Chapter 18

The following new characters appear in this chapter:

Virginia McHenery

FBI Agent, Irish, 5’-10’’ tall, 165 pounds, large breasts, hazel eyes, medium length dark brown hair, and a small Talent

Claude Elwyn the Fourth

One of Nick’s identities, 5’-10’’ tall, 180 pounds, 42 years old, blue eyes, short black hair

Anneta Sanchez

Kidnap victim, Hispanic, 5’-2’’ tall, about 108 pounds, medium size breasts, 19 years old, brown eyes, long black hair, no Talent

A number of things happened over the next 18 to 20 hours after Nick and the other Dragons left the Cartel’s house.

The first was the fire in the house or rather the basement. The Fire spells that Nick had cast quickly set things around them on fire. The drugs and their plastic bags burned easily. The fire in the armory area was a bit different. The incendiaries and the explosives quickly caught fire from it. The plastic explosives burned particularly hot, but didn’t explode, as they had no initiator. The heat, however, destabilized some of the ammunition, which was old and started to explode. It also affected the grenades which were also old, and a couple of them exploded. This served as an initiator for the burning explosives which instantly detonated with a horrendous explosion.

The thick concrete walls of the basement contained the explosion just long enough that the majority of the force from it went up into the rest of the house, blowing it apart. The temporary lack of oxygen caused by the explosion nearly put out the fires in the basement, but the Fire spells were still working, and with the rush of in-flowing air following the explosion, the fires roared back to life with new intensity and consumed everything burnable that collapsed into the basement as well as the remainder of the house. The Fire Department had trouble extinguishing the fire until the spells ran out of Magic after an hour and a half or so. It required over three hours before the fire was completely out, and the investigation of how it had started could begin.

I picked up Sara after we returned from Fulton County. She had really enjoyed the time that she had spent talking with those in the Admin and Accounting sections at Dragon Security headquarters. It wasn’t until later that evening, when we were up in our room, that she explained why she hadn’t gone with us to deal with those in the Cartel.

“I was afraid to go with you. I wouldn’t know what to do, and I hadn’t spent a lot of time in my Dragon Form. I did enjoy the time I spent at Dragon Security. Are you upset with me?” she asked.

“No, I’m not upset with you, sweetie. There were actually too many of us as it was. Two or three of us would have been enough even if it would have taken us a bit longer to finish,” I told her and gave her a long passionate kiss.

“What did you think of how the admin and accounting sections were run?” I asked.

“They seem to be very efficient, but they have a lot of customers to keep track of. Not just here in Atlanta, but in Miami and the rest of Florida,” she told me. We ran out of things to talk about then but not things to do. It was late when we finally got to sleep, well satisfied.

Earlier, I had discussed with Maddy what I would be doing in D.C. the next day, and who would be going with me.

“So, you are going after the Capo. How much help will you need, and what else are you going to be doing?” she had asked.

“After dealing with the Los Zentas guy and any of his bodyguards or helpers, I’m going after the Director of the CIA (DCIA), and any of those who helped him,” I told her.

“Do you know where he lives or the Capo either?” she asked.

“Doreen has the address of the Capo, and she can probably find out where the CIA Director lives, or the Drug Lord may know where he lives,” I told her.

“Are you familiar with D.C.?” she then asked.

“I’ve been there many times over the years, and yes, I know how much it has changed over time. With the addresses and a good map, I should be able to locate their houses. I also know where their headquarters is out in Langley, Virginia. I should pay them a visit anyway, if only to put the fear of Dragons in them,” I told her with a smile. It was finally decided that Steve or Craig and possibly both of them or someone else would go with me.

Early the following morning, a female assistant walked into the office of the FBI’s Chief Agent in Atlanta. She was carrying two small objects with her.

“What are those and what do you want, Virginia?” he demanded in a grouchy voice, as he was only on his second cup of coffee for the day.

Virginia McHenery was not a fragile flower. She is a tall woman at 5’-10’’ tall, 165 pounds, large breasts, Hazel eyes, and medium length dark brown hair. She was Irish with just a small Talent.

“These are hard drives. I received them yesterday from a source. They are from the computers of those working for the Gulf Cartel here in Atlanta. They are encrypted, but my source installed the software to decode them on the drives before sending them to me,” she told her boss, who stared at her in surprise.

“You’re sure of this?” he demanded.

“Yes, I spent much of last night going through them. They make fascinating reading and give an excellent idea of how the Cartel does business, and who is working for them or with them,” she told him with a smile.

“How old are they that this source was able to obtain them?” her boss demanded.

“They are at most a day old. They were removed from the Cartel’s computers yesterday,” she told him and smiled again at his surprise on hearing this.

“Just who the hell is this source, and how could they get control of the current hard drives from the Cartel’s computers? They would surely be missed,” he demanded in a loud voice. She smiled again at what she was about to tell him.

“My source is a Dragon. You heard about the big fire in South Fulton yesterday. That was the home of the Cartel’s leader here. My source and others were there before the fire,” she told him and waited for the explosion.

“Your what?” he exploded loudly in shock staring at her. “You have a source who is a Dragon?” he asked more quietly following that.

“Yes, I’ve known her for some time now. I don’t have a way to contact her, but she sends me things or information when she thinks it will be of some value,” Virginia told him.

“You’re sure these are really the hard drives from the Cartel’s Atlanta computers?” he demanded in a more reasonable voice.

“After looking at much of the information on them last night, yes, I am sure they are from the Cartel’s Atlanta computers,” she assured him.

“This could be a real gold mine. We need to get all of this information transferred to our computer system. I’ll call the technical supervisor and have him send someone to pick them up. You go with them and don’t let those things out of your sight. We could really deal the Cartel a fatal blow, and that’s not to mention get us all promoted and out of Atlanta,” the Chief Agent told her with a big smile. Virginia smiled also, but not at what he had said. She had already duplicated the information on the drives, and would put the memory units with the information on them in a very secret safety deposit box in an obscure bank. That would ensure that the Bureau didn’t somehow ’lose’ the information.

Later that same morning at the headquarters of the CIA in Langley, Virginia, there was a meeting between the Director (DCIA) and the Director of Operations (DO) and his staff. The Director was smiling as he entered the conference room. The Director of Operations (DO) noticed this and commented about it.

“You seem more than usually pleased about something today,” he said to the Director (DCIA).

“I have solved the problem with that rogue agent,” the Director told him happily.

“Rogue Agent?” the DO asked, not sure what he was talking about.

“That fellow down in Charleston. I consulted someone familiar with his type, and they assured me that he couldn’t take that damned property ward, is that the correct word?” he wondered but quickly continued.

“Anyway, I had a third party deal with the two of them. They informed me last night that those two had been taken care of,” the DCIA finished.

“Are you talking about Maier ... Nicolae Maier?” the DO demanded.

“Is that his name? Yes, that rogue agent from Charleston,” the DCIA answered.

“Who in the world gave you that advice? Whoever it was doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground,” the irate DO told him.

“It’s true that they can’t take those large property wards with them, but they have other wards and their Magic with them all of the time,” he told him in explanation. “Who did you get to try this insanity?” the DO demanded aggressively following that. His staffers were already preparing for a knock-down, drag-out fight between the two of them.

“There are some people who owed me a favor. They are the ones who took care of that pair. Something that our people failed to do,” the DCIA told his subordinate in an upset voice.

“Have you, at least, seen pictures or a video of the bodies?” the DO asked, still upset.

“No, but my contact heard from his people in Atlanta that they had completed the job,” he told the DO. The DO just stared at him for a short time not believing what he had heard before saying anything.

“You stupid fucking bastard! You have no fucking idea what you have stirred up. Even if those idiots that you hired succeeded and killed that pair, which I seriously doubt, all you would have accomplished would be to arouse all of the other Dragons, who will find out who ordered that, and they will take down every single person, or group of people, who were responsible for it. You can expect your source, whoever they are, to soon be taken out by the Dragons. They will work their way up the chain of command. You can expect a visit from them soon,” he told the DCIA before turning to his staff.

“Security alert! Change the security condition to RED. No one in or out of the compound until we get a handle on this situation,” he told his staff in an angry voice. They immediately began passing his orders on, while the Director stared at him in shock.

“You can’t be serious,” the Director said on recovering. “How could they learn who did it? They left no clues. I was assured that the bodies had been left on the side of the road, where they had been run down and run over for others to find,” the Director told him.

“They would do it the same way that we would, or any of the communist or revolutionary groups would. They’ll start with the most likely suspects and torture them, or brain wash them until they find a lead, and then they’ll follow it up. Only the Dragons have things like the Truth spell and Pain spells plus we’ve been told by those who have experienced it, that they can look right through you and see everything that you have ever done,” the DO told him in a loud voice. The Director didn’t look well on hearing this.

The security condition remained RED until it was time for the shift change. Nothing had happened or been reported, so it was lowered to YELLOW alert status. Those working for the CIA remained nervous.

Nicolae still has the Narrative

In the morning Steve, Craig, and Stewart arrived to discuss the removal of the Los Zentas Capo, Adalberto Guillen.

“How are you planning to get to D.C.?” Steve asked

“I was planning on transferring there. I’ve been there quite a number of times,” I told him.

“Things there have changed a lot over the last few years,” he told me. “Plus, no matter where we appear, we will need transportation. Vehicles can be difficult to find to rent in D.C. itself,” he continued.

“It has been that way for a long time,” I told him. “We will need to appear in one of the outlying towns. I’ve been to several of them,” I added.

“Have you?” all of them asked in amazement.

“D.C. and I go back a long way. I moved to the States in 1927, just before the Great Depression. Washington has changed a lot since then,” I told them.

“There is a certain very private club in Arlington that I have belonged to for over a hundred years. I used to stay there when I visited D.C. but haven’t been there in some time. I’m sure that we can find a vehicle to rent in Arlington,” I assured them.

“That should take care of transportation. The only places that we have been in D.C. where we could get a vehicle was when Craig went to Silver Spring, and the rest of us were at Reagan airport,” Steve told me. “We took our own transportation to D.C. previously,” he added.

“So, where does this Los Zentas guy live?” Craig asked.

“Doreen has his address and is tracking down where it is,” I told them. Doreen arrived a short time later.

“Lord, information is a bit sparse on the Potomac area of Montgomery County, Maryland. Oh, not on the cities or the hotels or shops, but out in the countryside the information gets a little thin. There are a lot of rich folks who live there, and they like their privacy. Potomac is well away from the large suburban cities of both Montgomery County and D.C. It’s off of Maryland highway 190 and covers a large area. Its Zip code is 20854.

“This guy Guillen has a house on a road just off of MD 190. It’s back off the main road a good distance. The road he lives on is a bit past the Congressional Country Club and Golf Course. The house sits on something just over five acres and is a pretty good size according to the satellite picture that I found of the area. You can get on MD 190 from Interstate 495. It’s exit 39,” she told us and gave us a card with the exact address on it plus a printout of the satellite map of the area.

“I’m still working on where that idiot who is in charge of the CIA lives. He is some stupid political appointee,” she told us. “I’ll call you when I get an exact address and map of where he lives,” she added. “I need to get back to my kids. They are all having girl problems,” she finished with a large grin.

While the others got ready to leave, I needed to transfer to my house in North Charleston to retrieve my membership card for the private club and to pick up an appropriate suit for the identity on the card to wear. We would all be carrying small bags like those used for a carry-on for air travel.

We all met at Dragon Security at about 10:30, and I transferred us to the area behind the private club in Arlington before we all called up the glamours that we would be using for this part of the operation. On entering the club, we were stopped near the entrance door by the greeter of the club.

“I’m sorry, gentleman, this is a private club. You must all be members to enter,” a man of about fifty in a tuxedo informed us.

“Yes, I’m aware of that. I am a member but haven’t been here in quite some time,” I told him holding out the last membership card that I had. He took it reluctantly and stared at it for a short time before entering the membership number in his computer. What he saw on his screen caused his demeanor to change dramatically.

“Welcome Mr. Claude Elwyn the Fourth. None of the members of your family have been here in over twenty-five years, though those in your family have been members for over a hundred years. May I presume that your Grandfather and Great Grandfather have passed away, as their memberships have lapsed? How is your Father though?” he asked politely.

“Dad is fine but not as active as he used to be,” I told him with a smile. “We have been quite busy on the West Coast and the Far East for many years and haven’t gotten back East much. My associates and I have a meeting in Richmond tomorrow, and I was wondering if you could advise us of a reliable vehicle rental company near here,” I told him with a smile.

“Certainly, sir. There is a company only a few blocks from here. I can have them send a car around to pick you up. Will you be staying with us tonight?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, no. We need to be on our way to Richmond. There are details to be arranged before the meeting. Perhaps on my way back, I’ll have time to stay here,” I told him He made a call, and while we waited, he created a new membership card for me.

“It’s been good to see you, sir. Please try to stop by again,” the greeter told me handing me the card.

Shortly, a driver appeared, and we left for the rental agency. I had another wallet with a different identity, driver’s license, and insurance information ready. At the rental agency, we rented the large SUV that had picked us up and were soon on our way. Steve had brought detailed maps of the D. C. and Montgomery County area with him, and we were soon on our way to Potomac. After working our way up to US 29, we took the Francis Scott Key Bridge, got on Wisconsin Ave., and then River Road which turns into MD 190. We had managed to avoid the crowded and confusing Interstates that are so prevalent in the D.C. area.

After crossing over Interstate 495, we passed a small park on MD 190 before coming to the Country Club and then our subject’s road. About a mile further down the road, we came to a small shopping center. I would hesitate to call it a strip mall, as it was very well landscaped and upscale to fit into the neighborhood. After checking it out, Steve drove me back to the road where our quarry’s house was located. I would be doing the reconnaissance and would join them at the shopping center later. We would plan our attack there while having lunch.

I had changed clothes in the SUV on the way here from Arlington, and was dressed like a wealthy jogger out for his daily exercise. After being dropped off, I easily moved up the road past the large houses and waved to those out in their yards with their children or doing other things. The house I was looking for would have been easy to find even without its exact address. It had a six foot brick wall around at least a part of the property and a gated entry. After carefully checking for anyone watching me, I cast the Invisibility spell and moved closer to the property.

There were a number of security cameras, lights, and guards ... Human guards, in evidence, but I was able to avoid all of them. I didn’t see any guard-dogs. The large house also had the latest security equipment installed including more cameras, lights, and alarms in addition to guards walking around it on the outside. Transferring inside, I roamed the halls of the house checking out the various areas but saw only a couple of guards. There were several servants busy at their jobs, and his wife and a couple of children. I didn’t find the Capo himself until I checked what appeared from the outside to be his den or office. On transferring inside, I found him on the phone talking loudly to someone. I didn’t interrupt him at this time, but transferred out of the house to a garden area, but saw only a couple of guards there. The guards’ barracks were back here, as well as a small building or hideaway house. After checking the area behind the house carefully, I found a place to cancel the Invisibility spell and transferred back to the shopping center.

Using a glamour, I entered the restaurant where the others were eating, and moved to the men’s room where I called my bag to me from the SUV, changed clothes, and returned the bag to the SUV. Suitably attired, I joined the others at their table at the back of the restaurant. They had already ordered for me. During lunch, we discussed what I had found after Steve cast a Silence spell around us.