Book Five in the Of Cinder and Bone series, Of Claws and Inferno, launches April 22nd! Here is the final excerpt for your reading enjoyment. As always, spoilers ahead. Smaller warning for a bit of language. You can catch up on Excerpt 1 and 2 before jumping in for Excerpt 3.
Don’t forget that the special pre-order price of .99 cents will only last until launch day. The price WILL increase on April 23rd. Happy reading!
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A common element in dragon smuggling was the use of privately owned pet stores or exotic pet shops. The transportation would use the company’s logo or even one of their actual vehicles to move the animals across state lines without drawing too much suspicion and to be able to operate in daylight hours. Often, the smugglers paid the shop owners to use their stores to keep the dragons temporarily so they could either go to a dragon fighting ring, be sold to a private owner, or be sent to an illegal cloning site. Given how many shops there were in every city, it made it virtually impossible for the authorities to be able to monitor them all for illegal activity. Tips usually came from a neighbor or bystander who happened to see or hear something unusual, occasionally an employee of the shop who knew something fishy was going on.
This particular tip came from an anonymous source who likely had been cut out of the deal, as they hadn’t identified themselves—just given the Knight Division the location and the possible time of the exchange. They often hit dead ends or were given useless information, but each case had to be investigated. The location was The Wild Ones: an exotic pet shop that sat by itself in a parking lot off of Loop 101. It presented a challenge since it would be easy for someone to see them coming due to the long stretch of road approaching the property.
Which was where having a dragon came in handy.
“Where are you, little bit?” Jack asked over the comm-link.
“Turning onto the exit now. How’s it looking?”
“Parking lot’s empty,” he said as he zoomed in on the property from the tree line on the outskirts, roughly thirty yards from the building. The Wild Ones was one of the largest pet shops in the state with dozens of birds, reptiles, and other animals. The building was the size of an average supermarket. Jack and Hawn had hitched a ride halfway there with Libby in the Knight Division’s decked-out van, then had flown the rest of the way to remain covert. There was bound to be a lookout and so they’d been at a high altitude, then dropped into the woods to stay out of sight. “The tip said they should be here in the next few minutes, assuming it’s legitimate.”
“I love trusting the word of potential criminals.”
“Hey, at least you’re not a detective. They have to do that twenty-four seven.”
“If I’m gonna risk my life for a living, I’d rather get paid better than that.”
“I feel you on that front.” Hawn bumped his side with her head. Jack reached out and petted the dragon’s neck. “Patience, girlie. Shouldn’t be long now.”
Sure enough, a mid-sized cargo van turned into the parking lot and drove past the side of the building to the rear. “Looks like we’re on.”
“Ten-four. I’m about to go past and head for the field half a mile up. Be careful, Barry.”
“Roger that.”
Jack and Hawn stealthily slipped through the woods until they could see the back of the building. There was a loading dock to the left side and a large pull-down garage door. The rear entrance to the shop was towards the right. The cargo van backed into the loading dock space, but the engine remained idle. Jack switched the heads-up display to thermal readings. “I see two people in the cab and the crate of eggs in the rear.”
“Is the igneous dragon with him?”
Jack muttered a curse as he scanned. “Yep. Looks like it’s caged up in the back watching over the eggs.”
“Dammit. I’ll hail Shannon and let him know. Stand by.”
“Ten-four.” He heard the link click and hit record on the feed in his helmet. The cab doors opened and Farhad stepped out onto the pavement. Jack winced as he noted the guy had bulked up quite a lot since the photo he’d seen. He wore an off-white linen shirt, unbuttoned, over a sleeveless tank and khakis. Jack also spotted a handgun on a holster beneath Farhad’s left arm. He definitely didn’t want to tangle with this guy if he could help it.
The driver hopped up onto the waist-high wall of the loading dock, finally giving Jack a look. She was olive-skinned as well, her black hair sporting an undercut. She wore a black t-shirt and matching jeans and boots. Jack noted a gun on her hip as well. She’d left the van idling with the keys in the ignition, which implied it would be a short visit.
The rear entrance to the store opened and a stocky, short-haired brunette woman in a white golf shirt and cargo shorts emerged. They’d done a quick check on the store before arriving, so he knew she was the store owner, Bethany Hrapski. A large, sun-tanned man with sandy hair flanked her wearing the same outfit; her husband, Jeremy Hrapski. Neither appeared to be armed, which led him to believe they probably weren’t career criminals. It was likely they’d been contacted and given an offer for some extra cash to smuggle dragon eggs. It was less risk than smuggling young or fully grown dragons. Neither had a criminal record based on what the Knight Division had pulled from their backgrounds. Until now.
Jack wasn’t close enough to be able to get audio, so he zoomed in enough to read their lips. The general gist of the conversation was confirming the cargo and the amount of money the shop owners would be paid. The eggs would be kept there in secret to be auctioned off later that evening to a group of buyers. There were twelve eggs total: three Hercules dragons, six Australian desert dragons, and three crystal dragons.
“I’m back,” Libby said over the comm-link. “Instructions are to neutralize the igneous dragon and then the cops will move in.”
“Oh, good,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “An easy job at last.”
“I know,” Libby replied, irritation clear in her voice. “We’re still getting quite a bit of resentment from the cops due to the nature of our work, so they assume we can handle this on our own.”
“Well, I’ve only met four cops in my entire life that I ever liked, so the feeling’s mutual.”
“That’s four more than me, so no judgment here. What do you think?”
“Best bet would be to create a distraction and steal the cargo van. That way, Farhad can’t spring the igneous dragon to wreak havoc and the cops can raid the joint and take everyone into custody. Do we have air support?”
“Yeah, they’re just waiting on the signal.”
“Good. If anyone tries to hoof it, the helicopter should be able to track them. I’ll puncture the tires on the Hrapskis’ car first and then go for the cargo van. Still, it’s four against one. The Hrapskis don’t appear to be armed, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have firearms in the shop. I need you and Jayna to head over to back me up in case this goes sideways.”
“Alright, we’re on our way. Let me know when you’re ready.”
“Ten-four.” Jack patted Hawn’s side to get the dragon’s attention. “Stay. I’ll whistle if I need you.”
The dragon sunk into the dirt in sphinx position at the command. Jack almost smiled. It never ceased to amaze him how intelligent the dragons were. If the world weren’t so aggressively awful, some of them could certainly be domesticated.
The Hrapskis had a silver Nissan minivan parked one space down from where the cargo van had parked in front of the loading dock. Jack slunk through the woods until he was at an angle obscured by both vehicles and waited until Jeremy lifted the garage door and the group began to unload the dragon eggs from the back.
“Moving in now.”
“Gotcha. Be there in five. I’ll perch on the roof.”
Jack eased across the lot and took out his pocketknife before crawling beneath the van and strategically poking holes in each tire. He then rolled under the cargo van and wriggled towards the rear on his belly. He waited for them to finish unloading the dragon eggs until they were all standing on the docking platform and then slipped a flashbang from his utility belt.
He took a deep breath and pulled the pin. “Here goes nothing.”
Jack popped up enough to toss it at their feet and then ducked underneath the cargo van.
The flashbang detonated. An explosion of light illuminated the surrounding area and he heard the group yelp in pain and alarm.
Jack scrambled for the front of the cargo van and wrenched the driver’s side door open. He jumped inside and locked the doors. He checked the back to see a wire net between the cab and the rear where the cargo went. The igneous dragon had screeched when the flashbang went off, as the back doors were both open. It stood at around the same height and weight as Hawn with dark grey scales and white spines down its back, its white wings tucked into its sides as it shook about in its metal cage.
He shifted gears and slammed the gas pedal just as he heard Farhad and the others shouting angrily about being ambushed. The van lurched forward clumsily over the hot, cracked pavement of the lot, jostling both Jack and the dragon violently back and forth as he headed for the side of the building. Gunshots barked a second later. He could hear some of the bullets pinging off the side of the van’s exterior and ducked his head down.
“Libs, did I get them all with the flashbang?”
“The Hrapskis are down, but Farhad and his driver aren’t,” Libby said. “I’m gonna give you some cover, hang on.”
Jack swerved the van in evasive actions as the shots kept coming. He had several yards before he’d be out of sight, but if they’d taken off running after him, they could still hit him or the tires before he cleared the lot back onto the street. He checked his rearview mirror to see a cloud of tear gas explode on the platform, swallowing the driver and the two shop owners in a haze.
Farhad had already leapt off of it and was sprinting after them with an eerie, Terminator-like precision. He took shots every few feet, tearing holes in the wildly swinging doors and along the bumper.
“Dude’s pretty spry for an old guy,” Jack said as he finally swerved around the corner to the left side of the building. “Can you take him out, little bit?”
“I’m on it.”
A second later, a pair of bolas whipped around Farhad’s knees and he smashed into the pavement face-first.
“Oh!” Jack exclaimed. “Shit, that’s a broken nose alright.”
“Crime don’t pay,” Libby cackled.
“It damn sure doesn’t. I’m almost to the street. You can call in the cavalry and get clear.”
“Happily.”
Just as Jack reached the street, he noticed Farhad moving from where he’d faceplanted on the pavement. He’d rolled over and held something out in Jack’s direction. Jack couldn’t see what it was from so far away. “The hell?”
Then, the door to the igneous dragon’s cage swung open.
The cage door was remote-control activated.
“Fuck. Me.”
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