Closed Hearts (Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy)

by Quinn, Susan Kaye

  The fact that the capitol was riddled with hidden jackers was an irony I didn’t expect.

  There’s undercover jacker security on the street and more inside, I linked to my dad. No one’s noticed us yet, but if we get any closer, they will.

  They may not stop us until we’re inside, my dad thought, where it will be easier to contain us. Or they may shoot us in the street, depending how trigger-happy they are. How many are there inside?

  I skimmed the large lobby area as well as the disruptor field that protected the vast majority of the capitol building. Half a dozen in the lobby, and two at a checkpoint by the shield.

  I think this is a good point to split up. Julian’s voice rang in my dad’s head. Kira and I will go first, keep everyone calm, then you follow and make your move to get inside.

  My dad glared at him. I don’t like the idea of Kira in the middle of these guys. She can stay here. Or better yet, go back to the car and wait.

  Julian calmly met my father’s stare. That’s a fine plan, if you’d like her to be alone and unprotected. She’ll be safer with me.

  My dad gritted his teeth. I don’t see how a heavily mindguarded government building is the safest place for her.

  See for yourself. Julian strolled toward the capitol steps, acting all casual and mesh with his hands in his pockets. The gray-jacket guys didn’t even notice him. Two of the mindguards glanced his way, then went back to their undercover hot-dog cooking and light-post lounging. Julian stood in the dead center of the mini-plaza and waved at us.

  Do they sense him? my dad asked.

  No. Julian’s the ultimate rook, Dad. They’re not going to sense him because he’s not a normal jacker.

  He’s not normal, that’s for certain.

  I half-grinned, but my dad’s grumpy look killed it. The mindguards will sense you for sure, Kira, even if you rook the rest.

  Julian will handle them. I’m just there in case we need to jack someone to get you in.

  My dad made a sour face. I think I can manage that on my own.

  Except once you’re inside, we need to make sure you have a way out again.

  Or I could send you back to the car, he thought.

  You could try.

  My dad sighed. Don’t be difficult, Kira. I’m just trying to keep you safe.

  And I’m trying to make sure this mission succeeds.

  He frowned and looked me over the way he had Julian, as if he was seeing me for the first time. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a palm-sized dart gun. My eyebrows flew up. Did he carry a weapon all the time now, or what?

  Only if things go badly. He handed me the tiny gun. And please don’t do anything stupid.

  Thanks for the confidence. I tucked it into the back of my pants, draping my shirt over it. Only now my dad was going in unarmed to threaten Vellus with revealing his past.

  Dad? What exactly did you do for Vellus?

  He stared past me at the milling crowds. Jacked people who stood in Vellus’s way. Erased the memories of jackers and readers alike. Sent jackers to the camp who didn’t belong there. He pulled in a breath and looked back to me. Not changelings. That was all Kestrel. But some of the people I sent to the camp… the only thing they did was cross Vellus. I thought it was the right thing at the time. It wasn’t.

  The stone that had perpetually weighed in my stomach since my dad quit the Navy slowly crumbled into pieces. I had thought that losing his job was the price of me going public, but maybe it had actually helped him get out of a bad situation. Vellus used people, good people like my dad, twisting them into something else. No wonder my dad didn’t want me anywhere near him.

  Be careful, Dad.

  Just stay out of trouble while I’m gone. This won’t take long.

  Julian was tapping his toes and checking his phone. I strode toward him while my dad pretended to inspect a tru-cast screen that scrolled capitol news. I smiled brightly and hooked my arm through Julian’s, pulling him up the capitol steps. Julian handled the undercover mindguards out of their concern about me, and I jacked them to look away while my dad followed at the edge of the hundred-foot range of Julian’s influence.

  We stepped into the chilled lobby, overly cool for a summer day in downstate Illinois. The floor shone with white marble tiles inlaid with bits of colored stone. They formed a picture of a giant eagle with a curling red ribbon in its mouth. Julian and I rooked as a young couple visiting the capitol, blending in with the other readers scattered around the room: a family with three young boys on vacation, the elderly couple making a trek to see their congressman, a group of young political interns heading out for a late lunch. The only sounds in the great entryway were the echoey scraping of feet and shuffling of bodies.

  The mindguards at the door watched us with little interest. I jacked them to look away while my dad crossed the ornate floor to the receptionist. He asked her several questions about Vellus, gently probing the information that floated behind her conscious thoughts without causing the mental anguish that would come if he drilled through her memories. Maybe my dad wasn’t the strongest jacker in the world, but his years working for Naval Intelligence had netted him some skills.

  I tugged Julian behind a large bronze statue in the middle of the lobby and peeked at the security checkpoint along the back wall. Two mindguards rooked as regular security guards stationed by the weapons detector, a giant silver arch that framed a doorway, beyond which stood a bank of elevators. The disruptor shield spanned the doorway and hugged the entire back wall.

  My dad would have to go through the weapons detector as well as the shield. It was a good thing he had given me his gun. Thanks to Julian, the guards on this side of the shield wouldn’t worry about letting an armed mindjacker into the capitol, but anyone on the other side of the shield would notice if the alarms went off. Not to mention security cameras had to be taking in every viewpoint of the lobby.

  My dad headed for the checkpoint, and Julian overrode the mindguards’ instinctual concerns. My dad flashed a badge to the guards, and his thoughts rang in their minds. I’m from Naval Intelligence. I suggest you call Senator Vellus’s office and tell him Patrick Moore is here to see him about an important matter.

  The taller, craggier mindguard didn’t respond, but the shorter one tapped his ear and whispered into his earbud phone. My hands started to sweat. I took Julian’s phone and jacked into the mindware to scrit a message, then held it up for him to see.

  Do we need to move closer? If the guards freaked out, Julian might need to be closer to handle them both.

  We’re fine, he scrit back.

  A long, tense moment stretched my nerves while the shorter mindguard waited for a response, but then he thought, Your escort will be here in a moment.

  Within ten seconds, a burly security guard appeared on the far side of the weapons detector and the shield. He was the same oversized mindguard that Vellus had with him at Maria’s interview! He reminded me of Harrier, arms rippling with muscles. Jackers with a penchant for weight lifting must be in high demand for government officials. I edged farther behind the cover of the statue, pulling on Julian’s long-sleeved shirt to follow. My link to my dad’s mind cut off with a painful break as he stepped through the shield.

  I checked the time on Julian’s phone. 2:30 pm. Now for the hard part: waiting for my dad to come back out.

  Your father’s a good man, appeared on the phone, which startled me until I realized that Julian must have jacked in.

  I nudged the mindware to scrit back, Glad you noticed.

  For the record… Words scrolled across the phone. I don’t think he’s responsible for the raid. Vellus would have found another excuse.

  I peered up at Julian. You were listening in! I scrit on the phone.

  He grinned and shrugged. My mind skipped back over my conversation on the lawn with my dad. Was there anything Julian shouldn’t have heard? It was all personal, between me and my dad, but in a way I was glad Julian had heard it.

 
Having someone close to Vellus isn’t entirely a bad thing, Julian scrit. It could be useful in the future.

  What, like a double agent?

  Julian’s face lit up and his words scrolled across the phone. You, keeper, would make a fine double agent. Your father could be a mindguard who would look the other way. He was thinking about Sasha again. What would happen if the biggest anti-jacker politician had a sudden change of heart? Would the public realize he had been jacked or would they follow his lead?

  Then I realized I was contemplating the very thing that my father had worked against his entire time in the Navy: jacker influence reaching into the highest levels of government. I frowned as that thought snarled in my head. I could help Anna and Julian finish their mission to capture Kestrel—he was evil and had to be stopped. And I still wanted to make good on my promise to get the changelings out of Kestrel’s grasp. But Julian was after more than that, and I couldn’t picture myself joining his revolution, much less see my dad signing up. I wasn’t ready to answer the question that lingered on Julian’s face, so I slid his phone into my pocket and ignored the disappointed downturn of his mouth. I avoided his gaze by examining the plaque on the statue in front of us.

  The words on the plaque seeped into my brain as the minutes ticked by. The larger-than-life statue of a woman extended her arms to the visitors in the lobby. She represented the city of Chicago welcoming people to the 1893 World’s Fair. The statue must have been rescued from the demolition of the old capitol to grace the new one, but her spirit of welcoming had been left behind, at least for jackers in the world that Vellus envisioned.

  Julian went rigid next to me. The craggy mindguard was coming straight for us, intent on delivering a message.

  Miss Moore, Senator Vellus would like a word with you.

  I took a step back, but the mindguard only clasped his hands behind his back, waiting patiently, as if I were a tourist who had lucked into a visit with the famous politician. Something must have gone wrong. My dad would never ask for me to come meet Vellus, so it must be Vellus himself. Had he seen me on the cameras? What did he want? It had to be some kind of trap. Julian seemed to be thinking the same thing, minutely shaking his head.

  Why does the Senator want to see me? I linked to the mindguard.

  I don’t know, Miss. Didn’t you request a visit?

  No, she didn’t request a visit. Julian’s thoughts rang in the mindguard’s mind.

  A clattering of footsteps sounded at the entrance, then stopped. The three undercover mindguards from outside had rushed the building, only to enter Julian’s range of influence and lose their desire to stop the dangerous jackers inside. Julian could handle these, but how many more could Vellus summon if I didn’t do what he wanted?

  The mindguard tapped the phone in his ear. Vellus’s slick, too-confident voice came through. Tell Miss Moore that I’m willing to give her what she wants, but she’ll have to come to my office to get it.

  The mindguard dutifully repeated Vellus’s words. Was “what I wanted” Molloy’s release or my dad’s freedom? Regardless, the longer I waited, the worse the situation outside would get. It was quickly looking like I didn’t have a choice.

  Julian must have read my face. “Remember how your father told you not to do anything stupid?” he whispered. I jacked the mindguard to ignore us.

  “Do you eavesdrop on all my conversations with my dad?”

  “Keeper, you’re not going to gain anything by going to see Vellus. We should leave now.”

  “My dad is still in there!”

  “He was willing to take that risk and rather pointedly didn’t want you taking it. Vellus is dangerous, and he apparently knows what you want. The problem is you don’t know what Vellus wants.”

  “I know one way to find out.”

  “Your father wouldn’t want you to try rescuing him,” Julian said, as if that would sway me.

  “My father wanted to send me back to the car,” I said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but if my dad was free to go, he’d be here already.”

  Julian stepped back from me, ran his hands through his hair, and studied the guard. When Julian turned back to me, he reached both arms around me, like he was giving me a hug. My arms went automatically around his neck, which welled up a surge of emotion that heated my cheeks. I almost pulled away, then I realized he was slipping out the gun tucked in the back of my pants. I stayed close while he fumbled to tuck the gun into the front of his pants and cover it.

  Julian whispered, “If you’re determined to go in, I’m going with you. We’ll need to move fast.” When he pulled back, my arms didn’t untangle quick enough, which made my cheeks run even hotter. We finally managed to break apart and Julian ducked his head like he was embarrassed too.

  The mindguard held his hand up to Julian. I’m sorry, sir, but the Senator would only like Miss Moore to join him.

  Julian gave me a look that said Will you please jack this guy?

  “No matter what I jack these guys to do,” I whispered as we strode past the guard, who was now fascinated by the statue, “it’s not going to hold once I’m past the shield.”

  “We’ll go through together. Once I’m on the other side, I can handle things from there.”

  That might actually work. When we stepped through the shield, Julian’s handling on this side could be cut off and all heck would break loose, but he should be able to handle anything on the other side. Coming back out, we could reverse the process. Maybe. Unless Vellus had already called in the National Guard. Julian was right—we needed to move fast.

  The mindguard stationed by the shield blandly waved us toward the weapons detector. Julian nearly stepped on my shoes, he was following so close. Just as we were about to cross the threshold of the weapons detector, Vellus’s bulky mindguard emerged from the elevators. I stopped and Julian bumped into me. The mindguard reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. And not a dart gun. The kind with bullets that killed people.

  My breath caught, and Julian moved behind me, no doubt taking out my dad’s gun as well. About fifteen feet of air separated us from guard, but it was only three feet to the shield. As long as we were on this side, we couldn’t jack him, but he could certainly shoot us. If we lunged across the shield, Julian might be able to handle him into lowering his weapon. Or we might both get shot.

  Julian leaned into me, like he wanted to go for the lunging option, which only flashed up an image in my mind of Simon, lying bleeding in the desert with a bullet hole in him.

  I turned to face Julian, sandwiching the gun between us. “Julian, don’t! Getting shot won’t help things.”

  He gripped the dart gun tighter. It was a fast-acting dart gun, but it wasn’t that fast. He spoke through clenched teeth. “I don’t like your odds going in there without me.”

  The mindguard watched us carefully, gun leveled at my back, but not moving any closer.

  “If they wanted to kill me, I’d already be dead,” I said. “He would have shot us as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.”

  “Shooting us here would cause some difficulties.” Julian kept glaring at the guard. “It’s what they’ll do once you’re in Vellus’s office that I’m concerned about.”

  “If I don’t come out in twenty minutes,” I said, “you can come get me.”

  Julian peeled his gaze from the mindguard and peered down at me. I was suddenly aware of how close we were standing.

  “Am I going to have to rescue you again?” Julian asked.

  “Possibly,” I said. “Just don’t kiss me this time.”

  His shoulders relaxed, very slightly.

  I turned and stepped through the weapons detector, my hair lifting up at the back of my neck as I passed through the shield.

  Vellus’s overmuscled mindguard backed toward the brass-trimmed elevators, keeping his eyes on Julian. Now that I had passed through the shield, I was tempted to brush the mindguard’s brain to peer into his thoughts, but with his gun still trained on Julian, I di
dn’t want to take any chances.

  I slipped into the elevator, and the guard holstered his weapon once we were both inside. The elevator ride was short, then Mr. Muscle guided me to a room with red velvet carpet and paintings older than my great-grandma. A portrait of Vellus hung above his receptionist’s desk, his chiseled features gleaming with holo-paint that made his face seem to move. The receptionist wrangled the mindware interface on her computer, and Mr. Muscle and I both linked into her mind and reflected her innocuous thoughts as if we were readers. Which made me look up the full height of the guard to his strong-jawed face. Did the receptionist not know he was a jacker?

  Please have a seat, thought the receptionist without looking. I’ll let the Senator know you’re here. I ignored the two ornately carved wooden chairs that lined the wall—I needed to be on my feet, ready for whatever Vellus had in store for me. I reached toward Vellus’s office, but it was blocked by a disruptor shield.

  Why was Vellus keeping me waiting? Maybe he wanted to make me nervous, although holding my dad captive and sending the armed guard seemed sufficient for that. Still, I didn’t want to appear anxious, so I clasped my hands behind my back and pretended to size up Mr. Muscle like the side of beef he resembled. He could crush me physically, and probably mentally as well, if only he could get into my head. I smiled jauntily up at him, just to put him off balance. Amazingly, it worked. His face twitched, then he became fascinated by the paintings on the wall. For some reason I couldn’t understand, I unnerved him.