Hostage to Pleasure

CHAPTER 18

Deep in the heart of the sunken city of Venice, six men and five women sat around a long, oval table. They were silent, their attention on a holographic recording playing in the center of the table. Patched together from a number of different sources, the recording was neither smooth nor continuous, but it provided the information they needed.

When it ended in a rush of white noise, the man at the head of the table switched it off, his cuff links glinting rose-gold in the artificial light. “I don’t think I need to explain our interest in Ms. Aleine.”

“She made a point of saying she destroyed the data.”

“She’s a scientist. They never destroy their work.”

Silence as they considered their options.

“We don’t need her, simply the data itself,” one of the women said. “The Psy might consider themselves the best at research and development, but we have people fully capable of utilizing the information.”

“Exactly my thoughts,” the man at the head of the table said. “Then I assume there’s no opposition to my motion—to send out a team to question Ms. Aleine?”

“She’s being protected.” A new female voice, liquid soft vowels and drawn-out syllables. “No one knows by whom, but they’ve hidden her.”

“The broadcast originated from a CTX transmitter in San Francisco.” The man with the cuff links leaned back, his gaze on the water that lapped at the edges of the mostly undersea habitat. “Could be DarkRiver and SnowDancer gave her a platform because they like to get in the Council’s face, or could be they’re the ones protecting her. But if she’s still in the city, we’ll know within a few hours.”

“What about her abilities? She may have aggressive ones.”

“We’ve got that covered,” the man next to her said. “It’s time the Psy learned they aren’t as all-powerful as they think.”