Page 81 of Dark Shaman: Love Found
"I wouldn't know." Lokan bent to kiss her cheek. "You look as lovely as ever, sister of mine."
It still tickled him to say that, and she didn't mind it.
Kalugal, on the other hand, didn't like it one bit. "Are you going to let us in? Or are we going to stand out here until the food arrives?"
Jacki rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. He's been bouncing off the walls all day." She handed Carol the container. "I brought dessert. Homemade baklava, compliments of Atzil."
"It smells amazing," Carol said, peeking inside. "And they look amazing too."
"Atzil is on a mission to perfect the recipe," Kalugal said. "We have enough pastries at home to feed an army, but since we are in fact feeding an army, that's perfect."
They settled around the enormous coffee table, which often doubled as a dinner table.
"Carol mentioned that you're buying an island," Lokan said.
Kalugal's face lit up. "I am, and it's not just any island. It's the perfect one. Wait until you hear this. But first, let's pour this wine."
Carol brought the glasses, and Kalugal uncorked and poured the wine.
"It's in the Indian Ocean, a little over three hundred miles from Father's," he said, handing Lokan a glass. "It's a former mining operation, so it has all the infrastructure, including a thirty-five-hundred-foot airstrip."
Lokan was still stuck on the first piece of information Kalugal had provided. "You want to build something that close to Passion Island?"
"Isn't that perfect? I'm taking a page from the clan's book about hiding in plain sight. One private island among hundreds. Navuh will never notice."
"Or he'll notice immediately and have everyone there slaughtered."
"He's not going to find out who is on that island and why." Kalugal's excitement was infectious, but Lokan was trying not to get swept away in his brother's enthusiasm.
"What are you planning to do with that island, spy on him?"
"Better. We're building an army. Humans in exoskeletons that can match even enhanced immortals' strength. We already have all the technology we need, and we can build a formidable army in months instead of the years it will take to create smart robots to fight for us." Kalugal tapped his temple. "The solution was right in front of us, but it took thinking outside the box to see it."
"I thought the robots were thinking outside the box," Lokanmurmured. "But you are right about this idea being much simpler to execute."
"The clan has exoskeletons on hand, but they were built to immortal specifications. We need to build suits with similar capabilities but lighter and easier to maneuver so humans can use them. That solves the problem of scarcity. We can have as many warriors as we can pay for, and with the exoskeletons, they can match Father's enhanced soldiers."
"What about the thralling?" Lokan asked. "The immortals can easily thrall the humans to stand down."
The hesitation in his brother's eyes revealed that he hadn't thought of that.
"They won't know who's inside the suits. They would assume it's the clan and won't even attempt to thrall them."
Lokan shook his head. "That's not a strategy, Kalugal."
Kalugal's face fell. "You are right. The humans will need special training to resist thralling, or they will have to be drugged with something that will shield their minds." He shook his head. "I don't know how I didn't think of that. Kian didn't either. I had a feeling we were missing something."
"You can solve the problem quite easily," Carol said.
"How?" Kalugal looked at her with hope in his eyes.
"We know that Russians can resist thralling more than any other nationality, and I include Ukrainians in that. I know both would strangle me for saying that they are the samepeople, but they are. You can sift through them and find the ones who are the most resistant."
"Right now, there is a shortage of Russian and Ukrainian fighters," Jacki said.
"We don't need that many, and we can find enough prospects among Russian expats," Lokan said. "It's a great idea to recruit people who are naturally more resistant to thralling, and Turner can help with that."
Perhaps he was clutching at straws, but Lokan wasn't willing to give up on the sense of hope that Kalugal had brought about with his deceptively simple idea.
