Dragons Luck by Robert Asprin Page B

said, making a face at his reflection in a window. “I’m fine, thank you. How about yourself?”
    In actuality, his name wasn’t really George. Though he was known by that title to those who employed him, his closely guarded secret was that he was only one of a team. The entire team was referred to as “the George” because of its purpose… to hunt dragons for pay. As one of the team’s main field agents, however, he found that even the team was referring to him more and more as “George.” That was one of the annoyances of working with a team. He was about to have to deal with another one of those downsides.
    “Cut the crap, George,” came the voice of his distant teammate. “We haven’t heard from you for over a week. What are you doing?”
    “I’m taking a little self-prescribed vacation,” George said. “I figure with the bonuses we got from my last job, I could afford some time off.”
    There was a pause at the other end of the conversation.
    “I suppose that’s right,” Debbie said with grudging acceptance. “You could have called in and told us, at least.”
    “Yeah, sure.” George laughed. “And get told there was a new hot assignment that was too good to pass on. No, thanks. I’ll do it my way. If that’s not acceptable, you can always fire me.”
    “Very funny,” his teammate said. “Okay. You’re on vacation. Where are you, anyway?”
    Now it was George’s turn to hesitate.
    “George,” came the voice, stern now. “Please tell me you’re not back in New Orleans.”
    George searched for an adequate answer, but none came to mind.
    “Goddamn it, George!” his teammate exploded. “You can’t—”
    “Listen, Debbie,” George interrupted. “I only…”
    “No,
you
listen!” she shot back. “You know the rules.”
    “I should,” he snarled. “I wrote most of them.”
    “Then you also know why the rules are there in the first place,” Debbie said, coldly. “What we’re doing is dangerous without adding complications. These are dragons we’re playing with, for God’s sake. We only get so many passes at the table before the luck changes. That’s why we only work on assignment and for a healthy fee. That makes it business and keeps them from hunting for us on a personal basis. We can’t get involved emotionally!”
    “I know, I know.” George sighed. “You’re right. It’s just…”
    He hesitated again.
    “Talk to me, George,” Debbie said, using his own catch-phrase, but her voice softened a bit. “What’s really going on there? Are you going soft on this McCandles kid?”
    “I don’t know,” George said. “He may develop into a real pain in the butt, but right now he’s okay. Maybe it’s because he was raised not knowing about dragons and hasn’t settled into the role yet. Still, he’s dragon.”
    “Okay. So what is it?”
    “It’s Flynn,” George said, his thoughts suddenly coming into focus. “He really got under my skin the way he insisted on a face-to-face meeting. He’s everything I hate about dragons raised to a higher power. Now he’s down here trying to work a number on young McCandles using the information we dug up for him. I just want to keep an eye on things as an uninvolved observer.”
    “Uninvolved observer. Right. Just be sure you keep it that way.” Debbie hesitated. “Want any of the team down there for backup?”
    “No. I’ll handle this myself,” George said, glad for the offered support. “That way, if anything blows, it won’t splash on anyone else.”
    “In theory, anyway,” his teammate said. “One thing you should be aware of, though. You may have some extra company. There’s a report here from one of our watchers that says Melinda’s daughter Lizzy is on her way down there if she isn’t there already.”
    “Lizzy? That psycho?” George was genuinely startled. “What’s she coming down here for?”
    “Unknown,” Debbie said. “As far was we can tell, her own family doesn’t know she’s headed for