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"We do what we must." Syssi stretched on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Good luck, my love." She leaned away and looked into his eyes. "I hate war, and I don't want any of our people to get hurt, but these Doomers need to go, and I don't mean back to the island. Find them and eliminate them, even if it means postponing Anandur and Wonder's wedding. Give them hell."
Those were words he had never expected to hear from his gentle wife. Evidently, she'd now reached the same tipping point that he had gotten to centuries ago, and he regretted that she had been forced to do that.
He sighed. "We can't win this war, love. Navuh will just send a new team, and they will take revenge on the villagers."
Syssi briefly closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they shone with inner light. "I'm not qualified to give advice on these matters. You have good people on your team, and I trust youto come up with the best course of action for us and for the people living here. I don't want to make their lives even more hellish than they already are, but I can't stand the thought of the Doomers and their cartel cronies doing whatever they want, massacring and abducting people."
Welcome to my world, Kian thought but didn't verbalize. "Don't worry, my love. We will figure this out."
She cast him a forced smile, and he smiled back with just as much effort. "Enjoy the party."
The smile slid off her face. "It's hard to enjoy anything with this over our heads."
"I know, but we need to try. Otherwise, they win."
With a nod, Syssi opened the door and walked out.
Kian shook his head.
It was a sad world when even his peace-loving, sweet, empathic wife wanted him to unleash hell on these Doomers and their cronies. Not that the miserable state of affairs was news to him, but he would have liked to shield his wife from the ugliness.
The worst part was knowing that one day his daughter would have to deal with this crap. Kian was under no illusions that a utopian future awaited them where evil was eradicated, and everyone lived in peace and harmony. And that was even before considering the looming threat of the Eternal King.
Letting out a breath, he walked over to the bar, opened a new bottle of whiskey, and pulled out ten glasses. His war council included the usual suspects—Onegus and Turner to formulate a strategy, William to assist with technology, Andrew for his experience with counterintelligence and terrorist activity, andToven because he might need the god's compulsion power. He’d invited Kalugal, Lokan, Rufsur, and Dalhu because they knew how Doomers operated.
Aru had offered his assistance, and Kian might still take him up on his offer, but he wasn't sure he wanted the gods to take part in the fight. He doubted that the Doomers would be able to distinguish them from the immortals just from looking at them, but given the reports on Negal's incredible strength and speed, these new gods were a different breed, and they would give themselves away as soon as the fighting started.
Kalugal
Kalugal leaned back in his chair with his whiskey glass in hand. "My educated guess is that there is a team of twelve Doomers stationed in the area. That's the minimum size for operations abroad." He cast a glance at Lokan. "Is that still the case?"
Lokan nodded. "I'm not involved in these kinds of operations, but as far as I know, twelve is still the size of an average team. Don't forget that Navuh now has more warriors than he knows what to do with, so there is no reason to send out teams smaller than that."
"It was when I was still a member of the Brotherhood," Dalhu said. "But given how violent the area is and the various cartels competing for dominance, they might have sent a larger group. The next one up is thirty."
Kian let out a breath. "We can handle thirty Doomers. The question is whether they will mobilize their cronies to help them."
"That's not a problem." Kalugal waved a dismissive hand. "In fact, none of this is. I can take hold of their minds and freeze them, immortals and humans alike. I don't know why we are even here."
Kian smiled. "I like your confidence, but things are never as easy as that. The good news is that we know they are there, and we are prepared to take them on."
Turner lifted a hand. "We are getting ahead of ourselves. We can avoid a conflict if they haven't discovered the bodies yet. They know something is up because their shipment of women is missing, but their first assumption will be an attack by a competing cartel, not searching for bodies. They will investigate that first, and it might give us enough time to eliminate the evidence, which is the only thing that can point toward us. We can either burn the evidence or start a rumor about a satanic cult operating in the area. "
"We left more clues than just the torn-up bodies," Onegus said. "The tour trucks are riddled with bullets, and the tour company has records of renting out those trucks to tourists from a certain ship. Then there is Luis and another driver who were injured and are recovering."
"That's true." Kalugal put his empty glass on the table. "I thralled them to remember that we were ambushed by robbers and managed to escape by the skin of our teeth. It won't be difficult to connect the dots."
Turner made a noncommittal sound. "Why would they suspect tourists or call the local tour companies to ask questions? Perhaps it will occur to them after they’ve exhausted all the other options, but given how large this area is and how many playersthere are, it will take considerable time for them to start thinking in that direction."
Kalugal was surprised that Turner, the most cautious and calculating among them, was so dismissive of their blunder.
He blamed himself for not burning the bodies. He'd been busy with the traumatized victims, and it hadn't occurred to him that he could use gasoline from one of the trucks to douse the bodies and set them on fire.
"There is a simple way to find out whether they are onto us," he said. "I can call the tour company and ask whether anyone inquired about rentals the day before."
Onegus turned to him. "The Doomers would have thralled them to forget that."
"In most cases, my compulsion is strong enough to power through a thrall. I can also call Luis, but I will leave him for last."
