Mind Sync

by Kirsten Harrell

  Her vital signs popped up on her virtual display in the right corner of her field of vision. “Aw hell. Not now.” She mumbled.

  “Bree, are you ok? Are we good?” At the sound of Max’s question, Bree realized she’d said that out loud and into the com unit.

  She pushed the sense of dread down deep. It was probably just an overreaction to having her baby brother on this op. “Shit! Sorry. Yeah, Bravo is good to go.” She blinked a few times hoping the display of her vital signs would go away, but it didn’t work. The numbers and letters distracted her. Blood pressure: one hundred thirty-two over eighty-eight. Heart rate: eighty-four. Oxygen level: ninety-nine.

  “Copy. See you at the rally point,” Max said.

  “Listen up… keep your heads on a swivel, stay sharp, and let’s shut these fuckheads down. We move on three.” Bree took a deep breath and bounced on the balls of her feet, readying herself. Despite Izzi’s belief that they wouldn’t need to use deadly force, Bree drew her gun.

  “Copy, that Bravo. On your mark,” Max confirmed.

  “One. Two. Go!” Bree ordered.

  Adrenaline surged.

  Time slowed.

  A loud click confirmed that Iziqa had disengaged the lock on the back door of the building.

  Ipeshe pulled the door open.

  Bree rushed through the door.

  “What the fuck! Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” Bree yelled when a line of humans charged down the stairs.

  The rest of Bravo team stopped abruptly behind Bree.

  They’d expected a KG, not a bunch of humans.

  38

  “Alpha, Bravo. We’ve got a bunch of humans coming down the back stairs. Alpha out.” Bree’s team scrambled past her into the hallway to make room for the hostages to run out the door. Both surprised and pleased, she watched the fleeing hostages hurtle down the stairs.

  “Get out of the building and keep running. We’ll take care of Kozeb and get the rest,” Bree called out, using her free hand to point out the door like an air traffic controller. Relieved to get some of the hostages out to safety.

  The first few people hit the landing. Instead of bolting out the open door, they charged right at Bree.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Bree yelled as the first man to reach the landing swung at her. She held up her left arm to block his incoming blow. “You idiot. Stop! We’re here to help.”

  The guy continued his assault on Bree and the next man behind him attacked Iziqa. Their eyes were glazed over and vacant. Were they in a trance?

  “Ipeshe, get Nina to cover in one of those rooms. Stay with her and keep her safe!” Bree commanded as she blocked incoming punches. Her attacker had the advantage of size - probably around six feet four inches and close to three hundred pounds - but Bree had her superhuman speed and strength.

  “Bravo, Alpha. Copy that. We’ve got heavily armed humans in the lobby! I repeat, we are facing heavily armed humans. We have not yet breached the building. Alpha out.” Spyder’s voice came through the com unit in Bree’s ear along with the sounds of heavy gunfire in the background.

  “We have humans attacking here too.” Bree ducked an incoming fist. “They’re not armed, but they’re fucking huge and in some type of rage trance.” The dude’s hand broke through the wall. While he struggled to free himself, Bree used her gun to hit him in the side of the head. “Nighty night.” He slumped but didn’t hit the ground because his fist remained stuck in the hole in the wall.

  “Wake up! You guys are free to leave. We’re the good guys.” Bree tried to reason with the next giant poised to attack her. Her words didn’t penetrate his trance. He threw a punch. She grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to throw him on the ground. She rolled him and zipped his hands behind his back.

  Before she could turn around, another guy grabbed her from behind. Damn it. The hallway wasn’t the best place to take on this group of zoned-out hulks.

  With enhanced speed, Bree twisted and ducked out of his grasp. As she spun to face the attacker, she wondered how many big dudes Iziqa had taken down. The thought triggered a livestream of the Commander to pop up in the upper left corner of her field of vision. Izzi was a badass!

  “Oooff!” Bree’s head snapped back when the raging dickhead landed a punch. Blood spurted from her lip. “Mother dick! That hurt.” Bree turned away, as if nursing her wound, then spun into a roundhouse kick that landed perfectly on the guy’s jaw. “Ha!” She smiled as the guy hit the floor.

  “Jason! Can you hear me? You need to get to someplace safe. That’s an order.” Bree took the opportunity to check in on her brother and to pinch her nose to stem the bleeding.

  Fear twisted her stomach when Jason didn’t respond. “Max! Rick! Find Jason and get him someplace safe. Now! If I don’t hear he’s safe in a minute, I’m coming out there and I will kick all of your asses.” She called out on the com channel, forgoing typical com protocol in her haste for answers on her baby bro.

  “Bree, I’m ok, please don’t come out here. We’ve got this.” Jason sounded out of breath. But, given the continued sounds of a firefight, Bree figured he was probably freaking out.

  “You keep your head down and let the others clear the area. Promise me, Jase.” Bree and Iziqa looked at each other, then down at the five men sprawled on the floor and the one still hanging from the wall by his arm.

  Jason’s voice cracked when he finally answered. “I promise.”

  With the all the crazy guys secured, Ipeshe and Nina came out of the room and the four started up the stairs, Iziqa in the lead and Bree last to make sure they weren’t attacked from behind.

  “Alpha, this is Bravo. We cleared the area and are moving up the stairs. What’s your status? Out.”

  “Bravo, Alpha. Copy that. We’re still taking heavy fire. I’ve lost track of Kozeb. He’s fucking with our surveillance. I’ll…” Wizard’s voice cut off.

  “Alpha, Bravo. Repeat.” Bree fiddled with her earbud. “Damn it! Why aren’t they answering?” She kept her gun in hand, pointed down as she ascended the stairs sideways.

  “Your communication equipment has failed.” Iziqa, now at the top of the stairs, waited for the others to join her on the platform outside the door leading to the third floor.

  “Can you do something to fix it?” Bree looked back and forth between the two Kusharians, hoping like hell one of them would say yes.

  “Kozeb has jammed the signals. We cannot repair them.” Iziqa shook her head.

  “Shit!” Bree rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath through her mouth because her nose, while no longer bleeding, hurt and was swollen.

  The door flew open, revealing a group of women with the same dazed expression as the men who’d attacked them below.

  We’ve got to push our way in there. We can’t fight them out here or on the landing, Bree sent silently to Iziqa and Ipeshe as she pushed herself in front of Nina. She couldn’t get that plan to Nina without the berserker women knowing, but she could try to keep Nina in the back and out of the direct line of attack.

  The Kusharians didn’t hesitate. They rushed forward in an attempt to plow through the women.

  “Stay back, Nina,” Bree ordered as she followed.

  Izzi looked like a dancer as she attacked. A beautiful sight to behold. Her graceful moves belied her deadly power and strength. Ipeshe had fighting chops too. Despite claiming to be peaceful beings, Kusharians could kick some serious ass.

  Women tend to fight differently than men. They pick up whatever they can find to use as weapons. Men often rely on their fists only, unless they have guns or knives. These women had found weapons - mostly sticks and pipes - and looked like they were prepared to use them effectively. One woman had an axe.

  “Put your fucking weapons down! What’re you doing? We’re here to rescue you. We don’t want to hurt you.” Bree faced a woman with a broken broom handle.

  “You want to control us! We won’t allow that.” The woman’s lip curled up in a snarl, her eyes to
o wide and not blinking. Their rage and frenzied energy filled the air.

  Bree put her hand out in front of her. “We don’t want to control you. Kozeb has brainwashed you. Let’s just talk for a minute. Come on, think this through. I’m Bree. This is Iziqa, Ipeshe, and that’s Nina back there. She’s a doctor. What’s your name?” She made her tone soft and smooth, desperate to get these women to put their weapons down so that the medical team could access the kids. Then she could go find her brother.

  Before the woman could respond, an explosion shook the building.

  “Oh my God! What was that?” Nina yelled from behind Bree.

  “Alpha, give me a report now! What the fuck was that?” Bree yelled. She knew their communications system was down, but she needed to know that her brother and the rest of Alpha team were ok.

  The berserkers took advantage of the distraction and roared as they charged Bree and her team.

  “I’ve got to go find Jason!” Bree yelled, almost as frantic as these women looked.

  “I’ll go find him!” Nina yelled.

  Ipeshe dodged a woman swinging a pipe. “No! Nina, you must stay here.”

  An intense pain slammed through Bree’s head, dropping her to her knees. Her stomach heaved. She pulled herself into a protective ball - head down, hands covering her head, willing herself to stay conscious. Only slightly aware of the woman in front of her beating her with the broom handle. Compared to the stabbing pain in her head, those blows felt like mosquito bites.

  Bree! You must calm yourself. Your brain is overloading and once again you are in serious danger. I should not have allowed you to leave the healing center, Ipeshe sent through a mind sync.

  An image of her brother, injured and bleeding, flashed in Bree’s mind.

  Panic. More pain.

  She had to get to Jason. He needed her.

  Bree reached deep inside for the internal strength to get up, despite the ferocious pain in her head. She uncurled from her ball and grabbed the broom handle. Once she had a good grip, Bree yanked it away and jabbed the broken end at the berserker woman. The woman howled in pain, confirming Bree’d hit her target. She pushed the jagged tip with all the strength she could muster, only stopping when she hit bone.

  The woman dropped to the ground.

  Bree looked at the squawking woman with the piece of broom handle sticking out of her thigh just above her knee.

  “Ipeshe! Nina! We need medical help right away!” The deep voice of Cheveyo filled the room.

  With her hand on the wall to steady herself, Bree noted that all the berserker women were unconscious, except for the one with the broom in her leg who likely wished for the oblivion of unconsciousness. “What the fuck happened? Is my brother ok?”

  Cheveyo bent over with hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “We were taking heavy fire and couldn’t get a foothold. Rick took a bullet to his leg.” He gasped and stood up, his helmet in his hand, his face covered with a mixture of blood, dirt, and sweat. “Max set off an explosion.” He bent over again, taking in big gulps of air.

  “He did what? Jesus! What a fucking idiot! Is Rick ok?” The pain in Bree’s head still threatened to take her down.

  “Bree, I’m sorry. It’s your brother. He took some shrapnel to the gut.” Cheveyo stood up and looked directly at Bree.

  A desperate need to see Jason pushed much of the pain out of Bree’s awareness. She turned to the door, but found she and her team were surrounded by a group of children.

  Children pointing big guns at them.

  “You will not be going anywhere,” Kozeb said.

  39

  Bree whirled around as Kozeb stepped into the circle of armed kids. What kind of sick fuck uses children as soldiers?

  Oh, hell!

  Torn by competing needs, Bree hesitated. She needed to get to her brother immediately, but her desire for justice - okay, maybe a bit of vengeance also - anchored her to the spot with Kozeb-the-dickless-weasel standing right in front of her.

  How quickly could she take him down? Shit, who was she kidding? Jase needed her right now. Fuck!

  Time to divide and conquer. As much as she wanted to be the one to beat the holy hell out of Kozeb, er… get him in custody, she could leave that to Iziqa. However, if the Commander let the smarmy K-man go again? Bree’d have to kick her ass back to Kushari.

  “You’re a sick rat bastard! Call the kiddie squad off so we can get out of here, you fuckface.” Bree snarled at Kozeb then looked to Nina and Cheveyo. “You two come with me.” She headed toward the stairway.

  A deafening barrage of automatic weapon fire reverberated through the large open room. Shrapnel exploded from the floor as bullets pierced the ground near her feet.

  “Fuck! Kids, stop shooting! Put your guns down.” Bree stopped and put her hands in the air.

  How in the hell is this weasel-fuck controlling these kids? Bree pushed the thought to Iziqa and Ipeshe. And more importantly, can you get a read on Jason? Is he ok? The piercing pain in her head spiked with the attempt to mind sync. She flashed a quick look at her Kusharian team members, hoping she’d gotten her thoughts through to them.

  Panic flooded her with adrenaline.

  She couldn’t fail her baby brother again. No way. No how. Not today. Bree’s mind raced with thoughts and ideas about how to get out of this room, then get the healers to her brother, or get her brother to the hospital.

  Kozeb has energetically sealed this area. We can’t access any mind outside this room, Iziqa replied. Nor can anyone outside this room access our minds. I’m so sorry. We’ll find a way to get to Jason. Let me connect to Kozeb. I’ll convince him to stand down.

  Fine, but keep me in the loop. I want to hear everything, Bree demanded, glaring at Iziqa.

  He’ll sense your mental signature. I need to connect to him alone. Please trust me.

  Despite her wariness, Bree gave a quick nod to Iziqa. She couldn’t afford to waste another second arguing.

  Can you mind sync with these kids? Maybe convince them to put their guns down? Bree sent to Ipeshe.

  “You’re not leaving here.” Kozeb looked at each of his captives. “If you even attempt to escape, I’ll give the command for these little humans to kill all of you and then each other.”

  Horrendous spikes of pain blazed through Bree’s brain. Eyes closed tight, she rubbed her forehead and struggled to stay upright. She bit down hard on her bottom lip, desperate to stay conscious.

  At the sound of gunfire and a scream, her eyes flew open. Her stomach dropped at the sight of Cheveyo on the ground with a bright red stain spreading across his shirt sleeve. “What the fuck was that for?”

  “Oh my God! Cheveyo!” Nina ran to his side and dropped to examine the wound. “Are you okay?”

  Bree braced against the white hot sensation ripping through her brain. When she turned to face Kozeb again, the room tilted and her vision tunneled.

  Damn it!

  She lost balance and went down on one knee.

  “Bree! You need to calm down. Please!” Ipeshe called out to her.

  What the hell? Bree’s body failed her and she toppled over, like her limbs were no longer under her control.

  Everything went black.

  Bree scrunched her eyes closed against the light; very bright, but blurry. A few rapid blinks and her eyes came into focus… on a pair of sneakers. Sneakers that hadn’t been there a moment ago. What the…?

  Oh, right, she’d fallen. Someone must have come over to help her get up. Except she couldn’t remember anyone on her team wearing these sneakers. Bree tested her motor control and found that her arms and legs were working again.

  With her palms flat on the ground, Bree pushed up, shifting her hips until she was sitting on the ground. She looked up.

  Holy shit!

  Her eyes were clearly playing tricks on her. She rubbed them and looked again, but still saw her mother standing in front of her. Her mother! As in the one who’d been dead for sixteen years. What
the fuck?

  “Sabrina, honey, you’re in danger. Take some deep breaths. You need to focus. You can do this.”

  “Mom? What are you doing here? Oh, shit! I’m dead, aren’t I?” Bree’s voice, soft and breathy.

  “No. You’re alive, but unconscious. Honey, you can’t die yet because you still have work to do here. You’re using too much energy and your brain has overloaded with neurotoxins. Your system hasn’t had enough time to heal and assimilate the changes. Breathe with me. In. That’s good. And out.”

  The sound of her mom’s voice wrapped around her like a soft sweatshirt. It’d been so long since she’d heard her mom speak. The sweet sound worked its way deep inside, filling cracks in her soul she hadn’t even known existed. Bree’s breath slowed and evened out. Her body relaxed and a tightness in her head eased.

  “Good, Bree. Keep doing that. Breathe in… now…out. That’s great. You’re doing it, sweetheart.”

  Bree kept her eyes glued on her mom. She took another calming breath. And another. Each breath helped. She had so much she wanted to say to her mom, and to ask her.

  Another breath. Less pain. Her vision flickered.

  Everything went black.

  Blinding white light. Hazy, like thick smoke.

  Bree’s eyes fluttered open. Somehow she was face down again. She looked up, but her mother no longer stood over her. “Wait! Mom, where’d you go?” A familiar deep ache flared in her chest. She swallowed hard, forcing the lump in her throat down. She wanted so badly to talk to her mom some more. To at least hug her.

  When her vision cleared, she found a group of kids poised around her with guns aimed at her.

  The situation flooded back into her awareness.

  Oh shit! My team.

  Cheveyo lay on the ground several feet from her with a bullet in his arm. Rick had been shot.

  And Jason had a gut wound from shrapnel!

  Situation: all fucked up!

  “Mom, I promise I won’t let you down this time. I will not fail Jase.” Not sure if she’d said that out loud or not, Bree braced herself to stand.