Silver Elite

A rancher's impossible aim invites catastrophe home

At a Liberty Day celebration in her village of Hamlett, twenty-year-old Wren Darlington — a rancher hiding a Modified identity in a regime that hunts her kind — spots a white coyote mauling an eight-year-old boy.

A rancher's impossible aim invites catastrophe home

At a Liberty Day celebration in her village of Hamlett, twenty-year-old Wren Darlington — a rancher hiding a Modified identity in a regime that hunts her kind — spots a white coyote mauling an eight-year-old boy. From two hundred yards, through darkness and chaos, she puts a bullet through the animal's eye. The boy survives. The village controller praises her marksmanship. But a Command soldier she'd spent the evening with witnessed the impossible accuracy, and somewhere nearby, a stunning stranger in an inn room followed her outside and saw it too. Wren's uncle Jim — a former Command colonel living under a false name for fifteen years — has drilled one rule into her since childhood: never draw attention to yourself. She has just shattered it.

An officer recognizes Julian Ash after fifteen years in hiding

Command soldiers descend on the ranch the next morning. From a rocky outcrop above, Wren watches through perfect Mod eyesight as an officer presses a gun to Jim's forehead. The man recognizes him — not as Jim Darlington the rancher, but as Colonel Julian Ash, who deserted Silver Block fifteen years ago. They know he's Modified. They drag him into a truck and drive away. Wren's telepathic plea goes unanswered; Jim has sealed their link to protect her. She flees through underground tunnels to her best friend Tana's father Griff, then takes a speed train to Sanctum Point. The Uprising network refuses to mount a rescue. Julian Ash, they tell her, is expendable. His execution is scheduled for nine the next morning.

Wren's desperate mind seizes the firing squad — then loses them In the packed South Plaza, Wren watches Jim face the firing squad. When the colonel orders weapons up, something inside her detonates. She thrusts her mind into eight heads simultaneously, commanding them to turn their rifles on themselves. The barrels rotate. The squad's faces contort with confusion. Wren's body nearly collapses from the strain — her mental grip sliding like fingers on wet stone. She pushes harder: pull the trigger. But the effort shatters her control. The guns snap forward, and the last command she gave is all they know. They fire into Jim. His final telepathic words reach her as he falls. His energy vanishes from her mind. Of everyone she's ever linked with — including Wolf, a childhood telepathic friend she's never met — only Jim's absence feels like…