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Silence gripped the table Talin saw open distress on Sascha’s face "My rip

"She wasn’t the target," Judd said, and Talin was startled to hear a hint of gentleness in his voice "Oddly enough, Nikita is one of theas her business interests aren’t coenocide"

Talin shuddered at what that faint praise said about the Council as a whole

"You can’t confirainst skin pulled taut

"No My contact’s gone silent and I have no way of knoas hit I’h other sources What I can tell you is that the Net is in chaos"

Talin wanted to hug Sascha She knew too well the confused feelings of an abandoned child Part of her would always er who had left her at the clinic door Then Sascha lifted her head and her eyes told Talin the sentiment had been felt and appreciated

It disconcerted her to be in a rooured she’d get used to it, as she had to the changelings’ ability to scent her moods

"Dorian," Clay said into the silence, "do the report"

"Right" He glanced at Judd "This is in relation to the classified data you gave us"

Judd’s expression iced over "That wasn’t for public use"

"The location is still airtight," Clay said,each other up "But we’ve got another problem"

After a tense h the events that had led to the rescue of the children with military efficiency Then he told them about the woman he’d followed from the point where they’d picked up the children "Our contact"

"She stuck around to make sure they were okay," Talin said, unsurprised

Dorian nodded "That’sto a hidden access point" He smiled at Judd’s sudden alertness "She said she doesn’t support the I forced to work on it because she’s the best"

Judd’s eyes turned assessing "What did she look like?"

"Skin like hot chocolate, dark hair, tall, built like a woman should be, pale eyes - couldn’t catch the color with the distance Sound familiar?"

Talin wondered at Dorian’s sensuous description, but no one else seemed to notice More to the point, Judd’s response to the oral sketch was immediate "Yes What else did she say?"

"That in return for saving Jon and Noor, what she wants us to do is kidnap her kid The boy - Keenan - is being held hostage by the Council as a way to ensure her good behavior"

Growls sounded around the table Talin ht’ve been startled had she not already knohat these people were like, the lengths they would go to to protect children

Sascha, one hand still clasped in Lucas’s, sat forward "Why? Why does her behavior rely on the child?"

Mercy choked on the h"

"No" Sascha shook her head "Not for the Psy"

"Psy don’t feel," Tareed, "so the connection can’t be ehtful "We know nothing about this wo Silence"

"I got frostbite just talking to her," Dorian erator But she’s right about the kid He’s four years old and in the hands of the Council"

"We have to help hi in the midst of some of the most powerful people in San Francisco, but she was no coward And she had the strength of a leopard at her side "No ed her back against him, a tenseness to histo be a problem," he said quietly