Running Hot (The Arcane Society #5)(3)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

He gave her a sharklike smile. “You think I need a lecture on the art of the deal from you?”

“For twelve years I’ve been your personal profiler. I’m the one who tells you when a business associate is in trouble, either financially or in his personal life. I warn you when someone is trying to con you. I identify the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents and your partners. I tell you exactly what you need to offer to someone in order to close the deal, and I’m the one who tells you when your best option is to walk away from the table.”

“You had your uses, I’ll grant you that. But I don’t need you anymore. Before we finish this, though, I’d really like to know how you tumbled on to my little arms-dealing sideline.”

“As far as your guests and business associates are concerned, I’m just a trusted member of the staff. No one looks twice at me. No one notices me. But I take a good look at them. That’s what you pay me to do, after all. Sometimes I see things and sometimes I hear things. And I am very, very good when it comes to research, remember?”

“How much do you know?”

“About the people you’re involved with?” She raised one shoulder slightly. “Not a lot. Just that it’s some sort of cartel run by very powerful sensitives and that they’ve seduced you into doing their dirty work.”

Martin’s aura flared higher. “No one has seduced me.”

“Until recently I would never have believed that anyone could buy you,” she said. “I mean, what could a bunch of gangsters offer one of the most successful men on the planet that would make it worth his while to risk his freedom, his reputation and his life?”

Martin’s rage showed in his eyes now. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. The organization isn’t some mob.”

“Yes, it is, Martin. The first time you brought those two men to the Miami residence, I told you they were very, very dangerous.”

“So am I,” Martin hissed. He reached up and slowly removed his mirrored glasses. “More dangerous than you can imagine, thanks to my new business associates. And thanks to them, I no longer need you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The organization those two men represent is about much more than money. It’s all about power, real power; the kind that world leaders and warlords and billionaires can only dream about.”

Suddenly she understood. She had not thought that she could be any more appalled than she already was but she had been wrong.

“I guess this explains the changes in your aura in the past couple of months,” she said.

Martin looked startled.

“What changes?” he demanded.

“I thought perhaps you had become the victim of some kind of mental illness that affected your parasenses.”

“I am not sick, damn you.”

“Yes, you are, but not because of some natural disease process. You did this to yourself. With a little help from your new friends, of course.”

Martin took a step closer. He didn’t look horrified. He looked eager. Excited. “You can see the effects of the drug in my aura?”

“A drug,” she repeated. “Yes, that’s the only logical explanation. Those two men supplied you with some sort of drug that affects your parasenses.”

“There’s an excellent likelihood that it will also increase my natural life span, maybe by as much as a couple of decades. What’s more, they’ll be good decades. I won’t be weak and frail. I’ll maintain my powers.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Martin, you’re a brilliant business-man. Don’t you know when you’ve been sold a bill of goods? The promise of longevity is the oldest scam in the world.”

“The reason the researchers aren’t certain about the extended life span is because the new drug hasn’t been around long enough to test the theory. Those at the top have been using the stuff for only a few years. But the lab data look very promising.”

“You’re a fool, Martin.”

“It’s true,” he insisted. “Even if they’re wrong about the drug’s ability to lengthen my life, that doesn’t alter the fact that the formula works. It can kick a level-seven strategy talent like me all the way up to a nine or a ten.”

“You’re not a nine or a ten. I’d know. Something has changed in your aura, though. Whatever it is, it isn’t—” She broke off, groping for the right word. “It isn’t wholesome.”

“Wholesome?” He laughed. “Now there’s a silly, old-fashioned word. Do you think I care how wholesome I am? For your information, you’re right, though. The drug they gave me didn’t elevate the level of my talent. It wasn’t intended to have that effect.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The drug can be genetically altered in a variety of ways to suit an individual’s psychic profile. The version I’m taking has provided me with an entirely new talent.”

“If you believe that, you really have gone off the deep end.”

“I am not insane,” Martin shouted.

The words seemed to echo around them. A few seconds of terrifying stillness followed. Then Martin’s aura flared with a sickening heat.

She knew, then, that the moment had come. He was going to try to kill her now. The only question was whether he intended to use a gun or his bare hands. One thing was certain, standing there at the end of the dock left her nowhere to run.

The mind-searing blast of energy came out of nowhere. It roared over her, bringing disorienting pain and the promise of an endless plunge into the abyss.

Not a gun. She fell to her knees under the force of the lightning that slashed at her senses. Not his bare hands, either. A slight miscalculation on her part.

Martin stared down at her, enthralled with his own power.

“They were right,” he breathed. “They told me the truth about the drug. Congratulations. You are about to become the first person to witness what I can do with my new talent.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m not going to touch you. It isn’t necessary. I’m going to incinerate your psychic senses. You will go into a coma and then you will die.”

“Martin, no, don’t do this.” Her voice was steadier now. So were her senses. She had recovered somewhat from the initial traumatizing shock. She was getting a handle on the pain, which meant that she was pushing back the invading waves of energy. “Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe some of the experts in the Society can help you.”