Aiding the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons 7)

Teagan nodded. As they made their way down the hall and then another, she said, “Most of the victims from the attack should return home within the next week. Once they do, and Brenna as well, we’ll have more freedom when it comes to fighting for a future we want.”

He squeezed her hand in his and picked up his pace. As anxious as him, Teagan matched it without missing a beat.

~~~

Teagan waited for Whelan to sit in front of her desk before asking, “What do you have to report?” Whelan looked over her shoulder at Aaron, and she added, “Aaron has full clearance. Whatever you would say to me you can say in front of him.”

The fifty-something male with gray hair and blue eyes took out a folder from his briefcase. Teagan took it from him and Whelan said, “Information came in today that made everything click.” He waved toward the paper. “We already knew that funds had been trickling out of the clan’s coffers for several months, thanks to Killian’s discovery. It was difficult to trace since the transfer was made from a secret account to another international secret account.”

Teagan frowned. “International?”

“Yes, this extends beyond Ireland,” Whelan answered.

“Go on.”

The older male clasped his hands in his lap. “As I was saying, tracing the final destination of the funds was difficult. However, Arabella MacLeod provided information she hacked from the bird drones. According to haphazardly deleted data, they all originated from a point near Belfast in Northern Ireland.”

Since Clan Northcastle lived not far from Belfast, Teagan asked, “Northcastle?”

Whelan shook his head. “No, the coordinates are quite a distance from their lands. However, according to sources, it’s the base of the growing Belfast dragon hunter gang.”

The dragon hunters had caused a lot of chaos and damage to the British dragon clans, especially to Stonefire and Lochguard. Their attempts to set up camp in Ireland had failed thanks in part to Stonefire’s help, but rumors said they had been successful in setting up a large group near Belfast in Northern Ireland. It seemed the rumors were true.

Aaron spoke up. “I thought the drones were the calling card of the Dragon Knights.”

“They were originally, but it’s entirely possible that the hunters bought or stole the technology,” Whelan answered.

If that were true, Teagan’s job as clan leader would become a lot more difficult.

Not wanting to dwell on a maybe situation she prodded, “And?”

Whelan continued, “The missing funds may have bounced around the world to hide their tracks, but they terminated at a local branch near their base.”

“And where did they originate from? Did you find that out, too?” Teagan demanded.

“Aye, from Letterkenny.”

Letterkenny was a town in Ireland not far from Glenlough. “Where in Letterkenny? Was it one of us?”

Whelan took a laptop from his briefcase, laid it on the desk, typed something and said, “To answer who did it, you need to see this.”

He turned the screen to face her and Aaron and clicked Play.

A video played with no sound, but that wasn’t important. What was relevant was the person sitting down at a desk with one of the bank staff, probably making a bank transfer. Teagan had seen a picture of the female not too long ago during one of her briefings with Killian, before the leadership challenge.

It was the human female her clan member Renny Walsh had been seeing, named Colleen.

Her dragon roared, but Teagan ignored her. “We need to talk to both the female and Renny.”

“Already done. I didn’t want to bother you without evidence,” Whelan stated.

Aaron spoke up. “Then tell us what you found out.”

Whelan didn’t hesitate, despite the order coming from Aaron. “Renny’s female was the one to leak the information to Killarney. Renny had no idea—the widow had merely been using him for information. Someone in her family was killed by a rogue dragon fifty years ago. The family still holds a grudge and wanted revenge. When Renny ran into her in the countryside by chance, she seized on an idea.”

Aaron whistled. “Talk about cock blindness.”

Whelan ignored the remark and continued, “On top of that, Hugh wasn’t invited to participate in the plan until later. Originally, it was made without him. But when word spread of him joining the challenge, Orin Daly seized on the additional distraction. Orin and Padraig only knew about Teagan’s secret and had no idea the information was coming from the widow.”