The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 46: Armageddon

"And create such a massive breach in the humans' security that the other quarter as well as the trigger team will get clean away," Lash tightly retorted. "Not to mention turn this place into a complete circus, which will impede our efforts and hamper our ability to fulfill the mission."

"I ... copy that, Alpha Leader." Tahsis said after a brief pause. "Standing by." The blue dot winked out, leaving Bennett to continue towards the building, completely unaware of how his life had just dangled by a thread.

Lash breathed a soft sigh of relief. Vampire blood ran hot, especially on the eve of battle. While his second was usually level headed and dependable, this event was enough to get even the most calm and reasonable of them all, overly excited. He had to act quickly and decisively to make sure Tahsis didn't get out of control. Dropping moles would be quite enough to blow their cover and good!

While they might have killed a good number of them, Alpha Team would've abruptly found itself the target of the security forces the humans had put in place, instead of the Brotherhood, as the humans reacted to what was going on. Thankfully he was able to trigger Tahsis' Qos Viran training by reminding him of the mission and their duty. It had been enough to cool the wiry vampire's battle lust. For the moment ...

Lash wasn't the only one to breathe a sigh of relief. Dee heaved one as soon as she watched the blue dot of Tahsis' laser sights vanish. They didn't need an impetuous vampire turning the grounds into a shooting gallery! The chaos that would create could seriously damage their attempt at stopping the Brotherhood before they could strike. And that was something the entire human race didn't need right now!

Then she was once again completely professional, calm, cool and collected.

"Alpha Leader, this is Alpha Two. The delegates are making their way to the final security checkpoint before entering the conference center main building." The tall redhead, sheathed in black and almost invisible in the rapidly approaching night, eased away from the checkpoint she had been helping to man to fall in behind the last of the delegates.

"I've taken up position at the rear of the delegate formation and will follow them into the building to confirm their placement in the main conference hall."

"Alpha Leader, this is Alpha Four," Duffy's voice crackled into Dee's ear as she continued carefully forward, eyes open wide to take in as much detail about the delegates as possible.

"We have secured the five access points out of the building and have moved into our standby positions, awaiting final deployment."

"Copy that, Alpha Two and Alpha Four." Dee nodded in satisfaction as Lash's voice acknowledged both her and Duffy. "The rest of you stand by. This is going to happen quick!"

"Quick, huh?" Dee grumbled nearly three hours later as she leaned against a column, one of a number running around the edge of the massive main conference hall currently packed to the rafters with conference delegates. A low murmur filled the room as the last seminar wrapped up from the stand, a large construct at the north end of the chamber.

But before the lean redhead could even check her watch for the hundredth time to confirm the brutally slow passage of time, her earpiece came alive with a hiss.

"Heads up, Alpha Team," Lash hissed. "We're coming up on the final photo opportunity and the Brotherhood's last chance to make a move with all the players in position. Five minutes and counting!"

"Five minutes nothing," Duffy's voice snarled on the heels of Lash's last words. "We've got movement from the trigger team. Looks like they're moving into final positions!"