Sullha loved her son, and the thought of losing him terrified her. It eclipsed everything else in her mind.
Number One took a step forward.
Sullha pulled Tomek behind her. "He's too young," she said, and her voice cracked on the last word, but held. "The rules say thirteen. He's only five."
"We're not here for the children," Number One said.
She didn't believe him.
"We are not here to take anyone," Number One repeated. "We are conducting an inspection. That is all."
Sullha's eyes moved across the eight of them, searching each face for the lie. Her gaze lingered on Number One a fraction longer than the others, and something crossed her expression. Not recognition. She couldn't possibly recognize the boy she'd known in the enhanced soldier standing before her. But something. A flicker. A half-formed sense that this particular face was connected to a distant childhood memory.
It was enough. Dave pulled back from her mind and stepped away.
All eight of him turned and walked toward the compound's gate, leaving Sullha standing in the yard with her son pressed against her side and the other children clustered behind her like chicks behind a hen.
They stopped by the guards, thralling them to not think about Dave's visit, to push it to the back of their minds as a foggy memory they weren't certain of.
With that done, they got into the Humvee.
Number Seven started the engine.
"There are about twelve hundred women in there," Number One said. "Maybe more. And children. Hundreds of children."
The collective processed the number in silence. Twelve hundred women. Hundreds of children. The scale of Mattie's request, which had seemed abstract when discussed in the lab, now had faces and dormitories and a boy named Tomek who stood in front of his mother with his fists clenched because he thought he could protect her.
"We need to return here," said Number Eight. "Make a better assessment. We can't leave anyone behind."
His statement carried an emotional charge that rippled through the collective like waves created by a pebble cast into water.
Number Eight, the youngest, whose memories of the enclosure were the freshest, whose mother, Vinnah, hummed when she thought no one was listening, didn't get to see his mother.
They hadn't found Vinnah today. They hadn't looked for Asira, Number Four's sister. They had found Sullha and her son, and that had been enough to tip the scales.
20
DIMITRI
Dave was over two hours late, and Dimitri was starting to worry.
It rarely happened. The Eight were usually punctual to a fault, and none of the possible scenarios that Dimitri ran in his head for why they were late were good. Dave had many enemies on the island, especially after his elimination of Tarik's crew, and even though the Eight were powerful, there were thousands of lethal warriors on this island, and an ambush was not a far-fetched scenario.
If something happened to Dave, their escape plans went down the drain, but that wasn't the only reason Dimitri was concerned. He had grown fond of the strange new creature that was Dave, and he didn't want to see this new form of life eliminated.
When he finally saw the Humvee parking in front of the lab building and the Eight disembarked, he let out a relieved breath and opened the door for them.
The Eight looked none the worse for wear as they strode in, with Number One leading the procession as usual.
"Good afternoon," Number One said as they took their usual places on the plastic chairs lined against the wall.
"Good afternoon," Dimitri parroted. "Where have you been? I was worried."
All eight pairs of eyes focused on him with identical puzzled expressions.
"Why were you worried?"
"Because you are rarely late, and because there is a lot of animosity toward you since Tarik and his friends met their demise."
