He could feel Lane’s mind down below. Could feel him merging with the minds of the children, making an even more formidable foe. He had only instants to act.

Shiva reached out, into the Nexus repeaters throughout his home, flipped off their safeguards, cranked up their gain to the maximum levels possible, and then pulsed out a single simple thought through them all.

Kade and the children reached out together, as a single being, reached out for Shiva’s mind, invoked the second back door, sent out the passcode…

And then a wall of coherent thought struck them from all angles, an absurdly amplified Nexus signal, pressing down on them. It came at them from emitters scattered throughout the house, across the grounds. It came at them at a broadcast strength that trampled over their own signals, saturated the air around them, deafened each of them to the minds of the others. Their connection broke. Their union disintegrated, and Kade was alone in his mind again, with a single overriding urge to unconsciousness blasting into him from all around.

Shiva felt the group mind of the children crumble under his assault. He felt them cut off from one another, from Lane. The children were falling, their minds still young, still vulnerable to this brute force attack. But Lane was struggling, still fighting back.

Shiva pressed harder, concentrating on driving them down into submission. Sweat beaded on his brow as he pushed his full will at them, amplified hundreds of times over by the repeaters.

He raised his left wrist to his mouth, spoke into it.

“Activate your Nexus shielding. Lane is in the courtyard. Take him. Alive.” He gritted his teeth and continued. “The American woman is free. Take down the remaining intruders.”

He felt his men’s jammers activate, buffering them at least partially against his attack. Good.

Then he turned his full attention back to Lane.

Chapter 86: Against the Tide

86

AGAINST THE TIDE

Saturday November 3rd

Sam rose to her feet, free and full of rage. Three of Shiva’s soldiers were running towards her, in pursuit of Feng, oblivious to her presence in her chameleonware suit.

Then a mind blared out at her at staggering volumes, buffeting her with the urge to submit, to surrender, to crumble into stasis.

She threw back her head and roared out loud, fighting it.

The soldier passing by heard her, recoiled in surprise, turning, trying to bring his gun up at this ghostly target.

Her fingers made a spear and she jabbed forward, her gloves turning her hand into a weapon as hard as carbon. Her fingers punched through the man’s throat. He made a gurgling sound and his body went limp, dead on his feet, but by then she was turning, spinning.