It crossed Ryan’s mind that he should follow Harvey. He felt sure that the sec chief could lead him to his son. But now wasn’t the right time.
So Harvey was alone as he stalked the passages and tunnels of Raw. His mind raced. Time was suddenly running short on him, and he had to find Jenna.
She was planning to depose her husband, and although she hadn’t planned to make her move yet, Harvey was sure that this would have to change.
He approached the corridor at the end of which stood the metal door. It was as he turned the corner that he found Jenna locking Dean in the lab.
“Listen, we’ve got trouble,” he began in a low, tense voice, too worried to bother with preliminaries.
“You think I don’t know that?” she replied as she turned to face him. “I’ve just had an immense psychic wave throw me off balance. What have you done, Harv?”
The sec chief looked puzzled. “I’ve just chilled Sunchild before he could say anything about you. How the fuck he knew, and how you know—”
“My bastard mutie taint,” she muttered savagely, halting him. “Feelie like him. I always knew that bad blood would bring trouble on me.”
“Well, it’s gonna fall like a hard rain now. We need to do something.”
“Then the time has come,” she said decisively. “Did you get the nuke?”
“Yeah. Alien’s got it stored away, doin’ that while I dealt with that mutie scum.”
“Then we need it. If we have that, then we have the power. Order your men to seize it and await further orders from me.”
“Whoa there, babe,” Harvey said hurriedly. “I don’t know if they’ll all go for it. Yeah, they’re loyal to me, but only because we’re under Alien. I can guarantee a few, but others…” he shrugged, thinking of the attitude he had seen in Blake and Downey.
“Then we need reinforcements. Ryan Cawdor and his people. They’re good fighters, and he’s a strong leader.”
Harvey narrowed his eyes. “Yeah? Just you remember who’s gonna be at your right hand, woman.”
“Oh, I know that very well.” She smiled. “But we need help to get there, sweetie. Now all you’ve got to do is get Ryan Cawdor—alone—to me, and let me do the rest.”
She pulled Harvey to her and kissed him. It never failed, and once more the sec chief was a pliable tool for her games. However, her thoughts as they kissed were far from him, far from any desire other than power.
RYAN HAD GATHERED his troops in the unit they had been allocated. Jak had sped through the twisting tunnels of the ville to find J.B. and take him away from the party that had secured the nuke in its new port of storage. Alien had been in conference with Jake about mounting a sentry on the storeroom, and then Downey and Blake had arrived to report to their baron, so it had been easy for Jak to whisper in the Armorer’s ear, and for J.B. to melt away from the crowd.
Doc had gathered Mildred and Krysty from the medical unit, a task made easier by the fact that the majority of wounded had now been dealt with. He alluded to Ryan’s urgency in a way that had confused them, but convinced them that something was wrong.
And now they were together. Ryan outlined the situation he, Jak and Doc had witnessed. When he finished, Mildred shook her head slowly.
“We’ve got big trouble now. How the hell are we going to find Dean and still keep our backs covered for when the shit hits it?”
“The only thing to do is play it as it rolls,” Ryan replied. “We can’t plan anything at this stage, as we don’t know how Alien will play things. It also depends on Harvey’s next move.”
“Funny say that,” Jak murmured from his position by the curtain that kept them private from the tunnel outside. He was keeping watch, and had caught the sound of a familiar footstep echoing through the tunnel.
Harvey entered the unit without any invitation or apology. “Cyclops, Alien wants to see you right now. His chamber. Come on.”