Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(24)
It hit me then, how you had these moments with people, these bonding moments that could literally tie you to someone for a whole lifetime. Jared and Brian had one. And I’d had more than one with each of these enforcers. I’d known them only a few months and would die for each one of them, no questions asked.
Over the next few hours I helped Brian cook, and except for the silver gray hair, forgot about his age. He had this contagious personality, always happy and chill – probably the marijuana. I learned that he’d had a live-in girlfriend of thirty years, but she’d died a few years ago of breast cancer. Now it was just him and the waves and he was more than happy to help Jared out in any way.
After buttering the garlic bread and popping it in the oven, I went in search of the boys to see if they needed a beer refill. I heard their voices outside. Stepping into the back yard for the first time, I was completely struck by the scene. Ryder was on the hammock napping, Oliver and Sam hunched over the phone, Markus coloring in his book, and Kyle and Jared sitting on the grass having a nice chat. Just like a normal family, no evidence that we were about to rain hell on the vampires.
I inhaled the salty air and decided then that if we survived this whole thing, I wanted this life. A small blue beach house with white picket fence and a hammock, preferably with Ryder inside. When I had first heard I was an ash, it’d dashed all of my domestic dreams. But we had a chance to change all of that. We didn’t have to be slaves to the Hive. We could live among humans again. At least I hoped.
Long after dinner was done and Brian had retired for the night, Sam finally cracked the code into the underground network. I was impressed. It had only taken him a few hours to maneuver through what he referred to as one of the most insanely encrypted paths he’d ever encountered. He, of course, was annoyed it had taken him that long. Think it gave him an entirely new level of respect for Zack though.
All of us waited, tense and silent, as he started to shift his way through the information. After some time I couldn’t stand the waiting.
“So anyone can access the network to receive information, but how do other ash or enforcers normally put information on there?” I asked.
Sam was busy, so it was Markus who answered me. “Either they do what we did and track the Controller down via the clues to his whereabouts. Or the other option is to send a letter. Snail mail is pretty much untraceable. There’s a mailbox which is monitored by someone. Then that letter is posted again to someone else, who then posts it to a final, secret, destination. It’s slow as hell. But everything else was always being interrupted by the vamps. Then the Controller is supposed to assess the importance of your information and post it up on the forum.”
Well, that explained why we needed to come out here in person. We did not have time for that weird runabout way of getting information out to everyone.
“What about the network that Sam was using to figure out the Quorum hired Sanctum to kidnap me? Looked like anyone could post on it.”
“They can.” Sam said tense. “But it’s not a network for ash, it’s one for all the Hives and it’s the dark web. You don’t want to know what other stuff is on there. It’s not a place we can post this sort of information. The vamps would have it in seconds and they would rain blood down on the world. Zack’s network is for ash only, very separate, very secure. This is what I’m accessing right now.”
I liked that. Always have a backup plan. Except we didn’t really have one for our “annihilate vampires from the face of the Earth” plan. Oh well, if it failed I’d think of a plan B. I always did.
“Sam will be the first ash, beside the Controller, to be allowed a backdoor access into the network,” Ryder said. “Zack gave us much more than we expected. I thought we’d have to try and get the message to him and hope he would load some of the information. Instead—”
“He’s allowing us to post our own message and information,” Sam said, cutting him off. “He’s giving us full access.”
Sam’s fingers were flying over the phone’s keypad then, and I knew he was posting now. “I’m warning all Hives that the vampires are killing ash. Locking them down. I’ve told them that we are planning to wage war on the vamps, that we will infect their blood and donors with the cure, and that war will probably ensue after this and to be ready to fight.”
All of us knew we wouldn’t get every vamp. It just wasn’t feasible. Some would have old blood. Some might be out of the Hive for the delivery, and by the time they made it back others would be cured, and no one would touch any blood then.
“Tell them we’re relying on them to help us finish this job, to remain with the Hives and take down any vamps who are not cured. Because they will seek out humans,” Ryder added to Sam’s post.
“Shit!” I exclaimed. “We need to let the humans know too. The government or something.”
Ryder nodded. “Yes, I’ve already considered this. Do you remember Lincoln, the SWAT boys who took on Deliverance with us?”
Oh yeah, I remembered Blue Eyes. Bastard told me to stand down.
Ryder gave me that sexy, half-grin. Guess my thoughts were clear across my face again. He continued: “I can easily get word to him, and he has plenty of contacts in the higher levels of the US government. Secretary of state, etc. At this stage I’m trying to figure out how to do this but keep the information secret. I’m ninety percent sure the humans will be on board with a vampire-free world.”