Dan had originally assumed it would take a few hours to get together a team capable of raiding a literal cult. He was quickly proven mistaken when Agent Carver put together a combined task force of DCPD and federal agents within thirty minutes of hearing his testimony. It was an outrageously quick assembly, the speed of which was apparently fueled entirely by spite. Agent Carver absolutely despised the Evo Church, and it appeared she wasn't alone.

It seemed every agent she'd gathered bore some sort of personal grudge against the Evo Church. Seven of them in total, each and every one chomping at the bit to ruin the cult's day. Dan could only guess at the specifics, but there was no missing the looks of disgust and rage crossing their faces whenever the place was mentioned out loud. In contrast, the five-man SPEAR team Carver had borrowed from the DCPD were more reserved in their reactions.

The difference in attitude was explained during the mission briefing, an event Dan shamelessly invited himself into. He garnered a few odd looks, sitting back in the corner of the briefing room, but nobody spoke out against him. Dan couldn't decide if the lenience was a result of whatever intel Rawls had slipped into his file, or if it was the sheer weight of nepotism powered by his connection to Anastasia. Even to this day, the vicious old woman remained some sort of black ops boogeyman. Her reputation alone may have bought him a seat in the room, and he was perfectly happy to abuse the privilege.

"We've waited a long time for this," Carver began, bringing up a projection of the Evo Church's interior. "We've finally got a way in, so let's not waste it."

The projected map was a mix of the official building's blueprints, overlayed on a number of 3d rendered pictures. It mostly matched with Dan's experiences, but was missing a few key elements. The underground area, where they kept their big-ass cosmic generator, was entirely absent. So too were a number of smaller meeting rooms he'd encountered, none of which had seemed suspicious at the time, but were strangely absent on the blueprints.

He thought back, focusing hard on remembering the building's layout. None of the missing areas were accessible to the public. They were all deeper inside the building, staff areas and the like. He peered at the blueprint, a sudden suspicion seizing him. He scanned for the rec areas, the gym and showers, and their connected rooms.

The bunk room was missing.

Dan raised his hand and asked, "Is this layout current?"

Agent Carver paused in her explanation of the building's exit routes, and looked at him. Her brow furrowed briefly, as she glanced between him and the building plan. Something in Dan's expression must have given away how serious he was, because she answered, "Yes, it's supposed to be. The Evo Church is required to regularly update their interior blueprints, to account for any remodeling or changes. It's a monthly filing." She frowned. "Why? Does it not match your experience inside?"

Dan mulled over the question as he decided how much to share. He was already lying about seeing Charleston outside the church, but that was something he'd never get called on once they found the man inside. Any lies Dan told would be effectively moot once it became obvious the Evo Church was guilty as sin. Not like the government would prosecute him for helping them make a case, and they couldn't prove anything even if they tried. Sharing details about restricted areas, however, was another thing entirely. Questions would be asked about how he got back there unnoticed, and claiming he could teleport would only get him so far. Blindly bouncing from room to room was bound to get him noticed by someone. He'd have been caught.

Dan settled for a half-truth. His ability to sense his surroundings was already well documented. He'd showed the ability off a dozen times or more during various disasters in Austin, rescuing trapped people he had no business knowing were there. Word may not have reached past the city, yet, but it was inevitable. Might as well take advantage of it.

"My mutation gives me a pretty good sense of my immediate surroundings," Dan stated, slowly. "I wasn't exactly looking for hidden rooms when I was inside, but I'd swear I felt a few that aren't on that map of yours."

Carver's face lit up. "Really? Can you point out any areas in particular? Omitting rooms on their blueprints would be a serious violation, if we can pair it with further malfeasance. Hell, if there are enough of them, that might be all we need to get the Church's license pulled!"

"I'd think harboring a fugitive would be enough for that," Dan mused.

Carver flicked her hand dismissively. "A good lawyer will conjure up a thousand different excuses for that particular infraction. Which leads me to my next point." She turned to her men. "We've got good cause for a search, but it'll only get us onto the premises. It'll be up to us to build a more solid case against the Church itself from what we find there. So, get eyes on the perp, but leave him for last. We want a good, thorough search of the building before we make any moves on the man."

One of the agents spoke up. "They're gonna just bring us the man if we make it too obvious what we're doing."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it.

Carver nodded. "That's why we won't tell them who we're there for." She gestured at the projection, and it changed to a picture of Eddie Charleston's face. He was a much younger man in the picture. His eyes weren't nearly so sunken, his gaze not nearly so vacant. He seemed alive and alert. The change from then and now was as stark as it was horrifying.

"This is Eddie Charleston, the fugitive we are searching for. But he has another name, used exclusively on the job: Edict. That's the name we'll be supplying the Evo Church. A fugitive from justice, who goes by the name Edict, is hiding out on their premises." Carver smiled viciously, and continued, "They can't bring him to us, because that would be admitting they know who he is, in which case no lawyer can save them. Given the man uses a banned mind-control upgrade, we also have the option of suggesting they might not know he's on the premises, in case they offer to bring us their most recent recruits or something similar. We can claim the man is too dangerous to approach, though ideally we don't use that option as it provides the Church an easy way out of the noose."

Dan nodded in agreement. The Evo Church would claim Charleston had used his upgrade on them in order to secure a spot on the staff. The fact that his official upgrade probably couldn't actually do such a thing would hardly matter when the FBI had suggested it themselves. They would just quote the agency back to itself.

The briefing continued as Carver outlined the search patterns they would take to maximize the ground they covered. The plan wasn't a raid, in the strictest sense of the word. They would be walking right in the front door, announcing their intentions like proper enforcers of the law. From there, it was presumed the Evo Church would do their best to cut their losses, perhaps by shepherding Charleston into the path of the searching agents. In this way, they would limit the invasion of privacy the feds were attempting, and hopefully put an end to the whole affair in record time.

It really was in the Church's best interest to ditch Charleston. The man was insensate, a liability, and incapable of ratting them out. Honestly, dropping him in the path of a fed was probably their best play.

...

There was something in that thought which nagged at Dan. A plan bounced around in his mind, half-formed and half-mad. He could do something about this, couldn't he? There had to be a way.

While Dan contemplated intervening, Agent Carver wrapped up her briefing. She finished with a stirring speech that ended with, "We've finally got someone stepping up with enough balls and backing to actually take a good shot at these bastards. Let's not fuck it up!"

It took Dan a moment to realize the triumphant cheer in the room was directed at him, and a few moments longer to realize he was the one with 'balls and backing,' Carver was referring to. This lead to another unfortunate realization: Anastasia could stop all of this with a single phone call. He had not been subtle when telling her his plans, yet despite all her protests, here he was. Using her power and influence like a whip, stirring the feds into action. Why wasn't she stopping him?

Dan briefly considered Anastasia might be helping him out in the interest of maintaining friendly family relations, then instantly disregarded the idea. If she wasn't stopping him, it was because he was serving her interests, or at least not working actively against them. Some part of this action must benefit Anastasia in some way he wasn't yet seeing. Or maybe she thought he would fail, and thought watching him would be amusing. It was impossible to tell with the old hag.

It didn't matter, Dan concluded. Charleston needed removing. If it blossomed into a loss for the Evo Church, all the better.

The briefing concluded, and the task force filed out to get geared up. Carver approached Dan as the last of them left.

"We could use you there," she said without preamble. "Someone who knows the inside would be invaluable."

Okay, Dan thought, so this is happening.

"I'm surprised you would allow that," he replied carefully. "I'm a civilian."

"I've read your file," she reminded him, as if that were all the explanation needed.

Dan tried not to wince. He really needed to get a copy of the damn thing. What, exactly, had Rawls told his people? Or did they just see the word 'Classified' written across it in Anastasia's angry scrawl, and assumed Dan was incredibly competent? Either way, it appeared the time for anonymity was long past. His goals were better served going along with the team, anyway. He could spot any random shenanigans, and hopefully make things worse for the Evo Church wherever possible.

This wasn't really a combat raid, anyway. There wasn't going to be violence, not in a public building that serviced thousands of civilians. For once, Dan could tell Abby he wasn't rushing into danger. He'd be surrounded by armed professionals. All Dan needed to do was tag along, just in case.

Looks like he was going to church.