same videos and dire warnings on every one of them. What surprised him were the orders that no one must harm him and Loquan. Whatever had happened with the AI and nanites, the elites wanted it badly.
“No mention of the staff deaths, but then I wouldn’t expect them to admit they got their asses kicked,” Loquan sneered and turned back to her food. “So, they can’t track our chips anymore, the kill switches are dead, and this place is off the grid. It’s a great base of operations for us.”
Cindrac nodded slowly, having already thought the same thing but unsure if he wanted to trust Loquan. There was something about her rage and the energy around her that left Cin wary of the woman.
“We need to think this through and make plans,” Cindrac warned. “If we just react, we could end up right back in their hands, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather die than be their slave or experiment again.”
Loquan laughed, held her arms out to her side, and tilted her head back. Within seconds, she was glowing a muted white color and levitating nearly a foot above her chair. Cin stopped himself from flinching when she lowered her head and stared at him with her creepy, hateful eyes.
“Can’t you feel the power inside of you?” Loquan sneered. “Or am I the one who has to lead?”
It was a bold challenge, and Cindrac knew he had no choice but to respond. Instinctively, Cin knew that the woman would abuse any sign of weakness, and he had no intention of becoming a slave to her madness.
Calling on the voice in his head and the energy he could feel coursing through his veins, Cindrac shocked himself by levitating to the arch of the vaulted ceiling. Without looking down at Loquan, he threw out his hands and turned on every electronic device in the house.
Cin had no idea how he was doing any of it but couldn’t help but notice what appeared to be computer code flashing through his mind as he did. Knowing there had to be a correlation to it, Cindrac asked the energy to turn everything off and lower him to the floor.
“I’ve been a soldier for twenty-seven years,” Cin growled back, his eyes sparking with power on their own. “I can more than lead, but I’m also smart enough to know that even the most powerful will be defeated by arrogance and lack of planning.”
Loquan haughtily tilted her chin then looked down at her bowl. “I can see the logic in what you’re saying. So, where do we start? The elite overlords? Their precious families? The minions or labs?”
Knowing he needed to head this off pretty quick, Cin hoped to distract her with his next words. “Do you know how big this planet is? How many landmasses? The elites are scattered throughout the world. It will take time to find them, and we need to gather resources.”
Rage flashed in Loquan’s eyes before she hid it and turned to the TV screen. It lit up, and within seconds, information regarding Earth’s landmasses and the transportation options to get to each of them began to scroll across the screen.
Cindrac observed the woman as Loquan read the information he’d had to learn as a soldier. For the first time in his life, Cin was glad the overlords didn’t allow slaves to know anything that wasn’t associated with their ability to work their assigned job and exist. It gave him time to think.
“I don’t know who you are in my head, but now would be a good time to help me out here,” Cindrac whispered in his mind. “This woman is crazy and will get me killed. I just want peace.”
Cin nearly jumped when his eyes flashed through Loquan’s vital signs and lines of computer code that he was oddly beginning to understand. What he got from it was frightening.
If Cin was reading the information correctly, Loquan had an undiagnosed brain anomaly that made her susceptible to mental instability. The nanites, programmed only to enhance the brain and other chips, didn’t heal the problem but made it worse.
Years of self-control enabled Cin to hide the horror of his discovery from the powerful psychopath across from him. As much as he felt sorry for the woman, Cindrac refused to allow her to destroy him or take away the only peace and beauty he’d ever known.
While Loquan studied the information he already knew, Cin allowed his nanites to travel the elite