Running Hot

she said proudly. “When he found me he was thrilled to know that he had passed on his talent.”
    “When did he go looking for you?”
    “A few years ago. He told me that he had taken the precaution of depositing sperm at the clinic because he knew there was a strong possibility that he might not survive his work as a spy. He said that, just in case, he wanted to leave a genetic inheritance. Turned out he survived the spook business but the enhancing drugs his handlers gave him had some major side effects. One of them was sterility. For years, he refused to believe it. He married three times before he finally gave up and came looking for me and my sister.”
    Luther looked at her in disbelief. “The government agency he worked for had a version of the founder’s formula?”
    “It operated a lab that was run by a scientist named Hulsey, a descendant of Basil Hulsey. Does that ring any bells?”
    “Sure. Basil Hulsey is a legend within J&J and not in a good way. He created a lot of trouble back in the late eighteen hundreds. Classic mad scientist.”
    “His descendant managed to re-create the old formula for the agency.” Her mouth twisted. “But the good doctor never quite got the bugs out.”
    “No one ever does,” Luther said. “But that never seems to stop folks from trying.”
    “When the agency suddenly shut down the black hole operation, Daddy’s supply of the drug was cut off. He had stockpiled some of the drug but he knew that he was going to die within the month if he didn’t act. His handlers expected him to go insane and take his own life.”
    “Thus neatly cleaning up all traces of the government’s little psychic experiment.”
    “Exactly,” Damaris said bitterly.
    “What happened? How did your father survive?”
    “His handlers gave him one last assignment. They wanted him to get rid of Dr. Hulsey. But by then Daddy had his suspicions about the drug. He and Hulsey had a conversation. Hulsey explained exactly what was going to happen once the last of the drug was used. Daddy agreed to let him live as long as Hulsey continued to brew the drug for him.”
    “Sounds like a win-win for both of them.”
    “The only thing Dr. Hulsey cared about was being able to continue with his experiments. All he wanted and needed was a lab. He and Daddy made a deal.”
    Comprehension struck with the force of an explosion.
    “I’ll be damned. You father wasn’t just a member of Nightshade, he founded it, didn’t he?”
    “Yes.” Pride and rage flashed across Damaris’s face and aura. “For years he hoped that the Council would come to see the true value and potential of the drug. He was convinced that eventually the Society would authorize research on it.”
    “What the hell for?”
    “He had a vision of what the Arcane community could have been. An organization of elite, powerful sensitives capable of controlling governments, corporations and scientific endeavors of all kinds.”
    “But that never happened and it’s not going to happen.”
    “No,” she said wearily. “The only reason my father established the organization you call Nightshade was because he was finally forced to acknowledge that the Council would never permit its scientists to work on the formula, at least not in his lifetime. He was determined to build what the community refused to create. He wanted to leave a lasting legacy. Now he’s dead because of you. Tell me what happened in Hawaii.”
    “No wonder Nightshade got such a head start on J&J. As a trusted member of the Council, Craigmore had access to all of the Society’s secrets from the start.”
    Anguished fury leaped in Damaris’s eyes. “Tell me about Hawaii.”
    He was sweating now. Cold chills alternated with spikes of fever. Nevertheless, he used some of the energy that was holding the effects of the beam at bay to calm Damaris’s aura. She blinked a couple of times and then grew more composed.
    “First tell me why your father wanted Eubanks taken out,” Luther said.
    “Eubanks had become very ambitious and very dangerous. He had developed a new, capsule version of the drug in his lab. He was using that, along with his own enhanced strat talent, to demand a place on the board of directors.”
    “Craigmore didn’t want him on the board?”
    “No. My father didn’t trust him. Eubanks didn’t know who Daddy was, of course. Only the members of the board are aware of the identity of the CEO of the organization. The others at the top thought Eubanks