Part 17 (2/2)

”How many Strykers did you bring?” Elion said, sounding agitated.

”Four, myself included.” Keiko tilted her head at the shuttle behind her. ”Our telepath and pyrokinetic are monitoring the security grid. We've been waiting for your arrival before we proceeded up the mountain.”

”We're here now,” Nathan said. He turned his head to stare up at the mountainside. ”Teleport us.”

Keiko steadied her mind before wrapping her power around everyone. She teleported them up to the road that led to the seed bank's entrance. Elion and the quads stumbled a bit on their arrival; no one else did. People who were used to the quirks of a teleport-where the telekinetics always 'ported a few centimeters or more higher than the ground of their targeted location-didn't stumble.

”The ramp can support our weight,” Elion said as quads moved to slide open the doors.

Lights came on, brightening the tunnel in sections. The group moved quickly down its length. When Keiko took her first steps into the long storage vault, all she saw was a mess of scattered boxes holding silver-foil packets and gla.s.s vials strewn across shelves and the floor. All she felt was quiet, fragile disbelief.

It was one thing to be told about a place such as this. Actually seeing it in person was almost painful. This place, this vast seed bank, was the whole reason why humanity had survived after the last bomb fell. Keiko knew of the launch; she hadn't known about this.

”We've lost half the inventory,” Elion said. ”We have everything that we need, just not in the amounts we expected.”

”And the terraforming machines?” Nathan asked, dark blue eyes sweeping over the mess before them. He ignored the startled look the rest of the party gave him at that revelation.

Elion's voice was bitter. ”A third of those are gone as well. Whoever was behind this didn't seem to care about taking everything, just enough of it.”

”Or they simply didn't have the means or the time to finish the job.” Nathan turned and headed for the hallway. ”Show me the rest of the damage.”

Elion led Nathan down the length of each of the three cold-storage vaults, reporting on their losses. Only when Nathan's inspection was complete did he speak again.

”The psychometrist will begin with the main door,” Nathan said.

Terrence led them back to the front entrance. The doors were still in their casings, but he wasn't going to work with those yet. Unsealing his left glove, Terrence pulled his hand free. He lost the warmth that the insulation provided, but he ignored the cold. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand to the cold metal of the control panel and pressed his skin against it. He didn't hesitate, so none of the humans present knew that he feared using his power. The neurotracker in his brain denied him the right to protest, denied him the right to give in to the fear that all psychometrists experienced when using their power.

Terrence dropped his mental s.h.i.+elds, pulling memories out of cold metal. Memories that were both old and distant, too faint to catch completely, or s.h.i.+ning bright and sharp against the backdrop of the mental grid. Terrence's mind opened wide and swallowed the memories whole, instances, moments, that people unknowingly pressed into the physical world around them.

Tell Nathan he can go to h.e.l.l, Lucas Serca said into Terrence's mind, the clear message left behind days ago for them to find.

Telepathy that didn't come from the embedded memory slammed through Terrence's mind, meeting zero resistance since his s.h.i.+elds were down. The attack happened so quickly that Keiko didn't know Terrence was dead until he hit the ground. She stared at the Stryker in shock, forcing herself to not look at where Nathan stood.

”What happened?” Elion said, pointing at the dead Stryker. ”What the h.e.l.l just happened?”

You didn't have to kill him, Keiko said, fury breaking up her thoughts as she dropped to her knees beside Terrence, fingers searching for a pulse that wasn't going to be there.

Nathan's gaze was unapologetic. I don't have time to deal with a broken Silence Law.

He didn't know a G.o.dd.a.m.n thing about the Silence Law. What did he see?

It's not your concern. Out loud, Nathan said, ”Yes. Do explain what happened to the Stryker.”

Keiko stared at the body beside her. Blood trickled out of Terrence's nose, dripping slowly to the ground.

”I don't know. I'm not a 'path-oriented psion,” Keiko said, forcing her voice calm as she pushed herself back to her feet, brus.h.i.+ng dirt off her knees. ”I'm guessing it must have been a mental trap.”

”How is that even possible?” Elion said.

”Please, give me a few minutes to find out.” She glanced over at Nathan. Was it Lucas that he saw?

Nathan's gaze didn't waver. Call your telepath, Keiko.

Keiko shook her head, as if she could shake his mental touch out of her mind. She opened herself up to the psi link someone else had st.i.tched into her mind. Eva.

Yes?

I'm bringing you up here. Terrence is dead. Whatever was left in the walls killed him.

Well, s.h.i.+t.

The Cla.s.s VI telepath gave Keiko a visual of the shuttle for the telekinetic to find her. Keiko reached for the Stryker over the distance between mountain and shuttle, teleporting the telepath to their position. Eva Collingsworth landed lightly on the road beyond the support ramp. She was a pet.i.te woman in her midtwenties; dark-haired, dark-eyed, with heavy scarring over the lower half of her face and throat. Her body didn't have the capability to accept biomodifications, and cellular regeneration had never worked for her. Eva had lost her voice when she was twelve. Telepathy was her only means of communication.

I'm not a psychometrist, Keiko, Eva said, eyes narrowing with emotion that showed nowhere else on her face. And Terrence is dead. What do you expect me to find?

Pretend you're trying to get something out of the hole in the mental grid, Keiko said. See if you can't possibly find out what killed him. Let me deal with the humans.

Eva inclined her head to the people in charge before closing her eyes.

”Eva is looking for answers,” Keiko said, turning to face Elion and not Nathan. ”Telepaths aren't psychometrists, sir. Whatever was left behind by whatever rogue psion who was here, I don't know if Eva will find it.”

Elion glared at her. ”We need answers, Stryker.”

”We're trying to get that for you,” Keiko said, sounding frustrated. ”I don't know what killed Terrence, but if whatever it was is still embedded in these walls, then it's not safe.”

”I don't care if you think it's not safe. You're not in charge. Your contract was handed over to us and you have an obligation to obey the World Court.”

”I mean no disrespect, but the World Court hasn't issued a kill order for any Stryker here. Let us do the job you brought us here to do in order to keep you safe. Sir.”

Elion opened his mouth to argue, or perhaps to threaten to activate the neurotracker in her head, but Nathan interrupted whatever tirade the other man was about to indulge in.

”Elion,” Nathan said. ”Let them do their job.”

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