Soul of the Dragon (26 page)

She hadn’t counted on Marilee. Alexa had fastened her seatbelt and started her car when the passenger door opened and her friend dropped into the seat.
 

“Thanks for the lift,” she said breathlessly, tucking her dress around her and pulling the door closed. “I really need a break from the kids.” When Alexa didn’t go anywhere, didn’t move or look away from Marilee, the other woman stopped fussing with her hair and huffed. “What, you think we don’t know you? You’re feeling misplaced guilt for that…whatever it was”—she waved a hand dismissively—“and now you think you need to go away. Well, I happen to think the opposite.”
 

“Marilee, I can’t endanger you. Not any more than I already have. You have the babies—”
 

“And Kurt assures me we’ll all be safe. You know he wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t true. He doesn’t think this guy will come back today.”
 

Alexa sighed and shifted into gear. “He will come back, though, so I’m not staying. I’ll come to the party, but that’s it.”
 

“Bullshit, that’s it!” Marilee pressed the button to put her window down. “You’re not leaving without some explanation. Beginning with that hunk in black.” She looked into the side mirror. “Are we being followed?”
 

Alexa had been watching carefully for just that, and had taken extra turns, doubling back on her trail. None of the cars behind her remained there. They could still be tailed by a team, but she’d keep watching. “Not now. But don’t worry. I can lose a tail in my sleep.”
 

Marilee chuckled and settled against the leather bucket seat. “Nice car. Took some bucks.”
 

“You know I always rent something fast.”
 

“Just in case,” they said in unison, then laughed.
 

“So, tell me about Tall, Dark, and Gorgeous,” Marilee urged. “We have at least ten minutes.”
 

“The story doesn’t start with him,” Alexa evaded. “And it would take longer than ten minutes.”
 

“So where does it start?”
 

Alexa checked the mirror again. No one was behind them at all, odd but not impossible in D.C. on Sunday. “When I was about three. Or a thousand years ago, whichever you choose.”
 

“Ooh, I love a good legend.” Marilee rubbed her hands together. “What’s the story?”
 

Swinging right on a yellow light, Alexa checked behind them again, and all the cross streets. They were still okay. “No legend. There’s a curse, though.”
 

“Even better. Come onnnnnn,” she whined. But Alexa saw with relief the Tuckers’ house two blocks ahead. She had to park that far away, as the street was clogged with cars.
 

“How many people did you invite, anyway?” She climbed out of the car. Marilee quickly did the same.
 

“Just family and a few friends. Don’t think you’re off the hook,” she called, trying to keep up with Alexa, who was halfway down the block before Marilee crossed the street. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell all!”
 

Alexa knew Marilee’s tenacity, and Kurt’s persuasiveness was potent enough on its own. She wouldn’t hold out long against them, especially once they turned on the “slighted friend” act, as they undoubtedly would. She planned to be long gone by then.
 

Plastering on a smile, she headed for the door.
 

Alexa decided to avoid Marilee and Kurt as much as possible. It wasn’t hard in the crowd they’d invited. As soon as she walked in the door she was accosted by Marilee’s mother.
 

“Alexa, darling!” The woman held
out her arms and barely gave Alexa a kiss on the cheek. Alexa ignored her elegant suit and upswept silver-toned hairdo and hugged her.
 

“Ruth, you look stunning, as usual.”
 

“Why, thank you, dear.” She gave Alexa a once-over. “It’s so nice to see you in a dress. But where is your beau, dear?”
 

Alexa feigned confusion. “Beau? I don’t have a beau.”
 

“Of course you do. That delectable man from the church. The one in black.”
 

Great. Another reason why she shouldn’t have come here. Of course the people from the church would be curious about the incident. It wasn’t any better that Ruth was more interested in Ryc than Tars or the magic.
 

“He’s not my beau, Ruth. He’s just a colleague.”
 

“You work with him?”
 

“In a manner of speaking.” Alexa moved slowly toward the bar. She needed fortification. Ruth, of course, kept pace with her all the way across the room.
 

“Some people think that isn’t an intelligent thing to do,” the woman said, “but I happen to think it’s quite efficient. Where else will you meet men if not through work?”
 

Alexa accepted the vodka she’d ordered and searched the room for something, anything, to get Ruth on a different track. Marilee was an only child, and she’d gotten married way too easily. No nagging necessary. Now she’d finally supplied the grandchildren, and Ruth seemed to have focused on Alexa as her next project.
 

“We’re not dating, Ruth. He’s just someone I’m working with.”
 

“Well, he seems quite capable. I mean, look at the way he handled that man at the church.”
 

For the first time, Alexa wondered if Ruth was delusional. Not only was she oblivious to the ramifications of what had happened today, she completely ignored Alexa’s part in the defense.
 

Finally, she spotted her salvation. “Oh, look! Luke’s crying. I bet he wants his grandma.”
 

Ruth was off like a shot.
 

Alexa soon found that her surrogate mother wasn’t the only delusional one in the crowd. She knew quite a few of the guests, both Marilee’s relatives that she’d met on various holidays during college and Kurt’s colleagues, many of whom were also hers. Though several mentioned the attack, none inquired about the “weirdness” of it.
 

“Was it one of your enemies, or Kurt’s?” a couple of FBI agents asked, chuckling as if it were a great joke.
 

“I’d like to get my hands on that weapon of his,” said an FBI scientist who was a weaponry expert. Alexa wasn’t surprised that he was intrigued by the “flamethrower” rather than
her “dousing” counterattack. Flames were more macho.
 

Several women asked about the hunk in black. Not a single one commented on the chair said hunk had sent flying.
 

Either movies and TV had caused people to be too inoculated against the fantastic, or they saw what they expected to see. Whatever the reason, Alexa couldn’t complain.
 

She exited the French doors off the dining room, craving fresh air after a half hour of close quarters and grasping acquaintances. Only a couple of other guests were out there, and she sighed in relief that she didn’t know them.
 

She spotted a wide wooden swing in the corner of the yard, a new addition since her last visit. It was in the shade and faced the house, so she headed to it. Halfway there she was jerked to a stop by an arm around her throat.
 

Reacting by instinct, she stepped back to regain her balance, braced, and tossed the man over her shoulder. Instead of landing on his back, however, he flipped all the way and landed on his feet, then spun to face her, laughing.
 

“Rock!” She wanted to press a hand to her heart, vibrating as it was with adrenaline, but couldn’t show any kind of “female weakness” to her boss. Ex-boss. She stuck her hands on her hips instead. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
 

Rock Davis shrugged. “Keeping you on your toes so you won’t be out of practice when you come back.”
 

Alexa rolled her eyes and strode past him to the swing, where she dropped onto it and pushed it into violent motion. “I’m not coming back, Rock.”
 

Without jarring the swing or interrupting its timing, he eased himself onto it and settled back. “Oh? Then what do you plan to do with your life after this personal job is done?”
 

Good question. She’d been concentrating so hard on the outcome, she hadn’t considered the aftermath.
 

“It depends on how it ends,” she told him.
 

“That guy in the church? He part of this whole quest?” He made a “big picture” motion with his hands, then folded his arms.
 

“You were there? I didn’t see you.”
 

“I arrived late. Was in the back. Would have tackled the guy if I hadn’t been on the other side of the building. Or if I’d anticipated it.”
 

“None of us anticipated it.”
 

“What are you into, Alexa?” He gave her the “concerned big brother” look.
 

“I’d like to know the same thing,” said Kurt on his way across the lawn toward them. He leaned on the support post with his hands in his pockets, but he was in alert mode, ready for another attack, if it came. Despite his assertion that it wouldn’t come today.
 

Alexa felt ganged up on but also comforted. She wasn’t used to operating without backup, and their attempt to provide it made her feel stronger.
 

“It’s a long, incredible story you wouldn’t believe, and I can’t afford to be put away for psychological testing right now.” She tried to rise, but Kurt gave her a shove in the chest just as the swing came up behind her, and she sat back down.
 

“Try anyway,” Rock said. “If anyone will believe you, it’s us.”
 

“Yeah, right, Mr. Skeptical.”
 

They kept pushing, and finally Alexa took a deep breath, ready to tell them something,
anything, to make them back off.
 

Don’t tell them, Alexa.
 

Cyrgyn’s voice whispered across her mind. She glanced up and caught a glint of gold before she lost it in the sun.
 

I can trust them
, she answered. Cyrgyn didn’t respond, but she could feel his trepidation even from this distance.
 

She opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. “I can’t. You absolutely will not believe me.”
 

Rock looked sad, Kurt solemn. They watched her for several minutes, but she’d been trained by one and worked with the other. She knew the technique and refused to talk.
 

Then, however, the master came out the back door.
 

Marilee picked her way across the grass in her delicate sandals. She looked like she’d just arrived at a tea party instead of finished hosting a large gathering while juggling twin infants. Well, except for the small patch of spitup on her shoulder.
 

“Mom’s putting the kids down for a nap,” she said, grabbing an Adirondack chair and muscling it around to face the swing. “We have plenty of time for you to tell us what’s going on.” She sat in the chair, rested her arms on the armrests, and looked expectantly at Alexa.
 

Kurt frowned at his wife. “What makes you think we haven’t already been told?”
 

She looked at him patiently. “Sweetie, I know you tried, but Alexa is just too tough for you.”
 

“And not for you?”
 

“Nope.” She grinned and looked back at Alexa. “There hasn’t been a secret she’s kept from me in the past ten years. Has there, Alexa?”
 

“Sure there has.”
 

“I mean before I gave birth and got distracted. And I still want to know about that guy.”
 

Alexa didn’t look at her. The only secret she’d ever kept from Marilee had been Cyrgyn.
 

“It’s the dragon, isn’t it? It’s time.”
 

Alexa jerked her head up, shock cascading through her. Marilee’s teasing confidence had disappeared, to be replaced by compassion. “I told you I knew all your secrets.”
 

“There’s no way you know this secret.” First Peter, now Marilee. Did
everyone
know about Cyrgyn?
 

One look at Kurt and Rock told her no. Both looked exactly the way she’d anticipated they’d look when they heard her story.
 

“What dragon? Like, the Chinese mob?” Kurt asked.
 

Marilee pealed a laugh. “Oh, no, dear. A real dragon.”
 

Rock snorted. “This ought to be good.”
 

“I told you you wouldn’t—” Alexa began, then snapped her mouth shut.
Damn it
. Marilee always won.
 

“Hon, you talk in your sleep.” She nodded at Alexa’s surprise. “I don’t think you’ve been with anyone but me who could tell you that.” Kurt raised his eyebrows and Marilee said, without looking at him, “Down boy. We were roommates, remember?”
 

“Yeah, but don’t women experiment in college?”
 

“You’re off the subject,” Rock told him, “and getting into deep water.”
 

Alexa knew her friend was right. No man had ever stayed overnight with her. She’d
locked her family out of her room after her mother’s death—she’d desperately needed that time alone—so none of them would have known if she talked in her sleep. Marilee had been her only roommate. She’d never shared a hotel room with other operatives, and the tents they’d crowded into were always in high-alert situations where she didn’t sleep deeply enough to talk unconsciously.
 

Apparently, in college she had.
 

“So what is it you think you know?” she asked Marilee.
 

“You quoted the curse several times. I was so intrigued I wrote it down. Took several nights, and you didn’t dream about it that often, so it was pretty close to a year before I figured out what it meant.”