one person could ever be. The sex was great, but this was more than sex. It was connection on a soul deep level, a link she had never expected to understand, much less experience.
She didn’t have to handle the worst of this crisis on her own. She wasn’t alone anymore, and neither was Ben.
There was a lot of bad blood between her and Ted, but this was too important to be affected by her personal dislike. He’d obviously come to the same conclusion. He didn’t have to be here, didn’t have to share what he knew, and that meant he was a bigger, better person than she’d expected.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I know you didn’t have to come to us.”
Ted still didn’t look directly at her, but he nodded in acknowledgment. “They’ve planned a meeting for tomorrow afternoon, at a vacant building that used to be a craft store of some kind. Near the pizza place. Do I go? Do I stay away?” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do.”
“That’s all right,” Ben said, his gaze going savage. “I do.”
They sat around the table with sheets of paper and a couple of pencils. Between Sela, Leigh, and Mike, they could locate the homes of each of the six men, which were spread out but tended to be on the Townsend side of the valley. They drew rudimentary maps, listed the family members they knew of—Mike and Leigh were more useful for that than Sela was, because her natural shyness had kept her from getting to know as many people as they did. Ted was a help; he’d learned a lot on the community patrols. Ben had a natural aptitude for learning his environment and studying it strategically; before the solar storm he’d driven and hiked a large portion of the valley. He didn’t know people, but he knew the territory.
“We can’t hit their houses,” he said, sitting back and tapping a pencil on a page. “We don’t know how many kids are in each house, or where they’d be.” These men had no care for life and would fight back, regardless of their families being present. Ben didn’t want anyone shooting into houses where kids were; he didn’t have qualms about the adults, but these kids already had hard lives because of who and what their parents were. Meth addicts—and Mike was certain all of these men were tied to the meth trade—lived for nothing but their next hit, and nothing meant anything to them beyond that next hit. If other people died because of their addiction, they didn’t care.
Mike and Ted both nodded in agreement.
“If they all show up for the meeting at the craft store, that’ll be our best chance, and will minimize any collateral damage.”
“They should be there,” Ted said. “According to Lawrence’s plan, anyway.”
Ben gave a brief nod. “A central meet is more efficient than someone going from house to house, telling everyone what’s going on.”
Mike and Ted were relatively clueless on the craft store, other than knowing kind of where it was, but Leigh had often bought things there and was able to sketch the floor layout, doors, windows, parking lot, and any buildings or tree stands nearby.
Ben’s plan was simple, and even then he expected things to go sideways; they almost always did when guns and people were involved. Mike and Leigh were tasked with visiting chosen patrol members and reading them in on the plan. Ted was to stay far away from any of the other patrol members, so they wouldn’t be suspicious of him. Myra Road was out of the way, a small neighborhood with hills and curves, and limited sight lines; the chances were small that he’d have been spotted unless someone had followed him, and he’d have noticed another vehicle on the road behind him because there was no traffic. Despite people having some gasoline now they were still in conservation mode, and driving around wasn’t nearly as important as having fuel for generators.
With the plan in place, Ben and Sela walked back to her house. The day had warmed to the point that only thin patches of snow were left, and by afternoon there would be none. “I need to go to my house, get some things,” he said. “Want to come along?”
“Yes,” she replied, no hesitation. Wherever he was, she wanted to be. “I need to check on Carol, though.”
“We can stop on the way.” He glanced down at her. “Think I should put