“Good morning everyone,” Kian opened the senior Guardians meeting. “We have disturbing news from San Francisco.”

Anandur and Brundar, who’d also gotten the text from the chief, nodded. The other Guardians looked at him with worry on their faces. Turner, whom Kian had been inviting to all the senior Guardian meetings lately, showed no expression at all.

“No one of ours was taken,” Kian qualified.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

“The news is about what the Doomers are up to. Apparently, they’ve ventured into drug dealing.”

“They’ve always dealt in drugs,” Yamanu said.

“True, but they used gangs for the distribution. It seems they decided to use warriors instead and took over the entire chain.”

“More money for them,” Arwel said.

“Right. In a way, it’s a good sign.”

Bhathian frowned. “How so?”

“It means that they are looking for ways to bring in more money, which in turn means that they are losing backers, or maybe just a single big one. If that is the case, lack of cash to run their organization is not their only problem. With no wars to instigate and fight, their army sits idle, and they have to find something for them to do.”

“Like selling drugs,” Bhathian said.

“Exactly. That in itself is worrisome, but what bothers me more is that they are using humans to manufacture and package the drugs. Onegus reports that they have a warehouse full of zombie-like humans who appear to have been thralled so many times that their brains are barely functional.”

Anandur leaned back in his chair and grinned. “It was a good thing that Grud escaped. He led us right to their SF center of operation. I wonder how many more there are.”

“It must be new,” Arwel said. “The Doomers we interrogated didn’t say anything about it.”

Anandur waved a dismissive hand. “They might be under compulsion not to talk.”

Kian didn’t think so. “If they were under compulsion, they would not have talked at all. The other Doomers we’ve caught in the past couldn’t tell us anything other than their names. It seems like they’re loosening their security. Which makes sense. They can’t have more than one immortal with the ability to affect other immortals’ brains. They need to preserve his energy for when it counts.”

In the past, very few Doomers had been sent on missions that put them at risk of capture by the clan. Compelling only a few individuals hadn’t been a problem. But now that the Brotherhood was sending scores of warriors into clan areas, they had to be more discriminating about who to compel and to what extent.

The thing was that the majority of Doomers were so ignorant, even about the Brotherhood they were part of, that they had nothing of importance to tell.

“So what’s the plan?” Brundar asked. “When are we raiding that warehouse?”

Kian smiled. “Patience, Brundar. This is just as much a hostage situation as the one at the monastery. To ensure minimum collateral damage, we need a good plan. Onegus is organizing the reconnaissance.”

“Tell him to stay put,” Turner said. “This is a job for humans. One sniff of an immortal male and you lose the element of surprise.”

Fuck, he should’ve thought of that. Even after working with Turner for months, Kian’s first instinct was to rely on his own people unless he was forced to outsource. He should start thinking of Turner’s human subcontractors as part of his network and utilize them in cases where their humanity was advantageous.

“How soon can you have your people there?”

“Let me make a few phone calls. I can probably have a team meet up with Onegus later today.”

“Do it.”

“Budget?”

Kian waved a hand. “Whatever you think is reasonable for two or three days of reconnaissance. I want to know how many Doomers are working in that warehouse and how many humans they are holding there.”

“Naturally. You also need to know where these Doomers are residing and who is their commander.”

“The dogs were a brilliant idea,” Anandur said. “Without them, Magnus could have never found Grud and followed his trail. We should consider getting us some.”

Sounded good in theory, but it was a subject Kian knew nothing about. “It’s not enough to get dogs. You need someone to train them.”

Anandur leaned his elbows on the conference table. “I can ask around. Maybe one of the old Guardians did that at some point.”

Doubtful. Immortals didn’t keep pets for the same reason they didn’t have relationships with humans. Getting attached emotionally to those whose lifespan was a blink of an eye compared to theirs was a prescription for misery. The scientist who’d altered the gods’ genes hadn’t thought to do the same for pets.

Maybe there had been none where the gods had come from.

Bhathian shook his head. “I don’t think we have anyone like that. But how hard could it be to learn to train the animals? We can have someone apprentice with a human expert.”

“True. Do you have anyone in mind?”

For some reason, all eyes turned to Arwel.

The Guardian looked from one smirking face to the next. “Why is everyone looking at me? I’m not the dog whisperer.”

“Do you like dogs?” Kian asked.

“Sure, but I don’t want to run a kennel.”

It was a pity. As an empath, Arwel could’ve done wonders with dogs. Except, having talent wasn’t going to cut it if there was no desire.

Kian pointed at the Guardian. “I’m putting you in charge of finding someone who’d be interested in learning all about it and then implementing a program.”

“I can do that. How large of a program are we talking about?”

“We will start small. Two or three dogs.”

“Magnus is a good candidate,” Anandur offered.

“Maybe, but I’m not sure I want to lose a Guardian for that. I prefer a civilian, just not someone who will run away at the first sign of danger. We need a person who can keep a cool head during confrontations.”

Rapping his fingers on the conference table, Anandur looked at Kian. “I hope you’re not thinking of letting the newbies raid the warehouse with only Onegus in charge. We all need to be there.”

He’d never planned differently, but Anandur had earned himself some needling. “I think the decision should be left up to Onegus. He is the chief.”

Anandur pulled out his phone. “I’m going to text Onegus. I want in, and I’m sure Brundar wants in too, right?” He glanced at his brother.

Brundar’s smile was chilling. “Naturally.”

Kian put a hand on Anandur’s arm. “I was just messing with you. Of course all of you guys are going. I wouldn’t dream of sending the newbies in by themselves.”