Page 80 of Red Dragon’s Heart

She straightened up and turned to Kira. “Let’s do this.”

She waited impatiently while Kira contacted Flynn, and then left Troy with the big lion shifter, who promised to get him home. Then Kira and Rebel walked Maddie to a place in the spirit world that corresponded with the lab complex on earth. Maddie had drawn a quick plan of it in the dirt, so Kira would know what to look for. She seemed to be able to somehow see earth from the spirit world, even though Maddie couldn’t.

She’d love to learn how that worked, once they’d gotten Zakerek back. And they would. They had to.

Finally, they stopped. Kira said, “The server room has extra wards—I can’t gate inside. I can get you right outside the door, though.”

“Good enough,” Maddie said. “I have the admin override codes to the security system. I can get in the regular way.”

Kira hesitated, then said, “Be careful. If you take the collar off Zak, he’ll get his dragon powers back, but he probably won’t be able to control the monster.”

“I know,” Maddie said. “Luckily, the monster likes me.” She just hoped it wasn’t too pissed off to remember that.

Rebel said, “Well, just in case, take this.” She handed Maddie her gun. “The bullets are magicked, so it can even wound a dragon. It should work against the monster—or Larkin.”

“Thank you.” She stuck it in her jacket pocket, on the other side from the key.

Kira clapped her on the shoulder and said, “You’re not bad, for a human. Good luck.” And she tore a hole in the air.

Rebel passed Maddie through the wards, and she stepped into a deserted corridor. Kira had done what she’d said—she was right outside the server room.

Rebel said, “Sure you don’t want me to stay?” Maddie would have liked nothing better than not being here by herself, but she shook her head. “You’re too badass; if they catch us, they’ll separate us and then we’ll have more people to rescue. Thanks, though.”

“First time anyone ever told me I was too badass.” But Rebel didn’t argue.

Maddie keyed the admin code into the keypad, and the door to the server room opened. Rebel stepped through the rift and waved, and then the sparkly worldgate was gone.

She was alone.

Maddie slipped inside and activated one of the system admin terminals, checking the security status for the wing where the test subjects—captive shifters, she corrected herself—were normally held. Only one holding area was active—they must have temporarily shut down their research after Maddie blew up that one lab and they lost all the research data.

At least she’d accomplished that much—and now she knew where Zak was being held.

She didn’t dare bring the system down—that would send people rushing to Zak’s cell to make sure he didn’t escape.

Instead, she activated all the alarms, everywhere. That should keep them busy looking for intruders.

Then she ducked back into the corridor and ran for Zak’s cell.

There were no security troops in the hallways—she was sure they were busy at the entrances or outside, dealing with the dragons’ diversionary attack and the false alarms. It only took her a minute or two to get to her destination.

But when she opened the door, she realized her luck had run out. Larkin and Eric were both in there, with two security men.

Maddie stopped dead in the doorway, looking at the security guards’ guns, which were both trained on her. Eric smirked at her. “I knew you’d come for him,” he said. “You’re ridiculously sentimental, and you think you can outsmart everyone.”

“I outsmarted you for four months.”

His mouth hardened—he didn’t like that reminder one bit. He snapped, “But then you made the mistake of getting involved with an Al-Maddeiri dragon. Got your brother kidnapped.”

“Got him out, too.”

“And now both of you are going to suffer for it.”

Maddie looked at the cell, which covered the entire back half of the room. She could see Zak easily, since the front of it was all bars, like the one in Zak’s basement. She’d wondered about that, when Erik had first let her see the captives—it seemed so old-fashioned. But he’d said the bars gave them greater access and visibility than a wall and a door.

Lucky for her.

Zak was lying on the floor. He moved slightly at the sound of her voice, so he wasn’t completely unconscious. “Zak!” she called out. He raised his head, though it seemed like a huge effort.