MindRogue

by Connie Suttle

  "We'll keep him here," I said. "Other than doing what Ex'ero told him to do, I doubt he's a criminal."

  "Then have Gerrett help him forget where he is and who he's with, if he's dropped off on Horlak," Kooper ordered. "We're taking Ex'ero into custody, to question him about his involvement with Jewl Yarro. Let me know the final decision on Jincus, in case we have to pull him in again."

  "We'll do that," Trent agreed.

  "You're letting me walk around the ship?" Jincus sounded surprised.

  "If that's what you want. I warn you not to be rude to the crew—they're going to be feeding you and protecting you while you're onboard."

  "Hmmph," Jincus shook his head. "I was scared to death Director Kooper would haul me off to an ASD lockup and forget about me."

  "I doubt you've done anything to warrant that," I said.

  "Where is Ex'ero?"

  "He's been detained for questioning about the warlock he hired—and a few other things. Seems the Karathian Crown has been looking for the warlock for a while, and they want information."

  "Trust Ex'ero to find somebody like that," Jincus snorted.

  "Is there something we should know?" I asked.

  "Ex'ero may be the worst judge of character I've ever seen," Jincus shrugged. "I tell him not to hire this one or that, he hires them anyway, and they end up taking things and disappearing. It hasn't been just thieves breaking in, you know. In the past year, parts and pieces of older ships have become a much-desired commodity."

  "Do you know why?"

  "No idea, unless it has something to do with that battle in Campiaan space. I hear a lot of criminals lost their ships that day. You know both Alliances keep a close watch on anybody who orders ships, now."

  Closing my eyes, I drew a deep breath. Now it was beginning to make sense. The Big Three had their fingers in a lot of pies as Sal would say, and a multitude of other criminals under their thumbs. They couldn't place orders for a whole new fleet—Kooper and Jett would be notified.

  The ships destroyed in the Campiaan battle had been taken away from who knew how many criminal operations, to give the Prophet what he wanted.

  "Jincus, you just became a temporary member of my crew," I said. "How do you feel about being a pirate? Also, will you mind wearing something other than what you've got on?"

  "I've never worked on a ship," he said, although he sounded intrigued. "I don't know what I'd do for you."

  "I'm putting you with my ship's engineer," I said. "I'm assuming you know the parts and pieces taken from the scrapyard."

  "I do. I've gotten used to listing them as missing," he admitted.

  "Good. David may be able to show you a thing or two about how the ship works, if you like to get your hands dirty."

  "You can't tell?" He held up both hands and grinned. His hands were stained from years of handling old parts and pieces of vehicles and appliances.

  "Good enough. David will be along to take you to his department," I said.

  "You rang?" David walked into my office.

  "I'm assigning Jincus to your department temporarily," I said. "He knows the parts and pieces of older ships that have come up missing lately. It's now your job to tell me whether full ships could have been assembled from all that, and how many of them we need to be concerned with."

  "Can you still get into the records of Ex'ero's businesses?" David asked Jincus.

  "Sure," Jincus shrugged. He didn't even blink at David's stature, which made my opinion of him rise considerably.

  "Good," David said. "Come with me; we have a lot of work to do."

  "Get him decent clothes," I said as they walked out of my office.

  "On it," David called back. At the last, Jincus turned toward me and flashed a grin. I think he liked his new job already.

  "Somebody already had this idea, before the Prophet got on board with it, too?" Travis asked. I'd gone to X to have this conversation with him and his twin.

  "It looks that way. This means we may be chasing after common criminals rather than the Prophet, when we start looking for this stuff."

  "Just when you think things can't get any worse. It's a cinch Stone Wicke works for one of the criminal concerns, and is doing his best to keep others away from what he deems their property."

  "Maybe he knows they also have warlocks or wizards in their employ, and his boss or bosses don't want the competition. Ex'ero may have been caught in the middle of a feud," Trent offered.

  "Somebody wants to take over where the Big Three left off," Travis said. "This means a power struggle, just as we're attempting to chase down the Prophet."

  "This isn't fucked up or anything," I said.

  "Want a beer or something stronger?" Travis offered.

  "Let's have a beer. Damn. We don't need more complicated. We need less complicated."

  Dori

  "You're different." Perri twisted her mouth as she considered me from across the table. I'd sat down to have a cup of tea in the galley; Perri walked in shortly afterward and plopped onto the chair opposite mine.

  "Shapeshifter," I said. May as well get it out in the open and see how she reacted.

  "What kind?"

  "Ocelot."

  "A big cat?"

  "Essentially."

  "Nice. Any other shapeshifters on board?"

  "Yes. Phillip, my pilot. David, too. X has several on board."

  "Have I met them?"

  "Susan. Travis and Trent."

  "What are they?"

  "That's their secret—you should ask them." I didn't say it, but telling her to ask politely when she knew them better was certainly on my mind.

  "Sorry—I've never really met shapeshifters before—I have no idea what the protocol is."

  "Then say that. I'm sure they'll accommodate you as well as they can. There's something else you should know about us, too."

  "What's that?"

  "Never touch a shapeshifter in their other form without their permission. It's impolite."

  "Why would I—isn't that the same as touching them otherwise? That would be rude."

  "You may fit in here after all," I said. "Welcome to BlackWing XIII."

  Zanfield

  "We're about to go in, sir."

  "Make sure you impress upon him that I only wish to study the young man and nothing else. That I'm very curious how someone with power on both sides of his family can be born without it. Ensure that he understands that he's giving me all custody rights to his ward, who will come to live with me. Record every bit of the conversation, from multiple angles, if you can."

  "Of course, sir."

  "Are we about to see whether he can be bought?" Vik asked.

  "You'd be amazed at how many there are who will jump at the smallest offer," I said.

  "You sound disgusted," Vik observed.

  "Because I am. Have a seat; you can watch this with me if you want." Vik took a chair in my cabin while I turned the standing comp-vid to a better angle.

  "Looks like recent work on the house," Vik said as my agents walked to the front door of Alken Wilker's home.

  "I'll make note of that," I said as Alken answered the door himself.

  "You the ones from Staggs?" Alken asked.

  "We're his agents, yes."

  "Good, come in," he invited. "The boy's in the kitchen."

  Vik exchanged a quick glance with me. Were there going to be no questions? No requests for reassurances that the boy would be in safe hands? Drawing a breath, I turned back to the screen.

  The house was cluttered as my agents walked through it, following Wilker's lead. The boy sat at a kitchen counter, slumped on his stool with a small, packed bag lying beside it.

  "Fucking hell," Vik whispered as Alken spoke.

  "These two are taking you to your new home," he said gruffly to the boy.

  "Perri," the boy whined.

  "She isn't here. She has work and nobody has time for you. Now go with these two. They have a new place for you to stay."

  "
I could be running a sex slave operation and he wouldn't care," I growled.

  "The ah," Alken held out a hand while the boy dejectedly slid off the stool. Teren, my lead agent in this, handed the credit chip carrier to Alken.

  "We need the signed agreement," Teren said as Alken took the carrier and stuffed it in his pocket.

  "It's right here," he lifted a comp-vid. The document we'd sent him was pulled up on it—Teren came close enough to see. Alken signed with a stylus and sent the document while we watched.

  "Good," Teren said. "The boy will be well-cared for."

  "Doesn't matter to me," Alken patted his pocket. "Tell your boss it's a pleasure doing business with him."

  "Pauley, come with me," Teren held out a hand to the boy. "We're taking you home."

  "Perri," Pauley mumbled a second time.

  "I'm sure we can help you with that," Teren said, leading him toward the front door. Franc, my second agent, lifted the boy's bag and carried it with him.

  Vik and I watched until everything was loaded into the hovercar and it drove away. "Damnation," Vik rumbled. "If we hadn't promised Zaria to wait to report this to Ry, he'd have the information already."

  "I'm sure she wants the boy off Karathia first," I said. "She sent Ilya Ironsmith to transport them away from the planet. They're going to Campiaa from there, where Zaria and Quin are waiting."

  "They're going to help the boy?"

  "I think they're waiting to see if there's anything they can do. Then, we wait a little longer, to hear how Alken breaks the news to Perri. I'll be interested to learn what sort of lie he tells her."

  "How much is that credit chip worth?"

  "A million. I was prepared to go higher. He jumped at the first offer."

  "Fucking hell."

  Founder's Palace, Campiaa

  Quin

  Justis and Dena insisted on coming with us to Campiaa. Zaria transported us, and Wyatt and Jayna waited to greet us.

  Ilya Ironsmith folded Zanfield's agents and the young man to us shortly after our arrival.

  "Pauley," Zaria approached him—he looked terrified to be where he was. "There's no need to fear, you're safe, now," she soothed.

  He may have shrunk away from anyone else. Zaria's hands, when she touched him, let him know (as only the Larentii can) that he really was safe.

  Quin, he has a mind-dampening spell, Zaria sent. Let me remove it, then you can help him deal with the injustices of his life.

  I'll be happy to.

  Bel Erland would get an earful, too, once I was done. Neither he nor his father, King Rylend, had thought to check on the boy, believing the uncle when a status report was required.

  Now, only the blackmail between the uncle and Perri remained to be dealt with.

  Wyatt, standing nearby, helped catch the boy when he almost fell after Zaria removed the spell.

  "Perri?" The boy was now weeping. For years, his thoughts, speech, everything, had been stunted by a conniving uncle.

  "We'll bring her to you soon; she's safe," Zaria smiled at Pauley. "This is Quin, my daughter," she introduced me. "She's going to help you, too."

  "Feathers," Pauley blinked as if he'd just noticed me and my wings.

  "I'm Avii," I told him gently. "We all have wings. I'm going to touch your face, now. Is that all right?"

  He dipped his head in a trembling nod. Placing my hands on either side of his face, I closed my eyes and searched for the hurts to heal.

  Chapter 11

  BlackWing XIII

  Randl

  "I originally intended to handle this one way, but I think it will be better if we do this, instead."

  Zaria sat on one of my guest chairs, explaining what she, Zanfield and Quin had done for Perri's brother, Pauley.

  "He's safe at Avii Castle, with Quin watching over him. Gurnil is secretly pleased he has a student to teach, so Pauley now has a suite adjoining the Library."

  "How bad was the mind-dampening spell?" I asked.

  "He has no real education past the first year," Zaria shook her head. "He was sent to special classes, but essentially learned nothing. He's safe now, and relieved of that infernal spell. I wish it were this simple to deal with Perri's trauma," she added.

  "I know. I also know of other people who've dealt with similar circumstances."

  "I wish she'd told the King what was going on, but she had no idea about the mind-dampening. She imagined that Pauley wasn't a power-void only—that he had other problems, too."

  "What will be done with her uncle?"

  "I just came from Rylend's palace. He has all the records Zanfield supplied, including the vid recordings and the record that Alken has already emptied the account created for him and transferred the money. I figure it won't be long before Ry's troops knock on Alken's door."

  "How did he hide that spell from a power-scent tracker like Perri?" I asked.

  "We're still working on that. It could be that he'd laid so many spells throughout the house that she couldn't differentiate one from another. There's a chance, too, that a counter-talent may also run in the family, so to speak. I promised Ry I'd come have a look at Alken when he's taken into custody."

  "Is Pauley normal, other than having no power?"

  "We think so, but his growth and maturity level have been drastically compromised. I hope Gurnil and Quin can bring him along carefully, until he's where he should be."

  Bel Erland appeared in my office at that moment, interrupting my conversation with Zaria.

  "Alken has disappeared," he said, sounding winded. "As if he knew we were coming after him. The money has disappeared, too, and we can't find him anywhere; we've already attempted scrying."

  Zaria sat, silent in her chair, her eyes unfocused.

  "I believe he's either joined a criminal faction with a Sirenali, or has gone to the Prophet," she said, blinking after a moment. "I can't find him, either."

  "What does this mean?" Bel Erland demanded.

  "I can't say for sure," Zaria shrugged. "I do believe that Perri will know his power-scent anywhere," she went on. "It may make our job easier, if we come anywhere close to Alken Wilker from now on."

  Vik, will you and Zanfield bring Perri to my office, please? I sent. I have news concerning her uncle and brother.

  On our way.

  We never discussed where the money came from to pay Alken, and Perri didn't ask. Zanfield visibly relaxed when the topic was glossed over. Instead, we talked about Pauley, how he was now safe on Le-Ath Veronis and in the care of the Avii Queen. Perri had permission to visit whenever she wanted, while her brother worked through years of no learning and stunted emotional growth.

  "Don't beat yourself up that you didn't know—you were too young to understand it when it first happened," Zaria said.

  "But how did you know to help him?"

  "Just a suspicion, which turned into a reality," Zaria replied. "The Karathian Crown now has Alken Wilker on a list, as do your colleagues, here. We worry that he may have joined a criminal faction, and, as he is a fourth-level warlock, his talents will be viewed as most desirable to any new boss."

  "They'll have his crimes to hold over his head, too, if he gets any ideas," I said. "He may have hemmed himself in with his choices."

  Perri dropped her eyes and nodded. She never said anything about what her uncle had done to her over the years. A part of her was grateful he was gone. Another part was overjoyed that Pauley was being cared for.

  Overall, Perri was still overwhelmed by years of molestation by her uncle, and, after she was employed by the Crown, the theft of a good portion of her wages, too. This was more than a delicate situation, as she had to be the one to ask for help. She'd rebel if anyone forced it on her, or suggested it, even.

  Perri hid behind a hard shell. Inside that shell was a frightened girl who'd been harmed too many times by her own flesh and blood.

  "Can I see Pauley soon?" Perri raised her head.

  "You can see him now. I'll take you." Zaria stood and
smiled at her.

  "Sir?" She turned to me, asking permission.

  "Go. Stay and have dinner with him if you want," I waved a hand.

  "I'll go with them, if that's all right," Vik said.

  "Good enough. You can bring her back when she's ready." I watched as they disappeared. Zanfield sagged against the wall.

  "Don't worry, Zan," I said. "Your secret's safe with me."

  "But what will she say when she learns I'm Pauley's legal guardian, now? Her uncle signed those rights over to me."

  "If she doesn't ask, who's going to tell her?" I grinned.

  "I sent a message to the Avii Queen, with access to an account I set up for Pauley," he said. "I told her to buy clothing, supplies, whatever he needs and a few things he wants."

  "Zan, you're one of the best people I know," I said.

  "Having money doesn't hurt, either," he finally grinned at me.

  "Well—who cares about that?" I teased. Zanfield laughed.

  Avii Castle

  Quin

  The moment Perri arrived with Zaria and Vik, Pauley was up from his seat at a library table and running toward his sister.

  I may have brushed a few tears away as they wept and laughed in each other's arms. At least Pauley's mind was clear, now. Before, his mind was held in check so strongly that the only thing he knew for sure was that his sister cared for him.

  Here he was, now, a seventeen-year-old with the learning level of a seven-year-old. Gurnil and I intended to rectify that. He had the capacity—now that Zaria had removed the spell that held him back, and I'd healed the damage it had done to his brain.

  "I have a room," Pauley was more than proud of that fact. "Come see." He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward it.

  Once, that same room had been mine in Gurnil's Library.

  "Zanfield set up an account for him," I whispered to Zaria as brother and sister disappeared behind a door. "He'll be taken care of for a very long while. Eventually, I think he'll be the same as anyone else his age."