I rub my eyes with both hands. “So what’s the plan for tonight? We clearly aren’t going to be the bait now. What can we do to make this suck less?” I look around the room. “What are we looking for, what is the recon? How can we prepare for being taken? Since that seems to be the end goal, right? For one or both of us to get taken so we can be tracked to wherever they are holding these girls.”
“How are you so calm about this? No one should be okay with dangling pups, children, minors, whatever you want to be classified as, a treat for the bad guys to just come and get.” Nickolas sounds offended at my questions.
I roll my eyes. “Human punching bag, remember? This is right up my alley. I am the scapegoat, the target and I have been my entire minorhood. So let’s not act like being young should play a part here. The only effect it has is that the ‘bad guys,”” I air quote. “Will more than likely underestimate us because of it.”
“You are a f*cking royal!” His voice is progressively getting louder, but no one moves to calm him down. “We would never send Xander out because o that fact alone!”
“I’m not high enough on the bracket for that to be a factor either. And everyone knows Xander, he can’t be sent into any type of undercover situation. No one knows me, I am just another girl on the street. I am also the right gender for the task.” Why I am negotiating with him while the rest of these guys just watch is beyond me. “I’m not fighting for my spot as a sacrificial lamb, but I also understand the value we both have in this mission. Can we please just get to the recon stuff, since I don’t think the bait part of this plan is the same as the info gathering.” I look at him with pleading eyes. He needs to let this go for now. “What type of info are we looking for and how are we,” I point between Mina and myself, “going to help you get it?”
Nickolas huffs and just stands there for a second, like he’s lost in thought. He eventually pulls out chairs for us and takes a seat next to me. “This is what we know so far…” Jorge starts talking point to several photos in front of us and flipping between three aerial shots of a forest.
There is so much information and yet nothing to work with. They know that the rogues are coming in and out of Canada. It appears that most of the traffic is coming from the northeast, which would make sense since they can use the Atlantic Ocean as a means of travel with very little issue. It is assumed that Nova Scotia is where the Rogue King has been operating from, but no one has proof. No one even knows who the Rogue King is or what he looks like. He’s a phantom.
The best trackers that the Elite Warriors have followed the trails of a couple girls as far as Bangor, but lost the scent after that in a more populated area. An area that is mostly humans, which could be a problem. They followed the river North and noticed they also went past the University of Maine, which is mostly human, but wolves attend too depending on what they want to study. It’s also a great place to grab innocent girls only slightly older than Mina.
The problem is the scent trail just disappears. Even with methodical investigation, by the best of the best trackers in all directions. It just doesn’t make any sense. And there doesn’t seem to be a pattern to the girls taken, other than the ones that they were able to track for a small amount of time were wolves. There has to be something else going on, no scent just stops and vanishes into thin air.
