The receptionist finally looked up from her work, and her nails tapped the desk as she rose.
Would you like to have a seat while you wait? she thought.
I turned to face her with a polite smile. No thanks.
Her sensible shoes whispered across the lush carpet, and she came to stand too close to me. Her wiry frame was short, probably no more than five foot, and she inspected me through her trufocus glasses, which adjusted as she leaned closer to peer at my face.
A smile snaked up her lips. “You’ve changed your hair.” She cleared her throat, smoothing the roughness from not speaking aloud for so long. A chill creeped into my stomach as I realized she knew exactly who I was. “And I don’t remember those tattoos from before,” she continued. “Are they new?” The contradiction between her fake-polite spoken words and the fervently anti-jacker thoughts roiling beneath jarred me out of her head. Her glasses sparkled reflections from the plasma lights, but the menace in her eyes shone through. I could have taken her in a fist fight, or I could have jacked her, but instead I shrank away.
I’d never seen someone look at me like they wished I didn’t exist.
“I watched all the tru-casts, you know.” I pictured her glued to the screens, soaking up all the rhetoric that Vellus spewed. “You and those other snively jacker kids who acted frightened, as if they wouldn’t like to kill us all in our sleep.”
She was talking about the changelings I had rescued. The ones Kestrel had tortured with his experiments. The ones who were barefoot and hollow cheeked on the tru-casts, held at gunpoint by jacker FBI agents. Her caricature of them was so awful, so ugly and wrong, that I couldn’t even muster anger or outrage. It just left me speechless.
“That’s right,” she said. “Don’t bother to deny it. I see right through that pretty little face of yours to what’s inside. How many readers have you killed, Kira Moore? Or do you just control them to do whatever nasty things you jackers do for fun? How many children have to grow up in fear of monsters like you lurking in our schools and our offices and our neighborhoods before people realize what you are and put a stop to it?”
I wanted to protest. I wanted to lash out at her. But words completely failed me in the face of this volcano of hatred from this tiny person.
There was nothing I could say that would make any difference.
I didn’t know I was leaning away from her until I bumped into Mr. Muscle. His face was expressionless. He certainly wasn’t coming to the defense of jackers. I guessed he had already sold his soul if he was working for Vellus.
Just like my dad.
I took a couple steps back, my heart shrinking with that thought, when the door to Vellus’s office swung open and banged against the wall. My dad stalked toward me, trailed by Vellus and another oversized mindguard. My dad looked ready to punch Vellus in the face, which halfway thrilled me. I wanted my dad to hit Vellus so badly it made my fists curl up. Whatever was up, I was ready to run or jack or possibly deck Vellus myself.
I reached for Vellus’s mind, only to be swatted away by the mindguard closest to him and slammed back into my own head. He was so strong I couldn’t even reach out to my dad. Vellus’s personal mindguard was taller and not as bulked up as Mr. Muscle, but he was an incredibly strong jacker, almost like Myrtle. I searched my dad’s reddened face for a clue about what had happened.
“So nice of you to join us, Kira.” Vellus directed his words to me, but they stopped my dad in his tracks. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” He sounded pleasantly surprised to see me, as if he weren’t holding my dad hostage to get me up here. His secretary had retreated to her desk, but the heat of her smirk scorched me from across the room.
“I was planning on paying you a visit, sooner or later, and here you are, doing me the courtesy of coming to my office. It’s nice to see you under less, shall we say, tense circumstances.”
The room was feeling plenty tense to me. My dad reached my side, placing his body between me and Mr. Muscle.
“But I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.” Vellus waved away the idea that I had jacked him in the tru-cast station. “As your father was explaining, it would appear that I have something you want, which is tremendously fortunate for me, as you have something I want as well.”
“What do you want?”
Vellus grinned that sim-cast-ready smile. I didn’t know what game we were playing, but it felt like I had already lost.
“I would like nothing more than to release Mr. Molloy to you, so that you can find your mindreader friend and return to the suburbs. I hear they serve a very fine pie at the Dutch Apple, although I’ve never tried it myself. I may have to remedy that sometime soon.”
The idea of Vellus coming to the Dutch Apple sent a cold trickle down my back, and I was sure releasing Molloy came with a price tag. My dad tensed, edging a little closer. I wanted desperately to link into his mind, but Vellus’s personal mindguard and Mr. Muscle had lined me up between them, keeping me squarely in my own head. They didn’t press or try to get inside, but it felt like being smothered in a mental blanket.
“What do you want from me?” I repeated.
“It’s a small thing, actually, only a short bit of your time,” Vellus said with a smile. “I want you to tell the truth. You like to do that, don’t you?” His grin grew more evil with each tooth exposed. “I think we have more in common than it might appear, Kira. You wish to have your mindreading friend back, safe and sound, and you want to return home to your family and friends in the suburbs. I want to reassure mindreaders that their lives are going to be safe and secure too. I’m sure we can come to an agreement where we both get the things we want.”
Anger still mottled my dad’s face, but it was blank, with no clue as to what Vellus wanted, and minutes were ticking by while Vellus beat around the bush. I needed to talk our way out of this before Julian came charging up after us.
“What exactly will it take to get you to release Molloy?” I asked.
Vellus smirked. “I’d like you to do a tru-cast interview. Another one, although decidedly different from your first appearance on the national airwaves.”
“An interview?” Maybe Vellus was demens after all.
“You can explain how dangerous jackers are and how much you regret all the harm and chaos caused by the mutant jackers living in our midst.”
“I… I don’t understand.” People already thought jackers were dangerous, and haters like Vellus’s secretary made up awful stories about jackers all by themselves. They didn’t need my help. How would anything I said on a tru-cast make any difference?
“I want you to detail the grievous things that jackers in our own city have done,” Vellus said. “Just tell the truth, Kira. That’s all I want from the girl who is the face of the jackers.”
Then it hit me: Vellus wanted me to talk about Jackertown. The crews and the contractors and the jackworkers. My thoughts flashed to Julian. And Ava and Myrtle and the changelings. Even Sasha and Hinckley. The looks on their faces when they saw me on a tru-cast with Vellus, talking about how the jackers in Jackertown were dangerous… and should be locked up in his Detention Center.
My mouth wouldn’t work at first, then I finally blurted, “I can’t do that!”
“Of course you can, Kira,” he said calmly. “I’m not asking that much of you, and I’m giving you so much in return. A chance to get your friend back from a brute like Mr. Molloy. That would make a brilliant story, don’t you think?” He trailed his hand across the air like a scrolling tru-cast headline. “Mindreader kidnapped by evil mindjacker! I would simply be the loyal public servant who helped you bring home your friend. So, you see, we truly do want the same things.”
Blood pounded in my ears, and my dad’s hand settled at the small of my back. Maybe he expected to find the gun there? His face didn’t show disappointment, just high-voltage tension. He gave me an encouraging nod. He wanted me to tell Vellus yes. My chest hollowed out.
“No…” The words
were a whisper to my dad, but Vellus took it as my answer.
He inclined his head to the side. “You haven’t already settled in with those ragged types that rattle around Jackertown, have you?” His eyes took on a darker, sharper gleam. “Your friend in the lobby won’t have much of a chance against the police, even with his jacking talents, if I’m forced to sound an alarm. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
I swallowed. “No,” I said, louder this time.
Vellus sighed and looked like he was trying to be patient. “Kira, you may think that you and your little friends are stronger, more superior, but you’re not. It’s only a matter of time before readers find a way to keep jackers completely contained.” He swept his hand back toward his shield-protected office. “With technology. With state-of-the art prisons to keep you safely quarantined. And with the knowledge that you are very, very different from them.”
My face burned. “Different isn’t a crime, you know.”
“No,” Vellus said. “Not yet. But I expect that will change, and soon. Society can’t tolerate people like you in their midst, Kira. They fear you. And society has always destroyed what it fears. It’s jackers or readers, Kira, and in the end, the readers will have to win.”
I stared at Vellus. It was almost like he was warning me. Or perhaps toying with me. I couldn’t quite keep the words in. “It doesn’t have to be that way!”
He smiled indulgently. “Spoken like a true believer,” he said. “It’s a shame those ideals will only result in your friends getting hurt.” He stepped a little closer and my dad’s hand clutched the back of my shirt, like he would yank me out of harm’s way if Vellus got too close.
Vellus peered down at me. “From everything I hear about you, Kira, you’re not the kind of girl that likes to see people get hurt.”
I leaned back into my dad’s hand and shook my head.
“Good!” Vellus exclaimed. He stepped back and clasped his hands together. “I will make sure that Mr. Molloy is released to you as soon as you arrive at the Detention Center. I sincerely hope that you quickly find your mindreading friend safe and sound.” He tipped his head in a genteel way. “This has been a most interesting discussion, Kira. I look forward to seeing more of you in the future.” He turned to Mr. Muscle. “Please see our guests safely out of the building.” Vellus pivoted on the heel of his expensive shoes and returned to his office.
My mouth hung open, watching him go. Had I really just agreed to Vellus’s demand that I do a tru-cast for his anti-jacker campaign? My dad gently tugged on the back of my shirt, and I shuffled after him, following closely behind the bulky back of Mr. Muscle. It didn’t matter what I said or what Vellus thought—as soon as we got Molloy and found Raf, I would just refuse to do it.
Once we were out of jacking range of Vellus’s office, the mental blanket Mr. Muscle had wrapped around my head eased up. I quickly linked to my dad. Will Vellus really release Molloy?
Yes. My dad kept his eyes trained on the guard. Molloy will be ready for release into my custody by the time we can get back to Vellus’s Detention Center.
Relief washed through me. I hope you know I’m not going to do Vellus’s tru-cast. I only agreed so that I could get us out of there.
I know, my dad thought. I know you can’t. It’s far too dangerous.
I hadn’t thought about how dangerous it would be, just how horribly wrong it was. But he was right—not only would Julian and his mages hate me, and rightly so, every jacker in the country would want me dead. Which wouldn’t bother Vellus in the slightest. That might even be the whole point of it.
So, after we find Raf, I’ll just tell Vellus I won’t do it, I linked to my dad. No matter how many muscle-bound mindguards Vellus has, he can’t force me to do the tru-cast, right?
He knows about you, Kira. My dad flicked a look to me. His thoughts were an anxious pit that pulled me in. He knows about you breaking into Kestrel’s facility. My dad guided me into the elevator after our escort. He’s got a tape of you at Kestrel’s facility, shooting a guard, and not just once. If you don’t do what Vellus wants, he wouldn’t need any more reason than that to lock you away. Did you see the new law? We don’t have any rights anymore. The only thing keeping you free is that Vellus wants something from you.
Suddenly the elevator felt like a cage, plummeting down and carrying me into a trap. Vellus meant it. He would force me to do the tru-cast or go to prison. And I knew what that meant: a one-way ticket back into Kestrel’s cells.
Panic clamped on my throat, and I gripped my dad’s arm. What are we going to do?
We get Molloy. We find Raf. Then we find a way to protect you from Vellus. He still wants me to work for him. Maybe I can convince him that the tru-cast is a bad idea. Or maybe Mr. Trullite can help. Worst case, we’ll move again. Disappear and pray that Vellus can’t find you.
My stomach looped in a knot that was strangling me. The guard walked us to the edge of the shield and the weapons detector. Julian stood on the other side, his hair messier than usual on one side, like he had spent the last ten minutes torturing it with his hands. I sprinted through the barrier, barely noticing the electric tingle of the shield, and grabbed hold of Julian’s arm. I ignored his concerned look and towed him across the lobby with my dad close behind. There was no way I could explain what had happened, at least not yet. Right now we needed to leave the capitol before Vellus changed his mind about releasing Molloy. That was our only real chance of finding Raf.
I would explain later that one of the world’s most powerful men expected me to join his anti-jacker campaign in return.
The autopath back to the city was even quieter than the ride down to Springfield.
I ignored Julian’s stares and stayed out of my dad’s head. The lines drawn tight across my dad’s face told me he regretted going to the capitol. He wanted to save Raf, but if he had known what Vellus would ask, he wouldn’t have gone. Not that it really mattered. Vellus said he was planning on “paying me a visit” sooner or later—I had only sped up the process by going to him first.
It didn’t seem likely that Mr. Trullite could protect me, given his rescue attempt in Jackertown had only landed my dad in prison. No, I could already see how this would go. If there was any justice in the world, we would find Raf alive and unharmed. But however that worked out, I would have to run again. Just me this time. My dad wanted to take my family on the run, but I was done putting the people who loved me in danger. This time I would hide better, run farther, go somewhere that Vellus’s influence wouldn’t reach. It was either that or I would have to do what Vellus wanted: go on the tru-casts to spew hatred like Vellus’s secretary. I wasn’t sure if I could physically force myself to say the words. If I somehow managed it, I’d have every jacker in three states wanting my head. Only they wouldn’t haul me into jail, like Vellus. They would kill my family too. No, that absolutely wouldn’t work.
When this was all done, I would run and leave behind everyone that I loved. Including Raf.
I swallowed down that thought, and it sat like a lump of cold metal in my stomach. A haze threatened to descend on my mind like when I was locked in Kestrel’s stark, white cell. If only I had killed Kestrel when I had the chance, maybe that tape wouldn’t have landed in Vellus’s hands. Or did Vellus already have it by then? It didn’t matter now. I fought back the haze clouding my thoughts. I couldn’t afford to sink into that dark place yet.
It was a relief when we finally arrived at Vellus’s Detention Center. My dad eased the hydro car to a stop, and Sasha pushed off the brick alleyway wall to join us. He gave me a slow nod of acknowledgement. I nodded in return, grateful he was willing to help. I wished Julian had sent for Myrtle too—I didn’t want to take any chances with Molloy getting away, but Julian seemed to think that the four of us would be sufficient.
My dad hopped out and hurried to the gate, his badge already out. I unfolded my body and slowly climbed out of the car, stretching out the kinks. Even my hands ached. I must have been cle
nching them the whole way. Julian was already out of the car, mindtalking to Sasha. My dad slipped from sight through the gate, making my heart lurch.
Julian left Sasha to stand next to me. He eyed the guard shack. “What’s wrong, keeper?”
“Nothing. I’m just… worried. What if Molloy doesn’t know where Raf is?” I paused. “Or what if he does and…” I couldn’t say it. What if all this was for nothing? What if Raf was already dead?
Julian seemed to be struggling with what to say. I looked away, so he wouldn’t have to answer. Less than a minute later, my dad came out with Molloy in mag-cuffs, holding a dart gun to his side and frog-marching Molloy across the street. When Molloy caught sight of us, or more accurately when he saw Julian, he stopped in the middle of the street. His face lost color. My dad shoved him from behind to get him moving again. Molloy took two steps but then whirled around, swinging one massive leg to catch my dad at the knees and knock him to the ground.
“Dad!”
I quickly jacked into Molloy’s mind and wrestled with him as he lumbered down the street away from us. I couldn’t slow him down, but a split second later, my dad was in his mind as well. Molloy put up quite a struggle for a second or two and then he stumbled to a stop.
He turned around, and in his mind, he saw us in a new light. We were his fellow jackers, his brothers-in-arms, who he owed a debt of loyalty beyond measure. We meant everything to him; his very life he owed to us.
Julian had reached him.
I shuddered a sigh of relief.
A picture of Raf, sprawled on a brown-carpeted floor, sprung up in Molloy’s mind.
Oh no. My thoughts and Molloy’s echoed each other, with the same expression of horror.
Julian focused on Molloy, his concentration intense. Molloy’s thoughts kept tangling with mine. Is Raf okay? We need to find him!
The coupling of our thoughts was giving me vertigo, so I pulled out of Molloy’s mind. He rushed past my dad who scrambled to scoop up his dropped dart gun from the pavement.
Closed Hearts (Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy) Page 23