The Power of Five Oblivion

His voice was heavy.
    “I agree,” Scarlett said. “Why would Scott want to meet with you now? If he really wanted to talk to you, he could have come to the dreamworld. Or he could have escaped himself. He didn’t need to send a note.”
    “We’ve interrogated the prisoner,” Cain muttered. “There may be a little more he can add.”
    “I spoke to Scott!” Omar had a high-pitched, nervous voice. “He is very scared. The Old Ones watch him all the time. This place that he speaks of, Skua Bay, it is safe. It is near to your ships, away from the fort. He will be alone. You will be alone. You will see that. Scott is your friend. He wants to help you.”
    There was a brief silence. Then Lohan stepped forward. “Give me five minutes alone with this man,” he said. “Give me fire and give me a knife. I will tell you very quickly if he is lying to us. But let me say right now that I do not believe a word of this. They want Matt. That is all they want. And this is their way to draw him in.”
    “We’re not going to torture him,” Matt said. He was still holding the note, weighing it in his hand. He approached Omar. “You saw Scott?”
    “Yes.”
    “Describe him to me.”
    “He is thin with dark hair. Pale skin. Brown eyes. He told me to say something when we met, so that you would know it was really him.”
    “And what was that?”
    “He said that he was sorry about Professor Chambers. He made a mistake and he knows you were angry with him.”
    Both Matt and Richard knew what Omar was talking about. Scott had blamed himself for the death of the professor at her home in Nazca. Nobody else in the fortress could have known about that. At the very least it proved that the message really must have come from Scott.
    But then Richard put into words what both of them were thinking. “It could still be a trap,” he said. “If Scott’s working with the Old Ones, they could be using him to get at you.”
    Matt glanced at Greyson, the man who had collected him. “Do you know Skua Bay?” he asked.
    “Yes. It’s where he says. About a kilometre to the west.”
    “Could you drop me there?”
    “Sure. We could take you down there on a Zodiac.”
    “Wait a minute!” Richard cut in. “You’re not seriously thinking of taking Scott up on his little invitation, are you? That’s crazy! Think about it for just one minute. What Scarlett said is right. If Scott really wanted to, he could just walk out of the fortress and see you. He could use his powers. Can’t he control people’s minds? He could get one of the shape-changers to give him a lift! Or the dreamworld! Scott was turning bad even when we were in Peru. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. You can’t trust him, Matt. The Old Ones are looking for you. This is a trick.”
    Matt turned to Cain. “What do you think, Commander?”
    Cain shrugged. “I don’t know, Matthew,” he said. “I suppose I tend to agree with Mr Cole. The whole thing seems more than a little suspicious. But at the same time, I will add this.” He paused. “We’ve been beaten. I suppose I need to shoulder most of the blame but today was a disaster. We have only half the men we started out with. Our aerial forces have been shown to be useless. Right now I would say that the future of the world hangs by a thread.
    “So what does that mean? It means that if there’s even a whisker of a chance that this man is telling the truth and that Scott can help us, we don’t have any choice but to go for it. God knows, I realize I’ve lost the right to advise you. But that’s what I think.”
    Matt nodded. “I agree.”
    Richard went over to him. “Don’t do it, Matt,” he pleaded.
    “There is no other way,” Matt said. “You know that, Richard. The Five have to come together. If we’re separated, we have no choice at all.”
    “But you’re nowhere near each other,” Richard said. “You and Scarlett are here. Pedro is in Italy. Jamie is in England. And the doors are closed. You’re not going to come together any time soon.” He took a breath, then continued more slowly. “We’ve lost, Matt. The attack today was a monumental gamble and it didn’t pay off. The best thing right now would be to get out of this hellish place as soon as we can. Regroup somewhere else. Live to fight another day.”
    Everyone turned to Matt, waiting for him to answer.
    “You’re right, Richard,” he admitted. There was a tiredness in his voice that Richard had never heard before.