Chapter 22

"Wait," I said, and smiled when I realized we didn't have as serious a problem with Andy and Liz as we'd thought. "Sandy, Josh knows, that's why he's smiling again. Liz just ripped Andy a new one. She told him in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't be a party to any deception. Either Josh would say yes, or he'd say no. If he said yes, they'd proceed. If his answer was no, they'd back off and declare the situation: no harm, no foul."

"Emotionally, Andy's very relieved," Josh said. "He'd suggested the deception because the theft of my sperm without my knowledge would be the least complicated way to proceed, but he wasn't comfortable with the suggestion."

"Perhaps they should consult a geneticist, like you suggested a while back to find out if you and I could have a baby, Josh," Sandy said, giving him a verbal jab with an imaginary elbow.

Josh fixed his dark eyes on his sister's. He probed her deeply. I felt him moving around my scan.

"You're not ready yet," Josh said, finally.

"Humph. When Andy and Liz ask you to lend Liz your gene pool, and then be an Indian giver about it, what will you tell them?"

"You're opposed. Nicole's opposed. I'll say no."

"For us?" Sandy said.

"Of course."

"That's so sweet, that is, if you were telling the unadulterated truth. You'll say no for you, not for us. What I don't know is why?"

"Were a TRES. The three of us will have children when were ready, and I will be the father of our babies, and I'll be there for them as their father. Andy and Liz are close friends. We've employed them as our architect and interior designer for our home base in Arizona, and will probably employ them for the office complex here in Las Vegas. We also have sex with them for the fun of it. I don't love Liz, and the two of you don't love Andy. Both of you are opposed to the idea of me spreading my gene pool around, and frankly, Sandy, your opinion and Nicole's can and does sway any decision I face. I'd be cheating our TRES and the love the three of us have for each other if I consented to such a request."

"God, I love you, Joshua Johnson," I breathed and proceeded to kiss him silly. When I finished with him, Sandy curled his toes when she expressed her form of love and appreciation.

The five of us entered Le Cirque together, and the whimsical setting delighted me. Colors flashed like jewels, and silk banners reminiscent of the ceiling of a Sheik's tent swooped down in graceful folds. We ordered our drinks and all of us decided to go with the three-course tasting menu.

I was sipping wine, when I felt Josh digging into my mind like he was using a jackhammer. "Josh, that hurts! Back off!"

What? he asked silently.

Your scan, it's rough, almost mean.

That's not me! Put up your shield! Now!

He turned to Sandy, and I assumed he told her to put up her shield, as well, because she looked a little frightened. Josh gave her hand a little squeeze for reassurance.

"What's wrong?" Liz asked.

"Josh inadvertently stepped on my foot," I said and looked around the restaurant. A telepath or empath had been in my head, and he or she was clumsy and heavy-minded. Could I see him? Whoever was scanning me wasn't happy with my shield. I felt his probes crashing into the barrier, not once but a half-dozen times. Jerk!

Josh leaned to my ear and said, "Lower your shield briefly so I can follow the signal back to its source."

"Now?" I said.

He nodded, and I dropped my shield. Almost immediately, a deep probe struck with force, and I cried out with pain. I had to push forcefully against the probe before I could raise my shield again.

"Got him," Josh said softly.

"Are you all right?" Liz asked me, looking confused.

"Headache," I said. I leaned to Josh's ear. "Is he in the restaurant?"

"Oh, yeah, and I'm digging into his attitudes, but carefully. He doesn't know I'm there."

Our whispering was bothering Andy and Liz, and Sandy didn't look very happy either. Our TRES needed a private conversation, but not until Josh did his thing. I waited impatiently and sipped wine.

Suddenly, Liz gasped with pain, and Andy took his hands to his head and groaned. They were being probed, and they didn't know about shields.

"Zap the fucker, Josh!" I said out loud.

He nodded, and my eyes flitted around the restaurant, searching for the man Josh would slap with an attitude.

Then I saw him. He was rolling around on the floor as if he were having a grand mall seizure. A woman hurried to the man and knelt beside him.

"My headache is getting worse," I said. "I think I'd like to go back to our room."

"I'm with you," Liz said.

"Go ahead, everyone," Josh said. "I'll take care of the bill and cancel our dinners."

"What was that all about?" Sandy asked as soon as we were alone.

"A telepath or empath probed me. He was clumsy about it, and mean. He hurt me. Josh zapped him with an attitude after his probes hurt Andy and Liz."

"That man having a seizure?"

"Yes."

I lowered my shield, searched for Josh's mind and found it, and I felt him connect with mine.

Is everything under control? I asked.

Temporarily. The man's name is Paul Garnet. He's drunk, and from what I could gather in his muddled, drunken state, he felt your scan when you entered Le Cirque, but he couldn't find the source, but when you scanned the woman he was with, he followed your signal back to you. In his defense, his clumsy and painful probes were the result of his inebriated state. I don't think he was being mean on purpose. When you raised your shield, you pissed him off, frustrated him. He'd never encountered a shield before. When he couldn't probe your mind, he hit Sandy's, but by then, her shield was in place. We got lucky when you lowered your shield and I followed your scan to find him because he didn't probe me. He hit Liz next, and then Andy. That's when I put him on the floor and out of action - for a while.

I followed up the seizure send with some deep probes, Josh continued silently. From what I found, he's neither a good man nor a bad one, but he has some bad habits. He drinks too much, is on the verge of becoming an alcoholic if he hasn't already succumbed to the addiction. He's a womanizer, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but his relationships are all about him. He treats his women as sex objects. On the other hand, he's rich - inherited money - and gives graciously to some favorite charities, which are primarily battered women and children shelters. His father beat him and his mother when he was a boy, so he has a soft spot for victims of domestic violence. He calls himself a rancher, but eighty acres doesn't make a ranch. His best friends are horses. He's also a country singer wannabe.

Then I sent a few more attitudes his way, Josh said to me empathically. They may or may not hold. One told him to forget about what happened in Le Cirque tonight. Another should stop him from scanning any of us again. I'm on my way to the room.

I filled Sandy in on what Josh had just told me, and he walked into the room as I finished bringing her up to date.

Josh flashed his boyish grin, and I melted. "I'm hungry," he said. "Let's do room service."

He'd pushed me out of his mind and raised his shield before he arrived, so I'd done the same. Sandy's shield was still in place.

"All right," I said. "You're shielded. Why?"

"Like I said, my attitude sends may or may not hold. I don't want that brute in my mind."

I handed him the room service menu, and a minute later Sandy called in our order.

"What about Andy and Liz?" I asked. "He's been in their minds, knows their psi-sigs, and can easily find them again."

Josh smiled. "That's assuming he's as talented a telepath as you, Nicole. For what it's worth, I don't think his telepathic abilities come close to yours."

"Josh," Sandy said, "we can't assume that. You said yourself that he was drunk. Sober, he might be a whiz."

"What kind of attitude did you give him to stop him from scanning us again?" I asked.

"Nothing complicated, just a need to honor our right to mental privacy."

I shook my head. "That won't work. A need by definition is temporary."

"I'm open to suggestions."

"You've given him a seizure. Can you tie scanning any of us, including Andy and Liz, with the onset of another seizure?" I asked.

"Yes, good idea."

"How about making him raise a shield around Andy and Liz if he tries to scan them," Sandy suggested.

"He doesn't know about shields," I said.

"Oh," Sandy said, and her shoulders slumped with despair.

"I'm lowering my shield to send the brute the new attitude that ties in a seizure with scanning any of us," Josh said, "and while my shield is down, I'll check on Andy and Liz."

While Josh was doing his thing, Sandy and I talked.

"I don't like the fact that he can probe Andy and Liz," Sandy said. "They know too much about us, and they can't shield their thoughts and memories from his scans. He's already scanned them. He may know too much about us already."

"Are you suggesting that we tell Andy and Liz how to build shields and why?"

"No, we can't tell them why, but we might be able to concoct a scenario that would get them to create shields without telling them about you and Josh, and what you do."

"For instance?"

"Let's say the three of us were talking about what happened tonight, and I mentioned that it sounded like a telepath was probing our minds. I'll tell them that I recently did some research about telepathy for a book, and that's why the idea occurred to me. Then I'll tell them that, from my research, I believed anyone could shield their minds from telepaths by constructing an imaginary barrier that stopped mental probes."

Josh joined our conversation. "I don't want Andy and Liz to know about shields, Sandy."

"Why?"

"If Nicole and I can't get into their heads, we'll need to put an end to our association with them. Frankly, I don't trust them to be honest about confiscating my genes for the child they want."

"Liz sounded definite about being honest with you," I said.

"I agree, but the door to deception was opened, and a baby, especially in Liz's mind, is a highly emotional concept that could get in the way of reason and fairness."

"Damned if we do, and damned if we don't," Sandy said.

"Did you check on Andy and Liz?"

"Yes, they'll be knocking on our door soon. They've been talking about what happened and want to discuss it with us. Our behavior, the whispering, some of the words we expressed out loud confused them, and they want clarification."

"Argh," Sandy groaned. "What should we tell them?"

"Nothing," Josh said. "Nicole, tell them you suddenly felt a sharp pain in your head..."