Sizzle and Burn

looked at Zack. “I’m very glad Bradley took your suggestion and agreed to let me give a full statement tomorrow. I really didn’t feel up to it this afternoon.”
    Calvin snorted, amused.
    She raised her brows. “What’s so funny about that?”
    “Hate to disillusion you,” Calvin said, “but I doubt that Zack was thinking of your comfort when he persuaded Mitchell to wait for the statement. Zack here is what you might call a real focused kind of guy when it comes to details.”
    Raine suddenly understood. She looked at Zack. “You wanted to make sure I got my story straight first.”
    “Hey, give me some credit for thoughtfulness,” Zack said, managing to appear offended. “You were exhausted.”
    “Hah. I’m not buying it. You felt I needed a little assistance with my facts. Admit it.”
    Calvin grinned and drank some more coffee.
    “Okay,” Zack said. “In my experience, I’ve found it’s usually best not to confuse the police with too much information.”
    “In other words, we aren’t going to tell them that they got caught in the middle of an ongoing turf war between two secret organizations devoted to psychic research, is that it?” she asked politely.
    “As a general policy, J&J prefers to let the bad guys give that version of events to the cops,” Calvin said.
    She raised her brows. “Because it makes the bad guys look like nut-cases while J&J preserves its image as a legitimate private investigation agency?”
    Calvin’s grin widened. “You got it.”
    “It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of legitimate charges to go around,” Zack said. “What’s more, Mitchell has a strong personal incentive to make them stick. He doesn’t like the fact that Cutler played him.”
    “Assault, attempted kidnapping and possibly attempted robbery will make a good start.” Calvin wrapped one big hand around his coffee mug. “Got a feeling Mitchell will dredge up some others.”
    “Not that he’ll need them,” Zack said, watching the fire. “At least, not for long.”
    Raine looked at him, startled. “What do you mean? Are you saying Cassidy and Niki will walk?”
    “Yes. Straight into an institution for the criminally insane, and that’s assuming they make it that far,” Zack said.
    She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
    “From what we’ve seen, Nightshade doesn’t tolerate failure.” Zack swallowed some coffee and lowered the mug. “I told you, one of the ways it keeps its operatives in line is by making them dependent on a version of the formula that is specifically tailored to them. If they’re deprived of it, they go insane and usually commit suicide within forty-eight hours.”
    Horror shivered through Raine. “Like Jenna?”
    “Yes,” he said, watching the fire. “Like Jenna. One way or another, insanity has always been the big downside to every version of the formula ever created.”
    “What about the stuff you found in Bradley’s apartment?”
    “The vial was nearly empty. There was only a trace of the drug left in it. Not even enough for one dose. Cassidy left just enough to make sure I could identify the formula and leap to the conclusion that Bradley was the guy I was after.”
    Raine swallowed hard. “So Cassidy and Niki are probably going to go crazy soon. Do you think they know that?”
    Zack shrugged. “I doubt it. We don’t know how much the Nightshade leaders tell their operatives but the best guess is that they lie to them. No profit in telling them the truth. Might put off new recruits.”
    She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and shivered. Then she remembered something.
    “What about the mayor? This afternoon when Bradley asked who threw the smoke bomb, I got the impression you didn’t want me to tell him about her role in this thing.”
    He gave her an approving smile. “You were right.”
    “But if she was involved—”
    “She wasn’t,” Zack assured her.
    “Explain,” Raine ordered.
    “When I came through the back room I got a quick look around. The mayor’s purse was unfastened. The contents were scattered across the carpet. I realized that she was probably the one who brought the smoke bomb into the shop but there were no hot spots around her or her purse. She didn’t know what she was doing.”
    “Then why in the world did she set off the smoke bomb?” Raine demanded.
    “The most likely explanation is that either Cassidy or Niki is a parahypnotist,” Zack said. “Probably formula-enhanced.”
    “In other words,