"But they're not, are they?" Caveman barked. Every head on the observation deck swiveled and focused on their conversation. "So, who is in control of them?"
Olivia peered out at the growing circle on the plain. She was just able to make out land vehicles whizzing about the small city-sized area. There were lights and other signs of habitation coming visible. No one from their expedition traveling overland could have arrived yet—they wouldn't catch up with the airships for hours. A simple explanation was often the best.
Somebody else was already there.
Councilors and advisors gathered around Caveman and Moreau. Clan Alpha's supporters stood few and far between. In spite of all that had happened to her under their watch, Olivia felt the Alphans were owed a fair hearing. She had a very bad feeling it would end in tears if she didn't try to de-escalate things.
"Let's not leap to any conclusions before we land," she began, scanning faces as the mood on the observation deck grew tense. "The Alphans said they switched off their robots before they left and have no other reason to believe they'd been reactivated in their absence. I believe them."
Moreau's family members nodded their appreciation.
"Then whoever is down there is working on the protective device without Clan Alpha's or the ruling council's approval?" asked Councilor Winn, ever a stickler for protocol. "Who else besides our fellow passengers has been given permission to be there?"
"No one but a handful of technicians and scientists," Moreau explained. "All swore their loyalty to Clan Alpha. They would not disobey orders."
"Someone could have threatened or bribed the information out of them, could they not?" Winn probed. She turned to Caveman. "I believe we need to begin a thorough investigation of who had knowledge of this device before it was revealed to us in council chambers. I'd be happy to head a panel of investigators into this matter."
"Thank you for volunteering, but it can wait, Councilor," Caveman said, pointing ahead. "We're landing soon enough. We'll know who we're dealing with when we get there." He exhaled a long breath and stood taller. "All right. Everybody sit down and keep your wits about yourselves. Now isn't the time for making baseless accusations."
The crowd dissipated. Cavemen turned to his chief security officer and lowered his volume. Olivia leaned in closer to hear.
"Contact the other airships. Make sure everyone is aware of the situation, and make sure all security personnel are ready to deal with confrontation—just in case our surprised hosts aren't too friendly."
Chapter Eleven
"There goes the neighborhood."
As their airship came in closer to land, Olivia spied the red emblem on the small black flag fluttering in the dry breeze over what appeared to be the operation's headquarters. She sighed and shook her head, slumping lower into her seat. It had to be him. Who else could it be?
Hernando frowned. "The flag with the large letter G in the center... It's him, isn't it? It's our kidnapper's corporate logo."
"Yep, Roland Grundfest at your service—or should I say at his service. It's all about 'profits over people' with that man."
"I don't see how the Alphans fell for his lies." Hernando balled his fists on the armrest. "They're intelligent and cautious. It's unbelievable they'd actually trust Grundfest not to take advantage of the knowledge they've shared with him in order to sell their artworks on Earth. How could they have acted so stupidly?"
Olivia patted his arm. "People do stupid things sometimes when they're under stress, or even sometimes to get attention." She pointed to herself. "Case in point: yours truly."
Hernando relaxed his fists and raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't paying you enough attention, so you risked your safety to become a vampire bride to spy on Clan Alpha?"
"No, not quite, but I felt like my actions to help BloodDark weren't being taken seriously, so..." She shrugged. "I volunteered to do a stupid thing after I received some rather poor intel."
"Annara still has a lot to answer for," Hernando muttered. He took Olivia's hand in his and kissed it. "It's important to you to be taken seriously, though, isn't it? You're unhappy if you're not focusing your energy on important things. You can't sit back and let others do the work halfway when you know you can do things better."
"Guilty as charged." She smiled. "I guess it's why I can't see myself as a full-time college student right now. I need to be out there in the field, taking action and taking names."
He nodded. "I understand. Before I left Earth, I told your parents you could work for the embassy again, and they said they'd give their blessing only if you agreed to take college classes online while working an internship program at the embassy."
"Oh, so they made you promise me a job and college credit?" Olivia laughed at her parents' audacity. "Gotta hand it to them, they only want what's best for me."
"So do I." He leaned over and kissed her lips. "So do I."
"Attention passengers," a voice interrupted over the loudspeaker. "We are about to land. You might notice some vibration, but don't panic. It's normal when we turn on our landing motors, and it's happening just about... now."
The cabin shook and the entire structure itself hummed as the vibrations increased. The thrusters appeared to be downward-facing propellers, forcing the airship closer to the surface. Olivia glanced over at Hernando. His dark eyes grew wide, but he kept his grin in place to hide his nervousness.
She squeezed his hand. "It's okay. I'm not sure how this works, either. At least we're not very high up. I can see the top of what looks like a barracks."
"Barracks?" he shouted over the motors' noise. "It's a military operation?"
Olivia bit her lip. "Yeah, I think it is. Grundfest shared what he knew with the military in order to get concessions to manufacture the BloodDark tech he stole from the Alphans later on. Whether this is the American military alone or a joint venture with the
