Callean grabbed a chair and slid it toward us so the back faced our line. He straddled the seat and his eyes scrutinized our faces. “Tell me all that you know about Lance’s plan.”
Luke recounted our failed mission into the research center, our confrontation with Lance and his monologuing, the assassination of Mullen, and our escape and rescue by Burnbaum. He conveniently left out that Emily had recently changed sides, and I could see why by Callean’s impassive expression. At the end of his tale Luke stepped toward Callean. “Now we need your help to stop the convoy Lance intends to send out from the research center. That will be when Lance is at his most vulnerable.”
Callean leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. “You’re a cool customer, Laughton. Lance has spread tales of your murdering Mullen and kidnapping Stevens, and here you are crossing the regions to stop your own brother.”
“What he says is a lie, but what he intends to do is very much the truth. He wishes to control all the regions with his research and then start a war with the humans for control over more territory,” Luke told him.
“I believe you, but you haven’t convinced me to join you. Lance is moving with his formula, but my men can steal as much as they want of that,” Callean pointed out.
Emily rolled her eyes. “Are you really that stupid? If he mass-produces the chemical he’ll overrun your men and the rest of the werewolf regions.”
“My men are well-trained in gathering information and protecting me, but a full-on assault like what you’re suggesting is not what is in their general repertoire. What forces can you have to support my group?” Callean questioned us.
Luke stepped forward. “We have Burnbaum’s Green Party and ourselves out your disposal.”
Callean scoffed. “Is that it? And you expect us to defeat Lance when all his men have this formula?”
“Don’t you even want to save Stacy and the others?” I spoke up.
Callean glanced at us one at a time and his lips were tightly pursed together. “They all knew the risks, and I know my responsibility to my men is not to send them on a suicide mission to rescue a few people. I have heard no plan, you have no men, and that means there is no hope this mission could ever succeed,” he argued. He looked to Tracker. “Give them a barrack and some food, and when they’re ready they can leave. We can take you as far as-” The door to the metal shed swung open and we all turned to see that Leonor stood in the doorway.
She stepped inside and her eyes swept over us. “Where’s Stacy?” she asked us.
Callean slipped off his chair and stepped toward her. “Leonor, this is no time-”
“Quiet, you buffoon, and tell me where Stacy is. I saw her friends come in here, but she’s not here. Why?” she snapped.
My eyes lit up as I saw possibility. “She’s been captured, and Callean won’t help us recuse her,” I spoke up. Callean shot me a glare that would have withered a flower which I fortunately wasn’t.
Leonor’s eyes widened for a moment before they hardened, and she whipped her head to her son. “And why aren’t you saving her?”
“I can’t risk my-”
Leonor waved her hand and brushed aside his comment. “Yes, yes, your men. I’ve heard you say that so many times it’s in my nightmares, but you ever asked what your men want? They’re tired of sitting around here rotting away while Tracker here-” she nodded at the man, “-brings news that everybody and their pup are fighting Lance’s men.”
“The plan they’ve proposed to save Stacy is nothing short of a suicide mission,” he protested.
Leonor marched up to him, stood on her tiptoes, and stuck her nose as close to his face as she could manage. She fell a foot short, but that didn’t lessen the terrible look in her eyes. “Maybe it’d be better to die like a proud wolf in the heat of battle than live like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs.” She tapped his temple and he winced. “Eh? You ever think of that? That maybe all this money you’ve got and all these men aren’t worth a darn if you’re not going to use them to save everyone?”
I stepped forward and gave him my best puppy-dog look. “We can’t do this without your men. Why not ask them if they want to go with us? It can’t hurt to ask.” I sidestepped and gestured to Twiddle Dee and Dum on either side of the door. “Why not start by asking them?”
Callean pushed his mother to the side and turned toward his men. “You heard all the risks and rewards. We either stay here and outlast our enemies in cunning, or we go to them and see if we can outlast our enemies in a battle. Which do you prefer?”
The guards glanced at each other and grins slid across their otherwise stupid faces. They looked back to Callean, and grasped their guns. “We’ll take the fight, sir,” one of them replied.
“Yeah, I’ve got a wife and kids that I don’t want to have to do the fight for me,” the other added.
Callean smiled and half-turned to us. “It seems your will to fight is contagious.”
I leaned toward Luke and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Did he just call us the common cold?”
“You are certainly trouble, but let us hope you give more trouble to Lance than to your allies,” Callean replied. He turned to Luke. “When did you say this convoy would leave the compound?”
“We’re not sure, but as soon as possible. They may have already left,” Luke told him.
“Then we should have left an hour ago.” Callean glanced at Tracker and his guards. “All of you go alert the men. We’re moving out in ten minutes. Take as many of the guns as you can and all the ammo we have available. We’re going to attack Lance and finish this little war of his.”
The men saluted and hurried out into the bright day. Leonor stepped up to her son and put her hand on his shoulder. He glanced down at her and I noticed she had a wide smile on her face. “I’m proud of you,” she told him. Then her face changed into a frown, she reached up and slapped her hand across his cheek. The force knocked his face away and left a distinct red mark. “But don’t you dare take that long to listen to your mother again!” Leonor stalked from the barrack and disappeared into the crowds that quickly swarmed the front of the building.
Emily snorted. “Why isn’t she in charge?”
Callean rubbed his cheek and glanced in the direction his mother had gone with an affectionate smile on his face. “I’m not sure she isn’t.” He dropped his hand and turned to us. “But you have to keep your end of the bargain. We need Burnbaum’s help, even if it isn’t much. How can we get a hold of him?”
“I know the new codes. We could get a message through on the radio,” Adam spoke up.
Callean gave a nod. “Good. I’ll show you the way to the radio tent. I didn’t see any guns on any of you, so the rest of you go outside and rummage through the boxes outside these barracks. You should find something to please your thirst for battle.” He led Adam outside and we followed.
21
Day had broken during our Hummer ride and I blinked in the harsh light. The reason for the crowds was because of two dozen wooden ammunition boxes that lay on the ground outside the barrack. The tops were tossed aside to reveal guns of all sizes. Small cricket guns, large machine guns, submachine guns, sub sandwich guns, rifles, pistols, everything a gun-nut would ever want. Rick would have been in heaven.
I took the chance to glance around the camp and wasn’t surprised to see there were a dozen more barracks buildings lined up in two rows. Even that number of buildings couldn’t hold all of Callean’s men, and tents were pitched at the end of the road. The main thoroughfare was outside the doors and flaps, and between the barracks were small fire pits for cooking. The grassy plains of the border region were replaced by thickets of marsh-trees and the light smell of swamp. I wondered if the soldiers sent here in past times were supposed to toughen up their immune systems with malaria. A whole fleet of Hummers was parked in the main thoroughfare and those of Callean’s men not around the boxes ran here and there gathering up other supplies such as medical kits and fuel for the vehicles.
Emily rubbed her hands as her eyes swept over the goodies. “Now this is what I’m talking about.” She dove into the eager snatching of the guns and grabbed what she could. Rick would have been proud.
Luke edged close to me and lightly grasped my arm. “Take what you wish, but remember that nothing beats your natural weapons of claws and teeth,” he whispered to me.
I glanced at him and noticed his hands were empty. “Aren’t you going to take one?” I wondered.
He shook his head. “No. Zeke detested them and never taught me to shoot.”
I snorted. “It’s not that hard. Just think of it as the original point-and-click interface. Oh, and aiming. That’s pretty important.”
Luke smiled, but he didn’t make a move toward the piles of guns. They disappeared from the boxes like the popular toy off shelves on Black Friday. I sighed and shrugged. “I guess I’ll go barehanded, too.”
“They can be useful,” Luke countered.