Page 8 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope
"Of course." Tamira couldn't meet her eyes. "I'll gather my things."
"You have to talk to her," Eluheed murmured as soon as they had gotten a few feet away. "Not now, but soon. Otherwise, this will eat away at you."
He was right, of course. But how could she confront someone she'd trusted absolutely and discovered that she had lied to her?
On the drive back, Tamira sat between Sarah and Liliat, half-listening to their conversation about the restorative properties of seawater while her mind churned through everything she'd learned.
"You're very quiet," Sarah observed. "Did the sun tire you out?"
"A little," Tamira lied. "It's been a long day."
"It was the best day in forever," Liliat said with a satisfied sigh. "I feel more alive than I have in years."
Alive.
That was part of what Tamira felt as well. The possibility that her son lived, even if she could never see him, never know him, changed everything. He'd found freedom.
But Areana's betrayal tainted Tamira's joy.
How could she have remained silent about something so monumental?
4
NAVUH
Navuh stood before the reinforced glass and metal bars, studying the sand-filled enclosure in the basement with satisfaction.
Fifty tons of carefully leveled sand had been delivered to complete the climate-controlled environment needed to maintain perfect conditions. This was his insurance policy, though no one else knew what lay beneath the sand and what it insured against.
Out of all his possessions, this was probably the most valuable one, even though he might never trade it, but that was the nature of insurance policies.
The construction had been completed just before the rebellion, and he'd been concerned that the enhanced soldiers might discover it during their rampage, but if they had managed to get into the basement, he would have bigger problems to worry about than his insurance policy expiring.
Thankfully, that disaster had been averted, but the problem was far from solved. He still needed to deal with the enhancedsoldiers, both those imprisoned on the island and those who were still at large, scattered around the world where he had dispatched them.
There were those who remained active in Iran, embedded within the Revolutionary Guard, while others were positioned near key government officials in Egypt, and still others were scattered across major cities in the United States.
Or rather, there had been that many. The clan had significantly reduced their numbers.
Turning around, Navuh headed back to his office, and as he climbed the stairs, his mind churned.
How had Annani's cursed offspring found his soldiers and eliminated them?
Was there an informant in his organization?
He had suspected Lokan, but he'd kept Lokan in the dark about the whole program, so he couldn't have been the snitch, and Navuh had no other suspects.
How had they known?
Sitting behind his desk, he drummed his fingers on its glossy surface, the rhythm matching his agitation. The placement of the enhanced soldiers had been known only to him and a select few commanders, whom he had no reason to mistrust.
The only explanation that made sense was that the clan had a seer. Someone like Elias, who could glimpse possible futures but with more precision. They had known precisely where to find the different cells and had not only taken them out simultaneously but had also been prepared to deal with the enhanced ones.
What kind of a seer could do that?
If the planned attacks had been successfully executed, it would have triggered World War III, and in the aftermath, humanity would have been so weakened that it would have been ripe for the taking. The damn clan had prevented a global catastrophe without the world even knowing it had been threatened.
No matter. This was the nature of things. Not every plan came to fruition, and out of those, only a small fraction turned out the way he had envisioned them.
