Chapter 855 Chapter 855
Oryn was feeling regret. The things she had believed about the Alliance had been so wrong that she now felt bad about the things she’d said to Uri on the first day they’d met. Not the part about being an idiot for diving into the water, that part she didn’t want to take back.
They had placed tiny cameras around the area. They were so small that she didn’t know how they held the pieces inside to make them work.
Uri had even trusted her to place the one closest to the house. In order to do it, she had to shift. It had been so strange standing on the hood of his vehicle while he put it in her talons, all while talking to her. She had to set it down, facing a certain direction in order for them to see inside the house.
Her owl, who normally did not like being around anyone in two-legged form, had listened intently to him as he spoke. Oryn had caught her butting into her form and staring at him while he was pointing out where to set it down. That had been weird. What was the strangest of all was when she had responded to him with soft coos, a communication Oryn had only ever used when she was with her brother.
Maybe her creature was enjoying having a purpose other than hunting and for trespassers. Oryn decided that once she went and checked on the kids, she was going to ask Uri if she could help him gather his Intel from time to time. Only with Uri, though. Her Aves wasn’t as accepting of the idea of working with his fox friend, Tait.
Uri turned the screen and tapped a button so he could see the view from the five cameras. Two cameras were showing inside the house. She was a little amazed that the tiny things worked that well.
“Are you all right?”
She blinked and looked at him. “Yes. I was just thinking I might want to help do this again sometime.”
He smiled at her, and it made her feel good inside. “Fliers like us have it easier.”
“Are there more flies on your team?”
He nodded and did something on the screen that allowed all of the camera views to be seen at once. They were a lot smaller, but it was better than clicking the key every few seconds. What if you missed something on one that way? “Gideon is from a hawk clan, and Hadleigh is an eagle clan, so the three of us go to the hardest locations because we can get closer to them.”
She was once again shocked by the different clans working together. Her’s had always kept to themselves.
He set the laptop on the dash and turned in his seat to look at her. His dark eyes studied her face for a moment, and she felt awkward. “You’re going back to the kids, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “Yes. Of course. I just sometimes need to…”
“Have your space?”
He understood. “Yes. Even before my clan—” She looked at the screen for a second. “—before what happened, I went off exploring just to get away for a few days.” She didn’t know how to explain it. “I have trouble around too many people.” She glanced to see him nodding.
“I get it.” He motioned to the screen. “That’s why I do this.”
She had a hundred questions about how they were going to go in and what he did while that happened. Also, what happened once they did, but she wasn’t sure if she could trust herself to ask them without giving a reason why she wanted to know. However they were doing it, she planned to be right there because she had to reach Kenric before they did.
His phone vibrated. She watched the laptop as he got it out of the holder.
“Konner.”
“Uri, is this a good time?”
It was the Water Clan man. She leaned closer and looked at the two small boxes showing inside the house. They were very limited views because the camera was outside the building, which she found disappointing.
“Yeah. I’m just sitting here watching the camera feeds.”
“Were you able to get any angles inside the house?”
She felt bad for Konner. Not knowing if a member of his calm was inside or not must be very hard for him.
“A few. I’m going to move them tonight and try to get some different views.”
“Calum told me about the tank you found. I spoke to Malik, and there aren’t any members missing, so…”
Uri moved closer to the phone. “It’s either an unknown Sea clan or one of your clans.”
“Yes. Either way, we need to get them if they’re still inside. There could be others out there they know about.”
Uri was nodding, but Oryn knew Konner couldn’t see him doing it. “I’ll do what I can to get a better look.”
Oryn wondered if flying close and looking into windows would be something they could do after dark. She didn’t say it out loud because she didn’t want to give Konner false hope. She understood about getting your hopes up, only to be disappointed later.
“I wanted to give you a heads up. Malik and Struan are going to be disabling the ships near dawn tomorrow. The boy, Ben, was able to describe them and where they dock.”
Oryn looked at the phone. Ben had taken over a few times for her so she could spend more time with the younger children. She knew he was observant, but apparently, he was more than she realized.
“Is there going to be a loud commotion?”
Konner chuckled. “As much as I’d like to blow them out of the water, that would draw too much attention. We’re going to place small charges under the bow of each that will blow all electrical current in the vessel.”
Uri grinned. “That will keep them busy for months trying to figure out the cause of the problem.”
“Exactly. I need to go. I’m setting up the chopper in case we find any of mine inside so I can transport them back home.”
“I'll try to get you more information.”
“Yes. Oh, if you see any in a tank inside and can try to make out eye color or skin tone, that would be helpful to know which clan.”
“Good to know.”
“Don’t take too many risks. We need to take down this cell intact to gain information of more.”
Uri nodded again. “I’m always careful.” He looked at Oryn and shrugged. With the lopsided grin on his face, she knew that expression from Ben and Wyatt and also knew it was when they weren’t telling the complete truth.
“Message me if you do get eyes on a tank. Pictures would be a bonus.”
“I’ll do what I can, Konner.”
“I’ll talk to you soon.”
The line went quiet. Uri turned and looked at her. “Part of me wants to sit by the water and see if I can get a glimpse of the Sea Clan members.”
“I thought they were all gone.”
“Apparently—” He enlarged the camera view and then looked at them one by one. “They are better at being unseen than my team.” He grinned. “And that’s saying something.”
Now she wanted to go to the water as well to see these people that lived in there. She watched him study the one camera view longer than the others and wondered why he was. What did he see that she didn’t? “Uri, what about flying and looking in some windows tonight?”
He turned and looked at her and then nodded slowly. “We could switch out, one of us staying on the monitors and the other trying to get a look inside–” his expression hardened. “Briefly, as in a two-second look before moving to the next.”
“I saw the tank outside when I placed that camera. Something that size couldn’t be on any of the upper floors. The weight would be too much.”
Uri held her look for a moment and then turned and taped some keys. He brought up the view of the one side of the house and then somehow made it larger. Tapping his finger on the screen, he nodded. “There are basement windows.” He gave her a quick look. “We could land, look inside, and try to see as much as possible in a few seconds.” He sat back. “I didn’t even think of the weight of the tank.” He smiled at her. “You’re good at this.”
It was stupid, but she felt like he’d just handed her the world. She cleared her throat and looked at the screen. “Show me how to work this.” Her owl felt like she was preening her feathers, which was impossible inside her. Oryn had to lower her brows and focus hard not to roll her eyes at how ridiculous that was.