Page 68 of The Dragon Recruit
A female said, “She’s the perfect candidate—strong, young, and healthy. Surely this time the mind-control device will stick and not kill her.”
A male voice replied, “She’s a better information source than anything else. I still say torture her and learn what we can about Lochguard and the other dragon clans.”
Another male voice jumped in. “But just think of the possibilities. Having the young dragon under our control already gave ushim. Just imagine a full-grown beast doing our bidding. We could jumpstart the civil war sooner rather than later.”
The female voice spoke again. “Let’s finish the initial tests to better determine if her body will reject the implant or not. We only have two right now, and I don’t want to waste one because we rushed. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
The two male voices grew fainter until Zoe thought they were across a large room. This was her chance to survey her surroundings and make a plan.
Because she refused to be used as a guinea pig and possibly hurt her own clan members.
Cracking one eyelid open, she took a few seconds to adjust to the light. It was a large, open room full of small cages, beds, and various medical equipment and TV monitors.
She could just make out Chelsea unconscious in a bed, her body wrapped with some synthetic fabric, unmoving. The machines attached to her whirred and beeped at intervals. Another female, one she couldn’t quite make out from this angle, lay on her side inside a cage. And at the far end of the room, Zoe spotted a young dragon asleep in an even bigger cage.
Ignoring the clenching of her heart—she could only imagine what they’d done to that young dragon—she searched the last part of the room and nearly gasped. Because lying on a bed, chained to railings, was the tall form of Antony Holbrook. Covered in bandages, he looked pale, far paler than she’d ever seen.
Did that mean someone was trying to rescue them and was nearby?
The thought gave Zoe strength and helped her mind to focus. She needed to find a way to escape, or at least signal to everyone else where she was. Because given what she knew of Antony and how important he was, someone would come looking for him.
She quickly took stock of her own situation—she was handcuffed to railings but otherwise wearing her normal clothes, without any kind of special restraints.
No doubt, they’d miscalculated the dosage of whatever drug they’d given her. Zoe’s muscle mass was higher, given her job, than the other females. And it’d probably worn off sooner than it should have.
Which gave her a window, a narrow one, to overtake the two humans in this room, lock it down, and think of her next steps.
Ignoring how she wished she had her inner dragon, she counted the doors in the room—two. A smaller one the female had probably gone through, given the direction of her voice, and a larger one that could only be opened by some sort of computer or wireless remote.
If she could take out the males and block the smaller door, it should give her a little time. Aye, there might be something awful on the other side of the massive door. But she needed the chance to look at their computer system and try to signal her location. Thankfully, she’d taken some courses from Emma MacAllister—now Lamont—back when the female had offered it to the Protectors, so Zoe had a shot at disabling the security briefly.
The handcuffs weren’t special and bent with a little force. Bit by bit, she stretched out one and then the other, careful to play sleeping whenever the males glanced in her direction. She kept an ear out for their conversation—revolving around getting a turn to impregnate a female dragon to help the cause—until she finally removed the cuffs.
Ignoring the urge to rub her wrists, she waited. While she didn’t have long, she needed the two males to walk closer before she could knock them out cold.
Only then could she send a signal and hope someone was looking for them. Because not even the best Protector in the world could break out of this place on their own.
Hours later, Iris was finally cleared by Dr. Turner, albeit with strict instructions about what she could and couldn’t do.
Not that Iris would follow them, if Antony needed her.
And even though Kai and the others had been sending her updates, she wanted to see for herself that Antony’s tracking chip had blinked back on. It’d been shorting out, steadily moving south, until it settled in Glasgow. However, in the latest update, they still hadn’t pinpointed his exact location. Although where they could hide him and who knew what else in a city of over 600,000 people, she had no idea. Especially since the Greater Glasgow area was nearly two million people, which was a far cry from the remoteness of Birkwood Castle.
She entered the room at the end of the hall—they were in yet another safe location for Antony’s team—and walked in to see not only the tech she’d met in Inverness but also Arabella MacLeod, her clan leader’s mate and one of the best hackers in the country. Both sat in front of a group of monitors, with various programs running in the background.
Arabella noticed her and motioned for her to come over. “I won’t bother with small talk. We’re about to pinpoint Antony’s location, now that his tracking chip has remained on for more than a few minutes at a time.”
“Where’s Finn? Is he here?”
“No, he’s back on Lochguard, watching the children and standing by in case he needs to contact the other clan leaders. Cooper, Faye, and Grant already have all the Protectors on standby.”
Iris blinked. “Really?”
Arabella glanced up at her. “Of course. Not only to help Zoe, but also to find and rescue Antony. Given what Kai said, he risked his life to save yours. So we’re not going to abandon him, if we can help it.” Her pupils flashed to slits and back, and she continued, “Besides, he means something to you as well.”
She blinked. “How do you…”
Arabella shrugged. “Being the clan leader’s mate, you learn to watch out for the clan. And that male has helped you show a little more of yourself.”
