Despite its age, the Bromwick had many amenities, and the conference room was no exception. As the late afternoon gave way to evening, the conference room glowed with blue and white lights interior designers called mood lighting. After several days of meetings, the principal members of the Cabal looked exhausted.
“We have accomplished a lot over the past two days, and regrettably, tomorrow will be our final day together before we test our delivery system. I want to ensure everything is perfect before we proceed,” Mr. Chen said.
Ezekiel barged into the room. “You all should see this.”
He activated the projector systems and brought up one of the local news channels. A massive skyscraper with no windows appeared. Spotlights shone on the monolithic structure; the shadows and impending darkness made it look more imposing.
“What is this place?” Mr. Tage said.
“It is where all the information we require gets spilled, like the lifeblood of a wounded solider,” Mr. Chen said.
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“You knew about this?” Dahlia asked.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen until our testing of the malware was complete, but our parallel strike will be even more effective now.”
“You knew about it, and kept it from us?”
Like a viper, Dahlia moved in for the kill. Ezekiel held a massive hand out, trying to stop her.
“I knew you were fighting a war on multiple fronts, but you should have let us in on this one,” Mr. Tage said to Chen.
“This is an outrage! You have broken our trust. I demand you fill us in on everything—no more secrets,” the Sultan said.
Mr. Chen held a hand out. “Calm down, I thought you would be happy at the news. Project Reckoning has begun.”
“And what about getting the material needed for the cyborgs?” Dr. Ash said.
“We strike the Ohio Valley Nuclear Reactor tomorrow. The news of this dark data hub breach will be all over the news for days. When they hear the news that the facility has been spying on them for decades, the public outrage will be palpable. We will steal the bismuth material we need to ensure the creation of polonium. Just make sure you all are ready,” Mr. Chen said.
“I already have a dozen cyborgs waiting nearby. I didn’t have enough skin to make them perfect, so some metal might show in places, but they are immune to radiation. We just need to make sure the hack gets deployed,” Dr. Ash said.
“Speaking of which, how is our young hacker doing?” Mr. Tage said.
“Which one?” Mr. Chen asked.
“Freeman is still on for the test, and we have Nigel waiting to assist,” Dahlia said.