Page 88 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

Rami's plan was good.

A new faith, with new teachers, a hood over the whole flock. And it would hold about as well as the recorded devotionals, which was to say not at all, unless he kept a competent thraller permanently in the enclosure.

"Rami." Losham walked over to the glass doors overlooking the courtyard below. "Get me the enclosure's head of guards. The senior human."

"You have a replacement in mind?"

"No. I have many holes to fill up and only one morning to start, but I want to ensure no children are sacrificed before I find a solution. I need him to forbid all gatherings for now, including the Sacred Mothers' and any others, and to increase security." He watched a delivery cart cross the courtyard, its driver unaware that the island had just been remade above his head. "Bertram. Prepare a list of possible candidates to replace each of the eighteen I just executed."

Losham walked over to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of fine whiskey. "But first, a toast to the new beginning."

34

KIAN

On the main screen, the feed from the lead drone showed nothing but open ocean sliding beneath it, peaceful and surreal after the devastation it had wrought only moments earlier.

The two strike birds were running Turner's dogleg, holding a false heading out into empty water, and they would keep it well past the horizon visible from the island before turning for Safe Harbor.

"Both platforms are clear and on the egress," Turner said without looking up from his laptop screen. "No pursuit. They turn for base in twelve minutes."

Kian stared at the frozen frame and didn't reach for play. He had watched it live, once, and that was enough. The picture held the two drones low over the water, mid run-in, the long roof of the conference hall still intact beneath them. He left it there. He had no wish to watch the roof come apart again, or the second munition drop through the gap the first had opened, or the white nothingness that swallowed the feed before the drone banked away.

A room packed with the island's command, a fire that had nowhere to go, and a guarantee that nothing organic survived.

"Now we wait for Losham's confirmation," Onegus said.

"Now we wait," Kian agreed.

Lokan stood with his arms crossed, watching the ocean scroll by on the main screen. He hadn't said much during the operation, which was understandable.

He might have disapproved of how the island was being run in general and of those males in particular, but he had known them, worked with them, and seeing them incinerated couldn't have been easy.

War was a nasty business, but Lokan wasn't a young warrior, and he had seen enough in his millennium of existence to harden him against feeling bad for those males.

Besides, a weakened Brotherhood brought the clan a step closer to taking over the island, which was Lokan's ultimate goal.

The phone on the table lit up before it rang.

Toven leaned forward and touched the speaker. "We are ready for your report, Losham."

"It's done." Losham's voice filled the room. "All eighteen summoned showed up, and now they are no more. Bertram witnessed it, and it left exactly the impression we wanted. He's been thoroughly educated about my reach, along with everyone else watching the feed from that room. By tonight, the entire island will know that I command a formidable outside force that none of them has access to."

Losham sounded smug, as if the story he was spreading were true and he were the one in charge.

Kian thought about correcting him but then decided against it. The important thing was that the troublesome juniors were gone, including the one who was in charge of the breeding enclosure. It wouldn't be enough to stop the Sacred Mothers from implementing their insane plan, but it was a step in the right direction.

The next step would be eliminating the head of the cult.

"You wanted to know if it was clean." There was a pause, and the sound of a clink of glass against glass. "So, I'm telling you that it was. Perfect execution of a perfect plan." A sip. "Anything else you would like to know?"

"No," Toven answered. "That will be all for now. Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Congratulations," Losham said. "You delivered as promised, and so did I. Well done."

The line went dead.

"That's the top echelon of the Brotherhood gone," Lokan said. "I hope Losham is as capable as he thinks he is and finds good replacements. We know the Brotherhood's greatest danger is the command chain disintegrating and the soldiers running wild, doing whatever they want. That would endanger everyone on that island."