The Curse of the Dragon God (38 page)

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Authors: Geoffrey Knight

Tags: #Mystery, #Suspense, #Adventure, #Gay

BOOK: The Curse of the Dragon God
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—the last blast of the zidium sent the entire surface of the frozen lake shooting up into the air.
And the Lake of a Thousand Stars turned into the lake of a trillion tiny crystals of ice and diamonds, bursting skyward, up into the falling snow, turning that terrible, fateful night into something more beautiful than anyone could have possibly imagined.
As the blast wave shot toward shore, it picked both Will and Bradley up off the ice and sent them flying into the forest, tumbling through the snow, rolling and crashing, before they landed at the foot of a large tree—
—still holding hands.
Slowly the shining debris from the lake sailed down from the sky.
Bradley watched, heaving for air, the glistening ice and raining diamonds lighting up his eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he whispered.
But lying in the snow beside him, Will didn’t answer. Bradley looked over and saw that Will had passed out, utterly drained and exhausted. Bradley kissed him on the cheek. Then he continued to watch the stars fall.

 

In the shed atop the crumpled and deformed mountain of the Zhang diamond mines, Jake heard the distant
poomfh!
He left the Professor for a moment and made his way outside, across the displaced earth and cracked ice, to see the distant burst of light far down the mountains. It rose into the snowy night sky like a glowing dome of light more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen—a thousand stars launching into the night.
“Jake?”
He heard the shivering voice of the Professor behind him and raced back into the shed. He wrapped his arms around the old man.
“I want everyone to be all right,” the Professor whispered.
Jake thought about the blast he’d just seen, and wished for the same thing. “I’m sure they are,” he whispered back into the Professor’s ear.
“Eden too.”
Jake nodded, his heavy heart searching for hope. “Eden too,” he said. “Especially Eden.”
The Professor took a long sharp breath then, feeling the pain and discomfort inside. “Take me home, Jake. Please, take us home now!”
Jake kissed the Professor on his freezing cold forehead.
“I will. I’ll find the others. We’ll go home together. Just as I promised him. Just as I promised Eden we would.”
XX
San Francisco General Hospital, California
THE ELEVATOR AT THE END OF THE CORRIDOR PINGED.
Even before the doors could fully open, Jake wrestled his way free and was first to charge down the hall toward Dr. Dante, Sam, and the puffy-eyed Elsa, followed by Will sliding recklessly along the waxed linoleum floor, and behind him, Shane and Luca helping the wounded, anxious Professor along.
They all looked badly beaten and bruised. The doctors in Beijing had patched them up as well as they could, but no amount of pain could stop the five of them from returning to San Francisco as fast as possible.
Dr. Dante looked at the frazzled, injured men, a little startled and concerned.
Jake seized Sam so tightly by the shoulders that he almost dislocated them, then leapt from Sam to Dr. Dante. “Doc, please, tell us. Is he okay? Is he alive? Is he…”
Dr. Dante looked from Jake to the scathed, scared faces of all the rest. “As I told your friends, we tried everything.” He sighed, himself visibly exhausted. Then he managed a weary smile. “And we believe we’ve been able to stabilize him.”
Jake drew breath. Hope. Without another word he bolted to the window into the intensive care unit just as a nurse inside drew open the curtain. And there on the bed, being carefully monitored by no fewer than four hospital staff, was Eden.
Unconscious. Tangled in tubes. But alive.
Jake turned quickly to Dr. Dante, trying to catch his terrified breath. “Thank you!” he whispered.
“You can thank me once he’s made a full recovery, which we hope won’t be too long. He’s strong. In no time he’ll be a completely new person. Trust me.”
Jake stepped up to the glass and placed his sweaty, trembling palm against it. And as he did, Eden’s eyelids fluttered open, his eyes dancing in and out of consciousness. His lips quivered and turned up at the sides, forming something like a smile.
Something like love.
XXI
Hong Kong, China
WILL ARRIVED AT DAWN AND MADE HIS WAY THROUGH Hong Kong’s already bustling morning traffic, heading for the Zhang Diamond Tower.
“You’ve been busy,” he said, dropping his overnight bag in the doorway of the newly built boardroom. Bradley turned from the window overlooking the skyscraping city and mountains beyond, and smiled at the sight of his American friend.
He rushed toward him and the two embraced.
“What do you think?” Bradley asked, gesturing to the restored room.
Will pushed his messy blond hair out of his eyes. “You’ve gotten rid of that charred-to-a-cinder look—”
“—and gone for a more relaxed and friendly feel,” Bradley added.
Indeed, the boardroom had a much less corporate feel to it. There were flowers and plates of fruit on the new boardroom table, and cozy lounge chairs scattered around the place. “Welcome to the brand-new Zhang Diamond Corporation. A place where everyone’s treated equally. A place where anyone can feel at home. I’m steering the company in a whole new direction. I’m going to make good on all of my uncle’s false promises. I’m going to rebuild the Shandong mines and start up the Montana Project, but not for wealth or power. I want to repudiate the corruption of this business and turn it into an industry based on fair trade and equal rights for all. I can do it, Will. I know that now.”
“What about skating?”
Bradley smiled. “I’ve lived that dream now. And won.”
“Then perhaps you and I can get down to some unfinished business.”
Will stepped up to Bradley, took his head in his hands, and kissed him on the lips, gently nudging him back against the edge of the boardroom table. He grabbed his T-shirt at the hem and quickly pulled it off over his head, then wriggled Bradley’s tie loose and began unbuttoning his shirt. He stripped it open, then slowly knelt, kissing Bradley’s brown, hairless flesh all the way down his chest and stomach before unbuckling his belt and unzipping his trousers.
At that moment, the cell phone in the pocket of Will’s jeans began to chime. Reluctantly he pulled it out, only to check if the Professor was calling with another emergency. But the caller ID read
Home
.
Will decided Felix could wait a few minutes. He put the phone down on the floor and went to press OFF, but his finger slipped and he inadvertently answered the call. Felix went straight to speaker.
“Master William? Are you there?”
“Oh, shit.” Will panicked, then stammered, “Ah, Felix, h-hi. Listen, this is kind of a bad time.”
“Dear Master William, I think when it comes to you, time defies any sort of description.”
Will couldn’t help but smile. Old Felix—as unruffled as ever. “You’re calling to ask if I’ll be home for dinner, right?”
“Correction, home for your favorite dinner. And also to let you know your college lecturer, Professor James, called to inform you that your latest assignment is overdue.”
“Oh, shit,” Will whispered, but suddenly Bradley took his cares away by reaching inside his own unzipped trousers and pulling out his hard, upward-tilting cock. It instantly rose to meet Will’s lips.
The young American melted. He reached inside Bradley’s trousers and took Bradley’s full, writhing balls in both hands, then took a mouthful of that warm, sweet dick.
On speaker, the unflummoxed Felix, completely unaware of what was occurring on the other end of the phone, said,
“Don’t worry, Master William, you’ve been granted an extension. I told Professor James you had your hands full at the moment, and would sink your teeth into the task as a matter of urgency.”
Will spluttered and slid Bradley’s cock from his lips. “Ah. Uh, Felix, can I call you back?”
A heavy sigh came down the line.
“Very well. As you say, I’ll catch you later.”
The words sounded so wrong in Felix’s plum accent that Will couldn’t help but smile.
“Catch ya, dude!” This time Will managed to hang up the phone successfully, before looking up at Bradley. “Now, where were we?”
Bradley responded by taking Will by the shoulders, lifting him back up to his feet, and unbuckling the young man’s jeans.
Will’s cock sprang into Bradley’s hand. Bradley smiled and eased himself up onto the boardroom table, taking Will by the hips and pulling him up with him. The two kicked off their shoes and pants as Bradley slid on his back to the center of the table.
Will crawled over the top of him. The two kissed each other on the lips, the chin, the nose, as Will lowered his body on top of Bradley’s. Their heaving chests met. Their stomachs rose and fell and rose again, touching softly as they breathed. Their cocks rubbed gently, tenderly against each other.
Will whispered in Bradley’s ear. “Whatever you do, don’t light any candles.”
The two laughed, then kissed again.
XXII
San Diego, California
FELIX HUNG UP THE PHONE AND SIGHED AGAIN. HE WASN’T annoyed with Will; he knew his extracurricular activities kept him busy. He simply, genuinely, missed young Master Hunter’s company—despite the infernal roar of that motorcycle he insisted on riding and the loud music he played while he studied, on the few occasions he actually did study, and the strange hours and secretive company he kept.
Yes, despite it all, Will Hunter was the only family Felix had. And he worried about him constantly. He loved him. And he missed him.
Just as Will was about to miss the cheeseburger and homemade fries that Felix had fixed for him. He was about to garnish the meal with a sprig of parsley on top of the bun when the doorbell rang.
Strange, thought Felix. He wasn’t expecting any deliveries or messages, or least of all, company. He untied his apron and hung it on the oven rack, rather untidily and very much out of character, but he had every intention of returning to it as soon as he attended to the caller at the door.
On his way down the hall he straightened his shirt and vest and made certain his tie was knotted high and tight. Then he opened the door.
There before him stood a silver-haired gentleman in his sixties. By his side was a woman, tall and attractive. Felix guessed by her beautiful yet stern high-cheekboned features that she was Eastern European, possibly Russian.
“Felix Fraser, I presume,” the silver-haired visitor stated rather confidently.
The butler glanced at them both for a moment, then replied, “May I be of any assistance?”
The older gentleman smiled assuredly. “Oh, I most certainly believe you may. My name is Caro Sholtez. And this is Natalya.”
Natalya smiled also. Then by way of introduction she pulled a pistol and aimed it directly at Felix.
The shocked butler gasped, eyes now fixed on nothing but the gun.
The reaction sent a ripple of sheer amusement through Caro that almost made him laugh. Almost. “Tell me, Mr. Fraser, are you a good traveling companion? Because if you’re not, Natalya will happily put a bullet in your brain right now.”
With a quivering nod, Felix whispered, “Yes. I love traveling.”
The power-hungry smile spread even further across Caro’s thin, bloodless lips. “I have a feeling you’re just saying that. But I do like cooperative captives. So come along then—among many other things, I have no tolerance for dawdling. We still have several more ‘traveling companions’ to collect along the way, and trust me when I say—”
Caro leaned in close, close enough to hear the tremor of Felix’s heart, close enough to feel the butler’s shallow, terrified breaths against his sunken cheek.
“—Time is of the essence.”
XXIII
Vatican City, Italy
THE DRAGON WAS FROZEN IN ITS MOMENT OF DEFEAT, pinned down by the hooves of the horse and the point of Saint George’s lance about to pierce its heart. Ordinarily the pontiff’s personal visitors would pause and admire the giant canvas hanging in one of his many private halls. But this particular visitor didn’t so much as glance sideways.
The sound of his brisk, sweeping steps echoed through the halls and chambers. Portraits of popes past, the grim faces of archbishops, the mournful gaze of martyrs and saints watched from the confines of their elaborate, solidgold frames as the man hurried through room after room, delving deeper and deeper into the Vatican until he came to a tall, ornate door manned by two of the finest Swiss Guards in the pope’s personal army. One of the guards recognized the man immediately and opened the door for him.
“He’s expecting you.”
“Thank you,” the man said. He was panting.

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