THEY LOADED THE weapons stash onto the raptor (who Redd informed them was named Reba) and made their way quietly through the midnight streets of Dactyl Hill, glancing around for slinking shadows or dinoriders at each turn.
The flaming wall torches of the Penitentiary seemed to glare angrily as they approached, until finally Redd motioned for everyone to huddle out of sight at the side of an old stucco-walled factory. He peered out. “Okay, so we’re up against an armored fortress, with how many knucklehead-riding guards did you say, Mapper?”
Mapper pulled out the floor plans he’d drawn and unrolled them. “Two at each gun turret, four at the front gate, two walking the walls, so at least eight on a normal night.”
“And they have shotguns,” Magdalys added, remembering the way those double-barrels had glistened in the sun as the knuckleskulls strutted clunkily along the fortress rampart.
“Fantastic,” Redd said. “I see three guys at the front right now, none on dinos. But these are Kidnapping Clubbers, not regular prison guards. They got cloaks and rifles. That means we can probably count on more of ’em being inside.”
“For sure,” Mapper said, narrowing his eyes at the drawing as if a master attack plan would materialize if he just squinted it into existence.
Magdalys looked over the motley crew that had gathered. “And against that, we got …”
“A pirate,” Redd said. “A map wizard. A dinowrangler. An actor.”
Halsey bowed extra low to the ground. “Do not discount the actor, good sir, for murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ!”
Redd pursed his lips. “Okay, but do it quietly, please. We still relying on the element of surprise and all that.”
“Right.” Halsey lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “Also, I’m a crack shot with a Springfield …”
“Cool.”
“Now that I am sober.”
“Alright, man. And … you in, Miss Josephine?”
“But of course, mon cherie! I am here, am I not?”
“And a Haitian pyrotechnic specialist.”
She grinned wickedly. “Ooh, I like this!”
“And a kid named Two Step.”
Two Step made finger guns. “That’s the title of my autobiography, actually.”
“Plus a bunch of weapons,” Magdalys said.
“And let’s not forget Reba,” Redd said.
“Plus whatever dactyls we can rustle up,” Mapper added.
Magdalys shook her head. It wasn’t enough. It was never enough. After all their planning and caution with the Ocarrion raid, it had still blown up in their faces. How were they supposed to take on a whole fortress with no time to plan and barely any kind of team at all? “Riker had at least a dozen men tonight, and who knows how many more? We’re outnumbered for sure.”
Redd chuckled sadly. “Yeaaah, the pirate’s life, hey. Outgunned and outmanned, cuz. We gotta be slippery. Once we in, Halsey and Miss Josephine head to one side and I’ll hit the other. The cells line the courtyard facing inward and they got little windows on the doors. I may not be Mapper but I remember that much from my little stint in there. Gotta snatch the keys from one of these door guards and then bust out our folks when we find ’em. The real question is, how do we get inside?”
“Let’s march without the noise of threatening drum,” Halsey said.
Redd nodded. “Right. A sneak attack.”
“Then sound trumpets! Let our bloody colors wave!”
“I really need you to keep it down, man.”
“And either victory, or else a gra —”
“Enough,” Miss Josephine declared, shoving Halsey out of the way. “We send in Monsieur Crunk to distract them, oui? Then myself and Monsieur Redd ‘roll up’ as you say on Rebus —”
“Reba.”
“— from opposite ends of the street and overwhelm them and open the gates. Meanwhile, les enfants land on one of the parapets avec les dactyls, take control of the artillery, and provide backup fire when we enter the yard.”
“Enfants is children,” Two Step whispered to Magdalys.
She rolled her eyes. “I know that, man!”
“Then we bust everyone free and fight our way out as needed,” Redd said. “It’s tight, but it might work. It just might work.”
Magdalys couldn’t see it, but her whole body screamed to do something, anything, to get her friends free. “Alright,” she said. “It’s bonkers, but we don’t have much choice. Give us ten minutes to get into position and grab some dactyls. Mapper, go with Miss Josephine and then head up. Redd, Two Step and I will roll with you and then hit the roofs.”