The Seraphim Sequence: The Fifth Column 2 Read Online Free

coming.’
    She looked down to find her hands balled into fists. She released them.
    ‘If you trust these kid hackers of yours, you’re allowing wolves in sheep’s clothing to slip through. I’ve witnessed first-hand how psychopaths can worm their way into an organization and subvert it from the inside out. It’s how the Fifth Column was born, and it’s how the Akhana was destroyed. It’s why Freeman created the Shadow Akhana. Any resistance that doesn’t understand psychopaths is doomed to fail. It’s why every resistance in last few thousand years has been crushed, their existence struck from history. Do you want us to fall with them?’
    ‘We need to hit the Fifth Column where it hurts,’ Dolph said. ‘Their finances.’
    ‘That won’t work.’
    ‘I wasn’t asking for your opinion.’
    ‘Listen to me,’ Sophia said. ‘The Fifth Column is going to great lengths to conceal the fact that they’re busy constructing a whole bunch of new installations. They even have shocktroopers on guard duty. That never happens.’
    Dolph shook his head. ‘And you know this because you’re an expert on the Fifth Column, I suppose.’
    ‘No,’ Sophia said. ‘But if your crack team of hackers checked out the satellites, we might have some idea of what we’re dealing with. Until then, I need operatives on the ground—’
    ‘What do you think the Fifth Column is building?’ Dolph cut in. ‘The Death Star perhaps?’
    ‘You’re messing with the wrong crowd,’ Sophia said, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘These hackers might have good intentions, but all it takes is one man without a conscience.’
    ‘I don’t want former operatives,’ Dolph said. ‘They don’t function, they don’t socialize appropriately, they don’t cooperate outside their skewed military hierarchy. They’re broken and they’re dangerous. I hereby call for a vote to suspend Sophia’s operational capabilities and ground her to the base indefinitely.’
    ‘I try to help you and your first reaction is to lock me up?’ Sophia yelled.
    ‘It’s not my first reaction, it’s my last. I’ve given you many chances. Every step of the way you betray us, you sabotage us,’ Dolph said. ‘All those in favor.’
    Sophia watched all but three of the ten Council members raise their hands. People who had previously loathed Dolph were now ruling in his favor. Camila had raised her hand too. Sophia felt her own hands clench.
    She spoke directly to Camila. ‘Why would you stand by and let him compromise the Shadow Akhana with a gang of bedroom hackers you can’t even trust?’
    ‘Because this gang of bedroom hackers didn’t commit mass genocide,’ Dolph said. He pointed his finger at her. ‘Why should I trust someone who left for dead the only person who trusted them?’
    Sophia’s jaw clenched. Blood gushed to her cheeks. ‘And which person would that be?’
    Dolph glared at her, then finally said, ‘Doctor Adamicz.’
    Sophia went very still. Leoncjusz Adamicz had been part of her family too. For the few months they’d spent hiding in a dusty library in Italy, Adamicz had become like a father to her. He’d worked closely with Benito and Cecilia to extract her from the Fifth Column and was single-handedly responsible for deprogramming her. Sophia had slipped away from his protection to revisit her home. She knew her parents were dead, but she’d needed to see it, to make it real. When she’d returned, Adamicz was also dead, lying on the library floor in a pool of his own blood. There had been no one there to help him, no one to protect him. It wasn’t until much later that she’d learnt who had killed Adamicz. Cecilia McLoughlin. She’d sent operatives to kill him.
    Nothing else existed in this moment except Sophia and Dolph. She drew her P99 pistol, pointed the barrel at his face. She felt the aim of the security personnel on her, their rifles cocked and ready to fire.
    A ghost of a smile tugged the corner of Dolph’s mouth. ‘Don’t