Page 53 of Magick and Lead (Dragons and Aces #2)

CHARLIE

M y plane screamed through the sky, coming in for approach at McNally Air Base, and all of hell was coming behind me.

My own squadron remained on my tail, but they’d given up trying to shoot me down—for now.

They realized they had bigger problems with the vast swarm of golenae that loomed in our wake, picking off stragglers.

The tarmac below grew larger and larger as I thundered toward it, but I couldn’t cut speed too much, not if I wanted to get my warning message out before it was too late.

I felt weightlessness against my straps as I dropped altitude fast. At last, I did throttle back and level off, but my tires still hit the pavement with a terrible shriek.

I cut the engine and hit the brakes, gritting my teeth as the plane fishtailed left, then right, then began to tip.

As it came to a rest sideways on the runway, it did tip over, the bottom of the right lower wing grinding against the blacktop.

The instant it stopped, I was already unbuckling, leaping from my seat, and using the wing like a slide.

My feet hit the pavement, and I sprinted for the administrative building.

Ground crew members came out to glower at my landing.

They fussed over the planes like mothers over their babies and always got pissy when we’d abuse them.

But then, they looked to the sky and saw what I’d been running from, and their expressions of disapproval changed to ones of horror and wonder.

I hazarded a glance back, too. The other planes and golenae were still pretty far back—I’d done a good job getting ahead of them.

For now, most were nothing more than black dots against silvery clouds, glinting in the moonlight.

But they were becoming more prominent in the dark sky with every passing second, and as more ground crewmen emerged from the hangars and pointed upwards, their murmurs of dismay grew.

I burst into the admin building and sprinted down the hall and into Peckham’s office.

At this hour of the morning, I thought I might find it empty. But he stood over his desk, his brows knitted into a scowl.

“Charlie. What’s this?—?”

“They’re… coming,” I panted. “Golenae, sir… Monsters.”

When he didn’t react, I slammed my fist on the desk.

“Send a telegram to Ironberg. Get all civilians into the dragon shelters. Mobilize the army units. Trust me, sir. I’ve seen this before. This is just what they did to Issastar.”

“They?” Peckham growled. “Who’s they ?”

“The Gray Brothers!” I shouted, out of patience. “Don’t you see? They’re playing both sides somehow. They must be in league with the sylph and—dammit, it doesn’t matter! They’ll be here any minute. Sound the alarm!”

Peckham folded his burly arms. “Someone has been playing both sides, Charlie. But it isn’t the Gray Brothers.”

I gaped. “What?”

The door behind me swung open and in walked Edward Langford, Kitty, and six more black-suited intelligence spooks. All of them except Kitty held guns pointing at me.

I backed away, one hand on my service pistol. “Whatever these pricks said about me, it’s bullshit.”

Peckham grunted. “That you’ve fallen under the spell of the Maethalian princess? That you’ve been running around Ironberg with her? That you and she attacked the president and attempted to take the life of a Maethalian diplomat? All that’s bullshit?” the general growled.

“Well… maybe not all those things…” I hedged.

Langford’s smile was as cold as a corpse’s. Kitty watched like a cat eyeing a mouse. The other spooks stared from behind dark glasses. And Peckham looked red-faced and pissed. This wasn’t going well.

“Listen, General. You’ve gotta believe me. Otherwise, a whole lot of people are going to die today.”

The general’s red face grew a shade darker as he turned away from me. I felt sorry for him. He’d loved me like a nephew, venerated me like a hero, and I’d let him down. I’d let everyone down. But it would be worth it, if I could just get him to do this one thing.

“Please, sir,” I begged. “Sound the alarm. Warn Ironberg. Just look out the goddamned window !”

“I think the general has heard enough,” Langford said, with that horrible calm.

I went to draw my gun, but his goons were on me with preternatural speed, one of them grabbing my wrist and wrenching it, making the pistol clatter to the floor.

A second one came at me, and I managed to raise a foot and stomp-kick him in the gut.

I threw my head back and head-butted the first guy in the nose, dropping him, but two more were on me in a flash.

I put up my dukes and clocked the first one in the cheek, but the second one threw a punch at the same time, thumping me in the side of the head so hard it knocked me back into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

Stars were still crackling across my vision as the first guy came at me again.

I ducked his hook and lurched at him, tackling him to the ground, but as we landed, he used my momentum to throw me off him.

I rolled to my feet to find another spook already coming at me, brandishing a pair of handcuffs.

I kicked out his front leg, making him do the splits, and brought an elbow into the side of his head, dropping him.

A table lamp stood at my elbow, and I grabbed it and bashed two of them with it.

Then, Kitty stood before me, that pretty head of hers cocked to one side. “Not bad, Charlie. But you’d really better give up and come along before you get hurt.”

“You’re a reporter, Kitty,” I shouted. “What do you want to write on Monday? A story where half the people in Ironberg were slaughtered? Or a story where you helped save them?”

“I’d like to write a story where you’re alive at the end,” she said quietly. “Now be a good boy and come along.”

She reached out and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull away, but slight as her hand was, I couldn’t shake it loose.

I yanked harder and she twisted my arm backward, bringing me to my knees.

Still her face was perfectly placid, as if she weren’t putting in any effort at all.

I stared at her, wonder and unease roiling my insides.

How the hell was she so strong? It wasn’t normal. Wasn’t natural.

“What the hell are you?” I demanded. “A golena, like the president?”

Her pretty face was as expressionless as Langford’s.

“No, Charlie. I’m just a girl trying to make her way in the world.

” She twisted my arm harder and pain shot through me, so sharp I knew if she twisted any harder, the arm would break.

I collapsed with a wince and a curse, landing flat on my stomach, and the other spooks were on me in a second, grabbing my arms and hoisting me to my feet, clapping cuffs on my wrists.

I looked to Peckham once more, but he was facing away from me, maybe even crying.

“Peckham. Do the right thing. Sound the alarm. Warn Ironberg—before it’s too late!” I shouted as they marched me out of his office and down the hall.

From outside, the buzz of plane engines rose.

We passed a window and I glimpsed chaos outside.

The squadron was arriving, and the golenae along with them.

As I watched, a massive eagle golenae rode a plane out of the sky and crashed it into the tarmac in an explosion of flame.

Another plane’s wings got torn off by a golena that looked like a winged octopus, and it spiraled downward, trailing smoke.

“You should let me go. I should be out there helping them,” I snarled, but one of the spooks backhanded me in the face, making me see stars and sending a cascade of blood from my nose.

I stumbled on, eyes filled with tears from my busted nose, until I was thrown down on a concrete floor with such force the breath got knocked out of me.

I heard the clink of a cell door closing, the click of a lock.

With a moan, I rolled onto my side and blinked my vision clear. I was in the brig. Langford and the spooks were filing out. Only Kitty lingered, watching me through the bars.

“Kitty,” I said, tasting blood on my teeth as I spoke. “Help me. We have to warn people.”

She pointed at me through the bars, and I noticed her finger trembling. “Your nose is bleeding, Charlie,” she whispered. “I better go.” Then she turned and hurried out, closing the door behind her.

With effort, I fought to my feet and went to the bars.

“Kitty. Kitty!” I called, but she didn’t come back. “Goddammit!” I yanked at the barred door awkwardly with my cuffed hands. Kicked it. Threw my body against it. It didn’t budge.

I spun a circle, taking in the room. Three bare walls, a metal bench, a tin bucket to piss in, and a single barred window. That was it.

I ran at the nearest wall and hit it with my shoulder. It didn’t give at all. I went to the window and jerked at the bars. They didn’t budge. If I had a week, I might have been able to file away at the masonry and get one of those bars loose. But tonight? Tonight I was screwed.

I glared at the bars, cursing under my breath. Then something caught my attention out the window. A burning plane, coming in fast.

“Shit. No…”

I drifted to the window, watching with growing alarm as the plane hit the tarmac, tumbling and sliding toward me.

I threw myself back, hitting the deck as a deafening sound and impact seemed to shake the whole world.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the entire hallway I’d just walked through had been demolished.

The stink of petrol hung in the air and flames crackled everywhere, racing along the walls, quivering along the floor, piling the ceiling with thick black smoke.

I tried the cell door again. Despite the damage the hallway had suffered, it held fast. I tried the window again.

The bars were solid as rock. I looked back toward the hallway.

Flames licked along the walls, coming toward me fast. I was trapped in an oven with no way out.

Nothing could break through these walls, these bars.

Nothing, that is, except maybe a dragon.

I fell to my knees and shut my eyes, using the simnal to reach out.

Essa. I’m trapped. The building is burning. I need your help. Can you hear me?

I listened for her response. Groped into the ether with my mind, seaching for her presence.

But she wasn’t there. Her mind was still closed to me.

“Dammit…”

Down the hall, flames quivered and hissed, coming closer.

I shut my eyes again, trying harder.

Essa, please. Please. Please…