Roth waited in the small office as Dai and Nadia went out to spread their name and tell some of the women there to make red bands for everyone. Alone with a silent Mandu, he wondered for the nth time why he was in this rebellion business. Sure, he was going to get a cut from the treasury, but this job was bad for business. Not only was he putting his life on the line, but he was also targeting people who paid a lot for his services. Besides, he really didn’t need the money for this job. He had so much shored up in the Calcedonian banks that he didn’t even need to work for five years and still live comfortably.

‘You want me to dig up why again?’

Roth grunted earning him a look from Mandu. He brushed the man off and returned to his mental conversation with Jeff. ‘I don’t need the reminder.’

Honestly, it was more like he didn’t want the reminder. He hated who he was: a scrawny little kid whose parents died even before he knew what parents were. Raised by a small-time gang of thieves, he lived day-to-day and getting beat up when he didn’t have anything to show for. He tried so many times to get an honest job or an honest trade, only to be shoved away. When he accepted an offer for the Games, he thought he had nothing to lose. And when he survived…that was when he saw that the world of poverty he knew was only one side of the story. He saw the abundance of the rich for the first time, and that disgusted him. Not that they were rich, but that they thought nothing of the lives of the poor but as slaves to enrich them or toys to amuse them.

‘Fine. So how are you going to come up with the plan?’ As soon as the thoughts got out from Jeff did he realize he knew how.

‘WindWhisper and I have done several jobs together,’ Roth said, ‘We think similarly, but he would always come up with something to make it work better. And I would supply the probability of success according to the skills of everyone involved.’

Jeff nodded. ‘And you’re worried with what you have to work with?’

Roth nodded mentally. ‘For this to be successful, no one must know we’re in until we’re out.’

Before Jeff and Roth could continue, Nadia and Dai came in and sat themselves in the little room, closing the door behind them.

“They liked it,” Dai leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. “But how are we actually going to pull this off?”

Grey Cloak stood and took a pen and walked over to one part of the wall that was overlaid with a glass panel. “First, we have to understand all the parts—well, you have to understand all the parts that make it work, then figure out how you’re going to break them. So four goals: Destroy the Games,” he started writing them down, “get the players out and safe, take the money, and make the Red Band known. So first, we start with getting the players out since it’s the priority. How do we do it?”

Nadia and Dai looked at each other. Roth knew that their solution would be to get in, bash some heads and get the people out. But that didn’t work.

‘Get an insider and sabotage from the inside,’ Jeff said.

‘That thought wasn’t from me,’ Roth said, ‘But I am thinking the same thing.’

‘It’s what the jihadists did. And they were able to shake the strength of the USA.’

Roth didn’t know what the USA was, but he understood what it was from Jeff’s memories. Jeff had been at work decrypting noises of possible leads. He passed several recommendations to his superiors about a possible infiltration, but no one paid him any mind until it was too late.

In the silence, Roth stepped up to help Nadia and Dai along. “The fortress is guarded by twenty of the Families’ elite forces, five from each house. Under them, a soldier of twenty each. Don’t let the four hundred men fool you. The only ones you really need to worry about are the elites. The others are greenhorns. But even before you have to worry about them, you have to think about how to get the locks picked. All of the locks are held by a single man, always heavily guarded by four of the elites.”

“So, we have to get the keys and distract the guards?” Nadia asked.

“Close enough,” Roth grabbed another pen from the desk and wrote infiltrate and distract side by side under the save players. “Fist, we have to get a man to work closely with the master of keys—or whatever his official title is—steal the keys then distract the guards.”

“There’s a pickpocket in our ranks,” Dai said, “But how do we get him close and how do we distract the guards?”

“The Lockmaster’s assistant will be…unavailable for an indeterminate amount of time. The how doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of that,” Grey Cloak wrote the word assistant. “You have to put a man with a good head on his shoulders and a deft hand. Or at least a smart man who isn’t clumsy and we can work with him.”

“And the distraction?” Dai’s brows creased, his mind working.

Roth drew a line from distract to destroy Games. “Part of the main event in the games are the beasts against the players. Make the beasts rampage where they shouldn’t.”

Nadia put a hand to her lips. “The beasts are located in a different part of the lake and with a different Lockmaster.”

“That lockmaster is going to be Lishin Tailan,” Grey Cloak wrote the name. “Shadow can take care of her.”

Roth shrugged. “Had her as a client once. Careful woman, but workable.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Grey Cloak’s eyes twinkled as he looked at Roth. “Now, Taking the money will be the same as getting the players out. Infiltration and diversion.” Grey Cloak scribbled on the glass and connected diversion with make Red Band known.

“Who’s in charge of the keys to the money?” Roth looked at Grey Cloak.

“Edmark Ducasse,” Grey Cloak said.

Roth grinned inside his mask. “We need a seductress. The man’s single and is going to be in an arranged marriage he doesn’t want. He’ll be looking for a distraction from that.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a whore in our ranks,” Dai said. “That would make the job easier, won’t it?”

“Nadia will do,” Roth said, “Not that I’m saying you’re a whore. Cute girls are his type. It’s not even that hard with him as your target. Plus, you’re a jade engineer, so you know how jadelocks work. That’s a plus.”

Nadia grit her teeth. “I don’t know how to seduce anyone. I’m not even a friendly person.”

Grey Cloak’s eyes twinkled at Roth.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Cons are your specialty, not mine.” Roth could hear the grin in Grey Cloak’s voice as he said it. “Besides, you did say he’s not a hard target.”

Roth sighed. “Only if she’s willing to put in the work.”

Nadia grunted. “If it means saving those people and forwarding our goals, fine.”

Grey Cloak nodded. “Good. Now that we have the basics, we need to work on the background. We need to sabotage the jadetech security systems and make sure that the players and their families get away or get housed with us if they’re going to join our cause. Nadia, I’ll let you take point on the jadetech. Roth, how many can you babysit for the infiltration?”

“Never worked with them, don’t know how good they are,” Roth rubbed his chin. “Three, including Nadia.”

“We can work with that,” Nadia nodded.

Grey Cloak turned to Dai. “You can get them out?”

Dai nodded. “An airship captain owes me and the rest, yeah, we can sneak them out.”

Roth’s brows rose at Grey Cloak. The man was apparently confident in the old man’s skills.

“He’ll surprise you,” Grey Cloak said knowing exactly what Roth’s reaction meant.

The got over a few more details and by the time they were done, Jeff had the equivalent of a hanging mouth. ‘It’s like you read each other’s minds!’

‘We get each other,” Roth followed everyone out and he slipped away from the building, and using the cover of the shadows, changed back to a steel-worker’s outfit and, finding his discarded tools, reassembled them and went on his way back to the Outer Reaches.

‘So, how are we going to find time to talk to Haram?’ Jeff asked.

‘We will have the time,’ Roth said. ‘If the jadegeneers are good, we don’t have to spend a lot of time going back over and over. If not, then we have to spend more time pretending to be part of the security check.’

‘And how long do you think it will take them?’

‘I saw Nadia’s work. She’s good. Whoever she’s bringing, I’m not sure, but at least I know one of the three is reliable.’

‘Speaking of Nadia…’ Jeff grinned, ‘You’ll be teaching her how to seduce.’

‘Now that will take time.’ Roth grunted.

‘Oh, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.’

‘Shut up, Jeff!’ Maybe he would enjoy it if the woman wasn’t cold and hard.

‘As they say, the more you hate, the more you love.’

Roth winced. ‘Who says that?’

Jeff shrugged. ‘Heard it from a friend. But really, it’s not impossible. You’ll never know. You might be attracted to each other.’

‘No, thank you. I don’t need to explain how I like to be alone. It’s just more logical.’

‘Yes, but since when are emotions logical?’

‘Shut up.’