Vivianna
We gave Tim time to adjust as we moved to the living room, where there was more space for us all to gather and talk about our next steps.
Neveah allowed Bentley to help heal her, which wasn’t nearly as painful for her since she wasn’t as injured as I was.
It was amazing to be able to watch the whole process through my blind eye though, as his magic flowed over her body, flaring in the areas that needed to be healed.
Once we were done with this planning session, I was going to pull Maria aside and ask her if she’d ever heard of something like this before.
Tim joined us, with a cup of steaming tea in his hands, looking a little less defeated than he had when he walked in.
He sat next to Maria, knowing that she would need to pull images from him as he shared with us.
Darius gathered all the technology he needed that Maria had brought with her, making him finally able to relax.
He’d reached out to Chad, and they talked, giving Darius an update on any strange activity by Grayson Industries that we needed to know about.
It seemed that things had been quieter the last few days, since the lab was destroyed—which was another part of this we needed to go through.
“Where do you want to start?” Tim asked, grabbing our attention. “There is a massive amount that I know but I don’t have a clue what will be helpful.”
Darius looked over at me, as if asking permission to lead the conversation. I nodded my agreement. “I traced down the energy signal that you told us about, but is that where the base is located as well?”
“The power supply is stationed down the river from where the facility is so that if it was discovered they would be led to the wrong area. It is two miles south of that, hidden in the mountain, only accessible by a tunnel that brings you to an elevator. They did this so that no one could get an energy signature off of what was being done inside. This is the foundation of everything they’ve been working toward, and far more advanced in security than anything I’ve seen before.
Once you work there, you don’t leave unless you are a soldier or someone of high enough rank,” Tim explained.
“How did you get out then?” I questioned. “I’m assuming that you didn’t have that level yet and Diane absolutely wouldn’t have been able to leave.”
Tim nodded in agreement. “We staged her death and I paid off one for the workers in the morgue to get her out, instead of incinerating her like they typically do for those we don’t need to keep and research.
He placed her in a body bag and loaded her up in one of the refrigerated trucks that take what they need to the other labs, like the one you went to.
As for Nicole, she was a little more challenging since I didn’t have as much access to that part of the lab.
There was a caretaker who was sympathetic, knowing they were going to kill her since she didn’t have value anymore.
That was a two-step plan, needing her to get outside of the nursery center into mass population, so the caretaker set a fire.
The protocol was to evacuate the area and gather in the cafeteria so we could do a count to make sure all personnel were accounted for.
After the count, they left us to our own devices as long as we didn’t leave that room.
I gave Nicole something to make her sleep and packed her in a crate that was to be picked up by the company who delivers things to other facilities.
Because of my skill in pairing synthetic materials with organic, I was asked to spend some time at another lab, the same one Nicole was being sent to, as well as Diane.
It was easier to get out of that lab than it was the fortress.
Now that I had us all in one location, I got us out in the dead of night, stealing a car from the hotel they put me up in, and we ran.
” Tim paused in his story, rubbing his forehead, fighting against the tears welling up in his eyes.
“I thought I was doing the right thing, but it seems they’ve always known where we’ve been, giving us the illusion of freedom. ”
Now it was my turn to fight against tears, knowing exactly what that felt like.
Once I learned my whole life had been a lie and that no one, until my mates, had really ever loved or looked out for me, it was a brutal thing to come to terms with.
I didn’t envy him trying to figure out where to go from here.
“So it sounds like it’s much easier to get out than in,” Darius mused. “I’m guessing they learned from what you did and fixed those cracks in their system. Alright, tell me what you know about their power system. Did you ever have any power outages or issues with the generator?”
“When I got there, the place had been running for two years, but I did hear stories from others that there were a lot of problems. There was a major drought for two years and the river was running low and not producing enough flow to power the generator. It sounded like they used the water generator to help charge a battery that could last a week if the power got cut off. It wouldn’t run everything, but it was a backup to all the important things.
I did experience this once and they kept all the security running in important areas but locked down sections they didn’t need to access as much, lowering the power draw. ”
“What areas?” Tristan inquired, leaning forward in his seat.
“Because they don’t let anyone leave, they have amenities like a large gym, swimming pool, walking track, and other things to keep up everyone’s health.
If there was a housing area that didn’t have many people, they moved them out and sent them to double up for the time being so they could lock the section down.
The security was all operational except for the areas they locked down since no one could get in or out.
Instead of the retinal and fingerprint scanners, they did personal code, since it took less power.
Those are generated for everyone the moment the power goes out and sent to their work PDA and changed every two hours.
The kitchen and cafeteria are operational, but the lights are shut off when not in use, when it’s normally an area anyone can use and socialize,” Tim said.
“So, if we shut down the power, it locks people in a smaller condensed area is what I’m hearing,” Darius murmured as he typed on his computer. “Do they keep the labs working or do they put a hold on work until the matter is fixed?”
“Both, some with important work are kept functional, while others are closed,” Tim answered. “None of the outages have lasted longer than a day or two, except for that first year.”
“Sounds like we need to stop the flow of a river then, so it’s not easy for them to fix,” Orion mused. “I’m thinking some well-placed explosives might be in order. We have some left over from the lab.”
“It’s not a bad idea, since then they’d have to locate where the blockage was coming from.
If we do it high enough upriver, we could get them stuck for a few days, especially if we put in a few blocks,” Tristan suggested.
“Then, even if they get one cleared, it wouldn’t be enough to power the generator.
The more that we can keep people contained means fewer casualties of people who might not even share the brothers’ views. ”
“Alright, let’s say we act on that idea, how would we get in if there are a bunch of lockdowns?” Darius challenged.
Koit took this moment to point at Tim. “Let Maria get what she can of the layout and make a blueprint of sorts to see what areas might be vulnerable. Or we could sneak someone in that is part of Neveah’s network to help us out.”
This sparked a light of excitement in Darius’s eyes. “Yes. Neveah, reach out to your group and find out who might be able to pull something like this off. If we can get more than one person, that would be even better. That way we can get more information faster.”
“You’ll have to figure out how to communicate with them. It’s so far underground, no signal will reach,” Tim pointed out.
“They have their own network if they have PDAs and can send information to them. All I have to do is locate that and see how to tap in. The power plant has to have more to it than just funneling energy. They need to communicate with the outside world, and if they don’t do it from underground, there is for sure another location topside to do that from,” Darius clarified.
“This is what will give us the in we need to make shit happen. Once I get my hands on their communication, I might be able to find a way to break into the whole system. At least enough to get our undercover people pulled in without anyone being the wiser.”
“This is a good place to start,” I announced.
“Maria, you and Tim work together to gather all the information you can about what the inside of the facility looks like. Neveah, reach out to your people and find out who would be a good choice to get in, but also make a list of what we could gain from the others on the outside. There could be something we don’t see right now because we don’t know it’s an option.
Darius, do what you need to do on the communication aspect and whatever it is you do.
Meanwhile, Christian, send out word that the fight is coming, and they need to be ready to move when we give the call.
Bentley and I will be going through the information we found at the lab to see if there are clues in there.
As for the rest of you, reach out to Chad and give him the list of things we need to blow up a river. ”