"Captain Masen?" Alice asks, again.
Scattered across the library table, the blue and white technical drawings cover every angle of the nuclear plant. Subterranean piping, elevation diagrams, material matrixes, blueprints don't hold Edward's attention. The upcoming mission, the need to strategize, keep being replaced with the image of Bella's cell phone left behind in her dorm.
The silence during her reconnaissance is logical. The implanted radios have limited range and, if something happened to her, a cell phone that links directly to a secret government organization would be a liability. The sun is down. She's on her way back. However, either because of concern or curiosity, he cannot focus.
"Yeah," he finally responds.
"I went ahead and did a cross-reference to the satellite imagery." Alice says, with a slight frown and tired eyes. "There's definitely a complex underground network connecting the buildings to the river."
Of course. He sighs and furrows his brow, futilely attempting to refocus.
"Edward?" Alice tries to hide her growing exasperation, but it leaks through.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to just wait until Bella gets back?"
His embarrassment at the suggestion leads to wave of disappointment. Stop it, he thinks.
"No." He rubs his face, pressing his palm hard in to his skin. "I need to know what we're going in to."
Pursing her lips in polite annoyance, she sits back in her chair and watches him. His distracted despondence doesn't motivate her to help.
"She's fine," she finally says, curtly.
"I know."
Alice's eyes narrow as her head tilts up. It's a meek response, the meaning of which she can't fully parse. "No, really." A sly smile. "She's fine."
The silence hangs between them like a dare.
"Good," Edward says before looking back down at the diagrams. He knows Alice is right, but it doesn't help. Building plans only take you so far when strategizing, and the lines on the charts in front of him have long since blurred. He needs details about his enemy, their enemy. He needs to to look at anything but this nuclear plant. Leaving the table, he heads to the "North America" shelf of files and scans their bindings.
"How do you spell, 'yunwi?'" he asks.
"With a 'Y.'
"Gamma team."
Early the next morning, Edward wakes to Bella's voice coming through the radio. It takes a moment to remember he's on Jacob's couch.
"Gamma team. Conference room."
With a grimace he sits up, a sharp, stiff agony holding his spine tight. The side of his face is red and numb. Through the radio transmission and fatigue, thinking proves difficult. Nuclear. Plan. Maybe. Bella. Jacob. Tennessee. The click of the front door seems to reverberate as Jacob enters with Alice.
"Morning, sir," he says with a broad smile. "You sleep on the couch?"
"Yeah." The sudden need to communicate charges Edward's brain. Jacob let him stay in his quarters so he could be there when Bella returned. He activates his radio. "We're on our way."
"She's not wasting time," Jacob says, taking a moment to change before the three of them head to meet Bella.
"Must be important," Alice says.
Edward checks his watch. Bella became human a few minutes ago with the rising sun. His heart pounds, shaking the base of his throat, and reality tightens around his gut.
I hope I can do this, he thinks.
Colonel Cullen and Emmett are with Bella in the conference room when they arrive. The men sit quietly in their respective places while Bella leans against the table. Her breath his quick and posture anxious.
"Hey," Edward says when he sees her.
She nods and says nothing. Edward's stomach wrenches on itself.
"I spoke with Clear Water," she begins before the rest of the team can sit. " Our ground contact. This mission won't be as cut and try as we expected." She takes a heavy breath, preparing herself. Her mouth turns in disappointment as she moves to the front of the table.
"It's not a single threat." Her words hang.
Carlisle turns, his eyes suddenly dark and threatening. The severe expression from the typically stoic Colonel is unnerving. "What do you mean?"
"We deal with multiple threats all the time," Jacob says.
"We deal with hives of a single creature," Bella replies, tersely. "Clear Water is saying it's different types of creatures."
"Bullshit." Emmett shakes his head. "It doesn't happen."
"It doesn't naturally happen," Bella says. The implication is clear and Emmett backs down. "Clear Water named three things: A wampus, a 'bad doctor' -"
"Bad doctor?" Jacob asks. His face immediately turns apologetic for interrupting Bella.
"It's likely some sort of witch," Emmett says, bored but attentive.
"And," Bella continues, taking a breath, "Anada'duntaski."
As the room goes silent. The word rattles in Edward's head. He knows what a wampus is, but the last thing she said is familiar but not. He remembers seeing it in the Library, but can't recall the details. The sudden pall in the room tells him it's dangerous though.
"That's an odd combination," Alice says, staring down at her tablet.
Colonel Cullen exhales deeply as he shifts back. His stern face floods with complexity as he considers the newest information.
"I have no idea what that last thing is," Jacob whispers to Alice. He smiles broadly, aware of the seriousness surrounding him but unconcerned. It sets Edward at ease somewhat.
"Water cannibals," Alice answers.
"Most likely," Bella says. She stands a moment longer, her hands smartly meeting in the small of back. She wants to frame the information in hope that it's not right. Her eyes are wide, nervous, with every attempt to keep composed. She says nothing before sitting down.
"Captain Masen," the Colonel says, not looking at Edward, "What were you planning to do in Hartsville?"
There's a dismissive anticipation in Carlisle's tone, as if he expects Edward's answer to be irrelevant now. It's relaxing. The plan assumed it was a single creature, or a hive of some sort. The team would infiltrate, find their location and eliminate the threat. Now though, with multiple targets, it's much more difficult.
"I'll be honest, sir," Edward says, "I'm going to have to rethink everything."
"I'm glad you know that." Colonel Cullen says. He drums his fingers on the table briefly before standing. "We're moving quick on this. Brief me on a plan in six hours."
He's out of the conference room before Edward has a chance to articulate the questions swarming in his head. The solid click of the door shutting gives way to the heavy pound of his heart. Fighting his desire to hide within himself, a swallow of false confidence lets him scan the team. The assurance in Bella's eyes, behind her stiff, nervous lips boons him.
"Before we get serious," Jacob says, "I gotta know. What's the difference between a water cannibal and a cannibal cannibal?"
"One lives in the water," Bella says. The good-natured question eases, but doesn't erase, the tension filling the her body. "So, they're mer-cannibals?"
The conversation ignites Edward's knowledge of the creature. The image of the short, ambiguous profile from the library pops in to his head. Biting his lip, he shrugs. "We have no idea what we're walking in to, do we?" His voice sounds more casual than he feels.
"Not really," Bella says.
"We have a generic cannibal scenario in the Pen," Alice adds, "But not an Anada-specific one." "They could be traditional cannibals," Bella says. The idea of going in completely blind is a weight in her stomach she refuses to accept. "The yunwi don't know of any cannibals other than anadas. It could just be a poor translation."
"We're going to prepare for anything," Edward says.
Bella can feel herself flush at the firmness in his voice.
"Over rather than under compensate, eh?" Emmett says, his arms draped flippantly across his chest.
"Do we have any other choice?" Edward asks, intentionally ignoring the jab.
Bella leans forward. "We have some sort of witch, some sort of cannibal, and a wampus." "Dibs." Jacob says, smiling. "I've always wanted to meet a wampus."
Alice shoots him a dirty look from the corner of her eye before focusing back on her notes.
"The last half of my vision is so vague." Her voice carries a tinge of frustration. "I feel like there's a lot of information in it. I can't figure out what it's referencing though." "You got us to Hartsville," Edward says.
"I can't really provide you any recommendations on how to approach this, Edward." She looks to him, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry." "What's to recommend?" Emmett looks ahead at nothing, as if he's thinking of something else entirely. "We show up. Eliminate them. Leave." "I think that's the best way to do it," Edward says, calmly.
"Really?" Bella asks.
Edward's military career is one of plans, rehearsals, drills and instinct. Every action, every decision, is made innate through repetition. Assaulting anyone without copious amounts of intel or walking through a mock-up of the facility hundreds of times is unheard of. Emmett's suggestion is doctrinally irresponsible. Any failure would cost Edward his, and his team's lives.
But despite this decision being the antithesis of everything he knows, he's peaceful with it. He trusts his team. He hopes they trust him. Whatever is going on in Hartsville has to be stopped. Maybe going in with a plan is the worst plan they can have.
At least, he hopes so. "Yeah," Edward says. "Really."
"Well... fuck," Emmett says, somewhat appreciative. "Alright."
Bella nods but says nothing. Her reticence is obvious. Quickly, Edward devises a plan that involves Bella perched on the cooling tower to provide cover while Emmett, Edward and Jacob infiltrate the nuclear plant. The three of them will clear the plant together, while she keeps watch. To Bella, it's a decent plan. To a point. Issues, protests and 'what-ifs' continuously pop in to her mind while he strategizes. But the look on his face, and on the faces of Emmett and Jacob, let her know that now is not the time. She looks to Alice, whose lips tighten and her head tilts as if to say, 'I know.'
"This way," Edward says as he finishes, "We can stop what is happening before it gets uncontrollable." What if it already is? Bella thinks. "I'll just have to check with the Colonel on how we're actually getting to Tennessee," Edward says. "That's the easy part," Jacob says. His eyes glint like a child on Christmas. "We take Shiva."