Chapter 12 Dave
DAVE
Losham's temporary office was on the third floor of the hotel, in what had been a luxury suite before the rebellion that had turned the resort side of the island into a construction zone.
The room still had marble floors and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor, and Losham had turned the dining room table into a desk.
Dave hadn't been privy to the fancy side of the island before the rebellion, so they could only imagine what the view from the windows looked like before the scaffolding had been erected and work crews had been brought to the island to fix the damage.
Rami was sitting on the other side of the dining table, looking uncomfortable and trying to occupy as little space as possible.
"Good morning," Losham said as the Eight entered. "Please close the door behind you." He motioned to the dining chairs that had been moved against the wall. "Except for Number One, the rest of you can sit over there."
As the others obeyed Losham's command, Number One sat down in one of the two chairs across from Losham.
"I have a task for you," Losham said. "My brothers are nipping at my heels, Kolhood requested another council meeting for Monday, and while the stated purpose is to discuss ongoing operations, we both know the real agenda is to challenge my authority."
"This is not new," Number One said.
"No, but the frequency is increasing. I need to know what he and the others are plotting, and my regular sources can't get close enough to my brothers to provide me with the intel I need."
"What do you want us to do?"
Losham leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers.
"Kolhood is the most dangerous of my brothers, but also the most difficult for you to influence.
His inner circle, on the other hand, is not as resistant to your thralling and compulsion.
I know that he's meeting with his top commanders to strategize, and I need to know what they're discussing and what timeline they're operating on. "
"Kolhood is not immune to our thralling," Number One said. "But he's resistant enough that any attempt to probe deeper than his surface thoughts would alert him. And he's suspicious of us, so even getting close to him is difficult."
"That's precisely why I'm not asking you to target Kolhood directly. Those surrounding him will do." Losham reached into a drawer and produced a folded sheet of paper. "These are the names of the commanders who attend most of his private meetings."
Number One took the paper and unfolded it. There were only six names on the list, and he recognized all of them. Five were senior commanders with vast experience that spanned centuries. The sixth was a logistics officer with access to supply chains, communication networks, and transport schedules.
"Is there something specific you want us to focus on?" Number One asked.
"Anything that has to do with ousting or eliminating me. I want the conversations, plans, and promises that are made behind closed doors."
The Eight weren't sure how they could get close enough to these commanders without raising their suspicions.
They were too high up to be subject to inspections by simple soldiers, and that was what the Eight were.
Despite their enhancement and their close association with Losham, they hadn't climbed up in the ranks.
Number One folded the paper and tucked it into his uniform pocket.
"We can continue the inspection rounds. It provides a pretext for getting close to military personnel across the island, but it will not be sufficient to get close to these commanders.
All we can do is redirect our rounds to areas where these commanders are stationed and hope to bump into them. "
"That's exactly what I had in mind." Losham glanced at Rami, who nodded, confirming something that had probably been discussed before Dave's arrival.
"The inspections reinforce the narrative that I'm on top of things, including the military.
Kolhood can't object to it without appearing to be an obstructionist. Continue your rounds and report back to me as soon as you catch something, even if you think it's trivial. "
"Yes, my lord." Number One rose, gave Losham a nod that was as close to a bow as he ever offered, and left the office with the other seven following him into the hallway.
The intelligence on Kolhood's circle serves our interests as well, Number Three thought. Stabilizing Losham's position is in our best interest.
Kolhood has made it clear that he considers us a liability, Number Six added. If Losham falls and Kolhood takes over, eliminating us would be one of his first acts.
The collective agreed. Serving Losham's intelligence needs aligned with their own survival, which made the task straightforward even if the execution was difficult.
They walked through the lobby and out the front entrance, to where the Humvee was parked in the shade of a palm tree.
They climbed in, and Number Seven took the wheel.
"I want to stop at the enclosure," Number One said after a few minutes when they had cleared the residential area. "I want to see Sullha."
The collective processed the statement, registering it without surprise because they had been monitoring the thought forming in Number One's background processes.
"We should wait for the call with K tomorrow night," Number Eight said. "We don't have anything to tell Sullha yet."
"That's not true." Number One shifted in his seat. "K said he might be able to save some of the women. I want Sullha to be one of those women."
She will be the first among them, the collective thought, and the thought carried no judgment. Number One's attachment to Sullha was a data point that the hive mind had cataloged and was monitoring with interest rather than concern, at least for now.
"Her and her boy," Number One continued. "And perhaps my mother."
Number Eight stirred. "I want Vinnah saved."
"And Asira," Number Four added.
The list was growing, which was inevitable.
Every member of the collective had connections to the enclosure, threads from childhood that the training camp and the enhancement had frayed but not severed.
The question was not who they wanted to save but how many they could realistically extract alongside their own escape.
"Your interest in Sullha might endanger our mission," Number Four said. "It is not wise to visit the enclosure too often."
"You all felt what I felt when I saw her," Number One said. "I need to explore it."
The collective held the statement the way it held all of Number One's increasingly personal thoughts about Sullha, with care and curiosity and a faint undercurrent of hope.
"You should go alone," Number Two said.
Number One had already reached the same conclusion. "Sullha will be less scared of me if I come by myself. The Eight of us together are intimidating."
"She doesn't need to know that we are connected," Number Four voiced what the collective was thinking. "We will share what you experience, whether we are standing beside you or waiting in the Humvee."
"The guards still need to be thralled," Number Five pointed out. "All of us should wait by the gate while Number One is inside."
They drove through the tunnel that cut through the island's central ridge, emerging on the military side where the landscape changed from manicured resort to flat, rugged terrain.
The Humvee rattled over the service roads, past the training grounds where units were drilling and past the barracks entrances where warriors gathered in clusters.
Everyone moved aside as the vehicle approached because everyone recognized the Humvee that Dave used, and no one wanted to be in its path.
Number One reviewed the list of names Losham had given him. They would conduct the inspections on the way back, hitting two or three of the locations where Kolhood's associates were stationed.
The timing worked.
Inspections first, intelligence gathered, then the report to Losham this evening. It would be a productive day by anyone's measure, and the stop at the enclosure would add less than an hour to the circuit.
The perimeter wall came into view as Number Seven crested the ridge. Three meters of reinforced concrete with a single gate and two guards who straightened when they saw the vehicle approach.
Number Seven pulled to a stop in front of them.
The thralling was applied before Number One stepped out of the vehicle. Eight minds focused on two targets, adjusting their memories, smoothing the encounter into something routine and forgettable.
An inspection. Authorized by Losham. Only one soldier is entering today. Just a follow-up visit.
One of the guards opened the gate. "Please proceed."
As Number One walked inside and the gate closed behind him, the connection to the collective didn't fade.
It could perceive everything Number One perceived, the warm air, the smell of cooking from the central kitchen, and the distant sound of children's voices from the recreation yard.
The coherence was getting less sharp as the distance between them grew, but the hive mind still functioned.
Number One expanded his awareness as he walked deeper into the compound, the collective's background hum receding, not disconnecting but getting quieter, the way music faded with distance.
His individual senses sharpened, compensating for the reduced collective input, and by the time he reached the central courtyard, he was acutely aware of his own heartbeat.
It was somewhat uncomfortable.
It was also surprisingly clarifying.
Collecting surface thoughts as he walked, he headed toward the vegetable garden along the eastern wall, where Sullha worked.