by Robin Roseau
Then she paused and gave me another photo. It was a female wolf I didn't know. It looked like an older photo.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"My mother," she said. "She died during a raid to try to kill an alpha." Then Elisabeth added a picture of Emily from the Iowa pack, carrying me to Lara. Sarah was there as well. She lined up the photos of her mother with the two women from the Iowa pack. "Some day, some little girl can remember her mother died in an assault, just like Lara and I remember."
"This isn't fair!" I screamed at her.
"No," she said. "It's not. It is, however, fact. And the price. Look at those photos. Are you ready to help kill those two women? I believe they were kind to you, were they not? Do you believe they'll survive an assault on the house?"
"They might not be there," I said.
"They are," Greg said. He had surveillance photos. "This one is from two days ago."
The photos all got pinned to the wall.
Greg spoke. "Assault plans are basically of three types: some sort of bomb, a full frontal assault, or a sniper or several snipers. Let's talk about a bomb."
"Wait," I said. "What about catching them away from the house."
"Good idea," he said. "The two you want almost never leave. Brody has not so much as stepped out onto the deck the entire time we've been watching. Johnny goes onto the deck for a few minutes now and then, but he is extremely elusive. If I were planning this operation, I would not try to plan on taking advantage of an exceedingly rare exit from the house."
"All right," I said.
Elisabeth pulled out photos. They were from Bayfield. Kayaking. Dinner at the Rittenhouse. The sheds I had built, including a few when we were building them. One of Lara looking at something, and her expression could best be described as "amazed".
"What do you think she is looking at?" Elisabeth asked.
"Me," I said. "She's looking at me, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is looking at you. She is watching you build these sheds. I looked through your house afterwards, and I found your name just like you said I would. I found it everywhere. Those sheds were nothing for you, were they?"
"No. The rafters were tricky. The rest was easy. When I built the garage, I bought prefab rafters."
Elisabeth had more photos from in and around Bayfield. Someone had gotten a photo of me pushing Lara off the sailboat. I stared at it. "Where did you get this?"
"Ava took it," Scarlett said. "All the kids have a copy."
"I didn't know."
"You were so angry," Elisabeth said. "With reason. Lara makes mistakes sometimes, doesn't she?"
"Big ones."
"You almost died that day," Elisabeth said.
Scarlett and Angel both took in deep breaths. They hadn't known. They had watched me go for a swim, but they hadn't known Lara had to save me.
"Yes," I said. "The water was much colder than I realized."
"Lara saved you."
"Yes. If she hadn't, I would have died. But to be fair, she pulled me in after her."
"After you pushed," Elisabeth said. "And when she grabbed you, you basically jumped in with her, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"But Lara had made a big mistake. Did you forgive her?"
"Yes." I looked at Angel and Scarlett. "I'm glad I did. She talked me into something that has become very important to me." I got extra touches for that.
Then Elisabeth added a particularly ugly photo. It was taken at the mall where I had been kidnapped. There were three dead wolf bodies and a lot of blood.
"We sniffed a lot," Serena said. "Trying to find out if any of the blood was yours."
"None of it was," I said.
"We figured that out. I was amazed you had done this."
"I'm not," said Greg. "Michaela, you're amazing."
"But this was the result of a mistake, wasn't it, Michaela?"
"Yes," I said in a small voice.
She returned to the picture of Lara just about to land in the water. "You forgave Lara."
"Yes."
She tapped the other photo. "I wonder whether you can forgive yourself."
I stared at both photos for a while. Then I turned the ugly one upside down. "Please don't pin that one up. I'll look at all your pictures, but please don't pin that one up."
"All right," Elisabeth said. She pulled out one more photo. "What's this?"
"The airplane landing at the local airport."
"I took that," Angel said. "That's your most recent landing."
"This represents another point of forgiveness," Elisabeth said. "Everyone in the pack forgives you for this. Can you forgive yourself?"
They pinned up the pictures. Elisabeth took the photo of the dead wolves and put it back in her folder on the bottom of the other pictures still there.
"All right," Greg said. "We were discussing bombs. There are four basic ways we can blow the house up. We can drop a bomb from an airplane."
"You can do that?" I asked.
He smiled. "It would be expensive but can be amazingly effective. It has a nice advantage of being insanely safe for our side."
"I like safe."
"The next choice," he said, "is some sort of ground launched military weapon such as mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, and the like. These might be good choices on a more isolated target, but there are excessive difficulties for this location. I do not recommend it."
I nodded.
"The third choice would to somehow plant a bomb. This involves access to the house. The only way I think we can do this is if we had inside help. I do not believe we will find that sort of help, but you could certainly try."
"All right."
"The last is a car bomb. We could either outfit a van as a bomb and run it right into the house or we could plant a bomb to the bottom of their car sometime."
"Those don't sound bad."
"They aren't. Now, there are really only three problems with using a bomb of any nature. First, you don't know you're going to get your target. If I drop a military weapon from an airplane, I can destroy the house. The other choices could leave spots of the house that are relatively undamaged."
"We could miss."
"Exactly. Next, bombs are messy. We are likely to do damage to surrounding structures. I presume you do not want a plan that kills innocent humans walking in the street." He showed me a picture of kids playing in the yard next door.
"Fuck."
"That sums that up," Greg said. "Furthermore, bombs tend to really, really get the human authorities in a frenzy. We do not want that kind of attention."
"No bombs."
"I won't help you with a bomb in a residential neighborhood," Greg said. "And you are not the woman I think you are if you would pick this route."
"No bombs," I said again.
The photo of the kids playing next door went up on the wall.
Elisabeth pulled out a photo of a very young wolf in fur.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"Lara the first day she shifted."
"She looks different."
"Puppy fur," Elisabeth said. Then she added more photos. "This is me on my first shift."
"That one is me!" said Angel. "Wasn't I cute?"
"This is Scarlett."
They showed me photo after photo.
"I don't recognize this one," Elisabeth said.
"Let me see it," Serena said. Elisabeth slipped the photo across to her. Serena looked at it. "Elisabeth, that's your mother."
Elisabeth took the photo back and then hugged it for a while. Then she handed it to Scarlett. "Put this one next to the kids playing, please." Scarlett pinned it up.
Then Elisabeth pulled out a photo of very young wolves in fur. She handed it to me.
"These aren't werewolves, are they?"
"No," she said. "Natural wolves, maybe three weeks old or so. Lara would really, really like to see your babies looking like that, and you are the only person who can give her that."
"You bitc
h," I said quietly.
"Pay the price, Michaela. Look at the pictures."
I sighed and looked through all the pictures. I stared at the one of Lara the most, but I caressed some of the others as well. Then Elisabeth thrust the one of the natural wolf pups at me.
Finally, Scarlett and Angel pinned them all up.
"The next type of assault," Greg said, "Is a military full frontal assault. We don't know the exact layout of the house interior, but we've made a model with a rough idea."
"I made the model," Scarlett said. She seemed pleased with herself. "Greg, when this is all over, could we use a very, very tiny bomb and blow it up? I never want to see it again, knowing what it represents."
"I'll leave Karen with something just perfect for it," Wendy said. "We have a little C4 with us."
"Oh goodie!" Karen said. "I love C4. Blasting caps, too?"
Wendy grinned at her. "Of course. What good is C4 without blasting caps?"
Scarlett retrieved the model, which was on a table to the side of the room. She set it on the table. It was open on top so you could look in. Then she showed how you could lift off each layer so you could see the upstairs, main floor, and basement.
"As you can see, it matches the photos on the outside. We've had to guess on the inside," Greg said. "We have several plans for a full frontal assault. Several of them are with the available pack forces. The rest involve my people."
"We're not doing a full frontal assault," I said.
"You wanted Lara to kill every wolf in Iowa," Elisabeth said. "That's a full frontal assault."
Greg set up figures in the house. He set up humans holding guns. And then he had a variety of wolf figures. Each wolf had a name on it. And there was even one small fox.
He ran several scenarios, over and over, talking through them. In the first, the wolf representing Angel died first, then about half our forces before we retreated under heavy fire. It went downhill from there. In one of them, he added a wolf labeled Lara, and he had two tiny wolf pup figurines he left to the side.
"This isn't funny," I said.
"No," he said. "It is not. It is, however, honest."
In the next scenario, he pushed over the figure representing Lara. When he was done, he held up the two tiny wolf pups, and Angel and Scarlett behind me began making mewling noises.
"Stop it!" I said, covering my ears. They got louder, whining and crying for their mother. "Stop it!"
"Michaela," Greg said gently. "We don't know who is going to die in an assault of this nature. But I absolutely guarantee you, some of your friends will die. I promise you, you will lose friends. Maybe only one or two. Maybe all of them. You will lose friends."
I nodded. "What if we wait for you?"
"The outlook is better. I can bring enough forces we will overwhelm and win. Some of my forces will die, guaranteed. The death benefit you would pay is a million dollars each. Well, I presume that Lara would pay. If your forces augment mine, then again, some of your friends may die. Your mate may die. You may die. I promise you, there will be friendly deaths. Given the firepower in the house, and given that we can't blow the house up, I estimate at least five friendly deaths, possibly far more, depending upon how good they are."
"We can win," Wendy said. "But at a stiff price."
"I won't help though," Greg said.
"What?"
"This is a full frontal assault in a human residential neighborhood. Rounds go everywhere. This would be messier than a bomb. And the human authorities would go insane."
I nodded. "There's still the sniper approach. And there's the send Michaela in alone approach."
Elisabeth had a new folder. She pulled out the first photo. It was a tombstone with Angel's name on it.
"Stop it!" I yelled. "We won't do it that way."
One had Scarlett's name. One with Karen's. Serena's. Lara's. Mine. Rebecca Angel's.
"That's just ridiculous!"
"The next alpha may not want the previous alpha's children to live," Elisabeth said quietly.
"Put those away," I said. "Please don't make me look at them anymore."
"All right," Elisabeth said. She collected the photos. But then Greg slid the two tiny wolf pup figurines to rest in front of me, and Angel and Scarlett began mewling again.
"You two stop it!" I looked at Greg. "Snipers."
"All right," he said. "This type is the only plan I can help you with in this neighborhood." He pulled out maps and more surveillance photos.
"These are the points with line of fire onto the back deck that are sufficiently far enough away to avoid detection. As you can see, they are all the upstairs windows of some of the surrounding houses. You might be able to do something from one of these outside locations, but the problem is that you would need to wait days for the opportunity."
He went through all of them with me.
"The most viable choice would be to place snipers here, and here." He showed me on the map. "Then wait for the opportunity. Eventually Johnny Mack will step outside and we can take him. I don't know how we're supposed to get Brody."
I stared. "If we get Johnny, Brody will fall to a challenger."
"That is my guess as well," Greg said.
"So, this is our plan," I said.
"Sure. So, to place snipers at these windows, we either kill the human occupants, or take them prisoner and hold them in their homes for a week or two."
I stared at him. "Neither of those are viable choices."
"Good, I'm glad we agree. The other choice is to buy the two houses. Neither is for sale. But if we offered enough money, you could convince them to leave. That tends to leave a paper trail, but that's probably not a problem if the human authorities have no reason to become suspicious. Sell the houses at a loss later."
"Downsides?"
"It takes one to three months to set up and then several weeks to implement, waiting for the right moment. Tell me, how long do you think you can stare through a rifle scope waiting for your shot? A few weeks? I know I'd go crazy, but I have a few guys who are just patient enough to do it. Anyone can be killed if you are determined enough."
"Plus," said Karen. "You can miss. I've missed shots like that before."
"The guy moves just as you fire," said Wendy.
"The wind around houses can be weird."
"All sorts of things can happen," Greg said.
I nodded numbly. Elisabeth had a new set of pictures. Me. Lara. Lara happy. Lara looking very upset.
"This was yesterday," Elisabeth said. "When she realized we couldn't change your mind."
She went on and on with more photos.
"Oh," Greg said. "I forgot to mention. The guys from the house can fire back."
"Or see you and fire preemptively," Karen added.
Elisabeth nudged the wolf pup figurines even closer, and Angel and Scarlett began mewling for "Mommy Fox, Mommy Fox".
Elisabeth placed another photo of the ultrasound in front of me and ordered me to look at it. Scarlett and Angel kept mewling.
And I began to sob.
I heard Serena make a call. "She's ready."
Elisabeth kept pushing photos of me. The ultrasound. Lara. The wedding. Herself. Scarlett and Angel dancing. Angel studying. Angel doing a fist pump. Lara kissing me. Photo after photo, and I continued to sob.
Elisabeth pushed the ultrasound at me again. Angel and Scarlett changed their tone. It was still "Mommy Fox, Mommy Fox," But it was said with excitement, with joy.
The door opened behind me and Lara walked into the room. I sobbed, staring at the photos, and Lara crossed the room, stepping between Angel and Scarlett, and wrapped her arms around me.
"Please help me raise our babies," she said. "Please. I don't want to be a single mother."
I turned around and wrapped my arms around her, pressing my head to her belly, and listened to the pitter patter of my babies' hearts.
The Real Plan
I switched places with Lara, giving her my chair, and wrapped my ar
ms around her. With her sitting and me standing, I was slightly taller than she was. She held me tightly.
Elisabeth, Scarlett, Angel and Serena crowded around behind me. They all held me.
"We're so sorry," Elisabeth said. "We're so sorry you hurt."
"I remember now, Lara," I said.
"I know."
I cried myself out.
Eventually Lara turned around. I took the chair next to her, pulled as close to her as I could get. My friends clustered around us.
Lara addressed Greg.
"Can you kill Johnny Mack and Brody Mortens?"
"Johnny Mack for sure. Brody Mortens, maybe, but I can't promise it, not without drawing human attention."
"Brody will die if Johnny does," Lara said. "The other enforcers won't support him. One of them will challenge him."
"That is our assessment as well," Greg agreed.
"Will you do this for us?" Lara asked.
"When?"
"Is Kimber still alive?"
"This woman?" Greg said, presenting a photo. It was Kimber on the deck of the house. She was crying. "Two days ago."
"Does she ever leave?" I ask.
"Not that we have evidence," he said.
"She is owed greater vengeance than I am," I said. "Give her a chance."
"Six months?" Lara asked. I nodded. She turned to Greg. "Six months. If Johnny Mack is not dead in six months, will you do it?"
"Yes," he said. "If I'm not available on that schedule?"
Lara turned to me.
"We'll wait," I said.
Greg slid an envelope to Lara. She opened it and looked at it, then nodded to him.
"How much?" I asked.
"You don't need to know," Lara said.
"How much?"
"A million dollars," Greg said. "It's only that high because we'll have to buy those two houses, and we're going to loose a lot of money when we sell them."
"A million dollars for my vengeance," I said.
"Yes," said Lara.
"You would pay this for me?"
"Yes," she said again.
"But you don't want to."
"It would be breaking my word. No, I don't. But I will do it for you."