I shoved Tess back against the cavity I’d made in the dragon and cast a glamour that would make the great wound look like unblemished scales.
I felt the sudden mental exclamation of disgust as Tess found herself back inside the dragon’s chest. She made a low moan and in that moment dropped her guard enough for me to read her thoughts. She had rolled her eyes at me.
*Someone is going to get hers later,* I transmitted over our link.
*So, I rolled my eyes. You had it coming.*
*We’ll see,* I said turning to face the Security Police that were spreading out at the front of the hangar. There was a good half dozen of them and they looked like they’d come loaded for bear. Fortunately, for us, we were not bears.
I felt Tess’s hands on my shoulders as she pulled me down so she could see too. Sheesh, she could have seen just fine through our link.
*It’s not the same,* she argued.
It was my turn to roll my eyes. She felt the sensation through our link and thumped my ear lobe with a finger.
*Quit that. Don’t distract me.*
*Please, I know you don’t distract that easily.*
As if to prove her point, one of her hands left my shoulder and a second later came up between my legs to cup my crotch. I tensed.
*Are you trying to get us seen?*
*See, you don’t distract. At least not unless I start to do more…*
I was tempted to turn her over my knee. Instead, I turned my full attention back on the approaching airmen. They carried Colt A4s at the ready and were maintaining a semicircle centered on the personnel door we’d entered earlier. That was troubling. They weren’t running around like responders to an alarm. Rather they appeared to be following some preconceived plan. Surely, they hadn’t been expecting someone to attempt to steal their dragon.
*What now, Boss?* Tess asked and I could feel the humor in her words.
*Well, I had expected them to move closer. They’re just outside the range of my sleep tat and I don’t want to knock out just a few. It would just upset the rest of them.*
*So we’re just going to hang out here until they leave?*
The revulsion she felt at hiding in the dragon’s chest was obvious.
*No, give me a minute and we’ll move.*
The personnel door opened and a pair of officers escorting a woman entered.
*Uh-oh, I guess someone has brought in a witch,* I said as I studied the deep green aura around the woman.
Tess’s hair brushed against my right ear as she strained to see over my shoulder.
*That shouldn’t be a problem, or is it?*
*Depends on if she’s any good.*
The woman took that moment to raise a hand and point directly at our hiding spot.
*Damn, all right, Plan B it is,* I said.
*What’s Plan B?*
In response, I raised my left fist and activated my lightning tat. The pattern glowed gold beneath the skin of my fist and I felt a bolt of lightning answer my summons. It struck somewhere above us and the night reverberated with thunder.
I waited for the emergency lighting to fail.
And waited.
*Ah, Rafe, what was that supposed to do?*
*It was supposed to knock out all of the electricity in the hangar. They must have something to protect against that.*
*Like lightning rods?*
*Yes, damnit, or maybe surge suppressors.*
The lightning strike had done something. It had made the SPs flinch and back up a few steps while the witch began casting a spell.
“Ah, screw it. Shields up, let’s go,” I said stepping out of the crevice while activating my own shield.
I maintained the glamour, as we moved, but since it was showing the underside scales of the dragon’s chest, as soon as we moved past its forelegs, my glamour was no camouflage at all. On second thought, I should have just bent light around us.
I spotted what looked like a fire sensor suspended from the steel rafters. Triggering a tat, I sent a cone of fire toward the sensor. The sound of six safeties being flicked off reached my enhanced hearing. I couldn’t really blame them. The flyboys were showing a lot of restraint by not shooting at the source of the fire–me.
There came a roar as half a hundred nozzles began to spew foam into the great hangar. It sprayed down, coating every surface in a couple of seconds and showed no sign of letting up.
“What’d you do that for?” Tess hissed.
“Distraction,” I said. I nodded my head toward the airmen at the front of the hangar. The SPs were backing up, even while their movement was impeded by more and more foam. The two officers, being closer to the door, were trying to decide who should get out first. The witch had completed a shield spell and was watching from near the front door. She was the only one of our guest not covered in foam. Like our shields, hers shed the foam as soon as it hit.
I gave her a little salute and she smiled at me.
Turning to Tess, I said, “Drop your shield; I’ll cover both of us.”
Without questioning my statement, her shield winked out. I already had mine covering us and the foam didn’t touch her. I stepped close and wrapped one arm around her slim torso. She realized what I was planning and put one of her hands around my shoulders as I triggered my levitation tat.
I pulled her tight against me as we rose toward the high ceiling. I could have levitated both of us without any contact, but it was hard to resist any opportunity
