What he did find was an explosion of paper, Cassie’s insane array of computers and monitors, and Gunter seated at a table with his laptop, scribbling some notes on a yellow legal pad. The dragon looked more than a little disheveled, his blond hair sticking out in all directions. His glasses were balanced on the end of his nose, and dark circles surrounded his eyes.
“Gunter, I thought I told you to get some sleep,” Alric grumbled.
Gunter’s head snapped up, and he blinked at the king as if coming out of a daze. “I did.”
Cassie barked out a rough laugh from her desk, but she didn’t look much better. Maybe a little more awake. Ravi suspected she might have sneaked some coffee recently.
“That was two days ago.”
“Really? It’s been two days?”
Cassie held up two fingers and nodded. “Oh yeah. Two days since you last left this room.”
“I’ll say. The room smells like you could both use a shower,” Cameron announced, wrinkling his nose.
Ravi couldn’t argue that. The air had a musty quality—hints of old food, stale coffee, and possibly smelly feet.
Cassie folded her arms tightly over her chest and leaned back in her chair, glaring at her twin brother. “Are you done insulting us? Do you even want to hear the good news?”
Cameron opened his mouth, but Alric quickly placed his fingers over Cameron’s lips. “We’re sorry, Cassie. We’d love to hear your news.”
“We found the Jaeggi,” Gunter declared.
“What?” Ravi screeched, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be hanging in the background.
“Where?” Alric demanded.
“Prague,” Cassie announced with a proud smirk.
“That’s not all. It’s Thomas Jaeggi,” Gunter continued.
Ravi didn’t think it was possible for his mouth to fall open farther, but it did. Thomas Jaeggi was the suspected leader of the Jaeggi Clan. He was the one who’d taunted Alric and had been behind the kidnapping of Cameron nearly a year ago.
“Fuck,” Cameron muttered. “I’d been hoping he was killed in the fight and we just never found his body.”
Alric immediately stepped closer to his mate. Wrapping his arms around his waist, he pulled Cameron into the shelter of his wider frame. “Thomas Jaeggi will never get close to you again.”
“Oh, he’s gonna get real close one day because I’m punching his lights out.”
Alric growled low in the back of his throat, and Ravi nearly echoed him. He didn’t want the Jaeggi getting anywhere near their Consort ever again. Ravi was ready to make damn sure it never happened.
“How did you find him?” Alric inquired.
“Facial recognition software,” Cassie replied.
“I worked with Lisette to replay all the footage we had of Jaeggi encounters here in Germany, which included confrontations with Thomas as well as a few other Jaeggi members,” Gunter explained.
He took off his glasses and started to clean them with the tail of his untucked shirt. Ravi seriously couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Gunter look so rumpled. But then, like Cassie, Gunter tended to get tunnel vision when he was working on a project and forget basic things like eating, sleeping, and bathing.
“I snapped pics of them and fed them into the computer along with the crappy picture we were able to dig up of the suicide bomber who hit Burkhard.”
“Cassie had a few other searches running through Czechia.”
“Yeah, but this is the first one that really panned out.”
Alric nodded. “Was he passing through? How long ago was it?”
“Were you able to tell where he was headed?” Cameron tossed out.
“Better. It looks like he’s staying in Prague right now.” Cassie scooted toward her computer and started typing frantically while calling out to them over the clatter. “We haven’t been able to locate where he’s staying, but we got two pings from him last night.”
“Cassie then went through historical data and verified that he’s been frequenting this six-block area. Mostly stores like a grocery. A couple of cafés he seems to like.”
“So, we just need to send in a bunch of dragons to capture him and get him to tell us where all the other Jaeggi are,” Ravi said, snapping his fingers. “Easy peasy.”
Gunter’s head popped up, and he looked at Ravi like he had lost what was left of his mind. Okay, so maybe not easy. This had to be mate fog. Yep, he was blaming mate fog.
“Even if we manage to capture him without suffering significant injuries, I don’t think Thomas would ever willingly hand over information about his clan,” Alric explained in a low, even tone as if his mind were only half on Ravi, and the other half was already working on a plan.
“No, he wouldn’t.” Cameron shook his head and gave a little shudder. “Thomas is cold and calculating. His entire goal is the rise of the Jaeggi over the rest of the world. He’d never do anything to hurt them, even to save his own life.”
“Then we need someone to follow him. Watch his every move,” Alric said.
Ravi smirked when Alric’s gaze slid over to him. “What you need is someone fast, small, and very sneaky. Someone who can move without being seen. That way, when Thomas finally meets with someone from the Jaeggi clan or goes to wherever the clan is hiding, he can follow.” Ravi shrugged and lifted his open hands. “Sounds like my kind of job.”
He’d gone on plenty of scouting assignments like this over the years. At first, they’d all been about locating mages. His stealth meant he wasn’t going to startle or frighten anyone, but until Cameron, those scouting missions had never turned up any mages.
Now, he had the chance to use all those skills for locating Jaeggi. And he couldn’t freaking wait.
“I don’t like the idea of you going alone,” Alric murmured.
“Baldewin? He’s had plenty of experience dealing with the Jaeggi. Or maybe Warin?” Gunter suggested.
Ravi laughed and shook his head. “You just picked two of Burkhard’s largest lumbering mountains to go on a stealth mission. Can you imagine Baldewin ever being inconspicuous?”
Gunter cleared his throat, a light blush burning his high cheekbones. “Yes. Right.”
“Gunter, you need to get some sleep,” Cameron said gently. “You and Cassie have done amazing work, but I think you both can catch a few hours of sleep before Ravi gets into position in Prague.”
The dragon nodded stiffly, shoving one hand through his greasy hair. “Yes, you may be right. I can shower and catch a few hours’ sleep before Ravi is ready to leave.”
“Spoilsport,” Cassie grumbled.
To Ravi’s surprise, Alric lifted on eyebrow at her, and she sank a little in her chair.
“Shall I tell Sasha about the sorry state her mate is in?”
“Now you’re just being mean,” Cassie pouted, but Alric didn’t budge. She huffed, “Fine, I’ll nap. But Sasha has to nap with me.”
“That’s not called napping,” Cameron pointed out, and his sister grinned wickedly at him. Cameron groaned. “There isn’t enough mental bleach in the world…”
“Returning to the problem at hand. Ravi cannot go to Prague without backup, but we need to give him assistance who won’t draw attention to themselves.”