Caressed By Ice(34)

"If he believes that, he's a fool." He gave her a skeptical look. "Henry and Shoshanna want to lead. Marshall would do better to ally himself with us."

"That still leaves Tatiana and Ming."

"From what I can see, Tatiana is the swing vote." The other Councilor had made no alliances he'd been able to unearth. "However, we may have a situation with Ming."

"I'm listening."

He told her what Silver had discovered. "As the Councilor in charge of the Implant Protocol, he has to have full knowledge of the unsanctioned trials."

"This is unacceptable." Ice dripped off Nikita's every word. "You have proof?"

"Yes." Illegally obtained but legal now that it was in his hands. After all, he was a Councilor entitled to the information. "Several data files."

"It's much too early for live trials," Nikita continued. "The saboteurs will have their work done for them if the populace, and more importantly, the major families, refuse to support the Protocol because it appears dangerous."

He concurred. To succeed, Protocol I had to be proven safe - in terms of both Psy minds and their psychic abilities. "There has already been one fatality. If the news gets out..."

Nikita placed her arms behind her back. "It'll jeopardize the future of the entire operation. I assume you're working to track the ten involved?"

Kaleb nodded. "It's no use confronting Ming before we have more. We can't risk alienating him. If the Scotts seize majority control of the Council, it'll compromise a number of our interests."

"Agreed."

"There is another possibility," he said. "That the Scotts have inserted their influence into Ming's project without his knowledge - they've already shown a willingness to act without majority authorization."

"That would shift Ming's allegiance, or at least limit his support for their motions." Nikita seemed to come to a decision. "We'll discuss our next step when we have more data, unless you see a cogent reason for not waiting."

"There's no need to rush."

"I see a lot of changelings down there." She nodded at the square. "How's the racial situation in your town?"

Moscow was hardly a town, but he let it go. "Stable. The local wolf pack is at present fighting for dominance against a well-established bear clan. As a result, they have no interest in Psy affairs. The humans pose no threat."

"They never do." Nikita dismissed the entire race with the flick of a hand. "Before Sascha dropped out of the Net, we learned that changeling packs aren't as isolated as previously believed - I'm now investigating how far that goes. Any indication your wolves might be linked to the SnowDancers?"

Kaleb shook his head. "BlackEdge has no connections outside the immediate region. They're too busy with petty local matters to think big."

"Let's hope they remain that way." Nikita started toward the door.

He fell into step beside her. "Leaving so soon?"

"I have a meeting in San Francisco in a few hours."

"The airjet should get you there in plenty of time." It was one of his, designed and built by a corporation of which he had majority control. "I'll keep you updated. I'm sure you have enough to handle in relation to the execution of the plan targeting DarkRiver and the SnowDancers." It was a very deliberate comment on his part.

As Nikita had made clear, she didn't support the Council's plan. However, she'd been placed in charge of it because Shoshanna had made a point of saying that as the mess was in Nikita's backyard, she should be the one to clean it up. Especially since her daughter was part of the problem.

Nikita gave him a chilly Psy smile. It meant nothing, of course. "If stage one of the plan works as expected, we should see a number of changeling fatalities within the next few hours."

Chapter 15

The morning after she'd witnessed Judd's dream, Brenna left the cabin for a walk. The air was fresh and crisp under the snow-heavy trees. Judd had already gone to check things at the boundary line, leaving her plenty of time to think.

You aren't seeing what I'm telling you.

Judd believed she was viewing him through rose-colored lenses, but he was wrong. She understood what he'd done, realized the darkness inside of him. But she'd also looked true evil in the face, had had the sliminess of it invade her mind. She knew categorically that Judd was not cut from the same cloth.

Not that his confession had come as a surprise. She'd sensed from the start that he was no angel. Still, he'd attracted her, the changeling heart of her sensing a strength in him that would complement and nurture her own. It had never scared her that -