CHAPTER
29
With Casey’s questions answered, we went back to plotting our way into the mountains. Our Cocopah hunter marked out the old paths. We had to hit the enemy from different sides, drawing out the Zombie soldiers, but also making sure none of them could make a run for it.
A nudge at my arm warned me before Lutz whispered in my ear. “I can go to the Zombie camp, but not inside. With me there as a lookout, I can report if they start coming your way too soon.” I gave him points for not materializing in a room where half of us were in touch enough with Spirits to see him.
“We need to narrow down the approach. Both times we set off some type of tripwire.” I drew lines through the hologram of our routes in, then out, speaking to Lutz, but having everyone’s attention. “Probably the same technology that lets them know when a group of illegals are close enough to grab.”
“Border Patrol uses infrared and motion monitors along the border.” The head of the Cocopah Reservation Police looked to Casey.
“We do, but not everywhere. The Tinajas area hasn’t had the influx to justify the expenditure.” Casey raised a hand to stop any comments before they started. “I know. Just because the government approves the aid stations doesn’t mean they’ll give me funds to improve our monitoring systems.”
“That’s true. Our funding comes from the UN under humanitarian aid, not law enforcement or immigration. We don’t get any funds for monitoring. But apparently they have the funds. Question is where…”
The old hunter pointed at the hologram just as I lifted my hand. “Here and here.” He touched on two mountain tops. “They are the only points from where they could see you coming into their area, but not the ascent to the ridge. If you had stayed on the same path…” He didn’t need to finish that sentence. Lutz gave my shoulder a comforting stroke.
“Makes sense. Using those points, give me routes in. Give me an exact location of their monitors. We need to disable them to make our way in.”
I quietly let the old man and the computer tech launch into a virtual search for the locations of the presumed sensor arrays. They kept moving their ‘all-seeing eyes’ up and down the sides of the two mountain until they found the area where the one path was fully obscured. They overlapped the new map with the old hunter’s paths.
Joey stepped up to the new display. “That’s our ways in. Not pretty.”
Having my attention, I came around to the perspective Joey had. “And that’s if these are the only two arrays.”
“Oh, no doubt there’s more.” He pointed around the table. “These are primarily for hunting prey, not self-defense. Other sites will be covering the rest of the mountain range.”
Daniel joined us too. “We need to get their escape route covered, so we need to come in from this angle.” He pointed to the plateau and the only way off it. “One team has to get here. Another needs to come in from the top. We need to take these arrays out to get in there.”
“No we don’t.” Joey ran his finger along an old trail that ran nearly parallel the natural wash, but hidden from the array. However, it had most of the wash covered. “This is the one that got you going in the first time. You can get this far without being detected if you follow this trail. It’ll get you close to the base of the plateau. By then we’ll have started the first offensive.”
Daniel shook his head. “Too much rough ground to cover in the interim. And there’s the matter of us getting our warriors into their positions.”
“Not if we take out this array.” Joey pointed to one of the targets. “Shut this down, please.”
The tech complied and the gap between the trail and the bottom of the plateau opened up. So did a few others higher up the mountain.
“There’s no doubt they’ll have something to cover the way you went in, recognizing it as a gap in the array overlaps, but taking this array out will get the ground team to their assault point, and the upper assault team to their rappelling points.” Joey grinned. “And it’s the easiest to reach. I can get up there and shut it down.”
“Shutting it down might alert them.”
Joey gave Daniel an annoyed frown. “This is my specialty. I can make it look like a glitch, delayed feed, cutting out sections where our teams have to cross through.”
“And I can help with that.” Our tech expert put himself on Joey’s team.
“Sounds good. Work it out.”
I expected an argument from Daniel, then remembered I now outranked him. “Daniel, with this information, you and Frankie finalize your assault plans. Chucky, you get to head up my team, ground level assault. Mom, Dad, we’ll need support teams, logistics, medical triage… you know the routine and who needs to run the details.”
I wasn’t picking family out of preference, but out of experience. This was our region. “You have an hour before we present.” I joined Chucky as he gathered our team. I didn’t ask about his selection. Years of hunting with my brothers taught me a lot. It was one of the few times I didn’t argue with them.
I didn’t need to argue with anyone on this mission. I was cargo, a weapon they had to get to the front line. So I listened as he laid out everyone’s duties.
At the end of the hour the teams all reported their individual plans. As the details turned to support efforts, I felt sluggish. Maybe I should have eaten more. I needed energy, and soon. The effects of Rising were always this way, physically draining and a bit confusing as mortal and immortal minds coalesced.
My mother’s voice snapped me back. “… for today. Group leaders can finish
