Page 71 of West Bound

“Trojan horse.” It’s a simple enough plan, but one that would take precision to execute with any sort of success.

“How?” It’s Hudson’s turn to furrow his brow in my direction.

“Zephyrine drives a truck straight into the compound. It’s closer to Purgatory Falls than the governor’s mansion. She’s been there plenty of times. If she really escaped captivity, it’d be the first place she’d run to.” I zoom out the map and point to the distance between our ranch and his. “He knows we’ve got her, but he has no idea she’s cooperating. I already sent a message threatening her life to Abbott. So he’ll assume she’s in a hostage situation, not a willing participant. Which helps us set up the Trojan horse.”

Grant barely flinches, but I know his tells, and I see the slightest tick in his jaw that I made a move that big without telling him first. He’s gotten conservative since Dakota nearly died, and I don’t want that interfering with how we play this game. We'll hash it out privately later. Rowan’s tilting his head side to side, lips flatlined, earnestly considering the plan, but Hudson still seems skeptical, a feeling he confirms when he speaks.

“So you get her past the gates. Presumably with one or two people hidden in the truck?—”

“Three hidden. We'll need at least four to pull this off. Bare minimum. Everything we take has to be carried out on our backs.”

“So you somehow pull off hiding three people in the truck, and you get her in there and trained up in time to be both an actress and a gunslinger. You get past the guards, the security systems, and into whatever dungeon he’s keeping the relics?—”

“No guns for her. She’ll have to go in unarmed, or they’ll be suspicious. But yes, a vault housing the relics is in the main house. We’re still determining the location of it.”

“Then you somehow manage to crack the vault there. Extract the relics from whatever other collection he has inside. Then what? How do you get out undetected? You can’t drive out. Any car you take will be called in, and every state trooper in Colorado will be looking for you. You can’t walk out because you’re in the middle of nowhere. His security presumably still at your back.”

“We ride out.”

“Ride out?” Hudson’s furrow deepens. “How?”

“He’s got horses on the ranch. Or he did. I’ll need to confirm he still does, but we steal what we need from the tack room, grab the horses, and ride for the mountains.”

“And what stops the guards from following you in a car?”

“Nothing. We’d have to outride them to a place where they’d have to follow on foot. Then we could put enough distance between us to buy time.”

“Time for what?” Rowan’s intrigued by this plan. He always loves a challenge, which is good because he’s one of the three I’ll need on this mission.

“An airlift,” I answer. I planned to take a page for Corey’s book.

“My pilot’s a former combat pilot, not a magician. Even he can’t get a plane down in a valley like that. Let alone being shot at.” Hudson shakes his head.

“Not a plane. A helicopter.” I point to the top of one of the mountains, where there’s enough of a clearing it could land, or worst-case scenario, hover low enough for us to climb up a ladder.

“And we’re getting that where exactly?” Grant raises a brow, but I can tell he’s intrigued.

“I’m sure we can find one if we look hard enough.” I offer up a wry smile, trying to reassure the doubts I can feel start to rise in the room.

“And a pilot?” Hudson gives me a questioning look.

“Yours won’t want the job?” I joke because I imagine he’s used to flying a private jet back and forth across the country these days and is less interested in a job that gets him shot at.

“I doubt it.”

“Wouldn’t you want someone with more recent experience?” Dakota chimes in.

“Yes, so if any of you have ideas, let me know. I have a long shot in mind.” I look to Grant, and his brows slant southward for a moment before he tilts his head in recognition.

“Worth trying,” he agrees when he understands my meaning.

“Want to share with the group?” Rowan looks between us.

“An old friend of mine. Heard a rumor he’s not the ghost we thought. If it’s true, he’s the guy.”

“A pilot?” Hudson wants clarification.

“No, but he would know one we can hire.”