Inferno (Talon #5)(63)
Mist didn’t say anything, but the shadows on her face and the hard set of her jaw said she knew he was right.
“Do you know who sent this?” Lieutenant Martin asked, glancing at Wes. “Were you able to trace it?”
“Yeah.” The hacker sounded weary as he turned the laptop around, tapping something on his keyboard. “It was pretty bloody easy actually. Whoever sent the video didn’t do a damn thing to cover their trail, which makes it even more likely that this is some giant trap, lovingly prepared to destroy us all. But…here.” He turned the laptop around to face us. A satellite image showed a swath of mountains and wilderness, with a pulsing red dot in the very center.
“The email was sent from a computer pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains,” Wes said.
Beside me, Ember straightened, as if that had triggered a memory. Riley noticed, as well, and nodded.
“Yeah, Firebrand. The lab. I remember.”
“Remember what?” I asked.
“There’s a rumor in Talon,” the rogue explained, his expression darkening with anger. “Of a laboratory where Talon sent the nonfemale dragons whom the organization had deemed ‘unworthy.’ Either they were sickly or crippled or weak in some other way. No one knew what happened to them, but if you were sent to that lab, you were never seen again.” His brow furrowed, a shadow of pain crossing his face. “As one of my rogues once put it, the laboratory was a place they sent dragons ‘to be sliced and diced and turned into something new.’”
“Something new?” Tristan shook his head. “Something new is a dragon that can also Shift into a motorcycle. Not an army of mindless dragon clones. Sorry, mindless Adult dragon clones.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Shit, we barely held off a swarm of hatchlings…can you imagine a few hundred thousand Adults raining fire down on everything?”
“Like I said—dragon apocalypse.” Crossing his arms, Riley stared at the rest of us. “So the question becomes, how are we going to storm another massive, heavily guarded Talon compound—one that is expecting us, by the way—and what are we going to need to have half a chance in hell of pulling this off?”
“A fucking miracle?” Tristan muttered.
Riley arched a brow at him. “Not terribly helpful, St. George, but I’ll take it under consideration.”
“We need more people,” I said.
All eyes turned to me. “We don’t have enough bodies,” I went on. “Not for something like this. We barely had enough people for the assault on the facility. I’d expect this to be much larger and well guarded. Even if they weren’t expecting us, we need a far bigger force to have any hope of success.”
“I’m afraid Sebastian is right,” Lieutenant Ward added, surprising us. His voice was grim as he gazed around the room. “This is their army, the dragons they’ve grown and bred to launch an attack, to declare war on their enemies and the entire human race. There will be more security in that spot than any other Talon facility in the world. We don’t have the numbers for this.” His voice grew even darker. “I don’t think anyone has the numbers for this.”
“Then we get more.”
Ember stepped forward, raising her head as she faced the table of men and dragons. “We get more,” she repeated firmly. “We put out the call to oppose Talon, once and for all. Lieutenant Martin, Lieutenant Ward, there have to be other survivors from the Order, other soldiers that are scattered or in hiding. Call them here. Make them understand what must be done, that allying with us is the only way to stop Talon. Jade…” She looked at the Asian woman, silently watching from the corner. “Rally the Eastern dragons and all their followers. I know there are more of them out there—they called a council a few weeks back. Convince them to fight with us. I know the Eastern dragons are reclusive and would rather not get involved, but the time for hiding is past. If we lose this battle, Talon will come for them, too.”
Jade offered a slight, solemn bow to the other dragon. “I will try, Ember,” she stated, raising her head. “I do not know how many of my people I can persuade—as you say, they have spent thousands of years in isolation, remaining neutral to the troubles of the outside world. But, in this, you are correct. We cannot hide any longer. This must become our fight, as well.”
Ember nodded. “Mist,” she went on, and the silver-haired girl raised an eyebrow at her.
“You’re going to ask me if I can convince Basilisks who are still in Talon to join us,” she said dryly. “To go rogue and fight the organization.”
“Not just the Basilisks,” Ember replied. “Any dragon or human who is unhappy with Talon, who hates what they’ve done but has been afraid to oppose the Elder Wyrm. I’m not saying we should alert the Vipers to our presence, but I trust your judgment, Mist. You must know of a few who would be willing to go rogue, to fight Talon with us.”
Mist offered a grim, mysterious smile. “I think I might know a few.”
“Good. You handle that, then.” Ember paused, then took a deep breath and turned to the front of the table. Her voice, once firm and confident, went a little bit softer. “Riley…”
He held up a hand. “I know, Firebrand,” he said before she could say anything. “You don’t have to convince me this time. We’re going to have to fight. All of us, everyone who can hold a gun or breathe fire. So don’t worry.” He shook his head, a rueful smile crossing his face. “It’s either make our final stand here, or burn with the rest of the world when Talon wakes those things up.”