22. Kian #2
"Not likely." Turner switched to a fresh page on his pad. "The island is cut in half, and supply lines are a mess. I'd bet that radar is his last priority."
"I'm not a betting man," Onegus said. "I'd rather build contingencies around what-ifs."
"So would I. Safe Harbor's proximity to the Doomers' island is a huge advantage, but it is also a disadvantage.
If anyone on that island watches a drone leave and clocks the direction, they can draw a line, cap it at whatever range they assume the platform has, and end up with a box small enough to actually search. "
"So, how do we solve that?" Onegus asked.
"Two things. Altitude going in, and a false heading coming out.
" Turner sketched a low arc across the pad.
"The ingress runs on the deck, as low as the terrain and the sea state allow.
Radar can't see through the curve of the earth, and a platform hugging the water stays under the horizon until it's practically on top of them.
Their array is located up on the central ridge, which buys them more reach than a sea-level installation would, but I'm still not worried, because we won't give them anything above the horizon to paint until we're too close for the bearing to mean anything. "
"The drones have to come back," Lokan said. "That's what worries me. Inbound tells them nothing. Outbound points home."
"Which is a problem because of the proximity, and it's the part I've built the flight plan around.
" Turner tapped the pad. "The egress doesn't run toward Safe Harbor.
The platforms break off on a heading that's off by a wide margin, hold it well past any horizon visible from the island, and only turn for home once there's nothing left to watch. "
"What does the dogleg cost us?" Kian asked.
"Fuel. Which matters, because there's a second wrinkle.
" Turner set the pen down. "A hundred miles is twenty to forty minutes of flight time depending on the platform.
We can't launch when Losham gives the word and arrive while the room's still full unless he keeps them there with a very long speech.
We have to launch early, loiter offshore, below the horizon, and wait.
That means the birds are already in the air before the confirmation, burning fuel. "
"How long can they hold?" Onegus asked.
"Long enough if the timing is precise."
"We don't need to wait for confirmation," Kian said.
"Even if we don't get everyone, whoever we eliminate is one less headache for Losham, and the message delivered is a powerful deterrent.
Whoever is left will not dare come after Losham once he establishes what he can do.
Losham lets Bertram assume he's got a mercenary force outside the Brotherhood's chain of command, loyal only to him.
It makes Losham look powerful and explains the attack without implicating us.
Bertram and whoever is left from the Brotherhood's top brass now know what Losham can do to anyone who crosses him. "
He looked at Lokan. "Thoughts?"
"I like this plan. A weakened Brotherhood brings us a step closer to taking over that island and liberating everyone trapped there."
"That reminds me that we haven't heard from Burda yet," Onegus said. "Her little device is back online, but I don't want to contact her and put her in danger. She needs to contact us when she can do so safely."
The chief seemed worried, and so was Kian, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Burda didn't sleep alone, so they couldn't even call her at night. She had to find a way to contact them first.
"We need to wait," he said. "If she's lost, she's lost. It's sad, but there is nothing we can do." He let out a breath. "Let's give Losham his miracle."
Onegus dialed, set it to speaker, and the line rang once before Losham picked up.
"Checking on your puppet to see if I'm still alive?" The male sounded as if he was running on fumes and spite.
"Glad that you survived to live another day," Kian said. "We came up with a plan to make it so you have many more to look forward to."
"Can't wait to hear it."
After Kian had laid out everything apart from the actual strike details that were none of Losham's business, the silence on the line stretched so long that he wondered whether the guy was still with them.
Losham was smart. He didn't need that much time to process information that had been laid out plainly enough for an average person to understand.
"When are you planning to attack?" he finally asked.
"In about a month," Kian said. "Maybe sooner."
"A month is a long time." Losham sounded deflated. "Why wait so long?"
"Logistics," Kian said. "Are the radar systems back on?"
"They are not. I ordered replacement parts, but they won't get here for another two weeks."
"That's good. Make sure the parts don't get there anytime soon, and once you get them, delay repairs as long as you can. Same goes for the tunnel. Don't get it fixed before we implement the plan."
Losham snorted. "I don't know if I can even salvage that tunnel. It would be easier to dig out a new one."
"Perfect," Onegus said. "That will take months."
"What will your so-called help cost me?" Losham asked, sounding suspicious.
Kian chuckled. "We don't need to bribe you to do our bidding. We are just protecting our asset."
"Does the clan own fighter jets?"
"That's not information you need." Kian kept his voice even.
"We will make it so no one can trace where the attack came from.
The idea is to make it look as if you arranged it with some mercenary force you command outside the Brotherhood.
The impact of this demonstration will keep you in power with no need for compulsion. "
He heard Losham draw a slow breath. "My private army," he said, sounding like he used to before the clan had pulled the rug from under his feet.
"I have resources the Brotherhood never knew about, loyal only to me, with reach across the sea.
" He chuckled. "They'll be terrified. Every commander on the island will spend the rest of his life wondering whether he's next, and none of them will ever move against me again, because they'll have watched what happens to those who did. "
"You are welcome. There are things you'll need to get right on your end, starting with the pretext for the conference, which has to be convincing. If these men suspect a trap, they will not show up."
"Don't worry about my part. I know these males and how to play them."
Funny how cooperative he suddenly was.
"Prepare the list of targets," Kian said.
"I'll have it ready for you for your next call. What else do you need from me?"
Turner read the list of items they had discussed. "It's important to ensure that no one knows you are consulting the construction plans for the building, or they will suspect something. Can you do that discreetly?"
"It will take me some time, but I will have the numbers for you by next week." Losham sounded confident now that he had a future to look forward to.
"We'll be in touch. Good luck, Losham." Kian motioned for Onegus to terminate the call.
"I'm optimistic," Lokan said. "Once this mission is accomplished, we will be a step closer to taking the island.
The real work will begin the day after, though.
We'll have over ten thousand warriors and a whole population that needs to be turned into something other than what the Brotherhood made it. "
"Are you planning the rehabilitation of ten thousand brainwashed killers?" Kian asked.
"We have to do something with them." Lokan spread his hands. "I don't have the answer yet, but I intend to find one. Those men were made, and what's made can be unmade."
"Put them all in stasis," Onegus suggested, deadpan. "Problem solved."
"We don't have the means to put ten thousand immortals in stasis," Lokan said, missing or ignoring the sarcasm. "And even if we did, that's just storage, not a solution. But I'll think of something."
After the meeting ended and everyone had said their goodbyes and clapped each other on the back on the way out, Kian stayed in his chair.
Lokan wanted to save the island. He wanted to turn ten thousand conditioned killers and a population raised in bondage into something resembling a free society. It was the kind of dream that did credit to the man who envisioned it, but it was a pipe dream.
Kian had seen enough of the Brotherhood and the monsters it produced.
He'd fought them for two thousand years.
They weren't soldiers who'd been misled to believe in a false god and evil ideology.
They were creatures rebuilt from the ground up around obedience and cruelty.
They didn't fear death, and they didn't dream of better lives for themselves.
They were turned into rabid, diseased dogs who only wanted to kill and destroy in the cruelest ways imaginable.
There were exceptions, of course, like Kalugal and his men, like Lokan, Dalhu, and Robert, but they were few.
Most of the rank and file would use freedom to do worse things than even what they had been commanded to do by the Brotherhood. He'd seen the evidence of that in Mexico, where a group of them operated independently of the Brotherhood, taking over the drug cartels' territory.
The civilian population of the island wouldn't know what to do with freedom either. Slave mentality didn't dissolve just because the new owner freed them, declaring that their slavery was over.