Page 70 of Harmless
“Good. Church is where we’ll discuss our most pressing business matters. Right now, that is eliminating the Sisterhood of Bathory cult. LJ?”
She nodded at a younger guy who was her cousin, if I remembered correctly. He came forward, spreading out a map on the coffee table in the middle of the room.
“This is the location that the prisoner gave you, president.” He touched an index finger to the map. “And here is where we are.” He dragged his finger down in a southwest direction. “It’d be about a two-day ride. This area here is a neutral zone. It’d be our safest bet for camping overnight. If the information is correct, the compound is in a valley with a few different lookout spots we can scout from.” He marked three different areas on the map.
“What’s our worst-case scenario?” Rori asked him.
Her cousin shrugged. “That the resort manager lied and there’s nothing there. But Carter and I have ridden the general area before. I know it well enough. Nothing will sneak up on us on our way there.”
Rori looked up and scanned the faces in the room. “Anyone have any issues with this plan?”
No one spoke up, so I raised my hand.
“Yes, Devin?”
“What exactly is our goal here? Specifically.”
“Find out who the key players are, target them, and take them out. We should be able to gather a good amount of intel from scouting.”
“How long do you intend to scout for?”
“As long as we need to. Up to a week if that’s what it takes.” Rori produced a folded piece of paper from her pocket, opened it, and laid it on top of the map. “This is what I got from Nella as far as guards, rotation schedules, and how many people there are in total. We can use it as a benchmark, but I don’t expect all of these numbers to be current.”
I leaned over the table, inspecting the numbers scribbled on the yellow legal sheet. “A population of fifty total? That’s almost twice as much as the staff and fighters combined at Mystic Canyon.”
“And it could end up being more or less.” Rori faced me, crossing her arms. Her posture wasn’t completely confrontational, but it wasn’t exactly friendly either. “We don’t have much information to go off of right now, which is why I want us to spy on them for as long as we possibly can. The more knowledge we gather, the better.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic. It seemed like a sound plan, for what little we knew.
“Do we intend to take any prisoners?” Torr asked from his post by the door.
Rori chewed on that for a moment. “Not at this time. That could change though. For all we know, this could be one of a dozen compounds or more. We should reassess later when we find out more. But my hope is that we hit their operation hard where it hurts. If we ruin them completely, well, that would be fantastic too.”
“That’s a lot of ifs,” I mused. “It’s a pity you couldn’t get any more useful information out of the prisoner.”
Rori’s head snapped back in my direction. Her eyes were wide, eyebrows up to her hairline for a split second, before a cold, detached mask fell over her features. “That’s a hell of a remark, coming from you.”
There were lots more eyes on me now, including Santos’ and Torr’s. I felt them burning into my skin.
Rori’s gaze jerked away to address the room again. “Any other questions?” When none came, she said, “Good. We leave in three days. I suggest you all practice riding and shooting. Torr, LJ, Val, and I will be available for instruction or any questions. Church is adjourned.”
Torr moved off the door and opened it for everyone to file out. I had barely turned away to leave when Rori said, “Devin, will you please stay a minute?”
I wanted to keep going, to throw a, “No, thanks, I’m good,” over my shoulder, even though it would dig a deeper hole than I was already in. And the truth of it was, I didn’t knowwhyI wanted to keep pushing Rori’s buttons. The moment we fell into a place of mutually-respected acquaintances, I felt an impulse to ruin that. It just didn’t feel right.
Fighting with her felt right.
“Want me to stay?” her boy-toy asked. Not Santos, her other one.
“No, it’s fine. This won’t take long.”
The last few stragglers left the room, and when the door closed, Rori wasted no time going off. “What the fuck was that?”
“What was what?”
“Don’tfuck with me, Devin. For everything you are, I know you’re not an idiot. I’m asking you a question. I expect a straight answer.”
“You need to make your question more specific.”
