MindJacker (The Grey Recordings Book 1)

A Virus in the Mind: Cyberpunk Noir in 2136 Pierrgan

In the neon-lit shadows of Pierrgan, Illinois, death is no longer final—and every truth comes at a price.

When freelance detective Archon Grey is hired to clear a medical megacorp’s name after a high-profile suicide, he doesn’t expect the dead to rise—or for his own mind to become infected. What begins as a routine scan of a cyberbrain quickly spirals into a fight for survival, as a mysterious virus begins rewriting Archon's thoughts, twisting his identity from the inside out.

As Pierrgan’s streets boil with corporate power plays, mercenary gangs, and reanimated bodies driven by rogue code, Archon finds an unlikely ally in the walking corpse of Luke Tarkin. Together, they unravel a conspiracy where CEOs seek to weaponize minds and every memory may be a lie.

Can Archon stop the virus before it evolves beyond control—or will he lose himself in the process?

Read it now and explore a future where even your thoughts aren't your own.

Excerpt from the book

May 2, 2136

Pierrgan, Illinois

Champagne Central - 8:49 a.m.

Luke Tarkin stumbles out of the alley. He needs an audience. He needs to spread his message. They all have to know. They have all been deceived. Deceived by the piggies. Blue lights are going off rapid fire behind his eyes. His head has never felt this kind of buzz, even before he had been given his brain chassis after the war. He knows the equipment isn’t malfunctioning, that much he is certain of. After all, whenever it had malfunctioned in the past, he had been issued the standard warning message across his neural HUD.

No, this is different. This feels… real? In a way that nothing else in his life up to this point has felt real. He has finally woken up after over thirty years of slumber. The blue lights are real. The message they relay to him in the dim, dull pulsing, that is real. He is its messenger.

Luke trips and tumbles down the stairs. He lays there for a second, silent, inwardly cursing himself for his clumsiness, delaying the delivery of the message. Of course, he knows, it isn’t his fault. He is but a product of the world he had been raised in, a world that he had fought for in the Third World War, many years ago. Luke gets to his knees and looks up. Champagne Central is in full swing. The city center is full of shoppers, hustling from one storefront to another, waving arms energetically in conversation as drones fly out, carrying purchases off to their homes, safe for when they finally return. Luke smiles warmly.

His time is now.

“Rejoice, comrades!” he screams jubilantly as he stands upright, arms outstretched. “Our time is now! For too long, we have been shackled by that most sinister of foes: Capitalism and its many bastard piggies that have turned brother against brother, sister against sister! War. Slavery. Hunger. Disease. All made possible by capitalism, fine-tuned and packaged by our loving friend, Big Corpo.”

Nearby bystanders, nervous, turn and start moving away. This surely will not do! Luke grabs the nearest person, a woman in a dark blue jacket. Black hair drapes her face, partially concealing hazel eyes filled with dread and terror. How can she not understand?

“Do not fear me,” Luke whispers gently to her. “Do not fear the truth. It has come to free you, child.” He lets go and continues with his former volume as the woman runs off. “But Big Corpo deceives us no more! For today, we rise. We overthrow our piggy masters! Break your shackles, comrades. Be free. Do not let those bastard piggies restrain you any longer.”

Luke pulls out his knife, a relic from his time in battle. Early morning sunlight glints off of the freshly sharpened blade. Several gasps issue forth from the crowd, which has further distanced itself from their loving messenger.

“Capitalism will kill each and every one of you,” Luke explains. “It will devour you and move on, eternally hungry. The only way to end the cycle, this bloody ouroboros, is for us to kill it first! Let us be free together! The new beginning starts today!” With that, Luke rams the knife into his face, between the eyes, straight and true. He collapses to his knees, and as he falls, the last of the blue lights in his head fires and fades. The message has been delivered at last.