"Um, I've wonder if my hormones aren't stronger than most. I've felt a lot different ever since I became a woman." Her soft red lips made anothe r sensual pout.

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"That's normal. Besides, you're young and healthy again, too."

"Yes, and it's true what they say-going through the gate makes you incredibly horny. It's a shame I haven't had a chance to find out what being a woman is really like." She stepped closer to me and dropped her voice to a seductive whisper. "I really, really want to find out what it feels like."

I stood up, intending to grab her arm and guide her back into her chair."Sorry, I can't help you."

It was a shame those soft lips had to wait to be properly kissed, but I had a whole planet full of psychopaths to help. At this rate, Justina would be a teenager, ready to date, before I finished. She opened her eyes wide and leaned cl oser. I caught a hint of the sweet, clean smell of her hair.

"How about one kiss? One long kiss-it will put me in the right moo d to let you into my mind."

I saw a hint of tears glistening in those deep blue eyes. Funny, Rita had claimed psychopaths didn't feel emotion, but Josie's reactions seemed normal enough. It gave me hope that I would be successful in my first attempt.

Besides, what could one kiss hurt?

"I'd be honored." I grinned at her.

"Wonderful!"

She threw herself at me, her lips curving in a delighted smile. Her arms went round my neck as she drew me close. I bent over to kiss her. She pinche d the base of my neck, and an intense pain shot through me. I fell into blackness.

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

I awoke to agony. My right temple throbbed with a steady ache and my muscles screamed with cramping pain. As the fog in my brain cleared, I became aware that my whole body hurt. I was stretched full length on my side, b ound hand and foot. My arms and hands and my whole right side were numb. I opened my eyes and saw I was lying on the hard dirt floor of a small cave, little more than a deep hollow under the crest of a hillside. Josie stood a few feet away, looking out into the blinding sunlight around the mouth of the cave. My mouth felt dry as cotton after a long drought. I licked my lips and struggled to get words out of my achi ng throat.

"What's going on?"

"What's going on? I've outsmarted you, Mr. Know-it-All Seconder, that's what's going on."

Josie turned toward me with a smirk on her pretty face. Her blonde curls bounced around her head like a halo, but it was clear she was no angel.

I tried to move my head and a river of agonizing fire shot down my spine.

"I'd take it easy if I were you," she added, as I bit back a cr y. "I used a variation of a very effective nerve pinch to knock you out. Your right side is going to feel numb for quite a while."

"Where am I?"

Josie laughed. "That's the million-dollar question. When I go back to the towers and tell your beautiful young lady and your fancy holographic computerthat I have you captive-and they don't know where you are-the bargaining will begin."

My heart sank as I pictured Rita's reaction to the news I'd been t aken captive by this deranged psychopath. "What did you do, sling me over your shoulder and march out of the tower? Someone must have seen you," I bluffed.

"It was damned hard work," Josie said, flexing her arm. "It's a good thing you're not a real big man. But I know for a fact no one saw me, because you told the computer to turn off its sensors. Your computer and your girl friend were busy elsewhere."

I groaned as that memory came back. Stupid! I'd fallen for Josie's 179

psychopathic charm and walked right into this one. I'd been so focuse d on trying to convince Rita I could take care of myself that I'd missed the details that would have alerted my pattern sense. I put on a bold face.

"Yeah, well, you can't have gotten too far from the towers. They'

ll come looking."

"Who'll come looking? That computer? I don't think it can leave the city. Rita by herself? Not likely."

I yanked at my bonds, but they only bit deeper into my flesh. I tried to conjure up some quantum magic by making them disappear, but the moment I tried to focus, an incredible pain shot through my head. I moaned, certain my skull was going to burst.

Josie giggled. "I wouldn't try to break those bonds if I were you, Lee. I've tied you up with a vine I found growing on the trees. It shrinks back tighter whenever it's yanked like that. And sorry about the headache. I think I banged your sk ull against a rock setting you down."

That explained the sluggishness of my thoughts. I probably had a concussion on top of everything else. "You're not going to get away with this," I growled, trying to wiggle around so I could see outside the cave. If I could get a mental i mage of my surroundings, I could send it to Rita telepathically.

"Oh, I think I am. They don't get you back until they agree to tra nsport me to Earth, and I only reveal your location when I'm safely home."

"That's it?" I gaped at her in surprise. I'd expected more d emands. "What about your fellow psychopaths?"

Josie tossed her golden curls. "What about them? Let them come up with their own plan."

Josie's complete lack of concern for anyone else was a chilling revel ation.Rita was right. These people were totally devoid of feeling. Maybe I was incredibly naive to think I could help them at all. I wiggled away from a stone that was digging into my hip and tried to think through the pounding in my head.

"Listen, if you untie me, I promise not to take any retribution for what you've done. I'll treat you like anyone else, and try to help you."

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"You don't get it, do you? I don't want help. I have no intenti on of releasing you. In fact, I'm going to enjoy the reaction of your woman when I te ll her that I have you captive."

"You'll be sorry," I warned. "Rita will know where I am the minute you talk to her."

Josie folded her arms and glared at me, as I struggled to sit up. "How's that?"

"Seconders are telepathic. She'll read your mind."

A worried look crossed her face. "You weren't bullshitting about probing my mind?"

"Why would I bullshit you about that?"

"I figure you Seconders are using us as an experiment. You're probably going to push us through the gates again to see what else they can do to peopl e."

The idea was so horrible only a psychopath could have thought of it. I s hook my head. "No, we're trying to help you."

"Yeah, well, I don't need someone messing around in my mind. As fo r reading it, I'd like to see you try."

She notched up her chin and gave me a challenging grin. Now was the moment to whip out my quantum superpowers and blow away the arrogance of this cold-blooded female, forcing her to release me. Unfortunately, my powers, such as they were, were not particularly impressive at the moment. My head hurt like bloody hell. The intense pain made it impossible to concentrate. Plus, my mind reading abilities functioned best Seconder-to-Seconder, or inside the city where the masters had carefully constructed optimum conditions for using the quantum flux.

Reality was more fluid there. Nevertheless, I had to try. I knit my brows together and struggled to concentrate. The pain in my head ratcheted up a notch, and I cried out.

"You fraud!" A sandaled foot kicked me in the stomach.

"Ooph!" The air rushed out of my lungs. I fought to breathe, unabl e to speak.

"I know what you intended, even if you won't admit it. You were go ing to control me with your mind, take away my free will."

I suppose it was natural for a psychopath to believe the worst. I foundmy breath at last. "I know what you're thinking," I wheezed. "You're thinking what an 181

asshole you are."

"Ve-ry funny!"

Josie kicked me again, hard, in the stomach. I screamed and doubled up, fighting my bonds. Stars danced on the dark roof of the cave. When I finally caught my breath again, Josie stood over me.

"I'm leaving you here, no food, no water," she said. "You'

d better hope your girlfriend and her pal computer cooperate. Be good 'til I get back."

With a mocking wave, she strode into the bright sunlight at the entrance to the cave and disappeared. As her footsteps faded, I lay still and tried to think of a way to escape. I'd had some military training years ago, when I'd fought in the militia against the rampaging Fourth Worlders in Old Houston. That training had included tying people up, but not how to get out of the ropes myself. So much for the physical approach. Time to call on the old superpowers again, although they had just failed me rather drastically. But then Josie hadn't given me much of a chanc e to probe her mind, the sweetheart.

I tugged at my bonds and winced as they dug into the already swollen fle sh around my wrists, but the thought that Josie was headed back to Rita drove me on.

She was a vicious character, capable of anything. My only consolation was that Rita had spotted her for what she was. She would have her guard up.

Meanwhile, I had to find a solution, and quantum chaos looked like my be st bet. If you don't like the reality you're in, create another one.

Only it's a bit more complicated than that. There were aspects of this reality I certainly didn't want to lose-Rita and Justina. I had to be careful and only imagine the sligh test possible variance. My bonds were the obvious place to begin. The vine was too tou gh to break. I pictured it made of a weaker fiber and then hesitated. Would a change in one plant change the whole evolution of this Nexus? If I made a change i n the present, would it change the past? What else might spring from my tampering with reality? Russell might know the answers, but I didn't.

The more I thought about it, the more dangerous it seemed. Messing with quantum reality is not an activity for the faint of heart. Fighting back asense of panic, I decided on another approach. I pictured the knots tied in a certain way, a 182

way that would give if I applied sufficient pressure. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on an image of Josie tying my hands and feet while my mind guided her as she tied the knots- With a violent yank, I broke free. Struggling into a sitting position, I reached down to untie my feet.

"Good work, Lee!" said a female voice.

I froze as fear stabbed through me. But the voice didn't belong to Jo sie.

Glancing up, I saw Amanda standing in the entrance to the cave. Her arms were folded across her chest and she had a smug look on her face as she eyed my attempts to free myself.

"Where the devil did you come from?" I snapped.

First she'd deserted her post on her assigned world, and then she had the nerve to show up on mine. If she'd appeared a few minutes earlier, I might have been happy to see her, but I no longer needed a rescue. I tore the last scraps of vine away from my ankles and hauled myself to my feet. It took an effort to s tand. My legs were numb and my back muscles cramped with pain. I had two goals in mind- to get back to the tower and deal with Josie, and to go through a gate a nd get a new body.

"I've been monitoring the release from a distance." Amanda took a step toward me. "It's gone better than I would have predicted."

"No thanks to you. You were assigned to help the Innocents on Nexus O ne.

What happened?"

"I got sidetracked by more important matters."

I stopped brushing the dirt off my pants and gave her the once over. She didn't look any different at first glance, but something about her tone triggered my pattern sense into full warning mode. The sense of impending danger I'

d felt for so long was suddenly back, full force. I began to wonder how she'd found me in this cave. How had she known my location?

"What's going on?" I demanded.

She sniffed. "Your feeble attempt to change reality started a series of vibrations throughout the flux that led me to you. Beings evolved enough to

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consciously manipulate the quantum potential are quite rare."

"I don't feel particularly evolved at the moment."

I tried to laugh, but it was too painful. Instead, I plucked a leaf from my hair.

Not content with banging my head against a rock, Josie must have thrown me down on some bushes, too, judging by the scratches on my arms. Amanda lifted an eyebrow.

"You're not that evolved-in fact, you and Russell have barely scratched the surface of what is possible. But you've gone as far as you're ever going to go. Your fear holds you back."

"Sometimes fear is a healthy thing." I didn't like the direction this conversation was taking.

"Lee, you poor, provincial Texas cowboy. You have no idea what you'

re missing, do you?"