Twenty Two

Will and Coyote were already waiting on the plaza. With the rest of their unit still on the road, they had time to kill. They bought some food from a street vendor, the girls spread their dusters under a tree, and they settled in for a picnic. The conversation turned naturally to the information they had gleaned at mass.

"Strecker is obviously planning to disrupt the conference," Will said. "I wish we could've found out who he's working for."

Diana picked at her sandwich. "Doesn’t matter. He might be doing it all on his own, just to enjoy the chaos."

Coyote grinned. "I can relate to that. He should try blowing up trains."

Macy nudged him in annoyance, but Will nodded. "You bring up a good point. Where would a man like Strecker be if we had peace?"

"Send him to California," Diana said. "Aren't they still having race riots there? He might enjoy that sort of thing."

"We need a more serious plan than that."

"We'll shoot him," Coyote said.

"But where? And when?" Will frowned at Diana and Macy. "You didn’t find out anything at all?"

"I heard some of the guards like to hang out at a bar called La Yegua," Macy said. "Diana and I can go there tonight and chat them up when they come in for a drink."

"I won't allow—"

"Oh Will, don't be such a primitive. We'll just be talking."

"You'll need backup."

"Station Compass outside as a messenger, and you guys wait around the corner or something."

"It's as good a plan as we can make on such short notice," Coyote pointed out.

"We don't have a lot of other options," Diana added. "Not with the conference starting day after tomorrow."

"Okay, so we find out Strecker's schedule for tomorrow and kill him," Will said. "But that still leaves the guards. It sounds like we’ll need to kill them, too."

"Let Unitas high command figure that part out," Diana said.

"Yes, I’m sure your friend Sputnik would be happy to plan the rest for us."

Diana ducked her head and concentrated on crumpling the paper from her sandwich. Searching for another distraction, she remembered the cookies in her pocket, but after much fumbling, all she withdrew was a handful of crumbs.

"Best laid plans," Coyote said with a grin.

She tossed the crumbs away and watched in silence as a flock of glossy ravens swooped down and consumed them.