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I had a feeling, whatever it was; the women were all in on it and it was going to be big. Lexie did nothing by halves.
forty-one
Ipushedmywayback through the swinging door, with Ava, Sirena, and Isabella in tow. The guys were still debating and discussing our next steps and how quickly we should move. The two packs seemed to work well together in an emergency, but right now there were too many alphas and too many opinions. Someone needed to take charge.
I was happy to be that person.
“I’m going tonight.” I announced loudly into the fray as I surveyed my guys, ignoring Damon and his mates for the moment. Dave frowned, Dio smiled broadly, Pala nodded, and Sam narrowed his eyes. I winked at them.
“Do you have a plan?” Damon asked, dragging my attention back to him as he watched me evenly.
“Sure do.” I said, as I planted my hands on my hips. I knew when dealing with alphas, if you appeared confident, you’d won half the battle.
“I need to get the women out of the safe house tonight. They’ve been there too long with no fresh air and only a limited supply of food. Re-stocking them isn’t an option. Making too many trips into town while the Palace alphas have a base there is risky for everyone. We’re trailing a lot of scents through the town and they’re going to suspect something is up. We don’t want to wait until they ask for reinforcements.
“So it makes sense to clear the town tonight as well. From what Pala has told us, they’re using the pub as their base and that is smack bang in the center of town. You’re right that there are a lot of variables, including the possibility of hostages if they see us coming, but if we remove the risk to the residents, it becomes much simpler.”
“How?” Sam asked. He didn’t look angry, to my relief. Just intrigued.
“We go in quietly as soon as it gets dark and we go door to door. We move everyone to the museum. It’s old and solid stone. So it’s easily defensible if things go pear-shaped. Then we take out any guards or patrols, surround the pub and you guys do your thing to take out the alphas inside. The ones drinking like they’re invincible and the apocalypse is just an opportunity to be even bigger asshats.”
“We don’t have the numbers to protect the farm, round up the residents and guard them, then surround the pub.” Damon was listening at least, which was a start.
“We do. For starters, we have the half dozen alphas who stayed behind when the others escaped.”
“We don’t know if we can trust them. What if they betray us?”
I rolled my eyes. “They won’t. I have a strong sense about people. It’s what helped me spot abusers all these years, even before there was any evidence. Plus, you wouldn’t have let them stay if you thought they’d betray us. Not with Maia, Ava, and Cary wandering around.”
“She’s right,” Dio piped up. “I’ve spoken to the ones who stayed behind and they don’t want to go back to the Palace. They want to help. They know that if they have a shot of staying here, they’re going to have to earn it.”
“There still may not be enough of us to take the town, not if we’re going door to door,” Damon said.
“You forget, Damon, that we’re not the only ones here with family and friends in town. You also underestimate how badly people want to help,” I replied.
“I’m not putting the men and women here in danger,” Damon growled.
“It’s not your choice to make, Damon. Are you going to deny someone the chance to help their loved ones if it’s in their power to do so? Or even the right to fight for their own ideals if they want to?”
Damon was quiet. He didn’t have a good answer. I could see his brain searching for one and coming up empty.
“Besides, we won’t have them running around recklessly and unprotected. We’ll need to divvy up all of our alphas and military trained personnel into four groups, then we’ll have the Honey Badgers team, made up of anyone from the farm who has volunteered. That’s the code name they’ve given themselves, by the way. So far, we have about twenty Honey Badgers made up of adults and older teenagers. They’ll be the ones gathering people.”
“Honey badgers,” Hunter laughed, “man, those things are lethal. I saw a video of one a few weeks ago. It had a guy bailed up in a chicken coop. They’re small but feisty. They’ll take on anything, even a lion.”
I shot Hunter a small, grateful smile, silently thanking him for breaking the tension.
“Unless you have a better idea, my plan is that the first, smallest group, stays here and protects the farm, just in case. All the kids have already been told they’re having a movie night in the cave and they’re all excited. Nick is setting up a projector for them and they’re all taking in mattresses and pillows.
“The elderly and anyone else who is staying will bunk down in the guest houses closest to the cave until we get back, so everyone is in one spot in case anything goes wrong here. Everyone’s packed and ready. They also know where to head if they have to evacuate for any reason.
“The second and third group will cover the north and south approaches to town. They’ll nominate a few members to guard the approach and the rest will form mobile squads, finding any enemy patrols, watching them closely, keeping the Honey Badgers team clear and coming to their aid if needed.
“We’ve given the Honey Badgers personal alarms, emergency lights and flares, and they’ve been shown how to use them. Some of them also have night vision goggles. They’ve mapped out a grid of areas they know, based on where their loved ones live, so it will be familiar faces gathering the residents.
“We’ve worked out a signal system if anyone gets into trouble, so the mobile squads can get to them quickly. If that happens, everyone else knows to fall back towards a safe space. Once the town is cleared, the fourth team will drive into town in the MPV while the second and third mobile teams immobilize the guards and surround the pub.
“Any questions?”
