Page 43 of Dark Gambit Reliance

He grinned. "You know I love doing that."

As Okidu took their luggage, Toven lifted Mia along with her compact wheelchair and carried her up the stairs. "Let's see if it can fit through the aisle."

They had purchased it for use on commercial flights, and it was supposed to be air travel approved, but they hadn't tested it yet.

"It does." Mia drove it to the end of the bus. "But I can't turn around."

"You're not supposed to." Toven pulled her out of the chair, set her down on the seat, and folded the chair. "It's supposed to be stored in the overhead compartment."

She sighed. "I'm glad that we are taking a private jet. It would have been so embarrassing to have you carry me to the bathroom."

"Hello." William climbed into the bus, followed by Roni's mate.

Her name had come up when they had been talking about disabling the cameras on the dirt road leading to the first tunnel entrance, but Toven had forgotten about her part in the plan.

He walked over to them and offered his hand to Sylvia first. "Hello."

"Hi." She shook his hand and then ducked around him to give Mia a hug. "You and I are going shopping together. I don't have any proper winter clothes."

As the two started chatting, Toven shook William's hand. "Okidu told us that you are bringing a lot of equipment with us. Are we going to use the noise cannon after all?"

"We are not. The damage it might do to the children's ears precludes us from using it." William slid into the seat across from the one Mia and Sylvia were seated in. "I'm preparing stage three. If Jade takes care of the problem for us, we might not need to get there, but if we do, I need to be ready. The Russian military drones that Turner's supplier got for us need to be fortified with more advanced electronics and hooked up to our satellite communication protocol. I don't know if the amphibian needs any modifications, but I brought some components in case it does. I also brought equipment to disrupt their communication capabilities."

"How does that work?"

William waved a dismissive hand. "It's involved, but the gist of it is that everyone in a ten-mile radius around the compound and inside of it won't be able to send or receive a cellular or satellite signal, except for us, of course. My disruptor is calibrated not to affect our connection to the clan's satellite."

"What about landlines?"

"I assume that there aren't any in such a remote area, but I will check once we get there." He smiled. "I have the equipment for that as well."

"I'm impressed." Toven gave William an approving nod. "Modern technology can do much more than a god or even several gods ever could. If my people had survived, they would have been obsolete in this world."

William pursed his lips. "If they had survived, the world would be a very different place today."

"Indeed."

Toven tried to imagine a world in which the gods were still running things. He doubted that humanity would have advanced as much as it had, or that its population would have grown to eight billion people. Ahn wouldn't have allowed humans to multiply the way they had. He would have engineered global culling events to thin out human populations so he could maintain control over it.

"How come Roni is not coming with you?" Mia asked Sylvia.

"He can't. With both William and Marcel gone, he's the only one left to run the lab."

"What about Kaia? Is she coming with us?" Toven asked.

William shook his head. "I'll miss her, but I didn't want to endanger her." He glanced at Mia.

"I can protect my mate." Toven crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, Mia is crucial to the success of this operation. She enhances my compulsion power and, at the same time, makes it easier on the compelled."

"I know. Kian told me." William turned to look at Mia and gave her the thumbs up. "You have a very cool talent."

"Thank you."

"Go, Mia." Sylvia lifted her hand for Mia to high-five her.

"Go, Sylvia." Mia clapped her hand. "Your talent is one of a kind as well."

Sylvia could disable electronics, but regrettably, she could only do that in close proximity. She couldn't disable the compound's electricity grid or its cellular tower.