this impotent feeling.
Just then, he heard voices close by, and the cargo area was suddenly bathed in sound and light as someone rolled up the back door. They were finally getting around to unloading the truck. Corey performed a few mental calculations. If it was only a couple of guys and they worked slowly, he might have ten minutes before they found him.
He was keenly aware of the weight of the pistol on his hip. He wasn’t much of a shot. Heck, he didn’t even know what kind of gun Tam had given him, but he would have surprise on his side. No way they’d be expecting an armed geek to be hiding here. Maybe he could get them first. He’d have to try.
Heart racing and palms sweating, he sat back and waited, hoping the computer, or Maddock and Bones, or both, would be hurry up.
“You sent my sister out there with those things?” Bones snapped. “You’re dead.”
“No! I was trying to help her escape,” Jacob protested. “I couldn’t take her out the front door, so her only chance was the security gate in the back. The dragons don’t attack unless the signal is sounded. I thought she could make it.”
“What security gate? This whole place is walled and fenced in.”
“There’s a hidden gate in the wall at the far end of the property. Morgan thought it would give people a sporting chance against her children, as she calls the dragons. The path leads directly to it. You can’t see it from the outside.”
“How many people have made it out?”
“The next one will be the first.” Hands still outstretched, Jacob slowly turned to face Bones, who kept his Glock trained on the man’s head. “I don’t expect you to trust me, but you’ll need me to get you past the security system if you want to go after her.”
Bones knew Jacob was right.
“Fine, but consider this an audition for the rest of your life. You do anything else to piss me off, I’ll kill you, and I just might shoot you in the gut first. You know, to make sure it hurts.”
Jacob nodded and, hands on his head, led Bones back the way they had come.
“The suit of armor hides a passageway leading out,” he explained, “and there’s a security gate at the end. I have to put in a code to open them.”
They turned a corner and Jacob stopped short, his hands falling limply to his sides. The suit of armor was swinging open of its own accord. Behind it, Bones saw a gate slowly raising, and daylight glimmered beyond. Jimmy had done it!
He clubbed Jacob in the temple with the butt of his Glock and dashed past him before the man hit the ground. Maybe he’d just been knocked unconscious, maybe Bones had scrambled the guy’s brains. He didn’t care about anything but finding Angel.
He dashed out of the tunnel onto a manicured lawn. The overcast afternoon gave everything a dull, gray overtone, matching his mood. He ran toward the distant forest and the path Angel had taken. He was a hundred yards away when three dragons burst forth from the forest, making a beeline for him. He dropped to one knee and took aim.
“Bones! Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” Maddock’s voice came from somewhere in front of him, but where was he?
Then it clicked in Bones’ mind. The dagger! Maddock was cloaked. Bones concentrated on the space between him and the charging dragons and, in an instant, he spotted it. A rippling outline, like heat rising in the desert, coming right at him. Now that he knew where Maddock was, he took aim again at the dragons, who were gaining ground fast.
“He said don’t shoot, you assclown!” It was Angel. Maddock had found her.
“Relax. I got this,” he shouted as relief spread through him.
“Go for the legs!” Maddock shouted.
Bones took careful aim and fired two shots at the closest dragon. One bullet found its mark and the dragon shrieked and stumbled, but got right back up again and continued its pursuit. The other two dragons quickly overtook their wounded counterpart, and Bones stepped up his rate of fire. Most of his shots deflected off their solid skulls or grazed their tough hides, but a few were on target, and soon all three were hobbling along, slowed, but still relentless in the pursuit of their prey.