Nigel entered the dining hall with the rest of the Collective. Most of Black Iris were seated at the dining table. Melissa was across from Hunter, who seemed to be admiring Melissa’s damaged face with satisfaction, from the looks of it.
“Where’s D?” Alexei asked.
“She had some business to attend to,” Hunter said.
“Can you reach her? Nigel has a discovery to share,” Alexei said.
Hunter glared at Nigel.
What’s up with this guy? He’s been staring at me since he got here, thought Nigel.
“What’s the finding?” Jony asked.
“I will tell you once everyone has assembled,” Nigel insisted.
“Bloody hell,” Jony said as he left the room.
A few minutes later, Dahlia and Jony entered the room.
“I understand that you have news to share,” Dahlia said.
Mr. Tage walked in as soon as she’d finished speaking.
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“I do. I know the location of Jeremiah and the rest of his team,” Nigel said.
“Show me,” Jony said.
Nigel hesitated.
Hunter patted the chair between himself and Jony.
“Come, we won’t bite!” Hunter said, smiling.
This Hunter guy creeps me out. There’s something about him. Have I seen him before?
Nigel sat between Hunter and Jony. He showed Jony the results; after a few moments, Jony agreed with Nigel.
“Sounds like a trip to the island is in order,” Dahlia said.
“Not so fast. We need to plan our next move. Who knows what traps we could run into? We don’t know which island they are even on!” Alexei said.
“I think I do,” Jony said.
Everyone stopped talking. All eyes were on Jony.
“While you were yammering away, I did a satellite scan of all islands off the coast of Nigeria. A quick glance revealed nothing, so I ran the maps through AlphaFour and our AI and came up with a possibility. There is a small island near São Tomé and Príncipe. It isn’t on most maps, but we have several cached maps of the region,” Jony said.
“What makes you so sure that this island is the one?” Natasha said.
“There are several entrances and exits leading from strange spots on the island. Another clue is a field containing hundreds of solar panels. There is also a coal-based power plant on the other side of the island. Why would a small island need so much power?”
No one answered Jony’s rhetorical question.
“From the looks of it, if I had to guess, I would say that someone owns this island. And . . . did I mention the array of large satellite dishes?” Jony continued.
Alexei, Viktor, and Dahlia were behind Jony looking at his screen.
“Access to the net has been spotty for days now. How do you secure a reliable connection outside the region?” Nigel asked.
“My connection’s been stable for hours,” Jony said.
Did the DDOS attacks stop? Nigel thought.
“That settles it. We need to send a team to Africa!” Mr. Tage said.
No one said anything for a long time.