Rhea
sighed. She hated this kind of mess. Lately, it seemed like she had faced more
than enough. She had sensed the power, the talent in Scott from far enough
away, she knew he had enough potential to be dangerous in the wrong hands. She
had not thought the encounter would end up like this.
"Just
hold on a second, Scott," she said. "Let me and Malone straighten
this out, then you and I will talk. Okay, Malone. You know by now, I can't take
this job." She looked down at the file folder with the photos of Scott and
his father, sitting on her lap. "He's one of mine -- I could feel his
energy a mile off. He could be the main target."
Malone
grunted agreement and stalked across the room to stand in front of her. He gave
Scott one distrustful look, then turned his back on the boy. Rhea wavered
between laughter and frustration. Malone was worried about her -- he wouldn't
believe if she said Scott was no threat.
"No
more data?" she asked, flipping through the folder. All she had read was
background on Paul Forrester's last few encounters with people -- his narrow
escapes from Agent George Fox -- and copies of the office memos that resulted
in her presence in this city, waiting to meet with Fox and help him catch his
prey. She tapped Scott's photo with her fingernails. There was a pulse of
energy that wrapped around the boy -- it put a wall between her and him.
"He
won't say," Malone admitted. He looked uneasy, and Rhea wondered if part
of his anger and caution was because of that lack of knowledge. "When he
briefed me, I felt he was almost afraid to tell me what he wanted."
"Not
the Future of Man, then?" She chuckled when Malone stiffened.
"You
reading my mind again, Jones?"
"We
both know the futurists haven't pulled all their spies from the agency." She
stiffened as a mental leap flashed through her brain. Forrester. Rhea cast one
look at Scott, really studying his face this time. The boy only glared at her,
his growing impatience clear on his face.
"What
is it, Jones?" Malone demanded.
"I
managed to get hold of my file -- the one with the truth of how they changed my
identity and records. There was a photographer covering the air crash that
killed my parents, before the FOM's government people hushed everything." She
tapped the photos and Malone nodded that he understood. Rhea picked up Paul's
photo and studied it. "I wonder how he got on their wrong side?"
"You
think he worked for the FOM and fell from grace?"
"If
his son has the potential I felt..." Rhea shuddered. "They want me
for breeding -- what if Scott is a result of their work?"
"Too many ifs."
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