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“By the time the government finally accepted they would have to look at grid-wide renewable sources of power, a private group that advised the government had developed an alternate idea they pushed. Fear about the declining birth rates of omegas and what it will mean for alphas in the future has been building for a while. Even though the fuckers in power have created that problem by banning packs and creating a culture of dominating omegas. All they care about is their own power. They worry that if our numbers dwindle further, betas will take over and there won’t be enough of us left to stop them. Their records show alphas now make up only about ten percent of the population. Omegas even less.”
A few muffled curses popped out around the table. We’d all suspected, but nobody had ever heard it put as bluntly as that, or the statistics. I didn’t care about power, but I worried about the future of our children, if we ever had any. I could feel the others felt the same.
Max continued on, ignoring us. I suspected he was determined to get his story out now that he’d started. “So they stockpiled renewable energy systems, solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and limited what was commercially available. Making it too expensive for the average person. They wanted the Crash to wipe out a large proportion of the beta population. They called it a controlled apocalypse. Like you can control a fucking apocalypse. They planned to let it run for a few months before they would swoop in and save whoever survived. Stabilizing power and making a lot of money with their renewable solutions.”
“Those fuckers,” Hunter swore loudly as he jumped up and paced behind the table in agitation. As if his outburst had popped a bubble, everyone suddenly started talking at once, throwing questions at Max and exclaiming loudly. I could feel a deep growl thrumming through Sam’s chest, although he was trying to swallow it down. Lexie was eyeing off the knives on the table as if she was about to throw them.
“Quiet.” Damon’s slight bark had us all stilling. It was only a hint of his power, just enough to get our attention, but it was still unnerving. Cary and Ava both went rigid, though, and Damon quickly apologized.
His frown was still formidable as he turned to Max. “You have proof?”
“Reams of it I’ve copied onto our own server. I’ve also made two back-up copies, one in the cloud and another physical copy I’ve hidden. I made sure I did it before I spoke a word about it to anyone.”
“You think they’re listening in on us somehow?” Damon’s tone was dangerous.
“I don’t think so, given their current state of disarray, but I can’t rule it out. I was just being cautious.”
Well, that explained the speaker on the table and the music playing.
Leif reached out to squeeze Max’s shoulder, much the same way I had to Sam. “It’s not your fault, Max.”
“Isn’t it? I knew something was off with the military. I should have looked harder when I first found the firewalls and figured they were hiding something big. At the time, I was just so relieved we were all out, and I never imagined anyone would do something so horrific on this kind of scale.”
Dave leaned forward as if he wanted to reach for Max, too. “You’re brilliant at what you do, Max, but you’re not omnipotent. There was no way you could have guessed at this. I was higher in the ranks than any of you, and I didn’t even hear a whisper.”
My mind was working overtime, and both Sam and Pala turned to me. I had always been the strategist of our group. “Why are the military and government in disarray if they planned this?”
“The only thing I couldn’t find was a date, or any defined timeline. Everything talked about future scenarios. The Crash appeared to happen when one part of the grid went down unexpectedly and it caused a fatal overload in the surrounding grids.
“They’re all connected, and it was a chain reaction from that point that brought down the whole damn system. It’s a massive design fault. I’m surprised it existed, but they haven’t updated our power infrastructure in a really long time, despite our advances in technology.
“As far as I can figure, either the mining and electrical grid execs were lying to the government about how bad it had gotten, or it happened much quicker than anyone expected. Or maybe they’re all just incompetent and fucking with things they don’t understand because it will make them money and they don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves.”
Max growled and pushed back from the table as if he was going to take off, but there was nowhere to go. None of us could run from this or hide from it.
Maia stood up and hugged him, anchoring him in place. “We’re here, Max. Right here with you. Just breathe.”
“You don’t understand,” he said, although he gripped her tightly. “We haven’t seen the worst of it out here. They have patchy reports coming in from other secret facilities the military has used to bunker down. The cities are a mess with looting and rioting. People were dying before the food even ran out. Mobs overran military installations, thinking they’d have supplies.
“There were good men among the lower ranks of the military, many we worked alongside. They were mostly left behind to guard bases when it all went to hell and senior officers fled to bunkers. The mobs slaughtered some. Others are hanging on, trying to keep sophisticated weaponry out of the hands of the mobs. It all fell apart so quickly. Our society collapsed as if it was made of tissue paper this whole time. It’s fucking anarchy out there.”
Sam and I shared a look, feeling guilty. We’d brought our team with us and they were safe here. Many weren’t so lucky. I understood, though, why Max had wanted to only say this once. I couldn’t imagine having to repeat this shit.
I hated to push him, but I had more questions. Sam nodded at me, happy to let me take the lead. “What has the Palace got to do with the military, apart from being a place to hide? If they have a secure line and all this info, clearly they’ve been involved all along.”
“The shady as fuck group I mentioned before,” Max dragged his hands through his already messy hair. “I’m pretty sure they fund the Palace operation, including all the testing on omegas. They seem to use it as their base and point of contact. It’s the perfect cover.
“They had a lot of files going back a long time, alongside some nasty evidence on government and military officials. I’m pretty sure they were blackmailing a bunch of people to do what they wanted, and had others planted within the government and military.
“From what I can tell, they promised the Palace a military guard whenever this went down and they made contact to ensure it happened. I think they’ve actually been in control behind the scenes for a long time.”
“What do they call themselves?” Damon asked with deceptive calm, but his eyes were blazing hotly and his fists were clenched on the table, as if he was about to flip it.
“Oracle Consulting Group is the formal front they use when they advise the government, but in all the behind-the-scenes stuff, the name Maven keeps coming up.”
Max winced as Damon paled and his dominance spiked violently. Max released Maia and reached for him instinctively before he’d even finished talking.
“Your father?” Sam looked like he wasn’t far behind. His dominance was pushing at the air around us.
