Page 25 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 11

Thorne squatted on the floor of the Batcave, swearing at himself in Draken. Here he’d sat, so smug, thinking the lair was untouchable. It had never occurred to him that Corwyn might have the magical keys.

He should have thought of that.

“None of us thought of it, bro,” Zane said wearily. “But we can fix it. Blaze is the queen of wards.”

“That’s what happens when you’re hiding from a coven for ten years,” she said. “You get motivated to learn protection spells. I can talk to Jean-Claude, too.”

Thorne snapped, No way is he working on our wards.

“Not for that,” Blaze said. “I wouldn’t trust him in here—Jean-Claude could never resist an evil sorcerer all-you-can-steal buffet. But he’s set himself up as the king of the Portland magical world. How do you think he’s going to feel about another evil sorcerer running around, looking to take over?”

Zane started to smile. “He’s going to throw everything he’s got at him. At worst, he’ll find Corwyn and keep him busy. At best, he might even take him out for us.” He leaned over and gave Blaze a kiss. “That’s devious. I like it.”

Me too, Thorne said. Can you get a meeting with him?

“I’ll call him as soon as it’s a decent hour,” Blaze said.

Thorne looked over at Rebel. She was pinching her bottom lip, seeming deep in thought.

Rebel? he asked.

She started. “What?”

Any thoughts?

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Tempe, what did that stuff look like that Corwyn was trying to put in the water tank?”

Tempest described it. Thick red liquid, the color of blood.

“Kind of like this?”

Rebel walked over to the conference table, pulling a slim metal box out of her vest pocket. She unsnapped the catches, pulled two vials out of the foam padding, and set them upright in the middle of the table.

The click of the glass against the tabletop was the only sound in the room, except for the constant hum of the computer equipment.

One vial held a transparent green liquid.

The other was filled with a viscous, blood-red fluid.

Tyr was out of his seat in a second, leaning across the table and looking at the red vial. “This one looks like the sample I managed to get, from what spilled in the pump room.”

I hope you got it all.

“Um, duh,” Tyr said. “Anything that somebody tries to put in the water gets the full magical hazmat treatment.” He looked at Rebel. “Please tell me that’s not the serum.”

“No,” Rebel said. She touched the second vial, the one with the green liquid. “Thisis the serum.”

“This,” she indicated the red liquid, “is a toxin that was stolen from BioGen two days ago, called DRA-4269.”

That was met with silence.

“Why did you take it?” Zane asked finally. “I thought you were just going after the serum.”

“The theft of this stuff was serious enough that BioGen not only tripled their security team, they brought in hellhounds,” she said. “They almost got me. It was the closest call I’ve had in a long time.”

So that explained what had happened at BioGen, Thorne thought. Her intel had been completely jacked up. He knew enough about Rebel Smith to know that when that happened, she usually bailed immediately.