Page 77 of Dark Chains: First Link
"Low is not zero. Our Guardians' safety is the priority."
Turner met his gaze. "Of course. The camera loop addresses that concern. Even if someone has tapped the feed, all they'll see is the same empty tunnel they've always seen. The alarm bypass is clean and leaves no detectable trace."
Kian nodded. "I hope that's good enough. What about waterproofing the chests?"
Turner flipped to another page. "The chests need to be transported underwater from the cove to the submarine, and the distance is long if we want to stay beyond the island's territorial waters. The chests are obviously not sealed because they have to allow some air to get in, and we need to ensure that doesn't happen. Even a small amount of moisture could trigger the resurrection process, and in the current state of those bodies, they won't survive that without medical intervention. The solution is custom waterproof casings. Rigid-shell, airtight, with internal padding to prevent movement during transport. We slide the chest in, seal the casing, and the contents stay bone dry even if we drag it across the ocean floor."
"How heavy will each unit be?" Onegus asked. "A chest plus the casing?"
"We don't have exact weights, but we should assume about three to five hundred kilograms if they are also filled with sand. It's manageable."
"Two Guardians per chest," Onegus calculated. "That's ten for transport. Plus the tech team for the cameras and the alarm, plus six for the last layer of excavation, plus security. Twenty-two should be more than enough."
"Twenty-two plus Anandur and Yamanu as team leaders, and also Drova." Kian pointed at Turner's yellow pad. "Write twenty-five total."
"The chests don't get opened at any time during transit," Onegus said. "Not until they are delivered to the clinic, where Bridget and her team will manage the resurrection process under controlled medical conditions."
Toven raised an eyebrow. "Does the clinic have the capacity for that? We're talking about five patients in critical condition, and we only have two patient rooms."
"The clinic has more spaces that can be used for that. It has an operating room, a recovery room, and a diagnostic suite."
Toven looked surprised. "Where is all that hiding? The building doesn't look that large from the outside."
"Some of it is underground. The clinic was designed for exactly this kind of contingency, a situation requiring multiple simultaneous cases that we couldn't handle in the main treatment area."
"I had no idea," Toven murmured.
Kian smiled. "Until now, we had no need for those extra spaces. Most of the time, there are no patients at all in the clinic, and the nurses have nothing to do."
Lokan, who had been listening without comment, shifted in his chair. "What happens if the operation is discovered? If theGuardians are in the tunnel and someone on the island realizes what's going on?"
"That's where the contingency escalation comes in," Turner said. "We have three levels." He drew three horizontal lines on the page and labeled them. "Level one is the stealth plan. Camera loop, alarm bypass, in and out without anyone noticing. This is the preferred outcome, and what we're optimizing for. Level two is local containment. If the Guardians are spotted or the alarm triggers despite our bypass, we call on the Eight to engage. They thrall whoever detected our people, adjust their memories, and we continue the extraction."
"I don't want to rely on them," Kian said. "Plan as if they are not a factor."
Turner nodded. "We have two options. One is deploying the EMP, and the other is deploying the assault drones. We bomb the tunnel connecting the military side of the island to the resort side. That tunnel is the primary route for the Brotherhood's warriors to reach the mansion area. Destroying it creates a physical barrier that buys our team time to complete the extraction and withdraw."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"Bombing the tunnel would be a declaration of war," Lokan said. "So would deploying the EMP."
"Both are last resort," Turner said. "Deployed only if the alternative is casualties among the Guardians. I don't want to use either, but if the choice is between destroying a tunnel and losing our people, the tunnel goes, and if we need to destroy every last piece of equipment on the island to prevent pursuit, we do that too."
Kian nodded. "I agree."
"Can you get us drones that are EMP shielded?" Onegus asked Turner. "The ones we have don't have such protection, and to get any new drones these days is next to impossible. Every country in the world suddenly seems to want them."
"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't have suggested them."
"There's one more item," Lokan said. "The escapees. Dimitri, Petrov, Mattie, the Eight, and whoever they extract from the enclosure. How do we get them?"
Onegus turned his laptop around so everyone could see the map of the area around the island. "All supply ships departing the island head to nearby ports. The routing is predictable, and the Brotherhood doesn't follow the departing ships beyond the island's waters. We will divert the ship to where our own vessel will be waiting. We bring them to Safe Harbor, and from there to California."
"What if the Brotherhood discovers that they escaped and pursues?" Lokan asked.
"They won't know the ship has been diverted until it fails to arrive at its designated port. By then, our ship will be long gone. The timing is important, though. The escape has to happen on the same night as the chest extraction, and we need the escapees to leave only after we've cleared the cove. If they bolt early and trigger a lockdown and enhanced security, they will sabotage our operation."
Lokan sighed. "I wonder how many women and children they will be able to take with them. The more they take, the higher the chances of them getting caught."
