Chapter 26 Dimitri
DIMITRI
The lunch delivery guy set the trays on the same table he always did, the one right across from where Mattie usually sat, but instead of leaving right away he leaned his hip against the table, folded his arms over his chest, and gave her the kind of look that men gave pretty women they wanted to flirt with.
He hadn't even noticed that Dimitri was wearing a mask because his attention was entirely on Mattie. The young man had been giving her looks for days, but for some reason, he felt suddenly emboldened enough to actually do something about it.
Hopefully, Mattie knew how to let him down gently.
Men didn't take rejection well, and even though the guy was human and therefore powerless on this island, he could do a lot of damage just by spreading malicious gossip.
"Did you hear what happened this morning?" he asked.
So, he'd been right, and the guy liked gossiping.
Mattie took the bait. "What?"
"There was a big accident at the mansion," he said, looking smug that he was the first one to deliver the news. "Part of the building collapsed. Two people died, and some were badly injured. The rest suffered minor injuries."
Dimitri gave the guy his full attention. "We didn't hear anything, so I assume no gas tanks exploded this time?"
"I don't think so. Something in the basement collapsed.
A wall or a floor or something fell in, and two guys from the construction crew got crushed.
I saw them being carried out on stretchers.
" He glanced at the cameras, hesitated, but then decided to go ahead anyway.
"The main staircase of the mansion is gone too.
I saw them bring in a tall ladder so Lord Losham and the others on the upper floor could get down. "
"Do you know in which part of the basement that happened?" Dimitri asked, even though he was quite sure it was where they were looking for the chests of the five immortals in stasis that the clan wanted.
The delivery guy shrugged. "How should I know? Nobody's saying much. Security shut everything down and told everyone to stay away. But it's got to be where they've been cleaning up the debris from the gas explosion, right? That's the only part of the basement anyone's been working in."
"That makes sense." Dimitri walked over to where the guy left the trays. "Thank you for bringing our lunch, but you should probably head back. They will wonder where you are. Besides, I'm sure others on your delivery list will appreciate hearing the news."
"Right." The guy pushed away from the table. "I need to go." He turned to Mattie and gave her a warm smile. "See you at dinner?"
"I'll be here." She smiled back and waved with her good hand.
After the guy left, Dimitri carried the trays to where they usually ate their meals. Petrov was almost done clearing the table, and Dimitri waited with the trays until he wiped the surface clean.
"I wonder what they are feeding us today." Petrov removed the wrapping from his tray. "Oh, good. Finally, some meat. I'm so tired of fish."
"No comment on the news?" Dimitri asked as he pulled out a stool for Mattie.
"What would you like me to say?" Petrov unwrapped his utensils. "Not our business."
Mattie sat and somehow managed to remove the shrink wrap by holding the tray down with her elbow and pulling the film with her left hand. "Obviously, the collapse must be where the enclosure with the chests used to be."
After checking through the window that no one was near, Dimitri pulled down his mask and took a bite.
As he'd expected, his other canine had fallen out during the night, and now he had two gaping holes in his mouth. Not a very attractive look, but Mattie claimed that he looked cute, so he didn't care that Petrov's big belly started heaving, which betrayed that he was barely stifling a laugh.
"Don't laugh at him," Mattie admonished. "He looks adorable."
"He looks like he had his teeth knocked out."
Dimitri shrugged and kept eating and thinking about what the delivery guy had said.
The food today was some kind of stew, with more vegetables than meat, but it wasn't bad. "The previous explosion must have compromised the structural integrity of that section. The engineers probably underestimated the damage, or the excavation work destabilized something they didn't account for."
"Or someone helped it along," Petrov said.
Dimitri had been thinking the same thing.
The Brotherhood's internal politics were a nest of vipers, and Losham's brothers had been circling since Navuh's disappearance.
A structural failure would further undermine Losham, painting him in an unfavorable light in the event that their father returned.
If he appeared incompetent, the others' reputations would rise in comparison.
It was much easier to undermine the one in the lead than try to outdo him.
He cast Petrov a smile. "I thought it wasn't our business."
"It's not." Petrov fished out another chunk of meat from the stew. "But I like to solve murder mysteries and other puzzles."
"I hate them." Mattie affected a shiver. "Why would anyone want to read about murder?"
"It's exciting," Petrov said. "And since I know it's fiction, I don't have to feel bad about it."
"I always think of parallels in the real world." Mattie put her fork down and reached for the bottle of water Dimitri put in front of her. "I can't help it. Then I get sad, and that's not why I read. I want to be uplifted, motivated, and encouraged. If I want to be depressed, I can read the news."
"Not here," Petrov countered. "We don't get the news, and we don't get murder mysteries either. The fact that there is no library here says all you need to know about this place. They are all barbarians."
"Maybe there is a library," Mattie said. "And we just don't know about it. Humans are treated like livestock here, so naturally they don't get to read books."
"I doubt the warriors read anything." Petrov lifted a piece of carrot and looked at it as if it was there to offend him.
"None of the Eight ever mentioned reading anything.
They got to watch some films to improve their English, which I have to admit is flawless.
These immortals have a real talent for languages.
" He turned to Dimitri. "I wonder if that's improved for you as well.
Try to learn the language they use. I've never heard anything that even sounds like it. "
Dimitri chuckled. "Yeah, that's a good idea.
I'll do it in all the free time I have between working on constantly improving Dave's formula, developing a new one to enhance humans, and coming up with an escape plan for us and over two thousand women and children.
Not to mention the repellent for Mattie that I've neglected because of everything else, and a compound to help with her scars. "
Petrov shrugged. "It was just a suggestion. You don't have to get all pissy with me."
"I'm not pissy." Dimitri ran his fingers through his hair. "We just have a tendency to get off topic. The collapse is a major item. It means a big delay."
Mattie chewed her lower lip. "Does that help us or hurt us?"
"It could be both." Dimitri set his fork down. "More time to plan is good. But it also means the clan will probably put whatever they are planning on ice."
"Why?" Mattie asked.
"Because the clan's objective is to retrieve those bodies in stasis.
Until those chests are found and extracted, the clan has no reason to do anything else on this island.
They are not even aware of us, and when we contact them, they will not suddenly change their priorities and make us their primary concern. "
Mattie's face fell. "So, the delay actually hurts us. The longer it takes to find the chests, the longer we wait for the clan to be willing to engage, if at all."
"Precisely. But that also gives us more time to get the clan invested in us before the extraction happens. Once they have what they want, their incentive to help us or the women and children from the enclosure decreases dramatically."
"Unless we make ourselves part of the project," Petrov said.
Dimitri turned to him. "What do you mean?"
Petrov stabbed a piece of potato with his fork and pointed it at Dimitri.
"The excavation is stalled. The crews are human, mostly, and they're working with hand tools because heavy equipment risks more collapses.
They need smart people down there, people who can solve problems, assess structural risks, figure out how to clear debris faster but without bringing the ceiling down again. We can help."
"We're not structural engineers."
"We're scientists. We understand physics, material properties, load distribution.
We understand how to analyze a problem systematically and find solutions that a foreman with a sledgehammer can't." He ate the potato.
"I'm not saying we're experts. I'm saying we're smarter than everyone they have working on this. "
Petrov's inflated ego aside, there was a kernel of truth to what he had said. Sometimes outsiders could see solutions that those who were submerged in a problem couldn't see because they couldn't lift their heads above the sludge.
Still, Petrov's idea wasn't practical for other reasons. "No one is going to let us into the mansion. We're lab staff and have no authorization to be anywhere near the excavation site. Besides, as I have pointed out before, we don't have any spare time."
"Dave could arrange access," Mattie said.
"The mansion is the Brotherhood's base of operations. The security is tight, and there are surveillance cameras everywhere."
Mattie frowned. "I'm sure that there are surveillance cameras at the Dormant enclosure. How come Dave just walked in and no one made a fuss about it?"
That was a good question. "They probably went to the monitoring office and had everyone there thralled."
She lifted a brow. "After they returned from their visit? Because it sounded as if Dave's decision to visit the enclosure was spontaneous."
Dimitri shrugged. "Probably. Those watching it in real time saw the guards open the gate for him and let him in, after he had visited many military installations.
Even if they thought it was odd, it wasn't something they would have felt required immediate reporting.
Besides, it could be that there aren't any cameras inside the enclosure.
What will these women do? Try to escape only to stop at the shore?
It's an island. There is nowhere to go."
"Yeah." Mattie sighed. "You are probably right. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that Dave could get anywhere he wanted, including Losham's bedroom."
Dimitri grimaced. "I have absolutely no desire to visit Losham's bedroom. I'm very glad that Dave will be handling that part on his own."
"We haven't told Dave about the phone idea yet," Mattie pointed out. "He might shoot it down."
"He won't," Dimitri said with more confidence than he felt. "Losham's phone is the only viable channel of communication. Dave knows that as well as we do. He may have reservations about the execution, but not about the concept itself."
Petrov grunted. "The concept of stealing a phone from a sleeping immortal warlord, calling a secret organization of enemy immortals, and negotiating a mass evacuation. Yes. Very sound concept."
Mattie glared at him. "When you put it that way, everything sounds impossible."
"Because it is, but we're doing it anyway, and that is what makes us either brave or stupid."