Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,21
not looking great.”
“This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment reaction,” I said. “This was planned.”
“Agreed,” Orfeda said. “They may have had to move up the timetable of taking the White House—Gawain certainly didn’t seem happy about it—but the number of forces heading toward the capital suggest this has been on the cards for a while.”
“And the rest of the enemy?” I asked. “Where are they heading in from?”
“The majority of them are coming from the northwest through Rock Creek Park,” Orfeda said. “There are maybe five thousand there. The remainder were already in the city; they have been running battles with the local law enforcement, starting fires, causing problems, keeping everyone busy. They’re KOA, mostly human supporters of Arthur and Avalon.”
“Where have you put the defenses?” Selene asked.
“Everything within a six-block radius of the White House is completely locked down,” Jinayca said. “It’s where most of the resistance members are.”
“Anyone in charge at the park who we can trust?” I asked.
“A few people,” Jinayca said. “Loki is there, as are Layla and her team. They’ve been patrolling the exclusion zone and have managed to stop several incursion attempts by the KOA. Judgement is there too. She’s . . . eager to involve herself.”
“I’ll head off,” I said. “You guys keep safe.”
“The rest of your team are already heading to the exclusion zone,” Orfeda said. “Good luck.”
“You too,” Selene said as we set off at a run toward the edge of the park.
We continued on toward Lafayette Square, making sure to stay far enough back from the White House, although it was always in our field of vision. No one was out on the street, despite it only being midnight, although there were plenty of lights on in the buildings around us. I wondered if their occupants were going to be moved away from danger or whether the city was going to be put into complete lockdown while we figured out a way to stop the streets from becoming a battleground. It had been a few hundred years since the last time Washington had been home to war, and I would rather it not happen again, considering the number of civilians who lived in the city was exponentially larger than it had been back then.
We reached Lafayette Square, where several large, heavily armed FBI agents barred our way.
“It’s okay; they’re with us,” Loki shouted, and the guards parted before us.
A large wall had been erected across the park between the rebellion forces and the White House, and several armed agents stood behind the metal structure.
“You having a problem with snipers?” I asked Loki.
“We were,” he said. “They’ve stopped now, but occasionally they take a shot at the wall there and see what happens.”
There were maybe a hundred personnel in the park. Several tents had been put up, and Loki took us both into the nearest one, where the few dozen people inside wore bulletproof vests with various acronyms on them. The FBI seemed to be in the majority, although there were more than a few Secret Service members there too.
I recognized a man at the end of the map-covered table and smiled. “Roberto Cortez?” I asked. “Is that you?”
Roberto shook my hand. He was a little under six feet tall and appeared to be in his early fifties, although in truth he was hundreds of years older than that. Roberto was a shape-shifter and had been placed in Washington for a long time. Every now and again, he’d modify his appearance slightly and change jobs. He’d been put here to keep an eye on those in charge, although like everyone else, I doubted he’d expected Arthur to return and become a tyrant.
“It’s been a while, Nate,” Roberto said.
I introduced him to Selene, who looked up from one of the maps at the table and shook his hand. “You worked with Nate when he was at Avalon?” she asked.
“I don’t think anyone really worked with Nate,” Roberto said. “He wasn’t exactly someone who toed the company line, so to speak.”
“I’m shocked,” Selene said, giving me a mocking grin.
“Come with me; we need to talk,” Roberto said, suddenly serious.
“Who is everyone in there?” I asked when we left the tent.
“Members of the military, several senators, high-ranking members of the FBI, Secret Service, and the CIA director. The shit has well and truly hit the fan.”
“And what is the press doing?” Selene asked.
“Well, the press are divided between trying to give information, keep ratings, and in a few cases kissing Avalon ass because they’re hedging their bets.