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I inched up into Oversight as I paced the roos and strands of power, a treacherous spiderweb Just now, they weren’t trying to controlfor power, they’d shut unned at every turn

"Miss Baldwin? I’ive him an unladylike one, but then there was a discreet knock at the door and it swung open A woman looked in-businesslike, professionally coiffed, beautifully dressed-and gave theently as she left

"Ah," Myron said He sounded ever-so-slightly disgruntled "It appears we’ll have to delay this, Miss Baldwin Our four-o’clock is here Mr Quinn? Please show our guest to her room"

Quinn pushed away froentlemanly, and it felt authoritarian He steered me across the soft carpet to the door, opened it, and squired lanced back

They were opening another deck of cards I wasn’t even a topic of conversation

Quinn took uards If the old men of Ma’at had a four-o’clock, he or she wasn’t cooling their heels outside; all I could see was the nor rape or fire or cardsharp, but considering that the security all seeed friendly nods with each uniform we passed-I decided to wait for a better opportunity Maybe Kevin would come to s I wanted to see- beautifully reproduced Egyptian statues, the faux treasures of Tut, souvenir shops that held the glitter of gold and silver and gems-but Quinn didn’t even slon

"Hey," I said as he hustled yptian furniture, "you knohat all villains have in co evil to shop You guys need to learn the fine art of browsing"

Quinn laughed softly and put his arm around my shoulders No sexual intent-it only meant he could steer me reen aftershave and a dark hint of un oil, too No tobacco He wasn’t a smoker

"Sweetheart," he said, "you are one lovely piece of work I gotta tell you, I’ve seen rich men with power over major corporations break down and cry over less than you just survived You gave as good as you got"

"If I gave as good as I got, did good old Chuck get electrocuted? I was too busy convulsing to see"

He patted my shoulder From some men, all of this physical contact would have been prurient, but Quinn seemed to not have any ulterior motives, not even the obvious He was just friendly

We arrived at a huge bank of closed steel doors One opened, and Quinn steered lare of a Las Vegas afternoon, which was nowhere near as gaudy as a Las Vegas evening There was souely weird about this elevator, which becaan to rise

It didn’t go up Well, not directly It went at an angle

"It’s an inclinator, not an elevator," Quinn said "Like the view?"

I had to admit, it was pretty Our elevator- inclinator-crawled up the slope of the huge glass pyra, and the world fell away I a the strip Paris New York, New York, with its roller coaster and the half-scale Statue of Liberty The white lace of the Bellagio’s fountains shooting skyward in a silent, choreographed dance

We stopped soed me out, walked me down the hall, and opened up a room with the standard electronic card key

"Well," I said, startled "This’ll do"

My rooht sparked froyptian furniture The bed looked sue Jacuzzi tub facing the s "I’ll give your side this: You kno to iirl in style"

"You’re not a prisoner," Quinn said, and handed me the key "And we’re not necessarily on the opposite side, either Listen, feel free to go downstairs, hit the casinos, the spa, the pool just don’t try to leave the building"

I took the cool, sht You know I can’t just hang around here, waiting for the Geezer Patrol to decide what to do withto come after me, and believe me, I don’t think anybody wants that It’ll be one hell of a show"

"You don’t need to worry about the boy"

"The fact that you can say that just proves to me that you don’t know dick about that boy"

Quinn reached under his coat No change in expression I reun, felt myself tense, wondered if it was even possible to stop a bullet with the powers I possessed

and he came out with another card, this one a different color of plastic

"Have fun," he said, and handed it over "That’s worth five thousand in chips Go crazy I’ve got to get back to work"

"Quinn!" I caught his aro "I can’t just stay here!"

He patted my hand, removed it, and walked to the door "If you don’t," he said pleasantly as he opened it, "I’ll just have to break your ankles That’d keep you fro"

He shut the door with a quiet click I chewed one When I raced to the , I saw the inclinator crawling back down the face of the pyra out toward the view He didn’t look in ot a dial tone, and called a nu distance, but I wasn’t particularly worried about the charges at the moment Let the Ma’at pay for it, the crusty old Republicans

Three rings Four

"Bearheart," a low feasp; I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath