Page 51 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

Kian was about to say that it wasn't necessary, but after a pointed look from Syssi, he nodded. "Right now, I'm just going to call them and schedule a time. Go home and freshen up. I'll let you know when and where the meeting will take place."

Thankfully, neither Jasmine nor Ell-rom demanded to be present as well.

34

MAX

When Max followed Kian into Onegus's office, Turner was already there. They were fortunate that it was a Sunday and the strategist was home. Otherwise, they would have been forced to wait for him to return to the village from his downtown office or meet him there.

Noting how the chief's usually pristine desk was covered in mission reports and personnel files, it was clear to Max that Onegus was also working overtime instead of resting on the weekend, probably because of all the extra work he had with establishing the new division.

The guy needed an assistant, and the clan needed more Guardians, but there were no more to be had. There wouldn't be any in the foreseeable future, unless they revived the Doomers they had placed in stasis and compelled them to join the clan in the fight to improve humanity, instead of their original programming that called for enslaving it.

In fact, that wasn't such a bad idea. Toven might not agree to lead a mercenary army with his compulsion power, but now they had Drova on the force, and Igor's daughter might not be as squeamish about who she led. On the other hand, she wasn't all that trustworthy either, so possibly that wasn't such a great idea.

"Kian, Max," Onegus said, rising to greet them. "Please sit down." He gestured to the vacant chairs across from his desk, the third occupied by Turner. "So let me get this straight." He cast a tired look at Kian. "You want to assemble a rescue team to get Jasmine's mother out of an Iranian prison?"

Kian nodded and looked at Turner. "In my opinion, it will be easier to infiltrate them and do whatever we want there than it was to run the rescue operation in the heart of Russia. They are poorly organized, and the people are very responsive to bribes. The problem is that we don't have time to prepare. We must assemble a team before Kyra is taken to the Doomers' island. Once she's there, getting her out will be nearly impossible."

Onegus arched a brow. "The Doomers' island?"

"Yeah." Kian leaned his elbow on his knee and his chin on his fist and relayed the main points of the conversation they'd had earlier and the conclusions they'd arrived at. While Onegus was listening with an unreadable expression, Turner was taking notes.

When he was done, Onegus sighed. "I understand the urgency, but I can't spare any Guardians right now. With the force split into two teams and some guarding the prisoners in the keep," he glanced at Max, "I just don't have enough fighters. This mission will need more than two or three Guardians. You need a large team to storm a compound that might have several Doomers operating within its walls. It's also not a quick operation thatcan be done in a day. Taking flight times into account, we are talking three days at the minimum, probably four. I would have to cancel a lot of missions to give you what you need."

Turner shifted in his chair. "What about the Kra-ell? I mean the ones who are not yet serving on the force."

Onegus turned to look at him. "They have no training."

"Actually, they do," Turner said. "Just not Guardian training. They trained in Igor's compound, and they're natural warriors, stronger and faster than immortals, and they're also resistant to thralling and compulsion. There is no one better to fight Doomers."

Onegus shook his head. "They trained with swords, staffs, and hunting rifles in Igor's compound, and they obeyed his commands because he was a compeller and gave them no choice. They are undisciplined, and we can't provide them with even rudimentary weapons training."

Kian waved a dismissive hand. "They are natural soldiers, and if I get Jade or Kagra to come along, they will keep them in line. The problem is their appearance. They're too distinctively alien—too tall and too thin. Their enormous black eyes can be hidden with big sunglasses, and we can put them in baggy clothes, but that's a good disguise for one person. A group of extremely tall and thin people all wearing sunglasses would look suspicious, and since we are sending them to Iran, it's not like we can put them in team uniforms and present them as a Chinese basketball team."

"You can put them in Revolutionary Guard uniforms," Turner said. "Even if they look suspicious, no one will dare to ask them anything."

"That's an option." Onegus leaned back. "I can also spare Yamanu, and he can shroud everyone. I only use him occasionally when massive thralling and shrouding are necessary, and I don't have anything of that size planned for next week."

Having Yamanu on the team was a game changer, and Max was glad the head Guardian was available. The downside was that Yamanu would get to lead the team, and Max had hoped to do that.

"There's another advantage to using Kra-ell warriors," Kian said. "Their presence doesn't trigger a warning response in other immortal males."

"That's a good point." Onegus turned his screen to show them a roster of available Kra-ell. "Would you consider taking some of the females?"

Kian usually didn't like sending females on missions that involved Doomers. Still, given that Kra-ell pureblooded females could handle themselves against the most vicious of Navuh's males, he might be okay with that.

The boss winced but then let out a breath and nodded. "I need to get over my instinctive resistance to including females in combat missions, and the best way to do that is by reminding myself that Jade saved me from Igor. I've never seen anyone move like that. The Doomers wouldn't know what hit them. But that will be up to Jade, of course."

"Right," Onegus agreed, then a grin spread over his face. "Can we equip the Kra-ell females with personal cameras and record the Doomers' reactions?"

Kian snorted. "I like the way you think, chief."

"There's one more thing to consider," Turner said, his expression serious. "If we're right about Doomers being involved, this could be bigger than a simple rescue mission. It could be a good opportunity to gather intelligence about their regional operations. So, if at all possible, we may want to consider grabbing at least one of them, preferably the leader, and bringing him back to the keep for interrogation."

Kian nodded. "An excellent suggestion, Turner."

It was, but putting a Doomer in stasis in the middle of a battle would be tricky. Perhaps they should bring tranquilizing darts with them. The other problem would be making the Kra-ell use them. Those people were vicious predators, and once they smelled blood, they wouldn't stop to consider who they were going to kill and who they were going to capture.

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