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“He’s fine,” I say, willing it to be so.
Logan gives me that small, private smile. “He’s good at this.”
“And I know shit’s not moving as fast as we’d like, but his report is good news, butterfly,” Maddoc adds. “He’s on the right path and getting closer to finding what we need to finally take that fucker down. In the meantime, we still need to keep up the fight.”
“And protect our people,” I say, squaring my shoulders and taking a deep breath to center myself.
My worries aren’t going to help Dante, and they’re not going to help the Reapers. So they need to wait.
Maddoc smiles at me. “And protect our people,” he agrees. “The question is, how do we prepare for those attacks Dante mentioned without giving away that we already know they’re coming?”
Maddoc and Logan throw around a few ideas while we finally eat the breakfast Logan made for us, then they head into Maddoc’s office to do some more focused planning.
I follow, staring hard at the map Maddoc keeps on the wall there as they start discussing logistics.
“What is it, wildcat?” Logan asks quietly, startling me out of my thoughts.
I blink, then walk over and trace a few lines on the map, then tap a shaded area just inside Reaper territory. “This is where he said Austin will send the mercenaries next, right?”
“That’s right,” Maddoc says, coming up behind me while Logan’s gaze sharpens, following the path I just traced.
“I don’t know that part of the city well,” I say slowly, scanning the map again, “but if this is accurate, then they’ve got to take Jefferson Boulevard if they’re coming in force. Otherwise, they won’t have access.” I tap another part of the map. “It looks like there are no through-streets here, so Jefferson is their only option. What if we put some kind of construction equipment in the way here, or even damage the road so that the city has to send a crew to fix it, cutting off the whole route?”
“That would either force them to advance on foot—”
“If they’re trained the way we think they are, they’re not going to do that,” Logan cuts in. “It puts them at too much risk of retreat if they run into more resistance than they expect.”
Maddoc nods as Logan’s comment sparks another idea in my mind.
“True, it could definitely help protect the first target. The question is, will McKenna waste time regrouping, or just attack the secondary target?”
He taps another area of the map.
“If he does, we should do what Logan just said,” I blurt.
Logan blinks. “What did I just say?”
“That we should make sure they run into more resistance than they expect. Look, we already know everywhere they’re going to hit, right? So why don’t we smuggle extra weapons into those areas beforehand? That way, we can make sure that wherever Austin diverts his mercenaries to when he runs into the roadblock on Jefferson, our people have the firepower to withstand it.”
Maddoc nods slowly. “It wouldn’t implicate Dante. It will just look like we’re taking extra precautions as a response to all the recent attacks.”
“We don’t have the resources to fortify everywhere he might hit. It would spread us too thin,” Logan says, his eyes out of focus, as if he’s calculating things in his head. Then he centers his gaze on Maddoc again. “But he doesn’t know that.”
Maddoc smiles, a slow, sinister one that promises trouble for anyone who threatens the Reapers… and kindles a delicious heat, low in my belly.
“No, he doesn’t.” He tips my chin up, stroking my jaw. “You’re good at this, butterfly. You’ve got a mind for strategy. Do you know how fucking sexy that is?”
I flush with pleasure at the compliment.
It’s one thing to know he loves me, that he desires me, but knowing he respects me too, hits me somewhere even deeper. Still, as we keep discussing the details of how we’ll use the information Dante gave us—both of my men including me as an equal, valued partner in every step of the planning—I can’t help the feeling that it’s not enough.
We’re good together, but it feels like something is missing. Like we’re incomplete.
Because we are.
And thishasto fucking work, because we won’t be whole until Dante finally comes home.
35
