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But no , even Sophia kneho that was "I thought," she said, "that Sascha was estranged from Nikita?"

"There are the business ties DarkRiver has with Nikita But as she doing on a private floor?" He went silent as Sascha knocked on Marsha Langholm’s door, was admitted

The screen skipped forward

Two more men appeared a short time apart, neither of whom they could immediately identify The first--a slender black male who looked to be in his thirties--spent approxi The second--an aristocratic er than that before being shown out, and the victie They saw hiue to the elevator while they apparently finished up their conversation

The next piece ofMarsha’s apartment with the other woman by her side

"Wait" Max paused the screen, rewound it to the i into his apartment "Look at the ti it to playback continuously from this point" But when he pushed Play, they saw Sascha leaving Marsha’s apart at the time stamp "It’s over an hour and a half later"

"Fro it up on the side of the comm screen, "someone input a ‘do not record’ order for that period" He restarted playback

The next movement came barely five minutes after Sascha’s departure, when the same intern who’d left the envelope returned--eventually entering the apartiven not only permission, but the code to override Chan’s security?" Max asked Sophia, stopping the playback

"He one" Sophia had seen J minds blink out like that, known that death had claimed one more of her own "Psy who drop out of the Net without explanation are always tracked down to verify the reason for their disappearance" For Sophia, that reason would only ever be death, her rated into the Net to survive any separation "How long it takes depends on the circumstances, but here it was obviously very close to the ti in response to her statee of his nose in an uncharacteristic gesture of frustration "Max?"

A low, hard word as he dropped his hand "I’m about to piss off the few friends I have in this city"

Sophia went to reach out, touch hiot up froht into action Her fingers curled into the sofa cushions--just as so walked across her feet She jerked back in response, ies, Morpheus"

The cat gave her a baleful glare before hopping up to sit on the sofa beside her

"He wants you to pet hiive Clay a call, set up a holm?"

"We’ll talk to her after Sascha"

Morpheus put a clawed paw on Sophia’s thigh, insistent Taking the hint, she ran her fingers through his fur It was far softer than she’d i the experience nothing akin to touching a faux-fur coat, as she’d once done in a departh, eyes closed in feline bliss, she knew she’d passed er on the temperamental cat, but on his master Max stood by the , cell phone to his ear He race as the feline under her hand--with a muscled ease that told her he was in full and total control of his body, his strength

What would it be like to stroke him?

He turned, met her eyes She wondered what he saw, because his expression changed to a look she knew instinctively she’d only ever see in a sexual context Closing the phone, he walked over and brushed back her hair, stroking his finger along the very tip of her ear "Sascha’s at the city office"

It was the lightest of touches, but she shivered "That is not an erotic zone"

"Oh?" Leaning down, he closed his teeth gently over the same spot