Page 10 of Here Be Dragons

“Where’s the key?” Leonard demanded. “I don’t know who’s paying you, or how much, but cough it up. Or else. No amount of money is worth your life.”

Key? What the hell was he going on about? What key?

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, after he dropped his hand.

“There’s no point in lying. I saw the courier give it to you. You put it in the top drawer, but it was gone when I checked. You must have taken it.”

So that was what he’d been doing by the front desk! I’d noticed him, but thought he was just watching it for Janice.

“You mean the envelope? I gave it to Desmon.”

What would the janitor want with a package that was addressed to Desmon? He thought someone was paying me, so maybe someone was paying him to steal from the museum?

“You’re lying! You went straight out to lunch. I watched you. You never stopped by his office. You must have brought the key back here.”

The other guy was already rifling through my stuff, dumping everything all over the floor.

“Do you have any idea what this key is supposed to look like?” Leonard asked his thug friend as he joined him in ruining my apartment.

“No clue. Gillisandra didn’t say. But we know it fits inside an envelope.”

They took entire drawers, emptied the contents onto the floor, and then did the same to the stuff still in moving boxes. I didn’t know how this was supposed to help them find a key they wouldn’t even recognize if they found it. All they did was break all my shit.

They even searched Q-Tip’s area, picking up my sweet little bunny and making a gross joke about rabbit stew. Seriously? If they hurt my baby, I would literally claw their eyes out.

Luckily, Q-Tip had a surprisingly strong kick despite his small size and managed to get the asshole good before he freed himself and raced into the bedroom and under the bed.

By the time the goons gave up, I was already a good hour late for work, and my apartment was in a shambles. There was broken glass from picture frames and mirrors, and my books were scattered all over the floor with pages ripped out of them, as if they thought the evasive key would be magically hidden between Chapter One and Two.

I kept silent, hoping that they’d leave once they realized I didn’t have what they sought. I snuck my hand into my purse, feeling around for my cell phone; maybe I could get a call out to the police? But before I could find it, they both had their attention back on me.

“It’s not here.” Knife Guy looked peeved. “What are we going to say to Gillisandra? We promised her the key.”

“Wedon’t have to say anything.” Leonard jerked his thumb at me. “Shecan explain to the dragon lady why the key is missing.”

Knife Guy shook his head, looking worried. “She’s not going to accept that. You know what she’s like: we promised her the key, so we get her the fucking key. No substitutions. We’re going to get our asses handed to us.”

“Okay, woman, tell us where it is. Who did you give it to? How much did they pay you for it?”

“I already told you: I gave it to Desmon. I accidentally took it out with me in my purse when I went out for lunch. When I came back to the museum after eating, I took it to his office.” I hoped that now he realized I didn’t have it, he would let me go…even though a part of me had a sneaking feeling that would be too simple.

Sure enough, the other guy said, “Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do with her now? We can’t let her go back to work. She’ll warn the dragon.”

“We’ll take her with us. Hand her over to Gillisandra. We don’t know if she’s really telling the truth. It all seems too…convenient.” Leonard grabbed me roughly by the arm and shoved me toward the door behind his friend, who was already making his way into the hallway.

Realizing that I might possibly disappear forever if I let them get me out of my apartment, I grabbed the first heavy object I could lay my hands on, which happened to be an old pewter candle holder I’d found at a garage sale on a road trip one summer. I bashed Leonard across the face with it, throwing my full weight behind the swing.

“Fuck!” he yelled as he stumbled back, grabbing his nose.

I helped him the rest of the way to the ground with my foot, kicking him in the shins. His shirt caught on a broken photo frame and ripped.

But my resistance ended when his thug friend was suddenly there, hitting me across the face, and I gasped as I tasted blood. Then he was holding his knife to my throat and threatening to slit it right then and there if I didn’t behave.

“Come with us quietly, little girl, and no one gets hurt.”

I wasn’t naïve enough to believe him, but what choice did I have? They marched me out of the apartment, me with my split lipand Leonard with his bleeding nose, which was messing up the hallway carpet.

We were in the stairwell when my cell phone rang from my purse.

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