Silently he shot up from the grass and leapt across a small gully before sprinting over one hundred yards, pulling up behind the trunk of a giant tree close to the nearest wooden structure, hoping that stealth and the protective mantras he'd shrouded himself in earlier would continue to hold up and keep him hidden. Backed up against the tree, he extended the range of his hearing, but detected nothing untoward. Taking a chance, he ran for the nearest side of the building, crouching beneath a dirtied window. Carefully, he took a peek. It was empty... as far as he could tell. On reflection, he decided to check the perimeter first.
An hour later, he'd completed his reconnoitre. There'd been no sign of movement of any sort. His mind made up, he knew now not to dally and made straight for the back door. In his mind he tossed up between breaking the glass of the wooden framed door and destroying the lock. Either way would be noisy, the glass obviously more so, but the time for stealth had long since passed. Reaching the door at a run, he unleashed the mantra he'd prepared in his mind. Brilliant bolts of yellow energy ripped from his fingertips, destroying the lock instantly. Still on the run, he used his momentum to burst through the door, throwing himself into a forward roll as he did so, quickly coming up onto one knee, having drawn the powerful looking pistol from its holster behind his back. Both hands firmly around the grip of the gun, he scanned for danger and found none, apart from the stronger presence of the dark energy he'd felt from outside. It seemed to close in around him, invisible clouds causing untold pressure, almost as if the will was being squeezed right out of him. Wanting to leave, which was probably the point of it all, he didn't, instead cutting through the dark, swirling mist that he could see with his mantra vision, concentrating on searching every nook and cranny for anything they might have overlooked, however small.
Five and a half hours later, he was done. NOTHING! That's what he'd found. Frustrated couldn't begin to describe how he felt. So close, just a step behind them, he was sure. But they were always one step ahead. Knowing he was in the right place, because he could sense the nagas had been here, with all that dark mystical energy, he asked himself the only question he could. Where on earth were they now?
Staring out of the window into the beautiful wooded landscape beyond, something in the reflection caught his eye. Turing around, he strolled over to the elegant wooden bookcase that was piled high with books on every subject. Having already searched each and every one for a clue, with nothing presenting itself, his attention now was on a tiny dot of red biro smudged onto the wood of the bookcase itself.
'Peculiar,' he thought, continuing to study it. Not able to see how ink from a pen could possibly have gotten so high up the bookcase, he closed his eyes and scrolled through the different types of vision that his dragon persona offered, albeit stuck in his ungainly body. It was only when he hit his microscopic vision that everything became clear. It looked as though someone had written on something against the bookcase, with enough pressure to leave a residual mark. Imprints of tiny letters which were, by the look of things, coordinates and a time.
'37° 31'32.28N 75° 56'42.34W at 1.15am,' he thought. 'How unlike them. I think that just might be the lead that I'm looking for.'
And with that he sprinted back through the lush vegetation to where he'd parked his hire car, just over three miles away.
It had been hard to find. At first he'd found himself going round and round in circles, following the directions of the hire car's sat nav. Deciding to leave the car and go the rest of the way on foot had proved a much better idea. Surrounded by trees, looking out over the water, the co-ordinates on his phone had led him directly to this hidden shallow bank. It was a stunning, secluded location, but the view was not what occupied Flash's mind. Meticulously, he tiptoed down the side of the bank, careful not to get caught in all the mud, all the time examining the odd shapes that had been carved into it. Most wouldn't give the muddy bank a second thought but piece by piece, his experienced and logical mind started to put it all together. Two nagas in their natural forms, a boat and a number of humans, how many, he couldn't tell. That's what all the impressions told him. All he had to do now was figure out where on earth they went.
Scrolling through his mind, he ran through the list of dragons that were in American government agencies, until he found the one he was looking for. Instantly he dialled the number on his phone and hoped to hell that a satellite had been overhead at the right time.
Twenty five minutes later he had his answer, and it scared the living daylights out of him. Then he had to spend five minutes calming down the young dragon on the other end of the phone, who'd wanted to tell all and sundry, something Flash really didn't want to happen. It was bad enough that this group had got their hands on such hardware, the last thing he needed was for them to be spooked or panicked into making a rash decision. Eventually the young dragon calmed down enough for Flash to take full responsibility, and drop the king's name into the equation.
'A submarine of all things,' he mused, climbing back into his rental car. It still didn't seem true. He'd assumed it would be some kind of boat and that he'd be able to track it down. But a submarine, that was virtually impossible to track, and God knows where it was headed. All he knew was that he had to get back to London as fast as possible and report this new twist in events to the king himself.
29
Generous To A Fault
Sitting with the other department heads around the gorgeous oak table in the office adjacent to Garrett's, Peter admired the perfectly carpeted floor, the glistening counter of the curved, sweeping bar and the perfect lighting from the chandeliers dangling precariously from the ceiling, in this, the most opulent room in the building, which nearly always hosted the weekly management meetings.
Sitting quietly watching the head of the human resources department outline her weekly progress, he felt more than a little intimidated by all the people around the table, mainly because he was the youngest by a very long way, over a decade in fact. And while his dragon training had prepared him to talk in front of others and give speeches to groups without being nervous, he couldn't help, in these particular situations, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. Today it had been his turn to report first, something he hadn't known before entering the room. One or two minor issues with staff had come up, but nothing he wasn't already dealing with. The main area he knew Garrett and the others wanted to hear about was the laminium, so he spent nearly fifteen minutes detailing exactly how it was being stored and the security measures surrounding it. When he'd finished, the others, Garrett included, all nodded their heads in satisfaction at what they'd been told. It was a good job he didn't have to report everything about the valuable metal's security. Smiling at the thought of having to tell the rest of them about the exotic mantras he'd employed with regard to safekeeping the company's most valuable resource, if nothing else, Gee Tee's stock in trade provided him with peace of mind. Reporting first and without warning had in fact been a blessing in disguise. If he'd known, he'd probably not have slept well last night. At least this way, he'd got it out of the way and could sit back, relax (well, as much as possible in these situations) and listen to what was happening in the rest of the company.