Hunt

Chapter 53: The Best-Laid Plans

"I'm flattered Kyle. Really, I am. But am I the best pick for this?" Vince asks, leaning back against the cement wall of Paul's garage. "Surely Nick or Nat have a better skill set for a mission like this..."

Reyna leans forward as if to answer for me, but I make sure to speak first. "You're the best tracker and scout we have Vince. The others may have better combat skills or general knowledge but that's not what we need out there right now."

The four of us had decided to relocated to a more secluded spot, letting the others continue their training while giving us the privacy to plan this thing out without being interrupted. Walker was hesitant to leave the others, but he fell in line quickly with a little pressure. I don't think he wanted to piss Reyna off again. Not after what happened during my first day with the pack.

I had volunteered Paul's place since he was out training the others. I also chose it because I had the key and knew that Paul would definitely not want us here. Other than the enjoyment of raising Paul's blood pressure it was the perfect place to plan a mission. His house was an archive of local information. A library of knowledge we could tap into if we needed to. Local maps litter the shelves and walls of his living room, all annotated with information from previous hunts and scouting expeditions. It was a literal treasure trove of knowledge for those who could decipher the hieroglyphics of his handwriting.

"So is this just a scouting mission?" Walker asks, crossing his arms as he leans back against the wall alongside Vince. Bulb light catches his face, shining off his eyes in the otherwise gloomy room. "With everyone talking about it I've been hearing a lot of contradictory stories."

"Yeah, this will just be a scouting mission. We're just going out to confirm the rogue's location..." I answer as I begin to lay out the details of my plan. Improvising wasn't my strong suit but I'd have the others to check my work:

"We're only a small team, so we'll use that to our advantage. Our combined knowledge of the area and our tracking capabilities will aid in us moving quickly, and hopefully undetected. We'll be going in under the cover of darkness, in and out hopefully before anyone knows we're there." I make a point to single out the non-hunters in the squad. "And no 'wolfing out' unless it's absolutely necessary."

"W-wait, what?" Reyna pipes up. "Why not?" Her outburst cutting off Walker who was presumably about to raise a similar concern.

I begin to pace the small garage, trying to buy enough time to find the right words to describe the jumbled mess of thoughts bouncing around in my head. "Should we get spotted it'll be more difficult for the rogues to identify you two if you're appearing human. Plus I don't know if our scent blocker will work on you two if you're on all fours."

"Hey! We don't smell that bad!" Walker protests, taking a step back towards the table.

"You know what I mean! I don't want to be taking any unnecessary risks out there. That's final." I state, putting my foot down. "We all go in identical. Same clothes, same weapons, same gear, same everything. We need to look like a uniform group, anything to keep us individually discrete. If we are spotted I don't want this tracked back to the Silverlock Pack. If anything it'll look like a separate group of hunters stumbled across their camp."

Reyna slowly nods, giving Walker a cautious glance. "We will make it work. I appreciate your decision to keep the Silverlock's image out of this." She says slowly, clearly trying to tread lightly. "That won't be an issue, right Walker?"

"Y-yeah, no problem." Walker answers. A small stammer in his voice as he bows his head low. Submissively agreeing with Reyna.

Vince looks between me and the others. "Okay, so what are the rules of engagement? What're we going with boss?" He asks me.