Page 94 of Till Death Do Us Part

That was a disaster waiting to happen. But strangely enough, I found myself almost… rooting for them.

Penumbra, was it? Not a bad name for a family. A family full of rejects who didn’t fit into light or darkness.

I suppose it was no surprise I was here.

I hadn’t been expecting a Blackbird contact to call me for help, and I’d figured it was the world’s most obvious trap until I heard Elaine’s voice.

The truth was, I justified it to myself after the fact. Telling Quayle that my orders were to stop Horizon, and that this was my way of doing that…

The real reason I went?

I was still trying to figure it out.

The strategy room was in a mezzanine level with a chair lift recently installed that Caitlyn had been about to use before Petra simply scooped her up, chair and all, ignoring both Caitlyn and Jenna yelling about Petra’s hand. A broad table in the middle was covered in notes, maps, documents, and screens on the walls showed network diagrams of the Blackbirds’ logistics. From the way everyone looked at the screens, and how Caitlyn’s gaze was the only one that lingered, studying them, she was the one who’d been digging in their servers.

Apparently Whitners were just all like that.

“We have to go to headquarters,” Vera said, leaning over one end of the table.

Elaine went wide-eyed. “Straight to Glenn?”

“No chance,” I said. “If a few ragtag strays could just march into the Blackbird headquarters, take out Glenn, and kneecap the organization, the Whitecliffs would have done it long ago.”

Petra pushed her chair back, kicking one leg up over the other. “Who you calling a ragtag stray? You wanna go right now?”

Caitlyn sighed. “I can’t take you anywhere, Petra.”

Vera smiled dryly. “Yulia would make ribbons out of you in five seconds flat, Petra. Even I have a hard time keeping up with her.” She shook her head. “I know it won’t be easy. But it’s our only option if we want to do this. The logistics network was a trap.”

Caitlyn nodded. “They’re not moving anything in preparation yet. Which means they’re waiting to get Elaine first… and they’re not going to want to wait long.”

I leaned against the wall, folding my arms. “You have access to the entire logistics database?”

“Probably not for long,” Caitlyn said. “They’re scrambling changing encryptions. They must have realized that everyone showing up at the South Yard meant we have a ghost in their system. But they haven’t shaken us yet.”

“If we combine that with the Whitecliff operations network… we can launch a distributed attack at several key lines at once and force them to spread thin.”

Vera nodded. “The headquarters is the weakest point. Not the administrative offices… but the archives. Glenn doesn’t trust technology, which means everything important is stored as physical information.”

“Burning the Library of Alexandria,” Petra chuckled. I spoke flatly.

“It’s a misconception that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed in a fire,” I said. “It suffered neglect and fell apart over the years, from generations of people not prioritizing learning and knowledge, which is also what has gotten you where you are.”

Petra put her hands up. “Why’d we bring her on board?”

“We need her for now,” Vera sighed. “We’ll use the burning of the Library of Alexandria as a metaphor. If the archives are destroyed, the projects will all be stalled for at least a year. Long enough Horizon won’t have a chance.”

“So, do we just lob a shitload of bombs at HQ?” Petra said.

“Maybe Yulia was right about you,” Vera said. “Obviously it’s heavily reinforced. But the same thing that keeps fire out… will keep fire in.”

“So,” I said, stepping in and leaning over the table, unrolling a map of Merona. Blackbird HQ was already marked with an X, and I tapped a marker to various points on the map. “We sabotage supply networks in these four areas at once, which sends Blackbird operatives out. Once they’re in the field, we enter the headquarters.”

“Then we split up,” Vera said, pulling out another diagram, floor plans for the headquarters building. “You and Petra go to the top, look for Glenn, and I enter the archives while you’re keeping them busy and making it look like an assault on Glenn. We’ll make sure the sprinkler systems are disabled, and then we unleash hell in the archive.”

“This is suicide,” I said.

“This is the mission,” Vera said.