Page 90 of Dark Gambit Reliance

Regrettably, there was no chance that Valstar would stay down for an hour and a half. His body would regenerate the blood faster than that.

She would have to drain him at least two more times.

"Dear Mother of All Life, please, give me strength to do what I must."

She also needed to light the fire in the trash can to signal Tom that everything was going as planned. Hopefully, Pavel had already incapacitated Boris and got it ready for her.

62

MARCEL

Marcel tried to get comfortable in the so-called command post, which was a beat-up old soviet-era armored personnel carrier that William had filled with so much equipment that there was barely any room for them to sit.

They were parked inside the last tunnel, hidden from the compound's watch towers until it was time to attack.

Bhathian sat up front with the Guardian driving the vehicle, and in the back William, Morris, and Charlie sat in front of their electronic equipment.

He and Sylvia were all the way in the back, crowded in the little space that remained behind William's enormous console, but unlike Roni's mate, who had a job to do, Marcel wasn't sure why Bhathian had stationed him in the command post of the tunnel team.

He had no special task assigned to him.

Bhathian just didn't want him to be in the first wave of Guardians storming the compound because he hadn't had enough practice with the exoskeleton suit. It was bullshit because he had as much practice as Kalugal's men, and they were going in the first wave.

Bottom line, he was there to observe, to keep Sofia updated, and when the active Guardians and Kalugal's men took control of the compound, he was to help with collecting the Kra-ell's tranquilized bodies and taking them somewhere to be locked up.

He was also in charge of the tranquilized tunnel guards, who were bound and gagged in the last truck of the convoy. They would also need to be moved to a secure location once the compound was taken.

By one-thirty in the morning, both teams were at their designated positions, waiting for William to take down the compound's communications.

Onegus’s calm voice sounded in Marcel's earpiece. "The countdown starts in fifteen minutes. Last equipment check."

"On it, boss." Marcel heard Yamanu and Bhathian’s nearly simultaneous replies.

Bhathian headed the tunnel team, as they called it, and Yamanu headed the river team, which would attack from the hunting grounds' side.

"William?" Onegus asked.

"I'm ready," William said. "I'm checking my equipment."

"Pilots?"

"I'm ready," Charlie said. "I just hope this old bird and the soviet bunker-busting munitions will do the job."

The plan was for the two Russian military drones that Turner's contact procured to launch a simultaneous missile attack, blowing off the gates at both ends of the compound along with sections of the fortified wall flanking them. Both openings needed to be wide enough for roughly forty men in exoskeletons to make it through all at once and get in position in under fifteen seconds.

"The drones will do fine," Morris said. "My concern is not that they won't suffice for the job, but rather that they will prove too powerful and create a crater and a debris field that will make it harder for the teams to get in position within the tight window of time they’ve got. But that's what we have, so let's hope they will do the job."

"I did what I could with them." William leaned back in his seat. "At least the guiding system is top-notch."

Onegus sounded again. "Is everything ready?"

Morris replied. "Everything is a go on my and Charlie's end. The birds are circling in the ten-mile radius. You give the signal, and the birds will be on target. Missiles are armed, and we will launch both at precisely 2:00 as planned. To all the hotshots listening, you need to stay back and enjoy the fireworks from a safe distance."

Yamanu cackled in Marcel's ears. "I just hope that you remember how to shoot. Did you practice with Parker on his new game console as I told you to? I bet he kicked your ass. The kid can fly these things better than you and Charlie. Hell, I can do a better job than you."

"I can beat both Parker and you blindfolded," Charlie said.

Marcel could hear the muted laughter coming from both teams. Yamanu's teasing was the perfect antidote for the pre-battle jitters everyone was feeling.