Talker 25 (16 page)

His brilliant blue eyes burn hatred for everyone in the room, but soften when they meet mine. He doesn’t seem surprised I’m here. Just sad. The D-men put him in his chair, then take up positions in the corner of the room.

“What happened?” I ask.

“It was—”

“You two will have plenty of time to chat later, Ms.
Callahan,” Simon says. “Until then, speak when spoken to.”

“Rot in hell.”

Simon reaches into his jacket, pulls out a PDA, taps the screen. My CENSIR delivers an electric jolt that sets my body shaking. Sizzling agony shoots through my head, the world blinks out, and I scream.

“Leave her alone!” James yells.

The pain subsides and my vision returns. Simon’s scrutinizing the PDA with an expression of approval. “Are you going to behave, Ms. Callahan?”

I grit my teeth and nod.

“I’m sorry, Mel—”

“Shhh.” Simon waggles a finger at James. “I’ve got you in here, too. Play along now, and we’ll be done shortly.” He drops into narrator voice. “Mr. Everett, when did you first meet Melissa?”

“At Dragon Hill, several months ago.”

I want to correct him—we met little more than a week ago—but the sharp headache behind my eyes convinces me to remain quiet.

Simon indicates the image of me atop Old Man Blue. “Did you take this picture?”

“No, my lieutenant did the initial probing. He made sure she fit our profile before I swooped in.”

That’s a flat-out lie. It doesn’t even sound like James.
Did they stick him in a hellhole too? Are his thoughts still scrambled?

“Profile?” Simon prompts.

“Strong spirit, fragile mind.” His expression grows serious. “I thought it would be a run-of-the-mill recruiting trip, but when I met her, she absolutely floored me.”

“How so?”

“Look at her,” James says. “Not the hair or the makeup or the dress. Look into her eyes. There’s something magical in them. I’ve never met anybody like her.”

“What happened after that?”

“I took her back to my cave, taught her how to ride dragons and fire guns. One thing led to another—”

“That’s all bullshit—” A sharp jolt from my CENSIR turns the rest of my words into a garbled mess.

“No more interruptions, Ms. Callahan.” Simon makes a cutting motion across his neck to the cameras, looks to James.

“Start over. What happened after that?”

“I took her back to my cave, taught her how to ride dragons and fire guns. One thing led to another and, well, you know.”

No, he’s not scrambled. He’s got a transceiver in his ear and someone’s feeding him lines. He made a deal with them?

I glare at him, and he has the gall to wink at me. I wonder
if they scripted that, too. He seems to be enjoying himself. “She’s quite feisty.”

Simon laughs. “Yes she is. And evidently quite talented as well.”

“Oh, yeah. She climbed our ranks quickly. She was a natural with the dragons.”

Simon plays a clip of me and Baby in our battle with the gunships. Except they’ve digitized Baby from a Silver to a Red and changed her ice to fire. The shaky video, shot from a cockpit, runs for about a minute showing that I do, in fact, look like a talented dragon rider. Until I get blown off Baby’s back.

I can’t help laughing.

“You find this funny, Ms. Callahan?” Simon asks.

“Fucking hilarious.”

I get a shock for that. I bite hard into my lip to stifle the scream. Out of the corner of my eye, I see James flinch.

“You’re going to answer my questions now, Ms. Callahan. You will refrain from using inappropriate language. Do you understand?”

“But aren’t I the batshit fragile-minded dragon—”

This shock is sharper. My teeth rattle. James’s eyes pinch with worry. He gives a slight shake of his head. I ignore him. “It’s gonna be a short interview, asshole, if you keep doing that.”

“Good point. We’re done with him, however, aren’t we?” Simon taps the PDA again, holds his finger there, grins as James spasms. His hands clatter against the tabletop, his feet drum the ground. I stare straight ahead. He begins to groan.

“I’m told that brain malfunction ensues after prolonged exposure,” Simon says over the loudening groans. “Or paralysis. The studies are still unclear. You never know what might happen with this new technology.”

“You think I care?” I say.

He looks at his PDA. “I know you do. That little crown on your head tells me everything you feel.”

A bluff? I chew the inside of my lip and shrug. “Your software must be glitchy.”

“Quite fascinating, really, isn’t it?” Simon says, running his finger along the PDA screen. “Maybe his heart will give out first.”

James’s mouth suddenly falls open in a silent scream. His breaths come in hitching, staccato bursts. His eyes widen. His face vibrates.

I break. “Stop it!”

Simon cocks his head as James’s entire body seizes and shudders.

“Stop it! Stop it! I’ll do what you want!”

“What did you say?” Simon asks.

“I’ll cooperate!” I yell. “Just stop it!”

Simon waits another few seconds before relenting. James goes limp. His head bangs against the table.

“James?” I whisper.

He lets out a soft moan.

“Eyes forward, Ms. Callahan.” I comply.

“Go into close-up on her,” Simon instructs the cameramen. He reverts to his narrator voice. “Ms. Callahan, when did you find yourself having feelings for Mr. Everett?”

“What do you want from me?” I ask.

“The truth.”

I snort. “The truth is I’m not a traitor. I never meant to hurt anybody. I never wanted to talk to dragons, or—”

“You think you can talk to dragons, Ms. Callahan?”

“She’s lost it,” James mumbles quickly. “Probably ate too much dragon meat.”

“Mr. Everett, remain quiet until further notice or I will turn you into a drooling cripple.” Simon steps forward. “Ms. Callahan, answer the question.”

“I never wanted to be a part of any of this. I wanted the dragons to go away, the military to go away. . . . Guess I’m screwed.”

“So your mother never told you the truth?” Simon asks.

James bursts from the chair, launching himself over the table at Simon. He tackles him, gets his cuffed hands around his neck for all of a second before a pair of BoDA agents are
pulling him off. He snarls at Simon. “You promised to keep her out of this!”

Simon picks up the PDA from the floor, examines it with a frown, presses a button. “Let’s see if you can play possum with this.”

James spasms so hard that the agents lose their grip on him. He collapses to the floor, twitches once, then goes deathly still. The D-men scowl at Simon.

Simon checks James’s pulse. “No worries, still ticking. Get him out of here and get him prepped for transport.”

They leave.

Simon’s eyes narrow on me. “Keep in mind that I can make sure he stops ticking.”

I don’t know if he’s authorized to kill him, but it’s a chance I cannot afford to take, so I nod and we return to the farce.

“Did you ever find it odd that your mother was so concerned with dragon welfare?” Simon asks. A picture appears on the screen: Mom at a protest rally. “She saw people killed every day, and while most everyone else thought they were monsters, she never did.”

“It’s called having a heart, asshole.”

“A heart of gold . . . or maybe Red, Green, and Blue. Just like her daughter?” he says. “You two were close, weren’t you? Similar in so many ways.”

“I can only hope so.”

He puts another picture up. One I’ve never seen. The coup de grace.

Mom stands on the balcony of Shadow Mountain lookout, elbows on the railing, chin cupped in her hands. Tired, but happy. On her left is a black man who looks vaguely familiar, for some reason. James, younger, sits on the railing, legs dangled over the edge. Behind him, a handsome man holds a smiling woman. I don’t recognize him, but I saw her a week ago, dead on a gurney.

In the background, through the trees, are six dragons. Five Reds, one Green. A part of me wonders if that’s the Green that killed her. Or maybe it’s just another fabrication.

“Is that your mother in the picture?” Simon asks.

I don’t answer.

He points. “Those are dragons, right?”

I don’t answer.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Ms. Callahan, but it appears that those dragons are wearing harnesses.”

Good and evil, right and wrong, all that’s gone sideways in my head, but there is one truth I will never surrender. “You can paint her however you want,” I say. “But my mother was a hero.”

“No, she was a traitor. Just like you, Ms. Callahan. Just like you.”

He heads for the door.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask.

He hesitates, turns toward me. “Because lots of us had mothers. Lots of us had sons and wives. You’re no different from any of us, except you sided with them. You deserve everything that’s going to happen to you, Ms. Callahan. May God save your soul.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

A
BoDA agent escorts me to an SUV. Minutes later, we arrive at a runway where a cargo plane idles. A dull silver glow comes from inside the cabin.

Baby!

We drive up the ramp that extends from the rear of the plane, past several rows of crates strapped to the walls, and there she is. My momentary happiness evaporates. Metal bands around her snout, back, and tail clamp her to the metal slab. The cold-restrictor collar pinches deep into her neck. Tranquilizers protrude from her body.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask.

“Don’t know,” the agent says as we park in front of Baby.

I call her name several times. Her eyes remain shut, but I’d swear she brightens. I hold on to that as the agent guides
me to the front of the cargo hold, where James sits shackled in a jump seat. The man positions me on the opposite side, cuffing me to a railing that runs the length of the plane. The lack of windows gives me the sense that I’m in a giant coffin, and I can’t help but wonder where they’re going to bury us.

“I’m sorry,” James says after the agent backs out of the plane.

“You were trying to protect my family.” The ramp closes. Engines roar to life. The plane accelerates. “Where do you think they’re taking us?”

He glances at Baby. “A place where dragons go to die.”

It’s my turn to apologize. “If I’d stayed in the cave, Baby would be safe.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Melissa.” He takes a deep breath. “Baby, huh?”

I nod. “It’s kind of grown on me.”

“Guess that’s as good a name as any until she tells us what it really is.”

“That how it works?”

“Yeah, usually, but who knows with her?” He frowns. “Doubt they’ll keep her around long enough for us to find out.”

“What about the others?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know. By the time we got there, it was a mess. Our front squadrons had been decimated. Keith and Grackel ordered us to pull back. Most
everybody listened, but Vestia was in a state. So was I,” he adds, so softly I barely hear. He gives a strained smile. “Anybody ever tell you that you dress up real nice?”

“This sort of beauty doesn’t come natural, you know?” I say with a shrug. “I had a lot of help from Cosmo Kim.”

“She was a pistol.”

“Did they put you in the hole, too, and feed you dragon meat?” I ask.

“Yep, got my dosage of
Kissing Dragons
, though I avoided the meat. There’s something in it that makes you go a bit loopy.”

I snort. “I went two loops past a bit.”

The cockpit door opens. A man in a flight suit retrieves a couple of plastic bottles from a compartment in the bulkhead.

“Liquid replacement meals,” he says. He gives one to James, the other to me, never once looking at us.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask.

“Far.” He returns to the cockpit.

James takes a swig. “Tastes like feet.”