I’m staring at my phone—it has Renell’s number in it now.

“So he just bumped into you?” Scott asks.

“Yeah,” I say, still mystified by Renell’s furtive phone tag.

Scott and I are back in the autovan, and he’s delivering me to Aaliyah’s. It’s past noon, and we spent all morning rehearsing Wright’s elaborate plan to jack the president into endorsing an anti-jacker bigot for the Senate race.

Which just grows more horrifying the more I think about it.

The guys in suits were stand-ins for the president, and Ethan and Renell took turns jacking them, while I practiced flipping Ethan from jacker to reader and back. Despite loathing the guy, I worked hard to make it painless—mainly by digging through his brain, dosing him hard with endorphins and dopamine, and suppressing the scream reflex. By the end, Ethan was drunk off his own brain chemicals. And he’s an ugly drunk.

“At the time, I thought Renell was just in a hurry to get out of there.” I look up at Scott. “Can’t really blame him. But why the secret handoff?”

“Accident?” Scott lifts an eyebrow.

“Maybe.” Doesn’t feel accidental.

“Scrit him.” We’re almost to Aaliyah’s house. I only discovered Renell’s number because I finally had a chance to scrit Tessa. I want to meet with her—desperately—but I managed to not be too desperate in my message. Just HEY I’M THINKING ABOUT YOU, WHERE ARE YOU? I have no idea when, where, how or even if I can be with Tessa in the future… but I’ll take any time I can get now. Plus I need to alert Kira to what’s going down. That’s as good an excuse as any to hook up with Tessa.

Not that I should need one.

I try not to let it bother me that she hasn’t scrit back yet.

Instead, I focus on jacking into my phone to scrit Renell. HEY. Simple. Easy to brush off if the whole thing was an accident.

NEED TO MEET, the reply comes back instantly. From Renell, not Tessa. Unfortunately.

Scott’s peering at my phone. “Definitely not an accident.”

“Is there some way this is a trap?” This whole thing makes me uncomfortable. “You and I need to be working on a way to get my mom and Olivia free. Or stop this insanity with the president. Renell’s wasting our time unless he’s on board with that. And he’s a reader. I don’t want him accidentally ratting us out to Wright.” Plus meeting with him puts a crimp on what little time I have left to meet with Tessa before I have to get Juliette and head back to the estate. I might have to return even sooner if Tiller keeps me on a short leash. I’ve already been gone half a day.

“Renell’s kept his secret from readers for a while.” Scott’s frowning. “Have him meet us at Aaliyah’s.”

I sigh but tap in the coordinates for the Home. Still no scrit from Tessa. I’m definitely not bothered by this. It’s not even crossing my mind. I’ve got much bigger things to focus on. It’s not like she has a reason to ignore my scrit. Except that I spent the night at Juliette Tiller’s estate and didn’t scrit Tessa until just now.

I sigh again.

“Hey,” Scott says like he’s worried about me with all the sighing. “We’re going to figure this out, okay?”

I give him a pinched look. “You got any ideas on that?”

“I’m still working it.”

“Well, hurry up.” I’m tired, frustrated, stressed, hungry, and… the girl I love probably thinks I’ve already run out and cheated on her. In other words, I’m grouchy. “I hope Aaliyah has something to eat. I’m starved.” Which doesn’t seem possible, given the feast I had in Juliette’s room this morning, but incessant jacking for hours on end has me utterly drained. That, and I can’t find my way out of committing treason.

The autovan pulls up behind Juliette’s autolimo, which is thankfully parked in front of Aaliyah’s Home. At least some part of this day is going according to plan. I climb out and slam the door, probably a little harder than necessary. “This whole thing hinges on me,” I say to Scott as we walk up to the front porch. “Wright’s basically blackmailing me into treason. There has to be someone we can go to with this!”

“That’s a one-way ticket to places you don’t want to be,” Scott says. “We’ve got three days—”

“Two days and six hours,” I cut him off. Not that I’m counting the minutes or anything. I use my passkey to get through Aaliyah’s front door. I don’t realize until we’re inside that it’s fixed. Tiller got on that fast. Which means his crew was here while Juliette’s autolimo was here… but I wasn’t. I stop cold just inside the door.

Scott’s alarm goes through the roof. He’s got a gun out sweeping the room before I can even explain.

“What?” he asks, peering down the hall.

Aaliyah appears, smiling and strolling out from the kitchen in her black leggings and silver slippers. Scott jerks his gun up, so it’s not pointed at her then swiftly tucks it into the holster at his back, under his suit coat. He’s dressed like a G-man all the way.

Aaliyah coolly notes the whole dance. “Zeph, baby. What trouble are you bringing to my Home now?” The smile has vanished.

“Sorry, Aaliyah.” I gesture to Scott. “Major John Scott is just a little jumpy. And my day has been unbelievably bad, and it’s not half over. I will pay you every last uno I own if you’ve got some muffins or cookies or something in the kitchen for me.”

The smile comes back to her face. “Help yourself.”

“That’s the first good thing that’s happened today,” I breathe and head toward the kitchen.

Scott trails behind me.

“Is that how it is?” Aaliyah follows us in.

I’m already flipping a chair around to sit backward on it and snagging a double chocolate muffin from the stack on the table. “You don’t even want to know,” I say to her. And I mean it. “Did Tiller’s men fix the door?”

“Yes, they did.” She’s back to scowling. “And what about your little sister? And Sammi?”

“Tiller’s keeping Sammi locked up,” I say around a bite.

She scowls harder at that.

I continue while I chew. “Olivia’s gone back to the people I work for. Which is not good. And basically, I’ve signed up to commit treason in two days and six hours.”

Scott chokes on his muffin and gives me an incredulous look. Aaliyah couldn’t look more surprised if her eyebrows actually lifted off her face.

I take another bite of muffin. “It’s been a bad day.”

There’s a loud banging at the door.

Aaliyah looks alarmed, so I hurry up out of my chair. “Don’t worry, it’s just one of my co-conspirators. I’m expecting him.” I head toward the door while Scott scrubs his face with his hand, probably wondering why I’m blabbing everything. I’m just tired of all the lies and secrets and horrible people doing horrible things—

I check the peephole, but it’s just Renell. That was quick. Did he follow us or something?

I pull open the door. “Dude, what are you even doing?”

He looks terrible. Even worse than a half hour ago in the simulator, and that was bad enough. His normally deep brown skin has a grayish cast, his eyes are bloodshot, and his lips have this twitchy thing going on.

He flicks a nervous glance at the invisible jacking shield that separates us. “Can I come in?”

“What is going on?” I’m not entirely sure about letting him in. Scott’s boots creak the floor behind me.

“Please.” Renell’s literally begging, hands clenched, eyes pleading. “I need you to…” His nervous gaze flicks over my shoulder.

I twist back. Both Scott and Aaliyah are standing there. Scott’s got his gun in his hand, but it’s pointed at the floor. I turn back to Renell. “You need me to what?”

He’s staring at Scott’s gun behind me. Then he slowly drags his gaze up to meet mine. “I need you to kill me.”

I just stare at him for a moment, mind blank. I blink once. Twice. “How about you just come in?” I step aside, clearing the doorway, and wave off Scott and his gun. I’m really getting tired of all this. I want a way out. I want my family back. I really, really wish Tessa would scrit me because that’s nagging at me like an itch I can’t scratch. And, most of all, I want the world to behave like it makes some kind of damn sense again.

So I march Renell back to the kitchen with Scott and Aaliyah quietly shuffling behind us. Jiaying is in the kitchen now, probably just come down the stairs. She flicks nervous looks to this whole cavalcade I have going. I sit Renell down at the table.

“I am not going to kill you,” I say, harshly, because I’ve had it up to here with all the potential death in my life. “But you’re damn sure going to help me fix this mess we’re all in. And we’re not leaving this table until we figure it out.” I grab another muffin and sit heavily, facing him.

Jiaying’s eyes are wide, but she doesn’t go anywhere.

I nod to Renell. “You go first.”

His hands are fidgeting with each other, like every single finger has a hangnail that’s making him crazy. “That practice we did this morning. It was all for show.”

My eyes narrow, and I stop chewing. “What do you mean?”

He pats the air in my direction with a shaky hand. “Your part—that’s the same. Ethan’s too. But me… I’m not supposed to jack the president.” He visibly swallows, and it takes a long time—like he’s parched after a hundred mile trek in the desert. “I’m supposed to kill him.”

Suddenly, my head feels like it’s floating above my neck. “You can’t kill the president.” I say this, slow and thick, like the words are covered in molasses rolling around in my mouth.

“I know!” Renell cries out, knuckles cracking with how hard he’s squeezing his fists.

This is insane. But we have already signed up to jack the president. Permanently, as Wright said. How much worse is simply killing him?

I blink, but I can’t even go there with my mind. It’s worse. It’s a lot worse.

The rest of the room is holding its collective breath. Scott’s eyes are squeezed shut, like maybe he can wish himself back to that hellhole overseas. Jiaying’s covering her mouth with both hands.

Aaliyah is the only one with an even halfway normal expression. It’s pure, righteous anger, but there’s nothing else that would make any sense. “Well, you need a better plan than that, Zephyr MacCay.”

“Yes, ma’am.” And somehow that lets everyone breathe again.

Renell’s got one hand balled up and pressing rhythmically into the table. “There’s no way out of this for me.” His voice is legit shaking. “Wright won’t just tell my parents I’m a jacker. She’s going to kill them.” I don’t doubt it for a second, and neither does Renell, it seems. “I tried to… I figured if I was already dead, then there’d be no point—”

“Okay, stop with that,” I say, letting some of my anger out.

Renell leans forward, giving me a fierce look. “I know you can do it. Just make it fast.”

“Shut up, Renell.” I’m rubbing my forehead, trying to slow the runaway train that is my brain right now. Why didn’t Wright just say Renell was supposed to kill the president? The answer to that smacks me in the face—because I might refuse to play along. It’s the kind of thing you keep need to know as much as possible. And for my part, I didn’t need to know. But now that I do… “We need to figure a way out of this.”

“You’re Nia and Jaydell’s grandson, aren’t you?” Aaliyah asks Renell.

He looks surprised, but in a good way. “Yes, ma’am.” His voice is a little less shaky, but it still makes my shoulder blades itch.

“Your grandparents were friends of mine from a while back,” she says, nodding. “I was terribly sad when they passed.”

“They always talked about what great work you’d done for the demens.” Renell’s voice has shifted. Calmed. Like he’s back on solid footing again. Aaliyah’s always been good with the strays I bring to her Home. She’s talked more than one jacker down from being a twitchy wreck. And it doesn’t surprise me that she and Renell’s family might run in the same social circles. Aaliyah comes from an old-money Chicago family, just like him.

“They knew my husband, Leo, before he passed,” she says. “And my folks before that. Now, I can hear your thoughts just fine, Renell, so if you’re a jacker, you’re no kind I’ve ever met.”

He flicks a look to me then studies the table where his fist is pressed. “I can change back and forth.”

“Well, that is unusual.” She’s appraising him. “But you said your family doesn’t know?”

“I’d be an embarrassment to them.”

Their conversation has taken over the room. Even I’ve stopped my fidgeting.

“Well, I can’t account for your parents,” she says with a nod. “But your grandmother helped build this house. And she knew exactly the kind of people I built it for.”

Renell frowns. “The demens?”

Aaliyah nods. “And others.” I don’t know how long Aaliyah’s been helping jackers, but I know it was before the demens started turning into them.

“I’m old,” she continues, “but my parents had me late in life. Back when the Change first swept the country, everyone turning into mindreaders, my parents were about your age. They were locked away like animals. Ten long years they were in that prison, watching their friends die from disease and neglect and horrible violence. All while the world went mad outside the gates. When they were finally released, it took another ten before they dared bring a child into the world. I grew up hearing the stories. My mama kept the tattoo marking her face, a reminder of the fear in men’s hearts. When I was a child, she wouldn’t let me stray too far, afraid someone would snatch me away. Your grandmother lived next door. She was one of my few and dear friends.”

Renell’s eyes are wide. “I never knew—”

“No, I’d imagine not.” Aaliyah’s warm brown eyes sharpen. “Once the camps were disbanded, once nearly everyone above the age had gone through the change, it was like an embarrassment had fallen over all those who hadn’t been locked away. As if the existence of the people who had been interned were an unpleasant reminder of their own cowardice—one that had to be swept under a rug and forgotten. A thing that never happened. But Nia and I both knew why the other children stayed away from me. She had the purest heart.” Her eyes soften again as she steps over to lay a hand on Renell’s shoulder. “She would have told you some stories, baby. And she would have loved you just the same.”

Renell seems to struggle for words. Then he says, “Thank you.”

“Now,” Aaliyah pronounces, releasing him. “If your parents need a place to lay low for a spell, my Leo kept a cabin up in Wisconsin, deep in the woods, where literally no one but deer and muskrat ever visit. It’s not the North Shore, but it’s also secure in a way few cabins are.”

“Is there room for a few more up there?” I ask. “Because my family might need a place to stay. Assuming I can get them free.” I don’t say I might have to join them. Assuming I can even get out of this thing with my mind still in one piece.

Aaliyah smiles wide. “You know the answer to that, Zeph.”

“Okay, good,” Scott speaks up. “We have a safehouse.” He faces Renell. “If they haven’t already grabbed your folks, you should come clean with them and move them out. Immediately.”

Renell’s blinking and looking between Scott and me and Aaliyah, like he can’t believe we’re offering to help, much less have the semblance of an actual plan. Jiaying’s hanging out by the stairs, listening but keeping quiet. “I can’t be sure that they’ll go,” Renell says. “They might be… well, angry with me.”

“You send them to me,” Aaliyah says, and it’s an order. “I’ll straighten them out.”

Renell’s nodding now.

A little relief washes through me. “Okay. So you’re not going to kill the president, right?”

Renell nods again, but more cautiously. “I was supposed to slow down his heart—make it look like a heart attack. But anyone could do that.”

“That’s a good point.” I frown. “Why have you there at all?”

“Redundancy,” Scott says, face grim. “If Renell does it, it’s less likely to be detected. If he fails, then Ethan’s the backup.”

Great. “So we’ve got to get Ethan to step down,” I say, knowing the utter futility of that. “But even if we did, that saves the president, but it doesn’t save me. Or my family. And let’s not forget Sammi’s still locked up in Tiller’s north wing dungeon somewhere, and he’s got some radical new anti-jacker tech he’s building for DARPA. This nightmare doesn’t go away, even if we all head up to Wisconsin. They’ll just get new jackers and try again and keep trying. We need a plan to shut these people down.”

A hush falls over the room. Because if getting out of this is tough, taking all of DARPA’s secret jacker program down can be filed under Impossible. Especially with the threats Wright is holding over everyone’s families.

I clear my throat. “Okay, priority number one is getting our families to safety. Renell, you talk to your parents and get them out of town. Scott, you have to get my mom and Olivia free. I don’t know how, but you’ve got access to the base and who knows what else. Find a way. And all of it has to be timed such that we catch Wright by surprise. She can’t know what we’re up to until it’s too late to stop it.”

“How am I going to get them out of Great Lakes?” Scott complains.

“How many jackers do you need?” I shoot back. “Because I’m sure I know a couple dozen in Jackertown who would be willing to help.”

Scott’s eyebrows lift, and he gives me a slow nod.

“I’ll work it out with Kira. Tell me how many people, what kinds of weapons, whatever you need. I’m sure Kira still has stuff from the JFA locked up somewhere.”

“Now you’re talking, kid.” There’s real hope in his eyes. “But how are you going to wrap this around Wright’s neck and take her down with it?”

I frown, and I’m about to say I have no idea… but then it comes to me. And it’s so obvious. Also tremendously dangerous. And probably very, very stupid.

“What?” Renell says at the look on my face.

“The night of the party, Wright expects us to attack the President of the United States.” A slow smile grows on my face. “But think about it. Who outranks Wright? Who’s the boss of the Secretary of Defense?”

Renell’s eyes go wide.

Scott’s nodding with a passion now. “You take it straight to the top.”

“If we can get close enough to jack him,” I say, the enthusiasm lighting a fire in me now, “we can show him exactly who his friends are. And what his enemies are trying to do.”

Aaliyah’s not saying anything, but her smile is all I need to know this plan has a chance. Or at the very least, it’s the right thing to do. Even if we all get caught, and everything goes sideways… we’ll have tried. And our families should be safe.

“Can I help?” a small voice says from the corner. It’s Jiaying.

Renell and Scott bust up in quiet snickers, but I don’t even crack a smile. Jiaying is a reader who’s been assaulted by a jacker. Someone who still isn’t willing to go home and face the judgment of small reader minds. She has to know how dangerous all of this is, plus Aaliyah’s Home is about to become the headquarters for this operation, which means a ton of jackers will be coming through all the time. Yet she wants to help.

“Absolutely,” I say to her. Renell and Scott sober up and give me curious looks. I ignore them. “I can only do this if my family’s safe.” I nod to Renell. “And if Renell’s family is safe. Plus I still need to find a way to break Sammi Gray out of Tiller’s prison. We’re going to have Scott organizing an assault, jackers from the JFA coming and going, Aaliyah readying her safehouse and ferrying people there… all of that needs coordination. I can’t be here for any of it—I’m going to be full-time under Tiller’s thumb or Wright’s. I need to you to be my eyes and ears.” I give Jiaying a tentative smile. “We’ll need a code or something, in case our scrits get intercepted. But you’re going to be my lifeline in all this.”

She comes out from where she was hiding, half around the corner leading up to the stairs. “I can do that.”

I tip my head to her. “I know you can.”

Renell and Scott are giving her nods. Aaliyah is beaming. Jiaying is officially on the team.

I heave a big sigh. I can’t believe it, but this feels like it might actually work.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and swipe it open. SORRY I WAS AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT. NORTHWEST SUBURBS. AMAZING SUPPORT FOR KIRA HERE!

It’s Tessa. And her scrit feels like a benediction on this whole crazy scheme.

“I’ve got to go,” I say as I rise from the table. I scrit as I head out the door.

CAN WE MEET?

I’m already heading to wherever she is, so I hope the answer is YES.