Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 49

District 13

Peeta's POV

I rush down the corridor full of excitement at what just played out on TV. Katniss and Cato we're talking about the Mutt farm, he told us exactly where the arena is!

"Did you see, did you hear what Cato said. She's in District 1, we know where she is!" I shout as I burst through the door into command.

Lyndon turns to me from the screen which shows an aerial image of the District 1 Mutt farm. Plutarch stands alongside him. Around the table sits Alek, Steph, Elise and General Remus. Sat on the edge of the table is Gale, watching on.

"We saw it too Peeta, we're trying to hatch some sort of rescue plan right now" says Lyndon.

The door opens behind me as Haymitch steps in, he places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently, giving me both mental support and strength.

"It's good news son, let's hope we can get her home soon" he says quietly.

Plutarch comes around the table and stands in front of us.
"The thing is Peeta we can't be sure what agenda Cato is playing to, we still feel that he's teamed up with careers in some way and this whole ally thing with Katniss is part of a larger plan to lead her to them"

I shake my head "no, no way. Katniss is a better judge of character than any one of us in this room. If she trusts him, then we should too"

"Peeta I-"

"I don't wanna hear it Plutarch, how many times has he saved her life, first when she fell in the pit, and then when they got ambushed, the Golden house. And then today with the locusts, he's always been looking out for her"

Haymitch joins in "You can't argue with that Plutarch. If he really wanted to hand her over to the careers then he could of done it long before now. I think Peeta's right, we can trust Cato"

Gale gets up and talks to the group "Up until now we've had no idea where the Central Park arena is. Cato gave us that information, on purpose if you ask me as he knew we'd be listening. It's the only good information we've had so far and we should go for it"

I look back at Plutarch and then Lyndon, hoping for some agreement. Officially I'm no longer president so I can't really order them to rescue her but I still have a voice, a voice they listen to.

Lyndon turns back to the aerial photograph
"the problem we've got is that the mutt farm is so well guarded" he points to a large high wall around the complex. "These here on top of the wall are anti-aircraft guns. We can't get close with hovercraft, they'll just shoot us down, we need to plan a land assault of some sort" he finishes looking at Remus.

Remus stands and presses a button on the console in front of him. The lights automatically dim and a holo projection of Panem appears above the table. Remus takes his pen and points at the map.
"You can see here the progress the mutt army has made. So far we've recovered 9 districts from Wolfe but District 3 has started causing us a problem. Wolfe has built a defensive wall of sentry guns and anti-aircraft batteries that are almost impregnable. Scar and the Mutt army has hit a wall that they can't breach, and Alek can't get his hovercraft in to give him air support because of the anti aircraft guns. To get to Katniss we must take District 3 first, it's the only thing which stands in our way"

"Why can't we bypass 3 and send a team straight to District 1 to get her out. You did the same thing to rescue me from the Capitol, remember?" I say pleadingly.