Page 9 of Dragon 7

Akiro's men would step off those planes thinking they had found the only safe ground on the island. They would form up, move toward the tree line, and the moment the first boot crossed the grass, the Scales would open up from every angle.

I nodded. “A kill box.”

“Two of them.”

Two kill boxes. Hundreds of men who would die on grass they thought was safe. I had ordered worse. Tonight, it still sat heavy in my chest and I prayed that most of the dead would be from the other side.

"What if the first landing pilots warn the others?”

“Radio jamming is set." Reo's hand rested flat on the map. "By the time Akiro understands what we have done, he will have lost more men in the first ten minutes than he expected to lose in the first hour."

Suddenly, my Tiger entered my mind and I gripped the table’s edge.

Tora. . .not now.

Her face pushed into my thoughts uninvited. I gritted my teeth and shoved it down. There was no space for her in this war room tonight.

I had to stay centered.

I let my eyes move slowly across the map—the brick towers, metal stacks, and funneled landing zones. “This is good, but good won’t be enough to end this tonight.”

“What are you thinking?”

"If Akiro arrives with his head clear and the Fox safely at the hotel, even if we kill Akiro and all his men. . .the war continues.” I stood straight. “My father will just find a new champion to do his bidding."

"We need to get your father here, but how?"

"We have to kill his certainty for safety."

Reo went still.

I looked back at the phone. “We may have to do things that we don’t want to.”

Reo frowned, knowing where I was going. “I’m not sure that is the sacrifice we need. It is a massive one.”

“Tonight will be all about sacrifices if we plan to win.”

“Still, you’re talking about giving away Asia to an egotistical beast. What’s the point of winning Japan if the Lion is the dictator?”

“I won’t give him Asia, but. . .I will give him the illusion of it.”

“Kenji—”

“He can help us get inside my father’s head.” I tapped the painted mansion at the center of the map. "A broken mind collapses faster than a broken army. The greatest commanders in history did not win because they had the most men. They won because by the time the enemy arrived, half the battle had already happened inside their trembling minds."

Reo leaned forward against the table.

"The Mongols took entire cities without ever drawing a sword. The cities surrendered because terror traveled faster than horses." I let my finger trace the painted coastline. "The samurai wore oni-like masks not because the masks killed men but because the masks made the enemy believe they were fighting something larger than human. And even. . .the Vikings cultivated a reputation so brutal and so unpredictable that men shook before the longships even touched shore."

"Fear arrived before the army did." Reo's eyes moved over the map. "The fight was half over before it started."

"A mask is never just a mask."

Reo looked up at me.

"A banner is never just cloth. A nickname is never just a title. They become weapons aimed directly at human fear."

"So you don’t just want the Fox to come to the island, you want him already afraid when he arrives?"