“OK. So we find this Dr. Brandt. We use him to get inside the jail, Roland does Roland-things and then we beat feet to get out of ciudad de muerta.”

Roland shrugged and took another deep pull from his gut beverage. He seemed on board. Sasha raised another question, though.

“OK, so who are you two supposed to be, then? Every time Dr. Brandt and I visited the jail we had a driver and an armed guard. But you two don’t exactly look like you fit the bill, right now. You,” she pointed to Manny, “…clearly just took a bullet. And you,” she jabbed a finger at Roland, “…look like you just destroyed dozens of people. Which I guess you did.”

“Right,” Manny clapped his hands, “that’s easy enough to fix. It’s what, five AM now? The city’s starting to wake up. Do you know what shift Dr. Brandt’s expected to work today, Sasha?”

“Lately he’s been doing seven to seven.”

“And Roland,” Manny continued, “you know where the vehicle pool is?”

The big man nodded. “Yeah, I tracked that down during my first recon day. It’s about thirty minutes away on foot, for you guys. Five minutes for me.”

“We’ll go slow,” said Manny. “Sasha, you’ll let us know when you recognize Dr. Brandt’s jeep and driver. We’ll stop them, relieve them of their uniforms and drive on to the doctor’s house. Roland, you think you can take two men out without bloodying up their uniforms?”

He gave another shrug. “50/50.”

“Alright,” Manny nodded. “That’s Plan A then.”

“And what’s Plan B?” Sasha asked.

“Close your eyes and hide behind Roland.”

Chapter 20

Roland.

“That looks like them,” Sasha whispered into his ear.

The three of them were stationed on the third floor of an old office building that overlooked the Kingdom’s vehicle pool. Based on the posters and decorations inside, the people in this office had once helped coordinate for a string of restaurant supply stores. Roland suspected the coming of the war might’ve been a relief to the people who’d been stuck working here.

He was positioned by the window, sitting down so only the edge of his face would’ve been visible to anyone looking in from the outside. Manny had elected to take a nap out of view, behind one of the desks. His ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere marked him out as a true expert in warzone survival. Sasha had situated herself on the other side of the window frame. Roland had warned her to keep her head out of view until he saw new arrivals to the vehicle depot. He’d called for her eyes six times already, and gotten six negatives. Now it seemed their target had arrived.

“Are you sure?” he asked.