The Psy-Changeling Collection (327 page)

A tiny squeak as the bedroom door opened farther, but Max was already talking. “What’s your master promised
you?” The choice of words was deliberate. “A position of power? Money?”

“That question shows you know nothing about me. I’m doing this for the good of the Psy race.” And then at last, he confirmed his allegiance 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 from the bedroom, the pulse glancing 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 chest . . . but the male was already falling, blood pouring out 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 him, but I know he was behind it.”

Max placed Sophia gently against the wall and looked up at the woman who’d just destroyed a man’s brain in a splintered second. “I guess the drugs didn’t dampen your range enough.”

“A miscalculation on their part. It only affected my long-range sending abilities.”

And Gareth had been standing right next to her. “He was the only one. Marsha’s blood loyal and Tulane’s clean—I’d keep an eye on the intern, but my gut says he’s more apt to give you his devotion than anything else.”

“I don’t have time to keep an eye on everyone,” Nikita said, redoing the single button on her jacket with an
efficiency that told Max the dead man on the floor had already been dismissed from her thoughts. “However, you would be very good at it.”

Max blinked. “Are you offering me a job?”

“I need a security chief. Think about it.”

He didn’t have to. “I’m a cop.”

“You can remain one—Enforcement people have been known to be seconded onto a Councilor’s private team. I’m willing to be flexible if you wish to continue to keep track of your old cases.” Her gaze switched to Sophia. “Ms. Russo—the Corps has requested I release you as soon as possible so that you can be returned to the active roster.”

With that detached reminder that Sophia was once again a functioning J, expected to walk into the abyss again and again and again, Nikita headed to the door. “A cleanup crew will arrive shortly. You may want to move into your apartment for the time being. And ensure that large black feline doesn’t taste Quentin’s blood—my viruses have never transmitted through organic matter, but I can’t guarantee that.”

With those chill words, she was gone. Helping Sophia to her feet, Max walked them out of the apartment and into his own. Morpheus had too much class to lick at Gareth’s blood. Turning up his nose at the lifeless Psy, he padded into the neighboring apartment behind Max and Sophia.

Max was just
taking a sip of his coffee the next morning before attempting to get in touch with Kaleb Krychek when security dropped off his mail. Checking it, he saw that his super in Manhattan had forwarded what felt like a couple of letters in a bigger envelope.

“What’s that?” Sophia asked as he took a seat beside her on the sofa. She’d had a good night’s sleep, shaken off the final side effects of the drugs.

Max reached out to run his hand through her hair, unable to stop touching her. “Probably bills,” he said with a shrug that tried to be careless.

He knew he’d failed when Sophia touched his shoulder. “Max?”

“I’ve been trying to track down my father,” he told her, admitting his final secret. “I don’t know why. Maybe I’ll know when I find him.”

“Do you think the information is in that envelope?”

“No way to know—but each time I open a ‘mystery’ envelope,” he said, looking down at the plain brown paper, “I hope.”

Sophia shifted to snuggle by his side. It was automatic to put his arm around her, pull her tight against him. She fit perfectly. “There’s something else.” A soft statement from the Psy who owned his heart. “Your expression . . .”

He stole a kiss, needing her. “You’re starting to read me like a book. By the time we’re sitting in rockers watching our grandchildren play, you’ll know my secrets before I do.”

She smiled, and it hit him right in the heart, how fucking much she meant to him. He wasn’t letting her go, wasn’t letting the Corps drag her back down into the nightmare world of an active J—even if he had to fight Silence itself. “I know your secrets, too, Sophie,” he said. “Who were you telepathing earlier?”

“Another J.” A pause. “My shields, Max, I need to explain them, to assess if there’s a chance they’ll fail again.”

His soul repudiated the idea, but he knew she was right. “What did your friend say?”

“That Sascha Duncan is supposed to be an excellent shield technician—he recommended I talk to her, see if she can figure out what’s behind the regeneration of my shields.” Lifting herself up a little, she pressed her lips to the tiny scar on his cheek, the one she seemed to love.

It made his heart smile each time she did that. Even today, now, he felt loved, adored.

“But we can discuss all that later,” Sophia murmured. “Open the envelope.”

Removing his arm from around her, he drew in the vanilla and lavender scent of her and slit open the paper.

He’d opened so many envelopes since he began this search, become so used to disappointment that it took him almost a minute to realize what he held in his hand. Letting the other pieces of mail fall to the carpet, he ran his hand over the crisp white paper of the single piece he still held. “See that?” he said, rubbing his thumb over the emblem on the top left-hand corner.

Sophia bent her head. “It’s from the Department of Justice.”

“Bart,” he clarified. “I asked him for a favor.” It could’ve gotten the other man fired, but the prosecutor had asked only the questions he needed to get the answer.

Sophia took a long breath, let it out. “You asked him to run your DNA against the central Justice criminal database.”

He wasn’t the least surprised that she’d guessed. “It was a logical step, given our socioeconomic circumstances, the history of the other men in the area at the time.” He took a deep breath. “And it’s a step I avoided for a hell of a long time.”

“That’s understandable,” Sophia said, shifting to a kneeling position beside him on the sofa, her fingers stroking through his hair. “You’re a cop. You’ve dedicated your life to upholding the law—discovering that your father was a criminal who broke those same laws will be a blow.” Her words were calm, practical. “But Max”—her tone changed, gentled, her eyes shining—“it will alter
nothing
about the man you are, the man you’ve made yourself.”

He slid one arm around her waist, his throat thick. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Her forehead touching his in tender affection, her hands cupping his face. “You’re the one who taught me that life isn’t predestined. We are who we make ourselves.”

Her faith in him tore him wide open, reformed him a better man. “Open it for me.”

Sophia took the envelope, able to be strong for her cop, to give him what he needed. Sliding her finger under the
flap, she slit it open to remove two pieces of paper. The first was closed around the second—which proved to be an automatically sealed printout with serrated edges which could be pulled apart to reveal what lay within. The first was a handwritten note.

“Max,” she read out, “as far as the computers are concerned, this scan was never done. I don’t know the results. Neither does the computer tech. We requested that the results be printed automatically sealed. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” It was signed with Reuben’s name. But below that was another line—“P.S. A man’s father doesn’t make the man. If it did, I’d be a self-serving SOB with three wives and an inability to be faithful to any of them.” Sophia put down the letter, her curiosity a wild thing. “I assume he means three consecutive wives?”

“Nope.” At her gasp, his lips curved. “Bart’s father founded his own religion.”

“And how many wives does Bart have?”

“He’s been married to Tasma since they were in law school. Got four brats they love like crazy.”

Sophia smiled. “So.”

“So.”

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

She broke the serrated edges but held the letter closed. “You should see it first.” Passing it over, she waited as he read it, then put it on the coffee table. Nothing happened for the next few seconds . . . until Max gave a shuddering sigh and dropped his head, thrusting his hands through his hair.

Worry tore through her . . . until he lifted his eyes. Relief shone a beacon of sunlight through his irises. “Max?”

“I always thought,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “that there was something wrong with me that my mother couldn’t love me. She could love River, and I think she even loved some of the men she brought home. But not me, never me.”

Sophia’s eyes went to the envelope, her brain making
connections out of the experiences of a lifetime spent in Justice. “Who was your father, Max?”

“His name isn’t important,” Max said, and she saw that to him, it truly wasn’t. “But what he did to her . . . He raped her, was convicted of it, died in a prison fight.” A short, brutal summary. Max shook his head. “The only thing I don’t understand is why she kept me.”

Sophia’s hand clenched on his thigh. Looking up, he saw eyes huge with concern, with empathy. “Ah, Sophie.” Pulling her into his lap, he nuzzled his face into the sweet curve of her neck as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m not in shock.” Part of him, somewhere deep inside, had guessed the truth a long time ago. “Now that I know why she couldn’t love me, I can forgive her for it.”

“You’re a better person than I am,” Sophia said, her anger a steel flame. “You were a
child
.”

Max smiled, holding her tight, this woman who would fight for him. “But I’ve become a man.” Looking back, he could feel only pity and sorrow for the tormented, haunted woman who’d been his mother. “And I’m a man who is loved. Who loves to the depths of his soul.”

There was no way in hell he was ever letting anyone take Sophie away from him. She was his. The Justice Corps would have to just fucking get used to that. “Baby,” he said, turning his relentless will to how to ensure no one would ever dare come between him and his J, “we need a plan.”

Sophia’s eyes gleamed. “I have an idea.”

CHAPTER 45

Nikita entered the
mental vault of the Council chambers knowing that what she was about to do would change the course of Psy history. Whether she’d come out of the change alive, time alone would tell.

Kaleb entered with her, Ming LeBon coming in just after.

“You’re well?” she asked.

The militarily inclined Councilor didn’t give much away. “Yes.”

They stopped speaking as Henry and Shoshanna Scott entered, followed by Tatiana Rika-Smythe and Anthony Kyriakus in short order.

“Nikita,” Shoshanna Scott said as soon as the psychic doors closed, “is this about the problems you’ve been having?”

“Yes,” Nikita said. “The specialists I hired were able to track the assassinations to a Pure Psy zealot.”

“I wouldn’t term the members of Pure Psy zealots.” Henry, joining in the conversation.

“Oh?” Nikita had played enough games. “The dictionary definition of zealotry is ‘fanatical partisanship.’ I’d say Pure Psy fits the definition.”

Ming LeBon was the one who spoke next, and his words were nothing Nikita had expected. “I, too, have become concerned about the direction of Pure Psy.”

“They seek only to protect our Silence,” Henry said. “There is nothing of concern in that . . . not unless you wish to protect those who are flawed.”

Nikita ignored the pointed reference to her daughter, focusing on Ming instead.

“However,” Ming continued, “that goal is now being interlocked with a noticeably racial agenda. Pure Psy has begun to see the other races as ‘unclean’ for want of a better word. It’s indisputable that Nikita was targeted because she has strong business ties with the changelings.”

Well
, Kaleb’s voice whispered in Nikita’s mind,
it seems this will make strange bedfellows out of us all
.

He may have an ulterior motive
, Nikita replied.
Let us wait and see
.

“Keeping our people apart from the other races,” Henry said, “is not the worst of choices. If we could achieve isolation, our Silence would soon be pristine.”

“If you believe that”—Anthony Kyriakus’s cool, considered voice—“then you’re a fool.”

Shoshanna’s riposte was quick. “It’s only the weaker members of our populace who are prone to breaks from conditioning—”

“So now you’ll add two cardinals and a gifted scientist to that list?” Anthony’s question was measured, no less lethal for its absolute calm. “It’s time we faced up to the facts. Silence is beginning to crumble at far more than just the edges, and if we don’t make a choice on how to handle it, we risk an uncontrollable breakdown.”

“Surely,” Tatiana Rika-Smythe said, entering the conversation for the first time, “it’s not that urgent. Yes, there
have been incidents, but nothing to suggest a Net-wide emergency.”

Ming’s mind swirled an icy razor. “I made note of an incident at the Sunshine mining station several months ago.”

“The mass psychotic outbreak?” Nikita clarified, not having been immediately involved with the situation. According to the data she quickly accessed, the episode had resulted in over a hundred fatalities.

“Yes. It seemed an aberration at the time, but in the past three days, we’ve had another mass incident at a remote science station on the Russian steppes.”