There were two things I said to Davis upon my return: “I found them,” and “I’m leaving.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Hold up.” Davis grabbed my arm. “What is the rush and what is going on?
“I found their nest. I would go as far as to say it is all of them. Or at the very least the largest colony of them. This entire thing is going to get easier.”
“Where is the nest?”
I placed the map on his desk. “Here.” I pointed to the town.
“They’re in a city? Not the mountains?”
“Not the mountains. They live mainly in one block, right here. The building that houses many of them has a dome on it. We can’t draw them out because there isn’t enough sunlight to kill them.”
“What can we do?”
“We find explosives. We need more than we have. I say send out the Creeper with two men who know explosives, check out the area. If we detonate during the day, the ones that stay inside will die, the ones that fly for safety will perish. We can take out many of them.”
Davis looked at the map and then stumbled back and sat in a chair. “I wish I could have kept my enthusiasm. I had your enthusiasm and your fight when this thing started.”
“Well, you have me now. I want the life you had. I want the life people had before this whole thing. It may not be the same, but at least we won’t live in fear every night.”
“I agree.”
“We take them out, Davis, we eliminate a pretty big threat. The Day Stalkers will search us out and we cut them off at the pass. Keep following the Savages here out west until we’ve beaten them. Then after we take out the Ancients, we move east. They don’t cross large bodies of water, so we can be safe in clearing this country.”
“All well and fine, Tanner, but we don’t know where the City of the Ancients is.”
“Vala does,” I replied. “She contacted me, but was cut short. It was really abrupt. We don’t need her on the other side anymore. We need her here to help against the Savages. That’s why I’m leaving.”
“Tanner, where are you going?”
“To get her. I am going to the Straits. To Akana.”
Davis sighed. “Son, you are making this sound like an easy game to win. You still have the Queen Bee to worry about. She wants you dead.”
I smiled. “That was one message Vala got out. Nito is gone. Banished. Never to be seen again.”
“Oh my God!” Davis gasped in shock and then laughed. “Seriously?”
“That’s what she said. And because of that, she needs to get back here.”
“I’ll agree to this on one condition. You take Snake. He goes and poses as your father.”
“Agreed. Thank you.” I extended my hand to Davis, but instead, changed my mind and embraced him. “For you, for all of us, I want to see this through. It’s time.”
“I agree.”
I needed to get some things together and turned to leave. “You remind me of myself eighteen years ago, Tanner,” Davis said. “Full of piss and vinegar. Confident.”
“I am,” I said. “How can I not be? This war just got easier.”