Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

seat. The redhead had one foot on the dash, and her elbow rested on her knee as she surveyed the area cooly.

“You’re right.” I nodded. “I don’t think the destroyer is going to be able to get close enough to take out the MIGs. That’s the most important thing here. We’re going to need air superiority.”

“Are we sure they still have them?” Bailey asked. “We did a lot of damage last time we were in Boston.”

“That’s true,” I agreed. “But we have to act as if they do. We don’t want to plan for something and be surprised.”

Paige put the map in my hand, and I held it in front of me and spread it out on the steering wheel.

I looked over the places she’d marked and saw that only two looked like they’d work for our plan.

“Let’s go to these two,” I said with a point. “We’ll ditch the rest. They’re going to be too far inland.”

“Alright.” Paige nodded.

The brunette led us to the closest place on the map. The area was near a place called New Quarter Park, and while it looked like the destroyer would be able to get fairly close, it was a good distance from the main interstate the Boston troops would most likely be coming down. If we were going to funnel them successfully, it needed to be a realistic place, and I just wasn’t sure that was our best bet.

I’d keep it in mind, but if the last place wasn’t much better, we might have to do some more scouting to find just the right place. This was far too big of a mission to risk anything going wrong. Everything needed to be exactly perfect for this to work out in our favor.

We were a small, ragtag group of trained civilians, Navy SEALs, and one army ranger. And we were going up against at least a few hundred NK soldiers, all armed with plasma weapons that could easily kill anybody they managed to hit with just a single blast.

It was already mid afternoon by the time we made it down to the last area, but once we hopped out, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. This could work.

The area was on a road called Colonial Parkway that ran directly parallel to the water. The York River was close enough the destroyer would be able to get right up to the area, and there was a peninsula of land surrounded by two small bridges on either side.

If we could trap the NK troops in that little peninsula, that was our best bet. They’d have water on three sides, and my team on the fourth. There would be nowhere for them to go.

I smiled as I stood in the road and looked around.

“I like this place,” I said with a grin in Paige’s direction.

“Oh, thank God,” the brunette laughed.

“Seems you’ve redeemed yourself for now,” Anna teased.

“I’ll take it,” Paige chuckled.

“It’s going to be dark in just an hour or so,” Bailey reminded me. “Should we head back to camp?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “We can survey the area more tomorrow and formulate our plan, but I don’t want us out past dark. Let’s get going.”

The girls all hopped back in the jeep, and I headed down Colonial Parkway and followed Paige’s directions to get us back to the soda factory we were camped out at. The sun dipped below the horizon as we drove, and I knew Bailey was right, it would only be a little while until the sun was fully set.

The fact that it was fall was both a blessing and a curse. It meant we had more time during darkness to take out our opponents, but it would also mean the same thing for them.

Luckily, we were two steps ahead of the Boston troops, so I didn’t think that would be an issue, but the perpetual darkness still made me a bit nervous.

We made it back home pretty quickly, and once we arrived, we headed over to the fire to warm ourselves up.

Tara sat next to me and sucked on a piece of the crystalized ginger Minji had given her while Paige sat on my other side and held her feet out to the flames to warm them.

Anna sat next to the brunette and undid her braids. She shook her hair loose, and it flowed around her in a mane of beachy waves that made me feel like we should be spread out on towels by the ocean.

Bailey sat next to Tara with her sketchbook back in her lap. She held it at such an angle that nobody else could see what she was drawing, but I was so curious that I just had to ask.

“Bailey,” I said with a smile. “What are you working on?”

“Yeah,” Anna added. “I haven’t seen you draw since before Tav got here, I think.”

“I didn’t remember ever seeing her draw,” I chuckled.

“Well, we’re always pretty busy.” Bailey shrugged. “So I haven’t had much time, but I think I’m just a bit homesick.”

“Let us see,” Tara said, and she reached for the paper.

“It’s not finished yet,” Bailey protested, and she tried to pull the sketchbook out of Tara’s reach, but she was too slow, and the platinum-blonde snatched it up.

“Holy shit.” Tara grinned and turned the sketchbook around for us all to see.

It was a beautifully done portrait of Winchester sitting with his head slightly up, and his eyes were closed. His mouth was parted just enough to see his tongue loll to one side.

On Winchester’s head was Rolly’s hand. The old man was seated on a wooden bench, and next to him was an unfinished portrait of who I could only assume was Betty.

The drawing was beautifully done. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it captured the