Dragon Clan: Order of the Dolphin, #3

By Kristie Clark

A dragon will kill her creator to protect her family.

 

Dr. Eva Paz wants only a peaceful life on Roatán for herself and her dolphins, continuing their research in dolphin communication and educating children on the importance of caring for the reef.

 

But when the Navy reactivates Taffy and Finn for exercises in Pearl Harbor, that all changes. For she finds Julian is there as well, and he is armed with yet another genetically modified creature. This time, it has the spirit of an actual dragon.

 

Thankfully, Eva has her friends and her family—and Thomas—on her side. Not to mention a whole host of new friends: the members of Dragon Clan.

Join Eva as she works with Thomas and her dolphins to save the Hawaiian Islands from an environmental disaster that could destroy them all.

 

For fans of Michael Crichton, Dragon Clan is book three in Kristie Clark's Order of the Dolphin series.

 

Book club questions included. May be read as a standalone, but Dragon Clan is best enjoyed with the other Order of the Dolphin series books: Killing Dragons and Dragon Gold.

 

Buy Dragon Clan and Join Eva and her dolphins on their adventures today!

 

 

Reedsy Reviews praise for Dragon Clan:

 

"Loved it!

 

An exciting plot enriched with amazing characters and a goal to save mankind!

 

This was an incredible read from start to finish. 

 

Dr. Eva Paz and her dolphins were the highlights of the story! I loved their relationship. The way they pushed each other forward was incredible.

 

I loved that the author gave us the dolphin's POV too. 

 

And to top it all off, a dragon!

 

Eva and Thomas team up to save the dolphins and the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands from a natural disaster. The dolphins are taken away by Julian when Eva leaves them to find Thomas's grandmother. All the events come together and the objective turns different. There is a higher purpose...

 

Definitely recommend this series!!"

 

—  Belinda Smith, Reedsy Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delphi Imprint, LLC
• Release date: Sep 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781954442054

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Friday, April 1

Mu Mariculture Farm

Offshore from the island of Hawai‘i

---

Luahine stood on the polished teak deck of the Tesoro, the superyacht owned by her project’s partner, Julian. The sun would set soon, and they needed to get Kaili to her new enclosure. That was their sole mission today—to oversee this vital operation here at Mu, Julian’s mariculture farms offshore of the Big Island.

Mu, named after the legendary lost continent of the Pacific, was a sea of soccer-field-sized, heavy-duty netted enclosures that from a distance looked like a city of circus tents. But what was seen at the surface was just the tip of the iceberg. Below were thousands of hybridized fish with dagger-like teeth, looking like nothing Luahine’s fishermen brothers had ever caught.

Luahine cared little for these mutants’ provenance other than to note that they were haole, decidedly not native. And though she loathed invasive species, her priority was to prevent an impending disaster soon to be brought on by the hands of time. The earth’s warming might be slowed, but it was unlikely to be reversed any time soon. She had to do her best to protect her ‘ohana.

She fiddled with the jasmine lei that Julian had given her earlier, anxious to get started. The day was slipping away quickly, and a storm brewed in the distance. The winds had already picked up around them. Julian’s fedora, which matched his pastel pink linen suit, had just flown away, souring his mood. He reached into his suit pocket, withdrew a tin, and lit up another cigar. She leaned away from the reek of the smoke.

Truthfully, she was beginning to wonder what she’d ever seen in him. If she could go back in time, she’d pick a different partner for this endeavor. But here she was, and to protect her Dragon Clan, she had to make the best of it. She would do everything in her power as a caring kahuna of the almost lost spiritual art of ho‘omanamana to thwart the disaster that loomed.

Her lengthy spiritual training had been in creating power, specifically in the area of deification of objects, and that’s exactly what she’d done with Kaili, as Julian called the mo‘o, but in private Luahine knew this shapeshifting spirit by her full name, the name of her own ancestor: Kaili’ohe Kame’ekua of Moloka‘i, whose oral history could be found in Tales of the Night Rainbow. Luahine prized her tattered copy, and it was there that she scribbled project notes.

But today they were doing the rather mundane work of transferring Kaili to a bigger and more secure enclosure. Kaili had escaped her current home and gotten in with Julian’s hybrid monster fish, making a feast of the mutants. They would have moved her soon anyway, but this hastened the timeline. She’d grown faster than Luahine or Julian’s scientist, Dr. Li, had expected, and Julian was now concerned that she was eating his profits.

Despite the urgency of the situation, it was a welcome trip for Luahine, as she needed desperately to get away from her daughter, Koko, and the doctors who were working her up for dementia. Koko, an anthropologist who’d run away to Kansas to marry and had abandoned her Hawaiian heritage in favor of bland logical explanations for everything, had become convinced that something was wrong when she’d found the mo‘o’s project notes and, invading Luahine’s privacy, had read them.

She’s been gone for far too long and lacks understanding, Luahine thought.

Yet Luahine feared that soon they would try to put her away in a nursing home. Luahine hated the idea. Nursing homes were for old people who needed help bathing, not someone like her, who was only now reaching her prime in her spiritual gifts.

Luahine’s role in Kaili’s move was to help keep the mo‘o dragon calm. She only wished she could have the same effect on Julian. At the moment he was getting rather impatient with his staff. The yacht’s crane had swung over Kaili, her black scales glittering like onyx in the setting sun, but the workers were having difficulty getting the net over her. Not only had she grown quickly, but she’d also gotten strong. When she snapped at one of the workers with her sharp, conical teeth, it was clear there was no room here for error, and that was why they must stay composed. Julian included.

Calm is contagious.

Luahine put a reassuring hand on Julian’s arm. He sighed and quieted. But that would likely last only a moment.

Stay calm, gentlemen, Luahine called out to the workers. You’re doing well. Don’t let yourself get anxious. She can sense fear.

Luahine didn’t like how Julian treated his workers. They were all locals, working hard and doing the best they could, and caring for a mo‘o dragon was a new experience for all of them. An ounce of patience and encouragement could go a long way. Luahine, a tutu with accomplished grandsons, understood this. Julian did not.

Luahine also understood the mo‘o. Or at least, far better than Julian did. After all, it had been one of Luahine's followers, a caretaker of a hidden cave on Kaua‘i, who had found the dragon bones from whence Kaili’s DNA had been extracted. And though Julian’s genetic engineer had grown Kaili’s corporeal body from that sample, it had been Luahine, as kahuna, who’d conducted the sanctification ceremony to breathe the spirit of her ancestor into the mo‘o. This was what had transformed Kaili into the ‘aumakua, the guardian spirit, of the Dragon Clan.

And this was also where her conflict with Julian began. Although he’d promised she could keep Kaili in the islands to protect Luahine’s kin, apparently all along his real plan was to engineer miniature mo‘o dragons to sell on the exotic pet markets in Asia. To Luahine, this was sacrilege. Those dragons would not have the spirit of her beloved ancestor—so they couldn’t possibly be true mo‘o but rather an abomination—and although smaller, they were likely to be vicious little creatures. Even as a toddler, Kaili had looked like a full-grown Komodo dragon, and Luahine knew enough about those creatures to be wary. A bite from even a small mo‘o dragon could be venomous and get easily infected.

Julian snapped his fingers in front of Luahine’s face, bringing her attention back into focus. Do something, he said. If she gets any bigger or any more out of control than she is, we’ll have to sell her to the highest bidder. This is the States, you know, and I can’t risk the liability over her here.

Luahine gasped at his impertinence. How could you consider such a thing?

Julian shrugged. She’d be worth a lot. I never believed in this rubbish about some spirit guardian watching over your precious Dragon Clan anyway.

Luahine’s face went hot, and her vision narrowed. A nasty argument ensued, with voices raised. Later, Luahine wouldn’t even be able to recall everything that was said, her rage was so acute. Julian grasped her arms trying to control her. She tried to shrug him off. Yet, she was so focused on making Julian see that her family’s ‘aumakua must stay in the islands to protect her people that she lost all awareness of the men and their struggle until Kaili shook off the net, sending the workers flying into the water.

The water filled with Julian’s vicious hybrids.

The men began to scream, the water becoming bloodied. Kaili, loose from the net that had covered her, unfurled her wings—which looked like those of giant Pteranodon—and began to flap them. For the umpteenth time, Luahine considered that the mo‘o shouldn’t have wings and could only guess where that DNA came from.

Kaili shook her giant triangular dragon head and bellowed, the sound like a mixture of a lion’s roar and an elephant’s trumpeting, and then looked directly at Julian with a hot, snake-like stare.

Luahine recognized her mistake. She shouldn’t have argued with Julian in front of the mo‘o. She of all people knew better, but the egotistical man had a way of pushing her buttons.

Kaili slowly rose up, her wings flapping, and flew through the open net toward them. Julian let go of Luahine and began to back up, terrified but clearly unwilling to turn his back on his creation.

Luahine had to do something. And quickly.

She centered herself and stepped forward, putting her hands out in a staying gesture, as if trying to quiet a tiger. Kaili turned to her and slowed in the darkening sky and hovered over the water, just off the stern of the Tesoro. The water beneath her moved away in a circle of ripples from the flap of her wings. Nearby, Julian’s injured men struggled to get out of the water, climbing over each other up the ladder in an effort to get back on the platform.

The mo‘o ducked her head deferentially toward Luahine and made a low rumbling sound. Luahine reached out her hand and rubbed the spot between Kaili’s eyes, just like she used to do when Kaili was a little dragon. Kaili closed her eyes, and the rumble turned into a purr.

A crash sounded as Julian tripped over a lounge chair. Kaili opened her eyes at the noise, shifted her head to see what was happening, and snarled at Julian, showing her sharp, conical teeth.

Kaili turned and looked out at the horizon longingly. She then looked back at the enclosure and made a pitiful howling cry. Like a true mo‘o, she had her own wants and desires.

Luahine shook her head. Her heart ached with her decision. She gestured to Kaili with a small flick of her hand, and whispered, Go, Kaili’ohe Kame’ekua. You’re free. Protect us.

Kaili cocked her head and gave Luahine a long, appraising stare. Then she flapped her wings more strongly, rose above the water, and flew away, over the open ocean. Luahine envisioned the mo‘o headed toward Moloka‘i, the home of her ‘ohana, the Dragon Clan.

And in that moment, Luahine was eternally grateful for Julian’s scientist’s forethought in adding the unorthodox wings to Kaili’s code. But her musings were immediately interrupted by a screech from Julian.

What have you done? Are you crazy? Julian screamed.

But Luahine just crossed her arms over her chest, watching Kaili fly away to freedom. "Put a lid on it, Julian. I’ve never been saner. I did what’s best. For most of us," she added with a laugh.

ONE

Friday, April 15

Roatán Institute for Marine Science

Roatán, Honduras

---

Eva sat on the steps down into the water of Bailey’s Key, stroking Taffy and fighting back tears. The Navy had come for her. For her and the dolphins. She couldn’t believe it. It was her worst nightmare. But what had she expected? The dolphins had done exactly what she had asked them to do.

The only problem was, they had done it too well.

Taffy and Finn, her dolphin research partners, had worked with the US Navy once, years ago. Thomas was their handler back then. And then, under a directive from DARPA—who funded Eva’s grant through a university in the States—the dolphins were brought here, to Roatán, to participate in Eva’s research.

Her research objective had been simple and yet daunting: she intended to learn how to communicate with dolphins. She’d begun by compiling a library of dolphin whistle signals, and over the years she’d decoded thousands of them. These whistles were the basic building blocks of cetacean communication, including nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Eva had developed the Delphi Imago software to upload the library, process it, and play it back to the dolphins, creating a rudimentary form of bidirectional communication. And the dolphins loved it.

But Eva had suspected for years that dolphin communication involved far more than just whistles. And now she had proven it. Dolphins used a form of sonar that was superior even to modern sonar technology, sending out echolocation clicks and receiving sounds back in return—sounds that communicated a 3D image of the object being echolocated on. Eva had demonstrated that dolphins could mimic these returning sounds, essentially sharing that received image of an object with another dolphin.

And she and her dolphins had then used this knowledge to work together. They’d taken down a mutant Tylosaurus, defeated the drug lords who terrorized Roatán, and cleaned up the mutant CobiX fish that the less-than-ethical business tycoon Julian Gulliver had grown in a monstrous fish farm just offshore.

Although those events were not public knowledge, her breakthroughs in dolphin communication were—and in addition to her academic tomes, some of her findings had gone viral on the internet. Not that this would have mattered, because it turned out that DARPA and the US Navy, having funded her research, had kept a close eye on her all along.

And now, it seemed, they wanted something in return—and Eva and all her dolphins were now being shipped off to Hawai‘i, leaving behind their home of the past decade.

Eva startled when Taffy suddenly whistled. She knew that whistle. It was the dolphins’ whistle for Axel, her assistant.

She turned and saw him coming up the trail, his headphones on as always, with one off his ear. It was hard to be disappointed with Axel, yet she was.

She shook her head at him. When were you going to tell me?

She had only just found out the truth. She had thought she wouldn't be able to take Axel, a German national, with her to the base in Hawai‘i, only to find out, quite by accident, that he’d worked with the military previously, and had a high-level clearance. One he couldn’t talk about, apparently.

Rascal, sensing her displeasure from her tone, put his tail between his legs and crept back up the trail toward the pavilion. Axel wasn’t as smart.

Axel gave her a sheepish smile. "Ja, boss. I understand I should have told you. It’s just... that work was, well, classified."

He sat down beside her on the steps. Finn swam up with a chuff, and Axel patted the wholphin’s head. Baby Chico and Cleo frolicked nearby.

Eva sighed. Well, the upside is, you do get to come along. I’m told your security clearance is certainly sufficient.

"Ja, but what are we going to do about Jose? When it comes to the sound work, we can do each other’s jobs, but our best work happens together. We are like two pieces of the puzzle."

Eva nodded. Not to mention his organizational skills. And most important, he’s so good with the dolphins, especially baby Chico. They’re inseparable. I don’t know what the stress of separation will do to them.

At the mention of Jose, baby Chico swam over and stuck his head out of the water. The baby wholphin looked around as if looking for his human friend. He then made his signature whistle for Jose over and over. It sounded so sad; it almost broke Eva’s heart.

Eva had little faith in what the Navy had told her—that they were doing everything on their end to expedite Jose’s security clearance as an independent contractor working on her research team—so Jose’s mother had taken him to the US embassy in Tegucigalpa to see what they could do about his visa process. But it was a holiday weekend, and the offices were closed by the time they had arrived, so now they would just have to wait and hope.

Axel patted Eva’s shoulder. It’ll work out. They don’t seem to have a problem with Chico and Cleo coming along, right? They’ll find a way for Jose too.

They better, because I’m not going without my team, Eva said.

She tried to sound confident, but she knew the truth.

In the end, it won’t be up to me.

TWO

Monday, April 18

Roatán Institute for Marine Science

Roatán, Honduras

---

Eva and Axel were very busy over the next three days. Eva spent as much of the Easter holiday as she could with her family, but that meant late nights loading the sound equipment and their personal belongings onto the USS Bougainville. The last step, completed just now, had been for a platoon of Marines to load the four dolphins—Taffy, Finn, Cleo, and Chico—using slings on Zodiacs. The dolphins would make the voyage in inflatable pools set up on the ship’s well deck.

This meant Eva now had to say goodbye to the family and friends who had gathered to see her off. She gave Gilberto, the old dolphin trainer, a hug.

I’ll put Jose to work with the other dolphins. He’ll be fine, he said. As Eva had feared, Jose’s passport, visa and security clearances hadn’t gone through.

Mel gave Eva a reassuring smile. "If we ever get Jose approved somehow, I’ll make sure he gets to you. Your mother and I have been thinking about going to Hawai‘i for our honeymoon anyway. The kids would love it, and we could dock the Aggressor at the base’s marina there."

Eva knew things were more complicated than that. They were also waiting on a visa for her mother, and for Luis Junior too. Mel and mamá had officially adopted Luis Junior after the wedding, but getting citizenship sorted out would take time. At least Soledad, a US citizen like Eva, could go to Hawai‘i with no issues. And of course Mel went where he pleased.

Mel then added, in a low voice, And if we do come, I’m going to bring Rascal.

Eva grinned and gave him a hug. She’d asked the Navy if she could bring the cattle dog—after all, he was Finn’s best friend and helped keep the playful wholphin calm—but they’d refused. It was unlikely she’d see any of her family in Hawai‘i, much less Rascal, but it was good to know Mel was thinking about it. He was a good man, a kind man who had become like a father to her, as well as a father to Soledad and Luis Junior, and he clearly made mamá happy. Although Eva hated to leave Roatán, she knew that her family was in good hands.

Eva then hugged and kissed first her mother, then Soledad and Luis Junior. She hugged Soledad a second time when the girl began to cry. Eva rubbed her back and whispered in her ear, "It’ll be okay, hija. I’ll see you soon."

Her best friends, Tess and Nick, with their baby, Héctor, were also waiting to say their goodbyes. And strangely, it was the sight of Héctor that broke Eva’s determined calm. Looking upon him, she realized that even though she wouldn’t be gone long, the baby could be a toddler when she saw him next. That in turn made Eva realize that Soledad would look even more like a young woman. Eva’s floodgates suddenly burst, and Tess let her sob on her shoulder for a moment.

Eva pulled back, wiping the tears from her face. I’ll miss you, Tess. Take good care of Héctor.

You know I will.

Eva took a last look around to see if Jose had shown up, but she wasn’t surprised to not see him. Not only had he gotten back late from Tegu, but this sort of thing could also easily be too much for him. Large gatherings could be overwhelming for the young man who had autism. She told Gilberto to pass along her goodbyes, then was about to board the ship when Soledad stopped her.

I almost forgot this, the girl said, handing Eva a wrapped box. We put this together for you. Just in case you get seasick. Open it when you’re on board.

Eva hugged Sol one last time, pushing back her tears.

Captain Caleb Williams personally escorted Eva and Axel to the Bougainville. The captain was an old friend of Thomas’s, which was just barely enough to allow her to set aside her normal distrust for the military. As far as she was concerned, they had a way of dabbling in areas they shouldn’t. Even though she now knew that her brother and father had not died at their hands during the drug interdiction long ago—they were killed by the cartel’s bullets instead—it was nevertheless true that had the military never entered her village that fateful night, they would both likely still be alive.

Once aboard the Bougainville, Eva stopped in the hold to check on the dolphins. It was bright with LED lights, so Eva figured out how to dim them when night came so that the dolphins could stay on a circadian rhythm. She also double-checked the food stores kept in the hold in rows of deep freezers as well as the other supplies for the dolphins’ care.

In all the hustle and bustle of loading, she and Axel hadn’t yet set up the sound equipment for a communication interface, but Eva didn’t need any equipment to tell that they were all excited and nervous. This wasn’t Taffy and Finn’s first time in the hold of a ship being transported in inflatable pools, so those two were no doubt answering the questions from Cleo and Chico. Eva smiled as she wondered if those questions included the old standby: Are we there yet?

When Eva was satisfied that the dolphins were settling in, she headed for the deck to observe as the ship weighed anchor and left the Bay Islands. Along the way, she spotted several modern jet fighter planes in a large forward compartment of the well deck. She asked a passing sailor about it, and he explained that there was an F-35 Marine squadron aboard that would be doing exercises during their voyage. Eva shook her head in dismay. She had thought the Bougainville was an amphibious ship, not an aircraft carrier. It turned out to be both.

Axel joined her on the deck to watch Roatán recede into the distance. They were just about to depart from the rail when the captain appeared at their side.

Even after all these years, it’s always exciting setting off on a voyage, he said.

How long will the trip take, Captain? Axel asked.

We’ll be in Hawai‘i in four weeks, give or take. Weather is a factor, and the F-35 exercises might put us off schedule a bit too. But it’s the passage through the canal that can be most unpredictable. We sometimes experience a wait of up to a week there if there’s a backlog of cargo ships waiting to get through.

Eva had known it would be a long trip, but hadn’t anticipated the possibility of additional delays. Captain, four weeks in an inflatable pool is already a very long time for these dolphins. I’d very much rather not keep them contained for any longer than that.

Caleb nodded. I’ll do my best, Dr. Paz.

He gave them a brief tour of the ship before showing them to their staterooms. Caleb said they were officers’ quarters, but to Eva they looked quite cramped. They dropped off Axel first, and though the room had bunk beds, one of them was loaded with his sound equipment. Eva’s room was just down the hall, and to her surprise, Caleb knocked on the door before entering.

The door was opened by a young blonde woman with intense hazel eyes. She wore an officer’s uniform, with aviator sunglasses hanging from one of her pockets, and had her hair in a tight bun. She was perhaps the most put-together woman Eva had ever seen.

The woman saluted the captain.

Caleb nodded curtly. At ease, Captain Wolf.

Eva looked between them, confused. Are you two the same rank?

The woman laughed at this, a clear, sweet laugh that surprised Eva. No, ma’am. In the Marines, the rank of captain is similar to that of lieutenant in the Navy. She stuck out her hand for Eva to shake. I’m Sarah C. Wolf. I’ve heard a lot about you, Dr. Paz. In fact, I’ve been following your work long before this. I’m a big fan. It’s an honor to meet you. I can’t believe we’ll be roomies!

Eva shook Sarah’s hand, feeling uneasy at this adulation. So… I guess we’re going to be roommates, then?

You both deserve your own rooms, Caleb answered, "but I