Page 44

KIAN

T he war room in the underground structure beneath the village was once again in use.

Maps and surveillance photos were tacked up in neat rows on the wall, and grainy drone footage of terrorists entering and leaving their rented houses was displayed on a large screen, each occupying a quarter of the available landscape.

Due to the scope of the threat Kian had assembled an extensive team, and they were all seated around the conference table, waiting for Onegus to give them updates about the information that had been collected so far.

In the meantime, Turner was jotting down notes on his ever-present yellow pad, Aru and Dagor were sipping coffee, William and Roni were conferring over an open laptop, and Andrew was looking at the intel pinups lining the wall.

All the head Guardians were in attendance as well, their grim faces mirroring Kian's own.

In addition, Max and Magnus had been invited to take part in the meeting.

The two were on their way to becoming head Guardians themselves, and Onegus had decided that they should be there.

"Let's do this." Onegus stood and pointed at the screen that was showing real-time footage.

"Thanks to the overhead drones and Dagor's tiny spy transmitting from the inside, the intelligence gathering was relatively easy, and we have a lot of information on the enemy.

Fortunately, Rashid's been moving between all four cells, and the spy drone attached to him enabled us to have operational internal pictures of all four locations. "

On screen, the interior of an upscale mansion appeared; it was clear as if someone had filmed it for a documentary.

Men moved about, a name tag hovering over each one's head, added by the software on Dagor's laptop.

When clicked, a pull-down menu appeared with all the information gathered about the person, and the profiles were updated in real time.

Onegus continued. "The Doomers are running the entire operation. The human terrorists, including our friend Rashid, are essentially puppets."

"Thralled?" Andrew asked from his position near the maps.

"It seems more fundamental than that," Onegus said.

"This is sustained, systematic brainwashing, which means that we cannot override it with our own thralling.

We've listened and watched enough exchanges to realize that the Doomers are using a combination of thralling, ideological reinforcement, and fear. "

"That's what Navuh has always done," Kian said. "What surprises me is that the technique was taught to the rank and file. Doesn't it make them realize that they are being manipulated in the same way?"

"People are dumb," Anandur said. "Doomers and humans alike are very easily manipulated, and Navuh is an expert at it. They all believe in his so-called cause and are willing not only to kill for it but also to die for it."

"The humans are almost irrelevant," Turner offered.

"Every major decision, every tactical choice, comes from the Doomers.

The assets, which is how they refer to the Revolutionary Guards, are true believers who don't even realize they're being controlled.

Our focus should be on them. Neutralize the Doomers and the rest will fall like dominoes. "

"Let's see the explosives cache," Kian said.

Onegus switched the display. The image that appeared evoked several juicy curses. The walls of a basement room were lined with enough explosives to level several city blocks.

"Combined, there is enough there to kill over a hundred thousand people," Onegus said.

"And that's a conservative estimate. The concert is just the opening act.

While everyone is still reeling from that, their next target is a shopping center during peak hours, then the airport, and lastly the port.

The idea is to break the spirit of the nation and show them that nowhere is safe, and that terror can strike anywhere, anytime.

They are hoping to paralyze the population with fear and deliver a major economic blow.

That's why they chose Los Angeles. It's the second-largest metropolitan economy in the United States, following New York, but since it's more spread out, it's easier to hide in.

Moreover, they have already struck New York. They want to outdo Bin Laden."

Bhathian nodded. "They want maximum psychological impact. Hit when people feel safest, then hit again while they're terrified and vulnerable."

"Precisely," Onegus agreed. "The concert is in eleven days. The next attack after that is scheduled to follow within forty-eight hours while the city is still reeling from the first strike."

"The Brotherhood's signature move," Anandur murmured. "Create chaos, then step into the power vacuum."

Kian walked over to the wall of maps, studying the red pins. Four cells, four locations spread across the sprawling city. They would need to hit them all simultaneously. Any delay and the others would scatter to the winds.

"Any thoughts?" The question was for everyone, but collectively, all eyes turned to Turner.

"Four strike teams," Turner lifted his eyes after a quick glance at his notes.

"Striking simultaneously with perfect coordination is a must. There is no margin for error.

" After a short pause to collect his thoughts or to let others interject, Turner continued in his dispassionate tone, "We must deploy overwhelming force to prevent anyone slipping by us, or, worse, getting to the explosives before us. "

"I've been working on team compositions," Onegus said, pulling up another display.

"It would have made things significantly easier if we had four compellers, neutralizing the humans and immortals at once, but we only have one in the force, unless we can get Toven and Kalugal's help.

Otherwise, we should use Drova with the team taking out the concert cell. That's the most immediate threat."

Kian shook his head. "I don't want her participating in this.

We used her in the pedophile ring bust because there were children involved, and we couldn't risk the Doomers using them as shields.

That's not the case here. We've been dealing with Doomers for centuries without the benefit of compulsion, we can keep doing that like we've always done. "

Onegus nodded. "I also wish we had four Yamanus, but since we have only one, we need cover stories for the other three teams."

"Not necessarily," Turner said. "What's the driving time between all these locations?"

Onegus's calculating gaze indicated he understood what Turner was suggesting. "Two hours should do it. Yamanu can drive from place to place, putting entire city blocks into a deep sleep, including the human minions working for the Doomers. That will make our job easier."

Kian looked at Yamanu. "Do you see a problem with that? Will you be able to repeat the feat four consecutive times?"

The Guardian stood and stepped up to the map to better understand the distances involved and the routes he'd need to take, and to get a better sense of the geographic and urban nature of the areas he would need to thrall, while everyone waited patiently for his assessment.

Turning back to Kian, Yamanu nodded. "I can handle it.

I suggest we predefine the routes and have Roni on standby in case we need to reroute traffic or any other agency that may hinder my ability to make it to all four locations in the time allotted.

Having another car driving the route with me might be prudent, just in case the car I'm in is disabled. "

"Great points, Yamanu. Roni, can you please meet with Yamanu to coordinate?" Kian asked.

"Naturally." Roni smiled at Yamanu. "Don't worry. I'll have you covered."

"What about government resources?" Kian asked, looking at Andrew. "Should we let them know?"

"If we fail or succeed only partially, I will inform the local authorities. They will need to block off the areas and get a massive emergency response put together."

With so many tons of advanced explosives under the control of terrorists, many things could go sideways, fast.

"So the humans, both the terrorists and the neighbors, will be out of the picture courtesy of Yamanu," Max noted. "That leaves the three or four Doomers at each location for us to deal with. Should be fun!"

The comment got laughs out of some of the Guardians, and Kian noticed the shadow of a smile on Turner's face.

"How many Guardians can you spare for each location?" Turner asked Onegus.

The chief consulted his notes. "Considering we'll need at least three transports per site, need to secure Julian in the warehouse where we'll be scanning the scum for trackers, and still need to protect the keep and the village, the maximum team size we can allocate to each cell is twelve Guardians including the team leader. "

"You insult us, chief." Anandur held a hand to his chest, feigning great offense. "Are you suggesting that twelve of us are needed to take down three Doomers?"

Turner answered for the chief. "We cannot allow any of the Doomers or Revolutionary Guards to slip by us and disappear into the night.

We also cannot allow enough time for anyone to get to the explosives, which might be rigged and ready to trigger.

That means securing the perimeter, which means more Guardians than would be needed just to neutralize three or four Doomers.

We also have to be ready for the unexpected.

So, if twelve is the best we can do, I'll take it.

If we could spare twenty per cell, though, I would have preferred it. "

"Actually, we can improve our odds still. While I can't give you twenty Guardians per cell, I can give you twelve that will perform as twenty, or better," Kian said.

"Don't say Kra-ell," Max murmured.

Kian smiled. "No, not the Kra-ell, though they've certainly proved themselves. They are not trained for these kinds of operations." Kian looked around to see if anyone had picked up on what he was thinking. "Guardians have bested the Kra-ell once, and they can certainly best these Doomers."

That was an elephant-sized hint, and Kian could see they all got it.

"Hell yeah!" Anandur enthused. "It's been a while since we played with the exoskeleton suits. I hear we have upgraded them lately." Anandur raised an eyebrow, looking at William.

"Yes, we improved the electronic package, the battery efficiency, and the external coating. These suits are now barely visible at night. We used a special matte coating that is almost light inert."

"We will need to train on the new features and get comfortable with the suits anew. It has been a while," Bhathian said.

"I will arrange for a two-day refresher for everyone." Onegus turned to William. "Can you spare a couple of hours to walk us through the changes you implemented?"

William nodded. "Tell me when and where and I'm there."

"There's the issue of the aftermath," Kri said. "Even if we successfully neutralize all four cells, the Brotherhood will know it was us because no one else can pull off an operation like that against Doomers."

"They know we are here," Kian said. "It will confirm it for them, but I'm not too worried."

Kian had already decided he wanted Navuh to know who had thwarted his evil plans and let him wonder how the clan had discovered them. He wanted the despot to lose sleep, wondering who'd betrayed him and how.

"We may be able to clean up the scene so it looks like there was no struggle if we can neutralize all of the Doomers before they can react.

But that is not likely to happen. Besides, it is time to put the Brotherhood on notice—come too close and suffer the consequences.

In this city, we call the shots. I want Navuh to get this message loud and clear.

Moving forward, he is no longer the hunter but the hunted. We will hunt the Brotherhood at will."

Onegus arched a brow. "We didn't hunt them. We discovered the plot by chance."

Kian smiled. "That's the beauty of this. Imagine the resulting paranoia. They will be running around looking for the traitors."

Given the chief's thoughtful nod and Max's grin, it seemed that he was not the only one thinking that was a good idea.