Going Back Home

After what felt like an eternity in the sky, we finally touched down at the house. We grabbed what we needed, refueled the planes, and took off again.

Our next stop was France for more fuel before we could continue to my parents’ place. Our plane was set to land there while the other three were scheduled to unload at different locations, then return to his house, empty.

I’d installed scramblers on the planes to prevent anyone from tracking them. We’d also created fake flight plans to France, China, and Europe, where my dad’s most trusted allies lived.

Conner was a genius with computers. He could manipulate things to appear the way we wanted, not as they actually were.

At the moment, we only had about a quarter of our forces with us. The rest would gradually arrive in different parts of the country over the next four days. From there, cars would transport them to their temporary accommodations until they were needed.

“Zane! You need to get in here now!”

Conner’s voice echoed through the bedroom door. I groaned, pulling on a pair of pants and the crumpled shirt I’d taken off three times already, in a futile attempt to catch a few hours of sleep.

As I flung open the door, he looked at me and laughed.

“What? I just want a few hours of sleep, if that’s not too much to ask. This is the third time I’ve tried to lie down, but you keep interrupting me. The more you bug me, the grumpier I get. You know that!”

“Yes, and I’m really sorry, but you need to hear this. I just got a call. Things are moving faster than we expected with him.”

I ran my hands through my hair, which was probably sticking up in all directions, as we walked to the table. I slumped into the chair for the fourth time in five hours. “Let’s get this over with so I can go back to sleep, please!”

“According to my contact, they’re planning to move on your dad within three days. He knows we’re coming but has been told that we’re short on numbers and facing problems.

“He wants to strike while our numbers are low, before we can amass the army needed to match his.”

“Ugh! We’re going to have to get our forces over there faster than we thought. Forest, can you get your planes to bring the rest of your guys over? I’ll get the rest of my planes to bring mine, along with my dad’s fleet.

“Conner, you’re going to be busy over the next day or so. They can’t know that we’re bringing in these forces, so the flight plans will have to be wiped. Or can you arrange for them to fly under the radar?”

Connor nodded as Forest began to update me, his fingers flying over his phone.

“I’ve texted my fleet. All five planes are prepping to start bringing my groups over, while the others are catching flights from different cities and states to avoid suspicion.

“Some are driving to Ohio and others to Pennsylvania to catch flights out of those states. The rest are boarding my planes and should be here by tomorrow evening.”

“Can we think of anyone else who might be willing to help with this? Any contacts who can drop everything and run now?” I rubbed my face, racking my brain for anything that might give us an edge.

Forest showed me his phone, displaying a list of people who’d agreed to help.

“I’ve reached out to people who owe me big favors, and some of them are willing to come. They don’t have our numbers, but we’ve added almost five hundred to our group in the last hour.”

“That’s better than nothing. Noah, did you manage to contact the ones I asked you to reach out to over here? The ones I know can get there faster than bringing these forces across the ocean?”

“Yeah, your dad has already contacted most of them, but there are three hundred who said they’d help. The leader will join us at the meeting tomorrow evening in your dad’s office. So far, we have thirty lords attending.”

“Don’t hold it at Dad’s; we need to keep a low profile. Do we still have that meeting house in the mountains? The secret one that only a few of us knew about?”

I scrolled through my phone for the location. We hadn’t used it in over seven years.

Conner nodded. “Yeah, it’s still there. That would be the perfect place for the meeting. It’s secluded, and no one even knows it exists.”

“Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll have cars pick up the lords at different locations, then transport them to the meeting place. Eight per car.

“One car will tail each transport to ensure no one else is following them. That way, we can keep this a secret in case the spy is among these ranks.”

“How are you going to flush out the spy before this meeting?” Forest asked, looking at me as he placed his phone on the table.

“Leave that to me. I have an old strategy that’s worked before, but I haven’t used it in years.”

Noah and Conner looked at me with smirks. “Going old school, huh?” they said together.

“It worked when we were fifteen, so I’m betting it’ll still work. This spy is likely a new addition to my dad’s ranks; they don’t know my methods.

“Yes, they know my name, how I operate, but not all the tricks I have up my sleeve. This one is something I’ve only used once, and by now it’s probably been forgotten.

“We’re going to tweak it a bit, guys, but we’ll set it in motion as soon as we land.”

“Hot damn!” Conner pumped his fist in the air. “This will work, and they won’t see what hit them.”

Forest excused himself to another bedroom on the plane; I sat with Noah and Conner, going over the changes to the old plan to make it a little better than three teenagers going after someone who’d really pissed us off.

When we finished, they looked at me with big smiles.

“Boss, I have just one question about this,” Noah said, a hint of concern on his face.

“Noah, it’ll work. I promise you, trust me on this,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“What if there’s more than just one person? He could have multiple moles, and if we do this, it’ll leave you at a disadvantage.”

“You two are my safety net,” I told them, pointing their way. “Just like before, you’re my backup. If things get messier than we anticipate, you’ll be there, just like old times.

“Hidden in the shadows, ready to pull me out. Then we’ll handle the issue. Pierce is in the loop; he knows what he’s doing and won’t leave me exposed.

“I purposely left out the part about you two, just to be safe. He’s been with us through thick and thin, and now he’s high up in my dad’s ranks. I trust him to have our backs.

“If he doesn’t, he’ll go down with the rest. All of my dad’s issues should be resolved in one fell swoop.”

I rose to my feet, heading back to the bedroom. Before I disappeared inside, I glanced back at them over my shoulder.

“Don’t stress, this will go down just like last time. It might get bloody, but we’re always prepared for that, aren’t we?”

They flashed me a wide grin and went off to catch some sleep. The next few days were going to be a wild ride.