Chief Mahoney pushed through the tent flap. He was grizzled, coated in ash, and had one arm in a sling. Since the battle, he looked as if he’d aged five years and was bordering on looking like somebody’s grandfather—not that Beau would ever tell him that. After all, he, too, was a commander of the Black Birds and deserved respect.

  “The scouts are back,” said Mahoney. “They’re scouting the atrium by the mantid corridor along with other parts of De. Gerben’s mansion. We want to make sure there aren’t any other mantid Scythian fortresses we don’t know about. One is bad enough.”

  “Have your scouts found another way out?” Beau said. “Any new leads for what’s outside the mansion?”

  “The only confirmed exit is past the Scythians, but we’re looking for alternate options. The scouts have been able to find more windows and peer into the outside world, which is all supersized like everything else. All they have been able to see are the gardens that surround the property, and the other gigantic connected facilities. Most of them are locked up with no clear way inside. We expect heavy resistance as we push into other parts of the mansion and search for more exits.”

  “I wonder what General Karakis is thinking,” Tessa said. “Do you think we will retaliate?”

  “Hard to say,” Mahoney said. “Our scouts spotted General Karakis inside his fortress, recovering from his wounds.”

  Beau looked away.

  Failure tasted like rust. He didn’t have to say it. They all knew. The plan hadn’t worked. They lost good people. He saw in their faces—he relived the memories of his fellow militia fighters dragged under mantid claws, screaming and dying.

  Tessa reached over and touched his hand. “We made them bleed, Beau. You gave them something to fear. Now we need something to sucker punch them hard enough to leave for good.”

  He didn’t respond.

  Mayor Carnie appeared next, his coat covered in soot, his face pulled tight with exhaustion. “Let’s talk about the next steps.”

  Inside the war tent, everyone sat around a central table lined with documents detailing inventory counts, combat strategies, and the maps of Dr. Gerben’s mansion drawn by the scouts. They examined the schematics of Dr. Gerben’s mansion rendered in a charcoal outline. They reviewed scouting reports and stuck red pins into the schematic for every known mantid spotting—the scouts have identified seventeen confirmed mantid outposts.

  All of the intel they’ve gathered left them with one real choice: they had to find a way to destroy General Karakis’s primary fortress and flee through the back doors into the backyard.

  Mayor Carnie poured water into glass cups, passed them around, and motioned for everyone to sit. Tessa’s mother, Dr. Lorne, stood at the far end. Her sleeves were rolled back. She had dark rings under her eyes.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Beau remained silent.

  Dr. Lorne looked at Beau. “Your electric tunnel trap…it was a good idea, son. It just wasn’t enough. That’s not your fault. We killed dozens of them and we learned valuable intel. Electricity works. We took a beating, but that doesn’t mean we can’t sock them right where it hurts.”

  “Yeah, it could have gone a lot better,” Beau muttered.

  A long pause stretched around the table.

  Tessa stepped forward, eyes burning with fire. “We need a new plan of attack. We have to hit them harder than ever before.”

  Carnie raised a brow. “What’re you proposing?”

  “I have a plan that my mother and I have been developing,” Tessa said. “We go in quietly with a small team and we drop bombs—we blow up the fortress and escape while they all burn and we watch it from a distance. We can be out of there before they even know what happened.”

  Beau blinked. “Is that even possible?”

  She nodded. “We believe so.”

  “That’s suicide,” Chief Mahoney said. “They’ll see you coming. You’ll get shredded before you make it.”

  “Not if we’re fast.”

  Beau rubbed his jaw. “We don’t have bombs big enough for that kind of a mission, even if we could sneak into the fortress without alerting the entire enemy army. We don’t have anything like that.”

  “Actually, Beau, I’ve been working on that,” Dr. Lorne said, stepping up to the table. “At this stage, it’s just a theory. But it could work. It goes like this—we mix a high oxygen compound with a delayed ignition accelerant. Essentially, we can create a gigantic incendiary bomb.”

  Beau stared at her. “You can do that?”

  “It’s one solution,” Dr. Lorne said. “But at this moment, it’s really our only option. I don’t think anyone wants another full fledged ground assault. We need to shock their system.”

  “I don’t hear any better ideas. Is everyone in favor?” Mayor Carnie asked, taking nods for votes.

  Everyone nodded.

  “Okay,” Mayor Carnie said. “It’s a go. Dr. Lorne, Tessa, grab whoever else you need for the lab and prepare the bomb.”

  Dr. Lorne turned on her heel and exited the war tent.

  Beau took a slow breath. “I’m guessing you’ll need volunteers?”

  “Yes,” Tessa said. “Thanks for volunteering, Beau.”

  Beau frowned. “Two kids against a mantid fortress?”

  “Technically, there will be three of us. You, me, and the third is a surprise. Don’t look so upset, just wait until you see what else mom has been working on.”

  He hesitated—but only for a second.

  “Alright,” Beau said. “I’m in. But who’s the third guy?”

  Tessa motioned for him to follow her back to the truck. “Like I said, it’s a surprise. Follow me. Time to meet our ace in the hole.”