(14.2) Best Laid Plans

Chapter 14, Part 2

A plan. I needed a plan. Not too elaborate but not too simple. I spent the next several hours outlining ideas.

Option A) I could take them all out individually. This option had the major downside in that I had no idea how to separate them from one another. Every time I’d seen them, they were together, a single cohesive unit. Now, I could simply lie in wait outside D7 headquarters, but Mab’s recent visit told me that she wouldn’t abide the time it would take to execute that.

Also, knowing the military style of operation that the Department ran, the moment one of their own was taken out while not actively working the field, finding opportunities to get the others individually would be about as easy as dividing by zero.

Option B) Lure them to a place of my choosing and destroy them all in one fell swoop, most likely with explosives of some kind. In theory it would be a simple thing to pull off. In practice however, there were other factors that I’d have to take into consideration.

I’d first have to get them to a place where I’d be able to prepare and execute my plan. While it wouldn’t be difficult to lure a team of free thinking individuals into my trap, I had Department 7 to consider. I’d seen Angel’s use of force and there’s no doubt in my mind that she’d use every method at her disposal to keep her team from losing sight of the mission.

I could conceivably follow them to a mission and kill them there, but then I’d be risking not having everything that I’d need to get the job done. Combine that with unfamiliar territory and the very distinct possibility of running into whatever the baddie of the day was and being too drained to kill it too.

Hmm… Yeah, too many ways to get killed on that last one.

Realizing Option B was the best choice, I started to think of the different ways I could get them where I wanted them. I could outsource to someone else, find an out of work ombra that I could pay to use itself as bait while I set up the killing blow.

That could work, but if Mab found out about it, I could end up losing all sorts of things, the least of my worries being the income her contract provided me.

No. I’d have to do it myself. That’s the only way I’d be able to maintain my credibility with Winter, and ensure that everything goes according to plan.

—————

I spent the next day or so at Tom’s place, digging up whatever I could that would help me carry out my plan. I tore the place apart, finding a worn address book with some helpful little scribblings in the margins and very little else. Among the category of “useful,” I found a few books called Runic Magic: The Science Behind the Scribble and A Beginner’s Guide to Scrying, along with a few knick-knacks and various brickabrack that could come in handy.

When I was sure I’d looted the place of anything useful, I left the place and headed for a department store. I found a little place and bought some clothes matching the style Dvorak, my new identity, wore in his D7 ID badge. I donned the outfit and glamour once I got back to my hotel room. It was still light outside so I checked myself in the mirror to see how I looked.

I’d kept my hair pretty much the same though I’d wet my fingers and run my hand through it to give me that “disheveled librarian” look. My skin was darker, sitting somewhere between milk-chocolate and mocha, while my facial features were less rounded and a little more angular. I’d even picked up some fashion glasses, the kind for people who don’t need glasses but want to look like an intellectual.

My plan was simple, get in, get what I needed, and get out. What I was looking for wouldn’t be too easy to locate so I’d most likely have to spend another day or so in and out, taking “human-timed” breaks to allay suspicion. Stolen files in hand, I hopped back into the tourist-mobile and started back towards Department 7. If all went well I’d be able to get what I need without incident.

And if things didn’t go as planned… Well, I was planning on pissing them off sooner or later. Why put of till tomorrow what you can do today?