The night is safe. Nothing will disturb you until morning.
The words were not exactly words but impulses delivered at a frequency below conscious awareness, layered into the natural rhythm of Losham's descent into sleep.
At eleven minutes, Losham crossed the threshold.
Number One moved, while the others stayed behind. There was no need for them to be in Losham's room when he took the phone. They could monitor Losham's sleep from where they stood.
Ascending the staircase silently, Number One placed each footstep on the outer edge of the treads where the wood was least likely to flex or creak.
The hive mind wondered about the choice of a wooden staircase in a house with granite flooring. Had Losham preferred it because it could warn him of would-be assassins?
The bedroom door was open, and moonlight from the balcony glass doors illuminated the room in pale silver. Losham was a dark shape on the massive bed, lying on his back, his chest rising and falling with the regularity of deep sleep.
The phone was on the nightstand, connected to the charging cable.
Number One crossed the room in four strides, lifted the phone from the nightstand, and disconnected the cable, generating no sound louder than a whisper.
Curiosity winning over caution, he entered the unlock code the collective had learned from Losham's mind a long time ago, and when the device responded, he checked the screen for recent calls. There was one that had come in at midnight, the name 'Lokan' displayed beside it.
The number was there.
Number One slipped the phone into the pocket of his fatigues and turned back to the door.
Losham didn't stir.
The reinforced sleep suggestion would hold for hours, more than enough time for the operation to be completed and the phone returned.
Number One descended the stairs and rejoined the others in the dining room.
They exited through the front door. The two entrance guards were standing at their posts looking alert, while their thoughts were scrambled and their memories modified. They didn't acknowledge the eight soldiers who filed past them, because they had been thralled not to see them.
The other guards were equally oblivious.
The perimeter patrol was on the far side of its circuit. The eight bodies moved through the gap and reached the street without incident.
Phase two was complete. Phase three was the lab.
They walked in pairs again, staggered at ten- and twelve-meter intervals, intending to take a route that curved behind the hotel before turning south toward the lab. It was the longest path but also the most sheltered, with enough buildings and vegetation to provide cover between open stretches.
They were three blocks from the hotel when Number Five, who was walking point with Number Seven, stopped.
Through the eyes of the point, Dave saw multiple figures exiting the hotel's main entrance.
They were only one hundred meters ahead.
Four immortals, all of their faces familiar. Three junior brothers and Kolhood.
He was standing on the hotel steps with his arms crossed, saying something to the junior brothers that made one of them laugh nervously.
The collective ran probabilities in the space of a heartbeat. Retreat was possible, but would attract more attention than proceeding. The side street to the left was a dead end. The service alley to the right looped back to the main road fifty meters ahead of the hotel, which would put them in Kolhood's sightline from a different angle.
Forward was the only viable option.
They needed to regroup into two fours.
Kolhood knew there were eight of them, and if he saw all eight at this hour, he'd want to know what they were doing together. Four was less conspicuous.
Numbers One, Three, Five, and Seven continued forward. Numbers Two, Four, Six, and Eight peeled off to the right and disappeared into the service alley.
