Page 53 of Dark Chains: First Link
Losham was sitting in a leather armchair with a glass of something amber in his hand. His eyes were unfocused, staring at a point somewhere above the bookshelf across from him, and his posture was relaxed, which meant that his call with K and the others had gone well.
Dave had to wait.
After distributing themselves along the side of the house in positions that were concealed from the guards and from the library window, the Eight settled into their usual patient stillness.
The minutes stretched, and Number One's patience wavered. He sent a gentle thrall through the library window, light enough for Losham to interpret it as a natural impulse rather than an external suggestion.
It's late. The drink is nearly finished. It's time to call it a night.
Losham didn't respond immediately. His mind was resilient, protected by a layer of mental shielding that deflected casual influence the way armor deflected a glancing blow. The suggestion had to be subtle enough to pass beneath his threshold of awareness and align with what he was already feeling.
He was tired. He had been running on adrenaline and anxiety for weeks, managing his brothers, maintaining the fiction of Navuh's presence, and enduring the clan's compulsion.
Number One reinforced the thrall.Just rest. Tomorrow comes regardless.
Losham took a last sip from his glass, set it on the side table, and rose to his feet. On his way out, he turned off the lights and closed the library doors behind him.
Dave waited in absolute stillness while Losham climbed the stairs, performed his nighttime routine, and got into bed. The collective tracked the faint sounds from inside the house and Losham's surface thoughts.
It took almost an hour until Losham finally fell asleep, and the Eight walked up to the front door.
The guards were already thralled from earlier, standing at their posts with adjusted memories and blank, dutiful expressions.
Number Three entered the new code into the alarm panel.
The light turned green. The system disarmed with a soft chime that still sounded too loud in the silence.
They slipped inside.
Number One ascended the stairs alone while the other seven waited on the ground floor. He placed each footstep on the outer edge of the treads so the wood wouldn't creak, and when he got to Losham's door, he stood in front of it and collected the sleeping male's surface thoughts. They were dissolving into the fragmented patterns of early sleep, and Losham's consciousness was descending, the higher functions shutting down one by one,leaving only the baseline awareness that sleeping immortals maintained.
Number One sent another thrall through the door, deeper this time, pressing Losham further into sleep.Stay still. The night is safe.
Losham's breathing remained slow and regular. No change in rhythm. No spike in awareness. The thrall held.
Number One opened the door. The room was dark, the curtains drawn, the only light a faint green glow from a charging indicator on the nightstand. Losham was a shape under the covers, his breathing deep and even.
The phone was plugged into the charger, the screen dark.
Number One crossed the room in four silent steps, unplugged the phone, and slipped it into his pocket.
Losham didn't stir.
Number One retreated to the door, closed it behind him without making a sound, and descended the stairs to where the others waited.
They left the alarm unarmed when they exited the house.
They would need to get back inside to put back the phone, and the alarm would have to be reactivated after the phone was returned.
The front door closed behind them with a faint click. The guards continued their watch undisturbed. The perimeter patrol was on the far side of the property, sixty-three seconds from their next pass.
The Eight divided into pairs again, staggering their timing and taking different routes that diverged into the residential streets and converged three blocks later on the path leading to the lab.
It was almost two in the morning when they reached the lab. Petrov was waiting by the door and looked profoundly relieved when he saw them.
"Any problems?" the scientist asked after closing the door behind them.
"The alarm code was changed," Number One said. "We had to extract it from the assistant."
