"Most of it is common knowledge in the Brotherhood. We are told that Annani and her clan are the scourge of theBrotherhood's existence, and until they are eradicated, the Brotherhood won't be able to take over the world."
"Why didn't you say something about this before?" Petrov asked.
"It wasn't relevant. Until Mattie suggested that we rescue the Dormants, it did not occur to us that we might need the clan's help."
"Why would they give it?" Petrov asked. "You are their enemy."
"That's what we need to figure out."
"How are you going to even contact them?" Dimitri asked.
"We need to figure that out as well."
21
MATTIE
Dimitri shook his head. "That's not much of a plan."
Mattie had to agree.
The Eight either didn't know how they were going to pull it off, or they weren't ready to share what they knew.
Number One shifted in his chair. "We discovered that Losham is secretly communicating with the clan."
That was a bombshell revelation. Was Losham betraying the Brotherhood and collaborating with the clan? Why would he do that?
Why would the other immortals listen to what he had to say?
From what Dave had told them, the two factions of immortals were at war with each other. The clan didn't have the numbers that the Brotherhood had, but it had a technological advantage, and it used that advantage to hide from Navuh and his army.
The most important piece of information that Dave had shared was that the clan were do-gooders, which meant that they were directly opposed to everything the Brotherhood did. Not that sheknew for sure what they were into, but they didn't need a ten-thousand-strong army of immortals just to defend their island, and they didn't need enhanced soldiers for that either.
These immortals had aspirations of world domination, and given what Dave had said about the clan, those other immortals would do anything to prevent that.
"Did Losham share with you what he's negotiating with them?" Dimitri asked.
"No. But we don't need him to tell us to know what's in his head."
Dave was being deliberately vague, but Dimitri was smart enough not to press. It wouldn't work anyway. The Eight would reveal what they wanted to reveal when they wanted to do that, and not a moment earlier, no matter how much Dimitri, Petrov, or she applied pressure on them to talk.
"Do you want to share with us what you have learned?" Petrov asked. "Or do you enjoy dangling bits of information before our noses to get us hungry for more?"
Apparently, Petrov did not see merit in her and Dimitri's subtle approach.
"They have Navuh," Number One said. "They didn't confirm it, but it makes sense since they knew about the booby traps before they were set off. No one other than Navuh knew about those."
Mattie forgot to breathe for a couple of moments. "Lord Navuh is supposed to be in the harem. I assume that's not true?"
"Correct," Number One said.
"When did you find out?" Dimitri asked.
"Almost right away. We felt him disappear. We didn't know whether he was dead or just left, but his absence created a void. His compulsion cloud lifted from the island, and in some way that we don't understand, it freed us. We were able to compel our guards to let us go." Eight pairs of eyes shifted to Petrov and then back to Dimitri. "We took control of your minds as well because we needed you to keep providing the drugs for us. But we loosened our hold on you when we realized that you were not going to do anything stupid like trying to sabotage the program. You need your minds unencumbered by compulsion to think creatively. When you were compelled to do your work, all you could do was continue to manufacture the same formula."
Dimitri chuckled. "And I thought that I was developing immunity to your compulsion. Silly me."
"Not silly at all," Number One said. "You were always more difficult to compel and thrall than Doctor Petrov." The eight pairs of eyes shifted to the older guy. "You are no less brilliant than Dimitri, but you are perpetually compromised by the alcohol you consume."
