“Over a sat phone that Dominik gave her when he helped her escape the compound.” Connor’s features hardened before Mick could ask another question. “Don’t get any ideas about using Hudson to get to the Enforcers. Dominik is keeping the colony sweeps away from our coordinates, but he’s on thin ice over there. The Commander doesn’t trust him anymore.”
“I don’t trust him either,” Brynn muttered. The tall, curly-haired woman was standing against the wall opposite the torn sofa, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Me neither,” Garrett said brusquely.
Of all the leaders, Garrett was the oldest. He was in his late forties, with a weathered face marred with burn scars. Reese had never been able to pry any details out of him, but someone had told her he’d been badly burned in a fire after an Enforcer unit torched one of his old camps. Garrett’s people were now living up north in a bunker they’d stumbled on. Other than Reese’s people, they were the most skilled when it came to combat.
“We don’t need to trust Dominik,” Reese said testily, “because he’s not part of this plan.” She turned to scowl at Mick. “And the plan isn’t to ambush the Enforcer compound. At least not right now.”
“Why the hell not?” he argued again. “We have the guns, we have their location—”
“The location doesn’t mean shit if they’re not all there,” she interrupted, resisting the urge to rip her hair out. They’d been over this ten times already. “There are only two hundred Enforcers at the base, but there are hundreds more stationed at the outposts all over the colony. We need to target them before we can attack their HQ. Otherwise the base will send an alert and then we’ll end up facing off with the reinforcements. Tell me, how is that a better plan?”
Mick’s jaw slammed shut.
Connor spoke up again, sounding as annoyed as Reese felt. “I’m with Reese on this. You’re being a fucking idiot, Mick.”
The other man glowered at Connor. “Go fuck yourself, Mackenzie. We’ve been strategizing for almost a year while you’ve been doing shit all.”
“Shit all?” Connor echoed in disbelief. “I’m currently stashing hundreds of stolen weapons and thousands of live rounds at my camp, you asshole.”
“Congratu-fucking-lations,” Mick shot back. “You finally decided to help your people out—doesn’t excuse the fact that you joined this party real late, man.”
“Because I wasn’t invited,” Connor said coolly, his gaze flicking toward Reese.
She shrugged. Yeah, she’d taken a long time before deciding to bring Connor on board, but she wasn’t about to apologize for it.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she retorted, her tone equally cold. “You haven’t given two shits about your fellow outlaws in the past. All you’ve ever done is shut everyone out and hide away in your camp. You refused to take other outlaws in, you refused to lead the people who were already following you—why the hell would I ever include you in something this important?”
His hazel eyes flashed. “Well, I’m leading them now. So my opinion means something.” Connor shook his head irritably. “And for fuck’s sake, we’re arguing the same goddamn point right now, Reese. I’m agreeing with you.”
She drew a breath, forcing her pulse to steady. He was right. Why was she condemning him for his past actions? Connor was here now, and they needed to look toward the future.
“We’re targeting the outposts,” she announced, and the finality in her voice finally shut Mick up. “Once we eliminate the threats outside the city, we’ll turn our attentions to the ones inside it. Yea or fucking nay?”
There was a beat of silence, then four low-voiced yeas.
From his spot by the door, Sloan met Reese’s eyes and offered a smile. Or rather, the tiny quirk of his lips—which, for Sloan, constituted a huge grin.
“Thank you,” she muttered. “Now can we go over these maps and make some actual progress?”
*
The meeting went on for another hour before Reese kicked everyone but Sloan out. Her temples were throbbing, her patience was nonexistent, and she needed sex so bad she could taste it, though the latter was probably the source of the headache and impatience.
She’d been fending off Rylan’s advances for two days. If it were up to her, the annoying bastard would be back at his camp already, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, not while Connor was in Foxworth. Rylan wouldn’t leave until his leader did, which meant Reese’s aching body would continue aching, at least for a little while longer.
Give in to him, whispered the seductive devil inside of her.
But nope. Not happening. She wasn’t going down that path again. One night with Rylan had turned her into a crazed animal. Even worse, it placed her in an intimate position with Sloan, the one person who meant most to her in this world.
A part of her was still terrified that Sloan would distance himself from her because of it, but so far, he remained by her side. Where he’d always been.
“Do you think they’ll be able to handle this?” she asked after everyone piled out the door.