control at one time."
"You're
saying that now we are more vulnerable apart—in hiding—than
we are together."
"That's
exactly what I'm saying."
I could see the
gears turning inside of his mind. He wanted to believe I was right.
What I was describing was the thing that he'd been fighting for since
he'd first turned against the Coun'hij decades ago.
"I'm sure
you're right that Puppeteer has limits—all powers do—but
he could do the same thing he did when he broke the vampire
strongholds in St Louis. Stage shipments of werewolves a short
distance away from wherever we are staying, and then run them into us
a dozen at a time, wearing us down until we finally break."
"It's a
risk, but the potential benefits are huge. Puppeteer seems to have a
fairly small range. If he's close enough to attack us with his
minions it will mean that he's close enough for us to get our hands
on him.
"I've
already talked to Jack. His contacts say that they can guarantee us a
satellite over the area for at least five days. We'll put analysts on
the video coming off of the bird and we'll look for any vehicles that
are motionless during the time of the attacks. If we can identify him
we can send Heath in with a hand-picked squad. Puppeteer will never
see them coming."
"It's
risky."
"Sure, but
it's also the chance we've been waiting for. If Puppeteer was out of
the picture, the whole dynamics of the situation would change
completely. All of a sudden the packs would only have to worry about
the enforcers. Don't get me wrong, the enforcers are bad news, but
there are only so many of them. Kaleb and the rest have been relying
on the threat of the werewolves to keep everyone in line—there
are too many demands on their manpower to do otherwise.
"We won't
go looking for a fight. We'll keep a low profile and try to get
Jaclyn's people out quietly, but if it comes to fighting we have a
very good chance of coming out on top. I've asked Carson to reach out
to Grayson again. Carson can't guarantee he'll be there, but I'm
willing to promise just about anything to get Grayson down in Arizona
with us. He has to have a price, and thanks to the money I stole from
Kaleb, I'm in a position to meet it."
"It sounds
like you've got everything planned out. You, Heath, Grayson, Taggart
and me. You've basically put together the dream team of hybrid
superheroes."
Adri's voice
turned something that otherwise should have been a compliment into a
bitter recrimination, but I told myself that she was still hurting,
that I couldn't take it personally. It helped a little. What she said
next just about sent me over the edge.
"Instead
of messing around down in Arizona, why don't you just take a quick
trip up to Sanctuary and wipe out Kaleb, Brandon and the rest of your
old pack? If you really want to change the power dynamic you should
start taking out the Coun'hij's most loyal supporters. You probably
wouldn't have to take out more than three or four packs before the
Coun'hij would start suffering from a massive round of defections."
I realized I
was gritting my teeth, and forced my jaw to unclench. "I lived
in Sanctuary for seventeen years, but contrary to what you may
believe, that isn't the reason that I'm not heading up there and
laying waste to every living thing within twenty miles of the estate.
"I lived
there—here, actually—for long enough to know that not
every member of this pack deserves to die. That's going to be true of
any of the packs in the Coun'hij's court. Every pack is full of both
good and bad people, but more than that, every pack has people in it
who are part of the problem just because they are too scared to stand
up for what they know is right.
"I'll come
back here at some point—when the time is right—and I'll
kill Kaleb and Brandon. Honestly, I'd be happy to kill them sooner,
but I'm not going to do anything that will result in a bunch of
non-combatants being caught in the crossfire. When I start taking out
the key figures who are
"You're
saying that now we are more vulnerable apart—in hiding—than
we are together."
"That's
exactly what I'm saying."
I could see the
gears turning inside of his mind. He wanted to believe I was right.
What I was describing was the thing that he'd been fighting for since
he'd first turned against the Coun'hij decades ago.
"I'm sure
you're right that Puppeteer has limits—all powers do—but
he could do the same thing he did when he broke the vampire
strongholds in St Louis. Stage shipments of werewolves a short
distance away from wherever we are staying, and then run them into us
a dozen at a time, wearing us down until we finally break."
"It's a
risk, but the potential benefits are huge. Puppeteer seems to have a
fairly small range. If he's close enough to attack us with his
minions it will mean that he's close enough for us to get our hands
on him.
"I've
already talked to Jack. His contacts say that they can guarantee us a
satellite over the area for at least five days. We'll put analysts on
the video coming off of the bird and we'll look for any vehicles that
are motionless during the time of the attacks. If we can identify him
we can send Heath in with a hand-picked squad. Puppeteer will never
see them coming."
"It's
risky."
"Sure, but
it's also the chance we've been waiting for. If Puppeteer was out of
the picture, the whole dynamics of the situation would change
completely. All of a sudden the packs would only have to worry about
the enforcers. Don't get me wrong, the enforcers are bad news, but
there are only so many of them. Kaleb and the rest have been relying
on the threat of the werewolves to keep everyone in line—there
are too many demands on their manpower to do otherwise.
"We won't
go looking for a fight. We'll keep a low profile and try to get
Jaclyn's people out quietly, but if it comes to fighting we have a
very good chance of coming out on top. I've asked Carson to reach out
to Grayson again. Carson can't guarantee he'll be there, but I'm
willing to promise just about anything to get Grayson down in Arizona
with us. He has to have a price, and thanks to the money I stole from
Kaleb, I'm in a position to meet it."
"It sounds
like you've got everything planned out. You, Heath, Grayson, Taggart
and me. You've basically put together the dream team of hybrid
superheroes."
Adri's voice
turned something that otherwise should have been a compliment into a
bitter recrimination, but I told myself that she was still hurting,
that I couldn't take it personally. It helped a little. What she said
next just about sent me over the edge.
"Instead
of messing around down in Arizona, why don't you just take a quick
trip up to Sanctuary and wipe out Kaleb, Brandon and the rest of your
old pack? If you really want to change the power dynamic you should
start taking out the Coun'hij's most loyal supporters. You probably
wouldn't have to take out more than three or four packs before the
Coun'hij would start suffering from a massive round of defections."
I realized I
was gritting my teeth, and forced my jaw to unclench. "I lived
in Sanctuary for seventeen years, but contrary to what you may
believe, that isn't the reason that I'm not heading up there and
laying waste to every living thing within twenty miles of the estate.
"I lived
there—here, actually—for long enough to know that not
every member of this pack deserves to die. That's going to be true of
any of the packs in the Coun'hij's court. Every pack is full of both
good and bad people, but more than that, every pack has people in it
who are part of the problem just because they are too scared to stand
up for what they know is right.
"I'll come
back here at some point—when the time is right—and I'll
kill Kaleb and Brandon. Honestly, I'd be happy to kill them sooner,
but I'm not going to do anything that will result in a bunch of
non-combatants being caught in the crossfire. When I start taking out
the key figures who are
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