Rogue shook his head. “Just because you plan it that way doesn’t mean it’ll happen as planned.”
Keira kept a straight face when she wanted to laugh.
Rogue raised his hands palms up. “Just be ready to back up and punt.”
Still, neither Keira nor Jade responded.
“That’s a football analogy.” Rogue sighed. “Never mind. We’re all trained combatants. If you can’t slip in and out without being seen, kick some ass on your way out.”
Keira grinned, loving that Rogue was trying to lighten the mood at the same time as warning them that things could go to hell in a heartbeat.
“Every plan is risky when you’re outnumbered, twenty to one,” Keira said. “But it’s the best shot we have to free Lily.”
Jade’s brow furrowed. “It might be the only shot we have.”
They spent the rest of the day cleaning weapons, loading ammunition into magazines and going over contingency plans.
“Keira and Jade will wear the radio earbuds,” Rogue said.
Keira frowned. “What about you?”
“I’ll be with you,” Rogue said.
“I’ll have to go in unarmed. I’ll hide my earbuds in my ponytail until I get past the gate and take my escorts out,” Jade said. “Hopefully, when they search me, they won’t make me take down my ponytail.”
“And how are you going to take out your guards without weapons?” Rogue asked.
Jade exchanged a glance with Keira. “We have our ways.”
Keira nodded. Their training had prepared them for this.
“Our abort signal will be the word punt,” Rogue said. “If anyone initiates the abort signal, it means all hell has broken loose. Head for the back wall near the trash bins. Those bins give us the best chance of scaling the wall.”
“What about the concertina wire on top of the wall?” Jade asked.
“I’ve got wire cutters in my truck,” Keira said. “We’ll add it to our kit.”
By nightfall, they had everything lined out, packed and ready, waiting for additional information from Royce.
They cooked up a couple of cans of chicken and dumplings and ate the soup with the saltines. After they washed the dishes, they took mugs of tea and coffee out to the porch to admire the clear Texas sky with a blanket of stars casting an inky glow over the Hill Country.
Jade leaned against a post, her cup of tea clasped between her hands. “Our mother had such big dreams for Lily and me before she got sick.”
“What happened to your mother?” Keira asked.
“Breast cancer,” Jade said. “We went along as a happy threesome after our father left us for his secretary.” She shook her head. “Mother wanted me to be a research scientist since I was so good at science in school. She thought Lily would grow up to be a nurse or a doctor because she cared so much about others. When Mom died, her dreams and ours died with her. We were shipped off to a foster home where we were treated like live-in babysitters for their small children. Because they needed us at home after school to care for their children, we couldn’t commit to sports or after-school activities.”
“Why didn’t you go to live with your father?”
“He and his young wife rented a fishing boat out of Port Aransas one summer and never came back. They never found them or the boat.” Jade stared out at the night. “I ran away from the foster home, determined to get a job, find an apartment and return for Lily. I told her I’d be back for her.” She paused. “That’s when Viktor found me and convinced me I’d be better off with Onyx, that when I finished my training, they’d send for Lily and they’d take her in as well. I didn’t know what I was getting into until it was too late. I thought I’d found a place where...”
“...where you belonged,” Keira said.
The satellite phone perched on the porch rail chirped.
Rogue grabbed it. “It’s Royce.” He answered the call and set it on speaker. “Hey, Royce. The gang’s all here. You’re on speaker.”
“Good. I had our tech guy, Swede, search satellite images for the coordinates you gave us and then tap into the Bear Brothers Supplies online logistics system. The supply truck scheduled for the location will depart the warehouse facility at eight in the morning. It has two delivery stops en route before its expected delivery time of thirteen hundred hours at the Young Ladies Rehabilitation Camp.”
