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“I say we just grab him,” Felix said.
We were on the roof of an apartment building behind a row of houses as we surveyed the house in front of us. The man living in the house was named Oliver Carnegie and he was an exiled dragon. His house was on a quiet residential street along with all the other nice houses.
His children went to school and played in the street with all the other children of the neighbourhood. His wife was a stay at home mom and kissed him goodbye on the porch every morning as he left for work. What she didn’t know was that Oliver Carnegie had secret dealings with some very unsavoury characters.
This was our tenth assignment for the Elders and thus far we had taken out exiled members straying from our laws. He had a small travel agency on a busy street where everyone knew everyone and people waved and smiled at each other.
In the back of this travel agency, he had illegal immigrants packing cocaine and runners from different street gangs that sold it. The Elders weren't happy with him at all and even though he was already exiled, he had no qualms about killing other people.
“We can’t risk taking him at his house, too many neighbours,” I said as I put the binoculars down.
“Not if we wear masks,” Felix said.
“And alert the police that he’d been kidnapped before we can execute him?”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Felix asked me.
“I think we need a vacation,” I said.
“We can take a vacation after this assignment,” Felix said as I started to laugh.
“He’s a travel agent moron,” I said as Felix slapped me behind my head.
“I knew that, don’t call me a moron,” he said.
“Then don’t be one and stop slapping me,” I said as he slapped me again.
“You insist on only being able to see him at around seven pm when the streets are quieter and I’ll pull up in a van and you push him inside,” Felix said.
“Yeah but just the other way around,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m dragonkin, I thought you were the smart one,” I said as he tried to slap me again.
“I am the smart one,” he said as his phone started vibrating again.
“What’s going on with you anyway?” I asked him.
“Ava and I had a fight before we left,” he said.
We’d been gone for three days already, watching Oliver Carnegie and making sure for ourselves that he was in fact worthless enough to die. Megan didn’t give me half the shit that Ava gave Felix when we left and we’d done on average one assignment a month.
I relished these assignments, the time spent with Felix on our own and leaving the responsibilities of a tribe behind for a few days. Max had really grown into himself and he was now in charge of my day to day happenings.
“You knew she was like this before you married her,” I said.
“That I did brother,” he said and I smiled.
“He’s leaving for work, wait an hour and then make the call,” I said as I stood up from where we’d been laying on our stomachs for the past two hours.
“Where are you going?” he asked me.
“To get a van,” I said as he shook his head and laughed.
“Are you going to steal one?” he asked me.
“No, I have friends in Chicago,” I said.
“What friends? I’m your only true friend,” he said loudly as I opened the door to the stairwells.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I said and laughed as he glared at me.
I took the stairs down to the entrance and climbed into the truck we had rented at the airport and drove to the O’Connell lair. I hadn’t seen Cameron in over a year but we spoke regularly. We both always just seemed so busy that getting away was put off for months.
“Can I help you Sir?” the warrior at the gate asked me.
“I’m here to see Cameron O’Connell,” I said.
“That’s Sire Cameron to you Sir,” he said.
“Tell him Ryder Grey’s here to see him,” I said as the man’s facial expression changed immediately.
He pulled a phone from his pocket and stood up straighter when it was answered. “Chief Grey from Florida is here to see you Sire,” – “Yes Sire.” He put his phone away and opened the gate for me.
“Thanks,” I said as I looked him over again.
“You’ll be received at the front door,” he said and bowed his head at me.
I drove up the long driveway that was flanked by large trees, around the fountain and finally stopped my truck before reaching the large columns that flanked the stone steps leading up to the front door. The door opened as I closed the truck’s door and Cameron walked up to me, all smiles.
“You finally made a plan to come and see me,” he said as we shook hands.
“I couldn’t take your whining any longer,” I said as he chuckled.
“Still an asshole,” he said with a smile.
“How’s Brenda?” I asked him.
“She’s good, how’s Megan and Summer?” he asked me.
“Asshole. It’s Wynter and they’re both great,” I said as he laughed.
“We were just about to have coffee, have you eaten?” he asked me.
“Coffee’s fine,” I said as we walked into his house and Brenda came walking down the stairs.
“Ryder! It’s great to see you!” she said.
“You look great Brenda, is he still treating you well? I’ll kick his ass if he isn’t,” I said.
“Get your hands off her,” Cameron said as Brenda and I laughed.
“He’s still the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said with a smile.
“As if you could kick my ass,” Cameron muttered.
“I’ve done it before,” I said.
“You got lucky that night,” he said.
“So what brings you by?” Brenda asked when we sat down with coffee in the living room.
“I need to borrow a van,” I said.
“Sure, what for?” Cameron asked.
“I need to kidnap someone,” I said and Brenda choked on her coffee.
“Just take the van back to our warehouse to be cleaned when you’re done with it,” Cameron said.
“Wait, what? Kidnap someone?” she asked.
“Yeah, he’s dealing drugs, exiled dragonkin,” I said.
“My guys can get rid of the body if you don’t have time,” Cameron said.
“You’re going to kill him?” Brenda asked.
“Of course,” I said and leaned back into the sofa.
“He works for the Florida Elders as a Hunter now. They give him assignments like these and he takes them out,” Cameron said.
“So turn him in, let him rot in jail,” she said.
“Doesn’t quite work like that once the Elders are involved, killing them is just easier for everyone,” I said.
“Just tell Steve at the warehouse if he needs to dump the guy for you or not,” Cameron said.
“Thanks, I appreciate your help,” I said.
“No problem, we’re basically family,” he said.
I spent another two hours with Cameron as we talked lair business, security issues he had and laughed at our dads that didn’t seem capable of completely letting go of their lairs. I followed Cameron to their warehouse where he introduced me to Steve and I got the keys for the van.
I left my truck at the warehouse and drove back to the hotel where Felix and I were staying and went up to our suite. I could hear Felix talking on the phone as I sat down on the couch and read the texts that Megan had sent me.
“Hey,” Megan answered the phone.
“Miss me?” I asked her.
“Of course not,” she laughed.
“Yeah I don’t miss you either. Saw Cameron this morning, he sends his regards,” I said.
“Are you going to go see Chase while you’re there?” she asked me.
“We saw them a month ago, how are things at home?” I asked her.
“Well, there’s been a little development,” she said.
“What development?” I asked her.
“Wynter and Milo were playing outside,” she said and stopped talking.
“They’re not even two yet, how much shit could they have gotten into?” I asked her.
“They were playing at being you and Felix,” she said.
“Daddy’s boy that one,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah they were hitting each other with sticks,” she said as I started laughing.
“And let me guess, Ava’s head exploded,” I said.
“She gave me this look and said that’s what happened when they had fathers like you guys as role models,” she said.
“They’re kids and they’re small, it’s not like they could actually hurt each other,” I said.
“I don’t think that was the point,” she replied.
“We’ll be home by tomorrow night and then no more assignments until next year,” I said.
“I understand why you’re doing this, I just really think that Ava’s insecure and worried about losing Felix and having to raise Milo on her own,” she said.
“Hence the no more assignments for a while,” I said.
“See you tomorrow night. I love you little Ryder,” she said with a laugh and we ended the call.
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