Page 64 of Seer Prophet

That would be true regardless of what the locals did, unless something happened to bring the wider civilization back online. With zero law enforcement, no centralized power grid, no way to organize the various criminal factions now running Long Island, and zero leadership, there was no way to build something that would benefit everyone.

Loki would be very happy to leave this part of the world behind.

“Boss wants us to divert to D.C. before we head back,” he said, finishing his thought.

He glanced over his shoulder at the other seven seers on his team. His eyes avoided the single human now accompanying them.

“…I’ve got orders and coordinates for a new rendezvous. South of here. There are things he wishes us to check before we leave land.”

“Boss?” Jax muttered. “Which one?”

The words came out half-humorous, but Loki answered him unsmilingly.

“The Sword,” he said.

“What’s in D.C.?” Illeg asked, from Loki’s other side.

She jerked up her own rifle, copying Loki’s pose, only with a Belgian-made F2000.

The gun was modified, of course, like all the guns they wore, mainly via organic components. Loki noted a number of extra toys on Illeg’s gun as well, including a higher-grade scope than what came standard, and what looked like a plasma conversion.

“I haven’t looked at the encrypted files yet, sister.” Loki gave her a direct look. “Oli said the boss wants us to look for information on C2-77, as well as any related disaster contingency planning we might find. There’s a bunker under the White House. He wants us to check it before we leave the continent. I was told the Bridge has been having dreams… that they might be of a prescient nature. Similar to how they learned of the existence of the Lists.”

He paused when a few on his team made the respectful sign of the Bridge.

When the religious symbols had finished, Loki went on.

“From what Oli told me, our Esteemed Sister has concerns that some new danger might be coming. Something related to the remnants of the government here… meaning the former United States. The Bridge did not necessarily see the government as the source of this problem, but saw us interacting with them in some way. She wishes to know more about what they knew of this disease, and of Shadow’s plans prior to the human plague being released.”

There was a silence as his words sank in.

Then Illeg swore under her breath in Prexci.

“Oli’s broadcasting that shit over our military channel?” She scowled. “Maybe you need to give Oli a bit of a lesson on comm etiquette where the Bridge and Sword are concerned, brother.” The infiltrator’s voice grew angrier still. “She must know those fuckers listen foranyintel with her name attached. Especially out here. Prescient dreams?Gaos d’ jurekil’a…that fucker Shadow will eat that shit up!”

Loki gave her a grim look. He nodded, once.

“Agreed, sister,” he said.

He didn’t add that he’d already pinged Balidor with a text version of more or less that same thought.

Illeg must have caught some whisper of that on his light.

Loki saw her relax marginally, right before she gave him a satisfied nod. Her mouth still looked thinner than usual, Loki noted, but they’d all had reason to be on edge out here.

Then again, maybe he’d been looking at female mouths a little too often lately.

Forcing out the thought, he dropped his eyes to his rifle, checking it to ensure it hadn’t gotten too gunked in the recent raid. He knew it was pure distraction; he’d checked its workings scarcely five minutes earlier, when they first crouched here.

He’d given the order to halt, partly to give his team a breather, but mainly to answer the ping from Oli.

Neither Oli nor Illeg were the females pulling at his light, however.

Nor were either of them the reason he was having trouble concentrating.

Instead, it was the human woman who stood behind Illeg, who crouched now, next to Holo, a wary look on her tanned face. Her closeness to the other male’s body and light sent a ripple of hostility through Loki’s own, forcing him to pull away from her?and forcing him to notice he’d let his light creep back around hers in the first place.

He tried not to think about how they’d found her.

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