She stiffened, and so did the Basilisk, his dark eyes widening as he realized what was happening. “Stop!” he called sharply, and the vessels froze, their gun barrels pointed right at us. Panting, I glared at Luther over Ember’s shoulder, trying to calm the fear sweeping through me. I could feel Ember’s taut body against mine, the tension and shock lining her muscles, and hoped she would not try to struggle or throw me off. Trust me, Ember, I thought, willing her to understand. I’m trying to save us all. Don’t explode on me.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Luther,” I said, locking eyes with the Basilisk. “You’re going to let us go. You’re going to let me and everyone else walk out of here, unmolested, or—” I prodded Ember’s jaw with the barrel of the pistol “—you can kiss the Elder Wyrm’s daughter goodbye.”
Luther stared at me, his expression stony, and my heart pounded. I had to play this just right. For all his creepiness, Luther wasn’t stupid. If he called my bluff, we were done. The only reason this insane gambit might work was that I knew the one thing that terrified Luther, terrified all of us. The Elder Wyrm. I had to make him believe I wasn’t bluffing. I wasn’t Riley; I was Cobalt, the criminal leader of the rogue underground, and I had no issues sacrificing another dragon if it meant saving my own hide.
“You really expect me to believe that?” The Basilisk gave an oily smile, making my stomach drop. “You really expect me to stand here and believe that you would shoot one of your friends in cold blood, to save yourself? No, agent.” He shook his head. “The Cobalt I’ve seen, the Cobalt I have studied over the years, is not that ruthless.”
“Yeah?” Ignoring my fear, I flashed the Basilisk the meanest, nastiest smirk I was capable of and shoved the gun farther into Ember’s skin. She gasped, tensing in my arms, and Luther’s eyes narrowed. “Can you really afford to take that gamble?” I asked, holding his gaze. “What would happen if the daughter of the Elder Wyrm is killed while you were trying to prevent our escape? It certainly wouldn’t just be your job on the line.”
Luther didn’t answer, but I caught the flicker of raw fear that went through his eyes, and knew I had struck a chord. The rest of my party hadn’t moved. I could see the soldier in my peripheral vision; he had lowered his gun, but he still watched me with a hard look, one hand clenched at his side. I couldn’t see Mist; I just knew she was somewhere behind us, watching this morbid drama play out.
I kept my attention on the Basilisk, knowing he was wavering. “If you think I’m bluffing, you’re sadly mistaken,” I lied, and gestured to the vessels surrounding us. “I know when I’m beat. And the way I see it, I’m already dead. But you know what I have no problem with? Taking you down with me. And hey...” My thumb reached up and pulled back the hammer with an ominous, metallic click. “If I have to die, I’d rather give her a clean death, right now, then let the Elder Wyrm win. But it’s your move, Luther. What’s it gonna be?”
Luther glared at me, fear and hate warring in his eyes. But after a long moment, his shoulders slumped and he stepped away, barking an order to the clones. The vessels straightened, lowering their guns in perfect unison, and the Basilisk jerked his head at the door.
“Go,” he snarled. “But this isn’t over. There is nowhere in the world you can hide. Nowhere for you and your little underground of traitors to be safe. We will find you, and we will purge your stain from the face of the earth. You’re only delaying the inevitable.”
I would’ve said something snarky, but at the moment I was too relieved. Still keeping my arms around Ember, and the gun pressed below her chin, I jerked my head at the rest of them, and we began walking toward the metal doors.
“Don’t follow us,” I told the Basilisk as we passed. “If I even suspect we’re being tailed, or that a Viper is out there waiting to snipe us in the head, I will have no problem pulling the trigger. We walk away clean, and no one in the organization tries to follow until we are completely gone.”
Luther gave me a flat stare, but nodded tightly. St. George threw open the metal door, and I dragged Ember through the frame, out of the building and into the sunlight.
Mist and the soldier followed at my heels. Through the door lay a flat, empty parking lot, surrounded by lawn, trees and concrete. In the distance, past another set of buildings, I could see the tree line that marked the security fence, but I had no idea how we were going to get to it.
“Mist,” I growled, glancing at the silver-haired Basilisk at my shoulder. “Where to now?” I felt highly exposed, knowing that just a few yards away, the most powerful dragon in the world was watching us through a pair of thin glass doors. “How do we get out of here? And I hope you had a better plan than ‘on foot.’”
“Give it a second,” Mist said, gazing around the lot. “He knew the plan was set into motion. He should be...there.”
A car suddenly streaked around a corner and skidded to a halt a few feet away. Mist sprang forward, wrenched open the door and motioned us inside. Still holding Ember, I pulled her into the backseat, the soldier right behind us, as Mist slammed the door and lunged into the front. I held my breath, waiting for gunshots, for a snarling Viper to land on the windshield and fill the car with fire. But nothing happened except the tires squealing as the car tore across the lot, through the open security gate and into the city streets.
*
Holy shit. We’d escaped. We’d actually escaped from Talon.
Cobalt, you are the officially luckiest son of a bitch in the history of SOBs. Wait until Wes finds out; this will go down in dragon history. If Talon doesn’t kill you in the next five minutes. I looked down at my “hostage” and winced. Or Ember. Or St. George for that matter.
“Um, Riley?” Ember’s voice, though not exactly furious, was not happy. “Are you going to let me go soon?”
“Sorry, Firebrand.” I eased the gun away from her throat, but didn’t loosen my grip around her. “Not yet. Not until I’m positive we’re clear of Talon. I wouldn’t put it past the Elder Wyrm to be keeping tabs on us right now, trying to see where we go. Once we’re out of the city and I’m sure Talon isn’t following us, we can drop the farce. And you can punch me out then, if you like.”
She sighed. “No,” she muttered, finally relaxing against me. “Once I got past the shock and the ‘what the hell are you doing,’ I realized you were trying to save us. We wouldn’t have made it out if you hadn’t done that. Though you did freak me out for a second there, Riley.” A shiver went through her, making my stomach twist. “You sounded entirely serious. I almost believed you.”