Closed Hearts (15 page)

In the station room, three workers nudged their spider-legged tru-cast cameras across the floor, testing shoot angles of the center interview area. Threads of boom mics dangled down from the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room, another three people faced a dozen screens. A thin guy bobbed his head, mentally orchestrating the media streams with his mindware interface. Real-time scrit feedback scrolled in front of him, and he monitored how people were re-casting the news. The two other people—a visual artist and a programmer—were designing segments to weave into Maria’s tru-cast interview.

I had no idea casting the news was so complicated.

One of the camera workers indicated we were in his camera path, waving us out of the way. Julian and I shuffled away from the creeping of the cameras and into a shadowed corner of the room. The tru-cast station was smaller than I had hoped: even tucked far from the interview spotlight, we were only forty feet from the action. It was out of mindreading range of the empty interviewee seat, soon to be filled with Vellus, but not by much. Any mindjackers in the room would be well within reach and definitely aware of who I was.

I only hoped Julian could deliver on keeping any mindguards sedate enough for me to jack while he worked on Vellus.

Sitting in an upholstered chair out of the spotlight was an elderly man whose thoughts showed him to be the Truth Magistrate. He watched a girl flit around Maria, who was perched in the spindly interview chair. The girl held a tiny black square up to Maria’s face and clothes and hair, and the lighting subtly adjusted to her mental commands. Maria ignored the girl and focused on her scribepad, running through her prepared questions. Her anger was ramping up to a slow burn in the back of my throat as she cycled through her planned attack. She seemed to be doing it on purpose, pumping up her emotional state, probably to make it easier to ignore the fact that Julian and I were here to jack her interviewee.

Julian nudged me and held up the face of his phone, where he had scrit,
Check out the screen
.

Behind Maria, the screens focused on the gate at the Detention Center. It was a double-door system, with the second door visible when the first was open—both no doubt controlled by the guard, safe inside his bubble of concrete, glass, and the mindjack shield. I hoped that jacking Vellus was going to work, because breaking into the Detention Center looked daunting at best. A nurse in trim scrubs got clearance to go inside, and I pictured the med facility within the walls. My dad and Raf could well be in there. The chill of that thought trickled into my stomach. At the very edge of the screen, Hinckley leaned against the door of a shuttered business across the street, arms crossed.

Waiting.

Hopefully we would have some prisoners coming out soon for him to usher back to Jackertown. I linked into the mindware interface of Julian’s phone and nudged a scrit.
I hope you know what you’re doing.

Before he could respond, something caught his eye by the double doors. They whooshed open and a skinny man, mid-twenties in a tailored
nove
-fiber shirt, strode into the cast station, stumbling in his haste to arrive ahead of the troupe behind him. Close behind were three bodyguards who reminded me of Mr. Trullite’s over-muscled goons. I brushed their minds and all three were mindreaders. The skinny man scanned the room and focused on the dais, immediately noting that Maria’s chair was slightly higher in elevation than the interviewee chair and would have to be adjusted before the Senator would proceed with the interview.

He activated a mindware-enabled earbud phone and scrit an all-clear signal. A moment later, Vellus appeared in the doorway and seized the attention of the room like a magnetic force. His strong stride carried him across the threshold of the double glass doors, his suit flowing perfectly over his trim body. His hair was stuck in the rolling waves that were the latest fashion for powerful men, and his smooth skin made him look young, but the crinkles around his eyes said he was my dad’s age. His assistant scurried to the side to give him a clear path to the dais. A thought wave murmured through the room, with the light and design women openly admiring Vellus’s strong jaw. I supposed he was a classically good-looking man, but seeing the king of the anti-jacker crusaders in real life made my stomach want to throw up the morning’s crackers.

I brushed Vellus’s mind, bracing myself for the prospect of dipping into his thoughts. He was out of mindreading range, so I didn’t link thoughts to him. That would only make him more aware of our presence, and the thoughts I’d like to link would definitely blow my cover anyway. Vellus’s smile was wide as he basked in the admiration of the women, but his mind was vacuous, filled with echoes of the other mindreaders’ thoughts. I had never linked into the mind of a politician before, but he was even less substantial than I had supposed they were. Even his mind-scent was nondescript, like it was diluted down to nothingness.

He was intent on Maria, whose thoughts were tightly focused on the atrocities she imagined Vellus had already committed. He was halfway across the room before two more security suits flowed into the room behind him, one large and bulky, the other tall and slim. I brushed their minds and they instantly noticed my touch—both were jackers on high alert.
Mindguards.
My head whipped to the one farthest from me.

There, standing tall in an ill-fitting gray security jacket, was my dad.

My dad. A mindguard. For Vellus.

The shock of it pulsed through my body, seizing up every muscle. My eyes locked with my dad’s across the span of the tru-cast room.

What are you doing here!
I linked to him. Instead of answering, he stiffened, his face twisted in wordless pain. A bottomless terror clawed his thoughts, and my mind reflexively recoiled. At the same time, he took a shaky step back, eyes wide. He must have tried jacking into Julian’s head, only to get the same horror show that I had experienced the first time.

Julian’s hand gripped my elbow, hard. “Keeper.” His voice was a whisper of warning. My dad, showing up as Vellus’s mindguard—it had to be freaking him out. It was freaking
me
out. If I didn’t do something quick, Julian would end up handling my dad again.

I linked back into my dad’s head.
Dad, don’t try to jack him!
It won’t do you any good.

My dad’s face was turning red.
What is this jackworker forcing you to do?

Back at the mages’ headquarters, Julian had handled my dad out of rescuing me and Raf. How could I explain that Julian was now helping me rescue Raf?
Julian’s not forcing me to do anything! And since when are you doing mindguard duty for Vellus?

Julian?
The acid sting of anger overwhelmed my dad’s normal mind-scent.
This jackworker is not your friend, Kira. I don’t know what he did to me in Jackertown, but he’s dangerous. Whatever hold he has over you, it’s not real.

By this point, the bulked-up mindguard at my dad’s side had shoved me away from his mind and slammed me back into mine. The pressure grew, forcing me out of my dad’s head, but then it suddenly cut off. Julian must have handled him out of trying to jack me, so I plunged back into the mindguard’s now-compliant mind. He was confused as to why he considered a young tru-cast assistant such a threat, when clearly the cast station was secure. I jacked him to forget about me and Julian lurking in the shadows at the edge of the room. Julian shoved his phone in my face. Scrit across the screen were the words,
Your father is going to blow this operation. Get him to stand down.

I pushed the phone away with the back of my hand and linked back into my dad’s head.

Whatever mess you’re in, Kira, I’ll get you out.
My dad’s face was turning an even darker shade of red.
I don’t know what this jackworker is doing to Vellus’s mindguard or what he’s planning for Vellus, but you don’t need to be a part of it.

Julian’s helping me get Raf out of Vellus’s prison!

Raf’s not in prison!
my dad thought.
This jackworker’s lying to you.

Is Raf with you?
I asked, my hope soaring.
Did you escape the raid with him?

No, I landed in the Detention Center with the rest of the jackers,
my dad thought.
But I made sure they weren’t holding you and Raf before I left.

You were in the Detention Center? How did you get out?
He still hadn’t answered my question about how he ended up on Vellus’s mindguard squad, but I was piecing it together. He was swept up in the raid, but had bargained his way out of prison by agreeing to work for Vellus. My stomach churned.

I had to agree to mindguard for Vellus again,
my dad thought.
It was the only way to get out so I could find you and Raf!

Wait, what? Again?

My mind sputtered on that for a moment. Vellus’s other mindguard was now idly checking the messages on his phone, while Vellus stepped up on the dais. Maria rose to greet him with a half bow. Vellus’s assistant fussed with the interviewee chair so that it was the same height as Maria’s. Vellus beamed as Maria struggled to balance her aggressive tru-caster thoughts with being a gracious host. The oversized image of the Detention Center loomed behind her.

Wait,
I linked to my dad.
How can you be sure Raf isn’t in the Detention Center?

I’m sure because I refused to work for Vellus unless Kestrel released you and Raf from the prison too,
my dad thought.
Kestrel said he didn’t have either of you in custody.

Kestrel was at the prison?
My mouth dropped open.
And you believed what he said?
I had to restrain myself from stomping across the room and physically shaking my dad.
He totally could have lied to you!

I didn’t have any other option,
he thought.
Kestrel was picking out prisoners to take to another facility. It was either get out then or go with the rest of them.

I pulled out of my dad’s head and tried to control the shaking in my hands. Raf could still be in the prison. Of course Kestrel would lie. And worse, he was taking the prisoners, including the mages and possibly Raf, off to the facility where he was doing his experiments. How much time did we have? I grabbed Julian’s phone and jacked into the mindware to scrit a message.
Kestrel’s at the Detention Center, picking up prisoners.

Julian nodded, as though he already knew. He must have been listening in on our entire conversation. I could only imagine what he was thinking, but so far he hadn’t resorted to handling my dad. Maria was settling in her chair and getting ready to start the interview. My heart hammered like I had run a mile. I sucked in a ragged breath. Maybe if we all just kept our heads and gave Julian a chance to do his magic with Vellus, this could still work.

I took a breath and linked back into my dad’s head.
Dad, Raf could still be in there. We have to let Julian try to get him out.

My dad ran a shaky hand through his hair and paused a long moment
. Okay,
he thought.
But if the boom mics pick up that he’s jacking Vellus, I’m going to have to take him down. Otherwise Vellus will think I’m involved—that
you’re
involved—and he’ll have evidence to put us all in prison. Whether your jackworker friend gets caught or not, once this interview is done, you’re coming with me. Understood?

Fine.
I was tempted to pull out of his mind again, because he had some nerve ordering me around while he was doing mindguard duty for Vellus, but we were both distracted by Maria starting the interview.

Thank you for taking time to meet with us, Senator Vellus.
She crossed her legs and leaned forward on her chair, which still seemed to tower over Vellus’s, but he was so tall that he dwarfed her.
We won’t keep you long, as we know you’re giving a press conference today at the new detention center named in your honor.

It’s my pleasure to be here, Ms. Lopez.
Vellus’s thoughts were less vacuous now, focused on Maria. His thought waves had a deep rumbling quality to them, like a bass guitar you feel as much as hear. Every mind in the room swung to his, even the media tracker, who was quickly pulled back to monitoring his data feeds. The boom mics had captured Vellus’s thoughts and cast them out, creating a surge of positive feedback on the nets.

Maria didn’t seem as affected by Vellus’s charisma, still focused like a hawk on her attack questions.
You’ve mentioned in previous tru-casts that the Center is designed specifically to hold jacker prisoners. Can you tell us about the security measures that make that possible?

Vellus beamed an unnaturally white smile designed for a sim-cast.
I can’t tell you all the top-secret technology, Maria, but I would like your viewers to rest assured that
our guards are armed with the latest in anti-jacker technology and the inmates are kept under a mild, safe, but effective sedative to keep them from using their jacker abilities to harm anyone, including each other. The Vellus Detention Center is a state-of-the-art containment center, but it is not inhumane. The purpose of the Vellus Center is to provide for the general safety of all regular citizens, without any undue harm to those afflicted with the jacker strain of DNA.