and the Dragon Heart made it even sharper, magnifying his senses.
Yet, even with the enhanced mana from the Heart, the aura of Burnout and Lethe was at the limit of Ryan’s perception. It was so faint at this distance, he could barely see it through the side window of one of the retreating helicopters.
Lethe, Ryan projected his thoughts toward the aura. Lethe, respond if you can hear me.
“Ryan Mercury, is that you?” came the response. “We are trapped.”
I am behind you, Lethe. I am trying to stop your captors.
“I am not important,” Lethe said. “You must not waste your effort. You must find a way to take the Dragon Heart across to the metaplanes and give it to Thayla. She needs it. I thought you were committed to this.”
I am committed. It is now my singular goal. But, Lethe, I’d like you to help me.
“You don’t need my help,” Lethe said. “I do not know how to get the Heart across the barrier and into the metaplanes. Besides, I am trapped inside this body now. Intertwined with this spirit. You must accomplish this mission on your own.”
A fighter jet slashed past on Ryan’s left, a red and black streak against the neutral gray sky of the astral.
“Ryan Mercury,” Lethe continued, “you are everything you need. I am sorry that—”
A missile exploded close, shaking the air around the helo, and Dhin vectored away from it. A string of expletives came from Dhin.
Ryan pulled his senses back into the physical and looked over at the ork rigger. “What was that?”
“One of the UCAS jets fired a missile that nearly blew us out of the sky,” Dhin said. “Fragging amateurs.”
“Not exactly,” Jane’s voice rumbled through the speakers. “That was a warning shot, Ryan. A deal has been made between the Azzies and UCAS. You’d better back off.”
Another explosion rocked the helo, rattling Ryan’s teeth with its force. “They paid someone off? I hope it wasn’t that easy.”
Jane’s voice was filled with frustration. “Nobody was paid off. The Azzies claimed that Burnout was the property of Aztechnology Corporation, that he had been stolen by a renegade faction that the UCAS was aiding and abetting by holding it in a Federal facility. The corporation promised serious retaliatory measures if they weren’t allowed to take their ‘experimental cybernetic organism’ back.”
Dhin’s voice was harsh. “Excuse my fragging Sperethiel, but what a load of smelly dragon drek!”
“Dhin,” Ryan said, “take us back to the mansion. Jane, see what you can do to track where they take Burnout.”
“You got it,” came Jane’s response as Dhin gladly throttled back on the jets and banked right.
Ryan focused on the astral again, trying to use the Dragon Heart to regain contact. Lethe . . . Lethe, if you can hear me . . . thank you. Thank you for saving my life.
No response came; the enemy chopper was too far.
Frag, Ryan thought. He’d been hoping to get some help from Lethe.
Ever since the spirit had saved his life, throwing him clear of the explosion, Ryan thought he would need Lethe. In the echoing recesses of his mind, he knew that without the spirit trapped inside Burnout, his mission would be a lot harder.
Perhaps impossible.
2
Nadja Daviar stood on the balcony of the Watergate Hotel’s penthouse suite, feeling the morning heat rise up to greet her like a cloying damp cloth. Washington FDC’s downtown cluster promised to be a sauna again today. Since last night’s explosion at Dunkelzahn’s Georgetown mansion, Nadja had decided to use the suite for her Draco Foundation business.
Too many security guards and police and construction workers at the house. She couldn’t work there.
Yet she knew there was more to it than work. Nadja had come down to the site of Dunkelzahn’s assassination at least once a day for the last two weeks since the explosion. She had come to remember, to hold that moment in her mind until it became as much a part of her as her own heart.
She