Broken Wide Read online

  Text copyright © 2018 by Susan Kaye Quinn

  April 2018 Edition

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

  www.susankayequinn.com

  Cover by D. Robert Pease

  www.WalkingStickBooks.com

  Broken Wide

  (Mindjack: Zeph Book Three)

  young adult science fiction

  All he wanted was peace; all he had was hope.

  Zeph had spent half his life hiding what he was—keeping his mindjack powers away from dangerous men and running away from everyone he loved to keep them safe. Now that his life is finally coming together—his mom and sister are safe; the girl he loves in his arms—the world is falling apart. The mindreader backlash against jackers is growing daily. Jacker-bigot politicians are stoking fear and gaining power. And jackers on the Fronter’s Purity list are winding up dead on the streets outside Jackertown.

  Even the Jacker Freedom Alliance is tearing itself apart.

  All Zeph wants is a chance to build a life with Tessa—but even she is losing faith. If there’s no peace between jackers and readers, what future could they have? Then a protest goes terribly wrong, the president starts talk of a Jackertown siege, and a MINDWARE CEO races to develop a dangerous mind-blasting technology. It seems foolish to even hope for peace, but one thing becomes very clear—the only way to put the world back together is to bring down the powerful people breaking it apart.

  The conclusion to the bestselling Mindjack: Zeph series, where daring to hope for peace could be the most radical—and dangerous—move of all.

  Check out all of Sue's books...

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  Open Minds (Book 1)

  Closed Hearts (Book 2)

  Free Souls (Book 3)

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  Mindjack:Zeph

  Locked Tight (Book 4)

  Cracked Open (Book 5)

  Mindjack Short Story Collection (Novella Box Set)

  Singularity Series

  The Legacy Human (Book 1)

  The Duality Bridge (Book 2)

  The Illusory Prophet (Book 3)

  The Stories of Singularity #1-4 (Novella Box Set)

  Awakening (Stories of Singularity #5)

  (Audiobooks)

  The Royals of Dharia

  Third Daughter (Book 1)

  Second Daughter (Book 2)

  First Daughter (Book 3)

  The Debt Collector

  dark, gritty, sexy... recommended for 17+

  LIRIUM (Season One)

  WRAITH (Season Two)

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  “If I am not for myself, who is for me?

  If I am only for myself, what am I?

  If not now, when?”

  — Rabbi Hillel the Elder

  If I could have one wish, it would be for peace. Everywhere, all the time. But specifically, right now, on the stage of the Mediation Center in Jackertown.

  “If you bring a gun, you have to be prepared to shoot.” That’s Kira Moore, the face of the Jacker Freedom Alliance, glaring like she’s using her mind powers not words. She’s not glaring at me, but then I’m not armed to the teeth like Anna Navarro.

  “I’m always prepared to shoot.” Anna looks like a weaponized version of her twin brother, Julian—same piercing blue eyes and warm brown skin but with serious muscles and black body armor. Two handguns at her waist, a knife at her thigh, tiny flat-black grenades lined up one arm, and a fleet of metallic butterflies complete with launcher on the other. I’ve seen the taser-insects in action, although these are probably tuned for mindreaders instead of mindjackers. Then there’s the thin black tube hanging from her belt—a wand that beams energy and makes you feel like you’re on fire. Brutal, but probably the least lethal weapon in the small armory strapped to her body.

  And those are just the weapons I can see.

  “We lose everything if you start a shooting war on the streets.” Kira’s body radiates No in every language, but she and Anna both have impenetrable mindbarriers, so this will be fought with words… or weapons if it gets bad.

  I’m on standby, lurking at the edge of the weathered, wooden stage in case I need to scramble some minds. Otherwise, I’m staying out of it. The air is already electrified with the mindfields of a couple dozen jackers on the main floor, and using my ability would just make things worse. It’s like one of the Mediation Center’s original Wild West trials from the early days of Jackertown, but what’s broken here isn’t the law—it’s trust. Unity. The civil community Julian Navarro tried to shape Jackertown into while he was still alive. Only the world is less civil by the day, and right now, the Reader First Front is having a bigot party at the edge of Jackertown. Kira wants to meet their anti-jacker “protest” with chants and slogans.

  Anna wants to bring bullets to the party.

  Julian was the leader of their revolution, but Anna was always the true revolutionary. Julian was the talker, the bringer of peace, and then their representative in the Senate. He designed the Mediation Center, using magistrates to resolve disputes, with Julian enforcing the code. A screen on the back wall still displays the violations that would earn you banishment… or a mind-wipe if you were unlucky. No kill jacks. No stealing. No forced jackwork or memory wipes. Julian kept them together with charisma, vision, and a jack ability that scared the crap out of most people.

  All I’ve got is the blunt instrument of spinning a person’s mindfield—it hurts like hell, and pain does tend to keep people from getting out of hand, but it’s not like I want to use it. Kira’s been through all kinds of hell already, and it probably wouldn’t even work on Anna—she’s tougher than most jackers I’ve seen, even in the most ruthless Clans.

  Anna makes a low sound I swear is a growl. “There’s already a shooting war on the streets. Are you not paying attention?” Then she grabs a blunt-nosed, wide-barreled gun off the rack—the thing must shoot excessively large bullets or tranq darts—and sights the weapon. Not at Kira, but the hairs on my neck rise anyway. Before I can react, she’s breaking the gun down, checking the barrel, and carefully tucking it behind her back. Then she returns her glare to the defiant, brown-haired girl in front of her.

  Kira is seething.

  And I know why—this is the opposite of what Julian stood for. He was a legend among jackers. Then an assassin’s bullet took him down, and it broke a lot of things.

  Kira’s heart. Anna’s restraint. Most of all, the uneasy peace between jackers and readers. Now it’s threatening to break Julian’s Jacker Freedom Alliance. Destroying the JFA was exactly the intent of the people who killed him—I don’t have proof, but I’m sure one of those people is Beatrix Wright. She’s the director of Jacker Technologies at DARPA—the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—and she makes a living out of torturing jackers. Killing them isn’t a stretch. And Julian’s assassination was just the beginning. Then Kira lost his Senate seat to a jacker bigot, the president was taken out by a jack attack, and the whole country turned against us.

  “Talk to her, Zeph,” Tessa whispers. She’s standing next to me, arms locked over her chest, watching the showdown intently like everyone else in the room.

  I sigh because I agree with Kira—Anna bringing her JFA shock troops to the protest is just looking for a fight. But Tessa’s Free
Thinkers—soft-hearted mindreaders who advocate for jackers—are insisting on a counter-protest. Which is like bringing kindergarteners to a bar brawl, but I can’t say that to the girl I’m falling in love with.

  Tessa turns when I say nothing, her expression all deep brown eyes and pinched lips and tiny wrinkles of concern.

  I link into her head, keeping this between the two of us. Kira’s got this handled. Maybe if the JFA doesn’t show up, the Free Thinkers will stay away.

  “But Anna’s right—this is already a shooting war.” She’s talking out loud, so I take the hint and pull out of her head, but I don’t like it. What’s she trying to hide?

  “You’re the peace and love girl,” I say with a frown. “Since when are you a fan of bringing a small army to a protest?”

  “Since this protest is a bunch of anti-jacker bigots… and murderers.”

  I grimace. The latest purity killing was splashed all over the tru-casts—some seventeen-year-old was outed by his family and landed on the Fronter’s Purity list. There’s been a wild uptick of families doing that to keep their bloodlines “pure.” Which is horrific enough, but then barely a day later, the kid is dead, his body dumped in the street just outside Jackertown. The Chicago Jack Police did nothing but remove the body, per usual. Just another blood stain on the broken pavement.

  “Which is exactly why the Free Thinkers should stay off the streets,” I try, knowing it won’t work.

  “We can’t stay silent.” She’s looking at me like I’ve gone demens. Or worse—betrayed her cause. “Even you said it—we have to fight this.”

  “I meant with non-violence.” I can’t believe I have to spell that out. Tessa’s always been the one who believed jackers and readers could peacefully co-exist, not me. I’m just now coming around… and more out of desperate hope than anything else.

  “I don’t know if that’s enough anymore.” Tessa drops her scowl to the floor.

  No, no, no. She can’t lose heart now. But it’s been coming, ever since Kira lost the election. Tessa wrote her concession speech, and that light in her eyes has been slowly dimming…

  “You can’t give up.” I’m practically begging. Because if she doesn’t believe there’s a peaceful future between jackers and readers, where does that leave us?

  “I’m not giving up.” She says it bitterly to the floor. “I’m just… changing tactics.” She won’t look at me.

  My heart is sinking.

  Kira’s voice rises. “I could order you to stand down.”

  Tessa’s gaze whips up. I mentally reach out just to make sure Kira and Anna are still throwing glares, not kill jacks.

  Anna’s expression is dead blank. “Yeah. You could try.” Crap. This is not the way this needs to go.

  I slam my mindreach into Anna’s impenetrable mindbarrier. It’s just an ordinary jack attempt, not the finesse of spinning her mindbarrier—which would be poking the bear with a lot bigger stick—but shock still ripples across her face.

  “Hey!” I say before she can lay blame on Kira.

  They both turn incredulous looks to me.

  “If Julian were here,” I say, biting out the words, “he’d instinct jack the both of you.” It’s not true, but for the moment, all their outrage is turned on me. In truth, Julian never lost his cool, not that I could tell. He was the original mediator in the Mediation Center—the justice that pushed Jackertown into being. I’m just a blunt weapon who barely knows what he’s doing. I suck in a breath and soften my voice. “Actually, he’d say you’re better than this. Both of you. Work it out.”

  Anna drops her gaze to the floor, chastened, which I honestly didn’t expect. It’s Kira’s bitter gaze that’s burning a hole through me—and she’s right. Who am I speak for Julian? After all, I helped get him killed. And she knows it, even if no one else does.

  “Don’t do anything stupid until I get back,” I mumble, ducking my head. To Tessa, I whisper, “Let’s give them a minute to cool down.” I tilt my head toward the front door and briefly tug on her elbow then let go. Touching is an intimate, emotion-sharing thing with readers, and I don’t want to embarrass her.

  Tessa scowls but follows my lead, and we patter down the three steps to the main floor where the crowd parts before us. This place used to be a furniture store—a hundred years ago, before chemicals in the water turned people into mindreaders, and the city emptied out. Now the Mediation Center is a musty relic filled with jackers, and not just the normal JFA, but the military types, geared up for combat like Anna. Most of the civilian types are in their homes or the clinic or the shops of Jackertown—the normal life that Julian tried so hard to build. My mom and Olivia are back at Aaliyah’s Home, working on my sister’s jacking skills, which is good—they don’t need to be involved in this.

  Tessa and I weave through the crowd, shuffling past the pinched looks and the silence of their held breaths. Anna’s boyfriend, Hinckley, is tracking our progress and limping our way—he was wounded while breaking my mom out of DARPA, but I’m sure if Anna gives him the signal, he’ll roll out with everyone else. Tessa’s staying by my side without question, and her faith is carrying me forward. I veer away from Hinckley but then nearly collide with Major John Scott, an ex-DARPA enforcer with serious military skills. His arm is out of the sling now—another person I owe for helping with my mom’s escape—and I manage not to bump it.

  He doesn’t try to stop us, just ducks his chin and says, “Whatever you’re doing, make it fast.” Then he steps aside, letting us pass but also taking a stance to intercept Hinckley.

  They’re friends, so it shouldn’t get ugly.

  But in truth, all of this is ugly. The reader backlash against jackers like us is turning into a wave of hate. It’s been only two weeks since Mac Simpson became our Senator and President Torquin was sworn into office, but the politicians are whipping that wave into an inferno. Torquin wants to equip every man, woman, and child with anti-jacker helmets. Simpson is on the tru-casts every day with the supposed crimes of jackers. The Fronters are having their glory moment—their “protest” is a call for a new quarantine of Jackertown, just like the siege the first time.

  Even Tessa is in danger of losing her hope for jackers and readers... all because the world’s going to ash.

  I lead her to a small coat closet near the front—the door’s half busted, hanging off one hinge, but I shut it behind us most of the way.

  “Hey,” I say softly, slipping my hand into hers. I can’t help giving her a quick kiss.

  “Zeph, we can’t just come in here and—” She leans away and looks back to the door.

  Crap. She thinks I want to make out. Which I do—always, plus there are no mindreaders here to overhear Tessa’s too-intimate thoughts—but that’s not my purpose. I tug at her with our still-clasped hands. “Run away with me, Tessa.”

  Her head whips back. “What?”

  “You and me. Leave Chicago New Metro. Don’t look back.” I’m a little breathless. She’s going to turn me down. I know she is. But it’s my opening gambit.

  Her face scrunches up. “I can’t just… Zephyr MacCay, what in the world—”

  “It’s okay,” I rush out. “I know you can’t. You’ve got Northwestern.” She’s still enrolled, as far as I know, despite all the chaos. “You’ve got the Free Thinkers. Your family. All of it.” I suck in a breath. “I just want you to know that if you said yes, I’d do it. I’d leave with you. Find a way for us to make it in the world. Together.” I’d be leaving my family behind—my mom, who I just got back; my little sister, who’s finally out of DARPA’s grasp; my dad, who’s still being held by Wright. But I’d do it if Tessa would go with me.

  Her face has gone slack with surprise, and her deep brown eyes are pulling me in. “You would?”

  “In a heartbeat.” If there’s anything the last month has taught me, it’s that one minute, you’re arguing with the girl you’re falling for, and the next, DARPA sweeps in and takes everything away. Or you’re dead with a bullet
through the skull like Julian. Or Ethan, the jacker who almost assassinated the president. There are no guarantees in life and precious few do-overs. I want Tessa to know exactly how far I’d go for her. “You want me to link into your head so you can hear my thoughts, judge for yourself?”

  She bites her lip and shakes her head.

  It wounds me in a way I don’t expect—a literal pain in the middle of my chest. “What’s wrong?”

  She drops her gaze. Her fingers slip from my hand, draggin like a dull blade, promising pain.

  This is when she tells me it’s not going to work. Like Juliette breaking up with Sammi because the world has decided jackers and readers can’t be together.

  Tessa crosses her arms over her chest and keeps staring at the floor.

  I’d say something, but it’s getting hard to breathe.

  Finally, she peers up. “You’re still going to Juliette’s, aren’t you?”

  Air rushes out of me. “As insane as that is, yes.” Juliette’s father is mega-tech-mogul Jeffrey Tiller. He’s developed a new weapon that targets jackers with mind-killing technology. Juliette’s hell-bent on stopping him, and she’ll need my help. “Are you jealous that I’m posing as her boyfriend to get back into Tiller’s estate? Please tell me you’re jealous.”

  Tessa cocks her head and gives me a small smile. “Juliette is in love with Sammi. I don’t care if they broke up. Anyone can see it.” But her hand slips back into mine, and the relief of that lets me breathe again.

  “Juliette’s been known to date guys,” I venture. “It’s okay if you’re jealous. I’m fine with you being jealous.” I pull her closer.