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Anna’s hands patted against her jeans, feeling for the knife in her front pocket. Still there. Her ankle moved in her shoe just enough to feel the second knife that was tucked into her sock. The cold metal of the gun pressing against her lower back didn’t need to be touched as reassurance; it made its presence known.
All of her weapons were in their correct spot, hidden beneath her clothes… and she still felt like she’d forgotten something.
A cluster of houses came into view, far larger than any she’d seen in the Central District. The Eastern and Western Strongholds were huge—she knew that—but she could already tell just from the houses she studied that her imagination hadn’t done it justice.
“Alright,” Liam began, “this works best when we split up. Draws less attention.”
Anna worked best alone, anyway. “Sounds good to me.”
“Six hours of scouting at most, and we meet back at the tall oak we passed earlier. Nobody heads back to camp until we’re all there, okay?”
Anna and Rachel gave a simultaneous “okay.”
“Anyone need anything before we split up?”
She couldn’t help it, tapping her weapons one more time, running over the plan in her head, remembering the location of the oak they’d meet at when all this was done. Anna had everything down, was armed and ready, and yet she still felt that something was missing. It irked her.
“All good here,” Rachel answered.
“Same,” Anna muttered, though even to herself, she didn’t sound convinced.
“Did you want to stay together, Anna? I know this is your first time on the Eastern Front, and—”
“I’m good,” she quickly answered. “Thanks, though.”
Her mind was playing tricks on her. That was all.
“Okay… you sure? I don’t want your boyfriend to kill me if something goes wrong and I come back without you.”
Her boyfriend? Anna choked on a laugh, even as heat rose to her face. “Hayden is not my boyfriend. Not even close.”
“No?” Liam asked. He almost sounded… excited about that fact?
“No.” Absolutely not. Sure, they spent a lot of time together. Came up with plans together. Shared their thoughts and feelings with each other. Cuddled at night to keep warm. And Hayden had grabbed her pretty possessively earlier in the day, and… “We’re just working together toward a common goal.” Yep, that was all.
Liam cleared his throat. “Okay, well, still. You sure you’re good?”
She gave a decided nod. “Absolutely. Let’s get this over with.”
Everyone split up, confidently walking into their chosen entry points and strolling through the town like they’d lived there for their entire lives. The bigger the town, the easier it was to blend. Just like Hayden had predicted while they brainstormed on the old freeway, nobody even glanced in her direction.
Just as Anna made it to a busier section of town, with people bustling in every direction, a middle-aged couple caught her eye. The man was tall, handsome but with worn features, his hand resting against the woman’s lower back.
And suddenly she knew what she’d forgotten, what she was missing.
Hayden.
She… was definitely not ready to process that thought. So, instead, she threw herself into the mission, looking for officers and watching the way civilians interacted with them, keeping a headcount so she’d be able to tell Hayden how many they may have on their side when they stormed in, if they stormed in.
She moved toward the district’s center, a huge walled compound where high-ranking officers lived, protected from their own people. As if true leaders would need to protect themselves from those they ruled over.
Her mind drifted back to her short time at the Resistance’s compound. The way Hayden and his brothers walked amongst their people every day, laughing, talking, discussing plans for expansion, opening missions up to whoever wanted to take a stab at them. Nobody walked around armed, and they certainly didn’t need guards to protect them. Their people respected them, admired them.
Hayden, Hunter, Derek, Sawyer… they were true leaders. Trustworthy leaders. Good men.
Perhaps she should’ve trusted them sooner. Then all this may have been easier.
Anna counted officers on the compound’s wall, taking in easy-access points where they may be able to get inside without being noticed. This compound was slightly different than the one she was used to, barred windows in the wall allowing her to see inside at several points rather than just at the main gate.
