Soldier (Talon, #3)(55)
St. George turned his attention from Ember back to me. Apparently, he, too, had caught that brief flash of emotion, which meant he had been watching her, as well. Dragon rage stirred, making my lungs hot, and I took a deep breath to cool it off. Stop it, I thought irritably. Stay on target, Cobalt. Talon is controlling the Order of St. George; that’s world-ending bad. Your entire damned network could be gone in a few months if you don’t put a stop to this now. So focus, dammit.
“Chicago isn’t too far,” the soldier mused, eyes narrowed slightly, as if calculating the miles in his head. “About ten hours from here, I believe. We should leave tomorrow, early morning at the latest. That should give us enough time to come up with a plan. Riley...” He glanced at me. “You’ve been there before. You know what we’ll be facing. Can you get us in?”
I smirked. “If I can’t, no one else will be able to.”
“All right,” St. George said, but at that moment, there was a pounding on the door, making Ember jump. When she opened it, the monk on the other side bowed to us quickly before speaking frantically to Jade in Mandarin. The Asian dragon straightened, her voice suddenly hard as she replied. They held a short, clipped conversation, which sounded tense even in another language, before the monk bowed and hurried off, his footsteps thumping rapidly down the hall.
“What’s going on?” I asked warily. The Eastern dragon stared out the open door for a moment, her back to us, before taking a deep, steadying breath.
“The abbot just received word from the town below,” she replied in a tight voice. “Several black armored vehicles just drove through and turned up the road to the monastery.” There was a moment of tense silence as we all realized what that meant, and Jade’s voice became a growl. “St. George is coming.”
“Goddammit!” I surged upright as everyone else did the same. “How? How the hell do they keep finding us? It’s really starting to piss me off.”
“Jade,” the soldier said softly, as if he’d just figured something out. “The truck. Where did you ditch the truck?”
“In the forest,” she answered as she turned around. “Near the bottom of the...road.” Her face grew pale. “But, I made certain to hide it well. No one would be able to see it unless they were right on top of it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Wes muttered, rubbing his forehead. “If any of them got the license plate of the truck, they could track it using the GPS. Bloody bastards are getting very tech savvy of late.” He gave the Eastern dragon a half angry, half sympathetic look. “Not that you’d have any idea what GPS is, but once they located the semi, finding this place wouldn’t be difficult.”
“Then...I brought them here.” Her voice was full of quiet horror, and she put a hand against the wall to steady herself. “I brought the Order to this monastery. If the monks are slaughtered and the temple is burned, it will be on my head this time.”
“We need to get out of here.” I started for the exit, mentally calculating how much time we had before the Order arrived. “The town is about an hour down the mountain, right? So that gives us a little time, at least. If we go now—”
“No.”
I blinked at the Eastern dragon, stunned. She raised her head, eyes flashing green, and I resisted the urge to take a step back. “You can go, if you want to,” she said in a low, intense voice. “But I will not abandon this monastery or its people to St. George. Especially since it is my fault they have come. I will not watch another temple burn.” Her eyes shifted completely, a pale icy green, slitted and reptilian. “The time for running is over. Now they will face the fury of a shen-lung.”
“Shit.” I raked a hand through my hair, giving her a desperate look. “You do know it’s the Order coming for us, right? Genocidal maniacs who hunt dragons for a living? You stay behind, you’re going to get blown to pieces.”
“I will not leave this temple defenseless.” The Asian dragon fixed me with a level, piercing stare. “These people trust me. They have guarded the secret of our existence for centuries. It is my duty to protect them—they will not defend themselves.”
“You can’t wait here for St. George,” I snarled. “You’re going to be killed, along with everyone else in this place. We are outnumbered and outgunned. We have to run.”
“No,” Ember broke in, sounding determined. “She’s right. We can’t leave all these people to be slaughtered. And I’m tired of running. Enough is enough.” She raised her chin as I turned on her, her jaw set in that stubborn resolve I knew all too well. “It’s time to start fighting back.”
“Firebrand.” I shook my head, forcing my voice to be calm and reasonable. Every minute we stood here arguing, St. George was drawing closer and closer. I had to convince her, and quickly, that we couldn’t stay here and wait for the Order to kill us all. The Eastern dragon’s mind was made up, and I didn’t think I could dissuade her, but I’d be damned if I let the Order kill my brave, fiery hatchling. “You’ve seen their numbers,” I said, moving closer to her. “You know what we’re facing. If we wait for St. George, they’ll kill us.”
“And what about all the monks here? The people who helped us?”
“They’re going to have to run, too,” I snapped, and plowed on before she could protest. “Yeah, I know that sounds heartless. And yes, it sucks, Firebrand, but that’s war for you. There will be casualties and people caught in the cross fire. I have other responsibilities, and I have to decide what is most important. Right now, that includes my friends, my hatchlings, my underground and you. If we wait for the Order to find us, we’re dead, and so is everyone around us. There’s no way we’ll be able to protect them.”