KIAN
The Eight were in the basement, and Drova's compulsion didn't work on them.
They had seen the team, the Kra-ell, the Odus, and the three chests that had already been extracted.
They knew that the clan had run a second covert operation while letting them believe that they were going to deliver the chests.
They could interpret that in two ways. One was that it had been done to ensure that no one got to the chests before the clan did, which was the real reason, or that the Eight were a backup in case the clan failed the task.
Eight enhanced soldiers, who were immune to compulsion and harder to kill than any other immortals, had just learned that they had been deceived by their supposed allies, whom they were trusting to assist them and the people they were about to rescue from the island.
There were a number of ways this could go.
They could walk, withdraw their cooperation, abandon the women and the scientists, and leave the clan's team in the basement to deal on their own with an army of immortal warriors.
They could also retaliate, either on their own or with the help of regular Brotherhood soldiers.
Or they could pretend to be friendly, cooperate, and bide their time to exact their revenge later.
"Yamanu," Kian said into the channel, keeping his voice level. "Talk to me. What are they doing?"
"Number One talked to Losham," Yamanu said, pitching his voice low.
"He told Losham that it was a structural collapse, not a sabotage, and not a coup, which is probably what Losham was afraid of.
He also told Losham that the eight of them were going to stay and secure the site through the night.
Losham will go to bed thinking his loyal assets are guarding his treasure, so he won't send anyone else. We have the night."
Kian let out a breath. "What's your assessment of the Eight now that the jig is up?"
"They took it better than we had any right to expect.
Number One said it straight out. He said that we hadn't trusted them, that we hadn't been prepared to put items of incalculable value in the hands of eight soldiers we'd never met, especially given their negative reputation.
They understood, because they would have done the same.
There was no anger and no threats were made, and he offered to help.
Four of them are down here digging with us right now, while the other four are topside, keeping the guards off our backs. "
Kian let out a semi-relieved breath. The worst case hadn't happened. The Eight had not walked, and they had not turned, and three of the chests were on their way to the cove with the Eight helping to free the other two.
"We got lucky," Kian said.
Turner arched a brow. "Did we?"
"What's on your mind?" Kian asked.
"They're behaving perfectly." Turner laid his hands on top of his yellow pad.
"They've just discovered that we've been running a parallel operation under their noses, and their response is to calmly agree that we were right to do it, take no offense, and immediately make themselves useful.
No friction and no recalculation, just a smooth pivot.
Too smooth. That's not how most people would have reacted in a situation like that.
They might be putting on an act, playing into our best expectations of them. "
"Not necessarily," Onegus said from across the table.
"To me it seems like a pragmatic response of people who think rationally rather than emotionally.
They need us once they're off that island.
The drugs that keep them stable come from Petrov and Volkov, and Petrov and Volkov need a laboratory and supplies to produce the medication they can't live without.
So maybe they're being helpful because that's the only logical thing for them to do. "
"Both could be true," Turner said. "That's what makes them dangerous. Their ultimate goals and their performance point in the same direction right now, so we can't tell them apart, and we won't be able to until and if those two things diverge."
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Kian asked. "Tell them to get lost? That we don't need their help? What are our options here?"
"We have no choice but to work with them, but we do that carefully and vigilantly, like handling a live grenade. It could be the thing that saves us, and it could be the thing that kills us. It all depends on when and how it is deployed."
It was a fair point, and Kian resented that because he couldn't argue with it.
Lokan shook his head. "The live grenade is a good analogy.
The enhanced I encountered while Carol and I were running were vicious and very hard to kill.
That one we took out in the end was like a damn terminator.
He just wouldn't die. I hope that these Eight are very different because if they are like those Carol and I had to deal with, this is a disaster. "
"They are not like the others," Turner said. "You misunderstood what I meant. These eight are not blunt tools of destruction. They want to save the people they care about, just like we do. They are killers, but not mindless or rabid ones."
"Great," Kian said. "So, they're immune to compulsion, they're harder to kill than other immortals, but the good news is that they are discriminating killers. That really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy."
From the corner of his eye, Kian caught his mother's worried expression and realized that he should change his tone.
"But then, we are discriminating killers as well, so I can't fault the Eight for the assassination of the same people we would have gladly eliminated if we could. They did our work for us."