He nodded.
"You guys figure out the best way to protect the compound," I instructed James, Cade and Blake.
Curtis and I left them behind as we made our way to the house and into the basement.
This had to work. Our survival hung in the balance. If there was no way to make the fight fair, we had no chance. I didn't like that there was so much riding on this. There was no backup plan.
The guard outside Flynn's cell greeted us before opening the door for us. I walked in first. I kept my features free of any emotion. I would not allow Flynn, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, to see my angst.
His eyes met mine, the dislike clear in his gaze. The feeling was mutual.
"How close do we have to be?" I asked Curtis without taking my eyes off Flynn.
It wasn't like we could ask him to come closer; he knew whatever we were going to do wasn't in his best interest.
"We might have to restrain him," Curtis said to me while eyeing the Keeper with apprehension. That wasn't going to be an easy task.
Flynn pushed off the wall, keeping his eyes on us. He gave me a look that dared us to try.
Guards!I yelled through the mind-link. It took only moments for them to arrive.
There was no time to waste. Flynn's gaze flittered over the guards. His fists tightened like he was ready to rip them into pieces one by one as he waited for them to enter the cell.
I walked in first, not allowing the captured Keeper to intimidate me. The guards followed behind.
He flexed his arms.
The two guards went right as two went left. He tried to evade them but there were too many. Still fighting, my guards managed to pin him to the wall, two on each side and one in the center pushing against his chest.
"Quickly," I instructed Curtis, seeing that they wouldn't be able to hold him for long.
Curtis gave me a sideways glance before he stepped forward and held the small spray bottle in his hand.
He pressed down on the button and it sprayed the wolfsbane a couple of feet away. Flynn tried to avert his head but the wet particles landed on his face.
His response was instant. He hissed in pain. The guards began to slacken their hold on them as Flynn closed his eyes tightly and his face contorted in pain. The Keeper broke free and put his hands to his face as he moaned, dropping to his knees.
It was like watching someone get hit with pepper spray.
The one guard who had held him against the chest was rubbing his own face and the others were rubbing their arms. Flynn had taken the brunt of the hit but some of the spray had landed on the uncovered skin of the guards. Was there a way to limit their exposure to it?
The Keeper was definitely worse off than we were but the spray would be useless if my fighters were trying to fight off the effects of it as well. I contemplated a scenario where we could have two waves: one wave to spray the Keepers and a second that could fight them.
It wasn't a clean plan and that nagged at me.
"Unfortunately there is no way to limit the disbursement," Curtis said while standing behind me.
"What have you done to me?" Flynn asked tensely. He was still fighting the effects of the wolfsbane.
Even if it didn't weaken them it would be enough to incapacitate them.
"I'll need to monitor how long it takes for him to recover," Curtis added.
I folded my arms as I watched. The guards stepped back.
Go clean up, I instructed them. Flynn, who was still on his knees holding his face, was in no state to attack Curtis or me now.
The bonus was the wolfsbane could hurt us but it didn't weaken us. And any point in our favor at this stage could mean the difference between losing and winning.
