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.InEnrique s case, there was nothing to indicate he d ever had the capacity to feel. Sascha. A polite telepathic page.She became the mask. Sir. Your shield is fractured. Thank you, sir.I ve already begun repairing it.It isn t anything major. So why had the Councilorbothered to tell her about it? Her mother, she could understand.Nikita had a vested interest inensuring Sascha s secret never got out it would undermine her own position.Which made Sascha wonder why she d been allowed to live in the first place.Wouldn t it have beensimpler to terminate her once it had been discovered that she was flawed? Or were not even the Psycapable of killing their young? Then she remembered Marlee and Toby and that hope collapsed. You have some very unusual thought patterns. CHAPTER 25 Some of my talents are rather unusual, sir. That told him nothing.Her hidden talents could include adegree of foresight she didn t want competitors to know about or a hundred other things. I always knew you were an interesting woman, but I never guessed you were so perfect. In the dark velvet night of the PsyNet, Sascha felt shivers crawl along her nerves.Perfect.What wasshe perfect for? A high compliment. She couldn t move.Enrique s power was everywhere he dsurrounded her as stealthily as a hunting leopard. I thought you were like me, he said, his tone shifting to something so polite it was a mockery. Butyou re something else altogether. If she hadn t intended to drop out of the Net, she would ve panicked at the way his shields had spreadto encompass her star.Because this was a trap.Nikita had taught her this variation long ago.Sometimes it paid to have a mother whose power lay in murder and poison.Enrique believed her to be telepathing.Once he d finished encircling her star, he d lure her out intothe PsyNet.The instant she emerged, he d lock a shield around the partial self she d send out tomeet with him.For the first milliseconds after a Psy manifested on the psychic plane, he or she wasvulnerable.It took that long for the mobile firewalls to rise.Almost no one had the power to spring atrap in that infinitesimal amount of time.However, Enrique was no ordinary Psy he could possibly pull it off.If he succeeded, he d cut off theroaming part of her psyche from the rest.A successful capture was one of the more brutal ways toparalyze the physical body of a Psy.If the paralysis was maintained too long, the underlyingconnection between self and mind snapped, the two parts of the psyche unable to survive theseparation.The result was death and the absorption of that roaming part of the victim s consciousness into thevastness of the PsyNet.Some theorized that that was how the NetMind had begun with the lostminds of Psy who d been ambushed or otherwise lost in the dark skies of the Net. I m not sure what you mean, sir. I think it s time we discussed this, Sascha. He was everywhere.Cold and focused like the finest oflasers. I m in a meeting. Cancel it. The walls around her began to constrict. Mother has given me instructions to close this deal. This was bad, very bad.What she couldn tunderstand was why Enrique was coming after her. There was nothing overtly wrong about the patterns she was leaking.The traces were both very faintand came from a deep part of the changeling consciousness that Psy couldn t usually access, notwithout ripping open minds.Only a Psy who d done that would understand what it was that he wasseeing. I m tired of waiting for you to make time.Unless you want to find yourself pulled up before theCouncil, I want to see you.Now. On what basis would you call me before the Council? She filled her mental tone with the confidenceof someone who d been born a cardinal, someone whose mother was a Councilor. You re not pure, Sascha.You think like them. It was an accusation that held supreme confidence. Like the animals you work so well with. Caught utterly off guard, she almost gave herself away.She d never known Enrique to have anycontact with changelings.How did he recognize the taint in her mental signature? I m sure you remistaken. I ve been in their minds.I know exactly what they look like. His mental trap was almost solid.There was no way she would ve been able to break out if she d planned on doing so.Enrique wasstronger than she d ever guessed, possibly the strongest cardinal in the Net. How? Confusion and desperation were taking their toll.Murder sprang from rage, fury, jealousy.Enrique didn t feel anything, so how could he be the violence that had stolen so many lives? The Council likes to know the enemy.We ve been using volunteers to study their mental patterns. He pushed at the flaw in her mind as one would poke at a wound.It hurt. Sir, what are you doing? I don t like waiting, Sascha. But he liked talking, she thought. I m tying up the meeting.If I leave suddenly, it ll negateeverything we ve achieved to date.I didn t realize the Council was running such research. Call it a private interest.Their women make the best subjects there s something perfect aboutthem. I never guessed you were so perfect
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