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“They keep some animals,” Chuck put in. “Fresh eggs, fresh milk to supplement their hunting parties. And they grow some crops—all of that’s taken care of by slaves. It’s a lot of mouths to feed, clothe, and like that. Raiders bring in supplies, and get use of the base.”
“We calculate they hold at least a hundred as slaves,” Fallon continued. “It looks like they rotate them, too. When they need more in another location, they transport them. We can’t really estimate prisoners at this point. While they hold weekly executions according to their fucked-up tradition—” She caught herself, looked at her mother. “Sorry.”
“Considering the subject matter, it’s hard for me to comment on your language.”
“Ah. They hold their public executions every Sunday, but our best information is they keep it at one prisoner. The base serves as a kind of holding center for anybody they grab between—most likely—Virginia, down to North Carolina, and over to West Virginia, possibly eastern Tennessee.”
“See, they pull them in,” Chuck explained, “then if some of their other bases are running low for that Sunday picnic, they send some out.”
“Add to that anyone—civilian, magickal—they pull in from a mission into D.C. What passes for the government still holds the city. James Hargrove stands as president.”
“Fucker.” Chuck shot up a middle finger for emphasis. “And I’m not sorry.”
“It’s no democracy,” Fallon continued. “Basically, he’s an autocrat, running the show with the military.”
“We can’t get much from inside the White House,” Chuck added. “But rumors fly. Executions again, but not public.”
“A veneer of the civilized,” Arlys put in. “But it’s clear he’s shredded the Constitution, and his agenda is removing magickals by any means.”
“Experiments, containment centers,” Chuck went on. “Vaults full of treasures—that’s a rumor, so who knows. But it’s pretty clear he’s living in the lap, and likes it.”
“He holds the power center in a dead city.” Fallon had been there, felt it. “The resistance keeps fighting, has had some victories. And the Dark Uncanny prey on both.”
“White wants D.C.,” Simon commented. “There are plenty of locations, like theirs in Arlington, more removed from that war zone—twenty years now. He chose strategically, allied with Raiders so he doesn’t have to worry about them. Allied with DUs for their power and again, so they don’t go after him.”
“I agree. He’s wrong because they will go after him when they don’t find him useful, but I agree. White wants the city.”
“Symbolism, a seat of power. If he can take it, and publicly execute Hargrove, some generals, that’s a statement.”
“Hargrove goes by CIC more than president,” Travis told him. “Commander in chief. It’s more military.”
“He was military,” Fallon put in. “Served during the Doom, and commanded the forces that swept New York, Chicago, and Baltimore.”
She knew more of him, much more, but left it at that.
“They want the city, Hargrove, and as many key officials as they could take. But equally, they want the magickals, dark and light, in containment there. They want the locations of other containment camps. However much White wants D.C., its symbols, its structure, and whatever’s left of its resources, his reason for being is still to destroy us.”
“He’s going to die disappointed.”
She smiled at her father. “Yeah, he is. Because he’s not going to take D.C. We are.”
“Whoa.” Jonah picked up the beer he’d set aside. “Even if we managed to hook up with the resistance there, we’d be outnumbered a hundred to one. We’ve treated escapees from D.C. in the clinic. It’s a daily bloodbath.”
“Today we’d be outnumbered. We won’t be when we take it, and we will take it. It starts here.” She turned back to the first map. “With Utah, South Carolina. And Arlington.”
Fallon waited until full dark before she walked away from the house with Tonia and Flynn. Lupa walked by Flynn’s side.
“I wanted to leave him with Joe and Eddie, but . . .” He laid a hand on Lupa’s head. “He wouldn’t have it.”
“He’s welcome.”
Flynn had a rifle strapped over his shoulder, a knife on his belt. Tonia had her bow and quiver, her knife, and Fallon her sword and shield.
When she lifted her arm, the white owl glided out of the dark to land on it.
“Okay. Who’s better at scouting than an owl?” Tonia decided. “You know, we shook them pretty good tonight.”
“I wish we had more time, but we don’t. Flynn, you’ve been with them from the beginning.”
“And younger than either of you when we started. They’ll handle it. It’s hard, you’re their children, but they’ll handle it.”
He’d never taken a mate, Fallon thought, though she knew he’d taken lovers here and there. She wondered why.
Nobody’s rung the bell, he said in her mind, and added a half smile when she winced.
Sorry. “Then let’s get started,” she said out loud. “Before we do, I’m aiming for a spot about a half mile from the base. I’m estimating, as I couldn’t risk going into the crystal, leaving a trace to pinpoint it more exactly.”
“Won’t we leave that trace tonight?” Tonia asked.
“I’m going to use a cloaking spell.” She took charm pouches out of her pocket. “Keep them on you,” she said, then laid her hands on their arms.
“From friend and foe alike, we are hidden from their sight. Though within us burns the light, it leaves no trace upon the night. They may look but will not see. As I will, so mote it be.”
“We’re going to be invisible?” Tonia slipped the pouch into her pocket, patted it. “So, so cool.”
“Not invisible—though very cool. More like shadows, shapes. Magickal searching spells should pass right over us.”
“Should?”
“There are spells to counteract cloaking spells. We have to risk it. Any trouble, we flash out. We can’t risk the whole mission. Ready?”
They flashed onto a deserted road that cut through a stretch of empty houses. Some had been burned to the ground—a waste of resources and shelter. Someone more enterprising and practical had dismantled others to the foundation, and a handful more still stood, window glass smashed, doors removed or hanging open.
As she scanned what had been a neighborhood before her birth, she felt it.
“They left the dead,” Fallon stated.
“Where?” Hand on her knife hilt, Tonia scanned the area.
“In the houses. There are still remains from the Doom in some of the houses. Children would have played here once. Friends would have gathered on patios, like we did tonight. Now there are rats.”
She watched one tunnel through the high weedy lawn as they walked.
“A half mile,” Flynn said. “And still some housing, easily repaired. When we take the base, we could use this as an outpost, a checkpoint.”
They followed the road, then into what had been a small park. Now the trees had thickened and wild things grew in a kind of mad splendor.
“Probably snakes,” Tonia said.
“Probably.”
They saw deer, a red fox, a lumbering possum, crossed a thin stream clogged with debris.
Both Fallon and Flynn stopped, heads cocked.
“Elf ears,” Tonia muttered. “Both of you. What do you hear?”
“An engine.” Flynn glanced at Fallon, nodded. Lupa stayed by her side as Flynn blurred away in the dark.
“He’s going to look. The base should be just a couple hundred yards to the east, and the engine’s coming from the road that leads to it.”
They moved ahead, keeping to shadows as security lights from the compound glowed through the dark.
Flynn slipped back to them. “Single cargo truck, cleared through the main gates. Guard posts coordinate with your map. The walls are a good fifteen feet high. We’re not going to be able to see over them fro
m this vantage point, and we’ll be in the open if we go another twenty feet. I can scout the perimeter, see if there’s a better angle, higher ground.”
“We need to go higher, but not on the ground. We separate. Flynn scouts the east side, Tonia the west. You’ll meet up on the north side. We need to know the terrain, any additional sentry positions or security measures, potential weak spots. You know the drill. Tonia will flash you both back here.”
“And you?” Tonia asked.
“I’ll go up.”
“You can fly now?”
“Taibhse can, and I’ll see through his eyes.”
“You mean to merge with him,” Flynn began as Tonia shook her head.
“Then Flynn and I should stay with you. You’d be vulnerable—body here, spirit there. And you told me you were still working on a true merge.”
“The owl god’s mine for a reason. And Faol Ban will guard me.”
“Lupa stays, too,” Flynn insisted.
“All right.” She held up her arm so Taibhse glided down from the tree branch where he’d perched, landed softly. “Move out. We’ll rendezvous back here. What we take back with us tonight is going to be the difference between success and failure.”
“You can mind-speak to both of us,” Tonia said. “Any trouble, you signal.”
“And the same goes.”
Fallon waited, and when she stood alone with the owl, looked into his eyes. “I’m yours; you’re mine. You are wisdom and patience. You are the hunter. My heart beats with yours; my blood flows with yours. Be my eyes.”
