Page 4 of Dragon 7

Rin's poison vials were laid out on a black silk cloth that the Fang had left before disappearing—probably to say goodbye to his new lover on the other side of the island.

I cleared my throat. "Kenji and I believe that our brother, Akiro, will go for the mansion first. He thinks Kenji and I will be inside, waiting like cowards in a fortress. So that's the first thing we change.”

Toma looked up. “How will we do that?”

“We won’t be in the mansion. We'll be in the trees."

Daisuke nodded once.

"The mansion stays lit. Looks occupied. Some of Reo's Scales will move through it to give the impression that we are home. Akiro's first wave will hit it expecting to find us. They won't."

I sucked harder on the lollipop. "Antiaircraft on the outer ridge will take down what it can. We are not stopping every helicopter and plane. We are not built for that. Some of them will land. When they do, the Scales engage on the ground—they have the numbers, and they have the terrain. Our job is not to clean up after the landings."

Toma loaded another round in his gun and looked up. "Then what is our job?"

"Our job is the Fox, Akiro, and the men protecting them. Let the Scales get the lower soldiers to win the battle. We focus on winning the war."

Toma tilted his head to the side. "How do we know where Akiro will be? And even more, how do we know if the Fox is even coming?"

I glanced back at my brother.

Now Kenji stood at the strategy table with Reo at his shoulder. His phone rested in his hand. His head was bent low taking in the map in front of him.

I looked back at Toma. “My brother has a plan to get the Fox on the island.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know yet, but I trust him.” I took in all of their faces. “We trust him.”

They all nodded.

I cleared my throat. “We will figure out where Akiro is during the battle. Until then, we stay in the shadows of the forest and come out when it's time to deal with the true threat."

Movement came behind Toma's shoulder. Right in the doorway to the war room stood a woman in a leather kimono with a whip coiled at her hip.

Hiroko, I was wondering when you would start haunting me.

The ghost’s eyes found mine and she smiled. A bullet hole sat at the center of her forehead. Blood spilled out.

"Hiro?"

I snapped my eyes to Kaede. “Yes?”

"You stopped talking."

"Sorry. I was thinking." I cleared my throat again. The sugar from the lollipop coated my tongue. "Spread your men. But I want coverage in two places specifically."

Aki crossed his arms over his chest. “Ours are armed and ready. Where do you want our people?”

I tapped the table. "The clinic. Akiro will think it's important. He'll think we have doctors and medical staff there ready to heal the wounded. Put some of your people outside and make it look guarded. Have others hidden to bombard them.”

Yuki smiled. "A decoy?"

"A decoy that bleeds his men." I tapped a second spot on the table.

Behind Daisuke, another ghost appeared. This one was a young Scale who stood with half his face missing.

Riku.