"It's the perfect test run," Bronse argued. "We don't even need any special powers or abilities to get him at this point. This team could take down JuJuren doing what it has always done long before you all came into the picture. If we get Chaser to create this mission and design it specifically for us, then we won't be burning any bridges here and we'll still get what we want."

"No. They'll just take you away. They'll separate us." Finally emotion crept into her voice, her despair creasing across her face as she reached out to touch his bare chest with shaking fingertips. The tremors were like something he would expect to see on someone withdrawing from a drug. Now he could see why she hadn't wanted to use her powers to save herself. With such a strong chemical flooding her brain, interfering with her judgment of right and wrong, she could spiral into committing any number of acts that went against everything she believed in.

"We won't let that happen. Even if it takes using Devan to charm them into thinking our way, that's what we'll do," Bronse said softly. "But let's get Chaser to try first. He's much more convincing and much better placed than you might think. But we have to do this quickly. The minute JuJuren realizes he failed, he's going to bolt. We have to call Chaser now."

"And they'd put together an operation that fast?" she asked doubtfully. "They won't let JuJuren get away?"

"Have faith," Bronse told her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "There's a reason why I've thought that the IM was the best of the best. Let me prove it to you."

"And if you can't? If it doesn't work?" she said doubtfully.

"It will work," Lasher spoke up. "Instead of letting this incident tear us all apart, we'll make it work in our favor and prove how cohesive we can really be. Granted, I'd rather you all went through all of your training before taking you out on a mission, but we've already proven we can work together. We'll go in and do our thing, and you guys can come along as a sort of safety net. We'll have you there to track and catch JuJuren if he somehow manages to get away from the initial action."

"The only thing is, the kids will have to stay home," said Bronse.

"I know that," Ravenna said quietly, searching his face, then Lasher's. "Okay," she said at last. "I'll trust you."

"It's irresponsible to send them out on a mission when they haven't even been trained," Greays was saying, his aged face creased with disapproval. "What are you thinking, Abingdon?"

"I'm thinking we have one of our own out there turned against us. This new source that dropped in my lap last night is as fresh as they get. Last night he infiltrated this station with orders to kill one of us." Chase very smoothly omitted saying who the target had been. "If JuJuren can still get that close inside of this outfit, then he's even more of a danger than we first thought. He has a lot of top-secret information in his head, and he's going to start using it if we give him half a chance. With my new intel I know exactly where he is. All I need is the best of the best to extract and bring him back here, where he won't do any more harm. That means involving Bronse and his crew."

"There are other ETF teams," Greays argued. "I need Bronse's crew here protecting our a.s.sets."

"Chapel's crew is the best, as I said. But if we let them take Kith, Ravenna, and Vivienne with them, it will be the first practical application of the Chosen Ones in the field. It will go a long way to proving just how powerful an a.s.set they'll be."

"And if we put them out there too soon, they could fail and prove just the opposite," the other admiral balked.

"Are you saying you're afraid the Chosen Ones won't succeed in the field?" Chaser asked archly, leading the other man into a well-laid trap.

"Ridiculous! You've seen the testing. These people will be unstoppable one day."

"There's no such thing," Abingdon argued. "They all have enough weaknesses in one way or another to make defeat possible. h.e.l.l, Fallon gets a migraine just about every time he uses his ability. Ophelia grows frail and weak if she overextends herself. Ravenna is strong, but her visions can be just vague enough at times to cause confusion and trouble."

"If you think they're so inferior, then why are you trying to send them out on a mission?"

"Because they'll be going with ETF. They'll be out there with Chapel. And they'll be there just as backup. It's not like I want them front and center doing infiltration and capture. I just need Kith and Fallon to monitor the thoughts and emotions of the target, and I need Vivienne to short out any security that JuJuren might have rigged up around himself. Ravenna obviously is self-explanatory."

"Fallon is only seventeen years old. Kith's not much older. Are you sure you want kids out there?"

Chaser smiled. It was the break in total resistance that he had been waiting for from Greays. Once the other man got that contemplative tone in his voice, Chaser knew he'd gone from full against the idea to starting to work the logistics. Bronse, Chaser thought with a small smile, was going to owe him big-time for this. Not that he was putting his neck on the line or anything. Liaising and helping to create missions like this one was part of his job, part of how he brought criminals in the IM and elsewhere to justice. And to be frank, he wanted to get his hands on the corrupting influence of JuJuren just as much as Bronse did. The former admiral was like a poison in what was, at heart, a good outfit. They had to stop him before it went any further. They had to stop him before Chapel's luck ran out and one of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's a.s.sa.s.sination attempts finally hit the mark.

Chaser for one was really d.a.m.n curious about why JuJuren had a hard-on for his friend, and he knew that Bronse wanted to know the same thing. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send in someone who had such a personal stake in seeing the admiral brought in, but, on the other hand, no one would work harder toward the goal than Bronse. If he didn't come home with JuJuren or JuJuren's body, he'd send in his resignation.

"Time's a wasting, Admiral," Chaser coaxed Greays. "I need a decision."

"You can have Ravenna, Fallon, and Vivienne," Greays relented at last. "Kith isn't to be trusted yet. He's too volatile and temperamental. I'll reconsider after he has some discipline under his belt."

Like any good negotiator, Abingdon knew when to back off.

"Deal."

"This is bulls.h.i.t!" Kith exploded, his face mottling with his outrage. "What the h.e.l.l am I doing in this place if they won't let me do things like this?"

"You're going to train and earn some trust, so the next time they will let you do it," Bronse shot back, not letting Ravenna have the chance to soft-touch the spoiled young man. "You've done nothing but fight and gripe and act like a sullen son of a b.i.t.c.h in the three weeks you've been here. The only thing you've proven to the bra.s.s is just how immature you are and how much you can't be trusted to listen and follow instructions. They're taking a huge risk sending us after JuJuren; they aren't going to compound that risk by sending you with us."

Kith's hands fisted, the muscles in his jaws jumping as he fought the urge to tell off Bronse, or yell and scream or whatever it was he was feeling. But he did none of it. For the first time since the commander had known the kid, he managed to control himself and back down. Bronse actually saw a glimmer of hope for the young man with whom he faced off.

He could feel Ravenna's absolute shock as she watched her brother wordlessly back away from the argument, watched him accept the consequences of his actions. Kith's feelings about Bronse had always been clear, but now he was listening to the other man and feeling the impact of his words. Ravenna tasted a dose of the same hope that Bronse was experiencing.

"I just wanted to help," Kith said. But all the punch had left his words, if not the whole of his body language.

"And you will. I think that, one day, with a lot of hard work and training, you'll be a h.e.l.l of a soldier, Kith. You're proficient in martial arts already, and your ability to read intention from emotion is truly invaluable. If you keep working in the right direction, you'll be the best d.a.m.n thing the Interplanetary Militia has seen in a long time. Better even than me."

Kith was utterly shocked by the admission, and the expression on his face was just shy of comical. Despite all of the younger man's bl.u.s.ter and unfocused temper, he'd come to appreciate just how skilled and impressive Bronse Chapel really was. To be told that he could be even better than that made a significant impact.

It was all Ravenna could do to keep from kissing Bronse right there in the open where everyone could see. But it certainly would be counterproductive to their goal if she were to expose her and Bronse's relationship right then, so she controlled herself with a silent, steady exhale of breath.

"I'll need you to keep a close eye on the others," Ravenna told her brother. "They'll be vulnerable without the team to watch over them. And I'm not talking about guarding their lives, either." She stepped up to him and made certain that he was meeting her eyes. "You need to keep Ophelia from using her abilities in the open, and you need to make certain that Devan isn't scared without us. Also, you can't let Spec Ops overwork them. There's no telling how long this will take, and someone needs to keep watch."

"But Domino is older," Kith said with confusion, the suspicion in his voice telling her that he thought she was humoring him.

"Domino is focused on Domino. He's more fixated on looking out for himself than he would be looking out for others. Ophelia is your sister, and I know you care about Devan, so I trust you to do right by them."

Ravenna made a mental apology to Domino for selling him short, but giving Kith this kind of responsibility in reward for controlling himself was essential to conditioning out the selfish streak that had been so prevalent in his makeup of late.

"All right," Kith said carefully. Then he squared his shoulders and nodded. "All right. I'll look out for them. You can count on me."

"Are you sure?" Ravenna pressed, knowing she had to add just a touch of doubt if she wanted him to believe her.

"Yes, of course. I'll show you that you can trust me."

Ravenna smiled at him and reached out to squeeze his hand. "I know I can." Then she turned her attention back to Bronse. "So how will we do this?"

First, we'll approach through the back of the building. Minimal exposure. Trick will hack in from the kitchens and get the room number from the guest book.

"Guys, we have a problem," Trick said softly as he sat crouched in a dark corner of the kitchen prep area, his handheld VidPad plugged into the interface port around the corner.

"You couldn't hack in?" The surprise in Lasher's voice was more than evident.

"No, that's not it." Trick double-checked his data. "JuJuren has bought out every room on his floor with his cover name's accounts. What does one man need with a whole floor of rooms?"

"Privacy?" Ender suggested.

"More like troops," Bronse realized.

Lasher, Ravenna, and I will enter the hotel straight on, as if we were guests.

"This sucks," Lasher murmured through his microphone as he sat himself down across from the elevators and crossed his legs, as if he wasn't keeping his eyes trained on the lifts and the lobby entrances all at the same time. His coat hid the laser pistol on his hip as well as the collapsible rifle slung against his spine.

He glanced over at Ravenna and Bronse just as she wound her arms around his neck and whispered to him as if they were sharing a lover's secret.

"How are we going to approach if he has a whole floor cordoned off?" she asked softly.

"Ender?"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Position?"

Ender and Justice will be in full gear, landing a light craft on the roof as soon as the pad is clear. We'll come up from the ground and they'll drop down from above.

"Approaching the southwest corner of the roof. No sign of any guards or lookouts. Either he's really c.o.c.ky or we're missing something." Ender reached the southern rail of the roof and looked down the long distance to the ground. The wind was high at that height, buffeting both soldiers strongly. "We're going to get knocked around up here," he warned Bronse. Rappelling down the side of the building would be tricky at best. With a high wind, it would be a fight.

"Copy that," Bronse said. He looked at Ravenna. "I want to have Fallon come in and ride the elevator past the twenty-third floor. I don't want him to stop on that floor, though, because they are bound to have lookouts and will see him as a threat. I just want him to ride past the floor and get as much of a read as he can from whoever is just outside the elevator door."

"How are you going to search a whole floor?" Rave asked.

If JuJuren is half the soldier he used to be, he has a corner room. They tend to have exits into two separate corridors, and the emergency stairs are located the shortest distance away.

"We need to search only four rooms," Trick said.

"That's three too many," Bronse retorted. "We have to figure out which one he's in. That's why I need Fallon."

"I won't send him alone," Rave warned him.

"I'll ride the elevator with him," Lasher spoke up.

"No. It should be me," Ravenna argued. "JuJuren knows your faces. He doesn't know mine. If something happens and we run into someone accidentally, we're not the ones they'll be looking for. And you know I can protect Fallon if need be."

Bronse knew it was the truth, but he didn't like the idea of the price she had to pay for using her telekinesis. This was too volatile a situation for her to start losing judgment. But he knew she was right. If JuJuren was wise, he'd have shown Bronse's face to every single man working for him. With so many people milling in and out of the hotel, the longer the crew stayed there, even in the lobby, the higher the risk of them getting made. Bronse had to be satisfied, for the moment, that with teams above and below the former admiral, he would run into trouble either way if he tried to escape.

Fallon and Vivienne will wait in the van in the street. We won't use them unless absolutely necessary.

"Fallon, are you copying all of this?" Bronse asked.

"He's already on his way in," Vivi's voice came in over their earpieces.

Fallon walked through the front doors of the hotel, spying Ravenna and Bronse instantly and walking right over to them. They greeted each other at normal volume, Ravenna reaching to kiss his cheek as she might do for any friend who suddenly appeared before her. Then she and Fallon left Bronse behind and walked directly to the elevators. There was no time for any instructions other than the ones that were spoken into their ears as they crossed the expansive floor.

"Go in the lift and press the b.u.t.ton for the twenty-fourth and the twenty-second floors. That will slow you down enough so Fallon should be able to grab something. If the elevator stops on the twenty-third floor for any reason, you just remember to act like any other pa.s.senger and then get off on the twenty-fourth floor. Otherwise, just ride the lift back down to the lobby."

"Got it," Ravenna said softly as the lift doors opened to let off a slew of hotel guests. She walked into the elevator and pressed the b.u.t.ton for the twenty-second floor. Fallon pressed the twenty-fourth floor b.u.t.ton.

Fallon took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind for what promised to be a very difficult trick. He would start to be able to get into the minds of the people on the twenty-third floor from as much as a floor away, but no matter how slow they made the elevator go, it would still be a random grab for minds that might or might not be there.

The floors came racing up, and the elevator stopped at twenty-two. No one came or went, and the pa.s.sengers in the car grumbled at the delay. Then the doors closed and the lift moved on. Ravenna was so focused on watching Fallon concentrate that she didn't realize that the elevator had stopped again until Fallon's eyes flew open with an expression of utter fear dilating them.

Ravenna looked up to see the former admiral they were chasing as he stepped onto the lift. He was about Bronse's height but clearly much older. A distinguished older. His close-cut white hair was as neat as every st.i.tch of clothing he wore. He held one hand in the other and turned to calmly face the front of the lift. He was accompanied by two large and very obviously armed men. Bodyguards.

Ravenna couldn't believe this was happening. She was standing right behind the man who had tried on at least three occasions to kill Bronse. This monster had sent a killer into her home, a beast with a gun who would have killed her and an innocent child as well as Bronse-and for what? For what possible reason?

She wanted to grab him and demand the answers. She wanted to use her mind and throw the lot of them down the elevator shaft and be done with them once and for all. Her anger was so hot and so consuming that she had to struggle to control herself. Especially because Fallon was there, white as a sheet, afraid for his life and hers.

No doubt afraid for Bronse's and Lasher's lives as well. The minute JuJuren stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, the risk of his identifying Bronse and Lasher was high and dangerous. The armed men he had with him didn't look like the type to care about their targets. Laser fire would start to fly, and innocent people would get hurt.

But Rave couldn't speak to warn the men. JuJuren was practically on top of her and would hear her.

"Rave? What's going on?" Bronse asked in her ear for what she realized was the second time. "Ravenna? Answer me, d.a.m.n it."

"Excuse me, do you have the time?" she blurted out suddenly, touching the former admiral on his sleeve to get his attention. It earned her dirty looks from the guards, but JuJuren lifted a hand to call them off.

"It's just about half cycle," JuJuren replied, looking her over slowly and carefully. Ravenna suppressed a chill as she realized that it was a very male appraisal. She could imagine the thoughts going through JuJuren's head based on Fallon's angry expression alone.

"Something's wrong, she's not answering," she heard Bronse direct to the team.

"But she's clearly not in trouble," Lasher returned.

"Or in trouble but can't speak up about it," said Bronse. "d.a.m.n it, someone got on the elevator with them!"

She loved him. Oh, what an insane moment to realize it, but Ravenna knew in that moment of uncanny insight that she was simply mad about Bronse Chapel. Everything about him thrilled her, from the sublime to the s.e.xual, and right now it was the keenness of his intellect that she truly adored. With a pa.s.sion. Her relief that he understood was profound, even as her epiphany about what she felt for him was shockingly overwhelming. She'd never been in a relationship before, never mind found herself in love. And she knew there were dozens of complications involved, and that she didn't have the luxury of thinking about a single one of them in that moment.

"You're not from Tari, are you?" JuJuren asked as he eyed her strange coloring and exotic features. Tarins were much more rugged, and a lot less likely to be as poised and graceful as she came across even when she was standing in a resting stance.

"s.h.i.t! That's JuJuren!" she heard Bronse hiss in her ear.

"No. I'm from Ebbany," she said with as much casual ease as she could muster. She glanced at the indicator and saw the floor numbers rapidly dwindling as the elevator headed for the lobby. They should have gotten off on the twenty-fourth floor as instructed, but she and Fallon had been taken completely off guard by JuJuren's sudden appearance.

"A hard place to grow up. But I like it there," JuJuren mentioned.

"It's a beautiful and dangerous world," she replied.

His smile was smug, but his eyes had a glint of temper in them. "Not dangerous enough," he muttered.

He had no idea that she understood the reference. Nor did she care. All she wanted to know was what she and Fallon were going to do.

"What floor are they going to?" Bronse demanded.

Ravenna turned to Fallon with a smile. "How about that lobby downstairs? Have you ever seen anything so big in your life?"

Fallon mutely shook his head, knowing the remark wasn't meant for him.

"Vivi! Get your a.s.s in here double time!" said Bronse.

Through his earpiece Bronse could hear the sound of someone fumbling, and then he saw Vivi running and breathing heavily as she raced into the lobby.

Bronse grabbed her by her arm and led her to the elevators.

"Stop the elevators. Right now. We need to buy some time."