Free The Reckoning by Teyla Branton

about?” I asked.
    “About a million.” Stella sighed and shook her head. “But the location is a definite advantage because getting into Venezuela without raising alarms will be far easier than in Syria, though I’m working on a route there as a backup. We have allies in Israel, who have more than eight million reasons to help us.”
    Ritter leaned forward, touching his screen to zoom in on Guayana City. As the area magnified on all our monitors, he said, “I’m assuming there’s an airport nearby?”
    “Yes. The flight plans are already filed,” Stella answered. “By the time we get there, we should have clearance to land.” There was no annoyance in her tone, but sometimes I wondered how she put up with those of us who processed information so much more slowly than she did.
    Ritter’s eyes went to Ava. “When do we leave?”
    “You’ll need to be at the airport by nine. That will get you to Guayana City by this evening. You’ll have Erin, Mari, Jace, Stella, and of course Shadrach will meet you there. He’s familiar with the area and the factory.” She paused before adding, “I know you could use also Cort and Dimitri, but I think I’ll need both of them to paint a picture for the president and his people about what’s involved in plutonium production and the possible effect on mortals. With plutonium involved, I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending you without Dimitri, but Shadrach is also a healer.” She looked at Dimitri, who stood against the wall behind Stella, his arms folded across his broad chest. I knew he shared in making the important decisions for our group, though most of their discussions were private and Ava always took the lead in our meetings.
    “I did work briefly with Shadrach in Africa fifty years ago,” Dimitri said, “and he is one of the best. I’m sure he’ll be able to take care of anything that may arise.” Since we all considered Dimitri the best Unbounded healer, his confidence was reassuring.
    I could see from Ava’s unshielded thoughts that she would like to take Mari with her as well, but Mari was too inexperienced at combat to send in on any operation alone, and Ava couldn’t channel her ability like I could, so Mari would be of more use to us. “We’ll stay in regular contact, of course,” Ava added, “and Stella should be able to learn anything you need to know by way of satellite. Once the plutonium is secure, we’ll make sure the president is given the location of the plant. This can’t be allowed to happen again.”
    “Can’t we blow it up?” Jace asked, pulling his foot from the table. “Make sure they won’t use it again?”
    Cort cleared his throat. “Too dangerous. Plutonium originates in nuclear reactors, produced by the capture of extra neutrons by uranium, and then undergoes a series of decays to get what they need for a nuclear weapon. We have no idea what sort of byproducts they’re storing, or what else they’re producing. I doubt they have extraordinary safety measures in place, so it’s possible they’ve already contaminated the area for miles around. They’ll probably need to send in experts to clean it all up. ”
    “Our focus is on the plutonium they’re sending to Iran,” Ava said. “This is the immediate concern. The government will have to deal with the long-term repercussions of Venezuela’s participation in this whole thing.”
    “I’m assuming Chris will be flying us to Guayana City?” Ritter had something in his hand and rubbed a thumb over it. His gaze flicked to me, and I wondered what he held.
    “Wait a minute,” I said as his question about Chris penetrated my thoughts. “Are we going to have to transport the plutonium?” Because I didn’t want my mortal brother anywhere near it. He wouldn’t be able to heal as we could.
    Ava shook her head. “We’re hoping to secure it in the country and have it picked up, but if we do have to fly it out, the containers should be safe enough.”
    I felt sick. So