Chapter 5

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Red Tie

Major Demon, Leader of Gang #1, 4’-10’’ tall, tan skin and 6’’ long horns on his head, brownish hair, wearing a 1920s suit and a fedora with a Red Tie, carrying a Tommy gun

Silver Tie

Major Demon, Leader of Gang #2, 4’-10’’ tall, tan skin and 6’’ long horns on his head, brownish hair, wearing a 1920s suit and a fedora with a Silver Tie, carries a Tommy gun

“How!?” demanded the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Secretariat in a loud voice. “How is it possible that there is all of this destruction all over the country, yet no one has seen or knows anything? Sixteen major cities have been attacked and have major destruction, even Beijing, yet the Army, the Air Force, and the police plus the various Party leaders in those cities have seen or heard nothing. Could it be the Americans or the Russians who are responsible for all of this? Well, say something!” he demanded in a loud voice of those present, but no one said anything. It was unusually quiet for a long time for such a large group.

That is, it was until the explosive arrival in the center of the first table of a small ceramic Dragon statue with an even smaller wrapped package attached to it, startling everyone present. Immediately, the security people rushed in and threw an explosion containment blanket over the object and rushed all of the leaders out of the area near the object and to safety.

Shortly, two men in explosion proof suits with a robot arrived to remove the object and have it examined for explosives and biological threats. No one was allowed back into the area until the object had been thoroughly examined and pronounced safe. They and the object were then allowed to return to the conference area.

“Well, what is it?” the General Secretary demanded in an angry voice looking at the two objects.

“The Dragon is a statue from the Ming Dynasty. A very valuable statue. The second object is a DVD with a message on it, General Secretary,” the Head of Security informed him.

“A message? A message from whom and how did it get in here? No one knows about this location but those in the highest levels of the Party. How could it suddenly appear here by itself? Who delivered it, and how did they gain entrance to this level?” he demanded growing more agitated with each question.

“We have no idea, Excellency. No one delivered it. It wasn’t received by anyone on the ground floor. No one entered this level with it, or was seen placing it on the table in the security videos,” the Security Chief told him.

“Perhaps the answer can be found on the DVD,” suggested one of the members of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee in a quiet voice.

“Has anyone viewed this DVD?” the Secretary asked.

“Only enough to determine that there is a message on it, Excellency,” the Security Chief told him.

“Have someone play the message,” the Secretary directed. The Security Chief nodded to one of his men, and the large video monitor on the wall of the room lit up as the DVD was inserted into the machine, and it began to play.

The image that formed on the screen was unsteady at first, as if the one holding the camera was unsure of its use. The image stabilized after a few seconds and focused on the subject in front of it. It was a rather shocking subject for it consisted of a number of Dragons. Their number and arrangement seemed to change from one second to the next. The camera also seemed to have a problem focusing on them as the image wavered as if it were changing focus continuously.

After thirty seconds or so, the image stabilized revealing five Dragons. It wasn’t possible to determine their actual size, as there was nothing in the scene to judge them against. Shortly, a voice began to speak, but it couldn’t be identified with one of those in the image.

“We are the previous Dragon Queens. The present Queen is unable to join us as she has Chicks ... three Daughters and is busy.

“Some sixteen thousand of your years ago, we took in your ancestors and taught them many things. Ours was already a mature civilization, while your ancestors still had a problem obtaining and keeping fire. This had never been a problem for us. They also still dressed in the skins of animals and lived in caves or tents. A few lived in dirt shacks or grass huts. We taught them to farm and to care for animals. Eventually, some of them came to work for us.

“Over time, most of them grew unhappy with this arrangement and left us to form their own version of civilization. Four thousand years ago, WE, the Females, withdrew from contact with your civilization. The males, however, are always interested in sex and have continued to visit your villages and towns to charm your females into sex. This has continued up to the present time.

“Now, there are again young Female Dragons to guide the males, but things have changed. Recently in two of your cities, TWO of the males offspring were MURDERED by those representing your current form of government.

“You have now seen the males’ displeasure at this. Be warned, do not continue to hunt for Dragons’ offspring, or to injure or kill them. Further deaths of Dragons’ offspring or Magic users will infuriate the males even more, and you will not care for their revenge. The new Queen has encouraged them to remove their offspring from your lands as quickly as possible, but this will take time,” the voice on the DVD warned them. The entire presentation had been in a slightly older dialect of their main language, but those present had no trouble understanding it.

For the last part of the DVD, the camera view drew back, and a number of obviously Chinese individuals emerged from behind the Dragons giving those viewing it a way to accurately gauge the size of the Dragons. It was obvious that they were seven or eight times the size of the people now in the image. Those viewing the DVD were shocked by this change in perspective. The DVD ended a short time later.

There was quiet for a number of seconds following the end of the presentation, but a babble of voices arose in a short time. There were screams of outrage about what had been said in the video. How dare those who had made the video say such things many demanded in angry voices. This was followed by demands that All Dragons and their offspring be arrested, shot if necessary, and sent to reeducation camps and then to forced labor companies. The Secretary allowed this outcry to continue for a time, while he spoke to the Head of Security.

“Have your people check this video and determine if it is genuine, or if it is some kind of cartoon like the children watch. Report directly back to me when they determine exactly what it is,” he told his Security Chief quietly. Shortly after that, he called those present back to order and reminded them of something.

“We do not know yet if this video is real. It is being investigated. We also don’t know if these supposed Dragons are real. No one has seen them or heard them,” he reminded them but his own words had repeated what he had said previously, leaving him feeling unwell.

“What we do know,” he continued, “is that we have serious destruction in at least sixteen of our major cities. Destruction that needs to be cleaned up and life returned to normal for those living and working there while we determine what and how to rebuild those cities. Rest assured that our security forces will be investigating to determine how whoever caused all of this destruction did so, who they are, and who they work for. They will then eliminate them. This CAN NOT be allowed to go unpunished or to ever happen again,” he told the assembled Party members in a loud voice to cheers. The Spirit of Ordinary Magic who had been observing and listening to what had occurred smiled before returning to the Reality of Magic.

As soon as he could conclude their meeting after delegating responsibilities for a number of items to various members of the Central Committee, the Secretary returned to his quarters on the third level with two of his most trusted assistants. Once secure there and sure that he wouldn’t be overheard, he had directions for them.

“Personally contact our Embassies in all of the major Capitals and have them check on rumors about these Dragons, their offspring, and other Magic users. Also, see what they have learned about the activities of the leaders in the countries where they are assigned.

“The Party is in turmoil with all of the destruction that has occurred, and we must ensure that it and the people have an enemy to take their anger out on,” the Secretary instructed them.

In the meantime in Washington, the Leaders of the FBI, the CIA, and Homeland Security were reporting their findings of the past two months or so to the President. None of them were smiling.

“What have you learned about the Dragons and their technology?” he demanded, as he opened the meeting.

“About the Dragons very little. About their advanced technology ... nothing,” the FBI Director admitted. “We have been unable to get closer than twenty-five feet (8 meters) to any of their business properties or their home properties, and that includes the houses of their employees. Surveillance, when possible, is extremely difficult. Electronic surveillance nets nothing but snow on the cameras and static on the voice channels. Visual surveillance by trained investigators is no better. They are unable to see inside any of their locations.

“The Dragons appear in person outside of their houses or businesses very seldom. Even when their employees make calls on the various businesses that they protect, we are unable to get near their vehicles or record anything from them. We have no idea how they obtain food or other items, or where they purchase them. Our Magic users have suggested that they transfer using Magic,” the FBI Director was telling him but hadn’t finished yet.

“Just what business are they in?” the President demanded, interrupting him. He had apparently forgotten that they had informed him of much of this earlier.

“They are in the security business. They have a large number of important clients in addition to many just ordinary businesses. They have the reputation of it being impossible to break into a business that they protect. The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service have been unable to gain access to vaults that they protect,” the FBI Director finished, going over it again.

“Additionally,” the CIA Director began, “we have seen agents from nearly every major nation on the planet trying to spy on them. You literately have to reserve a place to spy on them from, there are so many of them. If any of them or their employees go out, it looks like a parade following them. From what our people have learned, none of them know more than we do.

“However, we and Homeland Security have learned a number of things about the Dragons’ activities in the past. It doesn’t pay to annoy them,” the CIA Director told the President before again going into the things that they had learned about their past activities. There was the Dragon War (see Dragon Wytch), plus the trouble in Miami, Tampa, and the attack on their homes (see Dragon Daughters).

“We checked again with our offices in Bangkok and then Kathmandu. We only learned a little bit more from them,” he told the President before going into what they had learned from their overseas sources again (see Dragon Son for the details). The CIA Chief was followed by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

“All of the Female Dragons have been in the hospital having children in the past few weeks. WE were unable to get anyone near them while they were there,” the Homeland Security Chief started.

“However, apparently not all of them were too pregnant to deal with the Iranians when they attacked their Nest located in Stone Mountain. As far as we can tell, the Iranians launched three drones to attack their Nest site. Somehow, the site was protected by one of their invisible walls, and two of the drones and their missiles were destroyed by some unknown means before they reached the site. The third drone with a bomb was somehow turned around to return to those who launched it. Two large Dragons appeared in the air and followed the drone back,” the Homeland Security Secretary was telling him when the President interrupted him.

“How large were these Dragons?” he demanded.

“Our best estimate is that they had a wingspan of at least one hundred feet. This is based on pictures taken by civilians who were present at the time,” he told him before continuing. “On reaching the apparent launch site, the drone and bomb blew up over a large van parked there after falling out of the sky. Two men were seen trying to escape from the van before it blew up. They were both eliminated by the Dragons; one from the air with fire, and the second one on the ground after one of the Dragons landed and rescued a shopper from the Iranian, and then took his identification before frying him also,” Homeland Security told him before pausing for a breath.

“A day later,” he continued, “the building housing the Iranian Interest Section here in Washington was totally destroyed by fire. The thing is that only that building was destroyed by the fire. Other buildings near it suffered no damage. The Fire Department was unable to get water on the fire until it had nearly burned out. The water had been stopped well short of the building by an invisible wall. Those in the Iranian government were very upset about that and let State know about it,” he finished.

“We have also recently learned what occurred in Tibet over the past year,” the CIA Chief began following that. “We have a couple of operatives there. They have an agreement to share information with some of those in the Black-market. They were in Lhasa recently talking to their contacts in the Black-market there. It seems that there had been two Dragons there, and they had been very active for five or six months starting last fall,” he told the President before going into the details of what had happened to the local governments and the Army there. (See Dragon Son for the details)

“It’s not wise to upset the Dragons,” he finished, just as the New Secretary of State burst into the meeting.

“Mister President, from talks with some of my counterparts in various nations around the world, it seems that the Chinese Embassies in all of the major capitals are closed, and no one is able to reach them. They are also unable to approach their facilities closer than six meters (19 feet). Their Embassy here in D.C. and their other offices around the country have also been affected,” he finished before looking around at the Agency Chiefs there who were all smiling. They already knew that and had intended to bring it up next.