“Dear God,” Reed said, letting his hands cover his eyes. “Scotland it is.”
“The helicopter will be ready in fifteen minutes,” Karthik said. “There is one thing we need to discuss first, though.”
“What?” I asked. “I mean, we know what we’re dealing with—a Hades-type. We know I’m the only one who stands a chance against it. And we know that—”
“We have no one to lead us,” Karthik said. “With the ministers and Bastet dead and Janus out of action, Omega’s line of command is officially finished.”
“What?” I looked at him in utter disbelief. “Your organization landed something like fifty metas on U.S. shores not two weeks ago when you went to destroy the Directorate. You can’t tell me that there aren’t any field commanders for those metas—”
“Most of them are dead,” Karthik said quietly. “The toll of Century’s efforts on our continental operations has been quite steep the last two weeks. When the crisis began, we had something on the order of a hundred metas on payroll. We did send fifty to deal with your Directorate, and with the exception of our American operatives, they all returned within a couple days. However, we’ve had major setbacks as our operations were destroyed in every European capital in the last two weeks. It was a blitzkrieg, nothing less. Every single field agent on the continent is now out of contact. The last—an office of five metas in Paris—went quiet this morning. Their last report indicated that the final major cloister in southern France had been destroyed in a blaze of fire.”
“So …” I said, “for next moves, I guess we can assume that Weissman’s intended return to London is going to include a visit to this location.”
Karthik gave me a slight nod. “That seems likely. We have about twenty-five metas here, not counting yourselves. Most are young, like Athena, the girl you brought in the other morning. Only a few of us have any offensive power or combat training.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Dammit,” I said. “Dammit.”
“What?” Reed asked, growing alarmed.
“When she gets worried, I prepare to panic, personally,” Breandan said.
“We can’t go to Scotland,” I said. “We have no idea what method of transport that Hades-type is using. He could be there already, in which case we’ll miss him and he’ll be back here before we can return.” I thumped my hand against the desk. “The only thing I know for sure at this point is that this is his last stop. He’ll kill everyone in this office before he can declare the job done and move on.”
“So you’re suggesting we write off that cloister in Scotland?” Reed asked, looking at me, dazed. “You’re suggesting we let those people die?”
“I’m not suggesting it, Reed.” I looked back at him tenderly. “I’m saying it flat out. They’re dead already. As much as I wish we could save them, even if we reach them in time, there’s no guarantee he’s going to be on his way there. He could be heading here right now.” I looked at the stripped-down office. “He’s coming here, guaranteed. He may hit Scotland now, he may hit it later, but he’s coming here, for sure, and nothing is going to stop him unless I’m here to do it.” I thumped my hand against the desk again, harder this time. “I can’t gamble with the lives of the people here on the chance of being able to save those folks in Scotland.”
“How thoroughly practical of you,” Reed said coldly. “Looks like Old Man Winter has taught you well.”
“What did you say?” I let the chill creep into my voice.
“You heard me,” Reed said. “You just let the emotion bleed right out. ‘There’s no guarantee …’ As if there’s a guarantee of success if you stay here?” He jabbed a finger at me. “You realize Weissman and Madigan are out there still? Madigan knows her way around Omega HQ, she can show them how to get in without any difficulty. You’re writing off those people in Scotland—very coldly, I might add—calculating that the odds are better that you’ll be able to save the people here. I’m telling you that you might not be able to. It’s not just a Hades that’s going to be coming. Weissman has out-thought us at every juncture, and he’s gotta know he just put all his remaining enemies in one camp. That means he’s not worried about us. He’s not worried about you,” Reed amended. “He’s gonna finish Europe by rolling over us here and then we’re done. Say goodbye to the whole eastern hemisphere, because Century will own it when it comes to the meta world.”