I watched her move toward the armchair and sit, shaking her hand.
“I promised her one good hit,” Daemon said, chuckling. “She’ll behave now.”
I stared at him.
Blake staggered through the door, rubbing his jaw. “Okay,” he said, wincing. “I deserved that.”
“You deserve far worse than that,” Andrew said. “Keep that in mind.”
He nodded and looked around the room. Six Luxen and a baby hybrid stared back at him. He had the sense to look nervous, even afraid. The animosity in the room was palpable.
Blake moved so that his back was against the wall. Smart guy. Slowly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rolled-up paper. “I guess we should get this over with quickly.”
“I guess so,” Daemon said, snatching the paper from him. “What’s this?”
“A map,” he answered. “The route we need to take is outlined in red. It’s a fire access road and will lead up to the back entrance of Mount Weather.”
Daemon unrolled the map on the coffee table. Dawson peered over his brother’s shoulder, running his finger along the wiggling red line. “How long will it take to get up this road?”
“About twenty minutes by car, but there’s no way we’re going to get a car up there unnoticed.” He took a timid step forward, eyeing Dee, who was eyeballing him back. A red mark marred his right cheek. That was gonna bruise. “We’re going to do it by foot and fast.”
“How fast are we talking?” Matthew asked from his post by the dining room door.
“As fast as inhumanly possible,” Blake responded. “We need to move at the light-speed thing. Luc’s giving us fifteen minutes and we can’t hang around Mount Weather, waiting for nine. We need to get there about five minutes before and hit this road as fast as possible.”
I sat back. Only once did I hit the speeds necessary for what they were talking about. That’s when I’d been chasing Blake’s ass down.
Daemon glanced up. “Can you do this?”
“Yes.” Given the reasons, I was sure I could do it. Hopefully.
Shaking her head, Dee stood. “How fast can they really run?”
“Damn fast when need be,” Blake said. “Come at me again, and I’ll show you how fast I can run.”
Dee snickered. “I bet I’ll still catch you.”
“Perhaps,” he murmured and then said, “You need to practice all day tomorrow. Maybe even tonight. We can’t have anyone slowing us down.”
It took me a second to realize he was talking to me. “I’m not going to slow anyone down.”
“Just making sure.” His eyes churned as they met mine.
I looked away quickly. The fact that I was obviously the weakest link burned me. Dee or Ash would probably be a better choice for this, but I knew I could do it.
“She’s not your problem to worry about,” Daemon snapped.
Matthew came forward, fitting in between Daemon and Blake. “Okay. We know we have this road to go up, but you want us to remain back where?”
Daemon folded his arms, eyes narrowed. “At the bottom of the access road, this should give you a running chance to get out if something goes wrong.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong,” Ash said, watching Daemon. “We’ll wait there for you.”
“Of course,” Daemon said, smiling reassuringly. “We’ll be fine, Ash.”
I pinched my thigh. He doesn’t want her. He doesn’t want her. He doesn’t want her. That helped.
“I trust you,” Ash said, eyes latched to his adoringly. Like Daemon was a saint or something.
I pinched my thigh harder. I’m going to hit her. I’m going to hit her. I’m going to hit her. That didn’t help.
Blake cleared his throat. “Anyway, Luc said there’s an old farm at the bottom of the access road. We should be able to park the cars there.”
“Sounds good.” Dawson stepped back, placing his hands on his hips. A lock of hair fell forward. “Once we’re there, we have fifteen minutes, right?”
Daemon nodded. “According to the tween mafia leader, Luc, that’s what we have.”
“And this kid is trustworthy?” Matthew asked.
“I can speak for him.”
I looked at Blake. “That’s a ringing endorsement.”
His cheeks flushed. “He’s trustworthy.”
“Do you think it’s enough time?” Dawson asked his brother. “To get in there, get to Beth and Chris, and get out?”
“It should be.” Daemon folded up the map and slid it into his back pocket. “You’ll get Beth and dipshit here will get Chris.”
Blake rolled his eyes.
“Andrew, Kat, and I are going to cover them. This shouldn’t even take fifteen minutes.” Daemon sat beside me and leveled a pointed glare at Blake. “And then you will take Chris and get the hell out of here. You have no reason to come back.”
“And what if he does?” Dee asked. “What if he finds another excuse to blackmail you into helping him?”
“I won’t,” Blake said, and I felt his stare. “I don’t have a reason to come back.”
Daemon went taut. “If you do, you’re going to make me do something I don’t want to do—I’ll probably enjoy it, but I don’t want to.”
Blake jerked his chin. “I got you.”
“Okay then,” Matthew said, addressing the room. “We meet here at six thirty tomorrow. Do you have things covered, Katy?”