“So this is revenge?” I asked, and shook my head. “And you think you’ll…what…bring them down? This isn’t a single company you can infect with a virus. This is a worldwide corporation, an empire. We’re only two people.”

“What if there were more like us?”

“Even if there were,” I said, “how would we find them?”

The human’s eyes gleamed. “How indeed,” he said, and opened his laptop, bending over the keys. “You want to know what that file you took from St. George was?” he said, as I edged forward and peered over his shoulder. “Check this out.”

I squinted at the image that popped onto the screen, frowning in confusion. It was…a list. There was no title, no header, nothing to indicate what it was actually for. But the first line read: “Carson City, NV. Talon activity: Moderate. Sleeper agents discovered: 1.”

Sleeper agents? Sleeper was the Order’s word for the hatchlings ready to complete assimilation, when they were sent to human towns to blend in with humanity. I scanned the list, amazement and awe growing with each line. Each row held the name of a town, the level of Talon activity discovered there and one or two possible sleepers. My heart beat faster in excitement.

“This is…” I muttered, and Wes nodded.

“All the places St. George thinks Talon will send their hatchlings,” he finished, and shrugged. “It’s probably not accurate, some of those places might not be in use anymore, especially with Talon’s paranoia. But…”

But it was something. And now that we had a list of possible sleeper locations, the wisp of an idea began to creep into my head. A crazy, impossible, terrifying idea. If we could find these hatchlings, be there when Talon planted them into a town, I could show them the truth about the organization. They needed to know, before Talon sank their claws in too deep, before they were brainwashed completely. They needed to see what Talon was really like. And, if they decided they could no longer be a part of the organization, they needed someone to help them escape, to show them how to be free.

I could show them how.

Wes noticed the change, and a slow smile crossed his face. “So, what’d’ya say, mate?” he said softly. “Partners?”

“You realize this is going to take a long time,” I warned. “The type of network we’re talking about, it will take years to build, decades even. We’ll constantly be on the run, from Talon and St. George. Our lives are never going to be safe, or anything close to normal. Sure you’re up for it, human?”

“Hey.” Wesley Higgins leaned back with a shrug. “I’m being hunted by a bloody dragon empire that won’t stop unless it’s completely destroyed or taken down. What else am I going to do?”