Page 91 of Darkness I Become
Dom gave a short nod. “There’s lots to harvest.”
“And,” Leo continued thoughtfully, “I should restock my kit. I’ve still got the important things—antibiotics, painkillers, Regenerex—but some more bandages and alcohol couldn’t hurt.”
“Whoa, you guys aren’t coming,” Cade started, but all it earned him was an eyeroll from Dom. “You’re needed here.”
“So are you,” Leo countered, “but that’s not stopping you. Anyway, you’ll die if we don’t, Cap. So, that’s our hands tied.”
“So what?” Cade asked. “Just because I’m going on a suicide mission, doesn’t mean you have to do it with me.”
“If I remember right, we already deserted with you once, right after you murdered a man,” Leo replied sardonically. “This seems tame in comparison.”
“You’re losing your touch,” Dom said, with a rare half-smile.
Cade sighed. “Fine. What do we do about the women? If things are gonna collapse here, I’m not leaving Lana and the girls at the mercy of the men here, or to the Order.”
The three of them fell silent, thinking hard. No matter what they did, there was no perfect solution that led to everyone being totally safe.
“We free the women,” Cade said after a moment. “Give them a choice to stay or go, knowing that the Order is going to come down hard on this place. We give them time to evacuate. Then we hand the place over to Raph.”
“Raph?” Leo asked, surprised. “Why?”
Cade shrugged. “He was one of the people most opposed to the deal with the Order. If we hand command to him, there’s less chance he’ll be willing to comply with their demands.”
“But then everyone here is dead,” Dom said, unconvinced.
“That’s the same situation they’re in now,” Cade pointed out. “Once the women have made their choice, we can offer the men the same one: abandon this place, or stay and try to fight off the Order. My guess is that Raph will convince them to leave and settle elsewhere.”
“And if he does?” Leo asked skeptically, his arms crossed.
“Then we send messengers to the Settlements and tell them the same thing,” Cade replied wearily. “They can decide for themselves to leave or fight. I really hope for their sakes that they pick the first option, but we can’t force them from their homes. And we all know that they can’t take on the Order. That would be true whether we stayed or not.”
A heavy silence descended before Leo said the thing that Cade didn’t want to think about at all.
“What if we can’t find her, Cap?” he asked sympathetically. “More than that, what will we do if wedofind her? We need a new destination.”
At least Cade had thought about the last part. “Ashburn.”
“It’s been two years,” Dom said. “Not gonna be in great shape by now.”
“We’ll rebuild,” Cade said with a shrug. “We did it once.”
He hoped their second pause was indicative of assent, though he couldn’t be sure. He knew the plan was holier than Swiss cheese.
“We have work to do, then,” Dom sighed. “And not much time.”
Cade nodded, and they set to work.
Taking down Clyde wasn’t as difficult as he’d feared it might be. The man was terminally arrogant, and though he knew Cade was from a compound, he assumed the rest of them were basically unskilled, untrained troglodytes. He also assumed that Cade would be desperate enough to hold onto power that he’d do whatever he could to keep the Order happy.
But Cade knew now that assholes like Clyde were never satisfied, even when you gave them exactly what they wanted. They saw capitulation as weakness, and they’d exploit it over and over, asking for more and more, until there was nothing left to take. They were parasites, and the only way to handle them was to annihilate them.
“Clyde,” Cade said in curt greeting, as the masked man approached the entrance to the clubhouse, flanked by two masked comrades.
“Captain,” Clyde said with false warmth that grated on Cade. “It’s rather quiet this time around. Where is everyone?”
“They’ve been told to shelter in place as a result of your visit.”
It was a lie. They’d evacuated everyone days ago. Those who wanted to go off on their own were allowed to leave. Then Raph had taken control as planned and moved everyone to Silver Creek for the time being. It’d be the easiest settlement to fortify against attack and plan their next move.
