25. the red fire of the Dragon

“I … I’m sorry Ma’am.  You-you’re not going to like this”

“What.”

Smithers fumbled with his paperwork, struggling to find the right words “Ah, we found the GVT6000, …”

“AND?” she quickly cut in.

“and, um, the computer system was removed, and so was the main drive unit.”  The eyes of the Red Dragon squinted with anger, and steam looked like it could almost come out of her nose.  “We found it in a U-Haul truck in Philadelphia, and we were making arrangements to remove the truck, when the cops showed up and the city came and impounded it.  We thought it best not to reveal ourselves, because, um, well … the Americans actually found the GVT6000 with their satellites and computers, and that led us to it.  But, um, you see, Larry and team two were also going to retrieve the GVT7800 from Government impound today, and when we got to the warehouse and asked for it, they were shocked and moments later it was surrounded by cops.  Um, it was stolen just before we got there.  But we slipped away before the cops could ask us anything.”

“What?”  Her voice was so quiet, but the anger in it was so very, very loud.

“Um, you’re not going to like this, either, ma’am.  We found video on you-tube of the GVT7800 as it was being stolen.  Some random people saw … ”

“AND?” she demanded; she could tell there was more bad news coming, as Smithers hesitated.  Her anger was about to boil to steam, then turn to fire, he could tell.

“Um, the whore and her friends have it.”  He cringed slightly.

She stared him deep in the eyes, saying nothing.

“Ah, and the Australians caught a glimpse of it, ah, heading towards the Moon.  Chatter in China suggests the same thing.”

The Red Dragon continued to stare Smithers in the eyes as she quietly said “fuck” with her teeth clenched, and threw the now glowing red hot dinner steak knife she had been holding at the clock on the wall behind her without looking, where it stuck in the center of the wooden circle, and started to burn a hole.