Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Read online

  “We’ve never had nosies at the sea farm before,” shouted Massen. “We’ve had self-righteous officials of Sea Farm Security spying on us with their surveillance cameras and drones, but had decent privacy inside our own heads. Not any longer though.”

  When I was in the Hive, I was often aware of a background hum on the telepathic level. It was the noise of a hundred million people’s thoughts. I referred to it as the Hive mind, and it was normally a restful, comforting sound.

  The maximum population of the sea farm was only about twenty thousand people. I hadn’t been aware of its equivalent of the Hive mind until this moment, but I was hearing it now, and it was growing louder in response to Massen’s words.

  I spoke on the crystal comms. “People are getting upset.”

  “Yes, Massen’s deliberately stirring up the emotions of the crowd,” said Emili.

  “It’s not just the crowd here,” I said. “Everyone at the sea farm is watching this live broadcast. I can hear the sound of all their thoughts combining, I can hear the sea farm mind, and it’s getting dangerously angry.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “Massen, be quiet!” ordered the Admiral.

  Massen ignored him and began pointing at random people in the crowd. “What secrets will the nosy find in your mind, and yours, and yours? This is the end of privacy for all of us.”

  “Do we know anything about this Massen?” asked Megan’s voice. “His determination to get rid of nosies seems deeply suspicious.”

  “Sadly, Massen was in the first group of suspects sent to the Hive,” said Emili. “Morton reported he was innocent.”

  Megan sighed. “Morton wouldn’t have said that unless he was sure of the facts.”

  Massen was still yelling at the crowd. “How many of you have done things the nosy will consider a crime? How many of you will get arrested and sent to the Hive?”

  Gideon spoke urgently on the crystal comms. “Juniper says virtually everyone at the sea farm commits what would be considered crimes back at the Hive. They’re all going to be worried about our nosy reading their minds and seeing something that gets them arrested and taken to the Hive. You need to reassure them that won’t happen.”

  I wasn’t attempting to follow Lucas’s thoughts at all now. I was just using his head as a safe refuge while I listened to the sound of the sea farm mind growing steadily louder. Lucas waved desperately at the Admiral, and pointed at the microphone.

  The Admiral nodded in response and spoke rapidly into the microphone. “Tactical Commander Lucas will speak to you now.”

  “Don’t listen to anything Tactical Commander Lucas says,” shouted Massen. “You can’t trust someone who’s brought nosies to spy on us.”

  Lucas was looking at the far end of the crowd. People were grabbing their children and hurrying away. One child, so huddled up in a thick coat and hood that I could only glimpse her face, appeared to be completely alone. She turned, and I expected her to run away, but she went to stand with her back against the wall of a house.

  “This is a crucial moment in all our lives,” yelled Massen. “Tactical Commander Lucas has brought his aircraft, and his people, and his nosies down on us like a hurricane. He’s going to sweep away our sea farm traditions and impose the ways of the Hive on us.”

  Massen waved his arms. “Do you want to have nosy squads patrolling the sea farm like they patrol the Hive? Do you want to meet one of those inhuman, masked creatures every time you leave your home? Do you want them reading your minds and prying through your most intimate thoughts? I don’t!”

  He paused for breath before shouting at the top of his voice. “If we accept the presence of nosies at the sea farm once, we’ll be stuck with them forever. I say that we need to get rid of these people and their nosies, and we need to get rid of them now! Who’s with me?”

  Several people in the front row of the crowd took a step forward, and the sound of the sea farm mind took on a wild howling note that made my head hurt.

  I screamed a warning on the crystal comms. “The crowd is just waiting for Massen to give the signal to attack.”

  Emili’s voice responded. “Ordering the fighter squadron to launch.”

  Lucas had the microphone at his lips now. “I left the nosy out of telepathic range of you because I’ve come here to hunt a murderer. I’m not interested in anyone else. I’m not interested in any other crimes.”

  The screeching note of the sea farm mind faltered for a second before resuming.

  “I am a Tactical Commander in charge of a specialist security unit,” continued Lucas. “I only deal with attacks by enemy agents and violent crimes. If you aren’t an enemy agent, if you’ve never deliberately injured anyone, then you have nothing to fear. As soon as I’ve caught your murderer, I’ll be leaving, and taking my nosies with me.”

  The sea farm mind was still deafeningly loud, but the howling note had gone. “That’s helping things, Lucas,” I said.

  Lucas was studying the faces of the crowd. He caught a blur of motion out of the corner of his eye. A figure was running along the seawall towards him, her long hair blowing in the wind, and her left arm strapped to the side of her jacket.

  “Juniper’s here,” I said sharply. “What’s she doing, Gideon?”

  “I don’t know. She was talking to me a minute ago, but suddenly ended the call.”

  Lucas had no idea why Juniper was here, but he did know that he had to keep speaking and soothing the anger of the crowd. “I’m not wasting my time and the efforts of my nosies on anything that doesn’t lead me directly to your murderer.”

  Juniper arrived at the raised area, jumped up to join Lucas, and started shouting at the crowd. “What Tactical Commander Lucas says is true. These people don’t care about trivial crimes.”

  Lucas held out the microphone to her, and Juniper took it with her right hand and held it to her lips. She was still shouting though, so her voice was deafeningly loud, seeming to echo around the houses.

  “Nobody needs to worry about being arrested. These people don’t care if you’ve filched fruit, made paint eggs to throw at security cameras, or stoned a surveillance drone. I know that because I’ve done all those things myself. When I was at the Hive having my arm treated, one of this man’s nosies read my mind, and I wasn’t arrested.”

  “The sea farm mind is quieter now,” I said. “Juniper is one of their own, a victim of the attacks, and they’re willing to hear what she has to say.”

  Massen scowled at Juniper. “Stay out of this!”

  Juniper kept her attention on the crowd. “Nobody needs to worry about nosies staying to patrol the sea farm either. The reason we’ve never had nosies here before is that they’re the most cowardly of moles and daylight hurts their purple eyes. Our Admiral demanded the Hive send us help, so a few nosies have been dragged here by force, but they’ll run back to their underground world as soon as our murderer is caught. Just look at the pathetic way the nosy at the viewpoint is cowering inside the shelter.”

  “Fighter squadron is airborne and incoming to sea farm,” said Gold Commander Melisande’s voice on the crystal comms.

  I was startled because I’d assumed Gold Commander Melisande had gone back to the Hive with the wing of fighter aircraft. She must have stayed at the coastal patrol base instead. Now I stopped to think about it, I could see why she’d want to lead the fighter squadron providing us with air cover. It was a job where an error of judgement could have catastrophic consequences for our Hive.

  “Fighter squadron, abort approach run and hold position over coastal patrol base,” said Emili.

  “Fighter squadron confirming holding position,” responded Melisande.

  Juniper was still speaking to the crowd, her voice throbbing passionately. “Tactical Commander Lucas has come here to catch the person who murdered Hazel and Treeve. He’s come here to catch the person who wrecked my arm and my life. I want to help him do that. Everyone should want to help him do that. Everyone except the murderer
.”

  “Shut up, Juniper!” yelled Massen. “People listened to you before because you won the best apprentice award and were expected to have a great future as a Sea Captain. They don’t want to hear what you have to say any longer. You’re just a girl with a useless arm, and should keep quiet.”

  He stabbed an aggressive forefinger in the direction of Juniper’s left arm, and took a step towards her. Adika and Eli instantly moved to stand protectively on either side of Juniper, and she glared defiantly at Massen.

  “Why do you want me to shut up, Massen? Why do you want to drive these people away? You were supposed to be Treeve’s best friend. Don’t you want his murderer caught?”

  Massen’s face flushed. “Yes, I want Treeve’s murderer caught, but by our own Sea Farm Security rather than nosies. I was sent to the Hive as a suspect after Hazel’s murder. A nosy came to stand in the room right in front of me, its purple eyes looking out from behind its mask. It read my mind and lectured me in a hideous voice, telling me I was innocent of murder but should work to improve my general conduct.”

  I was startled. I could imagine Morton saying exactly those words. Had he dressed as a nosy to speak to the suspects himself? No, the people in his unit would never have allowed him to take such a risk. It must have been someone else wearing the nosy mask and repeating messages from Morton.

  “I never want to be that close to a nosy again,” said Massen. “I never want one reading my thoughts again. I don’t want to see them roaming the sea farm, and I don’t want a mob of armed strangers ordering us around either. We can’t trust these people.”

  “These people are on our side,” said Juniper.

  “Why would someone like him be on our side?” Massen pointed at Lucas. “It’s not just that he’s brought three nosies to spy on us. He’s not got anything in common with people like us. He’s come from the Hive, with his fancy title, his fancy aircraft, and his men armed with fancy weapons.”

  Lucas finally reached to take the microphone back from Juniper. “I have everything that matters in common with the people of the sea farm. Less than an hour after I arrived here, the person who murdered Hazel and Treeve attacked one of my people. The man was poisoned, came close to dying, and has now been flown back to the Hive for treatment.”

  Lucas had hit the crowd with that fact at the perfect moment and in the perfect way. The angry sound of the sea farm mind had been growing quieter as people listened to Juniper. Now it stilled entirely, so I was left with nothing on the telepathic level except my link to Lucas’s thoughts.

  “You’ve won the crowd, Lucas,” I said. “One of our people has been hurt. We aren’t strangers now but fellow sufferers.”

  “I came here to catch your murderer because that’s my job,” said Lucas. “Now one of my people has nearly died, this has become personal. I want to catch your murderer and make sure they can never harm anyone ever again, but I can’t do that if you all feel like Massen.”

  Lucas shrugged. “It should take me less than a week to catch your murderer, but I need my nosies to make sure we arrest the guilty party rather than an innocent bystander. If you truly cannot bear to have nosies present at the sea farm for one week, if you’d rather continue living with a murderer roaming free, then my unit will leave tonight.”

  He turned to the Admiral. “There are enough people here to represent the views of the whole sea farm population. What’s the local procedure for holding a vote?”

  “We usually just ask people to raise a hand,” said the Admiral.

  “Good.” Lucas faced the crowd again. “Who wants me to take my nosies, fly back to the Hive, and leave your murderer free to kill again?”

  Massen raised his hand at once. “Come on, everyone,” he shouted. “This is our chance to free ourselves of nosies.”

  A few other hands went up, but most of the crowd were looking worried and having hasty conferences with the people next to them. Lucas waited patiently for over a minute before speaking.

  “Is that everyone who wants to vote for us to leave, or do some people need more time to make up their minds?”

  He waited for another thirty seconds, but no more hands were raised. “Now who wants me to stay here and catch the murderer so you can sleep peacefully at night?”

  A lot of hands went up. A significant number of people had chosen not to raise their hands at all, but the majority of the crowd were voting for us to stay.

  Massen made a noise of disgust and stalked off to vanish down a gap between two houses.

  “We’ll stay to hunt down your murderer then,” said Lucas. “If you change your minds at any time, you just have to speak to your Admiral, and he’ll arrange another vote. Now I …”

  Lucas broke off his sentence. The crowd were turning to look behind them, and moving aside to reveal a group of three men and three women in matching blue jackets. The man in the lead, a gangly figure in his late twenties, walked up to stand in front of Lucas.

  “I’m Cador, head of Sea Farm Security.” He gestured at the others. “These five people are my deputy and the heads of our four regional outposts.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you,” said Lucas warily. “I apologize for not contacting you earlier, but I’ve been busy dealing with an attack on one of my people, and then making this broadcast.”

  Cador made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “We haven’t come here for apologies. We’ve come here to have our minds read by your nosy. One of us is the murderer.”

  Chapter Thirty

  I was still linked to Lucas’s mind, and heard the gasps from the crowd through his ears, as well as several more gasps on the crystal comms. Lucas’s already rapid thoughts increased speed to the point where they were just an incomprehensible blur, but his voice showed curiosity rather than shock when he spoke.

  “That’s a very interesting statement. Could you please explain why you believe one of you is guilty?”

  “These attacks have been going on for at least six months,” said Cador. “Nobody realized there was anything wrong to begin with, because the first traps were all set up to appear like convincing accidents.”

  Cador waved his arms in a gesture of pent-up frustration. “The situation changed a couple of weeks before Halloween, when Hazel was murdered. The killer had made no attempt to arrange her death to look like an accident. This was clearly murder, with a poisonous chemical added to a strongly flavoured stew.”

  There was more frantic arm waving. Cador seemed unable to speak without the accompaniment of at least three gestures. “We collected up a group of the most likely suspects, and sent them to the Hive. They were all returned to us as innocent. We sent a second group, but those were returned as innocent too.”

  He groaned. “By then, people were getting hurt in what were blatant traps. Everyone realized the earlier spate of accidents hadn’t been due to a mass outbreak of carelessness, but caused by traps as well. They were growing understandably impatient about Sea Farm Security’s failure to find the culprit.”

  Cador’s shoulders sagged, and the expressive arms and hands abruptly stilled, as if in defeat. “When our third group of suspects were all declared to be innocent, I started questioning our lack of progress myself. Why were the methods we’d used before proving so unsuccessful now?”

  He groaned again. “The obvious explanation was that a member of Sea Farm Security was committing the attacks, and tampering with our investigation to protect themselves. You must have suspected that too, Tactical Commander Lucas.”

  “The thought had occurred to me,” said Lucas.

  “I limited the number of people involved in the investigation to a dozen of my most trusted members of staff,” said Cador. “We carefully chose a fourth group of suspects, but we still failed to include the true guilty party.”

  Cador’s arms suddenly came back to life, stretching towards the sky in appeal. “So I cut the number of people involved in the investigation even further. The six of us standing before you, the highest-ranked peopl
e in Sea Farm Security, went through all the attacks again from the beginning. We chose a fifth group of suspects, and sent them to the Hive, but what happened when they were there? Treeve was murdered!”

  Cador’s arms sagged down at his sides again. “We came to the conclusion that one of the six of us is the murderer. We all protested our innocence to each other, so now we’ve come for your nosy to read our minds and give its verdict.”

  “I understand,” said Lucas. “You’ll want your minds read immediately so you can learn the truth. I’ll need to talk to our unit interpreter in private for a few minutes to see if that’s possible or not. Our nosies are uncomfortable being so far from the Hive, struggling with the conditions here, and distressed after the attack on a member of our unit. We managed to persuade one nosy to come Outside with us, but it may not be in a fit state to read all six of your minds.”

  Lucas handed the microphone to Adika, and walked a short distance along the seawall, with Kaden and Matias shadowing him protectively. “I’m briefly able to speak freely.”

  “Finally!” said Emili, in tones of heartfelt relief.

  Lucas laughed. “First of all, I think the situation has stabilized enough for the fighter squadron to land, though they should remain on standby until we return to our base corridors.”

  “Fighter squadron landing and remaining on standby,” responded Gold Commander Melisande’s voice. “Tactical Commander Lucas, I congratulate you on your strategy when dealing with the crowd. Offering to take your unit and leave was an admirable way to convince them of the desirability of you staying.”

  She paused. “You have, however, committed yourself to a deadline of a week to catch your target. Do you believe one of these six members of Sea Farm Security is guilty?”