Free Souls (Book Three of the Mindjack Trilogy) Read online

  After a moment, Julian spoke and, thankfully, it wasn’t to me. “The normal punishment for murder is scribing, a complete rewriting of your mind, something that’s not possible in your case. Banishment isn’t an option I’m ready to consider until I can be assured that you can control your ability enough to be released. You’ll be incarcerated for the time being, but I’ll appoint a jacker to work with you to develop your skills. Should anything happen to that jacker, we will have no choice but to remove the threat you pose. However, if you can learn to control it and prove you’re no longer a danger to others, you will have the choice to stay here in Jackertown or leave.”

  The man blinked rapidly, his head swinging from Julian to me and back again.

  “Do you understand the sentence?” the magistrate asked.

  The man’s gaze jumped to him, like he had forgotten the magistrate was there. “Um… you… you’re not going to kill me, right?”

  “That is correct,” he said. “You are sentenced to one month of incarceration with release pending remediation.” He banged a gavel that made us all jump.

  The guards gingerly took hold of the man’s arms and led him away. I had no idea where they were taking him. They’d probably have to build a cell just for him.

  Julian turned from the others, his face still burning with the same intensity as before. He stepped close before I could dodge him.

  “This is where I need you, Kira.” His voice was a whisper full of meaning. “Not in ops.”

  I had already figured out that was where he was going with this. “You want me to be a magistrate? Because I really don’t look good in black robes.”

  He smiled wide. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you in black robes. If I’d known you could talk down a crazed super-changeling, I would have put you in the judiciary rotation sooner.” His smile mellowed. “Just think what you could do on the chat-casts.”

  The chat-casts again. He just wasn’t going to give up on that. Why couldn’t he understand that all I wanted was to serve the JFA, get revenge on Kestrel, and keep my family safe?

  “The people want to hear from you on the chat-casts, not me,” I said, my hands spread wide with exasperation. “You inspire them. Your words give them hope. I would only be repeating what you say, anyway. You don’t need me.”

  “I do need you, Kira.”

  “No you don’t.” Somehow it seemed like we had veered off into talking about something else. Time to change the subject. “But if you want my opinion, I can think of a few things around here I’d like to have taken care of.”

  His voice dropped further. “Like what?”

  “Like, what’s the JFA’s plan for dealing with the testing stations? We’re losing jackers every day to Vellus’s round-up efforts. When are we going to put a stop to that?”

  He touched my shoulder, his hand warm even through the ultralite. “Soon, but not yet. An assault on the testing stations would bring Vellus’s forces down hard on Jackertown. We’ve got the power plant secured, but we’re not ready for the siege that would bring. We need to ensure our food and water supplies first. Patience, Kira. I promise we will shut down the testing stations eventually.”

  “A promise?” I smirked and shook my head in mock chastisement. “Anna wouldn’t approve.” His promise-making got under his sister’s skin, but I thought it was part of what drew people to him.

  His smile made me suddenly aware of how close we were, whispering on the stage together, his hand warming my shoulder. The idea of inappropriate hugs crossed my mind again. I should have pulled back, but I saw an opening in the way his eyes were lit with promises and possibilities.

  “I know a certain female jacker with extraordinary abilities,” I said, peering up at him. “Someone who’s exceptional in operations and that just might be able to conduct a covert op for you. We could be in and out of a testing station, with no one the wiser, like the power plant today. All you have to do is say the word.” I wished I could persuade him with just my smile, but instead his face drew into a scowl.

  “The last place I want you is somewhere Vellus can—”

  A banging sound from the back of the Mediation Center cut him off. The door had flung open and Hinckley rushed in, his boots screeching on the polished wooden floor of the Mediation Room and his jacket flapping at his sides like it wanted to take flight and carry him across the floor even faster than his long-legged strides. Julian and I quickly broke apart.

  “Julian!” Hinckley called, not waiting until he crossed the room. “Vellus has called in the National Guard. Jackertown is surrounded.”

  I’d never seen Julian so angry.

  We had nearly sprinted back to the JFA headquarters, and now tension radiated from Julian’s body like waves of heat. His shoulders were stiff as he stared at the angry red words of the breaking tru-cast scrolling across the screen. Jackers drifted into the kitchen from the racks in the back. They must have been drawn by the palpable unease up front, or perhaps they had just heard the news about Vellus and the National Guard.

  Hinckley leaned against the weathered wooden table where the JFA shared meals, talking in hushed tones with a half dozen of his men, some with their jackets still on after being called back to headquarters. Hinckley broke from his men, nodded to the new arrivals, and stood next to Julian. He folded his arms, and his stringy fingers tapped a silent rhythm on his well-defined bicep. His early-morning training sessions with Anna seemed to be bulking him up, but he was probably used to it from his time working jacker Special Forces in the government.

  I brushed Hinckley’s mind. What news do they have? I asked when he let me in.

  They don’t know anything more than we do, Hinckley thought.

  Did somebody discover we scribed everyone at the power plant?

  That’s what I’d like to know. Apparently no one near the perimeter has their short comm on. His mindscent was sharper than normal, and his jaw worked as if he wanted to chew on whoever at the perimtere had neglected their duty.

  Where’s Ava? I asked. Headquarters was dead center in Jackertown, which meant the perimeter was out of my reach, but Ava could easily find out what was happening there.

  Hinckley nodded. I’ve got someone looking for her.

  Julian didn’t notice either Hinckley or me, his gaze still trained on the screen. It played an image of the National Guard troops at the edge of Jackertown, all sporting black automatic rifles and standing at attention in the middle of the intersection. Julian’s knuckles turned white as he clenched the short comm radio in his hand, holding it close to his mouth.

  “What do you mean, Yee’s not checking in?” he shouted far louder than necessary. “Find him!” His face was three shades darker than normal and getting worse.

  Yee was supposed to be on sentry duty at the perimeter. Had the National Guard troops already taken prisoners? The tru-cast kept cycling the same images, then an interview with Vellus from days ago looped in. He didn’t say anything about the National Guard, just blathered on about his testing station program and how it was slowly solving the “jacker problem” as he now called us.

  Julian had switched channels. “Mary!” he shouted into the short comm. Every face in the kitchen area turned to stare, and the only sound was a door creaking closed in the back. I stepped closer to Julian, then stopped. He finally looked away from the screen, to me, and the lost look in his eyes made my heart seize up. In that frozen beat of time, he searched my face. I couldn’t tell what he found, but he frowned and turned back to the screen. When he spoke into the short comm, his voice was smooth and warm, the normal voice that held everything together, including my frayed nerves.

  “Mary, how are things at the plant?” he asked. She must be the jacker we left at the power station this morning. “So everything’s secure, then,” he said, for the benefit of everyone listening in. Shoulders around the room relaxed, probably as much from his tone as anything else. His words washed relief through my body, too. I clenched and unclenched my hands, trying to shake
the remaining tension away.

  “Good,” Julian said into the short comm. “You’re sure there are no Guard troops waiting outside?” There was a pause. “No, stay there. Things here are more… complicated. Maintain your post and keep your short comm with you. I want you in constant contact. If we need to come get you, I want to know immediately.”

  If the power plant was secure, Vellus’s sudden movement against Jackertown didn’t make sense. Finally, a live tru-caster broke in through the repetitive looping images with a pulsing blue news alert scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Vellus appeared, along with Illinois’ Governor Rancin, another politician riding the anti-jacker sentiment of the state. The background was out of focus, so it was hard to see where they were, but it hadn’t been that long since Ava and I sensed Vellus’s entourage in downtown Chicago.

  The boom mics picked up the thought waves from Vellus and the tru-caster who was interviewing him.

  Governor Rancin has wisely decided to deploy the National Guard in this tense situation, Vellus thought. I fully support him exercising his duty to keep the state’s citizens safe from any domestic emergency that might threaten them.

  On screen, a tan camouflage troop carrier rolled to a stop and spilled out Guardsmen onto the sun-bleached street. Their pitch-black riot gear and anti-jacker helmets drew an invisible do not cross line between them as they took up positions facing Jackertown.

  What domestic emergency prompted this action?

  The tru-caster had directed her question to the Governor, but Vellus answered. A small, armed group of jackers from the lawless area known as Jackertown attempted to take over a power generation station in Crawford. They were unsuccessful, I’m happy to say, and the power station is secure. It’s only used for peak power usage for the suburbs, in addition to powering Jackertown. There were no service interruptions, but the Governor’s timely deployment of the National Guard will keep jackers from making any more excursions out of Jackertown to threaten areas where normal mindreaders live and work.

  “Vellus is right,” Julian said. “The power station is secure—securely under our control.” That knowledge seemed to help return Julian’s face to its normal color.

  “But if Vellus knows about the assault, he has to know we’ve jacked people there,” I said. “Why is he leaving it in our control?”

  Anna spoke up from behind us. “Vellus doesn’t want to publicly acknowledge that the JFA has a win.” Hinckley stepped aside to let her stand next to Julian. She eyed the screen, crossing her arms. “We left the station workers well-armed. Vellus would have to do a full assault on the power station to take it back. The media would be all over that, and the Guard might not win, not right away. Instead of taking back the power plant, Vellus is using it as a pretext to roll out his anti-jacker National Guard unit.”

  Julian templed his hands and touched them to his lips, the way he did when he was pondering something. That simple motion, that return to normalcy, eased the jitters working their way into my stomach.

  “Vellus can claim victory without ever having fought the battle,” Julian agreed. “He knows we can’t dispute it without bringing an attack. And now he has a justification to set up security around Jackertown to keep track of our movements.”

  The screen switched to another shot of the troops. Most were busy forming a human barrier, but a few were unloading giant panels from a white convoy truck. They looked like plastifoam from the ease with which they were handling them, two Guards to a panel.

  “Um, Julian?” I pointed to the screen. “That does not look good.”

  We watched as they placed one panel next to another and left them standing. A wall. Around Jackertown.

  Julian’s face darkened again. “They’re fencing us in.”

  “That’s not much of a fence,” I offered.

  “Those are mobile anti-jacker shields.” His voice was dead calm, his gaze trained on the screen. “Probably electrified as well. With those in place, they can keep anyone from getting in or out. They can stop all trade, all flow of goods, food, medical supplies. They plan to keep us here a good long time with those.”

  This was the siege Julian had worried about. The one we weren’t prepared for yet. Julian closed his eyes, ran a hand over his face, and I sensed a coiled anger underneath that small move. He was wiping the signs of it from his face so he could keep that calm expression for the rest of us. It sent a shiver of alarm shooting through my body.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  “It’s time, Julian,” Anna said, facing him.

  “No.” Julian didn’t look at her, still transfixed by the white panels that were undoing all his careful planning.

  “Time for what?” I had no idea what they were talking about, which just bumped my alarm up another level.

  Anna dropped her voice. “She has a way to stop him, Julian. Let her use it.”

  “I said no.” He refused to look at her. Or me, for that matter.

  “What are you talking about?” Maybe Anna had a mission that she hadn’t shared, a secret plan in the event of a siege.

  She looked past Julian to me. “Kira, your father still has access to Vellus.” She stated this as a fact. At my dubious look, she explained, “He may not be mindguarding for Vellus anymore, but he knows how to contact him. He could arrange for you to meet with Vellus. Take Sasha along.”

  No, no, no. The idea of using my dad to go after Vellus made my head spin. It was flat dangerous. If we were caught… “I don’t think—”

  Julian turned his head to Anna and cut me off. “I’m not sending Kira anywhere near Vellus.” His voice left no room for objection.

  Anna objected anyway. “We need more time, Julian. We’re not ready for a siege. Kira can buy us that time, a lot of it, if Sasha is successful in scribing Vellus. He has to be stopped before he becomes any more of a threat. It’s worth the risk.”

  Julian stood straight, fists slowly clenching at his side. “No.” They were nose to nose in a staring contest.

  “There’s another way,” I said, desperate to avoid returning home as much as Julian didn’t want to send me there. “Let me take Sasha and go after Vellus directly. Right now. He’s here in Chicago New Metro.”

  That got their attention. Both Julian and Anna swung their heads to me.

  Shock registered on Julian’s face. “How do you know that?”

  Oops. “Um, well.” There was no time for hedging. “Ava and I have been doing long-distance surveillance, looking for Kestrel.” Anna gave me a knowing look, like she had already guessed we were doing more than meditation on the rooftop. “Anyway, this morning we sensed an entourage coming out of the mayor’s office. I’m sure he’s still somewhere nearby. If we move quickly, we can catch him before he leaves Chicago. Let me and Ava search again, find him, take a strike force, and take him out.”

  Julian’s face pulled into a frown as I talked, but he didn’t question why I was looking for Kestrel. “I don’t want you going anywhere near Vellus.”

  “She doesn’t have to,” Anna said. “She and Ava can pinpoint Vellus’s location, and Sasha can lead the team against him.”

  Thank you, Anna. If this worked, it would not only remove Vellus as a threat, but I wouldn’t have to endanger my family to do it.

  “If we attack the senator in broad daylight,” Julian said, “and he suddenly is turned into a friend of the JFA, everyone will know he's been jacked.”

  “Which is why Sasha will have to be subtle,” Anna said. Sasha’s ability was powerful—he could change the personality of a person down to their core. He could change Vellus into our best friend, but Anna was right. That would be too obvious.

  “Most jacks are temporary,” I added. “Even if they know he’s been attacked, most people would expect him to return to normal afterward. Sasha doesn’t have to make Vellus an instant revolutionary. He could scribe him into being a subversive, like the power-plant workers. Vellus could be our double agent on the inside of the anti-ja
cker movement, feeding us intel and working to sabotage his own plans.”

  I saw Julian struggling to find the flaw in the plan.

  “We have to move fast.” I gestured to the screen. “Before they get that fence up and turn all of Jackertown into a concentration camp. Plus, Ava and I won’t be able to reach through the shield once they get it up. We should move closer to the edge of Jackertown now. From the rooftops at the perimeter, we should be able to reach over the shield if they activate it before we get there.”

  Julian ran his hand through his hair, then dropped it. “Okay, but you’re doing surveillance, Kira, nothing else. Don’t engage the Guard at the perimeter.”

  “Surveillance. Got it, boss.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I’m exceptionally talented at surveillance.”

  That drew a slight smile out of him. “Take Sasha with you for backup. He’ll want to go if Ava’s going, anyway. Short comm back as soon as you know Vellus’s location. We’ll organize the strike from here. Under no circumstances do you go after Vellus on your own.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  But I had no intention of following Julian’s orders. If the opportunity presented itself, I would take out Vellus myself.

  Sasha, Ava, and I threaded through the maze of Jackertown’s alleyways, staying off the main arteries in case Vellus started rolling tanks into town. We dodged potholes and abandoned furniture left over from the days when the demens were the sparse and rambling inhabitants of this slice of Chicago New Metro. They had been driven out when the jackers moved in. Normally these streets would be bustling with the daily life of Jackertown, but today they were empty again. The sounds of changelings at play had been replaced by the silence of shuttered windows and the hushed whispers of JFA sentries. They were stationed on the street corners with black armbands and rifles while everyone else was inside, hovering over their short comms or watching the tru-casts.

  Ava and I both reached a full 360-degree circle around us, scanning for Guardsmen who might be making incursions into Jackertown, although there had been no report of it on the short comm that Sasha carried. He followed behind us, his dart gun drawn. The three of us slowed our pace as we crept up on the perimeter at the eastern edge of town. We paused at a side alley that emptied onto a mid-sized street at the limits of jacker-occupied land.