Sophia looked up at the comment. "Yes?"
"The Management Board has reassigned you." The M-Psy sent an electronic file through to Sophia's organizer. "You've been selected to work directly for Councilor Nikita Duncan as a special advisor."
The first step, Sophia thought, having expected the transfer on some level. Js who began to show too many cracks were phased out step-by-step. By the time they disappeared, nobody remembered they'd once known a Justice Psy by that name. Nobody realized the J had simply vanished, never to be seen again. "My duties?"
"Councilor Duncan will brief you—you have an appointment with her at one tomorrow. Given the time of your court appearance, you should have no difficulty making your flight." The M-Psy stood. Paused. "I haven't been authorized to inform you of this, but you should have time to put your affairs in order."
Sophia waited. The words were unusual, could well be another trap.
But when he spoke, he gave her the answer to a question that had been circling in her mind for months now. "This reconditioning will be your last—your telepathic shields are too severely degraded to allow for a further reset." Cool green eyes met hers. "Do you understand?"
"Yes." The next time she walked into a Center, only a shambling, empty-eyed shell would walk back out.
CHAPTER 5
The child has been damaged on a fundamental level. Any attempt to save her will require the allocation of considerable time and resources with no guarantee of a productive return.
—PsyMed report on Sophia Russo, minor, age 8
Just over twenty-four hours after his conversation with Commander Brecht, Max exited his gate at San Francisco's domestic terminal with a single suitcase and one very pissed-off cat in an industrial-strength carrier. A cat whose yowling was starting to make people look at Max with the narrow-eyed stare reserved for those who beat their dogs and ran their horses to exhaustion.
"Max!"
Looking up, he saw a familiar tawny-haired figure. Putting the suitcase and carrier down, he picked Talin up in his arms and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Damn, you look good, Tally." Her face glowed with health, her freckles golden against skin that had managed to retain the burnished hue of summer even in the crisp chill of January.
A growl emerged from the green-eyed man on Tally's right, his gaze vivid against rich, dark skin. "Once, I'll allow. Kiss her again and all you'll be kissing is the asphalt."
Grinning, Max put a laughing Talin on her feet and held out his hand. "Nice to see you, too."
Clay shook it. "Hello, Cop." His eyes went to Max's feet.
And Max realized Morpheus had gone utterly silent the instant they neared the couple. Glancing down, Max saw the black-haired ball of indignant fur staring at Clay. "I think he's trying to figure out what the hell kind of cat you are."
Talin bent, went to reach through the bars as if to pet the cat.
"Don't," Max warned, one hand on her shoulder. "He bites."
"He bites Tally," Clay said, looking at the cat with eyes that were no longer human, "I'll show him my teeth."
"Shh, now," Talin said, stroking Morpheus gently on the forehead. "He's just mad about being cooped up, aren't you, gorgeous?" Looking up at Max, she mock-whispered, "Clay gets snarly on flights, too."
"Watch it," Clay said, but the curve of his lips made Max grin. Man was well and truly a goner.
"I'm glad you brought him," Talin said, rising to her feet. "He'd have missed you."
"Nah—he'd have found another sucker to feed him," Max said, knowing the former alley cat had the survival instincts of a rat on a sinking ship. "But since I'm not sure how long this'll take, I figured Morpheus might as well come and see the world with me." Nodding thanks at Clay as the changeling male grabbed his suitcase, Max took the carrier. "I appreciate the pickup."
"I voted to leave you stranded," Clay muttered.
Talin linked her arm with Max's. "Don't mind him. Secretly, he loves you."
"Very secretly." Max's heart went tight in a good way at seeing Talin so happy. They'd become close during the investigation into several missing kids a while back, but he'd known her on and off for years, their beats colliding in New York. She'd worked with troubled kids—and Enforcement was always picking up those kids.
But it wasn't just that. He and Talin had a connection, one they'd never really articulated but which was simply understood. They'd both been children caught in the foster-care system, understood the scars that could leave. It wasn't the kind of thing you could really explain to anyone who hadn't lived through it.
But Clay got it. Max didn't know the big man's history, but the connection Max shared with Talin was slowly being formed with her mate as well. Max had taken them to dinner the last time they'd come up to Manhattan, had ended up getting well and truly drunk with the leopard. Talin had herded them home from the bar, promising to tear the hides off them the entire time, but she'd tucked them both in that night—pushing Max down onto their hotel couch and telling him to stay put.
Grinning at the memory of the pulsating rock music she'd played the next morning as punishment, he looked down at the wild mane of her hair. "Did you check out the apartment?" He'd e-mailed them the details of the place where he'd been put up for the duration.