Kian tapped his hand on the conference table to get everyone’s attention.

When they quieted down, he began. “We have two topics on the agenda for this meeting. One is the progress with the autonomous cars, and the other is the continuing murders. Let's start with the easy one. The cars.”

William pushed his glasses up his nose. “They sent a rep to the factory in Sweden. The prototype should arrive here the day after tomorrow.”

The guy’s face had gotten so gaunt that it no longer fit the frame, and the glasses kept sliding down. William needed a new pair. But more than that he needed a change of pace.

“We will test the prototype as soon as it arrives. Once we know what changes are needed, I want you to book a flight to Stockholm and supervise the production line. At least until the first batch is ready to ship.”

William looked uncomfortable. “I hate flying.”

Bhathian clapped William on the shoulder. “Then load up on Snake’s Venom before you board and sleep throughout the entire trip. First class has seats that recline all the way. They turn into very comfortable beds.”

William shook his head. “I don’t like getting drunk either. I’ll figure something out.”

Kian nodded. Council members and Guardians alike could not afford to have quirks like aversion to flying. They had a job to do. “Good. Let’s move on to the murders. Onegus?”

“Our men are all clear, thank the merciful Fates. All have alibis for the time of at least one of the murders. I think it’s safe to assume that we don’t have a madman in our midst, let alone two who went on a simultaneous killing spree. Which leaves either a Doomer or a random, unaffiliated immortal.”

Kian raked his fingers through his hair. “True, now that we know there are more than two players in this game, we need to take it into account. It can be a lone immortal, unaffiliated with any group, maybe a member of Kalugal’s crew.”

Onegus reclined in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I wish we could find him, see if we could work together. Think how much stronger we could be with an additional group of highly trained warriors. We could continue their training until they reached Guardian level. A lot easier than starting with newbies who have no prior training or combat experience.”

Kian leaned forward. “You would trust ex-Doomers?”

Onegus shrugged. “We have two who’ve proved themselves quite helpful.”

“Not the same, Onegus. If Kalugal indeed managed to defect with an entire platoon, he and his men can take us on with ease. Are you willing to risk it? Because I’m not.”

Onegus let his arms drop. “Of course not. It was just wishful thinking on my part. I’m tired of trying to manage with only six Guardians. That’s more than enough when nothing is going on, but not nearly enough in time of trouble.”

“Which is the big conundrum.” Kian sighed. “Most of the time Guardians have little to do. But when you are needed there isn’t enough of you to do the job. I want to start patrolling the areas where the murders occurred.”

“Can’t do it.” Onegus shook his head. “They were spread out, and the way Los Angeles is built, it’s not like there is a center where everything happens. You need a lot of men to do that.”

“Hey!” Kri called out. “Chauvinist much?”

Onegus pinned her with a hard stare. “We are talking about an immortal male gone rogue. I would never send a female Guardian after him. And if it makes me a chauvinist, I can live with that.”

Kri humphed. “I can take on most immortal males.”

“Civilians,” Kian said. “If this is an ex or active Doomer, he is not a civilian. Do you think you can take on Dalhu? Or Robert?”

“Not Dalhu, I’ve seen him fight. But maybe I can take on Robert.”

“Match! Match! Match! I want to see a match,” Yamanu singsonged while drumming his hand on the table and making the whole thing shake.

Kian groaned. Sometimes his Guardians behaved like high schoolers. Correction. Kindergarteners. “You’re welcome to invite him to spar with you in the gym. I’m sure he would love it. I’m just not sure what Michael would think of you getting physical with an immortal bachelor who is not a relative of yours.”

“I don’t care what he thinks. He can watch if he wants.”

Yamanu rubbed his palms together. “That would be one hell of a show. I call dibs on a first-row seat.”

“Enough!” Kian raised his voice.

Everyone quieted instantly.

“This is an official meeting, not a social gathering. I need suggestions for patrolling the murder areas. If we believe this is the work of an immortal male, it is our responsibility to deal with him. The human authorities can’t and should not have to take care of it.”

The door opened, and Okidu walked in with a tray. “I brewed fresh coffee, master.”

“Thank you, Okidu.” Kian waited for the butler to put a porcelain cup in front of each person and then poured them coffee from the two thermal carafes he’d brought.

When he was done, Okidu bowed and retreated from the room.

“Any ideas?” Kian glanced at Brundar who hadn’t spoken a word yet.

The Guardian who was the master of stoic expressions looked perturbed, his forehead creased and his eyes focused somewhere on his knees. His body was sitting at the conference table, but his mind was miles away.

If Anandur’s remark hadn’t been a joke, then Brundar had gotten himself a woman. Not a hookup, but someone he saw on a regular basis. Which would explain his peculiar mood. Getting involved with a human was a bad idea, and Brundar was well aware of that.

“I could tap into the surveillance cameras in the area.” William brought Kian’s attention back to where it needed to be.

“To what end?” Onegus asked. “Someone would have to watch the feed. Even if something suspicious came up, and even if we had men on standby in the area, they wouldn’t get there in time to catch the bastard.”

“True,” Kian conceded. “But they can make it in time to save the woman from bleeding to death. Besides, we will at least have a visual. We can continue the search using the facial recognition program.”

“I wonder why the police are not doing that,” Kri said.

She had a point, but Kian doubted they had. The police only looked at the feed after they found a victim, not as a prevention method. But William’s suggestion gave him an idea.

“Here is what I think we should do. William, go ahead and hack the surveillance cameras. I’ll contact Turner and have him find us a contractor to monitor the feed. They will contact us and call an ambulance if needed. We can take up the investigation from there.”

William lifted a hand. “It will have to wait until I come back from Sweden. I can’t do it all in one day, which is all the time I have before the prototype car arrives and I have to get busy with that.”

Anandur snapped his fingers. “Not a problem. We have a new hacker on board.”

Kian lifted a brow. “The kid? I understand that he is in the clinic, sick with pneumonia.”

“He is. But knowing Roni, he could handle this even sick as a dog.” Anandur turned to William. “If you can show him what you need and provide him with the equipment he needs, he can probably do everything from his sickbed.”

William shook his head. “That’s a lot of equipment.”

“Then we move his sickbed to your lab, together with Bridget to keep an eye on him.” Kian looked at William for approval.

The computer lab was the guy’s whole world. He wouldn’t be thrilled about letting the kid in there unsupervised.

“Let me talk with him first. See how good he really is.”

Anandur chuckled. “He is good.”