“Using our own data and that provided by Juniper, we’ve identified the best target to maximize problems for the State.” Danni nodded at Heath.
“Originally, we were thinking we’d target a site in Alpha Zone three.” Heath gestured to the map. “Having combined the two data sources, we think a communication site closer to home will have more impact.”
Jude nodded, his attention focused on the maps. “That makes sense. We get a lot of chatter from that site. They use massive amounts of energy to keep it going. If that one is taken out, it could disrupt the entire network.”
“And if that works and knocks out the hypnotic suggestions being pumped into the population, it could change everything,” said Danni.
“People will wake up and realize they’ve been living under the lies of the State,” said Arlo.
Danni nodded. “Sophia, give us a synopsis of how these hypnotic suggestions influence the population.”
“Like I’ve been telling you this last hour, I’m not an expert on this topic.” Sophia took her glasses off and cleaned them on the bottom of her shirt. “But I’ve been doing research. On an individual level, hypnosis works by ensuring the person experiences a sense of deep relaxation. Their attention is deliberately narrowed and focused on suggestions made by their therapist.”
“How can that work on billions of people?” asked Ranger.
“I’m not sure how it’s so effective on so many,” said Sophia. “Hypnosis works by altering our state of consciousness so the analytical left-hand side of the brain is turned off. This brings to the fore the non-analytical right-hand brain.”
“I love it when you get all technical, doc,” said Ranger.
She glared at him. “The conscious control of the mind becomes inhibited and the subconscious mind wakes up. The subconscious mind is deeper-seated. This is the part which needs to be influenced in order to alter beliefs. That’s what the State are doing. And however they’re doing it, it’s powerful and effective.”
“Is that why it doesn’t affect dragon hybrids?” asked Juniper. “Are our brains too different?”
“Without slicing open a large number of human and dragon hybrid brains, I can’t answer that with any surety,” said Sophia. “But the assumption makes sense. There doesn’t need to be a significant difference in the design of your brain to mean you aren’t susceptible.”
“State technology is advanced,” said Danni. “When we discovered the wetware technology they used, they had designs decades ahead of anything the latest technology company had invented.”
“Which suggests what?” asked Juniper.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” said Danni.
“I don’t think they’re human.”
Arlo gave a startled sounding laugh. “What do you think they are?”
“Are you suggesting they’re little green men in disguise?” Lincoln grinned at Juniper.
She shook her head. “I’m being serious. Dragons are freaky enough, and you believe in them.”
“There’s no evidence they’re from another planet,” said Danni.
“The advanced technology and mind manipulation isn’t good enough evidence?” asked Juniper.
“It’s a nice theory, but it’s not possible,” said Jude. “The team in the comms room monitor all long-range communications, including signals that go into space. Nothing is coming or going to cause us any concern. We’re not being attacked by space invaders.”
“It could be rogue dragons,” suggested Malachi.
“Let’s take a breath and get back on topic,” said Danni. “We know we’re up against a powerful enemy. We understand the strength the State hold. Now we just need to wake everybody else up to that.”
JUNIPER MASSAGED HER brows. It felt like they’d been discussing plans and tactics for hours. How they would disrupt the communication hub, attempt to wake up others and reveal State lies.
Her head pounded. All she wanted to do was go out and kill the bad guys. Get revenge and spill blood. Punish the people, whatever they were, who suppressed the dragon hybrids.
She flinched as a hand touched her knee, bringing her attention back into the briefing room.
Arlo flashed her a smile. “Are you doing okay?”
She nodded, but in reality, nothing felt okay. This was all so strange to her, being part of the team. Juniper couldn’t decide if she liked it or not.
Arlo’s hand remained on her knee and he gave it a gentle squeeze. “We’re almost done here.”
Shoving down her frustration, Juniper focused her attention back on the maps Danni was showing everyone. She had to remember that she’d chosen to come here.
Juniper leaned forward in her seat. “I still think we should focus on killing the people at the top. Forget knocking out this communications hub crap and go straight to the top. We kill Emperor Endrir, and it will all be over.”
“As I’ve said before, that’s difficult.” Danni’s sharp gaze settled on Juniper.
“Haven’t you even tried to get to him?”
“There are too many layers to get through before reaching Emperor Endrir,” said Heath. “I’m not sure if the image broadcast of him spreading his motivational messages is even him. If we try to find him, we could be hunting for a ghost.”
“Then what about the next level down?” asked Juniper. “Take out the commanders. We take them out, and their order will collapse.”
“Do you know how many commanders there are?” asked Danni.
The room fell silent as everyone’s attention focused on Juniper. She swallowed, realizing she’d overstepped some hidden boundary. She had to ask, she needed to know why they hadn’t focused their efforts on killing those in charge. They had the resources. They had to try.
“There’s maybe a dozen,” said Juniper. “I know they’re all heavily armed and have their own militia keeping watch. But there must be a way—”
“There are twenty-five Alpha zones,” said Danni. “Each with a commander and six captains serving them. The captains are in charge of communications, industry, crime and punishment, transport, supplies, and education. Each Alpha zone has this structure in place.”
“Which gives you twenty-five chances to grab a commander,” said Juniper.
“Once you kill their guards, the captains, and any innocents who get in the way,” said Danni. “What we’re doing here is not some vengeance mission. We need to weaken the State. Make sure they can no longer influence the population. We take out a few commanders, and they’ll be replaced. We have to disable the infrastructure. If we don’t bring down the mechanisms that keep the entire population under control, then we’ll have achieved nothing.”
Juniper sucked in a breath, wanting to continue arguing. But Arlo’s hand was on her knee again, and she forced back her urge to fight. Going after a single communications hub would have minimal impact on the State and what they were doing. It seemed too small scale.
As Juniper looked around the room, she could see everyone supported Danni. Lincoln gave her a shrug, Ranger winked at her, and Malachi didn’t even meet her eye. It looked like she was alone in her beliefs.
“Do we have an understanding?” asked Danni. “We stick to this mission.”
Juniper nodded sullenly. She could see she would not win this particular battle.
Arlo leaned over, his mouth by her ear. “Don’t worry. They’ll be mortal danger coming our way soon enough. You’ll get plenty of chances to fight.”
Chapter 7
Arlo watched in concern as Juniper practically ran from the briefing room when the meeting was over.
He hurried to the door. “Juniper. Wait!”
She raised her hand but didn’t turn to look at him. It looked like she couldn’t stand being in the same room with them all for any longer.
He understood her desire to escape, hide from what was happening. Arlo had felt like that from time to time when he was in his patrol troop. They’d been a respected elite squad, but in that squad, you had no plac
e to hide. You kept no secrets and had to trust everybody. There had been days when he’d felt like tearing his hair out and fleeing. Every move was monitored and your soul laid bare. It had to be that way. You put your life on the line every time you went on a mission. If you didn’t trust those who watched your back, there was no point in being there.
He’d been in a team of six. Six of the best friends he’d ever had. They’d all been close, almost like his brothers. But he’d seen firsthand that being open and trusting others still led to people dying.
Arlo stumbled as a flashback bit into his head. His best friend, slumping to the ground, covered in blood, the life extinguished from him.
His fingers drifted to the scar on his face. He understood why Juniper ran. But she was here now. She’d decided to come back. It would be strange having to follow orders, but she was no longer on her own and should appreciate that.
You’re just the same. The words whispered in Arlo’s head as he made his way to his workshop. His obsession with explosives had grown after the death of his friend. With bombs, you could cause maximum damage at a distance. Arlo knew he enjoyed standing too close to the danger. He sometimes felt as if he had a grudge against death and was determined to keep defying it. He liked prodding danger and seeing how far he could go before it caught up with him and tore his head off.
Rolling his shoulders, he eased onto a stool in the workshop. He was all alone, just the soothing tones of Octavia in the background as she talked about the next song.
“And for all of you listening out there this afternoon, you might be interested to learn that the bounty on each of the Ember brothers heads has increased by ten thousand credits.”
Arlo’s head tilted to one side, and he grinned. No one knew how she did it, but Octavia had the inside scoop when it came to what was going on with the State. She also had an uncanny knack for knowing what they were up to. The first time they’d had a message from her, hinting she knew more about them than anyone else, the whole bunker had been set on high alert. They’d thought they must have a State undercover agent who’d infiltrated the group and was about to give them up.
When the initial panic had subsided, they’d figured out Octavia was a shit-hot comms expert with a knack for hacking into secure channels. Ever since then, they’d listened to her messages and taken them seriously. She’d got them out of several scrapes by telling them what was going on with State movements. If they ever discovered who the mysterious Octavia was, Arlo would buy her as much beer as she wanted. He considered her a friend.
“Now, I’m sure none of my loyal listeners would be interested in earning that credit. But it’s always good to know when there might be a few extra eagle eyes looking out for you. Keep your heads down and stay safe. That’s my advice to everyone.” The blast of guitar had Arlo jigging in his seat.
He lost himself to the music for the next few hours and immersed himself in what he knew best. How to make bombs. How to destroy the enemy and how to keep his loved ones as safe as he could.
The sound of feet scraping on the floor behind him had Arlo turning in his seat.
Juniper stood in the doorway. His heart clenched as he saw she had a bag on one shoulder. She was leaving him, again.
“Have you come to give me a hand?” He tried to sound as calm as possible.
Juniper looked at the ground. “No. I’ve come to say goodbye.”
ARLO MOVED SO FAST, she didn’t have time to step out of his way. One second he was staring at her, the next, his hand was encircling her elbow. He grabbed her bag and yanked it off her shoulder.
Juniper’s heart raced as he pulled her into his workshop and slammed the door. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not sure. But I can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Anger gleamed in his eyes. “What’s so wrong with this place?”
Juniper looked around. She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but she had to get out. “The bunker is not the problem.”
Arlo inhaled sharply. “What is?”
She glanced up before looking away again. Up close to him, she could smell the grease on his fingers. Juniper loved that smell. “I’m not sure I fit in. I can’t handle the rules and restrictions.”
“You’ve not given this place a chance.”
“I have! It’s not working.”
“Because Danni reprimanded you during the briefing? You have to be able to handle criticism. She only did it to help us avoid risk. She knows what she’s talking about.”
“Danni can’t be that good at what she does—she lost an eye in a fight.” As soon as Juniper said those words, she regretted them. It was a cheap blow.
Arlo frowned. “Fighting with two other ace soldiers against an enemy that numbered forty. She was the only one who survived. Her opponents weren’t so lucky. She’s got skills. Danni keeps the base together.”
Juniper felt a kick of guilt over bitching about Danni’s injury. “Fine. I’m sure she does. But that doesn’t mean I need to listen to her.”
“Her orders make sense. I get that you want to go out and catch yourself a commander, but we’re not in the right place to do that. We pick our battles carefully. When the time is right, we’ll grab ourselves a leader and get answers from them.”
“And until then, you sneak around in the darkness, not making progress.” Again, she knew her words weren’t true.
Arlo dropped his hold on her arm. “It’s better than hiding out from everyone, not stepping up and getting involved. I thought you wanted to help.”
Juniper gritted her teeth. “I do! I can do that on my own.”
“It’s better to do it with others.”
“Why? Why do I need to stay here? Stick to all the rules and sit through endless briefings that have us going around in circles?”
“Because those rules and plans will keep you alive.” A strange look passed across Arlo’s face. “Besides, I like having you around.”
Juniper snorted out a breath. “You don’t even know me, not really.”
Arlo folded his arms over his chest. “That’s what you want, to be on your own? That’s how you like to live?”
She didn’t. But it was what Juniper was used to. It was easier to be alone. The only person at risk of being hurt was you. You only needed to watch out for yourself. Her words stuck in her throat. What the hell was she doing, running away again? She looked over to the workbench Arlo had been standing by.
“What are you working on?”
His eyebrows rose. He turned and gestured to the bench. “A new limpet bomb. I need to refine the suckers, get them to adhere to metal, but they hold promise.”
“When I came in, you were talking to yourself.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t notice. It’s a bad habit of mine. I’m surprised you don’t do it, spending all that time alone with no one to share a problem with.”
This time, Juniper shrugged. She’d caught herself talking to the wall a few times. “What were you thinking about?”
Arlo looked startled. “Nothing much. Just about the bombs.”
“You had your fists clenched. Something was pissing you off.”
“It’s nothing.”
She tilted her head. “It seemed to be bothering you.”
Arlo’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you care, since you’re leaving, anyway?”
She looked at the bag he’d dumped on the floor. Was she leaving? She’d talked herself into it, but seeing Arlo here on his own, struggling with something, Juniper realized she didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to help him if she could.
“Maybe I can stay for a bit longer.”
“You think?”
“If you tell me what’s on your mind.”
Arlo huffed out air and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I was thinking about war.”
“Any war in particular?”
“The battle that killed my friend.”
Juniper saw the lost look in Arlo’s eyes and had to resist reaching for him. He looked as los
t as she felt. “When did it happen?”
“Before the State arrived. We were on a mission, deep in the African jungle. It was just me and the small squad I was in. We had orders to find and take out a specific target. He was a nasty piece of work who was smuggling an addictive new drug into Europe.”
“That’s when your friend was killed?”
Arlo nodded and looked at the floor. “We were ambushed. The government in the country was corrupt. They’d ordered the hit on this guy, but it was a front. They wanted the drugs to get into Europe because they’d been promised a cut of the profits. But they had to look like they gave a damn about the law. Iain was a great guy. He had incredible skills with a knife. He could drink anyone under the table. He didn’t deserve to be gunned down.”
“He did it to protect you and the rest of the squad?”
Arlo swiped a hand across his face. “We didn’t ask him to.”
The pain on his face was too much to witness. She took a step closer.
His gaze met hers before drifting to her mouth. “How long have you been alone?”
Juniper’s heart raced and a tingle of warmth ran over her. “It feels like forever. Most of my loved ones died in the first wave of attack. We were unprepared. Before people knew what was happening, it was all over.”
“And your parents?”
“Mom was killed saving me.” Juniper swallowed around the lump in her throat. “She stood in front of me during an attack. She took the full force of a laser blast.” She ran her tongue across her teeth. She could still remember hearing her screams, her mom yelling at her to run and not look back.
She blinked and looked down. Arlo had linked their fingers together. His touch made her want to say more. This was crazy. Getting involved with anyone was stupid and risky. You never knew what the State would do next. You never knew which one of your loved ones they’d kill. How many times could a person survive having their heart broken before it would never heal?
“You should stay,” said Arlo. “I can help you. I can keep you safe. I want to give you a safe place. You shouldn’t have to keep looking over your shoulder all the time.”
Arlo (sci-fi romance - The Ember Quest Book 4) Page 7