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"Quentin has a stunner held flush to the back of idly unruffled

Max took a step back as Gareth urged Nikita into the apartment Max saw Nikita’s eyes sweep the roo for "Sophia’s not here," he said, testing Gareth’s reaction "The medics wouldn’t release her"

"Her brain’s likely littering in a way that spoke of a disordered mind that had lost any sense of reality "Detective, if you don’t want the Councilor’s brains to leak out her ears, too, please place your oeapon on the coffee table"

Max did as asked, having caught Nikita’s eye For soht, would make a woman of Nikita’s power hold her fire?

"Good," Gareth said as Max dreay froainst the counter"

Max did so, facing Gareth "What’re you planning to do now?" He heard so from the bedroom, felt his spine lock as he realized Sophia had exited the bathroo but his mission "Noait"

"For Henry, I assume," Nikita said "Does he really think you have the ability to dispose of er, and your brain is so much liquid three seconds later"

"I’ve infected you," Nikita said quietly while Max, for the first time in his life, wished that he’d been born a telepath What the fuck was Sophia thinking? "Yourconsuh the odd shine in his eyes seehter "I expected as much It will be a small price to pay to save the Net"

Martyrs, Max kneere even erous than fanatics

"Is Sascha dead?" Nikita asked, giving Max the information he needed

"No But she’s in our control She won’t be harmed if you do exactly as ordered"

"If she’s alive," Nikita continued, "I should be able to reach her telepathically, and I can’t"

"You’re a creature of habit, Nikita--I spiked the water jug in your office with a drug that’s tee" A pause "It’s a variant of Jax, still experile glass"

"How could you have possibly reached Sascha?" Max asked, hoping like hell that Sophia would keep herself hidden Quentin Gareth was insane, but he was still in full control of that weapon "She’s surrounded by DarkRiver cats"

"We shot the DarkRiver alpha as he drove her home It was easy to take her"

And Max kneithout a doubt that Gareth was lying Because if Lucas was dead and SaschaGareth doith the lethal rage of a leopard in stalking "

Nikita aze "I need to be certain, Detective Quentin informs me that if he tells his superiors he’s been taken, or if his star disappears from the Net, Sascha will be put to death"

Max saw the bedroo to the left in a sudden h the o for your stunner, Detective," he said "We need to question you in order to ensure you didn’t share classified information about our cause, but you’re not indispensible"

A tiny squeak as the bedroo "What’s your master promised you?" The choice of words was deliberate "A position of power? Money?"

"That question shows you know nothing about ood of the Psy race" And then at last, he confiriance to Pure Psy "Purity will save us"

"I called Faith" It was a husky statement from the bedroom doorway "Sascha’s fine"

What happened next was so fast, so deadly, Max was never quite able to put the sequence of events in order A stunner blast hit Gareth fro off him as Sophia’s arm trembled At the same time, or an instant later, Nikita went to her knees, even as Max’s hand closed around the stunner on the coffee table He turned, his shot, set to stun, hitting Gareth square in the chestbut theout of his ears, his eyes, his nose

Rising to her feet as Gareth crashed onto the floor, his body twitching in the throes of death, Nikita coded in a call on her cell phone "Sascha," she said as Max ran to Sophia, "I wanted to ask if you received the contracts I sent last night" A pause "Excellent" Hanging up, Nikita looked down at Gareth’s corpse with an utterly dispassionate gaze "Henry is very good at telepathic wipes He made sure Quentin carried no memories I could use to pin this on hiainst the wall and looked up at the woman who’d just destroyed a s didn’t dah"