Kay Hooper - Blood Sins

"You think he's had help?"

"Isn't that more likely? I mean, mad makes a great shield, and mad and crazy with grief can make a stronger onebut he had that last summer, and you could read him then."

Bishop considered for a moment, then shook his head. "Whether he has help in blocking me isn't something I can do anything about right now. Things are moving too fast in Grace for any of us to shift our focus. At least two church members murdered in the last two weeks is either a deliberate escalation, a buildup of energy, or else a loss of control signaling something a lot worse."

"I really don't want to see this guy get worse," Quentin said dryly. "Either way."

"No. But unless we stop him soon, he undoubtedly will get worse. And these new energy readings are confirmation of what some of us have felt for months; now that we can actually measure what's happening, at least part of the increasing danger is clear."

"Well, it's obvious. But I don't know how clear it is. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Neither have I. But I don't need to be familiar with it to know that an electromagnetic field fluctuating like this one is as unnatural as it is potentially deadly."

"Yeah, I got that. It's one reason I didn't argue when you asked Diana to stay at Quantico."

"And I got that," Bishop murmured.

Quentin cleared his throat and bent once again over the map of the church's Compound, making rather a production of studying it. It was an unusual map only in that it was extremely detailed and had a clear film overlay on which were numerous cryptic symbols and mathematical formulas. "Okay, so I've been a little protective. Sue me."

"She'll be fine, Quentin. She's improving every day, more in command of her abilities, and healing in every way. You were right about how much strength she has."

"She's still got a long way to go."

"She's nearly completed her formal training."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Fishing?"

"Well, I haven't seen anything about us. I was hoping you and Miranda might have."

"Sorry."

"Sorry you haven't seen anything? Or sorry you can't tell me what you've seen?"

"The former. We've been a bit preoccupied by this investigation, remember? Andthe visions have been few and far between lately."

"Ah. I wondered why you wanted me along on this one. Not like you to bring in more than one primary, as a rule. Not from the early stages of the investigation, anyway."

"Precogs are in short supply, and if there's anything here to be seen ahead of time, I want that edge."

"If you and Miranda haven't seen anything, I'm not likely to."

"You might."

"I'm stronger with Diana around," Quentin pointed out.

"Yes. But she can't be here; she's a medium. A very powerful medium. Hollis wouldn't be here if it wasn't crystal clear she's meant to be. For whatever reason."

"I'm not arguing, not about Diana. Butno visions? At all?"

"Not in a while."

Pushing aside the personal ramifications of his unanswered question, Quentin said, "I really don't like the sound of that. It's one thing if some of the rest of us are affected psychically by Samuel or his peopleor whoever the hell is generating some of these weird energy fields strong enough to scare away the wildlifebut you and Miranda have been solid and stable for a long time now, no matter what we've investigated. If this is affecting you guys"

"We don't know that it is." Bishop hesitated, then added, "We don't know that it isn't. One reason why I have to be hereand Miranda stays away."

"And if it turns out part of Samuel's plan is to eliminate you? To try a little more divide-and-conquer where you and Miranda are concerned? You're not exactly making it harder for him."

"Miranda's shield is holding, and we've managed to amplify it recently. I shouldn't read as psychic; in the lab, our strongest team members couldn't pick up even my presence."

"In the lab."

"Yes."

"I guess it's useless to remind you that fieldwork tends to explode a lot of the theories and beliefs we develop in the lab."

"It's all we have, Quentin. We have logic, and we have our theories, until experience proves us wrong."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. That experience will prove us wrong this time. Because it so often does. And if it does, it'll be a little late to adjust our theories."

"No choice. We have too many people at risk. Besides, if Samuel even knows I'm anywhere nearby Well, let's just say if he's that powerful, it wouldn't make much difference where I was."

Half under his breath, Quentin muttered, "This just keeps getting better and better."

"We have good people on our side, Quentin."

"We have too many rookies. At best, they get distracted from the job, from the mission, the way Sarah did. At worst, they can be an active liability."

"Sarah did what she thought was right."

"I know. And I don't blame her for it. Hell, I might have done the same thing. But it cost her her life. And it cost us a valuable set of senses on the inside."

"I know."

Quentin shot his boss a sharp glance. Then he sighed. "I know you know. Look, I like Tessa, I really do, but she's under a hell of a lot of pressure, and I'm not at all sure she won't buckle."

"Tessa will do her best. Which is all any of us can do. And Hollis is with her."

Quentin finally stopped pretending to study the map. He straightened and cocked an eyebrow once again. "Sort of had to reconfigure your plan when she showed up, didn't you?"

"It was unexpected," Bishop allowed.

"A sign from the universe? A not-so-gentle nudge to remind you that whatever you know or think you know, none of us is really in control of our destiny?"

"Maybe. But after Venture I didn't need the reminder, believe me. I'm taking nothing for granted, not this time. We've already paid too high a price."

After a moment, Quentin looked down at the map again and said slowly, "Judging by all this I'm thinking the cost so far may turn out to be only a down payment."

TESSA HADN'T PLANNEDon returning to the Compound so soon, but when Ruth "just thought I'd stop by" on Thursday morning to check on her, Tessa allowed herself to be convinced to pay a second visit to the church later that day.

Hollis emerged as soon as the visitor had gone, saying, "I'm not sure going back so soon is a good idea, Tessa."

"Why not?"

"Because yesterday drained you, because you hardly got any rest last night, and because you've been up since before dawn," Hollis answered frankly. "I look like hell?"

"You look tired."

"Good. That's the way they're supposed to see me, remember? Tired. Unsure. Vulnerable."

"Yeah, but it's supposed to be a pretense. When you're tired, there's a danger your shields will weaken and leave you exposed to another psychic. In this case, a psychic we're reasonably sure can, at the very least, steal or siphon off abilities from someone elseand possibly kill with his own."

"Reasonably sure. But no evidence we're right."

"I wouldn't bet your life on the sliver of uncertainty, Tessa."

"No." Tessa drew a breath, trying to contain the impatience she felt even as she acknowledged the strangeness of it. "No, of course not."

"All I'm saying is that you have to be careful. Samuel has shown a lot of interest in bringing latents into his church, maybe because he's figured out their brains produce more electromagnetic energy than nonpsychics and sees them as another potential energy source. But we don't know how he deals with active psychics on the insideunless we assume from what happened to Sarah."

"Can we assume from that? She reported her belief that at least one of Samuel's people is a powerful psychic, right?"