"A psycher's gul ibility has no bearing on the destructive potential of his mind." She almost bit the last word. She shouldn't have said this.
Ven looked at her, his mind focusing on hers. If he looked too closely, she would be outed.
"Forgive me," Claire said. "I've been trying to read some research in my spare time. I may have misunderstood."
He considered it for a long second and let it go.
"You understand perfectly," he said. "But not many other people do."
He pul ed his doublet off the back of his chair.
"Where are you going?"
"To have a conversation with Savien Sangori. I'm going to attempt to explain the facts of life to him."
"Those facts being?" she asked.
"I make a dangerous enemy," he said, "and Sangori is an old provincial family. They had never before betrayed the integrity of their family name to make a credit. I'm curious why they decided to start now."
"What if he refuses to talk to you?"
"I'm not planning on giving him a chance to decline."
Alarm dashed through her. She set her pseudopapers in the chair and plucked her tablet out from the bottom of the stack.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm coming with you."
"Why?"
"Because you shouldn't go alone."
He peered at her incredulous. "And you're planning to come as my bodyguard?"
"I am."
It would take her at least three minutes to break through the shel over her mind, bringing her to combat readiness. It would be an eternity in a psycher fight, where death was instant. Stil , she couldn't let him go alone and she didn't need to listen to his mind to realize he wouldn't take anyone he considered capable of delivering damage to watch his back. Venturo Escana, arrogant beast that he was, would consider backup beneath him.
"Just out of purely academic curiosity, how exactly are you planning to defend me?" Ven asked. "You have no weapons, no combat enhancements, and your mind is inert.
Are you planning on beating Sangori's assassins off with that tablet or were you thinking of a more theoretical approach? Should I look forward to you giving me a detailed analysis of a knife sticking out of my back? If I happen to die, will you deliver a slide point presentation describing my valor at my funeral?"
"Are you finished?"
"Possibly."
"Very well." She raised her chin. "I'm ready when you are."
"You do realize that this is foolish?"
She simply looked at him, loading her gaze with as much scorn and sarcasm as she could manage.
As they were walking down the hal way, Ven leaned to her. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I hope you don't get us kil ed."
"They wouldn't dare touch you," he said. "You're a noncombatant."
They stepped into the elevator.
"Can you kil outside of bionet?" she asked.
"If the Sangori are smart, you will never have to find out," he said.
*** *** ***
Ven marched into the lobby of Sangori Investments.
Claire fol owed him, a step behind. Inside, white columns rose up, five stories tal and lit from the inside with a warm yel ow light. An ornate lacy relief of vines and flowers sheathed the columns, blocking the il umination, so the spaces between leaves and flowers glowed with white.
Delicate golden chairs sat in groups by ornate tables, so airy they might have been spun by spiders. People occupying the chairs chatted in quiet voices.
In the back of the lobby, a reception area waited, flanked by shorter columns that supported white statues of men on some sort of mounts. Bright green silk draped the reception counter, spil ing from it in pleated waves.
She had never seen so much opulence in her entire life.
Ven strode to the reception area across the polished floor inlaid with a green and gold mosaic. A man with a practiced smile greeted him.
"Venturo Escana to see Savien Sangori," Ven said.
"I'll show myself up."
Heads turned. Suddenly they were the focus of attention.
She felt the sharp points of psycher minds approaching from the left, where a gilded elevator slowly descended along the wal . Ven had felt them too, and moved to stand in front of her.
The elevator doors opened and Castil a de Solis walked out onto the floor. Her mind blazed like a luminescent supernova. In the split second, Claire assessed it. Castil a had power. The question was, did she have the skil to go along with it?
Behind her two men stepped out, one tal , older, with a square jaw, a walking brick. His mind glowed, not as bright as Castil a's, but strong enough. The man on his left was a leaner, faster, younger version of him, his blue-black hair fal ing in a long waterfal down his shoulders. His mind rivaled Castil a's but there was an odd brittle edge to it.
"Venturo," Castil a's eyes opened wide in mock surprise.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Scorn dripped from Venturo's voice.
The lean psycher's gaze met Claire's. The irises of his eyes were so light, they nearly glowed.
"Yes. Yes, I did."
"Was it worth starting a war?"
"Are we at war, Venturo?" Castil a raised her eyebrows.
"We are now."
"Then I'll start with your pretty little drone."
The lean psycher's mind caught Claire's in a fiery hot grip. Her body locked, her spine bending under unnatural angle. Her throat constricted, cutting the oxygen flow to a mere trickle, letting in just enough air to retain consciousness. She began to dismantle the shel from within.
The lean psycher's eyes widened, puzzled.
"She isn't screaming." Castil a blinked, feigning surprise. "Do you restrain your drone often, Ven? Perhaps she likes it?"
Venturo moved. The force of his mind shot out like a blow of an enormous club. The older man went flying across the lobby, his heavy body knocking the golden chairs into the air. Venturo spun, too fast, and then Castil a was locked in the cage of his arms, her back to his chest, his hand holding a red monomolecule blade a mil imeter away from her jugular.
"Attacking a civilian is a new low for you," he said, his voice calm, almost conversational. "Shal I tel your parents about it?"
She trembled, rage shivering in the curl of her upper lip. "Kil him!"
The older man slowly picked himself up off the floor.
His nose, mouth, and eyes bled. The lean psycher stared at Ven.
"Kill him!"
"They can't, dear," Ven told her, his lips a few centimeters from her ear. "You can't fight me with your mind. We've tried that, remember? If your cousins attack me, they'l have to spend time breaking through my outer shield. My blade will end your life in half a second. And then I'll kil both of them, and if I don't, your father will ."