His mother must have known this was the reason her favorite son had died. She’d acted like the Watch, or Cam, was responsible, when all along she’d been working with the Slains. It was the only thing that made sense.
Kory pried open one of the nearest crates with a screech of nails that set Cam’s teeth on edge. “Food.” He opened another, Cam wincing at the metallic scraping again. “Shotgun ammo.” Kory stepped back. “Let’s go. I’ve seen enough. We’ll send a team to retrieve everything ASAP. We won’t let them keep this.”
Cam led the way out, stopping before stepping outside. “Dave, all clear?”
“Yep. Nothing out here right now.”
Once outside, Kory said, “I’m staying here with three men. You and Dave take the rest and send a retrieval team with a jeep and trailer. There must be fifty crates in there. I don’t want this left here, even for a night. Someone could come to collect at any time.”
“It’s dangerous to stay,” said Cam. “They could be watching right now.” His skin prickled at the thought as he twisted to check each direction. With the rain and clouds socking them in, visibility was poor.
“I’ll take that risk,” said Kory. “We can’t let them shoot us with our own ammunition. Can you let Robin know I’ll be back late and not to wait up?” He grinned, looking fierce. “If it takes too long, or the baby comes early, she’ll kick everyone’s ass. Starting with mine.”
The two of them were close, with the kind of relationship Cam wanted with Lissa.
As Kory must have intended, everyone laughed, lightening the mood as half the patrol turned for the wall. Despite the cover the alcove provided, it promised to be a miserable night for Kory’s group. Though sad, Cam felt better for having found the weapons cache and a possible explanation for Aiden’s death.
***
Three mornings after finding the cave full of xTerra’s supplies and their successful retrieval, Cam sat at the Watch Headquarters by the radio. A crackly call came over the shortwave radio. “HQ, this is Tower 17. We have an important update. Over.”
He lifted the handheld receiver and pressed the button. “Tower 17, this is HQ. What’s your update? Over?” Since Lissa’s arrival, the Watch towers had upped their active roster and weapons supply at each location. Guards had rappelled down the walls and gone into the surrounding countryside in teams to ensure no attacks came without warning. Two separate tower groups had found weapons caches not far from their walls by sending out evening patrols with night vision goggles. Including Tower 17.
“Last night, we took a prisoner. We didn’t dare bring him over the wall. Instead, we dispatched a team marching him toward the gate. They’re staying within sight of the walls and are checking in as they pass each tower. Unknown assailants fired on the escort from within the treeline. No injuries were reported, and our team moved in, confiscating a crate of explosives. Over.”
“Hold tight, Tower 17. I’ll call the captain. Over.” Captain Wilson wasn’t on active duty but would want this information. This sounded like the action they’d been expecting since Lissa’swarning. Heart drumming, Cam called him, catching the captain up on the overnight activity. Once finished, he leaned back and relayed orders for a group to meet and collect the prisoner from the Outpost. They should return in a couple of hours.
Minutes later, the phone rang, breaking the silence. “HQ. Montgomery speaking.”
Captain Wilson said, “Was the prisoner questioned? Scrap that. You would have mentioned it if you knew. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” The line clicked.
He arrived and called Tower 17, confirming the prisoner’s last known location—Tower 11. Close to where Aiden had disappeared. After he concluded the conversation, Cam stuck a red tack into the map hung on the wall. The towers were numbered 1 to 30, moving clockwise around xTerra. Most had been built since the asteroid and the community’s population growth.
The captain dispatched extra men to the towers closest and opposite 17, in case it was a diversion, or they had the same situation. He also doubled the guards in the towers on either side of xTerra’s massive gate.
After anxious days of waiting, it seemed like the Slains were making a move.
The radio crackled again. “HQ, this is the main gate. We’ve spotted a vehicle that isn’t one of ours. It drove off-road past the end of the barricade and parked a couple of miles out. How should we proceed? Over.” Kory was stationed on gate duty and wouldn’t ask for help unless it was important.
“We’ll be right there. Over,” said the captain.
Cam and the captain sprinted for Tower 1, taking the stairs two at a time. At the top, Kory passed his binoculars first to the captain, then handed another set to Cam.
“The jeep by-passed the Outpost, but we can send half the gatehouse guards to take them from behind.” The captain was all business.
Cam relayed the order to Dave at the Outpost while Captain Wilson and the gate guards watched, on standby to assist if something went wrong. Or if the interlopers made a move toward the gate. Thanks to Lissa, they’d been extra vigilant.
Twenty-five tense minutes later, Cam’s walkie-talkie crackled again. “Tower 1, we investigated the parked jeep and captured six men. They have several homemade bombs. Over.”
“Bring the men in, but leave the devices under guard out there, away from the walls. They might have remote detonators. Over.”
“We’ll take them further afield. Over.”
With any luck, this seizure had bought them a reprieve. With close to two thousand adults in residence, xTerra had a larger force than the Slains should be able to muster. The Watch just had to make it too difficult for them to take and get the Slains to back off. Hopefully, this would do the trick, even if there was still a traitor to apprehend.
Chapter 25: Lissa
Lissa gingerly rotated her left arm at the doctor’s request. After three weeks of recovery, her injured shoulder seemed more stiff than painful, and the entry wound had healed. They’d operated to remove a bullet lodged in her upper arm, and she’d always have a scar, but considering how serious a gunshot wound could be, she’d been lucky. The rough scar was dark pink and angry-looking, like a brand on her otherwise smooth skin. While ugly, at least she hadn’t been killed.
