The Phoenix Society

Chapter 14

"So where do we go from here?" Elias asked carefully reviewing the information Banks and I had just shared with him. The five of us, Marley, Lillian, Elias, Banks, and myself, sat around a large circular table in the PIT contemplating our next move.

"According to Rider, there are two entrances into the arena." Banks leaned back in his chair. He held his pellucid blade in his hand and was twisting it around. He set his blade down and looked at the cities blueprints we had laying across the table. "We could continue using the tunnel system and travel beneath the city, or cut out all the extra travel time and go to the source and enter through the mountain. It doesn't matter which way we go, we will be met with the same amount of fire power in both places."

"Basically, you're saying no matter which way we chose, it's a death trap." Lillian spoke with a roll of her eyes. My fingers traced over the marking on my wrist as I thought about the Phoenix Society and my brother. We were so close. The reunion I had waited all this time for, was within my grasp. This task that lay in front of us though, seems nearly impossible. Monroe has the city in the palm of his hand. Its hard to even say how many people he has working for him or even supporting him. The discussion around me seemed to fade out as I focused deeper on the blueprints.

"I say we use the cities tunnel system. Kya and Banks have already been down there. They know the way around. We could travel more quickly then going up the mountain." Lillian continued.

"To be honest, I don't know what we would be walking in to." Banks responded. "I'm sure once the Phoenix Society gets wind that we are there, they will be sent after us. There's not a lot of places to hide in the tunnels."

Banks was right. You didn't have to be a genius to know that sound travels faster through the tunnels. They would hear us coming from the moment we entered. Not only that, but we would basically be trapped with only forward or backward to go. And without knowing how many guards there would be, we would be walking right into our funeral. Lillian rolled her eyes as Banks shut down her suggestion.

"Okay, so then we enter from the road." Marley suggested looking at Banks. 

"That seems to be the best option at this point." Banks nodded.

"I'm not sure about that." Elias's brows were pressed into a thin line as he spoke cautiously. He turned his back toward us as he began typing into the keyboard connected to the large holographic screen beside us. I turned my body to get a better view of what he was looking for. Elias pulled up a map of the mountain on the screen. Then he pointed to a road that traveled around the mountain leading to the top.

"This is the road we would need to take. It's a highway that travels in and out of the city. Two-way traffic. One going in, one going out. Like with the tunnel, there is only one access point." Elias pointed to the bottom of the road. "If it's as heavily guarded as you say, they will see us coming from a mile away. That and there's no way we are getting on that road without some sort of ID."

Banks looked at the map. He crossed his arms in hopes that an idea would come to him.

"At least we know what we are getting into." Marley said attentively. I smiled slightly at Marley. While she was still in training to be an Order member, she was definitely bright. She was very methodical in the way she spoke. She asked questions in a way that showed she knew the answer, but just wanted reassurance that it was right. "Now we can plan for it, right?"

I looked closer at the map. While I was sure the access point would be heavily guarded, the road was long. I would be surprised if it was guarded all the way up. I doubted that Monroe had enough guards to watch both the tunnel entrance and the entire mountain.

"What if we look at it from a different angle." I suggested after a moment. "We know that both entrances will be guarded. But what if we can get past the entrance without being noticed."