Shield of Winter

by Nalini Singh

  Raising her arms to allow him to tug off her T-shirt, she dropped his tie to the floor and began to undo the buttons on his shirt. "You're right," she said, as he wrapped one arm around her neck and used his other hand to remove the cuff link on that sleeve. "Let's cause an earthquake."

  The tremor registered forty-five minutes later with the increasingly confused seismologists at the Russian Seismic Agency. A half hour after that, Kaleb stroked Sahara's lazy-limbed body and said, "Information is power. Let's put a certain percentage of that power in the hands of the populace."

  PSYNET BEACON: BREAKING NEWS

  STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICE OF KALEB KRYCHEK

  Silent Voices has styled itself a rebellion. It is nothing of the kind. It is instead a political party with a particular viewpoint. Such a political party has a right to exist in the PsyNet, as do groups representing other interests.

  Designation E also has a right to exist. However, unlike Silent Voices, the empaths are critical to the survival of the Psy race. The previous Council hid this knowledge, but in light of the current situation, it is imperative that it be shared so that each individual can make an informed decision as to his or her personal viewpoint: The PsyNet cannot survive without the Es. This is not an ideological stance, but proven fact.

  An attempt to eliminate the empaths from the gene pool was made at the dawn of Silence--it led to the deaths of tens of thousands and to an acute spike in cases of severe mental illness in the population, including criminal insanity. The proof of this fact is in the continued existence of the Es. Designation E would have otherwise been erased three-quarters of a century ago.

  As a result of the above, any attack on an E will be seen as an attack on the foundations of the PsyNet. Should members of Silent Voices, or any other group, incite others to act against the Es, they will be dealt with as terrorists. Political disagreement is acceptable. Aggression that threatens to collapse the PsyNet is not.

  --Kaleb Krychek

  Chapter 42

  Chaos Reigns.

  PsyNet Beacon headline

  IVY WAS DEEPLY asleep on the muscular pillow of Vasic's arm, the two of them having decided passive contact wouldn't activate his ability, when she physically jerked awake under a slamming punch of black panic. Her skin went clammy, dots sparking in front of her eyes.

  "Vasic, they're dying," she gasped, screams echoing in her ears. "It's close, right on top of us."

  Vasic was already out of bed, his feet in his boots in the next two seconds. "Grab a jacket. I'll get mine and confirm the location of the outbreak."

  Ivy scrambled out of bed to slide her arms into her raspberry-colored coat, wrapping it over her pajamas and pulling on socks and her snow boots seconds before Vasic reappeared. He'd tugged on a dark gray T-shirt that was far too thin for the cold, thrown his leather-synth jacket over it, but there was no time to make him change.

  "Rabbit, stay," she managed to get out before Vasic thrust a knit cap on her head and 'ported them into carnage.

  This time, the majority of the screams came from inside the apartment buildings. A body flew out of a window, glass shattering. Vasic caught the male using his Tk, lowered him gently to the ground . . . where he got up, his body bleeding from countless cuts, and immediately ran to the wall in front of him. His head made a wet, ugly sound as it repeatedly hit the concrete.

  Shocked, Ivy reached out to calm him. He fell to his knees. She couldn't hold the calm for long, but he remained on his knees regardless, rocking back and forth and making bloodcurdling animal sounds of pain. Deciding that was better than self-directed rage, she began to zero in on one mind at a time, while Vasic took care of the violent infected who had begun to spill out onto the street.

  Two cabs that had turned into the street right at the wrong time screeched into reverse in an effort to escape. One backed into a parked car, the other was hit by oncoming traffic in a low-speed impact. Abandoning their vehicles, the drivers all scrambled out and ran.

  Then there were just too many infected and Ivy's focus narrowed to those who seemed the most dangerous.

  A few undirected telepathic strikes glanced off her without doing any damage. The telekinetic strike, however, would've crashed her into a wall if Vasic hadn't seen her take the blow and stabilized her.

  Thanks, she telepathed, and they dived back into the fray.

  She didn't know how many people she managed to soothe into a state less dangerous than mindless rage, but she lost strength far too soon for her level on the Gradient, her nose bleeding, her muscles jelly, and her head pounding so hard it felt as if it would split open if she made a single sound. Frustrated near to tears, she collapsed in the street, a kaleidoscope of horror around her.

  Another scream, high-pitched and holding a terror that paralyzed.

  Jerking up her head, Ivy felt her stomach lurch. No, not a child. No! Driven by protective anger, she found the strength to run toward the barefoot little girl who stood in the direct path of an adult wielding a heavy metal pipe. No real empathic power left in her, she lashed out with her low-Gradient telepathy and managed to distract the adult long enough to grab the child.

  Ivy, I have your back, Vasic told her. Go!

  Her faith in him absolute, Ivy ran, stopping only once she was over the defensive line set up by the local authorities. The officers, all armed with weapons designed to disable not kill, waved her behind them. She knelt on the asphalt and gulped in the cold night air as the little girl clung to her, sobbing.

  Fear, pungent and blessedly normal, pulsed off her tiny frame.

  Thank God. Murmuring comforting words to the traumatized child, Ivy got up again with the little girl in her arms, and jogged to the wall of Enforcement vehicles that formed a heavy barricade on this end of the street. Behind them were the ambulances. She guessed it was the same on the other end of the affected street.

  Having scraped together just enough empathic ability to leech off the worst of her small charge's shock and panic, Ivy left the girl in the capable hands of a medic who promised not to let the girl out of her sight.

  No one stopped Ivy when she returned to the fray afterward, the carnage on the street unbelievable. Vasic was using both his Tk and the laser built into his gauntlet to try to contain the insane without causing death, but each time he took one out of the equation, ten more seemed to appear out of nowhere. The sheer overwhelming number of infected wasn't the only problem.

  In front of Ivy, two human Enforcement officers went down without warning, and she realized they'd fallen victim to one of the erratic telepathic strikes being thrown out by the infected. Checking the pulse of first one, then the other, she exhaled a breath she hadn't been aware of holding. Both were alive, but given that a powerful Tp could turn a human mind to soup, that was more luck than anything else. Weak as her telepathy was, she tried to do what she could to protect the men and women around her as the fighting continued.

  A light touch on her shoulder. "I'll take over," Aden said, crouching by her side. "I'm a strong telepath."

  Ceding the task to him, she accessed her empathic ability and discovered it had revived to a certain degree. Though she was barely able to slow the infected down, her efforts made it easier for Enforcement to stun them. A large group of humans who lived in the street had also joined the fight to control their psychotic neighbors, and were doing whatever they could to immobilize people without causing serious injuries.

  When large predatory birds, their talons wickedly curved, swooped from the sky to take down a number of aggressive infected, Ivy thought she'd begun to hallucinate as a result of the pulsing in her brain. But the feather that floated down in front of her a minute later argued otherwise. Changeling eagles, she realized through her exhaustion.

  Their help turned the tide, and the street was under control within the next forty minutes.

  Tongue thick, mind fuzzy, and body not quite under control, Ivy forced herself to her feet. Vasic?

  I'm helping to check the buildings. You
're hurt.

  The ice of his voice was balm on senses rubbed raw, as refreshing as the soft flakes of snow that kissed her upturned face. Psychic strain, she said as the vise around her head continued to tighten, the migraine vicious. I'm going to talk to Jaya. Her first stop, however, was to check on the little girl she'd rescued, but the child was gone, already claimed by her noncustodial parent.

  "She was real happy to go with her mom," said the Enforcement uniform who'd handled the transfer. "I checked the mom's identification against the national database to make sure she wasn't some weirdo out to steal a kid, but the way the two of them were clinging to each other, it was pretty obvious they were mother and daughter." Blinking to dislodge a tiny snowflake caught on his lashes, he passed over a card. "Mother's details. I figured you'd want to know."

  Ivy slipped it into a pocket, happy the child had a surviving parent who cared for her well-being. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome." He reached into an open first aid box on the hood of a squad car, came out with a cotton pad meant to go under bandages. "Your nose is bleeding, and I think one of your ears, too."

  Ivy cleaned up as best she could so as not to worry Jaya.

  "Whatever you did," the other empath said when Ivy found her, "it's put some of the victims in a place I can reach." There was a tired but hopeful glow in her eyes, the hood of her fluffy jacket protecting her face from the snow. "But"--a haunted look shadowed the hope--"I don't know if I'm actually helping or just providing palliative care. Do you think I should keep going?"

  Ivy nodded and hugged her friend. "Any victim you treat seems more at peace." She didn't tell Jaya of the report Vasic had received earlier that day that said a third of the infected survivors from the Alaskan outbreak were already dead. The victims had apparently convulsed in their hospital beds, strange blood clots breaking open in their brains.

  It was clear the infection had mutated, become more virulent. But Jaya didn't need the pressure of that knowledge on her; if she could change the odds with the instinctive use of her gift, that was a different matter. "You're doing something good," she reassured the other empath.

  Shoulders squared, Jaya nodded and returned to her work. Sensing she'd be okay, Ivy walked slowly back down the street littered with blood, shattered glass, feathers, weapons of opportunity, paramedics, Enforcement personnel . . . and bodies. Dead, immobilized, injured, slumped over against walls and flat on their backs, the horror and agony in the air was a crushing weight.

  And over it all fell a delicate, pure snow.

  Chapter 43

  It is clear Samuel Rain is not amenable to a live trial of his cutting-edge innovation. Given his brilliance, I suggest we covertly co-opt his research and put a watch on his files, rather than using force. A trial can be run without his knowledge.

  Recommendation from analyst in charge of evaluating biofusion as a viable military tool

  SAMUEL RAIN HAD disappeared so cleanly that most people assumed he was dead. Zie Zen wasn't most people. His contacts had unearthed rumors the man was alive but brain damaged. Depending on the depth of the latter, Rain might well be of no use, but Zie Zen wasn't about to assume anything. It had become increasingly clear that the man who had initially come up with the concept and underlying principles of biofusion was the only one who might have the solution to Vasic's deadly problem.

  At the time of Rain's disappearance over a year ago, he had been residing in California. That meant nothing. He could've been transported anywhere in the world in the intervening period, but it was a starting point. Nikita Duncan and Anthony Kyriakus were the two most powerful Psy in the area, so Zie Zen would start with them. Nikita, he tabled for now. She might be ruthless, but she tended to be open about her financial interests--this type of long-term subterfuge didn't seem her style.

  Anthony on the other hand . . . the head of the NightStar Group was used to dealing with damaged minds. Regardless of Silence, F-Psy still went insane more regularly than other sectors of the population. That meant NightStar had private facilities for the care of its damaged members, and according to everything Zie Zen had been able to unearth, the family did provide care, rather than simply executing or hiding away its malfunctioning elements.

  Decision made, Zie Zen contacted Anthony on a private comm line known to a very few. It was late to call, but Zie Zen knew Anthony was often in his office long past midnight. The other man's interests had aligned with Zie Zen's on a number of occasions, and Zie Zen considered him a courteous ally of sorts.

  The former Councilor's face appeared onscreen in seconds. "Zie Zen," Anthony Kyriakus said in welcome, the silver at the temples of his black hair glinting in the overhead light.

  "Anthony." Zie Zen took in this man who understood family, who'd fought for his daughter's right to live with a cold ruthlessness that to many had seemed to spring from a mercenary motivation, and considered how much to reveal. "I'm calling in a marker."

  "You're the only man to whom I can bear being beholden," Anthony said. "What can I do for you?"

  "I need to know the whereabouts of Samuel Rain."

  Anthony's expression gave nothing away. "He's rumored to be dead."

  "Rumors mean little." In the end, it wasn't a difficult decision to lay talk of markers and debts aside and trust the other man with the truth. Zie Zen knew Anthony hadn't fought for his daughter because she was the most gifted and, therefore, most lucrative foreseer in the world. No, he'd fought for her out of the protective instincts of a father for his child. "I ask for Vasic."

  This time Anthony did react, his eyes sharpening. "Is the gauntlet failing?"

  "Yes."

  Anthony's response was unanticipated. "The Net can't afford to lose him--no one truly knows how much he's done behind the scenes in the past decade, how many lives he's saved." An intent look. "I didn't realize he was one of yours."

  Zie Zen could've let Anthony believe Vasic was simply another contact, but he didn't. He wanted to publicly own his relationship with the child who was his blood. "He's my great-grandson."

  A blink. "A relationship no one in the Net suspects. Masterfully played, Grandfather."

  Once, Zie Zen would've smiled at the honorific address, knowing it was both sincere and the rueful acknowledgment of an opponent who'd been bested. Today, he simply asked his question. "Do you know anything that will help me track down Samuel Rain?"

  This time it was Anthony who caught Zie Zen unawares. "I have Rain," he said. "He's been in NightStar's care since an attempt at psychic manipulation left him with severe bleeding in the brain."

  Unprepared for such immediate success, Zie Zen paused to gather his thoughts. "How?"

  "You will find this apt; the SnowDancer wolves discovered him badly injured and I asked Vasic to pick him up after the leopards contacted me through my daughter."

  "My grandson is unaware who it is he saved?" Zie Zen asked, thinking of all the myriad connections that had led to this instant.

  Anthony nodded. "He was on an Arrow operation at the time and could literally only give me a minute. I sent him what he needed to complete the 'port, which he did in under five seconds--and I believe from a distance." The former Councilor's expression held respect for the level and precision of Vasic's skill; being born with an ability was only the start--what Vasic could do, it spoke of intense training, concentration, and intelligence.

  "I'm not certain if he had any physical contact with Rain," Anthony continued. "Even if he did, he wouldn't have recognized the man. Rain's face was covered in blood and distorted by a rictus of pain." He paused, shook his head slightly. "And Vasic had no reason to follow up on it with me. He must've thought the man he rescued was another random victim, especially since Rain's disappearance wasn't reported until much later."

  This time, the pause was longer, but Zie Zen didn't interrupt.

  "Given the apparent success of the biofusion program," Anthony murmured, "I never considered that Vasic might need access to Rain."

  Putting aside the
ironic vagaries of fate, and the question of why a man who'd been an asset to those in power at the time had been targeted, Zie Zen said, "Rain's current status?"

  "He is . . . damaged." Anthony clasped his hands behind his back. "I don't know if he's capable of assisting Vasic, but I also don't know if he isn't."

  "I will send through the files--"

  Anthony shook his head. "No, Rain isn't functional on that level. He can't seem to focus on data--Vasic must meet him in person if we are to get a true indication of whether the man has any capability to do what he once did."

  Zie Zen understood the situation was grim, for Anthony wasn't a man to exaggerate things, but it was a chance, however slim. "I'll speak to Vasic, arrange a time." Looking into the other man's eyes, Zie Zen said, "Has it been worth it, Anthony? The choices you've made?" The ex-Councilor was considerably younger, but he was the patriarch of an influential and gifted family, had been faced with as many pitiless decisions as Zie Zen.

  "I've lost a daughter," Anthony said at last, "seen another find freedom, have a son who chooses to align himself with me though he was raised by his mother, my foreseers are more content and less in pain, but their minds remain fragile . . . I don't know if it all balances out in the end, but I know I've done all I could. It is the only thing a man can do."

  Absolute focus in the eyes that remained locked with Zie Zen's . . . before one of the most powerful men in the PsyNet bowed his head in an act of quiet honor. "Do not doubt yourself now, Grandfather," Anthony said when he looked up. "Without you, we wouldn't be standing in a time without Silence. You laid the foundations on which Krychek, Vasic, the empaths, my daughter, and I all stand."

  It was, Zie Zen thought, an epitaph a man might be proud to call his own. Zie Zen wanted more. He wanted a life for his great-grandson, a real life, such as the one Zie Zen had lived for twenty-three short, wonderful years. Sunny, I am alone without you.

  How can you be alone, Z? I'm here.

  At that instant, he could almost touch her . . . and he knew his mortal time would come to an end very soon. Not yet, he whispered to her. First I must save the son who is the best of both of us. Vasic might not carry Sunny's blood, but he carried her heart.