"My thoughts exactly. I called you first to check if you've heard from him recently."
"I haven't," Kalugal said. "I don't call Lokan because I don't want to risk compromising him, and he rarely calls."
Kian nodded. "Same here. I just wanted to share with you what I found out, so if he contacts you, you'd know what's going on. I will send the pre-agreed signal to Carol just in case their communications are compromised."
Both Lokan and Carol had clan phones, but when they were in company, it was better to send an encrypted signal that didn't reveal the sender's identity.
"Thank you. Let me know if you need anything from me. The trip to Egypt can wait."
"They have a pre-agreed route that will make following them difficult. Lokan and Carol know what to do."
After ending the call, Kian pulled out Carol's contact, chose the application that would deliver the message anonymously, and typed the single emoji they'd agreed on during the cruise, when they'd planned for just such a scenario.
It was a sailboat, and it meant dropping everything and activating emergency protocols.
When his phone rang only a few moments later, Kian was surprised to see the call was from Lokan.
"That was fast," he answered. "I just sent Carol the pre-agreed signal a moment ago. I didn't want to call in case you were compromised in any way."
"We are not, and she's already packing. What triggered this?"
"There have been several developments that made me wonder if your father was keeping you in the dark on purpose, but now I'm convinced of it. Turns out that Navuh has been enhancing warriors for over a year and a half, and you had no clue. He's creating a chemically augmented army of stronger and faster Doomers."
"No one told me anything." Lokan sounded grim. "I have a couple of trusted sources, and now I worry that they have been compromised."
It was a valid concern and proof that one should never rely solely on snitches. "They were probably scared to share what they knew," Kian said. "Navuh also planned a massive terror attack on Los Angeles." He gave Lokan a succinct version of the events.
"Fuck." Lokan rarely cursed, but this development deserved it. "Bombing a Lasusa concert full of kids? My father has lost the last shreds of his humanity."
If Navuh ever had them, he'd lost them a very long time ago, but Kian didn't say that. "You need to get going," he told Lokan instead.
"We're moving now."
"Be careful."
"Always."
As Lokan ended the call, Kian slipped his phone into his pocket and let out a breath.
A brilliant scientist creating monster Doomers, Navuh establishing nests of vipers all over the world, and now Kian's most valuable intelligence asset was running for his life.
What else could go wrong?
Theo walked over to where Kian was standing with Toven. "Julian called. He wants more blood samples from all the enhanced Doomers. He thinks he might be able to create a counteragent, something to neutralize the enhancements and ease their suffering."
Kian didn't care about their pain, but he wanted them to be more coherent so Toven could get more reliable information out of them.
"Get Julian what he needs." He turned to Toven. "Shall we?"
The god nodded.
Inside the elevator, Kian leaned against the wall. "We're about to face an enemy unlike anything we've dealt with before. Stronger, faster, able to operate without rest."
Even the Kra-ell couldn't match that because they needed sleep even more than immortals, and they didn't heal as fast.
"You need a cyborg army," Toven said. "And the sooner the better."
Kian shook his head. "I never intended for the new version of Odus to be anything other than butlers and gardeners."
