Branded by Fire

"The answer to a question." He laid out the facts dealing with the offer of voluntary rehabilitation. "Do I have any right to stand in the way of those who want to strengthen their conditioning? I’ve never been concerned with destroying Silence itself." His goals were deeper, older. He wanted to cut out the rot, excise the sickness that threatened to destroy his people all over again . . . while their Council watched, complicit in their deaths. "But the Protocol is a weapon the Council uses to keep the populace in line."

Judd took a long time to answer. "There’s a difference between making a free choice, and making a choice because you’re afraid of change. No one knows what the Net will be like with emotion – "

"We know," the Ghost said. "Before Silence, our race was on the verge of extinction." Violence and insanity had run rampant, savaging the PsyNet from within.

"Yes, exactly – before Silence. The Protocol’s changed us, changed the Net. I’m alive today because of what I learned from the conditioning process. We won’t go back to what we were."

The Ghost considered this new avenue of thought, realized Judd was right. There could be no comparison between past and present – the future was a true unknown. "The weak ones won’t survive without Silence." They’d break under the weight of their gifts.

"No," Judd agreed. "Let them go. We can’t make the choice for them – we can only show them that maybe, they can find another way. Emotion is a powerful tool."

Long after the conversation was over, the Ghost stood in the desolation of his lonely location and considered Judd’s words. Emotion . . . No, he thought. That was a path he couldn’t take. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.

Because if the Ghost lost control, the Net would truly shatter.

Chapter 50

Mercy had intended to spend the morning discussing their untenable situation with Riley in the hopes of finding some kind of an "out," but he got roused from bed three hours before dawn. "What?" she said, barely lifting her lids as he answered his cell phone.

His claws shot out. Realizing something was very wrong, she sat up and put a hand on his lower back as he finished the call.

His eyes were wolf when he glanced at her. "Three young men from the pack didn’t come home last night."

Fully aware how wild the young ones could be, Mercy knew there had to be something more. "No question it’s foul play?"

A nod as he got up and began to dress. "Hawke called all three on their cells – those boys are over twenty and in training. No matter what they were up to, they’d answer."

Mercy pulled on her own clothes. "We’ll mobilize our resources, help you look for them. Last known location?"

"A club in the city. It’s – " His head jerked to Mercy’s phone as it trilled an emergency code.

Grabbing it, Mercy answered. "Vaughn, what is it?"

"Get to the city. We’re missing Nicki, Cory, Mia, and I’m sorry, Merce, but Grey’s missing, too. They went out to dinner, never came home."

Grey. If someone had hurt her sneaky, funny, youngest brother . . . Stomach tight with a raw mix of fear and rage, she had to struggle to find the breath to tell Vaughn about the SnowDancer kids. He swore. "Start driving. Indigo was already down here for a night shift – I’ll coordinate with her so everyone goes out in teams of one leopard, one wolf."

Hanging up, Mercy told Riley what had happened. Her voice broke when she got to Grey’s name.

Riley gave her a crushingly tight hug. "We’ll find them. Your brother struck me as someone who knows how to take care of himself and those around him."

She nodded. "He’s tough. He fools everyone with that musical genius facade, but he can put Sage and Bas in the dirt when he’s in the mood." Finding comfort in that, she drew away. "Let’s go."

Riley looked at her. "How’re your hands?"

Startled, she held them out. "Rock steady. Why?"

"Because I think this situation calls for your style of driving."

Mercy put her foot on the accelerator and made it to the city in half the usual time. They’d got a message to converge at Union Square, where search grids were being assigned, so she double-parked and they ran to the spot.

"Anyone think to check on Bowen’s group?" she asked Vaughn. Her leopard hadn’t sensed deceit in Bowen. Power, yes. A determination that could make a man do many things, yes. But not deceit. However, the leopard wasn’t infallible.

Her fellow sentinel nodded. "They’re clean – they’re helping us look for the missing in their section of the city. Stupid not to use a crack team when we’ve got them sitting there."

Mercy glanced at Riley to see how he was taking this. He raised an eyebrow. "I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Quiet tone, but the wolf was in his eyes – she knew the anger was directed at the bastards who’d dared harm those under their care.

Feeling that same sense of violation, she slid her hand into his before returning her attention to Vaughn. "Are you sure the missing are still in the city?"

"No," the jaguar said, making her stomach sink. "Dorian’s working airport and highway surveillance; SnowDancer’s checking satellite footage; Faith’s running telepathic scans. We’ll leave no stone unturned, Mercy."

She swallowed, nodded. "What do you need from us?"

"We want you two visiting all known Alliance sites. I’ve already sent people through but you know their movements better than anyone else."

"What makes you think this is connected to the Alliance?" Riley asked.

Vaughn shoved a hand through his unbound hair. "One of the Rats was partying Above and he’s almost certain he saw Grey get into a van with a human. But the Rat was more than a little tipsy, so I’m covering all our other bases, too – Sascha even woke up Nikita to ask if this was a Psy op. Nikita says no."