“Why do you think we get along so well?” Kaia replied with a grin.
“Cheeky woman,” Rafe grumbled. They finished eating and took care of their dishes before they went in search of Micah.
“There you are,” Kaia said when they found him sparring with another member of their community. “We need to talk.”
“All right. Lead the way.”
They headed to what Kaia liked to call the command center and took seats around the table there. “We need to know everything you can tell us about Drago compound. If you can sketch out the layout of it, that would even be better.”
“I can do that. You want to explain to me why, though?”
“Do you know about the inventor Drago has there?” Kaia asked. She wondered how much Drago had shared with his people.
“Inventor? I don’t know—wait, do you mean the woman he has under lock and key? She’s an inventor? What is she inventing?”
“It seems she’s invented a drill that can reach water deep into the core of the planet. It has the potential to revive the planet. Something tells me if Drago hasn’t even told his own people about it, he has no intention of sharing this technology with others. Communities are dying out as wells dry up. People are dying. We’ve been hired to rescue her from Drago compound.”
“Well, hired isn’t the word I'd use,” Rafe muttered. “Strong-armed is more like it. How do we know Silas is any better?”
Kaia sighed. “We don’t, but that’s an issue for another day. Let’s worry about getting in and getting her out of there first.”
“I can get us in, but how are we going to keep from getting caught?” Micah asked.
“We’ll leave that up to Calix and her strategically placed explosives.”
“Wait. You’re going to set offexplosivesinside Drago compound?” Micah asked dumbfounded.
“You’re damn right I am. We need a distraction big enough to keep their attention away from the inventor. Their compound exploding around them should do it,” Kaia replied with a shrug.
Micah stared at her. “I heard you were crazy. I didn’t believe the rumors.”
“You should have,” Rafe said.
“I see that,” Micah replied and laughed.
“Fuck, I can’t wait for this. I’d love to see Drago’s face when his precious compound is attacked. He thinks he’s untouchable. He thinks no one would dare attack him,” he added.
“He’s about to find out how wrong he is,” Kaia replied with a grin.
They spent the next hour with Micah telling them everything he could about the compound while Kaia took notes. “I’ll get right on that sketch of it so Calix will know the best places to set up her explosives for maximum damage,” Micah promised, taking a large sheaf of leather and ink pot with him to get started.
“Everything's coming together. We’ll get it done,” Rafe told her, wrapping his arms around her. “Aimee will be safe.”
“Yeah. Speaking of, we need to go check on her, make sure she’s okay,” Kaia hushed. She moved out of his arms and went to the training grounds where she knew she’d find her young charge working on her combat skills.
“Looking good,” she called out when Aimee took down her opponent.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself. Why don’t you take a break?”
Aimee came over wiping her brow. “What’s up?”
“We wanted to check on you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” Kaia countered.
