Page 47 of Dark Gambit Reliance

The Guardian shrugged. "I think she can sense the devices. The neat thing about her ability is that she can disable them one at a time, just long enough for our van to pass through. Whoever is watching the feed would assume that the cameras are glitching."

"Is it common for surveillance cameras to glitch?" Mia asked.

"They can lag," Morris said. "It depends on their quality and the quality of the network they are connected to. They can experience latency due to the speed of the decoding and encoding process or the data's travel time over the network."

Mia pursed her lips. "That went straight over my head."

Yamanu grinned. "Mine too. Morris is just parroting what William told him."

The pilot snorted. "Don't assume that everyone is as ignorant about technology as you are."

Yamanu and Morris kept at it as if they were on a field trip and not about to abduct a dangerous pureblood, and even Mia joined in as if nothing dangerous was about to happen.

It had been decided that the Guardians who were coming at the Kra-ell through the woods would tranquilize all three but leave the hybrids inside the tunnel. They would stage them so they wouldn't look asleep in the camera's view and only take the pureblood to the van. Two Guardians would remain with the hybrids to make sure that they didn't wake up too soon, and another two would bring the tranquilized pureblood to the van for interrogation.

From the outside the vehicle appeared like an old, beat-up Russian make from the eighties, but on the inside it was kitted out with modern equipment. If Sylvia failed to disable any of the cameras, the van wouldn't look too suspicious.

They needed to stop the van far away from the tunnel's entrance so the guards wouldn't hear the engine, and as they veered off the path into the woods, Sylvia continued walking straight ahead.

She still had to disable the camera right at the entrance.

The maneuver required precise coordination and was probably the most dangerous part of the operation.

The snipers hiding in the woods would have to fire the tranquilizer darts a moment after Sylvia took care of the camera, and then they had to stage the two sleeping hybrids in a way that would just show their backs.

The Guardians had been observing the three guards for two days, and they had behaved like any other guards who didn't expect anyone to inspect them or any enemy to suddenly appear. They were complacent. They sat on foldable chairs, watched movies on their phones, played card games, drank booze, and smoked what was probably weed.

The Guardians hadn't gotten close enough to smell it.

Twenty minutes or so passed when Yamanu said, "On my mark, Sylvia. Now."

Mia squeezed Toven's hand as they waited for the Guardians to report.

"It's done," Yamanu said. "Bobbie and Drake are on their way with the pureblood."

They were communicating via earpieces, but Toven hadn't been given one, and he hadn't asked for it. The men knew what they were doing, and they didn't need his input. His job was to remove the compulsion and interrogate the pureblood.

"Is Sylvia coming back with Bobbie and Drake?" Mia asked.

"No," Yamanu said. "She's staying with the two Guardians at the tunnel. The one carrying the pureblood is running through the woods to avoid the cameras."

Yamanu collected the titanium chains, opened the door, and stepped out of the van.

The Guardian carrying the Kra-ell male appeared at a dead run mere minutes later. "Son of a bitch is already waking up." He dropped him on the ground. "Hurry up."

"No worries, buddy." Yamanu knelt next to the Kra-ell. "I've got him."

Toven stepped out of the van, ready to assist if needed, but Yamanu had the pureblood hogtied and propped against the van in seconds.

The male's eyelashes fluttered for a split second, and then he opened his enormous eyes and hissed,"Kto ti?"

"My name is Tom," Toven answered in English. He could conduct the interrogation in Russian, but if the guard spoke English, the others could take part in it too. "What's yours?" Toven used the full power of his compulsion, and with Mia in the van right behind him, she was enhancing it further.

The pureblood's black eyes flickered red.

Was red a sign of aggression or of fear?

Toven had forgotten.