Imakarum stood before the phone,
contemplating his next action. He knew what he should do now,
what his loyalty to Lord Alkanphel dictated, but there was still
a part of him that despised the thought. These humans who fought
against Chronos were not to be dismissed so easily. They were
well equipped, and well hidden. Clever and resourceful, the ACF
was not to be taken lightly.
Picking up the phone, Imakarum dialed a
number that he had been given in another life.
"How did you get this number?" a male
voice that Imakarum did not recognize demanded.
"Put me through to Atkins," Imakarum
said calmly. "Tell him that M is calling. He’ll know what I’m
talking about."
"I’ll give him the message," the man
said, still sounding suspicious.
There was a solid seven minutes of dead
space, before another man came on the line.
"Murakami?" Atkins asked, and Imakarum
shuddered slightly. The man sounded happy to hear from him. "We
haven’t heard from you in ages. Did you go underground?"
"Something like that," Imakarum said.
"Have there been any new developments at
Chronos?"
"Not as far as I know," Imakarum lied.
"Have there been any new developments with your organization?"
"We’re still working to build up our
numbers," Atkins said, piquing Imakarum’s interest.
"Your main base is still in Utah,
right?" Imakarum asked, wanting to see what Atkins would make of
that question.
"It is, but we’re working to change
that."
"Where are you planning to move to?"
Imakarum asked warily.
"You understand that that’s not
something that I’m free to discuss. Even with you, Murakami."
"I understand," Imakarum said,
cursing Atkins mentally. "Is there anything that you
can
tell me?"
"We’re close to getting our hunting
license," Atkins said, and Imakarum frowned. "Then the real
operations can begin."
"How’s your R and D?"
"Going well," Atkins seemed pleased, and
Imakarum knew that anything that made the man this happy was not
something that boded well for Chronos. "We’ve whipped up a few
new things since you last came into contact with us. Nothing I
can tell you about, but suffice it to say that Chronos won’t
know what hit them when we’re up and running."
From bad to worse, then. Lord
Alkanphel is not going to be pleased about any of this.
Imakarum sighed inaudibly, knowing that he couldn’t risk Atkins
becoming suspicious. He had to cut the call short, despite the
fact that what he really wanted to do was to find out everything
that Atkins had been doing so that Chronos would be able to
counter him and his ACF.
"I have to go now," Imakarum said. "I’m
sure you understand."
"I do. But keep in contact, Murakami.
You’re an important part of this resistance effort, too."
"I know," Imakarum said.
Imakarum hung up the phone, mentally
requesting an audience with Lord Alkanphel so that he could
explain the threat that the ACF posed to Chronos’ plans.
XxXxX
Colonel Aiden Atkins, nominal leader of
the newly-christened ACTF, hung up the phone. It had been good
to hear from Murakami again. The man was a fellow fighter
against Chronos, and while the two of them weren’t really what
could be considered close friends, it was still good to know
that Murakami was still out there causing trouble for Chronos.
The man was an asset that couldn’t be underestimated. Atkins
wasn’t about to make the mistake of doing that, either.
Lieutenant Adrian Porter, who worked for
the ACTF’s R&D Division, had just come in.
"Did I come at a bad time, sir?"
"No, Porter. I was just finishing up a
call. What do you have for me?"
"I just came to inform you that five of
the new Alpha units are ready for your inspection, sir," Porter
said, looking over one of the files she held. "The other five
are scheduled to be completed in four hours."
"Thank you for informing me, Porter,"
Atkins said, taking the file that she held out to him. "I’ll be
right down."
"I hope you like what you see, sir," she
said, smiling a little. "Our tech guys busted their asses trying
to get these things just right. One of the Alphas even managed
to take off Barker’s finger."
"Well if they managed to do that, then
I’m sure that I’ll like what I see," Atkins grinned easily.
"How’s Barker doing now?"
"His finger grew back, and now he’s in
the cafeteria having some grub."
"Good. I’ll meet you at R and D."
"I’ll see you there, sir," Porter
saluted just before she turned and walked away.