"Kill her."

The priestess sat back on her heels. "To your glory?"

"No," he replied, "That is too dangerous. Kill only."

"But the man, lord "

"Enough, leave be." The impatience in his tone made her prostrate herself again. "Without the witch, he is of no importance. I say you shall leave him alone. Let us seek another, more easily obtained sacrifice."

It was sunset, and Ben Bronson whistled as he headed up the cement walkway to the ultramodern gla.s.s-and-steel RemTech building; he was feeling very pleased with himself, and looking forward to a few pleasant hours away from his wife and kids. He'd headed over here as soon as supper was over.

Remtech was more home to him than his house was especially with the youngest teething. Julie seemed to think he should help out with the kids when he was home. Fat chance; that was woman's work. He hadn't married her just so he could become a babysitter. There were lots more important ways to spend his time than in fooling around with a drooling little brat. Kids were for showing off when they were clean and acting intelligent, not for ha.s.sling over when they were being pains.

"h.e.l.lo, Ben." The voice made him jump.

Lanky, nerdy Steve Barrigan materialized out of the door-alcove, letting the door close and lock behind him. Ben sniffed in annoyance, and reached for his keycard; after startling him like that, the least the jerk could have done was to hold the door for him!

"Steve," he responded shortly.

"About those enhancements to the Pancyber project "

"I told you I'd get back with you on that." Barrigan would bring that up. Ben had hoped he'd forgotten. He pushed his way past the tech into the alcove.

"Yeah, you did," the tech replied, pushing his gla.s.ses up on his nose. "You said they were probably not going to want my enhancements. Funny thing, I found out tonight that you took all my programs and implemented them with your initials on them. Is that why you got a raise this week and I didn't?"

Ben jerked his head around so quickly his neck nearly snapped. "How "

"You forgot, I'm the one that coded the production protections, you lying b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Steve said pleasantly. "I can track anything I need to and I figured it wouldn't hurt to check up on what you'd been doing lately. Glad I did." He held out his clenched hand, and opened it. Pieces of cut-up keycard fell to the cement with tiny clicking noises. "By tomorrow morning everyone else will be onto you, top. I added a little warning to everyone about you on the sign-on bulletin, one you can't get rid of. I don't think you'll be able to get away with that trick again. By the way, you'll find my resignation on your desk. If you can get in."

"What do you mean if " Ben was too stunned by the tech's revolt to really take in more than the last sentence.

Steve had started to walk into the gathering twilight, but turned just long enough to answer. "You also seem to have forgotten that I used to work on the security systems. They never took away my access. So Ben, ol' buddy, the lock don't recognize you no more. Bye."

Then he was gone. And Ben jammed his keycard repeatedly and with growing anger into the reader with no more result than if he'd used his MasterCard.

Finally he began circling the building, looking for someone to let him in, trying to think of ways to get that arrogant little sonuvab.i.t.c.h.

I'll see he never gets another job in DP again he's gonna be washing dishes for the rest of his life!

He found lit windows and beyond them, a cl.u.s.ter of two or three people from another department he knew them, vaguely. He sighed with relief, and pounded on the window.

They looked up and must have seen him, seen him clearly. But they acted as if they hadn't seen him, and went back to their discussion, ignoring further window-pounding. Ben's temper and blood pressure rose.

They were all in this together, the jerks! By G.o.d, he'd have them all on the carpet!

If he could just get in.

There were lights on in inner offices, but no one came to see who was making the noise. And by the time he'd circled back to the office where he'd seen those three Judases, the lights were off and they were gone from view.

After circling the building fruitlessly until it became full dark after calling every number he could think of inside and getting no response, he finally gave up. He was so angry he could hardly think.

He was certainly too angry to hear the soft footsteps behind him as he headed for his car.

This "Athena" was not living in luxury accommodations. The bus had pa.s.sed through a pretty dubious neighborhood to get to hers; Mark would not have been amused. As a matter of fact, Di rather doubted that Mark would have let her come here at all if he'd known where she was going.

But this was going to be tricky enough without having him along, bless his pointed little head. She'd left her gun behind, knowing that if the woman was good enough to spot it through Di's disguises, she'd freak at worst, and clam up at best.

It had taken an hour and a half by bus to get this far, and she still had six blocks to walk. She huddled in her denim jacket and concentrated on being invisible. But there was a palpable aura of hunters all around here, an aura she could taste, a hint of hunger in the back of her mind. She felt as if she was swimming in a pool filled with sharks.

The address was one more battered little stucco house, surrounded on all sides by similar buildings.

The only real difference between this place and the ones to either side of it was that Athena's house didn't have three cars up on blocks in the sc.r.a.p of front yard, or growling dogs chained in the back.

Di picked her way across the cracked sidewalk and up to the porch. There had been some effort at keeping the weeds and lawn under control here, as opposed to next door. There was no doubt in Di's mind just where the "threshold" of the house was; as soon as she climbed the pair of crumbling concrete steps and got onto the porch she could feel the barrier No bad idea; extend your threshold out a little beyond the house walls, and maybe people won't break in, she thought with surprise and approval. I'll have to try that one myself.

There was a tiny, faded, hand-lettered sign taped over the doorbell " please knock, bell does not work." She tapped lightly on the metal frame of the storm door, and almost before she brought her knuckles down for the third time, the inner door cracked and a single blue eye peered out at her from around the doorframe, a security chain stretched tightly just above it.

"I'm Diana " she said to the eye. "n.o.ble said that he was going to call you about me."

"Yes I've been expecting you. Just a minute, please " The door closed for a moment and Di heard the sc.r.a.pe of the security chain being undone. Then the door reopened, and a slender, short-haired blond woman beckoned her to enter.

The living room was furnished mostly in floor pillows, brick-and-board bookcases, and books.

Hundreds, thousands of books. There was New Age synthesizer music playing softly from a ca.s.sette deck, and the lighting was entirely by candlelight. Di took it all in with a single glance, and turned around to face her hostess.

The young woman was perhaps three or four years her junior; she was slender, but fairly strong- looking, with the kind of balanced grace that told Di she was no stranger to the martial arts herself. Her eyes were so intensely blue that there was no doubting their coloring even by candlelight, and her pale blond hair, styled almost in a crewcut, was plainly that color without help from Lady Clairol. She was wearing a faded blue T-shirt and equally faded jeans. She was, to Di's eyes, teetering on an edge between fear and nervous curiosity.

"I don't bite," Di said with a chuckle. "At least not often, or hard."

The young woman echoed the laugh shakily. "Well, pick a spot," she said. "n.o.ble did call he said you were to be trusted, and he told me what you wanted."

"But you're still not terribly sure of me. Don't blame you," Di replied, seating herself cross-legged on one of the nearer pillows. "I could be anybody; I could get you fired for having a weird religion."

The woman's eyes turned bitter as she took a seat herself. "No, that you can't do. I've already been fired, because I wouldn't take the nightshift. s.h.i.t, it's bad enough on graveyard when everything's normal but now Lord and Lady, if I put myself out on the street when that's prowling "

"You've precoged?" Di asked quietly, "that you're in danger after dark?"

Athena nodded, flushing. Di's immediate acceptance of the situation and her easy familiarity with paranormal talents seemed to rea.s.sure her.

"Some. But not clear enough to do anything. I mean, I know I'm on the menu if I go out after certain hours, but I can't tell when it's going to hit, or where. But to go out night after night, during the prime time for that to be hunting, I'm going to be narrowing my odds to the point of suicide! But they didn't give me a choice, and they wouldn't listen to my arguments. It was my turn on third, I had to take it or get fired. I'm I was junior computer operator, low man on the totem pole."

Di frowned. "You've got grounds for a protest "

Athena shook her head. "Unfortunately not. I'm fourth dan black belt; I could probably protect myself better than some of the men if this was just a slasher or a rapist. This neighborhood isn't that bad it's only if you have to take the bus that you go through its hunting areas. And I would be, coming and going. There's one place where it's hunted over in the barrio, and another near the industrial park where I work. That's where some of the victims came from, those two places. Ma.s.s transportation isn't real good around here. You know where the bus stop is I didn't hear a car so you must have taken the bus here. The other end for me is still a mile from the center. But when I protested, they just told me to get a car."

"Lovely." Di said sourly, as she lowered her shielding a bit. "Real caring folks, your ex-bosses. So terribly concerned about the welfare of their employees."

"I'm trying to save up some cash and I don't make enough to buy anything but a junker, anyway nothing reliable, nothing that wouldn't eat me out of house and home with repair bills. So what do I do, say that I know if they put me on third, the local bogeyman'll get me?" Her eyes were defiant, but her mouth showed despair. "We aren't union; the only lawyer I could afford would lose, and I'd be out twice.

Look, this isn't what you came for "

"No, it isn't," Di agreed. But she was now beginning to have a stirring of certainty that meant she'd been brought here for a purpose. Not what she'd thought to come for "But maybe we can help each other."

Athena looked askance at her. "Well I can tell you right now that n.o.body's getting anything, and we've done Work to try and pin this b.a.s.t.a.r.d down. I'm talking major circles here, several groups working together. All we get is warnings. Everybody that could afford to, left. The rest of us are trying to keep our b.u.t.ts down. What happened to your eye?"

"My what?" Di was startled by the abrupt change of subject.

"Your eye " the woman began, then shrugged. "If it's none of my business say so but my Prime isn't precog, it's healing."

The blackened eye sent a dull stab of pain through Di's skull. "When you turn over rocks," she replied wryly, "things tend to crawl out. One bit me. The one that owned House of Dark Desires."

"Old Creepy-Crowley-Clone?" Athena exclaimed. "I hope you gave as good as you got!"

"I think so "

"Look," the woman said abruptly, "I'm being rude to keep interrupting you, but I can't help it, it's the way I am. I can't see things like that eye without reacting can I fix it for you? It's driving me bats, staring at me and hurting."

Di raised a surprised eyebrow, and cautiously let down the rest of her shields.

She was startled again by the depth of what she sensed.

Ye G.o.ds, what is a major healing talent doing wasting away out here?

"If you really want to " Before she could finish the sentence, Athena had stretched her hand out across the s.p.a.ce between them, and was holding it less than half an inch from Di's injured eye. Almost immediately she felt the area begin to grow perceptibly warm then hot and it began to throb, but not painfully. Di had been on the receiving end of psychic healing before, but this was strong. And it argued for a substantial energy base.

"Don't tell me; you're an HP, right?" she asked.

"Well sometimes," Athena replied absently. "My group tends to share high priestess duties around. I guess you could call me that."

Which means she's the best information source I could have found and if she doesn't know who our quarry is, then it probably isn't anyone in the movement here. Oh well. Di closed both her eyes and relaxed, setting her mind on "blank."

Some timeless span later she felt a little internal signal that said that whatever had been done was over, and opened both eyes again. Athena was shaking the hand she'd used vigorously, as if getting rid of something.

Di felt the eye that had been blackened, gingerly. It was just a scant bit more tender than the other.

No swelling, no real soreness. She knew that if she looked in a mirror, she'd see only the faintest of bruises.

Well She stretched out her empathy again. Still waters run deep. I wonder I wonder if I've been given something here for my other problem? She allowed herself a trickle of hope.

"How likely are you to get another job soon?" she asked before she could change her mind.

"Not. The economy is depressed." Athena looked about ready to cry; from what Di felt from her, she'd been on the verge of it for a while.

What was she doing as a computer operator? She was d.a.m.n well wasted on those jerks! Hm I.

would lay odds she was confessor and counselor to half her co-workers. And peace-spreader. Bet they find with her gone that everybody is going to be at each other's throats. Serves them right.

"Considered moving?" she asked quietly.

"Sure. To where? With what?" Athena bit her lip, as if to bring herself under control. "Sure, I'd move if I could. I've got no real ties here, I'd go about anywhere, but "

"One more question," Di took a deep breath. This woman was something very special; all she trusted told her that Athena was worthy of anyone's faith dependable, reliable and something more.

Compa.s.sionate far beyond the norm. She didn't get feelings this strong very often and when she did, by the G.o.ds, they never proved out wrong. So Di asked The Question. "Would you be willing to take on something not a job, but it would get you moved out of here without costing you anything that meant being constantly exposed to someone with active AIDS?"

Athena looked at her with eyes gone round. "I wouldn't go making love to anybody with it but I am a healer. What I was saving for was med school, and the whole AIDS thing was what started me on it. I mean, here were all these MD jerks refusing to treat somebody has to! Maybe I haven't taken the Hypocratic Oath, but what I am is oath enough. And when somebody's in pain, I have to help."

"Listen I've got a friend, he's " Di swallowed the lump in her throat. "He's got it. He's sick, he's alone; his family disowned him, his lover died a year ago. He needs somebody to take care of him."

It was hard, at first, to reveal her secret; the words had to fight to get around the lump in her throat. But as she told Athena about Len, and the woman's compa.s.sion reached over into her heart, the words came faster, easier, until they were almost spilling out of her.

"I hadn't been a real good friend until all this happened, but when Keith got sick and Len was diagnosed positive, it seemed like everybody bailed out on them. I couldn't do that, I just couldn't."

"You'd have been awfully petty-souled if you had," Athena replied heatedly.

The wave of sympathy and care Di sensed flowing from her was so incredibly deep that she hardly dared credit it. "I was always closer to Len than Keith, so for a while I just sort of hung around, being there. Len wasn't showing any symptoms until last year, so he was taking care of Keith. They were basically coping until Keith died. Then Len fell apart then he got too bad to work. That's more or less where I took over."

"This isn't meant to be cra.s.s but how's the money situation?"

Di shook her head. "It's not I know what you meant. It's something that you have to think about.

Medical for both of them was covered by insurance, and I'm handling the other bills. I've got it to spare and I'll tell you the truth, with what I get into I rather doubt I'm going to have to worry about old age, you know? So I can't see anything to save for, frankly."

It was to Athena's credit that she did not make empty noises meant to comfort. "Not if you go around chasing after things like what's out there now. Someday something is going to be too good for you.... Okay, so where do I come into this? I hope to h.e.l.l you don't think I can cure him I could probably ease some of his pain, but anything else "

"No." Di shook her head. "No, I'm not asking for miracles. It's that I can't always be there physically for him like now. I've got other things I have to do like you, I sometimes don't have a choice. He mostly needs not to be alone to have somebody to care, to talk to. Somebody of the same religious persuasion, like us. And a stranger might be better at this point than a friend. He can be scared, be angry, break down with a stranger, where with me, he's trying to keep me from breaking down. Would you consider "

Athena touched Di's hand lightly, and the compa.s.sion she had felt earlier was nothing to what she felt now.

"How could I not?" she said simply. "Being what I am, how could I refuse, and still call myself a healer, a true child of the Lady, or even a human?"

Di bent her head to hide the tears. It was a few minutes before she could control her voice enough to ask, "Can I use your phone?"

Two hours later, and a substantial number of charges on her credit card, and the arrangements were all made. Athena would be flying out tonight; Andre would get her at the airport and take her to Lenny's. Di had known from Lenny's voice when she called him that it had been a bad day he nearly made both women cry with his grat.i.tude when Di told him she'd found him "a companion" and introduced Athena over the phone. He frankly sounded as if he would have welcomed the company of a drug-crazed ma.s.s-murderer, much less someone like Athena.

A moving company would pack Athena's gear and ship it off to her later this week, after picking up her key at a friend's house.

And Di's bank balance was going to be lighter by a couple thousand dollars.

She didn't care; it was money she was glad to spend. For once she could make a problem a little better by throwing money at it. That kind of solution was rare.

And the last thing on my conscience is taken care of. If I go down before Len does he's got my insurance money, and somebody to lean on.

She knew Mark was puzzled; though he was sympathetic, he still couldn't understand why Len was so important to her. And how could she tell him? How could she explain all the times she'd felt that she'd failed other friends how this time she was determined that she would not?