Page 7 of Dark Chains: First Link
Dimitri sat on the edge of the other bed, which was currently taken by four soldiers squeezed in together. His hand was trembling slightly, which it hadn't been while he was on the phone. The adrenaline was catching up to him now that the immediate performance was over.
"You were perfect," she said.
"I sounded like an idiot. 'We know you're the good guys'? After all the rehearsing, that's what I led with?"
"It worked," she said. "He laughed and said that it about summed it up."
Dimitri shook his head. "He laughed because it sounded absurd."
"He laughed because it was honest and real. Something overly eloquent would have sounded rehearsed and fake. He would have been suspicious if you'd opened with a formal speech about strategic alliances and mutual interests. You sounded like what you are—a scared person asking for help."
Dimitri looked at her. "I'm not scared."
She smiled. "We all are, even Dave, who claims that they have transcended fear."
"We never said that." Number One turned his head to look at her. "Like every living being, we want to stay alive and we fear death."
She nodded. "Thank you for sharing this."
"You did well, Dimitri," Petrov said. "You were clear and concise."
Coming from Petrov, that was a standing ovation.
Mattie turned to Number One. "What's your take?"
"Onegus's vocal patterns suggested surprise combined with caution. He did not panic, which indicates experience. He is not some fresh underling. His ability to assemble a team in fifteen minutes suggests that the team members are nearby or easily reachable."
"Or that they are all in the same place," Petrov said. "The most efficient organizations keep their key personnel close." He tapped his pen on the notepad. "What's interesting is what he didn't ask."
Mattie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He didn't ask how we knew about them. He didn't ask what we wanted. He didn't ask how many of us there are, or what the enhanced soldiers want, or what we're offering. He asked two things. How we got the phone and whether Losham was alive. That tells me that he recognized our names, as we suspected he would."
That was a smart observation. Onegus hadn't wasted a single question on background information. He'd zeroed in on the two things that mattered to him—the security of his asset and thesecurity of the communication channel—and then he'd moved straight to action.
Mattie looked at the clock on the wall. It was 02:34 a.m. The callback would come at approximately 02:50, assuming Onegus kept his word, which left them sixteen minutes to prepare for the most important conversation of their lives.
They'd been preparing for it all day long, but then Dimitri had improvised at the last moment. He'd been stressed and had forgotten his lines.
"Maybe we should go over our talking points again," she suggested.
"We've been over them fifty times," Dimitri said. "I'm tired, and at this point, I prefer to improvise."
4
KIAN
As the phone started buzzing on Kian's desk, he was tempted to let it go to voicemail so he could finally finish the report he was reading. For some reason, everyone and their mother found it necessary to call him this Friday morning, more so than other pre-weekend or pre-holiday days that were always the busiest, as people wanted to wrap things up before heading out.
With a sigh, he picked up the device, and as he saw the caller ID, he was glad he had. Onegus was not in the habit of making social calls, and if he needed something that wasn't urgent, he scheduled an appointment through Shai.
It had to be something that couldn't wait, and that was usually trouble.
He accepted the call and leaned back in his chair. "Good morning, Chief. What can I do for you this Friday morning?"
"You're not going to believe it, but I've just received a call from Losham's cell phone, except it wasn't Losham on the line. It was Doctor Dimitri Volkov."
Onegus was right about the shock effect of his news.
