Jared’s mouth twisted. “Then think of this as what we’ve practiced a million times during training – moving quickly but silently, and remaining out of sight.”
Alora hugged herself, rubbing her upper arms. “I hope Ava will be okay.”
Jude seemed just as anxious. “She’s just so tiny.”
“Ava can take care of herself, believe me.” Feeling Dexter’s cautiousness, I almost smiled. His constant presence was a comfort, even when he was in tattoo form.
Suddenly Damien’s head lifted and he took a long breath.
“You okay?” Reuben asked him.
“Yeah, fine.” Damien turned to me and Jared. “There are fourteen guards in total. Six are patrolling the camp. Four are guarding the tent. And another four are guarding the vehicle containing the cages. Every last one of them is vigilant. They clearly know it’s in their best interests to be alert. They know what they’re dealing with.”
Jared cocked his head. “Vigilant and nervous, or vigilant and confident?” There was a distinct difference. One meant that they might easily panic and that their ‘flight’ instinct would make them hesitate. The other meant that they were psychologically prepared and wouldn’t hesitate to act.
“The patrollers and the ones guarding the vehicle look alert but spooked. The others are pretty confident – even seem a little high on adrenaline.”
Jared went to speak again but was distracted as a puddle of goo slithering toward us. It quickly reformed into Denny.
He shook himself a little. “There are five humans inside the tent. They’re definitely military, and they’re armed with shit that I didn’t even know existed.”
Damien nodded. “The guards – particularly the patrollers – are well-armed too. I don’t even know what it is they’re carrying. I did identify smoke bombs and tranquiliser guns, though.”
“Nineteen humans in total, then.” I pursed my lips. “Not too high a number.”
“How about inside the vehicle?” Jared asked Denny.
“There are ten captives,” replied Denny. “There are four of Quentin’s vampires in there – only one is untainted, and he’s out cold. I’m assuming he’s Quentin’s brother. The other six are from Commander Rodney’s squad and, thankfully, they’re just injured and knocked out.”
His face a mask of absolute determination, Jared spoke. “Okay. First we need to disable the six patrollers. Chico, Salem, David – that’s where you guys come in. I don’t want Reuben to strengthen your gifts while you deal with the humans. All I need is for them to be out cold for a while. Afterwards, you hide the patrollers in the trees.” Without hesitation, they slinked away – splitting up and heading in different direction to target the guards.
“It’s weird being on an assignment that doesn’t involve torturing anyone,” commented Butch after a full minute of silence. Typical. It was looking more and more like the sociopath theory might be accurate.
Harvey snickered. “Yeah. It’s always cool watching Coach frighten the shit out of people with her whip. Sexy as hell, too. Ow!” He scowled at Jared for cuffing him over the head.
Reuben shook his head at Harvey. “It wouldn’t be so bad if you did that purely to irritate Commander Michaels like Max and Damien do” – Damien smiled at that – “but no, you do it because you don’t have the sense to keep your mouth zipped. It’s seriously worrying.” Denny, Jude, and Alora chuckled quietly.
Just then, Chico, Salem, and David returned. Chico dusted his hands. “Done. We hid in the same spot so it’ll be easier to keep watch over them.”
Satisfied, I nodded. “Then let’s move on to the next stage of the plan: getting to the captives. Chico, I need the humans guarding the vehicle out of the equation – I don’t want them responding to any noises they hear inside it. But don’t move until I give my signal.”
“Sure thing, Coach.”
“What about the humans guarding the tent and the people inside it?” David asked me.
“Providing they remain where they are, there’s no need for us to even so much as breathe in their direction.” I could only hope that things ran that smoothly. “Chico, Harvey, Jude, Alora – keep watch over them. If any of them head toward the vehicle or they realise that the patrollers are down, telepath Jared straight away. If too many of them head for us, then I’ll need Chico to put them asleep for a while. Harvey, you use your telekinesis to help hold them back and give Chico time to target them all.”
“What about us?” Reuben gestured from him to Damien.
“I need you both to keep an eye on the unconscious patrollers. If they look to be waking, contact Jared immediately.”
“My gift can help here,” said Alora. “I can ask the local wildlife to give me warnings if more humans approach and to keep them distracted for us. They’ll act as my eyes and ears.”
“That would help a great deal.” Jared pointed from David to Salem. “I need you both to act swiftly once I teleport you and Sam inside that vehicle. We don’t want the tainted having a chance to react to our presence. That means we destroy them as quickly as possible. In order for you to do that, you’ll need Reuben to strengthen your gifts.”
As soon as Reuben had done his thing, I spoke. “Chico, the second you’ve disabled the humans guarding the vehicle, telepath Jared.” He saluted me. “Now everyone move into position.” Everybody other than David and Salem silently slunk away, seeming to almost melt into their surroundings.
Fidgeting as usual, David shuddered. “Is it me, or does this just seem too easy?”
Jared’s brow furrowed. “You think it’s a trap?”
David shook his head. “It just feels like…I don’t know…like fate’s being a little too helpful. And that’s always odd.”
Salem shrugged. “Don’t forget, we’re dealing with humans here. It’s bound to be easier.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Jared nudged me. “Chico just contact me. The guards are out cold.”
“Then we move.” As Jared teleported us inside the vehicle, the smell of rotten fish hit me so hard I felt dizzy, but I didn’t have time to even balk. Instantly, we targeted the tainted. I took out one with an energy ball to the chest, Salem destroyed one with his lethal psychic punch, and David delivered a psionic boom to the third vampire’s brain. Like that, they were all ashes. It was clear that Jared was disappointed not to be able to kill one, but his gift of electrokinesis could be pretty noisy and we couldn’t risk him alerting anyone.