like they should be in a zoo. Most people react with their guts, not their brains." Spector knew, he'd always gone with his instincts. If he hadn't gotten the virus himself, he'd probably hate the jokers like the rest.
Tony tossed his napkin on the table and signalled the waiter to bring the bill. "You got time to take a little ride with me?"
"Sure," Spector said, downing his wine. "What have you got in mind?"
"Just going to visit some friends of mine. Good friends. I'd like you to meet them." Tony smiled again. Spector couldn't say no.
"Maybe after we're done, you can introduce me to your boss. I'd like to meet him." Spector was uncomfortable, and it wasn't entirelv due to his bloated stomach.
"We might just be able to do that," Tony said. "But first things first."
Right, Spector thought, first things first.
All his old skills had returned. His aspect was truly upon him. Tachyon grinned down at his penis thrusting aggressively from the copper hairs of his brush. Laughing, he dove between her legs, nipping at her thighs, licking, teasing. Only one thing remained. To join completely with her. To join with her mind. He would do it when they climaxed, he decided. That would forever put the terror of Roulette behind him. Wriggling up her body, he sucked in one dusky nipple. Penetrated her.
Her thoughts were sharp, as jagged as glass. "You look just like your mother, and she was a slut ... slut ... SLUT."
A hateful voice. He hadn't heard it in thirty-eight years. Even filtered through the layers of Fleur's memories, Henry van Renssaeler still had the power to disgust.
"You better prove how much you love me."
"I love you, Daddy. I love you."
The soft cadences of Leo Barnett.
"Open your heart to Jesus, and all your sins will be forgiven you."
The rest followed in swift, hurtful images. Fleur's realization of how he was using his power on the uncommitted delegates. The faked fall. The pretended passion. The disgust and dislocation as she tried to come to grips with the fact that she was in bed with her mother's lover. Even as she clutched at his sweat-slick body, she was pretending that he was Leo Barnett.
Fury took him, and Tachyon was closer to striking a woman than he had ever been in his life. He took his revenge by finishing the act,with her, slaking his body's desires with hired meat. When it was over, he rolled out of the bed, and gathering up her clothes, tossed them on top of her. She stared at him, alarm shadowing the brown eyes.
"Get out."
"You read my mind-"
"Yes. "
"You violated me."
"Yes."
She was scrabbling into her clothes, wadding up her hose, and cramming them into her purse, smoothing the tangled hair.Pausing at the door,she flung at him," I accomplished what I set out to do. I kept you away from the convention."
"And you deserve something for your trouble." Tachyon dug out a pair of twenties, and slapped them into her hand. "Jack was right. You're not your mother. You are a slut."
She slammed the door behind her.
The air-conditioning was icy on his bare skin. Tach poured himself a drink, and took several deep breaths trying to slow his racing heart. Then as he lifted the glass to his lips, the door hit the wall with a report like a firing pistol.
Brandy sloshed across his chest and belly. "Oh, Ideal!"
"Expecting someone?" remarked Polyakov dryly as he eyed Tachyon's erection.
But there was a narrowness to the eyes, a tension to the jaw that made Tachyon think that the Russian's mind was anywhere but on Tachyon's sex life.
"If you could return your brains from your secondary head to your primary head, may we discuss a very serious problem?"
"Very funny." Tach padded to the dresser, and poured a fresh drink. Blaise settled cross-legged on the bed, and stared down at his hands. George stood solid and lumpish in the center of the room. "So what is this great and serious problem?"
"We were arrested."
"WHAT!" Tach turned like a slow-coiling snake on Blaise. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," he whined.
"Oh, no, just played master puppeteer with a joker, a Klansman, a neo-Nazi and a policeman," snapped Polyakov. Tach shook his head like a baffled pony. George continued grimly on, "You would think when he has a subtle and invisible power he would have the brains not to advertise when he is using it."
Something flickered between man and boy. Suspicious, Tach lanced out with his telepathy, but all he caught was the brittle