“Any theories on what was going on with all that morphing?”
“Looks like he may have possessed two high-grade talents,” Fallon said. “But he couldn’t control them both.”
Raine walked in from the kitchen, carrying a bamboo tray that held a delicate pot and two fragile-looking cups. She had changed out of the sexy black dress into a white spa robe. Slippers had replaced the stiletto heels. Her hair was still up in a sultry twist but several silky tendrils had come loose during the excitement in the alley. They dangled around her ears and down the nape of her neck in an incredibly sexy way. Zack’s body, still abuzz with leftover adrenaline, reacted immediately.
“I thought the appearance of multiple high-level talents in any one individual was supposed to be impossible,” Zack said, unable to take his eyes off Raine. “The experts claim that one talent always becomes dominant.”
“Like everything else, there’s an exception to the rule,” Fallon growled. “The historical record indicates that there have been a few cases in which certain individuals displayed strong levels of more than one type of talent. But yes, the phenomenon is extremely rare. According to the experts, there is a logical explanation for why one talent is almost always dominant.”
“Something to do with overstimulation of the brain, right?”
“The brain is designed to process a vast amount of incoming data supplied by all the senses. It is also engineered to tune out unimportant or unnecessary information coming in from those senses. We call it the ability to focus. But if that ability is overridden, the brain can short-circuit, for want of a better term.”
“Information overload.”
“You yourself know that it’s hard enough to handle the stimuli provided by a level-ten psychic sensitivity,” Fallon said. “Takes a lot of willpower and self-control. Just imagine what it would be like to deal with two equally powerful talents.”
“The guy in the ski mask was definitely losing control. It was worse tonight than last night. He was blinking on and off like a bad neon sign.”
“I checked out every reference I could find,” Fallon said. “In each confirmed instance, and admittedly there were only a handful, the double-talents died at an early age. Probably nature’s way of ensuring that those folks don’t become super predators who, in turn, breed more super predators.”
“If you’re right, what are the odds that Nightshade came up with one of those extremely rare multitaskers who didn’t die young?”
“Slim to nothing,” Fallon said. “My gut tells me that Nightshade didn’t find a double-talent; they created one using some new variation of the formula.”
“Makes sense. But if they went to all that trouble to produce one, why destroy such an expensive tool?”
“Obviously because he proved unreliable,” Fallon said. “He went up against you twice and failed both times. Nightshade seems to be a very Darwinian organization. Only the strong and the successful survive and advance to the higher ranks.”
“Sure hope they don’t have a whole bunch of high-level double-talents lined up to fill that guy’s shoes.”
“Not likely.” Fallon sounded very certain. “Cost issues aside, the analysts assure me that, statistically speaking, there are very, very few people who possess the sort of parapsych profile that could be chemically stimulated to create a functioning double-talent.”
“Statistics wasn’t my favorite subject. Too many ways they can be manipulated.”
“Look on the bright side,” Fallon said, dourly cheerful. “You’re obviously making progress with the assignment. At least we now know that Lawrence Quinn is dead and that the double-talent you encountered tonight is probably the one who killed him.”
“We also know that Nightshade stole something from Quinn before taking him out. His computer, I think. The bartender at the club said he had one with him.”
“Probably contained his research notes or whatever information he intended to sell to Nightshade,” Fallon mused. “But something must have gone wrong. The folks who arranged to kill Quinn and steal the computer didn’t get whatever it was they expected to find so they’re back in Oriana. And Raine Tallentyre is the only lead we’ve got. Whatever you do, don’t let her out of your sight.”
Zack heard a click and realized he was holding a handful of dead air. He clipped the phone back on his belt, stopped pacing and looked at Raine. She was seated on the sofa, pouring tea with a sensual grace that made the breath catch heavily in his chest. Everything deep inside went tight and hard.
Get a grip, Jones. It’s just the aftermath. You’ve been here before and survived.
Raine set the pot down on the tray and looked at him with a shadowed expression. “What did Fallon have to say?”
He forced himself to concentrate and managed to give her a quick summary of Fallon’s comments.
The cats, having concluded that the pacing game was over, wandered over to the sofa and hopped up onto the cushions on either side of Raine.
Zack shoved his fingers through his hair, trying to concentrate. “One good thing. Fallon doesn’t think we need to be worried about another double-talent hanging around the vicinity of Oriana.”
Raine used both hands to raise the tiny cup to her lips. “What about the person who just murdered the one we did have?”
“Him, we probably should worry about.” He realized he was staring at her mouth. Focus, Jones. He started moving again, prowling the room. “But maybe not for a while.”
She paused before taking a sip of the herbal concoction. “Why do you say that?”
“Fallon may be right. Maybe Nightshade did remove their double-talent because he failed to get rid of me. But there’s another possibility. Maybe the real reason for the termination was that Ski Mask slipped out of control and became a problem.”
She pondered that briefly.
“You mean you don’t think he was ordered to make another attempt to kill you tonight? You believe he was acting on his own?”
“He was running very, very hot. It’s hard to explain but I sensed that he wanted to kill me for his own, personal reasons. He just didn’t have the kind of detachment that a pro is supposed to have. Fallon thinks they were giving him some variation of the formula. It may have affected his sanity.”
She shuddered. “From what you’ve said, the founder’s formula has a long history of driving users crazy.”