Riotfish, Inc.: In Debt: Chapter 41

“I’ve looked through their staffing list, and I count forty-two men. Looking at the reviews and testimonials, it looks like they’re accustomed to working as a pack; they all show up for every job. That means that the five of us–”

“Six,” Daugereaux reminded him.

“Six of us, yes, thank you, are facing forty-two–”

“Thirty-eight!” Roger chirped.

“Thirty-eight, right, thirty-eight black ops.”

“So how do we do this, boss-man? That’s a lot of dudes to kill.”

“The dudes oppose,” Roger added.

“Yes. Well, first and foremost, we have the advantage of surprise on our side.”

“Surprise?” D’khara asked. “But didn’t we just declare war on them?”

Fleer rocked his hand back and forth.

“We did, but that’s mostly a legal thing. The papers are filed in all the appropriate places, but it’s not like planting a flag in someone’s territory. Unless somebody on their end is paying close attention, they probably have no idea.”

D’khara “hmm"ed thoughtfully.

“So what does it mean, exactly, that we declared war on them?”

“Well, the short version is that we are looking to force concessions from them through force of arms.”

“What concessions did we state?” Oliver asked.

“I kind of left that part blank,” Fleer admitted. “We can put in whatever we want when we win.”

“So you can put dem out of bidness wit’ dat?” Daugereaux asked.

“Eeeeeh, not as such. I mean, theoretically? But if that’s on the table then it just becomes a war of attrition. There’s no point in them surrendering.”

“So if the concessions we’re after are ambiguous, what can they do to stop the war?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah, how do we win?” Little Timmy chipped in.

“Okay! So maybe I didn’t think it through all the way! We’ll figure it out. In any case, first we have to secure the Daugereaux household. That would be at the top of the treaty. Then of course, the standard non-retaliation clauses. We could force them to publicly divulge their deal with Cryocorp. Maybe we can squeeze some cash out of them. Hm.”

“So what happens if we lose?” D’khara asked.

“If we lose? Well, what Tapstrike wants is for this whole situation to be silenced. Permanently. War or no war, our outcome is the same if we lose.”

The group considered this for a minute.

“Now, from what we’ve seen,” Fleer said, briskly changing the subject, “they operate in cells of two or three men, so we won’t have to face a massed force. They’ve been blanket jamming communications. I’m assuming that’s to keep any information from leaking out. That means that we can’t use radios, but neither can they. Fortunately, we’ve got Daugereaux’ hardline to work with, so we’re not completely blind.”

“They’ll have a regular touchpoint, probably daily, so we want to hit them hard and fast, before they realize anything’s going on. The more of them we can take out on this first day, the easier our job will be. Once they realize what’s happening, they’ll go on the defensive.”

“How do we find them?”

“We have to assume that they’ve eliminated all of the Ready/Impact soldiers by now. That means the only reason for them to stay here is to discover and eliminate any remaining witnesses.”

“Which is just my luck that they found the stupid bandage,” D’khara grumbled, too quietly for anyone to hear.

“They’ll probably have the highway watched,” Fleer continued, “and be searching the woods. It’s going to take them a while to find their way down here to the cabin, but we’ll all want to stay away from it in any case, since it will attract attention.”

“Ain’t leavin’,” Ma Daugereaux said. She was rolling out biscuit dough on the kitchen counter.

“Lord, woman, ain’t you hear the man? Dey gonna come in shootin’!”

“Dat’s menfolk bidness,” she said. “But if anybody want to try to take me out my house, dey gon’ end up in my soap-makin’ tub out back.”

“Gah-day-dawnh, if you ain’t about de hard-headedest woman I ever did know.”

“I married you, didn’t I?” she rejoined.

Fleer stepped in to refocus the conversation.

“So I think it’s best if we do the same as Tapstrike, pair off and hunt for them. Better still if we can bait them, and lead them into a trap.”

General assent followed this plan.

“Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow the Riotfish are going to war.”