Ecstasy Bound (7 page)
Obviously all of this was related to the reason Briggs had been plucked from his home planet and brought to Xylon. Much to her aggravation, he had refused to tell her any further details beyond what she already knew, saying that was Laszlo’s decision for when the time was right. Though frustrating, she had to admire his loyalty to duty. She couldn’t judge him the same as she had Kam, for Briggs didn’t know what they’d been through, nor did he understand their doubts or the dynamic of the group here.
The doors whooshed open. When she looked out, Sam’s head snapped up with a start. He looked flushed. “You can come in now, Sam.”
Seeming a bit out of sorts, he nodded and pushed to his feet. He adjusted his uniform then joined her inside the room. While he stood there, he shifted back and forth until the others scooted over and she pulled up a chair beside hers. After she reseated herself, he sat down next to her and folded his hands on the table.
“Are you all right?” she whispered to him.
“Yeah. Sure. Fine,” he answered, his voice a bit scratchy. He cleared his throat, not meeting her gaze.
Once he was settled, Laszlo continued the meeting. “Briggs is part of an experiment called Project ACE—alien command exchange. It’s a cooperative project between Xylon and Earth. In this case, the United States military. Daegal needs Earth, or rather, the citizens of Earth. We don’t have the numbers anymore to fight Daegal and the Egesa alone. In order to defeat them, we need the help of Earth’s military forces and they need us. They stand no chance at present because, even if we arm them with advanced weaponry, they have no natural protection from the Egesa poisons and diseases. In the end, they wouldn’t be able to survive.”
Interesting
, Brianna thought, her full attention focused on Laszlo’s words. They’d had the numbers to fight the Egesa, until the bombing. Project ACE had been put together sometime before that. So did that mean Laszlo knew about the destruction to come, which would give Daegal a clear path to head toward Earth, en mass, as opposed to only a few scout ships?
Or maybe he’d set ACE up as a backup plan. She vaguely remembered him saying something in passing right before the bomb hit Xylon. Or was it after? She couldn’t remember now. But somehow it was all connected.
And she wondered about another issue concerning ACE. Alien command
exchange
.
That suggested a swap. Who had gone to Earth in exchange for Briggs? So many unknown details made her stomach churn and her suspicions rise all over again.
“Part of ACE was to see if Earth’s people, full-blooded human males specifically, could withstand our Initiation Rite and if it would protect them as it does us. So, they could then fight effectively, with our help, to keep their planet free.”
So that’s why Briggs had been given a special Initiation formula. But the Initiation was an ancient, genetic rite. One couldn’t synthesize it or change it in any way without consequences. Besides, it wasn’t just a protection ceremony, it was a bonding rite and a breeding preparation. To generalize such a rite for military purposes, with an alien society, boded trouble, in her opinion.
“What about human females?” Alexa asked. “My mother was initiated. She was full-blooded.”
“Females are a special situation due to their hormones. Some human females have no problems from what we’ve been able to ascertain by conducting simple tests, which is one way we used to select off-world mates years ago. But most have complications, which we still haven’t figured out how to overcome. The males should be easier to work with because their system levels remain more stable and more consistent from subject to subject. I felt we didn’t have a lot of time left for continued experimentation.
We had to pick the larger and stronger gender base to study and perfect, even though we didn’t really have a lot of detailed hormonal data accumulated on human males.”
“What exactly does Daegal need with Earth?” Brianna asked. “You still haven’t said.” She noticed that Briggs leaned forward in interest. Was it possible he hadn’t been given that particular detail either?
“Daegal is fighting the same weakness that I am, as the Top Commander should be too. We know of a fix. Unconventional. But it works. Short term only though, so the treatment has to be continuous. He needs Earth’s bodies to harvest the substance, which can’t be exactly replicated. At least, our trials have not been successful, so far.”
“It sounds like you’ve been working together on this,” Braden inserted.
“We have shared information.”
Brianna stiffened. She exchanged a look with Braden.
Alexa gave a nervous laugh. “The way you’re talking, you make it sound like Daegal needs our…Earthlings’…blood or something.”
“No, not your blood. That could easily be manufactured by our labs. It’s your spinal fluid.”
“What?” she and Briggs asked at the same time, leaning forward in their seats, their eyes wide.
Well, that confirms it
, Brianna thought. Briggs hadn’t known. The shock on his face told the story. Spinal fluid. Damn.
“The naturally produced spinal fluid of full-blooded Earthlings contains special elements that will rejuvenate our health. We have definite confirmation of that from preliminary experiments.”
Brianna refrained from asking how he’d acquired that particular data. She already knew that human females were brought to Xylon on a regular basis. She’d thought only for breeding purposes but perhaps not.
Alexa sometimes worked with the women after they arrived. Since she’d been taken from Earth too and had gone through a similar experience, she could relate easily to them. From her reaction to Laszlo’s words, she obviously had no idea about any spinal fluid experiments.
Perhaps full-blooded humans brought to Xylon had gone to a private, secret area of the Lair. Or maybe even to some experimental facility outside the Lair. Briggs had been brought to the Lair without her knowledge.
“Both Leila and I have tried to recreate the substance, without success. The shots we’re using are keeping me alive for now. But with each injection the effectiveness lessens.”
Leila.
Brianna’s gaze switched to the woman. Erik’s hand reached out and clutched hers. A definite protective gesture.
“There is something about the natural, pure fluid that makes it unique for the purpose we need. Something we can’t duplicate. Daegal is already on his way to Earth to enslave its people, so he can extract the fluid he and the Top Commander need. His Healers have also been unsuccessful with their trials. They have given up and will go directly to the only available, unlimited source now.”
“How do you know he’s already on his way?” Briggs asked.
“His plans weren’t exactly a secret.”
“From you,” Braden said.
“Yes.”
Brianna felt Briggs stiffen next to her. She wanted to reach out to him but held back.
On the other side of her, Torque also stiffened, then shifted in his seat.
“I would not agree to join with him in this,” Laszlo further explained. “He knew I—
we—would stop him if he tried to send a fully armed fleet toward Earth. After I refused to be a part of Earth’s enslavement, I knew he would eventually try to immobilize us so he could use whatever humans he needed and in whatever way. But I never believed he would break the Pact of Salvation and completely annihilate Xylon in this way. His waning strength has made him desperate to take action before it’s too late.”
So now the truth of why Xylon was destroyed had been told. Brianna glanced at Alexa, wondering what her thoughts might be. No matter the reason for the annihilation, their home was still gone. And now, soon, Alexa’s home planet might be changed forever if they were too late to stop Daegal and his forces.
“Multiple injections into the cortex area will be needed each day to fully restore our strength and longevity. Whether Daegal plans to kill those humans he uses by completely draining them or simply take a small amount from numerous subjects each day, I do not know. I suspect the former, simply because the latter would take too much time and effort and be an inefficient procedure. I think he will store the fluid and return with it to Marid. With the number of humans on Earth, he can afford to discard those used up bodies for many years to come. Once he sets up the extraction operation, he can leave corps of Agents to run the program from Earth to make sure the shipments stay on schedule.”
“Son of a bitch!” Briggs interrupted. “I wasn’t told any of this. Was our military even informed?”
“At the highest levels. The Egesa plan to enslave Earth is true, as I informed the officials I spoke with. However, any specifics beyond that were only related to the uppermost leaders to avoid additional panic.”
“Like who?”
“Sorry. That’s confidential…for now.”
“That’s bullshit!” Briggs shouted, coming halfway out of his seat.
Brianna nudged his leg and he glanced over at her briefly. She knew backing down went against his grain. But he did it anyway, relaxing his stance. Still, the tension rose to a high point in the room. She had to admit, like Briggs, she saw no reason for Laszlo to keep his Earth contacts a secret. Unless…maybe the U.S. wasn’t one of those informed.
Very possible.
Slowly, Briggs sat back down. “I’m frustrated as hell about all this. We can’t just sit here and let it happen. So what’s next? How do we stop Daegal from here? Can we?”
“We do have two orbiters with us down here,” Laszlo answered calmly. “One short range and one long range.”
“They won’t do us any good,” Braden said. “All of us can’t fit into both of them. We can’t open the launch area without flooding this chamber with the poisonous gases from up top, which would kill whoever was left behind.”
“You and Torque need to figure out a way. I’m thinking we might be able to utilize the decontamination room for protection. Some sort of control would have to be rigged on the inside to open and close the lockdown mechanisms. Check into it. Consider it a priority. Erik and Halah, you need to make certain the orbiters are in working order, armed and properly supplied.”
“Even if we do figure a way out of here,” Pitch began, “we don’t have the numbers needed to stop Daegal. You’ve said that yourself.”
“We’ll combine our forces with as many subbase forces as we can gather. We’ll use the element of surprise to gain a foothold. Then if we can get Earth’s men initiated, we might be able to regain control.”
Brianna agreed they had to try. With help from Earth’s military—if they could truly get the males protected—maybe they could stop an abomination from occurring.
“Brianna, Leila, Kam and I will get Briggs initiated and perfect the formula we’ll need to use on Earth,” Laszlo continued. “Pitch?”
“Yes.”
“I want you beside Alexa and the babies at all times, protecting them, especially since Braden will need to be elsewhere a lot of the time. I will supply you with a working disruptor.”
“You think there’s a danger? Even down here?” Alexa asked with wide eyes. Her hand gripped Braden’s.
“We don’t want to take a chance on anyone, specifically the Egesa or one of Daegal’s Agents, somehow locating this underground chamber and materializing in from an orbiter to check it out,” Laszlo explained. “Even deep underground, our energy usage might register on someone’s monitor, if their detector is powerful enough. We can’t make any assumptions of safety. Even now.”
“Can we dematerialize
up
to a Xylon orbiter?” she asked. “I’ve seen the rescue ships on the monitors.”
“Not without being in contact with them to make sure the orbiter maintains its coordinates,” Braden explained. “It would be almost certain suicide.” His lips grazed her temple. “Don’t worry. We’re going to keep the babies safe. We’ll keep all of us safe.”
“Who are your assigned crew members for the orbiters going to be?” Brianna asked.
“I’ll announce those specifics later. If we can’t get these other primary assignments completed, there will be no reason to proceed.”
“Can you at least give us a preliminary on the headings for the orbiters?” Erik asked. “It’ll help us know how to supply and arm the ships.”
“Yes of course. The long-range orbiter will head directly to Earth and set up military operations. While there, you’ll need to get hand weapons and vid-com devices from our resident Warriors. As well as any other equipment you might need, like transport-connectors. The short-range orbiter will try to reach our outpost on the Ice Moon. While there, arrangements for fleet Warriors to head toward Earth and meet up with our coalition will be made, provided long-range orbiters are available. Rescue orbiters will be scheduled to return to Xylon to evacuate whoever is remaining in this chamber. Now, let’s get to work.”
He set aside his pelt jacket. The air in the cave had grown heavy. Or maybe the heaviness came from his own thoughts and feelings. He studied the monitor in front of him, double-checking the settings to make sure of the accuracy displayed on the screen and that he was reading everything correctly. He needed to be certain before relaying any further details.
The system was old and contained a few glitches that he suspected were due to the Clan’s lack of knowledge about the complete workings of the equipment more than any real problem with the electronics. The system had been cannibalized from a downed and abandoned orbiter years ago. They had repaired what they could and learned much in the process. He turned a knob, hoping to clear the static.
Yes. Better. There. He saw definite activity registering on the far side of the planet, beneath the surface. Amazing. He never would have believed it possible.
The door scraped open behind him.
He did not need to turn to know who it was. He had already alerted the others and had expected an appearance. They would want an update. “I have picked up increased activity in one of the auxiliary underground shelters,” he said, knowing the question was coming.
“Where?”
“Where the thickest of the forests used to stand, at the base of what was once Red Mountain.” The bastards had destroyed everything in their need for supremacy, even the land. Perhaps they had gotten what they deserved. Unfortunately, they were not the only victims in their senseless war. The Clans had stashed a bounty of food and water throughout the years, for emergencies and times of famine, but even that would not last forever. He feared greatly for the people and their survival if the planet could not regenerate its natural resources quickly. “In one of the oldest and deepest facilities.”
“You believe there are survivors?”
“Undoubtedly. Manual systems are showing power.” Those systems could not have engaged on their own. Whoever was down there had to have been ensconced in the shelter for a while, given the planet’s present situation. He should have picked up their presence before now. But he had allowed himself to become too distracted. Even here on duty, his cock throbbed, needing—
“Do you want some of our fighters sent to investigate?”
The question pulled his attention back to the matter at hand. He needed to stay focused. For now. Later there would be time for pleasures of the flesh. He hesitated in answering. Until forced to face the situation, he had avoided thinking of this possibility arising and what his reaction would be. “No. Leave them to their toils.”
“What if they seek her?”
His jaw clenched. He rolled his shoulders and forced himself to remain calm. “It is unlikely. They cannot get to her, for they cannot survive on the surface as we can. They are trapped in their hole of advanced science. They will die there.”
“They might have atmospheric suits and equipment.”
“No others have attempted a search and recovery operation on foot and we have seen plenty of rescue orbiters. It is still too dangerous for them, even with protection.”
“Perhaps you are right. But there will come a time soon when that will change and it will not be so dangerous anymore. Eventually, they
will
come.”
He turned abruptly, anger building inside him, for he did not want to acknowledge the truth of those words. “If they do come, they will find nothing but the Clans. The rest of their people are gone. We will post extra sentries to keep watch. She remains with us!”
After a moment of silence, his companion replied, “Of course. I will see that it is done. Another problem might exist, however. Physically, she will survive. But she has yet to see herself. If our healing elements, added to her own, do not work, she might end up taking her own life. We have seen it before, even in those less…damaged. The others are concerned.”
“No!” He shook his head, refusing to accept the tragic words. “She would not give up like that. She is strong. She will live,” he whispered, turning back to the monitor. He barely heard the sigh behind him or the door scraping closed, which once again left him alone with his turbulent thoughts and emotions.
The others cared about her survival for selfish reasons only. He knew. Hell, he supposed he did too. But his reasons were completely the opposite of theirs.
He had not expected to feel anything but hatred for the woman—one of the planet’s elite. Instead, he felt so much more. If she did recover, the others would demand her torture and enslavement. They blamed Xylon’s upper echelon for many things. She would be used to bargain for their needs.
He was not so certain their anger served a real purpose anymore. The sins of those who had lived before them could not be changed. They had survived many generations without direct help from the Xylons. Counting on any help from the few who might have survived did not bode well in his mind.
Whatever happened, she would be in danger. Even given his high position in the groups, he did not know if he could protect her from the Clans’ wrath and planned manipulations. Things would have been so much easier if he had not allowed her to touch his heart.
With a growl of frustration, he flipped off the monitor to conserve power. The fingers of his left hand curled into a fist. “She will live. I shall see to it. And I shall never allow anyone to harm her.”
He turned and touched the cool rock wall, knowing she lay on a mat on the other side, awaiting his return. “That is my vow—the promise I give to you, Tar’a. On my life.”
And if she wanted to leave him to find her own people again? He shook his head, his heart clenching. He did not know if he could ever be strong enough to let her go.
* * * * *
Planet Xylon
Auxiliary Underground Shelter
His mouth dry and his palms feeling a bit moist, Briggs stood in the middle of the conference room. Now that the meeting was over and everyone had gone, he finally had a quiet moment alone to think. There had been a lot of surprising and shocking information to absorb from the briefing. Some of which he hadn’t entirely understood.
As soon as he had some time in a private location, he intended to document everything as best as he could remember for later review and transmission back to Earth. At first he’d thought this room would be perfect but people had been in and out and he knew some of the others would be returning soon. Besides—he glanced up into the corners—the room was monitored. He’d tried to enter one night after everyone had gone to sleep but the door had been locked. Just as well, he supposed, considering the surveillance system.
As he studied his surroundings, he suddenly realized just how white this particular room was. Not an important observation, but the excessive brightness reminded him of the decontamination room. Laszlo’s suggestion of using that room as a safety area for those remaining behind, after the rest of them took off in the orbiters, seemed a good idea. If the controls could be worked out.
Good and bad memories flickered through his head as he remembered his time in that room, when he and Brianna had been detained there together. He’d wanted to fuck her something fierce. She’d punched him a good one instead. A smile tugged at his lips.
He noted the changes around him. The table and chairs in the room had been shoved up against one wall right after the meeting ended and before everyone dispersed. Colorful pillows and bedding from one or more of the private bedrooms, he assumed, had been moved in and scattered on the floor. A few thin mats had also been moved in. He frowned at the still uncomfortable-looking setup. Not a den of lust, for sure, but at least less sterile.
Sort of.
Laszlo had said this would need to be the location for the Initiation, since the room contained full video and sound equipment. They would need a record of the proceedings for future reference. He would have rather been in one of the personal quarters on a bed, in private with Brianna and whoever else needed to be in attendance.
Someplace with a more romantic atmosphere.
If he got the chance, he’d speak with Laszlo about it. If the chemicals they intended to use on him affected a person’s brain, as he’d been told, certainly atmosphere or anything else that also affected one’s perception and emotions would be important.
Anything to improve the outcome of the rite. They all needed this to succeed.
Besides, he didn’t enjoy being treated like some fucking lab experiment. Though he knew that’s essentially what he was. He wondered if he’d even be able to get his cock up and hard enough to go through with this. He wasn’t some sex machine that could be switched on and off at will, regardless of his reputation back on Earth.
He let out a small chuckle.
Okay, maybe the sex part wasn’t the problem. He could fuck some woman for the cause, even in front of others. But, somehow, that woman being Brianna bothered him.
Not because he didn’t want her, but because he did. Because she wasn’t just some pussy to him. His attraction to her was more than physical.
He spotted a small table in one corner with an array of strange-looking equipment on it, along with a gray case and a few bottles of something. Laszlo had placed the objects there earlier.
The case brought back memories of their first attempt to initiate him in the Lair. His instability, his raging sexual need, until somehow his body had compensated and the feeling had waned.
A failure in their eyes. A success in his. Or so he had thought at the time.
He definitely needed to jack off. He’d been so sexually pent-up lately. But when he remembered them wanting to perform anal sex on him with some sort of dildo they’d kept in a case similar to the one on the table now, it dampened his desire. He’d refused to allow them to fuck him in the ass. He would do so again if they made another attempt. He intended to retain some control over what happened to his body.
As far as he understood, from what Laszlo had told him in private, they needed to extract his semen after the special chemicals were introduced into his body via an injection. Then they’d attempt to make some sort of serum, or whatever he’d called it, that they’d use to inject Earth’s military men. Faster than putting each and every one of them through the rite itself. It sounded like a reasonable plan. His ass shouldn’t be a factor.
* * * * *
Brianna headed toward the far end of the shelter to meet with Braden. He, Alexa and the babies had been given one of the private rooms down here. Perfect for a secure meeting, since the private quarters weren’t monitored. Though her entry would be recorded by the corridor surveillance system for anyone curious enough to check the vid archives. She couldn’t see any corridor monitors but she knew they were there. Not that a visit to her brother should arouse suspicion.
Once again sexual feelings tugged at her. Not as powerful as before but still distracting. What was going on with her body? She stopped and leaned against the corridor wall. Nobody was around that she could see or hear. One hand drifted between her legs and her fingers massaged her cunt. The fingers of her other hand pinched and pulled at one of her nipples through the uniform. “Mmm.” She rubbed her back against the wall as her fingers pressed even deeper into her pussy. She needed relief, if only a bit.
Her light touches weren’t nearly enough though. She needed skin against skin.
Hell, she needed a nice, wet tongue and a big, hard cock fucking her. Both at the same time, preferably.
She remembered the monitors. Damn. After adjusting her uniform, she pushed away from the wall and continued down the corridor. Relief would have to wait for later.
After the meeting in the conference room, she overheard Alexa planning to take the triplets to medical for Leila to look over. Leila had said she would meet her there as soon as she could get away from Laszlo. The checkups were a daily routine and quite necessary to watch for any abnormalities in the babies that might arise from Alexa’s Earth physiology. After what they’d been told about Super-breeder side effects, she was certain that Alexa and Braden both felt additional concerns.
With her and the babies gone, now was the perfect opportunity to have a bit of alone time with her twin. If he’d stayed behind. Stopping in front of Braden’s door, she buzzed for entry.
“Come.”
Relief spread through her when she heard his voice. Having Braden near always kept her grounded. If anything ever happened to him, as it had to Tara, she didn’t think she could stand it.
The door slid open almost soundlessly. As soon as she stepped inside the room and the door closed behind her, they hugged in greeting. Brianna pulled back first, knowing they might not have much alone time. “Quite a mess we’re in the middle of here.”
“To say the least.”
“I tried to catch you after the meeting but I didn’t want to pull you away from Alexa. I’d hoped to check in with you before the Initiation starts. I’m glad you’re here.”
“I suspected you would come, so I told Alexa that I needed to stay behind. Pitch and Josella are with her. She understands the seriousness of our situation and knows I have responsibilities and need to put plans into motion.”
“Alexa wasn’t curious for details?” She wondered just how much he’d actually confided in her. She knew he hated keeping secrets from his mate.
“Alexa knows when to ask questions and when not to. She’s beyond what I deserve, Brianna, and I love her more every day. Now I’ve got three little ones to love too.” A smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head slightly, as if not believing his good fortune.
Brianna’s heart melted. The look on Braden’s face always softened when he spoke of Alexa. She saw such a depth of caring in his eyes for his children that a small tear formed in her own eye. She couldn’t be happier about her twin finding his true love.
She hoped to be as lucky someday with a love and family of her own.
“What do you think about everything Laszlo said?”
“Well, I’m not going through each of his explanations and theories, point by point.
It would take too damn long. So let me just say that at first I wasn’t buying any of it.
Now, after thinking over everything and how it all connects, a lot of what he said does make sense, given what’s happened.”
“But still, I feel like we’re not getting the full story from him.”
“No. We probably never will. He’ll make certain he keeps enough knowledge to himself to save his own ass and position.”
“Do you think that’s his real intention?” She would rather believe otherwise. Laszlo was always one whom the Warriors and even Xylon’s non-Warriors looked up to. “Are we being too hard on him?”
“I don’t know his real intention, Brianna. But after what he’s put us through, I’m not feeling overly generous. Everything he did was supposedly for our protection. All right. Maybe. But at what cost? Certainly there had to have been a better way.”
Conflict still tugged at her deep inside. “He’s been our leader for a long time. He has to be given some consideration for that.”
“I’m not suggesting we overthrow him. But we can’t afford to trust Laszlo completely without verification of what he says. He may still have an alternate plan in motion that he hasn’t revealed to us.”
“Agreed.”
“Initially, we need to get out of here, regroup our people as best we can, deal with Daegal and the situation facing Earth. I have to believe that what Laszlo said about the spinal fluid is true, otherwise Briggs wouldn’t be here.”
“And I personally saw the Initiation file on him.”
“Right. Which further strengthens my belief about the testing of Earth’s men being legitimate and in place. Are the deep-space trackers working down here?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Find out. If so, see if you can verify that Daegal’s already on his way to Earth. If he’s out there, as Laszlo said, Daegal’s fleet will probably be traveling under his own signature, so he shouldn’t be hard to locate. He won’t expect any Xylons to be a threat or even looking for him. Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing but see what you can discover. We need a timeline on Daegal’s arrival on Earth.”
“All right. I’ll have to check back in with Laszlo first about the Initiation before I’m missed or he’ll get suspicious. I’m the lead. But I’ll get you the information before we start. I should have time.”
“Good.”
“What if we can’t verify that Daegal is on his way to Earth? You can’t be thinking about not taking the long-range orbiter to Earth if the deep-space trackers don’t pick him up, can you?”
“It’s an old ship. We might be better off waiting if we can’t confirm.”
Waiting could result in dire consequence for the people of Earth. Consequences she didn’t think she could live with. “What if we confirm later. What if we’re too late? Do we take that chance and possibly sacrifice Earth when we could stop the invasion?”
Brianna rubbed her temple, feeling a headache coming on.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a pending headache.”
“I’ve had one of those all day myself. It’s making me irritable.”
She knew how he felt. “What if we miss picking up Daegal with the tracker because he’s cloaked for some reason or out of range?”
Braden crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. “Like I said, I don’t know yet, Brianna. Don’t bombard me with ‘what ifs’.” A look of exhaustion crossed his face. “I need more information.”
“And if we can’t get it?” A quick decision wasn’t always the best way to go and she knew she was pushing. But in this case, no matter how much information they had, Braden still might be forced into making a gut choice in the end.
“Let’s just take one step at a time. All right? I realize that we might have to follow through regardless of what we find. Some things have a momentum of their own.
Report back to Laszlo. We don’t want him to get suspicious. I’ll be working with Torque to try to figure out if the decontamination room can be rigged for our use. Send an internal, coded message to the control room when you know something. Use the un-coded code, just so no one else picks up on what we’re doing. Do you remember it?”
“Yes.” When they were younger, they’d all had various means of communicating with each other. Various types of code that all four of them used and special code just between the twins or just between the two sisters or brothers. Some code looked like random letters. Other code looked and sounded like casual conversation but contained secret messages—that was what they referred to as their un-coded code. It came in handy when other ears might be listening.
“Who’s going to be working with us behind the scenes, Braden? Not Delemar, Josella or Alexa, I’m assuming.” They were the non-Warriors down here.
“Definitely not Delemar or Josella. Alexa, well, I’m not going to lie to her. But I’ll try to keep her on a need-to-know basis. She’s under a lot of stress right now and is worried about the babies. I’d rather not tell her too much because I don’t want her saying anything to Kam by accident. Her instinct will be to protect him and I just don’t know how much to trust him or Halah right now.”
“Do you really believe Kam would betray us, Braden? You two are, or were, like brothers.” He, Erik and Kam had been inseparable at one time. She didn’t like the thought of all these suspicions separating them into two camps. “I really thought he’d proven himself to us…until the meeting.”
“So had I. I want to believe in him, Brianna. But he kept secrets from us. For Laszlo.”
“And he has that implant,” she offered, still not wanting to believe he would betray them. But she had to keep all the facts in mind.
“Yeah. That worries me too, on more levels than one. I have to be sure. About everyone. I’m not even sure how much to trust Leila now.”
