“This is what we know,” he said, tracing the outline of the big building on the map. “Cora’s people have been keeping watch for the past few days, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect.”

The girl blushed at the mention of her name and kept her eyes on the table. Cora’s contacts, spread throughout the Oldtown and the rest of the South Bank, had been invaluable. Boys who normally earned a few coppers keeping tabs on food shipments coming up the Green Road or boat traffic on the river had instead turned their eyes to the innocuous warehouse off the River Road, so nondescript that it was only labeled with the number 192.

Raesinia stood beside Cora, one hand on her shoulder. Lieutenant Uhlan was there as well, along with Hayver and Andy. With only eight soldiers, the line between officers and men gets a little fuzzy, Marcus reflected.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any guards within the building itself,” Marcus went on. “There’s only one door, though, and there’s four men on it day or night. They’re all in plainclothes, but we’re pretty sure they’re Patriot Guards. Around here”—he tapped a spot on the map just in front of the warehouse’s front door, where a pier jutted out into the river—“they have a riverboat they tie up at night. Four more men there, two sleeping and two on watch.”

“There’d be less opposition during the day, then,” Uhlan said.

“We’re hoping we don’t have to fight them at all,” Marcus said. “You want to explain what you found, Cora?”

The expression on her face made it clear that she would rather not, but Raesinia squeezed her arm, and she spoke in a small voice.

“Th-there’s a back door. Or there was. Someone got rid of it, the last time they fixed that place up. But Gregory went up to have a look, and it’s not bricked in, just boarded up and plastered. A man with a crowbar should be able to make short work of it.”

Uhlan raised his eyebrows, and Marcus held up a hand to forestall his objection. “Yes, that’ll be loud enough that the guards will hear. So we’re going to need a distraction. That’s the part I’m still working on.” He tapped the pier again. “We’ll hire a boat to drop us by the door. After that, I’m thinking that someone needs to get onto the Guards’ boat from the river side and set a fire. Once that’s got them occupied, we should be able to get the door open and get in without anybody getting wise. Once we have what we need, we can get back out by boat.”

The Mierantai officer considered for a moment, then nodded. “Seems simple enough. When are we going in?”