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"Correct" Ming’s icy blaze "It has to be one of the elite soldiers"

"Someone outside the Net?" Nikita knew full well that, contrary to what the masses believed, there were soades like her daughter, but those who had never uplinked at allbecause they had another option The existence of the "Forgotten" was one of the Council’s many dirty secrets

"Not necessarily," Kaleb said "I think it’s beco obvious we have a serious internal threat"

"The Ghost" Marshall’s star went a cold, cold white

"He has to be operating with an associate or associates," Nikita added "One Psy can’t be so skilled in both psychic and physical warfare The lab explosions were very precise, involving a high degree of technical knowledge - wholly dissimilar to the expertise required to siphon data from secure PsyNet databases"

"Then there are the assassinations" Tatiana spoke up "We’ve lost several top scientists"

"I’ was silent for a minute "Over the past ten years, we’ve lost one Arrow and seven soldiers with the requisite skills - in circumstances that made recovery of their bodies iain

"Judd Lauren"

Nikita recalled the case "I think we can safely cross him off the list The entire Lauren family has been dead for over a year"

"Is that certain?" Marshall asked "We never found bodies"

Nikita knew the wolves "The SnowDancers don’t leave bodies to find I can’t see the sanctuary to any Psy and particularly not a Psy of Judd Lauren’s abilities He would have been a clear threat - their rule is to kill first and ask questions of the corpses"

"Talking of the wolves," Shoshanna said, "Brenna Kincaid is still listed on the Tech Association database as an active Level 1, which means she’s alive"

"Give it h" Tatiana’s cool tone "Ming, what about the other seven soldiers you lost?"

"I’ll trace theree with Councilor Krychek - certain other recent events would see with the chat roohted a file froe of that particular issue"

But it was Shoshanna who answered "We’ve taken care of it Those ere openly discussing incendiary matters have been counseled to cease and desist"

Nikita wondered if "counseled" was a euphemism for the her brain functions intact while deleting large sections of ood choice They couldn’t afford an unseemly number of disappearances after the recent rash of murders caused by anchors who’d escaped their handlers "That leaves the ones operating below the radar"

"I have the NetMind searching," Kaleb said, referring to the unique sentience that lived in and s up another issue," Marshall said "The NetMind has been getting very erratic of late It’s only recently reported back on possible signs of a serial killer whoundetected for years"

They had all noticed it The NetMind’s recordings were aps filled with dark spaces, a low buzz of background noise - almost an echo - that none of their best minds could filter out

"This is a theory unbacked by any research," Kaleb said into the silence, "but I believe the NetMind h a period of adolescence If so, that adolescence is likely to last decades, if not centuries We have no concrete idea of its age or the speed at which it matures"

Shoshanna spoke on the heels of his pronouncement "Given that the research of over a century has not yet s, I would say it’s safe to assuree" Marshall "We have to initiate other options to find the identity of the second tier of discontents Ming, do you have people we can use?"

"My forces are currently heavily involved in relocating the I it to a hidden location in the cornfields of Nebraska"

"As I recall, wasn’t Aleine resistant to the idea of a move?" Nikita had met the head researcher The woman had a will comparable to any Councilor’s