Part 8 (1/2)
”No, it was Kristen. Because of her, Jason's finally got his secondary s.h.i.+elds and full access to his power. He-” Quinton broke off, voice cracking a bit.
Threnody didn't even know she was reaching for him until her hand was gripping his shoulder. ”Quinton. What happened?”
”You were dying,” he said, struggling to speak. ”Jason's mind was opening up to all that power. He's a Cla.s.s 0 now, Thren. Lucas was right. Microtelekinesis all the f.u.c.king way, but it was too much. His mind needed more room, which he didn't have.”
”The bond,” Threnody guessed. ”With Kerr.”
”Kerr isn't a 'kinetic-oriented psion,” Quinton said very, very softly. ”He couldn't handle the overload. Their brain patterns wouldn't match.”
She stared up into his face, a curious rus.h.i.+ng sound filling her ears. ”No.”
”Lucas made the connection. He took the bond out of Kerr and put it in my mind. It's permanent.” Quinton gave her a careful, broken smile as he brushed his knuckles over her cheek. ”You lived.”
Threnody didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth; closed it again. Shaking her head, she finally found her voice. ”I would never have asked that of you. Ever.”
”You weren't in any condition to argue.”
”Consider yourself lucky.” Threnody took in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, hiding the pain with long practice. ”Jason and I need to have a talk.”
Quinton blinked at her, startled into laughter. ”Even with Jason having all that power, I'd put my credit on you.”
The hatch slid open and Matron stepped inside, the older woman eyeing Threnody. ”So you're finally awake. You missed all the fun.”
”I doubt that,” Threnody said.
Matron jerked her thumb over her shoulder. ”Go strap in. We're launching in five and I don't need you underfoot.”
Quinton put a hand on Threnody's shoulder and guided her out of the flight deck, back into the cold of the cargo bay.
TEN.
SEPTEMBER 2379.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.
Dawn broke over London, late-summer sunlight piercing through a haze of thin, gray clouds. The air was hot and muggy, the breeze coming from the north only marginally cooler. The people who called the winding, ruined streets home were beginning to wake up and start another day while those who worked the night went to ground. People lived in cycles and this was only one of many.
Main city towers spanned both sides of the polluted deluge that was the Thames River, with others spread out around them. Cl.u.s.tered in the central zone, with foundations anch.o.r.ed deep into the ground, the city towers were covered in hologrids, with adverts that scrolled down their sides. The Serca Syndicate called a main city tower home, and Nathan Serca sat with his back to the view from his office. He'd seen it all before and was more interested in what his own CMO had to say.
Victoria Montoya, a Cla.s.s III telepath, hadn't slept much in the past few days and it showed in the stiff way she carried herself, the way stress lined her eyes and mouth.
”We lost forty-nine Warhounds in Buffalo,” Victoria reported, studying her datapad. ”Of the total, Jin Li Zhang was the most critical loss. Fifty-two other Warhounds are currently off the active-duty roster and under medical care ranging from a few days to a few weeks. Most won't be ready for immediate field missions. That's almost a sixth of our total ranks. We still don't know the location of your daughters.”
Nathan's expression didn't change as Victoria tallied up their losses. He already knew the few major ones, the losses that involved his children; these numbers made it all worse. His fury at the betrayal of his children was difficult to hide, but he was adept at censoring himself. Nathan was supposed to be human, but as a Cla.s.s I triad psion, he had more than enough power at his disposal to change an adversary's mind. He rarely used his powers, choosing instead to act through subordinates in order to extend his life span. It was how he'd survived to reach fifty-one when most psions were lucky to reach thirty.
”And my son?” Nathan leaned back in his chair and curled his hands over the armrests. ”What about Gideon?”
His youngest son was the only successor he had left. Lucas defected first. Now, with Samantha gone, her absence would cause problems Nathan had never thought he'd have to deal with. She'd been taking on public duties for two years, and her disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed. Kristen had been kept hidden away, never even put into the Registry. The continuing loss of his chosen successors would, however, be impossible to hide.
”Gideon is stable,” Victoria said after a moment's hesitation. ”Physically, he wasn't hurt that badly. Mentally? It's been rough.”
Stable wasn't enough. Nathan required a functioning heir. ”Fix his mind, Victoria. I need Gideon conscious for a mission while I attend a scheduled meeting with the Syndicate's subsidiaries.”
Going into that meeting alone would raise questions, but it couldn't be helped. Nathan didn't have the time or the tools to cut his way past two dozen bioware nets in a day and alter minds, even with help. Psionic interference would tip too many people off, and at this juncture that was the very last thing he needed.
”When does the meeting take place?” Victoria asked.
”The end of next week unless circ.u.mstances dictate otherwise. I'm sending Gideon out before then.”
Victoria managed to hide most of her wince, the only sign being a faint tic at the left side of her mouth. It was a difficult task, but she could accomplish it if she disregarded her own health in favor of Nathan's son's. She would, because she, like everyone else in the Warhound ranks, knew that the Serca family was the only thing standing between them and government enslavement.
”He'll be ready,” Victoria said, staking her life on that promise.
”Excellent. Now, what of the Strykers that were seen with Lucas? Do we have any eyewitness reports?”
Victoria consulted her notes. ”Gideon's memories are intact. He tortured a pyrokinetic Stryker inside the power plant. The electrokinetic partnered with that Stryker was seen entering the power plant, but her condition is unknown. We think she may have been involved with Jin Li's death and with what happened to the electrical grid. The telepath was merged with Lucas and no one saw the telekinetic.”
”Do we have any information of what may have caused the near breaking of the mental grid?”
”No.” Victoria glanced up. ”Sir, do you have any thoughts on the matter?”
Nathan drummed his fingers once against the armrests of his chair, gazing past her. ”During her fight in the Slums, Samantha discovered that a Stryker still had intact natal s.h.i.+elds, but could use his power.”
Victoria's expression became incredulous. ”That's impossible. Natal s.h.i.+elds always fall within the first two to three years after birth so we can access our powers. If they don't fall, we can't access our powers. That is a doc.u.mented fact, sir.”
”Apparently not for this particular Stryker. Our records indicate that Jason Garret is a Cla.s.s V telekinetic who can teleport. We can add to them that he has intact natal s.h.i.+elds. The question we're left with is what would happen if those s.h.i.+elds fell? What are they holding back?”
”Do you think it was him, sir?”
Nathan had been thinking about the question endlessly since Buffalo started running at full power. ”I think it's a possibility.”
”Will we be looking into it?”
”I will be.” Nathan dismissed her with a wave of his hand. ”Go finish your work on Gideon.”
Victoria left, the door sliding shut behind her. Nathan allowed himself a moment of personal, frustrated bitterness at the position his children had put him in. He hadn't wanted more than one child, but Marcheline had ordered him to create more. His mother died years ago, and Nathan felt he could blame her for this mess. Fighting his own family right now was a distraction he didn't need, not when the only thing that should be occupying his attention was the scheduled launch. Nathan refused to let his ancestors' plan wither and die all because of a few spoiled children who refused to learn their place.
Except their rebellion was undermining his control.
How had Lucas discovered and kept hidden a psion of such incredible strength? Nathan had been in and out of Lucas's mind for years. Lucas shouldn't have been capable of deceit. If the Warhound ranks had a traitor, however inconceivable the thought, then Nathan knew he would never find the person. Like Nathan and all Sercas before them both, Lucas would kill to keep his secrets. Nathan doubted he'd find even a memory of the traitor. Two years of searching had proven that conclusion as fact.
Nathan grimaced. Doubting his powers and his Syndicate right now would be disastrous. He needed Gideon in the field, searching out that new target. Being introduced as the new face of the Serca Syndicate would have to come later. Jin Li's death meant Nathan had a hole in the Warhound ranks that needed to be filled, and quickly. The world press kept demanding a statement from Nathan, not just his Syndicate's official publicist, on what had transpired in Buffalo. Nathan wasn't going to cave to their demands, not yet. There was a lot to do, with little time to do it in, and too few people he could trust to get it done right.