Slave to Sensation p-1

by Nalini Singh

  The answers to their questions weren’t in any normal computer but in the inaccessible vaults of the PsyNet.

  * * *

  Sascha wondered if she’d understood Lucas correctly. Had he been warning her to back off because the killer might be in the Duncan building? It should’ve scared her but it didn’t. Where she was going, physical distance mattered little and death could come far more swiftly than a murderer’s slicing blade.

  For the first time in her life, she was going to try to hack the PsyNet, quite possibly the biggest information archive in the world. Every Psy automatically linked into the PsyNet at the moment of birth. There was no way to escape it. However, because the Psy were viciously practical businesspeople, they were all taught how to put up firewalls to hold off unwanted intrusions.

  The firewalls kept the gigantic PsyNet at bay by isolating the Psy’s mind. However, all Psy fed data into the Net and some chose to live with complete openness to it. These individuals were considered extreme. It wasn’t practical or efficient to live with information constantly filtering into your mind.

  By the same token, tough firewalls were considered a sign of Psy strength. No one had raised a brow when, as a child, Sascha had begun building the strongest firewalls anyone had ever seen. As she’d grown, her firewalls had become ever more sophisticated.

  It was the one thing she’d always excelled at, as if shielding skills had been imprinted upon her before birth. Other Psy had even come to her for training. She’d taught them many things but had kept back a few secrets, which, if discovered, might get her hauled before the Psy Council.

  Though privacy was allowed and even encouraged, the NetMind was always aware of each and every individual in the Net. If a mind dropped out, the Psy was physically located and, in 100 percent of cases, was found to have either died or been damaged so badly that their mind had withdrawn as a prelude to death. Those were the only acceptable ways to leave.

  Sascha hadn’t figured out any other way. But she had discovered how to mask her presence, how to move within the Net without alerting the NetMind. As a child she’d played the mental game instinctively—perhaps she’d already known that one day she’d need to hide or lose her life. Back then she’d gone nowhere a child wouldn’t go, so even if she’d been caught, no one would’ve thought to punish her. They would’ve simply put it down to a developing cardinal’s somewhat erratic powers.

  The older she’d grown, the better she’d become at “ghosting.” The trick involved shadowing another mind, thereby gaining entrance to the mental rooms of information the shadowed mind had clearance for. No hacking of the shadowed mind was required.

  Ever since she’d realized she was close to the edge, she’d been shadowing people who might have access to the sealed records of the Center. It had been an attempt to fight the nightmare she’d glimpsed in her childhood. She’d wanted to prove to herself that her child’s mind had exaggerated the awfulness of the place. What she’d discovered had so horrified her, she’d started to look for minds who might know how to escape the Net and survive.

  And had found nothing.

  Tonight she was going to try to ghost a Council member. If she was found out, it would mean an automatic death sentence. The trick wasn’t going to be easy, notwithstanding the fact that not all of the Councilors were cardinals.

  Cardinals were often so cerebral, they cared nothing for politics. Conversely, some non-cardinal Psy had extraordinary defensive and attacking qualities that made them as dangerous as the most highly trained cardinals. Every one of the Councillors fell into the lethal category.

  Taking a deep breath, she put her communication console on mute and sat down cross-legged on her bed. Loneliness enclosed her in silence. After spending so much time with changelings, she felt lost at the absence of touch, of laughter, of contact.

  She missed Lucas Hunter most of all.

  Something flickered in her mind and she felt the brush of fur against her cheek, the whisper of trees in her mind, the scent of the wind in her nostrils. A second later, the moment was gone. Had it been a sensory memory or…?

  She shook her head. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. Her panther was relying on her. They all were. A woman’s life hung in the balance… and she was no longer so sure about the innate goodness of her people.

  Closing her eyes, she went into her mind. The first thing she did was slip around her own firewall, leaving a vague ghost of her presence inside to fool the NetMind as to the current location of her consciousness. It was a simple ruse that had taken years to perfect.

  She stood hidden in the shadow of her own mind. Lights stretched endlessly in every direction that she could see. Some were barely visible, marking the presence of lesser Psy, while others blazed so brightly they were miniature suns. The cardinals. She looked at her own light and wondered at its difference.

  The variation had developed around puberty and she’d been good enough at multilayered shielding by then to hide it under a false shell. To the PsyNet, her star blazed the same as the other cardinals’. She alone knew what it really looked like—a rainbow of sparks that shot joyfully in every direction and then coalesced back into her mind. If she’d allowed it to spark without barriers, it would’ve infected the entire Net by now.

  Turning away from the hidden beauty of her mind, she looked for her targets.

  Nikita’s star was easy to find, bound as she was to Sascha by lines of energy that told the story of their familial ties. Sascha had no intention of ghosting her mother. Not only was Nikita’s mind too attuned to hers, she didn’t think she could handle finding out that her mother was in league with those protecting a killer.

  It was something no child should have to bear.

  There were six other Councilors. An odd number to ensure that there would never be a hung vote. Marshall Hyde was the most cold-blooded man she’d ever met, his PsyNet star a pinwheel of cutting blades. He was a cardinal and had had over sixty years to refine his talent.

  Tatiana Rika-Smythe’s star was the softest light. She tested at 8.7 on the Gradient but that was deceptive. No one took a seat on the Council at such a young age without being ruthless in the way the Psy had patented.

  Then there was Enrique. Deep in her soul, she shivered. There had been a personal touch to his recent interactions with her that couldn’t be explained away by what she suspected him of being engaged in with Nikita. She wouldn’t put it past him to lay a trap for her. His was one mind she wasn’t going near.

  Ming LeBon was another cardinal. Though less experienced than Marshall, he, too, had had almost thirty years over Sascha to hone his skills. It was rumored that Ming’s particular specialty was mental combat.

  Shoshanna and Henry Scott were both around 9.5 on the Gradient. The elegant and graceful Shoshanna was the public face of the Council, the one who appeared on broadcasts to the media and in newspaper articles. She looked fragile and harmless but could be as lethal as a viper.

  Henry was her husband. They’d decided on a human-style marriage rather than a Psy reproduction contract in order to make themselves seem more sympathetic to the non-Psy news media. This wasn’t common knowledge.

  Nikita had told Sascha back when she’d still been grooming her child for a position in the Council networks, before they’d both accepted that Sascha’s flaw was never going to fix itself.

  Henry was her target. Though extremely powerful in his own right, he was clearly the beta member of the Shoshanna-Henry pairing. As such, he was the only Councilor who showed any submissive qualities. He was also easy to find on the Net, even if you’d never come into contact with him and had no idea of his mental signature.

  It was part of the Councilors’ jobs to be accessible to the populace they represented. In truth, the path to them was a minefield of assistants and guards. This would take work. Sascha began step-shadowing.

  CHAPTER 16

  She waited for a mind heading in the right direction to pass by—she couldn’t move out herself or the N
etMind would detect the anomaly of her presence in two places at once. When someone came close enough, she quickly took care of their simple alarms and merged into the edges of their consciousness, a shadow so fine, no one had ever detected her. She broke no moral law, exerted no mental influence. Her host was merely a vehicle to get her where she needed to go. From there, it was a game of luck and logic.

  She shadowed one mind until it reached another that had permission to go further. It took her almost two hours to make it to Henry. Sticking to the consciousness of the assistant who’d brought her into the office, she began to gently circle around the edges of Henry’s firewall, looking for traps and alarms.

  Within two minutes she’d found three, all of which she could neutralize while ghosting. A double check confirmed her initial findings. Henry was one of the oldest members of the Council and his firewall reflected his complacency.

  Sliding from the assistant when the man’s consciousness passed close to Henry’s, she merged into the Councilor’s light, a speck of dirt so minute, it was impossible to see. It was fortunate for her that unlike most Psy, a portion of a Councilor’s consciousness was always active on the Net, because of their need to keep up with the massive inflow of data.

  From now on, she would go everywhere Henry ventured. If she was unlucky, he wouldn’t leave his mental office. But he could just as well lead her into the sealed records of the Council chambers. The chambers existed solely on the PsyNet because the Council was scattered around the world. Enrique, Nikita, and Tatiana being in such close proximity had been sheer chance.

  Henry suddenly moved. The acrid taste of fear bloomed on her tongue but it passed when he spent the next two hours sweeping through the part of the PsyNet that stored their race’s history. She had no idea what he was looking for. This should’ve been a job for his assistants. Just as she was getting completely frustrated, she found him at the entrance to a vault she’d never known existed.

  Inside were millions of memories and thoughts. Henry headed for his family’s section of the vault. Temptation beckoned. Sascha knew it was a risk but this was a chance she couldn’t miss—she’d always been told that her family’s history had been corrupted by a rogue energy surge.

  What if that, too, had been a lie?

  Thankful that Henry had allowed his consciousness to spread in the vault, she drifted along the waves of his mind, riding swells until she reached the part that screamed with the Psy signature of her family.

  Since she didn’t know how long she’d be in here, she simply streamed through, siphoning data into her shadow-mind. She’d release and examine it once she was back behind the privacy of her own firewalls.

  Unexpected movement.

  Henry was leaving. She’d taken advantage of his absorption in his task to venture to the furthest edge of his consciousness. Now it was snapping back into a tight coil and if she didn’t keep up, she’d be trapped here. Cut off from her mind for too long, her body would go into a coma from which she’d never recover.

  Fear gnawed at the stomach of the woman on the bed but in the PsyNet, there was only a mind as calm as a pond. She barely managed to make it back before Henry went through the doors. After exiting, he charted a clear path to the darkest section of the Net, access to which was highly restricted. What she’d never expected as they cleared that section was the even darker core that lay within.

  The Council chambers.

  This was where it got tricky. If the other members were there, they might pick up what Henry hadn’t. Nikita was the most dangerous. In the same manner that Sascha had recognized her family’s signature in the vault, her mother would recognize hers if even the faintest hint of her mind emerged from the shadow of Henry’s psyche.

  However, Nikita had mentioned nothing about a meeting when they’d spoken. Sascha would’ve never instigated a ghosting otherwise. She told herself not to panic. Then they were through the final checkpoint and in the innermost core. Six other minds flared bright around them.

  The Council was in session.

  Taking desperate measures, Sascha forced herself to go under further than she’d ever before done, merging her consciousness with the outer layer of Henry’s on a molecular level. Prolonging such a merge could mean the destruction of her psyche but there was no other option.

  “Why are we here?” Crisp and young, the voice had to belong to Tatiana.

  Though she was outside Henry’s firewall and couldn’t hear what he was thinking, she could hear what he heard—the others’ thoughts all had to pass through his firewall and, by extension, through her, to reach his mind. That was the genius of ghosting.

  “Yes,” Nikita said, “I had to pull out of something extremely important without notice.”

  “He’s taken another changeling girl.” Marshall ’s razor blade of a mind.

  Buried so deep that she was no longer a person, Sascha recorded the conversation without processing it. Reaction was her enemy here.

  “When?” Tatiana.

  “Two and a half days ago. We did too good a job of telling our subordinates to bury any further cases—they didn’t think we’d be interested in keeping up to date.” Marshall ’s tone didn’t change. “I stumbled onto the information during a conversation with one of my guards.”

  “This can’t be allowed to continue.” Nikita. “In spite of what some of you insist on thinking, the changelings aren’t without power. DarkRiver hasn’t forgotten their lost female—I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already hunting. We’d better hope they don’t grow impatient and decide one of us will do in lieu.”

  If Sascha had allowed herself to think, she might’ve been startled, having been unaware that Nikita had such a clear grasp of a truth most Psy ignored.

  “What pack was it this time?” Enrique.

  “The SnowDancers.” Marshall.

  “It’s a wonder hundreds of us aren’t already dead.” Nikita. “Those wolves are vicious.”

  “They’re only changelings.” Ming’s cool menace. “What can they do?”

  “Don’t be stupid.” Nikita. “They know we have to get close to influence them—close enough to be vulnerable to their weaponry. The SnowDancers took out five Psy last year. The Net was never alerted that they were in any danger. They simply winked out of existence one after the other. Their bodies have never been found.”

  “Why didn’t we make an example of them?” Henry.

  “The Psy who got taken out were acting foolishly. They went alone into restricted territory open only to the wolves.” Marshall ’s cold darkness. “We don’t support fools.”

  “There’s no mistake this killer is Psy?” Nikita.

  “The NetMind has picked up traces of certain pathological traits within the patterns of a Psy mind. The traits peak during the week that he holds the women.” Marshall. “There’s been no success in tracking him.”

  “Only a very powerful psychic could hide himself so well.” Nikita. “It has to be a cardinal or someone close to cardinal level, someone who has access to the highest levels of the PsyNet and can nudge the NetMind into looking the other way occasionally. Otherwise it would’ve picked up more than traces.”

  “We can’t risk exposure.” Tatiana. “He must be contained before he gives himself away.”

  “I agree. It’s the only way to uphold the integrity of the PsyNet.” Shoshanna. “What if he’s a high-level Psy who’s necessary to the functioning of the Net? We need to maintain the ratio of cardinal anchors. Too many of them have proven vulnerable to this particular side effect.”

  “If required, we leash him and keep him satisfied. We bring him the women he needs, women who won’t be missed, women not from aggressive packs like DarkRiver or SnowDancer. And we ensure he’s never discovered.” Marshall. “As of now, we all devote a quarter of our minds to monitoring the NetMind—the second it picks up any hint of the applicable pathology, we track it back to him.”

  Applicable pathology? Something, which had once had a separate consciousnes
s as a cardinal named Sascha, worried over the strange word choice.

  “How do you know he won’t choose to go underground until we give up?” Nikita. “If he’s that good at hiding his tracks, he’s going to be aware we’re keeping watch.”

  “He hasn’t killed the newest girl yet. I don’t think he’ll be able to stop himself from doing so.” Marshall. “All our research on serial killing in the Psy populace supports the compulsion theory.”

  “How many others are operating at present?” Nikita. “The last data I received said fifty.”

  “Those are all the ones we’re aware of. None are as much of a concern as our unknown—they aren’t preying on high-visibility victims. Most are targeting other Psy, which makes our job considerably easier.”

  “What’s being done about them?” Henry.

  “They’re being set up to be sentenced to rehabilitation for unrelated reasons. The ones we can’t afford to lose are being provided for. Every one of them will be taken care of without alerting the PsyNet.”

  “But there will always be more.”

  “That is the nature of the Psy.”

  The meeting concluded without further discussion. Henry made his way back through the door and the outer core, Shoshanna by his side. They didn’t speak until they were inside the walled rooms of their private vault.

  “What do you think?” Henry asked.

  “It’s a reasonable outcome. We can take care of this matter without anyone knowing.”

  “The changelings are suspicious.”

  “Suspicion is worthless without proof. Nobody has uncovered even a single Psy serial killer since the first generation of Silence. We know how to keep our secrets.” Shoshanna’s energy flared. “Where were you?”

  “In the history archives.”

  “Tagging?”

  “Yes. You were right again—the indicators are present in several members of the extended family, but it’s the youngest boy who might become a cause for concern.”