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~~((The Mother's Day Special -- page 4 of 14))~~
Those texts weren't from his brothers. Or if they were, then they were being sent under duress.

Raul knew this because he had discussed the subject of secondary rendezvous points with them before the mission. There should have been no need to send coordinates. They both should have already known where to go.

Damn those Abolish snakes in lakefire.

They were trying to lure him into a trap. No doubt, if he actually went to those coordinates, he would soon find himself surrounded.

He checked those coordinates anyway, making sure that he didn't accidentally head toward them, and then started skating his way back to Ridgemark.

He put his phone away. There was one other thing he needed to confirm.

Oh, boy, he wasn't looking forward to this conversation.

'Arumoro,' he called.

'Raul,' came his reaper's private response from all the way back in Warrenhold.

There was no dancing around it. '...Have Adan and Esai been captured?'

'Why in damnation are you asking that?!' yelled Arumoro, no longer in the echo of privacy.

Raul explained.

'You did all that without permission?!'

'We needed to buy time for our reinforcements to arrive,' said Raul.

'You still should have told us about it!'

'You would have just forbidden us from doing it.'

'You're damn right we would have!'

Raul's expression remained steadfast in the darkness. 'I don't regret it. And neither do they, I'm sure. The operation was successful. Abolish won't be able to move anyone out of Miro for a while.'

The reaper sighed at him.

'Would you mind yelling at me later?' said Raul. 'I need you to confirm for me that Adan and Esai are actually captured and not just lost or dead.'

Arumoro growled at him, but said, 'One minute.' And presumably, he went to go talk to their reapers.