Page 56 of Shadow Blind

Benioko offered an absent nod, and the small leather pouch dangling from a cord around his neck swished from the right to the left.

“Sit.”

The word didn’t carry the abrasiveness of an order or the politeness of a suggestion. It sat somewhere in between. The old man walked around the curve of the table and pulled out a chair across from them. He settled into the thick upholstery with a grimace, like his bones and joints found the transformation from walking to sitting painful.

“Your people look for you.” Benioko’s faded gaze lifted to Aiden’s face.

Aiden wasn’t surprised. WARCOM knew he’d survived the disintegration of his team. But that was all they knew. His CO didn’t know if he was alive, or captured, or holed up somewhere completely insane. No doubt his superiors were shitting their shorts, wondering what had happened to him and the bodies of his murdered teammates.

“They have many questions.” Benioko’s voice was phlegmy, his gaze distant.

Of course WARCOM had questions. He had questions as well. Maybe they could fill those blanks in together. He should contact his CO, update him, and get an update in return. USSOCOM—hell, the entire military—needed to know about this damn nanobot weapon.

Assuming they weren’t already aware of it.

Assuming they weren’t the ones who’d created it.

He needed to talk to Wolf first, though, make sure his brother was good with him reaching out to SEAL command while he was tucked away in Mount Denali. He didn’t want to expose the Shadow Mountain base, or his former teammates, if there were still people looking for them after that dust up a couple of years back.

He suddenly realized that the room had fallen silent, and both men were staring at him. He raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Wolf grunted.

How the fuck had he filled that animalistic rumbling with so much displeasure?

“Well?” Aiden settled back in his chair. Damned if he was going to feel shame about his lack of attention. “That mumble didn’t tell me a damn thing.”

Except it wasn’t Wolf who answered. With a small sigh, one that sounded worried, rather than annoyed, Benioko folded his veined hands with their translucent skin and laid them on the table.

“Soon, it begins. The jaeetce will sweep across the face of Hokalita until only the jaee will walk free.”

Aiden understood little of what the old man said. Still, his warning sounded dire. He debated, but hell, he needed to know what the shaman was talking about.

He glanced at Wolf, bracing himself for a cutting reaction. “Translation?”

“Soon this new plague will sweep across the face of our sister earth, leaving only the infected to walk free.” Surprisingly, Wolf provided the translation with minimal attitude.

The sick and infected? From what Aiden had witnessed, the infected wouldn’t survive for long once they succumbed to the bots. A horrible crawling sensation crept down his spine. Benioko had just outlined the extinction of humanity.

It was hard to argue with that assessment after what had happened in Karaveht, after what had happened to his team. Although, the bots in his crew were currently inactive. Did the bots shut down after the host was dead? He suspected there was more to it than that. There must be some kind of kill switch built into the weapon. Whoever had created this bot atrocity wouldn’t want it to infect their own people.

“Has anyone in your lab figured out how to turn the damn things off?” Aiden took another sip of coffee. He could sure use the caffeine hit and the mental clarity it brought. “If we can identify the bots’ off switch, we can mitigate its spread. If worse comes to worst, hell, an EMP blast should fry the damn things.”

Aiden turned to Benioko, but the shaman didn’t look relieved by the possibility of turning the bots off and saving the world. He just looked exhausted, like his visions were draining the life, and hope, from him.

“The woohanta does not see the dangers in his creation,” Benioko said in a thin, tired voice. “He does not see that creation empty of the Shadow Warrior’s and Blue Moon Mother’s Hee-nes-ce will grow teeth and claws and turn on him.” He paused, shook his head, his expression weary. “He thinks he controls these new beings. He does not. This creation will slip its leash. He cannot stop it. He cannot call it back.”

New beings? Benioko made it sound like the bots were sentient. But they were simply a collection of organic computers. And computers could be deactivated.

How did Benioko know any of this, anyway? Through visions? Dreams? Aiden’s own gift was prophetic in a way. He saw into the future, but only for money. Were Benioko’s visions set in stone? Did what the shaman see always come true, or could the outcomes be altered? He frowned. They must be able to alter the events in Benioko’s visions, otherwise Wolf wouldn’t have flown out to rescue him. Otherwise, no one would scramble for an antidote or a solution.

Not that it mattered. He wasn’t about to let humanity slide into obscurity without trying to stop it.

“Are your lab rats looking into turning the bots off?” Aiden turned to Wolf. “If they have electrical components, an EMP should work on them. Maybe an MRI or CT scan for those infected.”

Wolf nodded, only to then shake his head. “They try. But we have no active nanobots, so there is little to work with.”

Aiden released a tense expulsion of air. “You have the bots from my teammates.”

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