Jared listened to the stream of chatter on the walkie talkie and nodded to himself. He would have smiled, but tonight had confirmed his fears, not his hopes. He switched to the private channel and spoke to Martins. "Got what I need. Get them out safe."
In the hours after darkness, spotters had drifted into the neighborhood and been ready for the real goal of the burning tonight. They had been told only who to look for, and given their directions only by Jared. He had told them nothing of the house burnings.
Martins had handled that part of the plan, and recruited only four men to start the fires. One of them hadn't shown up, which was troubling. A young man from out of state, his Klan roots close to Jared's own, not one of the skinheads or other groups. Jared would have Martins check on him.
The spotters had seen the killer moments before the fires started, and had reported him running toward the house on the back side of the block. Thankfully, they had provided enough warning to get the men out of harm's way.
They had also seen the killer talking to a police detective, but that didn't disprove Jared's fears. It only showed that the man who had murdered his men was working with the police, not that he was gaining any information from them.
What worried Jared was how the man had known where the attack was going to be that night. The small crew, the spotters going in with only partial information had been to test his fears. He trusted Martins, and with only four soldiers who knew the location tonight, he didn’t think there could be a leak. Nadine had been a problem, but he was certain that she hadn't given out any information that could have led the killer to his men in the past. She hadn’t known any of those details.
And still, with all the precautions, the killer had known they would be here tonight. Before he had seen what Harold could do, he had thought his worries had been paranoia. But Harold could do something extraordinary, something that Jared had once thought impossible.
The killer could too. Along with his abilities to move faster than he should, be stronger than a normal human, the man also somehow seemed to have access to more information than normally possible.
How far this information went worried Jared. Would the man know what he was planning next? Would he fall for the trap that Jared was building, or would he avoid it? There was nothing to do but to go ahead, to make the trap tomorrow as irresistible as possible. The killer seemed intent on protecting the blacks and the other races in the city, so Jared would use that against him.
"Do you want me to get him now?" Harold asked.
Jared turned to the little man in the passenger seat of the truck. It had been a long afternoon and evening playing friends with Harold. Jared felt a weariness that had little to do with the late hour. But he could keep it up a little longer. "No. I don't think it's safe here. And the police will be on their way soon." He started the truck and pulled it into gear. "If you can still help me, please, I think we could get him tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
Jared nodded. "And I'll talk to Jessica for you tomorrow, too."
Beside him, Harold nodded. Jared saw two other vehicles on the street start up and pull away. All the men were out safe.
He had more questions about this killer: just how much the man could do, how much abuse he could take, whether he could be turned to the cause at all. He didn't know if he'd get answers to these questions. But, he knew more than he had twenty minutes ago, and he already had a plan to exploit it.
He pulled into the street and thumbed the walkie for Martins. "Go ahead with tomorrow morning. Get a variety of ages."
*
(Author’s note: Ack! What is this new plan Jared has? What is Bryan thinking? Does anything look good for William? And…if you think we’re not done with these fires or with Cray and Rios…you’re right! Check out the next chapter to see what happens!)