In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

reported that before they lost touch in the Lodge, he heard two of the traps set in the doorways go off. Since the net traps were designed to be non-lethal, there was no way to know if those they had caught had been released when their comrades had entered behind them.

"Whatever group Lister is in probably won’t stand down," Zack told Vernal grimly. "She seemed to be high up in Lewiston’s plans, but maybe the others will. Take no chances though. If you have to shoot, use deadly force. We’ve got heat signatures at the other doorways in this dome, so I’ll be handling the other side. We’ll coordinate through Katherine in Command since she's in the central position. Remember, the only easy day was yesterday," they repeated together.

Darla Lister had instigated a quick but through search of the Lodge, which to her surprise had turned up no people but had sprung several of Vernal’s traps. However, they had discovered the three tunnels to the Barn Dome. "Bitch must be over there," she muttered to herself, before splitting up her team into three groups. After rescuing the four men who had as she told them ‘been stupid enough to fall into a trap’, she elected to take one of the end tunnels herself.

Unfortunately, the tunnel Lister chose opened out onto the lowest level. She was in no mood to admire the beautiful warm lake with its blue sand beach. To her disgust one of her ex-soldiers tripped a net trap as they exited the tunnel. Lister left her hanging there in the net to cut herself free. She headed for the screened door leading up a lighted stairway. The pressure plate that triggered the net trap also unlocked the Ostamu pen and a loud bang startled the birds into charging into the area where they attacked anything that got in the way. Two of Lister’s men were taken out of the fight by the birds’ talons and beaks. A third only saved himself by running back into the tunnel toward the Lodge. The one she left in the net wisely decided not to free herself.

Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Lister slashed out with her knife cutting off the heads on a couple of too-aggressive birds. This caused them to run all over with blood spurting from their necks. While this was distracting the other birds and the Drovers, she slipped over to the wall behind the pens where she hid in the shadows. From her vantage point, she could see a lighted doorway leading up to the next level. As she watched, the Master Drover and her crew drove the angry birds away from the base of the stairs and the wounded attackers and took the woman caught in the net prisoner.

"Is this all of them?" she asked.

"Brinna, I think I saw one of them running back down the tunnel," a boy about sixteen told her.

"Well, tie up these guys and lock them in the veterinary compound. Joel, I need you to run upstairs and report our catch. Be careful, there may be more bad guys on that floor too. This isn’t the only access tunnel."

Lister smiled to herself as she watched the young messenger key in the code to unlock the gate before heading up the stairs to report.

Once the fierce birds had calmed down they ignored their dead comrades and wandered around their new space. Brinna ordered a couple of her crew to keep an eye on the live ones, clean up the dead birds, and sent most of the rest to search for any escapees. She left one boy to keep an eye on the tunnel.

The guard securing the tunnel access could also see the door to the upper level. Lister waited until everyone else had left before slipping around behind him. Lister had been a trained recon soldier during the war. The young guard was alternately watching the tunnel mouth and the birds and didn’t hear her behind him until her knife drove into his back, piercing his heart. She hauled him back into the tunnel mouth and casually cleaned it on his clothes before shoving it back into the sheath.

Peering around the door, she could hear the noise of fighting on the floor above her. Silently she coded the gate to open and slipped up the stairs. Luck was with her. Only one man was guarding the top entrance, and he was looking off towards where the noise of the fight was coming from. Like the man below, he never knew Lister was near until she stabbed him.

Vernal was exchanging pulse blasts with the invaders pinned down in the tunnel entrance. Briefly, Lister debated helping the attackers by taking a shot at Vernal’s crew from the rear, but changed her mind. She had her own reasons for leading this raid.

She had convinced Lewiston the primary purpose of this raid was to take out Katherine and Corrine. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him; he didn’t need to know she also wanted Juliette. Murdering the child would look bad with the other clans, but it was necessary. With Katherine and Corrine gone, the rest of the clan would have no clear leader on the Island. They should surrender and then Lewiston would have a base from which to attack Glass City. Then they would have two clans under their sway.

Upstairs in the command room, Katherine reminded herself not to show outwardly how tense she was. She repeated the mantra silently: ‘A good leader must seem calm and in control or her fear could infect her people’. She looked over at Juliette, who met her eyes and gave her a tight smile, as she made sure that everyone had food and drinks. Katherine nodded back at her and turned back to the screens.

"Hey," Joseph exclaimed, "we've got visual back in the Lodge. Look there’s someone coming back down the tunnel from the Animal pens."

"Not one of us," Corrine said, after looking at the screen. "We need