Page 58 of The Knights of Gaia

“Forget the playing field, Bronte.”

“Forgetthe playing field?” she gasped.

“Look, do you want to win this game or not?” I arched my brows at her.

Bronte nibbled on her lip for a few moments before she answered. “Yes. You know I do.”

“How badly do you want to win?”

More nibbling. Then, “Verybadly.”

I looked at the others. “And you guys?”

“Whatever it takes,” Asher said.

Kylie nodded.

That just left Dutch.

“Well? What do you say?” I asked him.

“I think you’re trouble, Savannah Winters.” His eyes locked with mine. “But it’s not like we’ve been left with many choices. If you have a plan, let’s hear it. How are we going to get past the Watchers? How are we going to escape the Castle grounds when the gate is locked?” He braided his fingers together and waited.

“Ok, here it is.” I turned to face the whole team. “The Watchers drive everywhere, right?”

“Yeah,” said Asher. “And? How does that help us?”

“They must have driven here, to the Castle, this morning. And since they’re still here, their vehicle must be too.”

“It’s parked right next to the track,” Dutch said.

Everyone looked at him.

He shrugged. “I saw it this morning. I arrived early to run a few laps around the track and get in a good workout. They have a bunch of exercise stations there too.”

Yeah, I was not surprised that Dutch was doing extra workouts. He looked like the sort of guy who crushed cans with his biceps and cracked coins with his teeth.

“You want to steal the Watchers’ SUV, don’t you, Winters?” Asher said.

Bronte, Kylie, and Dutch all gawked at me.

“I’d like to think of it less asstealingand more likeborrowing,” I replied.

Bronte let out a little squeak.

“You wanted to win,” I reminded her. “And this is how we do it: we borrow the Watchers’ SUV. There will be a remote inside that opens the Castle gate. Then we drive to the Black Obelisk and deliver the infamous Object 2861 to the General. Easy-peasy.”

“Uh, I can think of at least a dozen parts of this plan that won’t be easy at all,” Asher said.

“You’re welcome to suggest a better plan, Asher. Any of you are, actually.”

No one said anything. Though Bronte did turn a very unflattering shade of pale-as-a-ghost.

“I’m going to take that as a sign that you’ve all agreed to my plan.” I turned to Kylie. “How far are we from the track?”

She looked at the map in her hands. “If we cut through the forest—and run fast—under ten minutes. But that’s assuming the other teams don’t attack us.”

“If we move fast, before they get here, they won’t,” I assured her. “They can’t imagine that we’d ever headawayfrom the extraction point.”

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