Page 101 of Heart of Dawn
“I’m convinced it’s his name, surname first,” Paige said. “Got a feeling.”
James nodded, lines creasing his forehead. “If only we had five chances.”
“Go with Paige’s theory,” Miko ordered.
Paige possessed a handy skill of reading faces, making her a great judge of character. Did that spill over into her other hunches being correct?
I guess we’d find out.
“Noted,” James said. “If it fails, I’ll try the numerical code.” He cleared his throat. “My answer is Hayes, Henry.”
“Confirmed,” the voice answered. “Thank you, Henry Hayes. Please enter the facility. This door will close in sixty seconds.”
James gave Paige the thumbs up. “Always knew you were a genius.”
“Oh, stop.” She giggled.
Using your name as a password into a hidden facility seemed risky. But wasn’t that the point, to divert nefarious assbugs down more complicated routes?
The next corridor’s lights were brighter, the metal grating replaced by smooth steel. Well, blood-stained steel from the sea of carnage everywhere.
We carried on, taking down more slowies, coming to a quadrant with four open-plan offices attached to it. Paperwork was strewn across the floor, along with some USB sticks, a couple of laptops, and even a box of rotten cupcakes.
I picked up a couple of the USBs, just in case they might be useful later.
A corridor curved to the right, a sign indicating the direction of elevators and stairs.
Cate bent to pick up a file. “Look at this.” She brushed dust from the top, peeling back the pink cardboard cover. “It’s about Dawn.”
“What does it say?” Miko asked, commanding his replicas to form a circle and watch.
They saluted as they obeyed.
I pushed aside an absolutely filthy idea of a multi-Miko gangbang with me at the center of the action.
“Seems to be a diary documenting Dawn’s progress.” She turned through the pages. “Says it’s going well, that it’s almost ready. They’re concerned about the godly essence of Ammit.”
Real Miko moved closer. “Who is Ammit?”
“Ancient Egyptian goddess,” Paige answered. “Or Devourer of the Dead, as she was also known. Said to be feared rather than worshipped.” She looked at me and winked. “I know some Ancient Egyptian mythology.”
“Oh.”
“Her essence was used to make Dawn?” Miko wondered. “Is that even possible?”
“Would explain Dawn’s control over the dead somewhat,” James offered.
Cate read on for a few minutes. “‘Ammit might not have been the best choice,’” she quoted. “‘I advised Henry and his team to flood Lab 8 with the dilutant we made with the fae blood. It’s not the antidote we hoped for, but it can suppress the entity’s greater quantities.’”
So, my blood wasn’t a cure, but a resistant? That answered many questions while snatching any hope of aiding humanity’s return in the process. After the display on the Woolwich Ferry, part of me hoped we could restore some of the humans, heal their crumbling bodies without Dawn inside them.
How utterly heartbreaking.
Cate continued to read. “‘Using the essence of a goddess is a danger. I have always resisted this discovery. I wanted to lock them all away—especially after the results had the entity favoring human blood. Those tests were dangerous. Thank goodness supernaturals display some resistance for the time being.’”
That explained why Dawn went for humans.
Shit.
