Page 85 of Dark Gambit Reliance

Yamanu shrugged. "It was a last-minute thing. Since we left two Guardians with Mia and Sofia, I had two extra exoskeletons. Besides, Kalugal's men didn't have a chance to practice wearing them either, so you won't be the only one who will look like an astronaut trying to walk on the moon."

"You could have started with that, you know. I was under the impression that everyone had practiced walking with them."

"The exoskeletons are our design, and this is our first joint mission with Kalugal's men, which was decided on about forty hours ago. When and where would Kalugal's men have had a chance to practice fighting with the suits on?"

"I'm new to the clan, remember? I didn't know that you've never fought side by side with them before."

"Right." Yamanu nodded. "You seem such an integral part of the clan that it is easy to forget you are a newcomer."

"Thank you." Toven smiled at the Guardian. "That was actually a nice compliment."

"You're welcome."

"By the way, do you know how William is going to disrupt the communications? It occurred to me that the compound might use landlines or a satellite like the clan does."

"There are no landlines," Yamanu said. "William checked, and there are no landlines anywhere in the vicinity of the compound. The Kra-ell have a huge antenna that's very cleverly camouflaged to look like an enormous tree. According to William, all wireless devices are susceptible to radio frequency interference, and he will scramble them with his gadget." Yamanu flashed him a smile. "Don't ask me to explain the how and why. I'm just repeating what he told me."

"I know how it works." Toven leaned his head against the vehicle's side wall. "Because of that, he can isolate the signal going to the clan’s satellite so we will retain the ability to communicate while the Kra-ell will not."

"I'll take your word for it." Yamanu crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's just hope that our drone spots smoke coming from the roof of the office building. It will be a shame if we have to fold after making all this effort."

"Not to mention the expense," Toven said. "Kian might need my help to cover the costs."

Yamanu cast him a sidelong glance. "That's very generous of you to offer. What will you ask for in return?"

"I already have all I need, but I might negotiate with Syssi for full ownership of Perfect Match."

Yamanu pursed his lips. "I don't know what all the fuss is about. I can understand why people with mobility issues can benefit from it, but I prefer my adventures to be real, not virtual."

"That's because you already have your perfect match. But perhaps you and Mey would like to spend a romantic vacation that neither of you has the time for. You can experience up to three weeks of curated adventure in the span of three hours, and it can be the wildest thing either of you has ever imagined. Not only that, but artificial intelligence might also surprise you with more than you've bargained for. The adventure that Mia and I shared was only loosely based on what we both asked for, and it was incredible."

The Guardian looked intrigued. "I'll have to talk it over with Mey."

59

JADE

"Wear something nice, he said." Jade smoothed her hand over her leather pants. "I'll show him nice."

The truth was that she looked hot, and the covetous glances she got from males as she strode toward the office building confirmed that.

Valstar hadn't been too upset about the change in their appointment time. In fact, he'd looked relieved. Jade doubted that he'd been concerned with losing work time to accommodate her request for an afternoon assignation, and when she'd moved the appointment, he'd been glad that it would be after hours.

His obvious preference for the nighttime probably had more to do with Igor not checking in and interrupting their session.

The downside was that she needed to spend more time with Valstar than she'd originally planned. The attack was scheduled for two at night, but she couldn't justify showing up at his place later than ten, and she had to keep him incapacitated during all that time, which meant repeatedly draining him.

At the thought, bile rose in her throat.

That alone should be enough of a punishment to atone for all her sins and failures, of which there were many.

The drug was already mixed inside the vodka that the humans distilled from potatoes in their section of the compound, and she’d brought cranberry juice to mix with the vodka so Valstar wouldn't taste the powder.

The guard at the door lifted his hand to stop her. "What do you have there?"

"What does it look like?"

"Is it vodka?"