Caressed by Ice

CHAPTER 36

In the darkest core of the PsyNet, the pure black walls of the Council chambers streamed with data, endless silver columns too fast for the eye to see but legible to the psychic mind.

“We’ve lost control of PineWood,” Nikita said. “Parrish—the alpha—is dead, and someone’s not only deprogrammed the rest of the pack, he or she has armed the hyenas’ minds against further interference. Trained personnel may be able to break those blocks, but it will take considerable effort. It’s not worth our time.”

“Sascha?” Shoshanna asked.

“No.” Nikita was certain of that. “She doesn’t have the necessary skill set.”

“Neither does Faith NightStar,” Marshall pointed out.

“Which leaves us with an unknown.” Kaleb, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet to that point. “If I’m not mistaken, programming and deprogramming skills are taught exclusively to certain branches of our armed forces.”

“Correct.” Ming’s icy blaze. “It has to be one of the elite soldiers.”

“Someone outside the Net?” Nikita knew full well that, contrary to what the masses believed, there were some Psy who were not hooked into the PsyNet. Not renegades like her daughter, but those who had never uplinked at all…because they had another option. The existence of the “Forgotten” was one of the Council’s many dirty secrets.

“Not necessarily,” Kaleb said. “I think it’s becoming obvious we have a serious internal threat.”

“The Ghost.” Marshall’s star went a cold, cold white.

“He has to be operating with an associate or associates,” Nikita added. “One Psy can’t be so skilled in both psychic and physical warfare. The lab explosions were very precise, involving a high degree of technical knowledge—wholly dissimilar to the expertise required to siphon data from secure PsyNet databases.”

“Then there are the assassinations.” Tatiana spoke up. “We’ve lost several top scientists.”

“I’m checking my databases for possible renegades.” Ming was silent for a minute. “Over the past ten years, we’ve lost one Arrow and seven soldiers with the requisite skills—in circumstances that made recovery of their bodies impossible.”

“Who was the Arrow?” Tatiana again.

“Judd Lauren.”

Nikita recalled the case. “I think we can safely cross him off the list. The entire Lauren family has been dead for over a year.”

“Is that certain?” Marshall asked. “We never found bodies.”

Nikita knew the wolves. “The SnowDancers don’t leave bodies to find. I can’t see them giving sanctuary to any Psy and particularly not a Psy of Judd Lauren’s abilities. He would have been a clear threat—their rule is to kill first and ask questions of the corpses.”

“Talking of the wolves,” Shoshanna said, “Brenna Kincaid is still listed on the Tech Association database as an active Level 1, which means she’s alive.”

“Give it more time—they’ll be killing each other soon enough.” Tatiana’s cool tone. “Ming, what about the other seven soldiers you lost?”

“I’ll trace them,” Ming said. “But I agree with Councilor Krychek—certain other recent events would seem to suggest an internal problem.”

“What’s happening with the chat room situation?” Tatiana asked.

Marshall highlighted a file from the scrolling streams of data. “Henry is in charge of that particular issue.”

But it was Shoshanna who answered. “We’ve taken care of it. Those who were openly discussing incendiary matters have been counseled to cease and desist.”

Nikita wondered if “counseled” was a euphemism for the mildest form of rehabilitation, which left most of the higher brain functions intact while deleting large sections of memory. She had to admit it was a good choice. They couldn’t afford an unseemly number of disappearances after the recent rash of murders caused by anchors who’d escaped their handlers. “That leaves the ones operating below the radar.”

“I have the NetMind searching,” Kaleb said, referring to the unique sentience that lived in and made order out of the chaos of the PsyNet.

“That brings up another issue,” Marshall said. “The NetMind has been getting very erratic of late. It’s only recently reported back on possible signs of a serial killer who may have been operating undetected for years.”

They had all noticed it. The NetMind’s recordings were more fragmented than before, and there were gaps filled with dark spaces, a low buzz of background noise—almost an echo—that none of their best minds could filter out.

“This is a theory unbacked by any research,” Kaleb said into the silence, “but I believe the NetMind may be passing through a period of adolescence. If so, that adolescence is likely to last decades, if not centuries. We have no concrete idea of its age or the speed at which it matures.”

Shoshanna spoke on the heels of his pronouncement. “Given that the research of over a century has not yet managed to uncover the NetMind’s inner workings, I would say it’s safe to assume this issue will have no easy answer.”

“I agree.” Marshall. “We have to initiate other options to find the identity of the second tier of discontents. Ming, do you have people we can use?”

“My forces are currently heavily involved in relocating the Implant Lab. Because of the sabotage risk, we’re moving it to a hidden location in the cornfields of Nebraska.”

“As I recall, wasn’t Aleine resistant to the idea of a move?” Nikita had met the head researcher. The woman had a will comparable to any Councilor’s.

“That issue has been resolved.”

Nikita wondered what leverage Ming had used—it had to have been very persuasive. “But if that’s the case, why not move her to a location out of the United States?” Some of the eastern European sites were far better suited to clandestine research.

“Zie Zen,” Ming said. “He’s the biological father of Ashaya Aleine’s only child. They have a joint parenting agreement and he wishes his coparent to remain in the country, as she’s training the boy in certain unusual aspects of his abilities.”

Nikita was well aware of who Zie Zen was, having run across the powerful businessman more than once as they vied for the same contracts. “We can’t afford to obstruct business—not after the Faith NightStar fiasco.” She directed her words at the Scotts, the two who had caused the whole mess.

But it was Tatiana who spoke. “How secure is the new location?”

“Extremely,” Ming responded. “No one in the lab knows where they’re being moved and once they arrive, they’ll be under a communications blackout, except for monitored calls with their family or business groups once a week. Their PsyNet access will be policed at all times—setting up the tracers is what’s taking up so many of my forces. As for Council staff, only the bare minimum know the new location. The short list is one hundred. If we have a leak, we’ll know where to start looking.”

“Did you check for changeling threats?” Kaleb’s question was one Nikita had been considering asking. “The secrecy could be for nothing if they locate us.”

“There is no strong pack or family unit in the vicinity.”

“And,” Tatiana added, “changelings don’t much care what we do so long as it doesn’t affect them. I believe we must concentrate on the threat from within.”

Ming’s star flared. “Agreed. There is no risk of an outside strike on the new lab.”

“Let’s hope your confidence is justified.” Shoshanna.

Nikita wanted to say something about what she and Kaleb suspected, if only to put an end to the other Councilor’s arrogance. But the time wasn’t yet right—they were still gathering evidence. However, they could certainly start the process.

She waited until the Council session had ended before asking Ming for a private meet. Kaleb had left her to fire the first volley. That implied no relationship of trust—she didn’t trust anyone and neither did he. But he might make a useful ally. If he proved an enemy…well, deaths could be made to look like accidents.

Ming followed her into the Duncan family vault. “Nikita, what can I do for you?”

“Ming, I didn’t want to bring this up in open session in case there was a good reason you wanted it kept secret from a certain other faction”—sow the seeds slowly—“but why didn’t you tell us about the live trial of the Implant Protocol?”

“Your intelligence is faulty. There have been no live trials.”

“I have confidence in my source,” Nikita said. “Apparently there are ten participants. One fatality to date.” She showed him the data file and watched as he downloaded it into his mind.

When Ming next spoke, the ice of his mind could have cut diamonds. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I intend to find out who authorized this and order an immediate reversal. The process isn’t refined enough for such testing.”

She believed his rebuttal. As the Councilor in charge of their armed forces, Ming had no tolerance for deviations from the chain of command. “That was my evaluation as well.” She left it at that. Let Ming make his own conclusions, determine his own enemies. Arrows, even former Arrows, were very good at killing. It was their reason for being.