Chapter 29-Making Plans

"Actually, I can." Special Agent Maitland told him. "Colonel Allen, you're under arrest for aiding and abetting the enemy."

"You don't have the authority." The Colonel snarled at him.

"I have the authority to place you under arrest pending investigation." Special Agent Maitland said, motioning for a couple of his men to go ahead and arrest the Colonel. "Or at least until General Jackson tells me what to do with you."

"This is ridiculous." Colonel Allen said, looking at his two men. They just looked back at him with blank expressions.

"They can't do anything. They know that you're outnumbered, and that General Jackson commanded you to cooperate with the PBI on this issue." Special Agent Maitland told him. When Colonel Allen just scowled at him, he turned to Joe. "Alpha Rogers, do you have a cell we could put him in for the time being?"

"Yes, Sir, we do." Joe replied. Then the door opened, showing Beta Carl standing in the doorway. "If your men will follow my Beta, he'll show them where to put him. Oh, and cell phones don't work in the cells."

"Thank you, Alpha." Special Agent Maitland nodded at Joe, then turned to his men. "Follow the Beta, and put him in a cell. Make sure he doesn't have anything he can hurt himself with."

"Yes, Sir." They both answered, then marched Colonel Allen out the door, following Beta Carl.

"Now that that's taken care of, we can move on."  Special Agent Maitland said, looking around. "Unless there are any objections?"

Everyone still at the table shook their heads no.  "Okay.  I guess the next order of business is planning our attack."

"If you don't need me, I think I'll see how lunch is coming while you discuss tactics."  Roe told them.

"I think we've pretty much got it covered here, Miss Cavenaugh." Agent Maitland said. "I know that you said you wanted to be there, where exactly do you see yourself?"

"Personally, I think I'd do better at first aid, and helping with anyone that's extremely distressed or doesn't trust y'all." She shook her head. "I'm afraid some of the people there may think that they're trading captivity with one military group for another. With that being said, I have no intention of interfering with your job."

Special Agent Maitland looked slightly stunned by that. "I hadn't thought about that aspect."

"That's why I wanted to be there along with Shane and Adrian. Between the three of us, and Joe if he goes, we should be able to calm any fears that they have."

"Alright. I don't see any issue with that."

Do you want us to come with you?  Shane asked her.

No, I'm fine.  I promise I won't leave the house, and they'll probably need your help.  She told them. And if anything interesting happens, I'll link you.

Alright. Shane said.

Roe walked out the door and down the hall toward the kitchen. When she walked in, she saw a bunch of women running around frantically, including Luna Marcy. She walked over to Marcy, and asked her "What's going on?"

"There are a lot more people here than we were expecting. Special Agent Maitland brought all of his men, and those military guys brought a bunch too." She shook her head. "We're scrambling to find enough food for them."

"I thought only the military guys that came were the ones in the meeting." Roe said, confused.

"That's what was supposed to happen. That Colonel brought more and left them at the end of the driveway, like we wouldn't notice them on our land." Marcy scoffed. "Joe told Beta Carl to go invite them to eat with us since they were here anyway." She shook her head. "Now we've got all these extra mouths to feed without any notice."

"You do realize that most if not all of the military guys are human. They don't eat anywhere near as much as werewolves do."

Marcy stopped what she was doing, stunned. "Oh Roe, I had totally forgotten about that. I was trying to prep for them like they were a whole 'nother pack." She hugged Roe. "Thank you so much. That helps me a lot." She turned and yelled at the women in the kitchen. "Hold it!" They all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. "Roe here just reminded me that all the military guys are human. They don't eat much. Roe, what would a normal portion for a human be?"

"You've seen me eat, and I eat about what a human male does."

"So, like a kids plate?"

"I guess, but not a teenager. More like a five or six year old."

"Thanks Roe." Marcy said, then turned back to the women in the kitchen. "Alright ladies, you heard her. Cut everything for the military to kiddie portions."

The women all let out sighs of relief. One of the ladies said "That's going to be so much easier, Luna. All of the sides are almost ready right now. It won't take much to get them finished. But once we do, where are we going to put them all?"

"Good. At this rate, we should only be a little late with lunch." She paused, thinking then said "I'm not sure where to put them. Let me think about it for a few minutes, and I'll get back to you."

"Yes ma'am." The woman said, then went back to getting everything ready.

"Is part of the food ready? Like enough to feed the kids, or the pack?"

"I believe we have enough to feed the kids and most of the pack ready now, but it won't take long to get enough to feed the rest of the pack ready. Why?"

"If I may offer a suggestion?" Roe asked. At Marcy's nod, she continued. "If you have the kids and some of the adults come through and fix a plate, then they can go outside and eat. The kids will love it if you call it a picnic. That will get them fed, and out of the way of all the military and PBI people. After you get the pack fed, then you can bring the guests into the dining room, and feed them in there. If any of the guests want to see how a pack works, they can go out back and see the pack eating together."

"That's a great idea, Roe. I don't know why I didn't think of it." She shook her head. "I guess it's because we've never done anything like this before. Anytime we have other packs here, we usually do a barbeque out back, but this time we weren't prepared for this many people."

"And these are humans, too."

"That too." Luna Marcy said to Roe before turning to the others in the room. "Alright, ladies. We've got a plan now, so let's get to it. I'll get some of the men to put the tables out back, then we can get started feeding people."

"Yes Luna." The women chorused, then got to work on Roe's plan.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Roe asked.

"If you could act as the liaison between the pack, military, and PBI, that would be great."

"Alright, though I'm not sure exactly what needs to be done on that front." Roe said.

"For right now, if you'll just go tell the two guest groups that if they need anything to let you know."

"Okay, I can do that. Do you also want me to get a message to the military guys in the meeting and Special Agent Maitland?"

"If you can without disrupting them, yes."

"I can."

"Okay."

Guys, Luna Marcy has asked me to be the liaison between the pack and the military and PBI. Can you tell the ones in there with you that if they need anything to let me know?

Sure, Roe. Adrian answered her.

Are you going outside? Shane asked her.

I'm going to have to. I'm sure Agent Maitland can get a message to the rest of his people, but the military people can't.

I don't like it. Shane grumbled.

Silly boy can't handle me out of his sight for long, can he? Roe thought to herself.

How about if Beta Carl escorts her? Adrian asked Shane.

I guess we can trust him. Shane replied.

What do you think Roe? Adrian asked her.

I guess I'm okay with that. Roe said, smiling to herself. I swear these men are so overprotective it's not funny.

Where are you? We'll get Joe to send him to you. Adrian asked.

I'm heading toward the front door from the kitchen.

Wait on him, okay? Shane asked her.

I will. Roe replied. I will because I understand the bond, probably better than either of them do. I also understand the dangers that accompany it.

Beta Carl soon joined Roe, and they went outside to let the military men know what was going on. She told them that lunch would be served soon, and that if they had any questions to feel free to ask her. Nobody really talked to her, so they went back into the pack house. She went back into the kitchen and Beta Carl went back to whatever he was doing before he escorted her outside.

I'm back in the house. She told Adrian and Shane.

Good. Shane said.

Thank you. Adrian said.

When she got in the kitchen, Roe found Marcy and asked her "I told them what was going on, but they pretty much ignored me." She shrugged. "Is there anything else I can do to help?"

"I think we've pretty much got it covered." Marcy told her. "The pack is out back eating, and we should be serving the rest soon. Oh, could you see if there are enough serving utensils in the dining room? If there aren't, they're over there in that drawer."

"I'll take care of it." Roe said. Then she went into the dining room and looked around the warming stations, making sure there was a utensil at every one. When she got done with that, she went back to the kitchen to see if Marcy needed her to do anything else. Marcy asked her to go tell the military people and the men in the conference room that lunch was ready. After she did, they all sat down to eat.

When they were through, Special Agent Maitland stood up and said "Alright, we're moving out in an hour, so everybody get your stuff together and ready to leave."

They all got up and went to get ready to leave. Roe, Shane and Adrian followed Joe into his office. "Are you going too?" She asked him.

"Yes. I have a couple of pack members that have gone missing. I need to see if they're there." He replied.

"Okay. I think we're ready to go whenever y'all are." She turned and looked at the guys for confirmation. They both nodded yes at her. "Is there anything we need to bring with us?"

"Not that I know of. PBI's medics should have any first aid equipment that we need." Joe replied.

"I know that there's food there, but some of it's drugged, so nobody needs to feed anyone there unless it's checked out first."

"How do we get it checked out?" Joe asked her.

"Adrian could smell the drugs in both the blood and the meat. Shane could too, when he wasn't drugged himself." She answered. "So, anyone that's not a prisoner should be able to sort it. More than likely, everyone there will need to be fed."

"Okay. Is there food there for humans?" He asked.

"Yes. They gave me stuff to make sandwiches. I'm sure there's plenty of human food, considering the guards are human." She replied.

"I'll let Agent Maitland know, and get him to tell everyone not to feed anyone there unless the food's been checked out."

"Okay, Joe."

Roe and the guys left Joe's office, and walked out front to see how the military and PBI people were doing. They were quickly packing up their supplies, and getting into their vehicles. There was a mixture of SUVs, trucks, and vans in the pack's driveway.

"Who are we riding with?" Roe asked Shane and Adrian.

"We thought you'd rather ride with Joe." Shane replied.

Roe nodded, distracted by her own thoughts. I hope this works well. I'd hate to get there, and they've already moved. I hope we can figure out exactly where that facility is. When we left, we were running for our lives, and went out the back into the woods. This time, we need to go in the front because of the humans, and because we will probably need the vehicles to get some of them out of there. Also, some of the people working there may not have any idea what's really going on there, so we need to keep the supernatural stuff kind of quiet. I wonder if Agent Maitland thought about that. "Do either of you know if Agent Maitland told his people to keep the supernatural stuff under wraps?"

Adrian and Shane just looked at her.

"Some of the people here, the military ones, don't quite understand us, and there may be people there that don't know what's going on. Like whoever is doing the cooking for the guards."

"Oh." Shane said. "I'm not sure."

"I'll go ask him." Adrian told her. "You'll need to tell Joe too, and any of his men that are going too."

"I can talk to Joe when we're in the car, and he can link his men."

Adrian nodded to her, then turned and walked away to go talk to Special Agent Maitland. Joe walked out of the pack house and as he walked by them toward an SUV, he gestured for them to follow him. They got in with him, and Roe talked to him about not showing the humans what they were, as they waited on Adrian to rejoin them. Joe agreed, and told her that he would take care of it.

As soon as Adrian joined them in the SUV, Joe started driving toward Ashland. "I know y'all were held somewhere on the other side of Ashland, and they've given me information about where, but I need the three of you to look at the GPS on my phone and try to figure out how to get there driving."

"Okay." Roe said, taking the phone from him. "Let me look at something first." She played with the phone for a couple of minutes, then said "I think I found it. It looks like it's the old Ashberry Asylum, just on the other side of Ashland." She handed the phone to the men in the backseat. "See what you think. It's the only building I could find in the area that looked big enough to be where we were."

"It looks like the same place." Adrian said. "Just a lot more rundown now."

"I think so too." Shane said.

"Okay." Roe said, taking the phone back and programming it to give them directions. "How are we going to ensure that no one escapes?"

"Somewhere along the way we're going to pull over and let some of the PBI's men out. They're going to come up from the woods and surround the property."

Roe nodded. "Okay. Then what's the plan?"

"Go in the front, and see what shakes loose." Joe shrugged. "We don't have a real detailed plan, because nobody but you three have been there. We are going to show them how to get there, and then hang back until the fighting's over. Then we'll go in with PBI's medics and see about setting all of the prisoners free."

"Alright. Then what's the plan for the prisoners?"

"Well, if they're from my pack, they'll go back with me, and if they're from Shane's pack they'll go with him. Adrian is going to see to the vampires."

"What about the wolves that don't belong to your pack or Shane's?" Roe asked him.

"We'll see where they're supposed to be, and deal with them accordingly." He told her. "Also, before anyone is let go, they're going to be run through PBI's records to see if they're wanted for anything."

"So, they may be trading one prison for another?" Roe asked, annoyed.

"Roe, if they're wanted by the PBI, they've done something bad. We can't just let them go."

Roe frowned. "I guess you're right, but I don't like it."

"I'm not really a fan of it, but I do understand it." Shane said. "I would hate to let everyone go, then find out later that someone we released had killed someone."

"I hadn't thought about that." Roe said, slowly. "I don't think I could live with myself if that happened."

"That's what we thought too." Joe said. They rode in silence a little while, then Joe spoke. "I think we're almost there. We should probably let the PBI men out about here, so they can get in position while we drive around to the front."

Roe nodded. "Do you want me to call Agent Maitland, or send him a message? A bunch of cars suddenly stopping here may arouse suspicion."

"Text him, please." Joe answered her, and as she did he told her "We have a plan. One of the vans is going to fake car trouble, and two others are going to stop to help them fix it. The PBI men are going to sneak off into the woods while the three drivers are looking at the broken van."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Roe said, then looked at the phone when it dinged. "He said okay."

"Good. We should be there shortly."

Roe nodded, then leaned back into the seat, waiting to get there.