"Thank you, but I do have a medical kit."

Jack tossed the bottle several times. "Oh, yeah? Well, then I'll take them. This whole thing is giving me a headache." Tach lifted the pack from his eye. "Why you?"

"Lie down and leave that thing on your eye." He scratched at his chin. "Look, let me throw something out to you. Doesn't this whole thing strike you as just a little too convenient?"

"In what way?" But Jack could tell from the little alien's cautious tone that he'd struck a nerve.

"Instead of just giving you Andrieux's address, Bonnell insists on setting up a meeting. They tried to split-"

"Because you were there."

"Yeah, right. You mind control them, then you just happen to get attacked by a gang of Gypsy children. I've done a little checking around. They never do that kind of thing. I think somebody had this arranged ahead of time. To make certain you couldn't use your mind control. And what about Andrieux? You said he was the clerk at the hotel. Then why did he deny any knowledge of Danelle? She was his mother-in-law, for Christ's sake. This thing stinks to high heaven."

Tachyon flung the ice pack against the wall. "So what do you suggest I do?"

"Don't work with Bonnell anymore. Don't go to any more meetings. Let me see what I can do with the bomb fragments. Rochambeau has agreed to work with Ray."

"That could take weeks. We leave in a few days."

"You are fucking obsessed with this!"

"Yes!"

"Why? Is it because you're impotent? Is that the big deal here?"

" I don't wish to discuss this."

" I know you don't, but you've got to! You're not thinking this through, Tachyon. What it could do to the tour, to your reputation-to mine for that matter. We're withholding vital evidence pertaining to a murder."

"You didn't have to become involved."

" I know that, and sometimes I wish to Christ I hadn't. But I'm into it now, so I'll see it through to the end. So are you going to sit tight and see what I can find?"

"Yes, I'll wait to see what you find out."

Jack shot him a suspicious glance. "Well, I guess that'll have to do."

"Oh, Jack." The big ace paused, hand on the doorknob, and looked back. "I apologize for this afternoon. It was wrong of me to send you away."

It was obvious from the Takisian's expression what this was costing him. "Okay," Jack replied gruffly.

It was an old house, a very old house, in the university district. Cracks cut the dingy plaster walls, and the musty odor of mold hung in the air. Bonnell gave Tachyon's arm a hard squeeze.

"Remember not to expect too much. This child doesn't know you."

Tachyon barely heard him, certainly paid no attention. He was already heading up the stairs.

There were five people in the room, but Tachyon saw only the boy. Perched on a stool, he was swinging one foot, slamming his heel rhythmically into a battered wooden leg.

His fine straight hair lacked the metallic copper fire of his grandsire's, but it was nonetheless a deep rich red. Tach felt a surge of pride at this evidence of his prepotence. Straight red brows gave Blaise an overly serious expression that set oddly on the narrow child's face. His eyes were a brilliant purple-black.

Standing behind, a hand possessively on his son's shoulder, was Andrieux. Tachyon studied him with the critical eye of a Takisian psi lord evaluating breeding stock. Not bad, human of course, but not bad. Definitely handsome, and he appeared intelligent. Still it was hard to tell. If only he could run tests… He tried to close his mind to the unwelcome suspicion that this man had been instrumental in Dani's death.

He looked back to Blaise and found the boy studying him with equal interest. There was nothing shy about the gaze. Suddenly Tach's shields repelled a powerful mind assault. "Trying to pay me back for yesterday?"

"Mail oui. You took my mind."

"You take people's minds."

"Of course. No one can stop me."

" I can." The brows snapped together in a thunderous frown. "I'm Tachyon. I'm your grandfather."

"You don't look like a grandfather."

"My kind live a very long time."

"Will I?"

"Longer than a human." The boy seemed pleased with this oblique reference to his alienness.

As they talked, Tach made a preliminary probe of his abilities. An unbelievable mind control aptitude for one so young. And all self-taught, that was the truly amazing thing. With proper instruction he would be a force to be reckoned with. No teke, no precog, and worst of all almost no telepathy. He was virtually mind blind.

That's what comes of unrestricted and unplanned breeding. "Doctor," said Claude. "Won't you sit down?"

"First I would like to give Blaise a hug." He looked inquiringly at the boy, who made a face.

"I don't like hugs and kisses."

"Why not?"

"It makes me feel like ants are on me."

"A common mentat reaction. You will not feel that way with me."

"Why not?"

"Because I am your kin and kind. I understand you better than anyone else in the world can ever understand you." Francois Andrieux shifted angrily.

"Well, I'll try it," said Blaise decisively, and slid off his stool. Again Tachyon was pleased with his assurance.

As his arms closed about his grandson's small form, tears rushed into his eyes.

"You're crying," Blaise accused. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I am so very happy to have found you. To know that you exist in the world."

Bonnell cleared his throat, a discreet little sound. "As loath as I am to interrupt this, I'm really afraid I must, Doctor." Tacbyon stiffened warily. "We have to talk a little business,"

"Business?" The word was dangerously low.

"Yes. I've given you what you want." He indicated Blaise with a flip of a tiny hand. "Now you have to give me what I want. Francois, take him."

Father and son left. Tachyon speculatively studied the remaining men.

"Please don't consider a mind-assisted escape. There are more of us waiting outside this room. And my companions are armed."

" I somehow assumed they would be." Tach settled onto a sagging sofa. It sent up a puff of dust under his weight. "So, you are a member of this little gang of galloping terrorists."

"No, sir, I lead it."

"Umm, and you had Dani killed."

"No. That was an act of blatant stupidity for which Francois has been… chastised. I disapprove of subordinates acting on their own initiative. They so often screw up. Don't you agree?"

Tachyon's late cousin Rabdan came instantly to mind, and he found himself nodding. Pulled himself up short. There was something very outre about this chatty little conversation, faced as he was with the man who had attempted to kill hundreds at Versailles.

"Oh, dear, and I had so hoped that Andrieux was bright," mused Tachyon, then he asked, "Is this a kidnapping for ransom?"

"Oh, no, Doctor, you're quite beyond price."

"So I've always thought."

"No, I need your help. In two days there will be a great debate between all the presidential candidates. We intend to kill as many of them as we can."

"Even your own candidate?"

"In a revolution sometimes sacrifice is necessary. But for your information, I have little loyalty to the Communist Party. They have betrayed the people, lost the will and the strength to make the difficult decisions. The mandate has passed to us."

Tach rested his forehead on a hand. "Oh, please, don't blurt slogans at me. It's one of the most tiresome things about you people."

"May I outline my plan?"

"I don't see any way I can prevent you."

"The security will undoubtedly be very tight."

"Undoubtedly." Bonnell shot him a sharp glance at the irony. Tachyon gazed innocently back.

"Rather than attempt to run this gauntlet with weapons of our own, we will use those already provided. You and Blaise will mind control as many guards as possible and have them rake the platform with automatic weapons fire. It should have the desired result."