The Strays

Chapter Twenty-Two

I quickly changed the subject as we continued walking, working out some finer details for our plan. Ace was certain he could get Jeremiah into The Sanctum, but we all knew it would be safer if they had a distraction, which was where Colt and I came in. We needed to cause a scene while we freed the Trojans, enough to draw Delilah and her cronies out, without getting ourselves caught or killed in the process.

“Do you actually have a plan for how you’re going to execute this prison break with just the two of you, or haven’t you thought that far ahead?” Ace sighed.

“Actually, I still have a couple of caches that Ratchet doesn’t know about, if they haven’t been raided that gives us a way in through the front door, then all we have to do is get to Jeremiah’s men and we have the manpower to get ourselves out.”

“What if you run into Rocky and the Scavengers? Distracting the Elites by overpowering the Enforcers is one thing, but if Delilah takes reinforcements, you’re screwed.” He persisted. 

I rolled my eyes. “Delilah’s forces are spread thin trying to find us, even she isn’t going to expect us to walk straight through the front door, and she won’t have time to call in reinforcements, even Ratchet won’t. I know how your sister thinks, the moment Hatter betrayed her, everything started teetering on a knife edge, she’s had Rocky keeping tabs using the Scav’s making sure the Hellraisers don’t move against her.”

“If Rocky is watching Hatter, then she’ll know about the meeting in the museum.”

“Mac knows she’s being watched, they’ll give Rocky the slip, no problem.”

“And Rocky will no doubt mention seeing your brother, which will take priority for Delilah, she’ll have her people chasing their tails trying to find him, whilst you and Colt distract everyone else.” Jeremiah quickly caught on to what I was doing.

“Exactly. We divide and conquer. Even she doesn’t have enough power to chase all of us, which we’ll use to our advantage.”

“This is a dangerous game.” Colt interjected.

“A lot can go wrong, but I trust we all know what we’re doing. Hatter will be the first stop they make, and they’ll lose any tails they might pick up before heading anywhere else, which means Delilah is going to be distracted looking for them for a good few days, I’ll make sure I trigger the alarm at the old police station so the rest of her resources will be diverted there, and I’ll use their own facilities against them.”

“How do you know for certain that’s where my sister will be keeping them?” 

“It’s the largest, most fortified building under her control, she wouldn’t risk holding them anywhere else.” I smiled as we approached the point where we would have to split up. “Looks like this is where we part ways. Wait until you hear the alarm and the buildings clear before you try to enter.”

“We know how to play the game, just try your best not to get caught.” Ace called over his shoulder as he walked away.

I turned back on my heels, heading in the direction we had just come from.

“Where are you going?” Colt called after me. 

“I need to go home and I don’t mean The Paragon, or one of my safe houses, I mean the place where I was raised, this is a shortcut.”

“Then why didn’t we separate from Ace and Jeremiah earlier?”

“Because Ace would never have let me go home, it’s too risky.”