Page 74 of The Stone Survival
An ominous silence fell for several seconds.
Orix was the first to break it. “If that is true, if this place is somehow bugged, then they knoweverythingthere is to know, which means they’d know we planned to go to Yarrow. Which means…Yarrow might have been important in helping us find them.”
And now they had him. He couldn’t be of help to us, but he was the perfect bait.
“Please,” Flora said. “You have to help him. He’s all I’ve got. I can’t…I can’t lose him.” She dissolved into fresh sobs, and Ginia quickly moved to hug her.
Orix hurried over to the lounge and returned with a notepad and pencil. He scrawled something on it, then passed it to Serath, who then passed it to me.
If this place is bugged, we can’t talk here. Elite, meet me in the forest in thirty minutes. Everyone elsestay here to maintain a presence and some level of noise.
I passed the note to Levi. “The faction note says we have to go to the coordinates this evening, right?”
“Yes,” Serath said, tracking the notepad as it made the rounds.
“Then I’m going to get a few hours of sleep.”
“What?” Flora looked horrified. “My brother is out there. In danger. Some…faction has him and you want tosleep?”
“There is nothing else we can do right now,” Palia said gently as she passed her the note.
Flora read it quickly, wiping at her tearstained face. “I’m not leaving. I’m staying here until you tell me how you’re going to save my brother.”
“You can take the couch upstairs,” Orix said. “Everyone, get some sleep. We’ll talk in a few hours.”
He gave me and Serath a pointed look then headed for the stairs.
Despite what he’d just said, it was doubtful that any of us would get any sleep tonight.
CHAPTER 36
Serath and I arrived in the forest to find Orix and Levi waiting. Curi, Shar, and Derek joined us a few minutes later.
“Did anyone see you?” Orix asked.
“No,” Derek said. “I checked.”
“Are we sure it’s safe to talk here?” Curi asked.
“I doubt the forest is bugged,” Levi replied, looking up into the canopy around us.
The clearing was gray and damp this close to dawn. The sun would be up shortly. We didn’t have much time before the cover of night was taken from us. “We should be quick.”
“What are we going to do?” Shar asked.
“We tell Ivor and Lionel,” Derek said. “I can do it.”
“Lionel could be under watch,” Orix said. “But yes, we should tell Ivor.”
“This is our chance to turn the tables,” Serath said. “To capture a faction member or even take down their base.”
“What are you thinking?” Orix asked.
“I’m thinking that Cameron and I go in alone as requested, then you bust us out, coming in hot with a team of guardians.”
“I can contact Jana at Outpost Ten.”
“Yes, do that.”
