Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,9

“Who were you talking to?”

“Amanda. I asked her to cancel the auction for tonight.”

“Did she agree?”

“Yes, which means that I can stay a little longer.”

The smile that spread over Marla’s face had sex written all over it. “I’m glad.”

“I thought that maybe we could watch a movie or just talk.”

“Not my idea of fun. Come, the steaks are almost ready.” She smirked. “Let’s revisit the plans for tonight after you eat.”

6

Kian

“Turner should be here any minute.” Kian motioned for William to take a seat at the conference table. “Would you like something to drink?”

“What are you offering?”

He opened the sideboard that served as his bar. “Sparkling water, beer, and whiskey.”

“I’ll take a beer.”

Expecting that Turner would like one too, Kian pulled out three bottles of Snake Venom. When he’d spoken with him earlier, Turner had sounded stressed, which was unusual. The guy had nerves of steel, remaining calm and collected even when everything around him was going to shit.

But maybe his agitation had nothing to do with his work and was personal in nature. Turner’s daughter-in-law was expecting a second child, and Kian had heard from Syssi that there had been some complications. Hopefully, everything was okay over there, but it wasn’t as if Kian would ask Turner about it.

The guy didn’t like sharing details about his private or professional life.

Perhaps he could ask Syssi to talk with Bridget.

Damn, he was turning into a busybody like Anandur. It was none of his damn business.

Except, Syssi would probably disagree. She was trying to teach him how to appear more compassionate and involved in his people’s lives, and a big part of it was asking questions.

The problem was that it required finesse that Kian lacked. He never knew what constituted prying and what was acceptable as genuine concern, which meant that he usually tried to avoid personal matters.

At nearly two thousand years of age, he wasn’t going to change, no matter how hard his wife was working on it.

When a knock sounded at the door, Kian put the bottles down on the table. “Come in.”

“Good afternoon.” Turner walked in, put his briefcase on one chair, and sat on the next one over. “I could use a cold one.” He lifted a bottle, popped the cap, and took a sip.

“Rough day?” William asked.

“In my business, every day is rough.” He smiled at Kian. “I consider the things I do for the clan a pleasant reprieve.”

“Good.” Kian sat down. “It makes me feel less guilty about asking for your help while you refuse to get paid for your services.”

“I owe you big time.”

Kian waved a dismissive hand. “You’ve repaid your debt to the clan ten times over already. What you do now is purely voluntary.”

Turner leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I place a much higher value on my immortal life than on my services. So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

The guy wasn’t one for chitchat, and Kian appreciated that.

“Long-range acoustic devices and our vulnerability to them. If two old humans could come up with the brilliant idea of using sound technology against us, then Navuh could figure it out as well. It’s more effective on us than any other kind of weapon, especially if the intent is to take us alive.”

“Navuh would need to find us first,” William said. “And then he would have to get close enough to deploy the weapon.”

“Can it be used from a helicopter?” Kian asked. “Or several of them at once?”

William pushed his glasses up his nose. “It would probably need to hover nearly at ground level. I’m not an expert on acoustics.”

“So it’s possible. What if he discovers our location and deploys several helicopters at once?”

“Then we are screwed.” William crossed his arms over his chest. “But I can design a defense system for shooting them down.”

Turner put his bottle down. “If everyone is on the floor with ear damage, who is going to operate the defense system?”

“I can design a program that deploys attack drones in response to sounds above certain decibels.”

Turner shook his head. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to have one of the Guardians wear earplugs? Naturally, it should be the one responsible for the attack drones. The problem I see with shooting down helicopters over the village is that people would get hurt, property would be destroyed, and containment would be a bitch.”

“True.” Kian raked his fingers through his hair. “Any other suggestions?”

“I can design a signal disrupter that will disable the helicopters’ electronic systems,” William suggested. “But the result