Her blue eyes glittered like ice encrusted sapphires in the candlelight. There was anger there, as well as suspicion. Yet he had a sense that she was also controlling herself very tightly, and he wondered why. "I've been nothing but honest with you."
"Have you? Then tell me why you went back to your apartment to retrieve the com-unit you've been hiding in your bag. Tell me what you found at Kazdan's, besides that laser, that makes you so certain he'll come to this meeting tomorrow. And tell me why someone is setting you up for a murder rap."
"What?"
Despite the edge in her voice, she didn't seem all that surprised. "I have orders to wrap up my investigation, and hand you over for prosecution, by tomorrow afternoon," he informed her. "That order came from the top."
"The bastards." She rubbed a hand over her eyes, and then looked up again. "What do you intend to do?"
"That very much depends on you."
"And just what is it you want me to do, Assistant Director Stern?"
The sarcasm in her voice suggested that someone, at some time, had tried using their authority to get her into bed. The sudden coldness in her eyes suggested the outcome had not been favorable — for either party.
He held her gaze. "I want you to help me with a problem. In return, I'll help you find what's behind Kazdan's attempt on your life."
"What about your orders to hand me over?"
He shrugged. "I was never much one for following orders."
Her gaze returned to the dragons for a moment. He sat back in the chair and waited.
"You want me to trust you," she said softly. "And yet you're not willing to trust me."
He raised an eyebrow as her gaze returned to his. There was something in those bright depths that seemed to run straight through him, diving deep into his soul. It was partly a recognition of fate — a sense that this woman, for good or for bad, would play an important part in his future. But it was also something else, something he couldn't even begin to name. Yet it was that something that made him trust her, even when common sense, and everything he knew about her, suggested extreme wariness. Which was why what he was about to say what might well end up being a bargain with the devil herself.
"What makes you say that?"
"The tests. We both know they're not just psych and psychic evaluations. You've run the whole gamut, right down to biological. Why?"
"I told you — we want to know why you were able to see the kites."
"But it's more than that now."
He nodded. "When Finley ran the original tests, we found a few interesting anomalies. For a start, you registered neutral in the psychic tests, and that can only mean you have a talent strong enough to avoid detection, yet still be able to work in the presence of the psychic deadeners."
She raised her eyebrow, but offered no comment, simply tapped a finger lightly against the tabletop as she waited for him to go on.
"Finley also discovered an unknown chromosome in your cell sample. As yet we haven't been able to track it down." He didn't mention her developmental immaturity. It would be something she'd surely be aware of.
She frowned. "How can I have an unknown chromosome running around my body?"
"We don't know. That's why we're running extra tests."
She fell silent for a long minute, and then lowered her gaze to the table. "What's the favor you want of me?"
He hesitated as the door opened. Han came into the room, carrying a tray full of bread, meats and rice. "Best I could do in a hurry," he said, putting the tray on the table.
"Thanks, Han."
The big man nodded. "I shall keep a watch out for you."
"Thanks." He waited until Han had left, then reached out and grabbed a thick slab of bread. "A friend of mine is being poisoned." That the friend was also his twin was a fact she didn't need to know. "Through the water. Only a very few people, myself included, have access to him."
She helped herself to a plate of the thick sliced lamb and aromatic rice. "If it's being administered through the water, it could be anyone."
He shook his head. "He doesn't drink tap water, and the bottled water is fully tested before he goes near it."