"Good point. Call me when you hit Albuquerque."

  "Right-o."

  Chad hung up and looked over at Ryan, who was looking rather comfortable with his girlfriend Shia sitting in his lap. From the way they were looking at each other, Chad suspected they would probably end up married in fairly short order. The only reason he and Max were waiting was for his friend Steven to get his wedding out of the way first.

  "We're definitely on for tonight then?" Ryan asked him.

  Chad nodded. "Let's get the group leaders together and go over everything one last time. I want this to go quickly so we can hit the Gradatim before daylight."

  "That's a pretty tall order, Chad."

  Chad nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I don't want to give the bastards time to hide their guilty on us. By morning they're going to know we're in town, so better to deal with them while they're still in bed."

  "Observer one, whatcha' got for me?" Chad called over the radio as they rolled into the outskirts of Denver.

  "It's quiet boss, real quiet. Most of the lights are out, there's hardly anyone about."

  "Maybe they think we're still on the road from Phoenix?" Ryan suggested.

  "They have to know we've got two armies out here," Max countered. "After all, we hit LA and Seattle at the same time."

  "So what then, a trap?"

  "We can't afford to take any chances," Chad said. "Get the maps out, we'll drop everyone off a mile from the target and proceed in on foot with a squad of scouts running before each group."

  Chad keyed his radio, "Everyone, pull over and stop. New orders coming."

  Chad listened as all the vehicles called in their acknowledgements.

  Max and Ryan were already spreading the battle plans out on the floor of the van, looking for good locations further away from the Vestibulum compound and marking them.

  Chad started calling out the new spots to each of the units assigned as they were marked on the map.

  "Okay, I want each of you to disembark at the new points, send out a squad of scouts in full wolf form to make sure we're not walking into an ambush. Got it?"

  "What time are we striking?" one of the unit leads asked.

  "Ten minutes after the original planned time, so update your schedules."

  "Ten minutes?"

  "Yeah, so don't be tardy. If anyone comes across anything, call it out, and we'll adjust."

  Chad waited for all the units to acknowledge.

  "Move it out! Let's go!"

  "What do you think it is?" Max asked him.

  Chad shook his head. "Don't know, and I'm not willing to make any guesses with no information. I'd rather keep an open mind so I can react correctly to whatever we find."

  "Well, we're here," Ryan said as the van pulled over to the side of the road.

  "Let's go see what fortune has in store for us today," Chad said and, shifting into his hybrid form, he grabbed his rifle and followed the others out of the van. They were on a side road in an industrial park. At this hour of the night, there really wasn't anyone around to see them. Looking at the bus disgorging fighters behind them, Chad watched as a dozen shifted into wolf form and streaked off into the night.

  "Keep it loose, people!" Chad called out. "No bunching up. If they're waiting for us, let's not make it easy on them!"

  Everyone nodded, then they all trotted off in the same direction the scouts had gone, making sure to stay spread out and not bunch up.

  The next ten minutes were nail biting for Chad. He knew something was up, but he didn't know what, and he had to make sure he looked calm and collected so the others wouldn't start to worry. Worrying was his job, not theirs.

  Three times the scouts reported contacts, and each of those three times turned out to be just harmless individuals going about their own business. When they finally got to their attack positions, Chad checked the time. Ten minutes to go, so they were on schedule. Taking out his phone, he called the Sapientia people, who were waiting about a minute away in their cars.

  "I was starting to wonder if you were going to call us," said Steven Fry, the local Sapientia head.

  "We ran into a possible issue so we decided to play it safe. But we're here now, so let's get your people into position. We're attacking in," Chad looked at his watch, "nine minutes, thirty seconds."

  "Then I guess we better get going!" Steven said and hung up.

  "What's the status on the sentries and the guards?" Chad asked as he put his phone away. Unlike Sean, he put his phone in a bag and left it here at the staging point. Last thing he wanted to do was ruin it with his silver shield. At least the radios used gold, so they weren't affected.

  "They're all young kids," Ryan said, looking back at him.

  "What?"

  "Take a look!"

  Chad got out his binoculars and zoomed in on the guards; all of them looked to be teenagers, seventeen or eighteen. Same for the sentries on the wall. They looked bored, like they were going to fall asleep at any minute, and they definitely did not look like lycans. Some of them were even fat!

  "Shit, something's not right," Chad growled, "there isn't a buff looking one among them. In fact, they all look kinda weak." Keying his radio, Chad spoke to his troops. "We might be fighting mundanes, pass the word to be careful. You kill any kids, and I will hand you over to Sean myself, after I skin you alive."

  "So much for opsec," Max sighed.

  "Shit happens," Chad replied, "I just want to make sure we don't step in it. Now, first squad, follow me."

  "The attack doesn't start for another two minutes!" Ryan said.

  "Yeah, change in plans. We're going in first. Shut up and follow my lead."

  Chad trotted up to the gates with his command squad trailing behind him. He'd gotten about ten feet away when the guards at the gate noticed him and suddenly their heads came up and they started in on casting something.

  "I wouldn't do that," Chad said and pointed his gun at the head of one of them as all of the other members of the squad raised their weapons.

  Both of the young men froze.

  "Now let's just open the gates, and no one gets killed, okay?"

  "I can't do that! You're gonna kill everyone!"

  "We're only here for our brothers. Then we're gone. Cooperate, and no one dies."

  "But they're not here!" the other kid blurted out.

  "What?!" Chad said, looking at him.

  "They left last night! All of them!"

  "All units, hold in place," Chad said on the radio, then turned back to the first kid, putting the barrel of his rifle under the kid's chin. "Talk, tell me what happened, or you'll be the first to die."

  Chad could smell it as the kid's bladder emptied.

  "The council leaders had them all loaded in trucks late last night! They said we were gonna lose them if they stayed here! So they sent them someplace else!"

  "Where?"

  "I…I don't know! Honest! I don't know! Don't shoot me!"

  Chad keyed his radio. "I need some of the scouts to go over the wall, make a quick circuit, then get the hell out of here. I don't think there are any lycans here anymore." Unkeying the radio, Chad looked back at the kid. "Tell your buddies on the wall to stand down. If there aren't any lycans here, we'll be gone in a minute."

  The kid gulped and nodded, then picked up a radio and told all the sentries to put their guns down and keep their mouths shut.

  The next minute was excruciating as Chad waited for the scouts to report. He could see several of them streaking around the compound, checking things out. Then they all disappeared, and he got the call back from the units confirming that there weren't any lycans in the compound anymore.

  "I was told they were shipped out in a truck last night. Did any of you see any signs of that?"

  There was a moment's silence, then one of the scouts he didn't know replied.

  "There were definitely a couple of big trucks here, there's still tire prints in the dirt. I'd say it's highly likely that they were moved out of here within the last ten or twenty hours."

  Chad swore and pulled the gun away from the kid's neck.

  "Everyone, back to your mounts, we're outta here." He looked at the kid. "Go change your pants," he said, then pointed at the other one, "and don't laugh, it coulda' been you."

  Turning, Chad ran for his bag with the phone in it so he could call off the Sapientia folks.

  "Now what?" Max asked.

  "Gradatim of course, and we even get an early start!"

  "I mean, what do we do about the missing lycans?"

  Chad shook his head. "I don't know. I'll call Sean after we deal with the Grads and let him worry about it."

  "Maybe we should grab a couple of their people and see if any of them know."

  Chad nodded as he dialed the Sapientia. "We just may do that, but it can wait until tomorrow."

  "You're leaving already?" Steven asked.

  "How'd you know?"

  "I saw everyone pack up and run. What happened?"

  "They shipped everyone out last night; we didn't get here soon enough."

  "Damn, that sucks. Now what?"

  "Now we deal with the Gradatim. They change sides here?"

  "Yeah, they signed up with Solidad. I think finding out about Eugene upset them more than what happened in Los Angeles."

  "Great, well here's hoping they'll turn over the guilty to us so we can deal with them and move on."

  "Good luck with that; from what we've heard all their old council leaders have disappeared. Rumor has it even the ones who didn't kill their lycans left town."

  Best Laid Plans

  "What do you mean we have to wait? I've got almost two thousand lycans here, and you want me to sit on them? In a bunch of tractor-trailers in Utah of all places?"

  Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing over the phone. First they'd called him in Dallas and told him to continue on with others instead of going to Mexico with the Primes. Todd had told them they had a new plan to take out that lion, and as he was the one in charge, he had to teach it to all the others.

  Which he had done, as instructed.

  And now this.

  "I told you," Adams said, repeating himself, "you're not to move on to your target yet."

  "Well what the hell am I supposed to do?"

  "Figure something out, you're a resourceful guy."

  "And just how long am I supposed to 'figure' something out for? It's July first! In three more days it's gonna be the Fourth! There'll be tourists all over the place! Even here in god-forsaken Utah!"

  "Don't let the Mormon's hear you say that," the other magic user in the van with Lucas said, laughing. "They'll do you for that! This is god's country."

  Lucas just glared at him.

  "Well, at least transfer me a couple grand, I'm gonna have to go shopping for all these animals! We didn't pack that much food."

  "Sure, I can do that; we can't have them showing up dead, after all. Oh, and buy something extra nice for our Prime team, I think we have one last special job for them."

  Lucas sighed, "Fine, I'll buy them some hookers or something. Do you have any idea how long we'll have to wait here, Mr. Adams?"

  "Two, three days, tops."

  "I'll be awaiting your orders, Sir," Lucas said and hung up the phone.

  "So, we gotta sit on them?" asked Jake, the one who had been laughing.

  "Yeah, which means we need more food now, too. At least we brought a couple of vans. Grab a couple animals from each of the trucks, find a food store, buy enough to feed the truck, drop it off, then do another truck.

  "Lucas, we've got twenty trucks!"

  "And we've got three vans. Tell the other guys to get a move on."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "Drive across the border in that nice tour bus the Prime team is in and wine and dine them. Adams told me to show them a good time. I guess he wants to make sure the last few days hasn't bruised their loyalty any."

  "If we sit here for days with this many trucks, someone's bound to notice."

  "We'll just break everybody back up into their original groups after you get them all fed. Sit here until morning, then drive up to Highway 50and head west when you get to it. Stop at the first truck stop you come to and don't leave until it's dark again. Then stop at the next one and waste the day. I'll probably catch up with you before then. If worse comes to worst, turn around and drive east for a few hours. As long as the trucks are moving, no one's gonna pay them any heed."

  Jake nodded.

  "Now go tell the others. Call me if you have any problems, and I'll call you went I get the word to attack. Now, I need to go take care of our 'superstars'."

  Getting out of the van, Lucas headed over to the tour bus. It was actually a pretty nice ride, and as the leader of this expedition, he'd ridden in it for most of the trip. It was the Prime team's personal vehicle, just one of the many perks they got for doing their job. Lucas wasn't a big fan of the Primes, not that he'd tell them that of course. He didn't like the idea of blowing all that money on a bunch of lycans, no matter how skilled or loyal. But they did do their jobs well, and again, they'd been bred and raised into their elite status, that was why they didn't have implanted silver pellets. They were trusted.

  "Lucas! What's up?" Tank, one of the Primes, asked as he climbed onto the bus.

  "Who's up for finding a nice steakhouse and having a few beers?" Lucas asked, and looking around the bus, noticed all the Prime team members were suddenly smiling.

  "Change in orders?"

  "Isn't there always?" Lucas sighed. "So I figured while the others spin their wheels, why don't we go relax someplace a little nicer than this bus?"

  The statement was met by more than a few cheers.

  "Hey! Aren't whorehouses legal in Nevada?" one of the wolves in the back yelled.

  "Yup, and if you can find us one, I'll be sure to stiff Adams with the bill," Lucas said and grinned. It would serve the old bastard right for making him waste even more of his time with these animals.

  "Go, Lucas!" a bunch of them cheered.

  "Pick out where you want to go, and tell the driver," Lucas said, dropping into a seat up front. "With the way this mission is going, this might be the most exciting part."

  #

  Todd Adams sighed and looked at the others at the council table as he set down the secure magical phone he'd used to call Lucas.

  "Do you think he'll be able to hold them together that long?" Roland asked.

  "Between the pellets and the new collars we gave him, I don't see why not. But then, he only has to hold enough of them together to make the attack. If they stir up more problems along the way, it still works in our favor."

  "I don't know," Edward said. "Do we really want to attack a city when the president of the United States is there?"

  "Jeremy Mays was quite clear. We hit when the president is in town. If that doesn't change his mind, nothing will."

  "Aren't you worried about them connecting this to us? I don't think anyone is going to have that hard a time figuring out where all these lycans came from."

  Todd smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry; I've already got that angle covered."

  "How do they even know he'll be there?" Kevin asked.

  Todd shrugged. "Obviously he's got someone in the Whitehouse."

  "And the little bastard's been keeping that to himself all this time?" Edward bitched.

  "Hey, they're our leadership. We have to expect them to have some secrets."

  "Still, the president?" Roland said and shook his head. "I don't think they've thought this through. If he thinks it's an attempt on him, well, I don't think it'll take them long to figure out who was behind this."

  "Don't worry," Todd said, with a smile that showed more confidence than he felt, "the president is the least of our concerns."

  'Because,' Todd thought to himself, 'he's going to be assassinated.'

  Jeremy's additional private orders had been quite clear to Todd as well. If they took out the president, not only would the most important person pushing for emancipation be dead, but he'd be dead at the hands of the very people he was trying to help, and their source in the government had made it very clear where the blame would fall.

  It really was the perfect plan, and with an inside man to help them, nothing could possibly go wrong.

  #

  Sean grumbled as his phone rang and, reaching over Jolene, who was cuddled up against him in bed, he grabbed it off the nightstand and hit the green button.

  "This had better be good," he growled.

  "Morning to you too, sleepyhead!" Chad chuckled on the other end of the phone.

  "Don't think just because you're on a phone I can't order you to do something ridiculous and embarrassing," Sean grumbled. "Why are you calling me at," Sean looked at the clock, it was almost six, "this ungodly hour in the morning?"

  "There weren't any lycans at the Vesti compound in Denver."

  "What?" Sean said, trying to wake up and understand what Chad was telling him. "They kill them or something?"

  "No, they shipped them out the night before we got there."

  Sean dropped back onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling. "They did what?"

  "Put them into a pair of tractor-trailers, like the ones that were shipped in to help the Vestis when they attacked you last month."

  Sean swore. "Where'd they send them to?"

  "Not a clue."

  "I guess we should have expected this," Sean sighed, "we knew they were trying to ship the ones from LA off before we got there."

  "After they attacked Sapientia," Chad reminded him.

  "Oh, shit. I better call Troy. They might be fixing to attack them someplace else."

  "It's a possibility; I've already talked to the local Sapientia council about it, so you don't have to wake Troy up. By the way, we're going to see if we can't 'borrow' a few of the Vestis' members later today and maybe find out where they went."

  "It's only borrowing if you ask first," Sean.

  "Well, you know what my mom always said?"