She glanced at her mother. “I know. I started doing them when I couldn’t sleep, then realized needing to do them was why I couldn’t sleep.”
Fallon put up another map. “The problems are the distance for the looking, and their DU shields, so there are areas where it’s more best guess and logic than actual seeing. The DUs working with them are highly skilled, so I didn’t want to push it, risk leaving a trace they’d pick up.”
“It’s bigger than I thought.” Will rose to walk closer to the map.
“Thirty-five acres, walled and shielded. I’ve marked the guard posts, and they have sentries patrolling twenty-four-seven. Additional security with the black magick shields. I watched a couple of deer drop when they got about three feet from the wall. When we’re ready, we won’t worry about traces or alerts, and take them down.”
“Can we?” Kim, a woman with courage and brains Fallon respected, stood as well, walked closer to the maps. “There’s no point losing people before we get through the wall.”
“We’ll take it down. Not all the buildings are going to be fortified or shielded. That takes too much power, and too many supplies. But we can count on the prisons—they have two—the armory, and other key buildings having their shields and fortifications.”
She went over the layout section by section, asked Chuck to fill in with his bits of intel.
“So, we think they have somewhere between four and five hundred troops in the base at any given time. And possibly another fifty Raiders who use the base between raids by virtue of an alliance.”
She nodded at Poe. “They rotate them out, do some training there, have designated squads for raids and Uncanny sweeps. As far as we can tell, Raiders don’t serve on security, as guards, or the basic workforce.”
“They keep some animals,” Chuck put in. “Fresh eggs, fresh milk to supplement their hunting parties. And they grow some crops—all of that’s taken care of by slaves. It’s a lot of mouths to feed, clothe, and like that. Raiders bring in supplies, and get use of the base.”
“We calculate they hold at least a hundred as slaves,” Fallon continued. “It looks like they rotate them, too. When they need more in another location, they transport them. We can’t really estimate prisoners at this point. While they hold weekly executions according to their fucked-up tradition—” She caught herself, looked at her mother. “Sorry.”
“Considering the subject matter, it’s hard for me to comment on your language.”
“Ah. They hold their public executions every Sunday, but our best information is they keep it at one prisoner. The base serves as a kind of holding center for anybody they grab between—most likely—Virginia, down to North Carolina, and over to West Virginia, possibly eastern Tennessee.”
“See, they pull them in,” Chuck explained, “then if some of their other bases are running low for that Sunday picnic, they send some out.”
“Add to that anyone—civilian, magickal—they pull in from a mission into D.C. What passes for the government still holds the city. James Hargrove stands as president.”
“Fucker.” Chuck shot up a middle finger for emphasis. “And I’m not sorry.”
“It’s no democracy,” Fallon continued. “Basically, he’s an autocrat, running the show with the military.”
“We can’t get much from inside the White House,” Chuck added. “But rumors fly. Executions again, but not public.”
“A veneer of the civilized,” Arlys put in. “But it’s clear he’s shredded the Constitution, and his agenda is removing magickals by any means.”
“Experiments, containment centers,” Chuck went on. “Vaults full of treasures—that’s a rumor, so who knows. But it’s pretty clear he’s living in the lap, and likes it.”
“He holds the power center in a dead city.” Fallon had been there, felt it. “The resistance keeps fighting, has had some victories. And the Dark Uncanny prey on both.”
“White wants D.C.,” Simon commented. “There are plenty of locations, like theirs in Arlington, more removed from that war zone—twenty years now. He chose strategically, allied with Raiders so he doesn’t have to worry about them. Allied with DUs for their power and again, so they don’t go after him.”
“I agree. He’s wrong because they will go after him when they don’t find him useful, but I agree. White wants the city.”
“Symbolism, a seat of power. If he can take it, and publicly execute Hargrove, some generals, that’s a statement.”
“Hargrove goes by CIC more than president,” Travis told him. “Commander in chief. It’s more military.”
“He was military,” Fallon put in. “Served during the Doom, and commanded the forces