“So they can use these all the time?”
“No, you need blocks of ice and batteries. In the winter, they can be used, but outside of that they aren’t as good. There is some value to wearing them, but most of the wolves prefer to fold them up and return them in their light packs. They stay farther apart and move fast, that way an airstrike or Predator drone can’t take out more than one at a time.”
Shit, there was a lot going on here, I thought. “So are we winning?”
Craig laughed. “I don’t think anyone is winning right now. The larger Packs have been herded into exclusion zones, where they have the advantage in terrain. It’s become a guerilla war, good enough that the Army won’t send troops inside the zones. They soon found out that werewolves are far better at fighting in the woods and mountains than they are. Smaller packs like ours, if they survived, do so by hiding and avoiding attention. We may fight, but it is asymmetric warfare, not the normal.”
“What the hell is asymmetric?”
Jacob looked at me. “In normal warfare, the fighting forces face each other on the battlefield, and the stronger prevails. What we do is more nuanced. We’d never survive a straight up fight, so we don’t. What Josh has been doing on the cyber front is one example; we’ve caused more than a trillion dollars in economic damage since the war started. Hell, Josh has made warfare into a moneymaking operation. He’s transferred more than five hundred million dollars from others to overseas accounts, and is using that money to help fight the war and keep Packs afloat.”
My head was spinning. That kid wasn’t even eighteen yet and he was financing a war? “How many Packs are we talking?”
“Out of the Packs that were allied to us before the war, about half still exist. We are giving them access to accounts so they can pay their bills, buy food and survive without having to expose themselves to working in the human world. I think you already knew the St. Cloud pack was wiped out, so was Alexandria and Grand Forks. The North Shore pack was hit hard early, and their Alphas fled to the Vermillion Pack and they combined. The Rochester pack was also hit early, thankfully Nadine hadn’t gone home then.”
“They are all gone?”
“Mostly. Some managed to escape and join other Packs, and we have a few dozen refugees who have joined with us. Olivia and Mark did a circuit of the Pack areas, checked on the ones who were still there and rescued a number who wouldn’t survive much longer. Those contact lenses Ker told us about saved dozens of lives.” Craig hugged me. “I didn’t have them introduce themselves last night because you didn’t know them, but some will be at the meeting later. They felt more comfortable in our Pack than with Alpha Stormwater, and will leave with us when we go.”
“And we have to go because?”
“Too much heat, we’ve been here too long and we can’t endanger our hosts. We don’t blend in with the Reservation if they start looking too close. We’ve already started looking for a place to go; back home is still too hot to return to.” He nuzzled my neck. “By the way, we tore down the remains of your house and buried the evidence of the safe rooms, Tom got that done after we fled. I need to know what you want to do with it. Tom’s been holding the insurance money, but I couldn’t find it in me to decide without you.”
I leaned back on him, it was home but it also wasn’t safe. There were also the other houses I owned along the street that weren’t being used. “I don’t know, love. I’ll have to think about it.” I looked at the clock, it was twenty after nine. “I think we need to stop for now, I need to freshen up and we’ll need to greet people as they arrive for the meeting. What do you want to talk about, Craig?”
“Well, everyone will want to know what happened during the time you were gone, it would be best to get it all at once. Jacob is going to give an update on the search for a new home, and we need to induct Charlie into the pack, formally.”
I had already accepted him, Craig knew that, but he was the Alpha wolf and he needed to do it so the Pack bonds could form. “Let’s do that after lunch, that way everyone can be there.” He nodded. This should be fun, I thought, as we broke up and left the office.
Marge knew that the meeting would run long, so they had already prepared a lunch that could be pulled out of the fridge and served. “Dagwood sandwiches,” she said. I saw the dining table had been turned into a buffet, with rolls, chips and such already out, the rest was in our fridge or being brought over from nearby houses.
The emotion level was a little lower today than last night, so I had more fun with the greetings. I asked Charlie to sit by me, so he could be properly introduced and could tell his part of the story. The meeting went well; there were a lot of tears as I told my story, and even more for Charlie.
They hung on my every word as I told of how I was brought out by Al, and Black Ker. As I talked about the drive away, the death of Alpha Marvin, and my talk with Al on the flight, one thing was clear to everyone.
The CIA and Black Ker wanted something from me, and until we found out what it was, we couldn’t plan anything. It was time to make the call.
I had the burner phone in my back pocket, I wandered away from the house to the park down the street to make the call with some privacy. I dialed the only number that was saved; it rang for a few times before a male voice answered. “Al.”
“It’s Ella. I’m ready to meet.”
There was a pause, he must have been looking something up. “The Harbor Bar and Grill in Cole Harbor. Meet us there at six, we’ll have dinner and talk. Alone.”
“Craig really should be there,” I said.
“No need to risk it, you can fill him in later. Don’t worry, Ella, we aren’t expecting you to decide anything tonight. We just want to lay it out for you.” I was nervous about this, but agreed. It was best to get them away from me, and they wouldn’t leave until we talked.
Craig didn’t want me to go alone, and the boys didn’t want me to go at all. They basically threw an all-out temper tantrum when I told them I had to go and would be back after their bedtime. It took a good twenty minutes before I was able to say goodbye to my teary, overstimulated boys and mate.
The drive was nice, most of the way had views of the lake and surrounding hills. After two years of being cooped up in a cell with no view, I enjoyed having the windows down and the radio on. One thing I noticed was the difference between the poverty on the Reservation and the fancy homes on the lake. It was depressing, but it was the same story in every reservation that wasn’t rich off gambling. Rose’s people were too far from population centers to make any real money off of the ‘new buffalo’ that casinos had become.
I pulled out new driver’s license from my purse while at a stoplight; I needed to make sure I used the name “Elanor Black” when I was out in public. I pulled into the parking lot twenty minutes early, and used the time to walk down to the water and watch the boats go by. Soon enough it was time. I entered the family-owned bar and restaurant and immediately saw them in a remote corner, in a party room that was otherwise empty.
I walked up and greeted them, just as Al took a small electronic device out of his pocket and placed it on the window the table sat beside. I looked at him quizzically; he looked out at the people on the docks outside. “Countersurveillance. It scrambles radio transmissions and prevents lasers from reading the sounds inside off the window.” I just shook my head and sat down.
The waitress came over with the menus and took our drink orders, and I told them about how I was surprised by my Pack and my happy reunion with my family. After we ordered, Al got down to business. “I suppose you figured out by now that we didn’t get you transferred out of that facility to my custody for nothing.”
I nodded, not wanting to say anything. “We have a problem, and we need your help,” Ker said.
“What do you need? Money?”
She laughed. “No, we have enough of that. This is much more difficult. You know my reputation, and that the CIA encourages that because it helps mask what I am really doing. We’ve been asked to do a job, it’s lucrative and in line with the CIA’s efforts in Mexico.”
“Political hit?”
“No, worse.” Al looked at me, his voice just above a whisper. “There is a vicious drug lord down there by the name of Jose Hernandez. He is the head of the Soccorro drug cartel, and he is getting a little too powerful right now and it is starting to cause problems.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there are a half-dozen drug cartels in Mexico, plus another half dozen or so from Central and South America. They each control a geographic area and smuggling routes into the United States, and along with that territory they bribe or intimidate the local police and military into looking the other way. Of course, they are often at each other’s throats for the best land, best smuggling routes, best people and above all, most respect. They are literal kings in their worlds, anything they want they can get. We don’t like when any one Cartel gains too much power, it is much better they remain fractured and fighting each other. If they ever consolidated or cooperated, they would literally take over the hemisphere.”