Free Souls (Book Three of the Mindjack Trilogy) Page 8

  I slumped to the rotted wooden floor and leaned against a musty and heavily patched wall. The shakes had set in, so I clasped my hands together, determined to fight them off by the time we got to the suburbs. I just hoped my dad would be willing to help us. I dug my phone from the leg pocket of my cargo pants. The trembling in my hand made it nearly jump out of my grasp. I jacked in to scrit a message to Xander.

  What’s new in the suburbs?

  I hoped he didn’t have his phone turned off. I hadn’t spoken to my dad or mom since I left. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say now, but calling my dad on the phone to recruit him to scribe his ex-boss wasn’t the right approach. A face-to-face chat was pretty much mandatory for that. Hopefully, Xander could smooth the way for me.

  Hey! the scrit came back from Xander. Long time no scrit, big sis. Need some help in J-town? Got my J-card ready to go.

  Xander calling me big sis made my insides twist. He shouldn’t want to be a revolutionary—he was only a kid. At least my real brother, Seamus, was safely tucked away with his fellow reader cadets at West Point. I badly missed our scrits, but I had stopped sending them when I left home, for the same reason I hadn’t spoken to my dad for months: to keep him as far from what I was doing as possible.

  J-card? I scrit to Xander. Didn’t know you were a member.

  J-card=tag, he scrit. You’re the JFA girl. Supposed to know these things.

  I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I needed to cut to business. Is dad home? I scrit. Have important business w/him.

  Er, not home.

  When will he be back?

  We’re all not home, he scrit. At the testing station.

  I gripped the phone with both hands and mentally nudged in the next message. What. Are. You. Doing. There?

  Not a choice. Get the notice, go in. Otherwise the Chi-town jack cops come for you. Bad.

  Dad’s there with you?

  Mom, Dad, me, he scrit. I’m done. Mom’s still inside.

  My vision telescoped down so that I could only see the words floating on my phone. Mom’s still inside. I curled up a fist and pressed it against my mouth. Panic threatened to choke me.

  Myrtle noticed. “You okay?”

  I waved her off, focusing on the phone. How could Dad… I stopped before sending the scrit. How could my dad take my mom down there? He was supposed to be protecting her! I erased the words and focused on the phone, anger clouding my thoughts.

  After a moment, Xander sent another scrit. Don’t worry. She’s a reader. She’ll test out. No reason to keep her. She’ll be fine.

  His attempts to reassure me only ratcheted the tension higher in my body. Sometimes people came back out of the testing stations, sometimes not. She was a reader, but they might make a mistake. Who knew what went on in there? My dad should have worked a deal with Vellus. Or fled. Or gotten Mr. Trullite’s help. The last thing he should have done was taken my mom and Xander down there willingly.

  Which testing station? I finally managed to scrit.

  What? Xander scrit. Why?

  Coming to get you.

  No! Bad move.

  Which testing station?

  Too dangerous, he scrit. Crawling with jack police. Things bad now. Worse since you left.

  Since I left? The anger boiling inside me ate away at my stomach. Had my leaving made things worse for my family instead of better?

  Testing station. Tell me.

  Washington station, he scrit. Don’t tell Dad I told you. Will kill me.

  Be there soon.

  However badly my dad was handling things by taking my mom to the testing center, I was going to make it worse by recruiting him to go after Vellus. My dad and I might not come back from that mission, and that would leave Xander to protect my mom. He was a jacker, but he was only thirteen.

  I swallowed and clenched my hands against the fading shakes that still rumbled through my body. When I told Julian I would do the mission, I knew it would come down to this. And I would follow through.

  But first, I would make sure my mom got home safe.

  The autocab dropped us off in a part of the city that reminded me of Jackertown, minus the jackers: run-down, clearly taken over by the demens for the last few decades, but now reclaimed by Vellus for his testing station. My winter coat had taken a thrashing from its encounter with the pavement, so I left it in the autocab. I didn’t want my parents to think the JFA kept me in tatters, and the ultralite and flak jacket should keep me warm. My legs were mostly functional now, so I gently pushed Sasha away and walked carefully into an alleyway that was caked with grime and stank of old grease. I only stumbled once, a crack in the pavement making me wobble. The three of us—me, Myrtle, and Sasha—passed an overturned dumpster. I edged up to the corner so I could peek around to survey the testing station.

  A steady stream of people came and went from the crumbling, red-bricked building, squat and plain. The original name, Markus Community Clinic, remained as a ghostly outline, the letters long removed. A small screen flashed the words Washington Testing Station in angry orange-and-black above the door, alternating with a biohazard symbol. As if jackers were some kind of communicable disease.

  Two guards in full riot gear with CJPD stamped across their chests stood at the entrance. The Chicago Jack Police officers had anti-jacker helmets as well as rifles to back up the threat of putting down anyone who got out of line. The jack police wore holstered dart guns in case they decided not to actually kill the pale, shaking citizens who were timidly passing by them on their way into the station.

  I couldn’t help curling my lip in disgust.

  My mental reach showed they were the extent of the security—a fairly small force, given the number of jackers who would pass through the testing-station doors. A mindwave disruptor field wrapped the station, so there was no telling what was inside. The idea of my mom in there made me queasy.

  “Are you sure your dad is here?” Sasha asked while peeking around the corner with me.

  I pulled out of view of the jack police. “I’m sure. Xander said they were still waiting for my mom. I don’t know how long the testing takes, but that was only fifteen minutes ago. I’ll let him know we’re here.”

  I slipped my phone out of my pocket, nudged it awake, and scrit a message giving Xander directions to our alleyway across the street.

  Don’t tell Dad I’m here, I finished the scrit. Just come to the alley. My dad would flip out when he saw me, and it would not be mesh to fight in front of the guards.

  He’s not going to be happy with me, Xander scrit back.

  Don’t worry, I scrit. He’ll be busy yelling at me.

  Sasha stepped closer. “What’s your plan here, Kira?” His dark eyes had lost their earlier warmth and were now all business. Which was what I needed to be too, in order for this mission to have any chance of working.

  “When my dad comes out,” I said, “we can discuss the options. I think the best plan is for my dad to make an appointment with Vellus to bring me in. Claim I’ve had a change of heart or something. Make it somewhere public, so you can hide nearby, close enough to scribe after I’ve enhanced you. We’ll have to find a way to get Vellus unhelmeted, but we’ll cross that hurdle when we get to it.”

  Sasha glanced in the direction of the testing station. A teenager helped an older man as he hobbled down the sidewalk toward the doors. The boy was probably his grandson, considering the gentle touch he used on the old man’s arm to steady him. Yeah, the two of them were definitely a threat to society that needed to be tested.

  “What if Vellus doesn’t go for it?” Sasha asked, pulling my attention back to the alley.

  “Then we find out where he is and go after him in a straight-up assault. We have to stop him before he leaves Chicago or ambush him en route to Springfield. It will be nearly impossible to get to him once he’s back in the capitol.” Not only was it much more fortified in Springfield, but the last time I was in Vellus’s office, I'd felt like a fly in his carefully
laid trap. I had no desire to return there.

  Myrtle shuffled toward us. “I’m not much use to you, Kira, unless the Jack Police take off those helmets.”

  “We’ll need you for any mindguards who might try to stop us.” I was channeling Anna now, with her perpetual military strategizing. “We don’t know who Vellus has for mindguards these days, but someone had crazy skills when we made the attempt on him earlier. My dad might have better intel on that. If you had been with us before, I suspect we would have been able to stop Vellus then.”

  Myrtle nodded, but Sasha looked uncertain, like he still wasn’t quite sure what had gone wrong with our previous mission. I didn’t know either, but it showed that we had to be prepared for any contingency.

  I peeked at the test station again, in time to see my dad striding out, his arm wrapped protectively around my mom and shielding her from the uninterested gaze of the CJPD guards. My mom, dad, and Xander were all dressed for a stroll through the fall leaves with jeans, boots, and light winter jackets. They didn’t seem like much of a threat, which I guessed was good, considering where they were. My heart beat a little faster, a turmoil of emotions revving it up: relief to see my mom okay; happiness that my dad was at least trying to protect her, even if he brought her here; anxiety as his long legs carried him quickly across the street, heading straight for our hideaway. I couldn’t imagine what Xander had told him, but I hadn’t felt my dad mentally surge us yet.

  I retreated around the corner. Whatever confrontation we were going to have, we didn’t want to catch the notice of the CJPD.

  Xander must have skipped ahead because he rounded the corner first. He didn’t have to reach up to give me a hug, like he had the last time I saw him. Had his birthday passed? Was he fourteen now? He was almost eye to eye with me when he pulled back, his smile bright.

  My smile was automatic, but it died when I saw the bright red J inked on his cheek. His pale face flushed, making blotches around the stamped red tattoo, and my anger boiled to a tipping point. The last thing he should be is embarrassed. They had marked him, as if he were an animal, branded and categorized.

  “Xander—”

  He pulled away from me. “I’m fine. Told you. Got my J-card now. Lots of jackers have them.”

  My fists curled. I wanted to hit something.

  He scanned me up and down, nodding his approval at my bulletproof jacket. “I see you’re all mesh down there in Jackertown. What’s it like? Have you guys invented some new secret weapons to fight the readers’ anti-jacker tech?”

  He must not have been watching the news.

  “Vellus has sent the National Guard in to surround Jackertown.”

  His eyebrows hiked up. “Whoa, really? When?”

  “Just this morning.”

  He reached out a gangly hand to nudge my shoulder. “That didn’t stop you from busting out, though, did it?”

  My mom and dad came around the corner, and the look on my dad’s face went from stormy to Category Five hurricane when he saw me. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t break my gaze from the angry red J on his cheek. Any ties he had to Vellus must not exempt him from being branded a jacker.

  My mom broke free from under my dad’s arm and hurried over to hug me. Her wispy brown hair had more streaks of gray than I remembered, and it floated in a cloud that embraced me along with her arms. I unclenched my fists to hug her and fought through the tears that threatened to leak out of my eyes. She winced and pulled away, rubbing her shoulder like it was sore.

  My gaze was glued to the spot where her hand gripped her jacket. “What did they do to you?” I had to force the words out through my teeth.

  “They just took my DNA for the test.” She was still rubbing her arm.

  That didn’t sound right at all. “Haven’t they ever heard of a saliva sample?” Just one more reason why my dad shouldn’t have come down here.

  “They said they needed to take blood.”

  Which didn’t make sense either.

  She dropped her hand. “I’m fine, really, Kira.”

  I blinked back angry tears and pressed my lips tightly together to keep from blurting out accusations at my dad. Neither would persuade him to help us.

  My mom glanced at Xander, standing on my right, and we both knew he was busted. Then she gently took hold of my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “Kira, why did you risk coming down here? I’m fine, sweetie. You didn’t need to come get me.”

  I swallowed, unable to speak for a moment. I hadn’t even known they were at the testing station, much less had I come for her. I was here to recruit my dad on a ridiculously dangerous mission, one that would make my mom sick with worry. Guilt was a dagger through my gut.

  My dad kept silent, his gaze flicking between Sasha, Myrtle, and me. His face was slowly turning purple under the shadow of yesterday’s forgotten shave. I could link in to hear his thoughts, but it was better to do this out in the open.

  “Mom,” I said, then cleared my throat to make my voice stronger. “I’m glad you’re okay. I knew Dad would take care of you. That’s not why I’m here. I need to talk to him.”

  My mom released my shoulders. “What is this about?”

  My dad edged closer to her, putting his hand on her shoulder again, and I drew in a breath. This was going to be harder than I thought.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve got Vellus’s phone number handy?” I asked my dad. His face lost some of its color. My mom looked rapidly back and forth between my dad and me.

  “What does she mean, Patrick?” my mom asked.

  My dad didn’t look at her, just held my gaze steady. “She means she wants me to kill the senator.”

  My eyebrows flew up. “No!” I said. My dad narrowed his eyes. “Well, maybe,” I conceded. “He’s fencing in Jackertown so he can put us under siege. We need to stop him, right now, and…” I hesitated, not quite sure how to phrase it.

  “And you want me be the one to do it.”

  “We want you to help us get close to him,” Sasha spoke up from behind me. “I would much prefer a minute or two with the senator to actually killing him. He’ll be much more useful to us that way.”

  My dad nodded slowly, and I hoped that nod meant he would help us. He had seen Sasha’s ability up close and personal when Sasha scribed Molloy, the jacker who turned my boyfriend Raf’s memories into Swiss cheese.

  “Can you get us close to Vellus?” I asked my dad. “We only need a small window of time, and no one has to get killed.” At least I hoped no one would get killed. That would be the best possible outcome out of this. The worst was… bad.

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” my mom said, peering up into my dad’s face.

  My dad still didn’t look at her. “I’m sure he’ll want to see you, Kira.” He ran a hand through his hair, brown like mine, but cut short like Hinckley’s men. “But I can’t say that I like the idea.”

  “We know he’s in town now, or at least he was earlier today.”

  “I’m sure he would make a special stop to see you. Our house has been under surveillance since you left.” He glanced at Xander. “It’s a good thing you didn’t go there first. I don’t want any of this coming home.”

  His clear blue eyes held mine. I hadn’t seen him in months, but I understood his unspoken words. This mission had to stay far away from my mom and Xander. On that, at least, we were in complete agreement.

  “You can talk in code all you like, but I know what’s going on,” Xander said, giving me a look that was far too knowledgeable for his fourteen years. “I’ve been listening to Julian on the chat-casts. The day is here, exactly like Julian said it would be. We have to stand up for our right to exist or people like Vellus will destroy us.”

  Hearing Xander quote Julian made a slither of fear crawl up my back. His synth tattoo burned red against the anger flaming his cheeks. Xander should be at home, watching out for my mom, not getting his J-card. He certainly didn’t belong in Julian’s JFA.

  �
�Whatever it is that you’re planning,” Xander continued, “you still need someone to watch out for your mom.” He stood a little taller. “I can do that.”

  I glanced at my dad and he seemed to think so too. An uncomfortable weight pressed on my chest, but I didn’t have the luxury of thinking of Xander as just a kid anymore.

  “Okay,” I said. “Your part of this mission is to get Mom back home.”

  Xander nodded too quickly. “Once she’s safe, I’ll come join you and Julian and the JFA.”

  “No!” my dad and I both said at the same time.

  Xander shrugged, like us saying “no” didn’t mean much to him. How long had he been planning to run off to join the JFA? My chest squeezed tighter. Was he doing this because of me? I didn’t know which was worse: Xander in the suburbs, marked as a jacker, or having him on the front lines, behind Vellus’s barricade. Neither one was good.

  “There are changelings in Jackertown who can do a lot more than babysit a reader,” Myrtle said, giving Xander a nod of approval. “But if Kira and her dad are going to help the JFA, Xander, they need to know that you’re at home, keeping everyone safe.”

  “She’s right,” my dad said to Xander. “I’m only going to be able to do this if I know you’re looking out for your mom, not running off to the JFA.”

  Xander nodded his agreement. He looked disappointed, but not by much. Which worried me.

  “Promise me, Xander,” I said. Then I cringed, because it felt like an odd echo of what Julian had said, right before I disobeyed his direct order and went after Vellus on my own.

  Before Xander could answer, my dad’s face suddenly went on high alert. His gaze had been captured by something over my shoulder, down the alleyway. I flung my mind out behind me and ran smack into a trio of anti-jacker helmets. All of us pivoted as one toward them.