Lucien's plan was sound. Unfortunately, he underestimated just how intelligent his opponent was. Francis had expected it.
After all, his actions from the very beginning had been designed to force them to use few alternative.
The orbital cannons were a powerful deterrent, but they could not be fired indiscriminately.
The next city remained completely unaware of what was coming. The government had kept the information classified, fearing that any public warning would trigger mass panic.
Francis arrived from below.
A crack formed in the concrete floor of a maintenance tunnel, thin as a knife's edge, three levels beneath the city's central water treatment facility.
No explosion. No tremor that the seismographs would flag as anything worth noting.
Pipes ran above him, pressurized and groaning softly with the weight of a city's thirst.
