Page 41 of North

“Ah, Marc and Jess, thanks for coming,” a woman said.

Dragging my attention off North, I focused on the woman and man standing on the other side of the light table.

They both wore navy-blue jackets with their rank insignia in gold on their chests. They were both generals.

I’d met them both a few times before, and would have recognized them anyway. General Roth Masters had been the leader of Squad Nine during the invasion. He was a tall, muscular man, with gray hair he kept buzzed short. He radiated authority but I got the impression that he’d happily wade into a fight if required. Before the Gizzida had come, General Avery Stillman had been a part of the United Coalition’s Central Intelligence Agency. Her dark hair was up in a twist and she had high cheekbones I’d sell my soul for.

I also knew they were married.

“We need an update on what you found at St. Albans,” General Masters said, his voice deep.

Jameson nodded. He gave the pair a quick mission recap then nodded at me. “Jess took some photos and samples of the cocoons.”

I touched my communicator and images appeared on the surface of the light table.

“Jesus,” Masters muttered.

General Stillman frowned at the images of the cave, tracing one of the cocoons with a finger. “You rescued a young boy from one of these and discovered the dead body of a woman.”

“Yes,” I replied. “Hudson had only just been partially put in the cocoon. The woman, Melanie Wakefield, had been missing from St. Albans for several weeks.”

General Stillman shared a look with her husband, then looked back at me. I saw intelligence and determination. “You’ve run tests on the cocoon material. Did you find anything pertinent?”

“I’m still analyzing but it appears the substance contains some sort of sedative.”

General Masters frowned. “To incapacitate prey.”

I nodded. “Keep them calm. It doesn’t appear to kill. I’m not sure why Melanie died.”

“I spoke with the leader at St. Albans,” North said. “Ms. Wakefield was a Type 1 diabetic. She was due to have her insulin implant renewed. My guess is her death could have been related to that. We’ll know more after an autopsy.”

General Masters scraped a hand over his short hair. “We have something else to show you.”

“I had some of my team start working on this last night,” General Stillman said. The light table filled with a large map of the region. Dawn was at the southern end, New Sydney in the center, the Blue Mountains to the west and St. Albans to the north.

Several gold dots appeared, scattered across the map.

Jameson’s brows snapped together. “What is this?”

“Reports of missing persons from all surrounding communities in the area,” General Stillman said.

My chest hitched.What the hell?“There are so many.” I counted thirty-five dots.

Masters nodded. “If the monsters are responsible, then this was well-planned. They’ve only taken one person here and there, spread around the different communities.”

“One person going missing, or believed to be attacked, wouldn’t raise many alarms,” Jameson said.

“And we don’t have the sort of central databases law enforcement used to have prior to the invasion,” Kai added. “No one noticed an uptick in disappearances.”

“All within a hundred-kilometer radius.” North pressed his hands to the table, his face grim in the glow of light.

“Jess?”

I met General Stillman’s gaze. “Yes?”

“We need to work out what the hell is going on with these cocoons. What they do. What the monsters have planned.”

I nodded.

---