We both laugh at that, and then Luke chimes in. “That’s a good idea. The going early, I mean. But also, stop eavesdropping.”
She makes a “Pshhh” sound, and then whispers, “Your boyfriend’s a real buzzkill.”
I just laugh as Luke picks up a throw pillow off the floor and chunks it at her head.
“Hey, I’m tellin’,” she whines.
And then we both lose it as Luke growls in our direction.
***
DAVID
This afternoon I was called into a meeting of the elders with Vater Henry. He informed us a letter had arrived signed by two gang leaders, Lord Mateo and Lord Paul. As soon as he said the names I knew this had to do with Anna Cress. I knew it was only a matter of time before she managed to rally them into attacking again. He’d told us they had requested a meeting. A meeting and nothing else. What a load of shit. Except apparently Vater Henry didn’t think it was a load of shit, in fact, he was actually considering attending.
“You can’t be serious,” I growl in the Vater’s direction.
He looks to me with a scowl, no doubt in response to my tone, and nods a confirmation. “I am, Elder. I am serious. It behooves us to hear them out. If I can do anything to prevent another attack on our compound when we are still rebuilding from the last, then it is my duty instilled by God to do so.” He pauses, checking each of the faces of the elders gathered around the table before adding, “And if nothing else it will allow me to say I did everything in my power. It will allow all of us that ability. If we don’t go, and the people find out, and then we are attacked, they could question our judgment, blame us.”
From my right Elder Berry agrees, “I agree with Vater Henry. It hurts nothing for us to go and see what they have to say.”
“It hurts everything,” I yell a little too loud as I stand up knocking over my chair. Reigning it in a little I continue, “This is a trap. How can you people not see that? They get our leader, our head of security, maybe a couple other elders outside the safety of the walls, and then take us out. That leaves our people ripe for the picking. Open your eyes, Vater.”
“I have full faith in your capabilities, Elder,” The Vater reassures.
And with that it’s clear the meeting is over as Vater Henry rises from his chair before leaving. With a growl I leave the room, making my way to the backside of the compound where a group of new recruits are training.
Over the last few days as I recruited new men for my security force, I’d tried to focus on men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, but unfortunately that only got me to one-hundred and fifty. I needed another one-hundred men to feel like we could defend the compound against just about anything. The north wall rebuild was complete, so that certainly helped, but it wasn’t enough. Things were changing, and the Vater was too stupid to see that. All he knew is that the walls had been enough to protect us for more than two decades, but they weren’t enough anymore. And if he couldn’t see that, then maybe we needed a change in leadership.
Sure he had given me what I asked for. I had my men, after upping the age to forty, but even though he had given me what I wanted, it was clear he was only pacifying me. As evidenced by his choice to meet with the Diablo and Titan gangs.
No matter. If the Vater wanted to act like an idiot, I would just have to compensate for that.
“Brian!” I bark, meeting the man half-way as he sits down his knife on a demonstration table.
“Yes, sir,” he responds, meeting me.
“I need a team put together. The Vater has chosen to attend a meeting with two gang leaders.” I pause, allowing that to sink in. “We’ll need to be in Bonham a day early to take a few security precautions.” I turn to head back inside with my office as the destination, and Brian follows. “You’ll be with me inside the meeting, along with at least one other person. I’ll let you know who later.”
As we make it to my office door, he pulls out a notepad and pen and starts jotting down notes. Making it inside, I sit down in my desk chair as Brian takes the seat across from me before I continue.
“The meeting is taking place on the first floor of Hotel Bonham, apparently the owner will be closing her establishment to the public to ensure everyone’s safety. We’ll need two men outside each entrance and then…”
As Brian continues to take notes, I explain my plan. We’ll have men in street clothes stationed sporadically throughout town. Then we’ll need a team of five on either end of the main road, just in case there’s an issue and someone tries to make a run for it. I also think it would be smart to have another ten waiting near our horses and wagon. It’s going to be imperative that we only take those we have absolute trust in. Not just that we can trust they will do their jobs, but that if things go south, we know we can trust them not to come back to the compound running their mouths.
Brian and I work for the rest of the day, going through each of the men’s files to determine who fits what we are looking for. In the end, we settle on a team of thirty men, that should be more than enough to maintain order. It also leaves us with plenty of men back at the compound.
We have to make sure we leave enough men behind to
