scowled. “Do I usually give my people orders I’m not sure about?”
“Cheap shot, Cap. You know that’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
He took her arm, and with a glance back at the others who were dutifully not listening, pulled her farther into the trees on the hill above the farm compound. “I mean are you doing this for the right reasons? Or just to get back at your fanged boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He never was. And this has nothing to do with him. If we’re going to run an op against that building”—she pointed at the main structure below—“we need better intel than we can get sitting a hundred yards away on a hillside. We’ve already been watching the place for two hours, and we’ve learned everything we can from this position. We know they all come out to work in the morning, that they don’t wear uniforms or stupid robes. And since their glorious leader will be arriving after sunset, plus them being farmers and all, it’s good bet that they’ll stop for the day close to sunset, put away their tools, and return inside for the night.”
“And we learned all that sitting right here, where they can’t see us.”
“I don’t get it, Brian. This is a standard recon op. What’s your problem with it?”
“My problem is you’re going in blind. For all we know, they have checkpoints inside every door. Maybe they all have a secret tattoo, or a fluorescent stamp, like in a bar. For that matter, they might have pressure plates outside all the windows, and most of the doors.”
“That’s pretty extreme for a kids’ farm compound, don’t you think? Besides, Cláudia didn’t have a tattoo or a bar stamp, and she didn’t say anything about the kind of security measures you’re thinking of,” she dismissed.
“So you stripped her down, searched her head to toe? Did you scan her with a black light?”
“You know we didn’t.”
“So how do you know—?”
“I don’t, okay? Are you saying we’ve never scouted an unknown location before? Have you been working with the same team I have for six years? Come on, Brian.”
“Who’s going with you on this intel gathering mission? Because I know you’re going.”
“Kerry. We’re the only two women, and if we have to, we can play the part of adoring servants long enough to get out of there.”
“Fuck. You’re going to do this, no matter what I say.”
She shrugged. “Unless you can come up with a good reason why we shouldn’t. We need better intel on the interior of that building. Is it one big room inside? A warren of hallways? Who the fuck knows? But don’t you think we should?”
He sighed. “You really think we’re going to assault that place?”
“I don’t know. I do know that Xavier wants Sakal, not a bunch of teenage truth seekers. So any op we do run will have to be at night, to be sure the asshole vamp is there.”
He dropped his head, jaw clenched as he studied his boots, before looking back up. “All right. But you’re not going in unarmed, and you’re wearing comms. River and I will move in closer, but we’ll still need to know if you’re in trouble before it happens, not after they drag your dead bodies out into the dirt.”
“You really think that Kerry and I couldn’t take a bunch of kids, if we had to? Have some faith.”
“I have plenty of faith. I just know you too well. Let’s get this damn thing organized.”
AN HOUR LATER, LAYLA and Kerry were ready. The grounds of the compound had been crowded with acolytes until maybe fifteen minutes ago, performing a variety of tasks, including farming and maintenance. But then, a soft chime had sounded outside the building, and the workers had responded instantly. They patted the dirt around a final plant, put away their tools, and headed for a row of outdoor faucets to wash their hands. They’d been orderly about it, but not horror movie creepy orderly. There’d been no falling into line and marching in silent lock-step to the sinks and through the open doors. After washing up, they’d walked into the building in small groups of quiet conversation, and that was it.
Layla glanced at the time. They had another hour until true sunset, maybe an hour after that before Sakal would arrive, since according to Xavier, the vampire was weak and wouldn’t rise until well after dark. If she and Kerry were going to infiltrate the compound,