“Half? Who did this?” He flung the papers detailing their losses directly at Michelle’s face. She leveled her gaze but knew better than to flinch.
“One of our people tripped an explosive. From the looks of the explosion and the devastation it created, I would say there were several blocks of C4 triggered when he opened what had looked like an abandoned weapons case.”
“C4, set by whom?” he seethed.
“Preliminary recon confirms it. Williams’ 17th Company has changed allegiances. They’re fortifying the Winter ranch house now.”
Arkdone narrowed his eyes leaving obsidian slits.
“Get Williams on the phone now!” He bellowed and hurled his phone at Michelle.
She reached out and snatched it from the air effortlessly. Her stoic, obedient expression hadn’t changed.
“Yes, sir.”
She manipulated the phone and had it ringing within seconds.
“Please hold for Senator Arkdone,” she spoke smoothly into the phone and stepped toward Arkdone, to pass him the device.
He snatched it from her hand and started yelling even louder.
57 Retaliation
Looking through a night vision scope, Meg swallowed hard at the carnage left in the wake of the explosive.
“How many did we get?” Valen asked for the second time.
Meg was trying to count the bodies, but was having difficulty. “I’m estimating fifteen, though it’s difficult to,” she winced at the bile threatening to rise in her throat, “identify the pieces.”
Beside her, Valen was lying on her belly carefully studying the Monarch’s new position in the east.
“Excellent.” Valen grinned into her scope.
“It looks as though their new base is pretty well established. I still haven’t seen Arkdone since he arrived. How far away is Williams?”
Though Valen quickly adjusted to having access to Meg’s psychic abilities, she wasn’t any less impressed every time she saw her eyes glass over as she zeroed in on the other players in this war.
Meg forced herself to drop her scope and take a slow, deep breath.
“Williams and his team are about twenty minutes away.” She blinked several times as she mentally backed away from the connection and added, “He just got off the phone with Arkdone. They’re both furious at the turn of events.”
58 Up, Down, Arch!
“How exactly are we going to do this?” Theo asked the cabin as he watched Margo and the others secure the parachutes on their backs.
“While I agree it’s not the ideal aircraft for a jump, it’s still doable,” Jacobi explained. “Basically we reduce airspeed to fewer than 200 knots, adjust our altitude to 4,000 feet depressurizing the cabin, open the emergency doors behind the wings and jump.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Cole frowned incredulously.
“Well, I won’t lie. It’s not a walk in the park. The forward velocity is still going to thrust them along. It’s dark as dirt out there and they’ll be landing in the middle of a battle zone. So no, not so easy.” He pursed his lips together and nodded once. “I’d better get up front. Trainer’s never piloted a craft with jumpers.”
Margo was checking each of the others’ equipment, tightening and securing where needed. Decades had passed since her last jump, but it didn’t matter. Her military training was engrained.
“We’re jumping at 4,000 feet so when you exit, start counting ‘one-one thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one thousand’—until you reach ten. Then, yank this cord to release the pilot chute—it is a small auxiliary chute. It will catch air and deploy the main canopy. Use the toggles connected to the edges of the chute to steer. Our goal is to land as close to the house as possible, while avoiding Meg’s IEDs. She already went over where those devices have been planted, just don’t get caught up in the moment and forget them.”
Creed, Farrow, Evan and Alik stood stone-faced and ready.
“Yeah, I take it back. There’s nothing easy about what you guys are about to do.” Cole shook his head, wide-eyed.
“Everyone needs to meet in the house to gear up. 17th Company will be standing by with weapons and comm.”
“We haven’t talked about what happens if something goes terribly wrong,” Sloan spoke up in front of everybody for the first time in hours. She had been trying to wrap her head around what they were about to do. Cole inched closer to the girl with steel-gray eyes and reached out to hold her shaking hand.
Sloan had never seen combat before and wanted to help, but felt useless. She and Kylie had shared a quiet discussion about their desire to help. The two had decided they would do whatever it took to travel back to the house with Cole and Maze. They agreed they may not be able to fire a weapon, but they were good at stitches and bandages. Every war needed medics.