Caressed By Ice (Psy-Changeling 3)

Judd stood in front of the man. "I'm going to remove what they put in. The choices you make from then on will be your own."

The hyena's head snapped up, moving blindly in the direction of Judd's voice. "You're not going to kill me?"

"Not today." Judd went behind the male. Lower shields, he said telepathically. It was the first in a long list of commands the programmers could have used. But he had no need to go any further - Kevin's tough changeling shields disappeared as if by magic. The cruelty of whoever it was that had done this was beyond anything Judd had ever seen. They had left the changeling wide open to any Psy who knew or could guess the code words.

Once inside, Judd began to check the structure of the programming. The work was effortless - not only was he a strong telepath, he'd been trained in the very techniques that had been used on Kevin. Those skills told him that the binding was crude, done in haste. Clearly, the Council wasn't worried about failure. Then again, why should they be? While other Psy might be able to get into Kevin's mind, only a Psy with a very specific skill set could undo the original programming.

A few minutes later, he was about to reset the compromised neural pathways when he saw it. A Black Key. A tiny piece of psychic code that would kick in the second he began the reset. Kevin would die from a massive aneurysm in less than a minute.

He withdrew before carefully retracing his steps. Finally satisfied the Black Key was the single contingency, he spent ten minutes deactivating and removing it. Then he cleaned house. Kevin.

"Yes." The vocalization was distant - the hyena remained in the trance initiated by the code words.

Your mind is now free. As of this moment, you will not respond when asked to "lower shields." Do you understand?

"Yes."

Aware of the wolves looking on, bemused at what appeared to them to be a one-sided conversation, Judd checked for any further activation phrases then repeated his instruction several times to ensure comprehension before giving Kevin the order to wake with full memory of what had taken place.

The hyena immediately bent double, dry-retching. Judd looked at the nearest soldier. "Get a glass of water."

D'Arn obeyed without looking to Indigo. When the soldier returned and went to lower Kevin's blindfold, he glanced at Judd. Understanding, Judd stepped back into the shadows once more.

Indigo waited until the hyena was no longer shaking before asking him to tell them everything he knew.

Kevin was able to share details of three other planned attacks. To Judd's military mind, it was obvious that the PineWood leader had made no effort to keep a lid on the details. He'd known about, and relied, on the programming to ensure silence.

"I think there might be more." Kevin sounded broken, lost. "I'll see if I can find out anything."

Judd was no changeling but he understood why the hyena was so distraught. Hierarchy was important in changeling packs and that hierarchy relied on trust. What Parrish had done was obliterate Kevin's system for understanding how the world worked. It was the same psychological trauma that had destroyed so many young children at the dawn of Silence. The transitional children - those under seven years of age at the time of the Protocol's implementation - had been taught to devalue love, warmth, touch, everything that made them feel safe. More had died than survived.

"Don't put yourself in danger," Indigo told Kevin now. "With what you've given us, we can shut down this operation. How many in your pack?"

"A hundred but that includes the old and the very young." He coughed a couple of times. "There's about forty able-bodied. The Psy didn't bother to talk to the others."

"Not many." She looked over Kevin's head, toward Judd. "Can you handle it?" At Judd's nod, Indigo returned her attention to Kevin. "How stable is your pack?"

"Good. If you take out Parrish, Mahal or Lou-Ann can step in." His voice held acceptance of his leader's impending death. "I don't know if they're in on it."

"Don't worry about that, we'll figure it out." Indigo raised an eyebrow at Judd. "Could be they've all been brainwashed."

"It could." However, he considered it unlikely, given the crude nature of the programming. The Council hadn't spent too much time on this. "Who were the Psy who programmed you? Were they wearing uniforms?"

"No. Suits like the rest of them." Kevin didn't attempt to look over his shoulder. "I didn't see anyone who seemed really important. Nothing stands out."

Judd would have been surprised to hear otherwise. "Any names mentioned?"

"Not that I can - " The hyena paused. "Wait. I walked up on Parrish once while he was on the phone. He said he couldn't change things without Duncan's authorization."

Brenna felt unexpectedly fresh the morning after her emotional breakdown. It was as if the tears had released something toxic that had been brewing inside of her, setting her free. Added to that, Judd had messaged her to let her know he hadn't yet returned to the den. She grinned. The Man of Ice was learning.

Walking out of her apartment, she headed off to find Hawke. She had work to do - she hadn't forgotten that Tim's killer might be gunning for her and she wasn't going to put a bull's-eye on her back, but neither was she going to let that piece of scum dictate her movements.

Hawke raised an eyebrow when she hunted him down in one of the workout rooms. "That look spells trouble." His entire upper body was drenched in sweat, but his breathing remained smooth. Healthy and muscled, he was quite beautiful in a very masculine way.

She was woman enough to appreciate him, but without wanting more. "I promised DarkRiver I'd help them hack into the Psy databases. Can you assign me an escort down to their headquarters?" Because she wasn't a soldier and she couldn't fight like one.