Keen judge of character. She picked you to train.
Valentine didn't know whether to hate the trio or admire them. He'd gotten careless with the last of Mary's murderers gone. Part of him was itching for something to do anyway. How much of his unwillingness was an act?
"There's got to be more to this", Valentine said. "Why not just contact the Pacific Northwest by regular channels? Southern Command must have some kind of communication route".
Styachowski suddenly became interested in a frayed cuff.
Lambert spoke again: "The Cause up there is in the hands of a genius. But like many geniuses, he's got his own ways".
"Friends and enemies both call him 'Mr. Adler,' " Styachowski said. "They say he came out of Seattle, originally. Didn't know one end of a gun from another when he showed up barefoot to volunteer, but he carried sixteen tons of grudge. He took a bunch of guerrillas
starving in the mountains and fighting each other as much as they did the Kurians, and turned them into the Terrors of the Cascades. They appear and disappear like a fog, always somewhere the Quislings are weak. He's putting a headlock on the most powerful Kurian in the western half of the United States, Seattle himself. The Big Wheel".
"Him I've heard of", Valentine said. "Wasn't he trying to absorb the whole West Coast?"
"We were both at the War College then", Lambert said. "It was all the talk among the higher-ups, worries that Seattle would be running the whole coast, knock Denver out, then come after us. I suppose it could still happen, if the forces in the Cascades fall apart".
"All the more reason to set up liaisons", Valentine said.
Lambert shook her head. "It's been tried. One mission came back saying this Adler had no time for any war but the one he was waging against Seattle. The next mission we sent quit Southern Command and started singing his praises as the savior of the human race. The third never even made it there".
"Lifeweavers don't exactly advertise their whereabouts", Valentine said. "I don't see how I can find any without this genius' permission".
Styachowski opened her mouth to speak but lost her words in a cough.
"Ahh, but that's your specialty, Val", Duvalier said. "You're going to show up and volunteer".
Styachowski glared at her.
"Barefoot?" Valentine asked.
"I don't think that's necessary", Styachowski said. "You're talented. An ex-Cat of Southern Command. Hero of Big Rock Hill. You're bound to end up in Pacific Command's version of the Hunters".
Their faces stood out against the dark uniforms and the shadows beyond the table. Odd that all three were approximately the same height when seated. Three witches, telling him his future over a dirty table with finish bubbled and cracked.
"And if I make contact with a Lifeweaver?"
"Simple message. Southern Command needs their help. Badly. Or we're finished".
"That dicey, is it?"
"We're running out of Hunters", Lambert said. "The lieutenant I used to admire would have known what that meant, and been the first to volunteer. We've sent calls for help north, east, and south. We want you to be west".
The lieutenant Dots used to admire would have been so startled at the news of her admiration that he would have been able to think about little else. Valentine just noted it as an interesting detail.
Duvalier, eyes raised to heaven, and mouth like she'd just swallowed a spoonful of castor oil, muttered something about "Ghost" being the wrong clan nickname.
"Have you told me everything?"
"Everything", Styachowski said. "Trust me, Val. You did at one time".
"There is one more thing", Lambert said. "It's not an important detail. But it might mean something to you. The third mission, the one that disappeared, was led by your old CO from Zulu Company. LeHavre".
Lots of things could happen on the trail. Even to a man as experienced as LeHavre.
"I don't suppose Ahn-Kha has wandered in from across the Mississippi? He'd be invaluable".
"Sorry, Val", Duvalier said, her voice soft for the first time that evening. "He'd be sitting here if he had".