Reign by K.T. Holder

Author:K.T. Holder [Holder, K.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798988766247
Publisher: Smug Pom
Published: 2023-12-21T16:00:00+00:00

17

Lily watched a snufflepidgeon fly in a lazy loop past the window, allowing her mind the brief distraction. She thought again of Edmund, wondering where he was now, but the thought exited her mind almost as soon as it entered, distracted as she was by the bickering in the room.

Why couldn’t anything be easy? She thought they would seize the momentum they had created, seamlessly flowing from the discovery of the prime minister’s archive to the mission to retrieve the memory that would be his downfall. But here they were, Lily and her advisors, gathered in her office, pulling apart Juliana’s plan.

It made sense for them to go over it, offer suggestions, and review it to find the holes. But those who hadn’t been involved in the planning wanted more detail than the brief overview Juliana had given contained, and Juliana was a little too attached to her plan, which meant she was less than willing to receive feedback.

Lily tried to return her attention to the discussion at hand. At least Juliana wasn’t being defensive due to ego. She had built her team with women she had served time with who had since been released, and she was keen to show them in a positive light. To let everyone know they were capable. However, her vigorous defence of their plan was more in keeping with someone asserting her team were infallible.

“Okay, but once you have the device—” Naomi began before being interrupted by Jason.

“Is it a device? What if the memories are on a whole server system?”

“Or in the cloud,” suggested Giles.

“No, they wouldn’t be in the cloud,” said Jason dismissively.

Lily watched as Giles sat back as if rebuked. She had been trying to include Giles and Addison as much as possible. She knew both felt guilty about their actions while Lily had been away and she was keen to make them feel like valued members of the team again. However, the current issues were not really in their ballparks. She knew Jason hadn’t intended to dismiss Giles. He was just focussed on the plan. But the effect was still the same, and Lily frowned.

“It’s a small device,” Juliana said, exasperation lacing her tone. “Maybe the size of a paperback novel. Really, this level of detail is only important to those of us carrying out the plan. I thought we were just meant to be examining the higher-level detail.”

“Yes, which brings me back to my question,” said Naomi quickly. “Once you have the device, are you planning on exiting the way you entered? I don’t see an alternative route marked here on the map.”

The occupants of the room looked as one at the 3D holographic model projected above the coffee table.

“We have identified a couple of alternative exit routes, though we could also use the entrance path. At this stage, without time to conduct appropriate surveillance of the building, we thought it best to leave the extraction as flexible as possible.”

“Good point,” said Lily, cutting off whatever Naomi was going to say in response.

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