Page 6 of Elven Lies

This time, instead of easing back into his chair and looking fully chagrinned, Leonard turned his head to glare daggers at the shifter.

Maxwell’s equally threatening stare in response didn’t budge.

The mage’s jaw muscles worked furiously as he fought to contain himself, sitting rigidly and fuming in his seat.

“Like Hannigan said,” Rebecca continued, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, “this is the only confirmed information we currently have. The most important decision that needs to be made now is what needs to happen next. How do we respond to this? Because reacting is out of the question on this one.”

Leonard gaped at her. “Are you insane?”

“Only sometimes,” Rebecca replied with a weak smile, then shook her head. “But not now. I don’t want to roll in blindly, guns blazing, with no idea whether Nyx is actually there at Harkennr’s compound or even where to look for her if she is. Harkennr’s smart. Dangerously so. Not like the other gangs and wannabe crime bosses we’ve gone up against before. He’ll expect a mindless retaliation, and he’ll be more than ready for it.

“Honestly, he’s far more prepared for something like that than we ever could be, the way things stand right now. But in his letter, he did also offer an open invitation to stop by, walk right in, and talk to him…”

A low growl rose from Maxwell as he swept his silver gaze across the table. “At the Roth-Da’al’s earliest convenience.”

“He sounds like a stuck-up prick,” Zida muttered.

Rick gaped at the healer.

Bor grunted.

With a nod, Rebecca delivered what she was now convinced would be the final blow to this meeting. “I think accepting his offer is the is the way to go as our next best step.”

When the only responses she got at first were vacant stares and silence, Rebecca set her jaw and steeled herself for the other shoe to drop. Seconds later, it did. Violently and all at once.

“Iget it…” Whit nodded and shook a finger at her. “You mean like a Trojan-horse kinda thing. Get through all his defenses first, then attack from the inside once you’re already there, right?”

“Oh, all by herself, with no one there for backup?” Zida quipped with a snort. “I didn’t think anyone at this table was born yesterday. Way to prove me wrong…”

“That’s a reckless approach,” Bor grumbled. “This isn’t even about attacking the guy. Hetookone of ours.”

“Exactly!” Leonard thrust a finger toward the old giveldi. “We have to take him down all at once, as soon as we can. For good. We have to get Nyx out of there.”

“No one’s talking about leaving her there,” Rick said, his black- and red-mottled face contorted by a frown. “But sight unseen? We need way more recon.”

“That takes too much time.”

“Oh, so you think this is supposed to be afastoperation? I tell you what, the entire team’ll be dead before anyone finds out anything new. You heard what Hannigan said about the place.”

“The motherfucker’sexperimentingon them!”

“Which makes it even more dangerous to go in all hot-headed like that. Doyouwanna end up being an experiment?”

“We have everything we need to take them out. What about all those new weapons?”

“Weapons don’t mean shit when the enemy outsmarts you before you even have a chance to fire the damn things.”

The office rang with angry shouts and unveiled condescension as the argument heated right along with everyone’s tempers. Rebecca only tried once to silence them with a lifted hand to offer a few more ideas, but no one noticed.

So she shut her mouth again and waited, thinking her so-called assembled council could get the anger and aggression out of their systems quickly before returning to the actual conversation at hand. She was wrong.

When the argument devolved into insults and half-cocked threats flying across the table, everyone offering their own opinion and each of them differing greatly, Rebecca looked to Maxwell.

The shifter watched the unfolding descent with a darkening scowl before he turned his head and his silver eyes locked onto Rebecca’s face. He looked just as disappointed in these results as she felt.

They wouldn’t get anywhere if things continued this way. And they simply didn’t have the time to parse out everyone’s fear and anger from the smart choices before Shade made its next move.

Nyxdidn’t have the time.

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