Chapter 13

River's Edge

Raven answered the loud knocks, groggy and yawning. "Jacob? What time is it?" She squinted from the light and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"Good Morning." Briefly lifting her, he planted a tiny kiss on the reddish-blue spot beneath her eye. If he could have done it over, he would never have allowed her to go back inside with that nut job of a dad. He hated to see what he'd do to him if they ever crossed paths. "Its nine o'clock, and I'm here to see River."

"River?" Raven repeated. "About what?"

"I'm not sure," Jacob said, shaking his head. "I was wondering the same thing."

"Come in. I'll wake him up. He's probably sleeping in the empty room downstairs," Raven muttered, more awake. "Nine o'clock? I'm late for school!"

"Calm down. It's not going anywhere, and he's not home yet."

Raven lifted her brows in question.

"He spent the night at Leah's," Jacob said nonchalantly. "They're on their way. They should be here any minute. All I've got to say is that was some fast work."

"Fast wor... What's that supposed to mean?" Raven scowled in offense.

"I was talking about Leah. Not River. I'm just saying that was ff... never mind," Jacob spluttered, wishing he'd never made the remark.

The door swayed open, and River and Leah traipsed in all comfy and cozy as if they'd known each other forever. "Is Mom home?" River asked.

"No. She helps someone in the mornings three days a week. She'll be home soon," Raven told him.

Leah and River hunkered down on the sofa so synced that even though he'd witnessed the connectedness of the guys with their imprints repeatedly, they weirded Jacob out. He made a subtle shrug, realizing Leah accomplished what she set out to do, effectively, considering the time frame she had to work with. Impressive.

He and Raven sat down on the love-seat across from them, and he cast a sideways glance at her. Her eyes were wide as she marveled at them.

"So, River, what's up?" Jacob blurted, breaking the silence. "Is this about being Delta Force?"

"Jacob!" Raven shrieked, punching him on the leg. It didn't hurt, but he caught her hand anyway, so she wouldn't hurt herself if she hit him again. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Raven. I told Leah last night. Hmm, I never did that before. Strange," River said. "I guess it doesn't matter. I'm at the end of my enlistment period. I wasn't planning on reenlisting for another four years, anyway, especially not now."

Leah blushed like any regular embarrassed-type girl. Jacob smirked.

"Leah told me the situation, and it sounds serious and dangerous. I know since we're dealing with the supernatural, there's probably not a whole heck of a lot I could do to help, but I can't sit by and do nothing."

"Do you have something in mind that might help us?" Jacob asked.

"I was just wondering what the plan is once you arrive at the site where your families are being held?"

"I guess we're basically planning on matching up with the parasites and ripping every single, reeking one of them apart."

"Then that's where I think I can help. If you don't mind?"

"Actually, we could use all the help we can get, as long as it doesn't put anyone in danger."

Jacob listened carefully and with deep alertness while River shared the fact that he'd taken part in rescue missions all over the world and could provide some assistance with his knowledge. "The challenge is is to have little to no friendly or hostage casualties. Leah's sure your packs can handle the battle part of the operation, but what about the hostages?"

Leah added, "We'll have the element of surprise going for us for a little while, Jake, because they're not expecting us. As soon as we're near enough though, they will smell us coming and that'll put the girls, Brady, and Seth in a hell of a lot of danger."

"You're right. It's not like they will let us waltz right in there and take them out of harm's way. We will have to eliminate the vampires just to get to 'em. I'm sure we're going to have our hands full with that. How are we going to protect 'em at the same time?" Jacob wondered out loud, his mind drawing blanks.

He couldn't come up with a single idea of how to protect them during the attack. He understood that with Bella's situation the vampires didn't already have her, so all they had to do to keep her safe was to make sure the vampires never got to her. This situation was different because they already had Rachel, Kim, and Brady, and they could kill or turn them at any time. "I didn't realize how unprepared we were," Jacob granted. "We need to come up with something fast, before Seth leaves. Do you have any ideas that will help?"

"Sure. I could tell you what you need to know to develop a successful plan," River assured. "For starters, what do you have planned so far?"

Jacob explained to River that the packs were sending Seth to observe the path to the location where Brady and the girls were being held. "I convinced Stefan that all we want is our family back. We had no problems with seeing the Volturi is overthrown, especially after what they attempted to do here against the Cullens. I told him he should have come to us and asked for our help first, and we would have been more than willing to help but since they went about it the way they did, we didn't trust them.

"As a show of faith, they will treat Seth as a friend as long as he doesn't give them any trouble. The Romanians want to prove to us they mean us no harm and just want our assistance. Apparently, one of the Volturi kings is deathly afraid of my kind. They assured me they want to keep our alliance with them peaceable since we'll be working together. They're keeping Brady drugged, but they don't know that we know. They also promised me that Seth's phone call back to us wouldn't be made under duress. So, if they're planning on drugging him, they won't do it until after he makes the phone call which will be twenty-four hours after he leaves."

"Excuse me, Jacob," River interrupted, "why the twenty-four hours?"

"We're not a hundred percent sure, but we think it's because they want us to believe it takes twenty-four hours to get to where they're going. Since we could still hear Brady, we have good reason to believe that Seth will be there long before they let him make the call."

"That's good. Continue."

"We made sure Seth will travel in wolf form. Being he's going voluntarily, they didn't have a problem. Their only request was that no one tries to follow him. If we don't follow, they have no reason to doubt our willingness to help them." The more Jacob thought about the situation, the more he felt he should involve Sam in his discussion with River.

Leah grimaced when he suggested it. "Can't we listen first and then pass the information on to them?"

River shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me if you want me to speak to some others, but based on what you've told me so far, I've already recognized you have an excellent starting point."

"We'll see how it goes, Leah, but if I still think I need Sam here, I'm calling him. Go ahead, River."

"First, you need to do some reconnaissance, thorough investigating, prior to attempting the rescue," River explained. "This investigation will give you several important pieces of information that'll be necessary to devise the plan, one of them being numbers. You must know, as precisely as possible, how many enemies you will encounter. Another piece is the location. Scout it well, along with the facility the captives are being held in. Survey each hostage location, identifying entrance points and an escape route for each location. And you'll want to know everything about any and all guards surrounding the hostages."

Jacob paid close attention while River talked about diverting all the action as far away from the captives as possible for their safety. He said it would be necessary to get the attention away from them, for however momentarily that might be. "This will allow the rescuers to enter the holding sites with the least amount of resistance and remove the captives quickly and safely. When you have all the intelligence needed, you'll be ready to plan the rescue. The excellent starting point I mentioned earlier is Seth, and the twenty-four hours. You use Seth for all the reconnaissance. Once he gives you all the Intel, you'll be ready to devise the plan."

It was clear to Jacob that River knew how dangerous this would be, and just talking to him brought new challenges to Jacob's mind. Like, what would they do if they were dealing with way too many vampires? "This changes everything. I guess this will be a bigger job for Seth than we thought. Maybe Seth won't be the one to go. I need to talk to Sam. We were all so eager to get them back none of us thought clear enough."

"One more thing, Jacob. Once you have the plan, there are three crucial elements necessary to ensure its success: surprise, speed, and an alliance of action. I mean, you must coordinate everything perfectly." River said, with a hard seriousness in his eyes. "Leah says you have the surprise and the speed. Just make sure everyone is precisely where they need to be, doing exactly what they need to do, at the very moment they need to do it, to get your family and themselves out safely."

"Well, River, you gave me a lot to consider. I appreciate the help." Jacob thanked him then turning to Leah said, "It's time to get together with the guys and figure some things out. We have little time."

"Okay, I'll meet you outside in a few minutes."

Raven sat down beside Jacob on the front porch. Feeling the subtle tremble of her body, he curled his arm around her waist. "I wish you didn't hear all that. I'm sure it sounds more dangerous than it is."

"I'm fine. I would have left the room if I really needed to."

"Your brother's awesome," Jacob said with appreciation. "That information is great to know, and I'm sure it's going to make a world of difference."

"I hope so."

Jacob glanced back at the door, already running out of patience. "Leah better hurry," he muttered.

"You weren't exaggerating. That was fast." Raven exclaimed. "Did you see the way Leah was looking at him? It had me wondering what River was thinking while he stared back at her. You'd never guess they just met. It's really weird."

He nodded, sweeping a few loose hair strands away from her eyes. "Sure is."

"I'm already so late for school. I may as well just skip it today. Besides, River will only be here for a few more days. Spending time with him is more important."

Jacob wasn't paying attention. His mind moved to another part of the plan that had him feeling disturbed. This part of the plan required him to contact the Cullens. He worried once he heard Nessie's voice again, it would reinforce his imprint bonds, his loneliness for her might rage, and he didn't know how much longer he'd want to stick around Raven if that happened.

I can't pull a Cullen and just disappear. He pursed his lips. During the past couple of days, he learned he loved Raven and would never be ready to cause her any pain. But he knew for him, leaving was inevitable. Not only that, he missed Nessie and Bella and thought if they asked him to come for a visit, there would be no stopping him.

He watched Raven as she tied her long hair in a loose knot on the top her head, just like she wore it the first time he kissed her. She wasn't one of those girls who fixed up with a bunch of make-up to look good. She wore some, but to him she didn't need to. Her allure was pure and natural. He suddenly recognized her dark eyes seemed a little dimmer, not as full of life as they normally were, though her beauty still astonished him.

This sucks! He ran a tense hand through his hair. That's an understatement.

"What are you thinking about?" Raven asked, staring at him.

Her long-lashed, eyes drank him in, filling themselves. Her cheeks had a natural flushed hue that made you think she was close to blushing, and her perfect pink lips gathered together, enticingly, the corners lifted. He could see exactly how she felt about him every time she wore that look, the look he could never resist. He pressed his forehead against her's and drowned himself in her eyes, breathing her in. "I really do love you."

Raven cast her eyes downward. She smiled a smile he saw only once or twice before. A smile that hinted at a frown. A somewhat sad smile, he'd never understood as sad before now. Everything about her presence became quiet for a second. Then she lifted her eyes and kissed him lightly on his lips.

"What I was thinking about is that after I talk to Sam, I'm going over to Charlie's, getting a phone number. I need to make an important phone call. Will you come with me?"

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