Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4)

by Janet Edwards

  “Please be reasonable,” said Melisande. “Keith does have the better claim here. As you just pointed out, Beckett has worked for him for well over three years. It can’t be more than a few hours since you confirmed Beckett as a member of your unit.”

  I glared at her. “I am being reasonable. I’m being staggeringly reasonable. Keith’s claim on Beckett ended the moment he fired him. It doesn’t matter if it’s been days, hours, or a single second since I confirmed Beckett as a member of my unit. He’s one of my people now, he wants to stay in my unit, and he’s going to be allowed to do that.”

  “I wish I could leave Beckett with you, Amber,” said Melisande. “I’m impressed by your abilities as a telepath. I appreciate your dedication to serving the Hive. I’m physically attracted to you.”

  She sighed. “Unfortunately, my job sometimes involves making sacrifices for the good of the Hive. The brutal reality is that Keith’s telepathy may be weak and intermittent, but it’s still enough to make a crucial difference in keeping order in the Hive. Keith is well aware of that and uses the situation to get what he wants. It’s quite likely he’ll refuse to work if he doesn’t get Beckett back.”

  Melisande was going to send Beckett back to Keith. She was making that decision because she believed Keith would cause trouble if he didn’t get his way, while I would meekly do whatever I was told for the good of the Hive. If I didn’t fight for Beckett now, then Keith would know he could take anyone he wanted from me in future.

  I waved both hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Well, it’s your decision which telepath you want refusing to work. Keith or me.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Melisande sharply.

  “I mean that it’s possible Keith will refuse to work if you don’t return Beckett to him, but it’s absolutely certain that I’ll refuse to work if you take Beckett away from me.”

  “You wouldn’t really do that, Amber,” said Melisande. “You’re far too aware of your duty to the Hive to take such drastic action over Beckett.”

  I looked her in the eyes. “This isn’t just about Beckett. It’s about Lucas. It’s about Buzz. It’s about whoever Keith decides to target next in his attempts to hurt me.”

  Melisande frowned. “You’ve learned about Keith trying to get Lucas returned to his unit. I instructed everyone in the other Telepath Units to keep that secret, but I was aware that rumours have been spreading. I suppose one of your new unit members had heard about it.”

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out about this,” I said. “I know exactly what Keith is doing, and I intend to protect my people from him.”

  “Conflict between telepaths is bad for the Hive,” said Gold Commander Melisande.

  I knew that conflict between telepaths wasn’t just bad for the Hive, but put the telepaths themselves in personal danger. When Morton told me about the long-ago mental battle to the death between two telepaths, he’d emphasized that point to me. I remembered the ominous tone of his voice as he said that the greatest danger to a telepath was another telepath.

  I finally realized the obvious. It was only a few days since Morton had told me about that battle to the death, and specifically said that telepaths had to avoid conflicts with each other because they could destroy us and our Hive. Morton had claimed he was telling me those things because he was seriously ill. Perhaps that was partly true, but I thought his main reason was that he knew Keith was intent on attacking me.

  I hoped Morton had been right when he said only he and Sapphire knew why telepaths mustn’t meet. If Keith knew the reason, and believed he’d stand a chance in mental combat against an inexperienced telepath like me, then he might find a way to meet and attack me.

  A mental battle between Keith and me could kill both of us, and leave the Hive in anarchy. I’d no choice about standing my ground against Keith though. I’d tried ignoring his actions, and he’d responded by escalating his behaviour.

  Gold Commander Melisande was still waiting patiently for me to reply to her comment.

  “I’m well aware of the dangers of conflicts with other telepaths,” I said. “You must know that I’m actively trying to avoid them. When Mira read my brother’s mind, I accepted that wasn’t her fault, and made no attempt to quarrel with her.”

  “That’s very true,” said Melisande.

  “I don’t want a conflict with Keith either, but he’s decided that he wants one with me. He started by attacking the people I care about. He tried to take Lucas away from me, and you stopped him. He tried to take Buzz away from me, and you stopped him.”

  I grimaced. “Now Keith’s changed his tactics. He fired Beckett for two reasons. Firstly, because harming Lucas’s friend would distress both Lucas and me. Secondly, because stopping Beckett from completing the timeline pattern analysis of Blue Upway would disrupt my unit’s work for the Hive.”

  “You believe that Keith isn’t just making personal attacks on you, but also attacking your work,” said Gold Commander Melisande. “That can’t be the case. Keith would know that other people could complete the final integration of the timeline pattern analysis.”

  I gave her a bitter smile. “Keith did know that. Which is why he erased all the Blue Upway pattern analysis information that was held in his unit, including the backup copies.”

  Gold Commander Melisande pressed her lips together in an angry line, and was silent for a couple of seconds before speaking. “Sabotaging your work is unacceptable behaviour.”

  “It’s totally unacceptable,” I said. “Lucas believed that Beckett might have a copy of the Blue Upway timeline pattern analysis on his dataview, so we headed north on Teen Level with my Alpha Strike team to find both Beckett and the dataview. At that point, my Beta team was already committed to heading south on Teen Level to put men undercover in Blue Upway.”

  I paused. “When we found Beckett, we discovered he had taken a copy of the information, but he’d had an accident on the belt system and had lost the dataview. We had to delay putting our men undercover while we searched for the dataview. Fortunately, it had narrowly escaped being crushed in the belt system machinery.”

  I shook my head. “The number of Blue Upway players suffering injuries is soaring, and one has just died. You wanted our unit to deal with that game before Morton’s unit shuts down for his surgery, but how can we achieve anything when Keith is actively working against us?”

  Melisande frowned. “Tactical Commander Lucas hasn’t informed me of any deaths in Blue Upway.”

  I could feel moisture welling in my eyes, and swept the back of my hand across them to wipe it away. “Lucas hasn’t had time to inform you about this. The player died only minutes ago. We were travelling on the same belt as their intensive care cocoon, so I felt the moment of their death.”

  “Returning Beckett would encourage Keith to repeat this type of sabotage,” said Melisande, “therefore Beckett will remain a permanent member of your unit.”

  “Thank you for agreeing to let me keep Beckett, but I don’t believe that will stop Keith from attacking me. The only question is whether he’ll target another friend of someone in my unit, or escalate to attacking a friend or relative of mine, and exactly how much physical and mental damage he’ll do to them.”

  I hesitated before putting my worst fears into words. “I’ve heard all about Keith’s past behaviour. What he did to Sapphire demonstrates how easily he can manipulate his Strike team into arresting innocent people. When Mira’s Strike team arrested my brother, and she read his mind, it was by pure accident, but Keith could deliberately arrange for something similar to happen.”

  I was aware of my voice rising in panic as I continued speaking. “I’ve just had the situation where one of my Strike team went wild bee, and I had to agree to him having his memories reset a year. Keith could say my brother had gone wild bee, and have his memories reset too.”

  I tried and failed to get my voice back under control. “If Keith does anything like that to my brother, my parents, or anyone else I love
, then I warn you there won’t be a conflict between us. There will be outright war.”

  “That situation must not and will not occur,” said Melisande swiftly. “Your parents and brother can move into the safety of your unit until the problem with Keith is resolved.”

  I blinked. “But that could easily take weeks or months. My parents have work commitments, and the Teen Level Equality rules insist on my brother living on Teen Level.”

  “Those are minor issues compared to what’s at stake here,” said Melisande. “Our Hive cannot risk outright war between two telepaths.”

  She tapped rapidly at her desk. “I’ve dispatched two Hive Defence teams to escort your parents and brother to your unit immediately. My deputy will arrange for your parents to be given temporary leave from their duties, and your brother to have a special dispensation to allow him to stay in your unit.”

  I wasn’t sure how my parents and brother were going to feel about moving into my unit, but … “I suppose that’s the best way to keep my family safe, but there’s also the issue of my four undercover men on Teen Level. They’re isolated and vulnerable there. Keith may have already learned the locations of their teen rooms from the minds of Gaius and Beckett, but recalling or relocating them would wreck our attempts to shut down Blue Upway.”

  “I will instruct Tactical Commander Gaius to ignore any attempt by Keith to divert his Strike team to those locations.”

  “My men will be visiting other levels and different zones though,” I said. “The whole point of them going undercover is to take part in Blue Upway challenges, and they can’t do that sitting in their rooms.”

  “That’s very true,” said Melisande. “I shall call Keith right away and order him to stop these attacks on you.”

  Melisande’s holo image vanished. I ran my fingers through my hair, went to open the bookette room door, and found Lucas was sitting on the floor outside. He scrambled to his feet when he saw me.

  “What happened?” he asked anxiously.

  I handed him his dataview. “Melisande has agreed that Beckett will stay in our unit. We also discussed the possibility of Keith targeting my parents and brother. Melisande wants them to move into my unit until the situation with Keith calms down, so she’s sending Hive Defence teams to escort them here. She’s also telling Gaius not to let Keith’s Strike team anywhere near the undercover locations on Teen Level.”

  Lucas groaned. “Having your family move in here is a wise precaution. Our undercover men would know exactly what to do if Keith’s Strike team arrested them, and your brother would hopefully instantly mention your name, but your parents would be horrified and bewildered. It’s going to be difficult hiding the fact you’re a telepath if your family are staying in the unit for a long time though. Has Gold Commander Melisande got a plan to make Keith behave himself?”

  I shrugged. “She’s calling him now to order him to stop attacking me, but I’m not sure that will achieve anything. As I said earlier, I’m a telepath, effectively above the law and untouchable, but so is Keith.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  The Hive Defence teams escorted my parents and brother to my unit late that evening. When Lucas and I went to the lifts to meet them, I was worried that I’d have to tell a lot of lies to explain why they’d been brought here, but it turned out that I didn’t need to give any explanations at all.

  The Hive Defence teams had told my family that they were being moved to my unit to ensure their safety. We’d been in this situation once before, with my family being brought to my unit to protect them from an enemy agent. My parents and brother seemed to have assumed the same thing was happening again, and were too busy arguing to ask me any questions.

  The argument was about Gregas’s accommodation. Last time they’d stayed in my unit, he’d shared an apartment with my parents. This time he was demanding his own apartment. My parents felt that was unreasonable, while Gregas hotly insisted that he’d been on Teen Level for over six months and had a right to his own apartment.

  Lucas was clearly terrified of getting involved in my family’s disagreement, and I wasn’t sure which side I was on. My parents were right about it being unreasonable for Gregas to expect to have his own apartment, given all the accommodation in my unit was wildly more luxurious than his room on Teen Level. On the other hand, I could understand Gregas not wanting to go back to living with my parents like a child.

  I finally took the cowardly option of referring the decision to Megan, and Lucas and I retreated back to our apartment.

  I slept so solidly during the night that Lucas had trouble waking me up the next morning. I eventually rolled reluctantly out of the sleep field, but I was still yawning when we sat down to eat breakfast. Lucas had only eaten a single mouthful of food before his dataview chimed. He automatically checked it and laughed.

  “Buzz has sent me a recording of the Halloween party she and Forge attended last night.”

  I frowned. “Forge is supposed to be undercover infiltrating Blue Upway. Why did you send him to one of our Halloween parties?”

  “I didn’t know anything about this,” said Lucas. “It must have been Buzz’s idea.”

  My frown deepened. “Wasn’t it dangerous for Forge to go partying with Buzz? She was the one who lectured all the local teens about Forge’s bad character. If any of those teens saw him partying with her, then they’d be bound to recognize Buzz and get suspicious. Buzz is rather memorable, and a Halloween mask isn’t exactly an impenetrable disguise.”

  “Forge knows that Buzz is memorable. He’s remembered every detail of her appearance when they first met on Teen Level. He wasn’t foolish enough to be seen at a Blue Zone party with her, so they met up in Green Zone.”

  I sighed. “I suppose that was safe, but why did Buzz record the party for you?”

  “She claimed it was to show me the parties had been a great success,” said Lucas. “Actually, she sent me the recording as an unsubtle message that I might be in charge of unit operations, but I’ve no authority over her or her love life. Something that I already knew perfectly well.”

  He smiled. “Shall we watch the recording while we eat?”

  “Yes.”

  Lucas tapped his dataview to start the recording playing on the nearest wall display. I saw the party setting was the event area of a Level 50 park. The only lights were the moons and stars in the sky, so it was an ominous place filled with shadows. The party leader was in costume as one of the demonic pack, capering around on the circular event stage, and playing traditional Halloween music through the park sound system.

  Buzz and Forge were conspicuous among the crowd of masked, black-clad teens dancing by the event stage. Buzz’s hair was a wild mass of curls, and she wore a startlingly minimal teen dress that clung to her like a second skin. Forge was still confusingly blond-haired, and wore the black cliff-climbing outfit that I remembered from our days on Teen Level.

  The party ended with the costumed party leader calling out a warning of hasties coming. The teens all turned to look at the blue-uniformed group approaching through the park, squealed in alarm, and raced off to escape through the nearest park exit.

  There was another chime from Lucas’s dataview. He stared at it earnestly for a couple of minutes, then drank the last of his glass of juice and stood up.

  “Beckett has completed the integration of the timeline pattern analysis. I’ll call an immediate meeting of my Tactical team to study it.”

  “I’d like to come along to the meeting myself,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” asked Lucas doubtfully. “You’ve had a stressful few days, and you’re obviously tired. It might be better for you to stay here and get some more sleep.”

  “I’d like to come to the meeting,” I repeated. “Despite all the fuss over the geographical and timeline pattern analysis of Blue Upway, I’ve still no real idea what they are.”

  “You already know that when warning signs show a wild bee is developing in an area of the Hive, Telepath Unit
Tactical teams do a behaviour pattern analysis. That helps us work out what sort of wild bee we’re dealing with, and how urgent it is to send a telepath to do a check run of the area.”

  I nodded.

  “A pattern analysis of a Teen Game is basically the same thing, but on such a vastly bigger scale that it has to concentrate on a specific aspect. A geographical analysis focuses on what’s currently happening in different physical locations of the Hive, while a timeline pattern analysis focuses on how the game has evolved over time.”

  “I understand,” I said, still not really understanding at all.

  There was a distant crashing sound, followed by a series of louder thumps, and we both looked nervously at the wall of the room.

  “The work in the expansion section is getting noisy again,” said Lucas. “You may find it more restful in the Tactical office after all.”

  We stood up and headed for the door of our apartment. Lucas opened it, stepped through the doorway, and then hastily retreated back inside.

  “There’s something strange coming. We’d better wait for it to go by.”

  “Something strange?” I peered out of the doorway, and saw four of my Alpha Strike team members were towing a massive object wrapped in netting along the corridor towards us. “Is that a tree?”

  “I think so,” said Lucas.

  Eli, Matias, Dhiren, and Jalen went by, giving us exuberant waves in passing, and the object trundled after them. Yes, that was definitely a tall, thin tree, wrapped in protective netting, and lying on its side on a wheeled platform.

  I heard Eli chatting happily to the others. “This tree is taller than the last one, so we’ll need to lift one end to get it safely around the corner.”

  I gave Lucas a bewildered look. “Why are my Strike team members dragging trees around the unit? Shouldn’t the people who delivered the trees have moved them into the expansion section?”

  “I think the Strike team members are dragging trees around the unit because of a temporary access problem.” Lucas gave me a mischievous grin. “Adika was grumbling about there being a hole in the expansion section’s reinforced wall to allow all the soil and materials to be delivered. That hole was sealed up as soon as the main structure, drainage channels, and soil were in place, and the remaining deliveries were supposed to be sent in through the park entrance.”