"Ask her what she wants," Jack said.

If he'd been standing next to me rather than jabbering in my ear, I would have been tempted to kick him, boss or not. There were more important worries—like how much she might have told Starr, and whether or not Rhoan was in danger of discovery.

"And what have you done with this knowledge?"

"Not gone to my would-be master, you can be sure of that." Her voice was dry, but there was something in the way her blind eyes flashed that had me believing her.

Which might just mean I was nothing more than a fool, and easily taken in by a bit of sincerity combined with contempt and anger.

"And why wouldn't you do that? He killed Misha for attempting to double-cross him. He'd do the same to you without a second thought."

"I know. But things cannot remain the way they are."

"What things?"

She gave me a cool smile. "Before we go into details, I need to know if the Directorate would be willing to deal."

"Yes," Jack and I said together. He added in my ear, "Depending, of course, on what she wants."

She raised a pale eyebrow. "You don't need to speak to your buss first?"

"I don't have to. I can hear him in my head." I was tempted to add, "and no, I'm not mad," but restrained the impulse. A, because she'd "seen" me in action last night, and B, because I actually think insanity had a lot to do with my current situation. After all, no one sane would willingly step into hell's den with the intent of fucking his lieutenants for information, no matter how pissed off and in need of revenge they were.

"Telepathy." She nodded. "A handy tool for those in your line of work, though I'm surprised they haven't taught you more control."

"We would have if we'd known it was needed." Jack's voice was sarcastic. "But someone forgot to mention an apparent increase in power since our last lesson."

I ignored him. Anything I said was only going to count against me, anyway. "What sort of deal would you like to broker?"

She smiled and waved a hand to the sofa. "Please, come and sit down."

"I'm fine, thanks." Flight or fight mode was far easier standing up.

She raised her eyebrows again. "I sense distrust."

"That's because there is."

"Honest. I like that."

"And I'd like for you to quit fucking around and just get to the point."

She crossed one elegant leg over the other, and clasped her hands around her knees. "Okay. I want immunity from everything I have done on behalf of Starr."

"That depends greatly on what she wants to give us in return," Jack said.

"And?" I asked, sensing there was more to Dia's list of demands.

"He cannot know that I am helping you. Which means I will never testify against him."

She was more than a little naive if she thought Starr was ever going to reach the courts. The Directorate had the power to be judge, jury, and executioner, and it was a power they regularly abused. In my time with them, I'd seen a total of five cases make it to the human justice system—and only because those behind the deeds were partially human. Those with an ounce of human blood could claim the full protection of the courts and the law.

Nonhumans had no such rights. Which pretty much smacked of a legal form of racism, I'd always thought.

"Those terms I can live with," Jack said.

"Anything else?" I asked.

She paused. "I wish to continue living here. I want this house exempt when the Government sells off Starr's assets."

"No guarantee on that one," Jack said.

I repeated his statement, and she nodded. "I guess I can deal with that if it happens."

"And what do we get in return?"

She smiled, and waved at the sofa again. "Please. It is uncomfortable talking like this."

Why? Because her senses couldn't pinpoint me accurately from such a distance? I suspected that might be the case, which meant I was better off staying where I was.

"Go sit," Jack said, as if he was reading my mind. Which he wasn't, because I'd have at least felt it. Whether I could have actually stopped it was another matter entirely. Jack was not someone I ever wanted to test myself against for real. Though until yesterday, I'd never have thought I'd have the power to blow through Quinn's shields, either—even with the advantage of surprise.

I blew out a breath that did nothing to release the tension still riding my limbs, but did as I was told and walked across to the sofa.

"I gather from the profile set up for you that the Directorate knows about my recruitment drives for Starr?"

"Yes." I took off the backpack, and once again perched on the edge of the sofa.

"How?"

"Don't tell her about Gautier," Jack said. "Just in case."

Just in case? Just in case of what? Things go ass up? God, wasn't that a confidence builder! Not that I was expecting it all to go to plan—I mean, nothing else had over the last four months, so why would things change now?

I shrugged. "They didn't actually tell me. I just know you managed to catch their attention."

She nodded. Whether that meant she believed me or not was anyone's guess. "And they planned to get you into the mansion via this method?"

"Obviously."

"Then what?"

I studied her for a moment, still wary about providing information to someone who had yet to prove her worth. Or reliability. "You realize that if you double-cross the Directorate, they'll kill you as quickly and as surely as Starr."

"I have no intention of betraying the Directorate." Her bright gaze centered on mine briefly but oh so powerfully. "You are truly my only hope."

Even as goose bumps trembled across my skin, her gaze dropped from mine. She rubbed a hand down her thigh, then sighed. "Starr is not a fool. The women he brings in to service his men each month are strictly watched. They never move from the compound they are placed in. If it is your intention to gain enough information about Starr to bring him down, then you are tackling it from the wrong angle."

"All I need to do is catch his lieutenants in an unguarded moment and strip their minds of information."

It wasn't going to be that easy—I knew that, and Jack knew that. For a start, the minute either man realized what I was doing, I was dead meat. And while I might have strong telepathy skills, I wasn't as practiced in using them as I should be. Last night's attacks had proven that.

"But Starr's lieutenants do not use the women in the compound."

Well, shit. "Why not?"

She smiled. "If the Directorate has been following me, then they would know not all the women I recruit are prostitutes."

"Yeah, so?"

"So some of those who are not are recruited for the ring."

"The ring? As in, boxing ring?"

She shook her head. The chandelier's light caught the silken strips of her hair, turning them a molten silver. And in that instant, I realized just how similar she was to Misha, right down to her angular features. Odd, considering how dissimilar all the other clones were to each other.

"It is more a wrestling ring. Starr and his people enjoy watching women fight. The lucky winner gets to share beds with his lieutenants, Alden and Leo."

"Misha told us Alden and Leo go through women like sharks—that sex is a fix they must have everyday. Does that mean the fights are a feature every day?"

She nodded. "Every evening. But the women are merely the encore to the main fight—Starr, as I'm sure you know, is homosexual. He makes his security forces fight, and takes the winner."

Something in the way she said that had my eyebrows rising. "Takes?"

She grimaced. "He prefers force. He likes the taste of fear."

If he tried to force my brother, Rhoan would have him for breakfast. He might not mind a bit of rough but force was not something he tolerated—on himself or on others.

"Then none of these fights are serious?"