Page 156 of What We Burn

Odin remains still.

“This isn’t a vote on whether they deserve to die,” he says. “It is a decision about when killing them produces the greatest result.”

“The greatest result for who?” I ask. “Because every day we wait is another day they get to keep doing this.”

“I agree,” Eli says. “But we need to consider what happens if we start systematically taking out Kennel members.”

I turn on him.

He doesn’t look happy about taking Odin’s side. That doesn’t stop him.

“Right now, all we have is a bunch of usernames. We’ve only connected a handful of those to real people. We take them out, we never figure out the rest. We might never learn who the fuck Stephen is.”

“They’ll shut down the yard,” Holden adds. “Burn accounts, wipe devices, warn the other regions and move to another platform.”

“Still leaving us with a bunch of dead rapists,” I point out.

“And hundreds more we can no longer see,” Odin says.

That shuts me up for half a second.

I hate that half second.

Knox shifts against the wall. “We watch them.”

I look back at him.

His expression hasn’t changed, but I know him well enough now to recognize the tension held through his shoulders.

“You want to let them keep breathing?”

“For now.”

“They’re hurting women.”

“I know.”

“Then how can you stand there and say we wait?”

His eyes don’t move.

“Because waiting gets all of them.”

The certainty in his voice crawls beneath my anger and settles there.

I hate that he’s right.

I still want to stab something—make that thirty-seven somethings.

Micah leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “What happens to their targets while we build the network?”

Odin looks at him. “Fenrir will monitor platform traffic. Anything indicating an imminent assault will be passed to whichever team is available to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

“Whichever team?” I ask, glancing around the room. “How many kill teams do you run?”

Odin’s mouth quirks at the side. “Far more than you’d think.”

FORTY-ONE