Chapter 9 Kian
KIAN
Shai returned with two large bags from the café and set up the assortment of sandwiches and pastries on the conference table.
"I didn't get cappuccinos. I figured that I could brew a pot of coffee instead." He smiled sheepishly. "That roast I've gotten is better than what they serve in the café anyway."
Kian chuckled. "Just don't tell Jackson. He will buy out the entire roaster, and we won't be able to get any."
Jackson's empire was getting bigger by the day, so he was in a position to do that if he wanted to.
Syssi was complaining that it was a trend now for café chains to buy out entire roasting companies to get exclusivity, and that some of the coffees she'd been ordering for years were no longer available for sale.
She was even toying with the idea of starting a roasting company of her own.
"Yeah, you might be right about Jackson. I'll keep it to myself." Shai left to get the coffee.
At four twenty-five, Onegus and Lokan walked in, and a few moments later, Turner and Toven arrived.
Kian waited for everyone to exchange greetings and get comfortable around the conference table.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know that you all have plans for this evening, so I will try to keep this brief."
He was interrupted by Shai, who entered with the coffee carafe, and an assortment of glass mugs, sweeteners, creamers, and stirrers.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Shai greeted them. "I'll just put these down and make myself scarce." He smiled at Toven. "Geraldine is expecting me to help her prepare for tonight, so I won't be staying. Try not to be too late."
"That depends on how serious this is." Toven shifted his gaze to Kian.
"It's serious, but today I only want us to brainstorm.
" He poured himself coffee and then proceeded to pour for the other four.
"About two hours ago, Onegus received a phone call from Doctor Dimitri Volkov on Losham's line.
He's one of the two scientists who took over Doctor Zhao's work on Navuh's enhanced army project.
Also present was the other scientist, Doctor Konstantin Petrov, a woman named Matilda Johnson, who is Volkov's girlfriend and lab assistant, and the last remaining eight enhanced soldiers whom Eluheed has told us about. "
"The Eight who merged into a collective consciousness," Turner said.
Kian nodded. "They want our help to escape the island, or rather, provide the resources they need after they escape.
According to Volkov, these soldiers also have the ability to thrall other immortals, which must be a new development because Eluheed didn't report it.
They probably kept evolving after he left the island.
That ability will allow them to smuggle the three humans and themselves onto one of the supply ships. "
"How did they get Losham's phone?" Toven asked.
"Volkov said that they took it from Losham while he slept, but he didn't specify who among them had actually done it. I assume that the soldiers used their thralling ability to pull this off. I can't imagine the humans doing it."
Turner leaned back in his chair. "The so-called ability to thrall other immortals could be a lie to explain how they got the phone. It could be that Losham gave it to them and instructed them to call."
Toven shook his head. "He couldn't have done that.
I gave him precise instructions not to tell anyone about our communications, and I used the full force of my compulsion to ensure his compliance.
The only way anyone could have known about those calls was if Losham was overheard, or his mind was breached, and the information was collected directly from there.
The thralling ability fits the last scenario. "
Kian took a sip from the coffee. "So, you don't think it's a trap?"
"I don't." Toven picked up his mug. "I don't see what they could achieve by asking us for help, other than their stated goal of escaping the island."
Kian turned his gaze to Onegus. "What's your take, Chief?"
"I agree with Toven. Volkov sounded nervous, but I didn't detect dishonesty.
He laid out what they wanted, which is extraction from the island for himself, Petrov, the woman, and the eight soldiers.
They need a destination and support infrastructure on the other end because the soldiers are dependent on a specific drug protocol.
He said that they will become unstable without it, but I don't know whether it's a mild impairment or a catastrophic one.
It could be that they can't live without the drugs, and Volkov and Petrov are the only ones who can produce them, which means that they would need a proper lab and resources to do that. "
"So they come as a package," Turner said. "The scientists and the soldiers are interdependent."
"Correct," Kian said. "I asked Volkov what was in it for us.
He offered three things. First, by extracting the scientists and the soldiers, the Brotherhood loses the enhancement program.
These eight are the last remaining from the experiment, and if Volkov and Petrov destroy the documentation before they leave, that's the end of the program.
No scientists, no drugs, no ability to create more enhanced warriors.
Second, the soldiers have intelligence about the Brotherhood's operations, the island's infrastructure, and its military capabilities, but we don't need them for that because we can get all this information out of Losham.
The third thing they offer is the most controversial.
They want us to help them liberate the women in the Dormants' enclosure, and by doing so end the Brotherhood's breeding program.
No Dormants means no more immortal soldiers for the Doomers' army. "
Toven's perfectly shaped eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. "How many women are we talking about?"
"Approximately twelve hundred women and eight hundred children."
"That's impossible," Turner said.
"That's what I told them." Kian set his mug down. "But Dimitri's argument is compelling. Eliminating the breeding program will be a major blow to the Brotherhood."
"He's not wrong about the strategic value," Turner said.
"Ending the breeding program would be the single most damaging thing we can do to the Brotherhood short of destroying the island itself.
But the operational reality is what it is.
We don't have the numbers to take that island, and there is no way we can just evacuate two thousand people without engaging the entire Brotherhood. "
"He asked if we could save at least some of them," Onegus said. "Kian told him maybe."
Toven leaned back in his chair. "Maybe is a commitment disguised as a hedge."
"I know," Kian said. "But I didn't want to just shoot it down and crush their hopes. Some is better than none."
"Fair enough." Toven picked up one of the sandwiches. "Since these eight soldiers can thrall their way out of the island, I guess adding a few more people to the eleven involved is not going to overly complicate matters."
Kian looked at Turner. "What can we realistically do?"
Turner flipped to a new page on his yellow pad and drew a vertical line down the middle. On the left side, he wrote priorities. On the right, assets.
"Before we discuss the Dormants' enclosure, or even assisting our new friends, we need to address the fact that we still have a primary objective on that island that takes precedence over everything else."
"Khiann," Toven said.
"Khiann and the four others in stasis," Kian confirmed.
"Losham's engineer found a solution to retrofit the basement so the excavations can continue, but it will take about three days, and only after that is done, can the crews return to their work.
Our extraction plan, as it currently stands, involves deploying an EMP to disable the island's electronics and sending in our team to recover the chests during the chaos.
It's risky, it's messy, and there's significant potential for collateral damage. "
Turner wrote EMP plan on the left side and circled it.
"But now we have a new variable." He wrote Enhanced Soldiers under assets.
"Eight soldiers with the ability to thrall other immortals and possibly other talents we are not aware of.
We know that they can communicate telepathically with one another, which is a tremendous advantage in any sort of operation. "
"Volkov said that they have access to most of the island," Onegus added. "That's a great advantage as well."
"It is." Turner put his pen down. "But here is the problem.
They might be ready to board a ship in a matter of days, but we can't have them doing that.
Once they escape, the island will enter a lockdown, and security will be heightened.
It wouldn't matter if we proceed with the EMP plan, but I was hoping to avoid it.
Now that we are no longer dealing with booby traps, we can use more conventional methods to achieve our objectives.
Disabling the cameras and alarm in the cove and the tunnel is not complicated, and it might be enough for what we need.
That way, no one would even know we were involved. "
Kian frowned. "Even if we pull off a flawless operation somehow, they will know that the chests are missing."
Turner smiled. "Will they?"
"You lost me." Kian leaned back in his chair. "How would they not?"
"Losham's brothers assume that he is searching for treasure.
They don't know anything about the chests.
When the crews reach the hidden chamber under the mansion's basement and find it empty, the assumption will be one of two things.
One, that Navuh has played an elaborate hoax on them in order to flush out a traitor.
Or two, that Losham got the treasure and kept it for himself.
We, of course, can compel Losham to say that there was nothing there. "
Kian tried to find fault in Turner's assessment, but it was solid.