Page 16 (1/2)
Max switched lanes, his brow furrowed in thought "Could be so there," heconnections with a speed that many Psy, certain of the superiority of their mental abilities, would find extraordinary "Anyherself to look away from the clean lines of his profile, the sleek strands of black hair that gliht, Sophia checked her data "It looks like her fir contracts not only in the US, but also internationally The murders may be motivated by professional rivalry"
"It would fit" Max tapped a finger on the steering wheel "Each of the victie of a h the relevant parts of the file and realized he was right "All three were linchpins, bringing so unique to the table," she said out loud "Their deaths derailed the entire process in each case"
"Nothing obvious connects the three deals," Max said "We need to find out if there’s a link beneath the surface, if one particular competitor benefits with Nikita effectively out of the run--" A beeping interrupted his words "That’s my cell" He nodded at where it sat in the holder on the dash "Can you check the caller’s nalanced at the IDand felt herto life "It is the prosecutor, Mr Reuben"
CHAPTER 14
I can only show you what the defendant did in that rooo To ask me whether or not he is a e of monsters
--Response by Sophia Russo (J) to a question posed by the
prosecution in case 23180: State of Nebraska v Donnelly
Mouth a griht the vehicle to a stop in the half-empty car park of a restaurant that hadn’t yet opened
Listening to his end of the conversation, she’d divined the reason for the call by the tiht of trawling through that mind full of malice made her entire body stiffen in revulsion
Better to kill hiht, the one that would cause her shields to shred beyond any hope of repair And Sophia wasn’t ready to have her brain crushed, her psyche, her personality, wiped from existence Not when she’d just found Max, found thisher fingers on her organizer, she fought past the whispers of vengeance that seeh her mind and soothed the otherness back to sleep
"Bastard says he’s got so up" Max braced his ar with a strand of her hair as he’d done in the apartment
She didn’t pull away They had trust between the born in the electrical storest that this one tier to live, to steal and claw every extra day she could out of this life, she couldn’t walk away fro herself would be to abandon those lost girls, leave theotten No one
"If we play it right," she said, re lives that had been willfully erased from every mind but her own, "it’ll only increase his frustration, y eet the chance to study, to truly know Not in this lifeti?"
"That it’s a pity torture is illegal" A visceral anger in every world "We’ll set up a co up to him so he can have a convenient memory lapse"
"The comm systems at our aparter was a colder thing, a thing that saw nothing wrong in taking an eye for an eye, a life for a life "We could ask Enforceood last ti thatin a flare of white-hot heat, he rubbed at his jaw "But they have leaks"
"There are leaks in every Enforce" Facilitated, in most cases, by the Psy
"I think I know someone else who’ll have a secure link"
So it was that half an hour later, Sophia was ushered into a s that was the DarkRiver leopard pack’s city HQ "They’re not worried?" she asked after their escort--an auburn-haired youngdistrust of Psy is well-known"
"This is where the cats do business," Max replied, setting up the co the touch pads "Soet--DarkRiver has several Psy defectors in its ranks"
"This building is full of changelings" The statement of the obvious slipped out
Max turned to pin her to the spot with his eyes "Are you having trouble?"
"No" She tugged her gloves ly below the cuffs of her white shirt, the action s are actually restful"