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sharply.
    Lore didn’t pause as he proceeded directly to the conference table and the normal-looking telephone. His eyes had flicked briefly over Kenna, but he was all business. “The bomb’s primary yield looks bio.”
    Yuri didn’t need any more information, but Lore hoped Kenna wouldn’t fully understand what that meant. The global threat of a singular nuclear warhead was unthinkable, but the latest thing in bio cotangents could far surpass it. Those nasty little bio beasts could jump around the globe far too fast for anyone to “contain” the epidemic. An idiot who used one would kill himself in the end, but everyone else would be dead too, so no joy there. Hopefully this wasn’t one of those.
    Lore picked up the phone. “Get me General Hillier, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
    As he spoke, his body turned so he could look at Kenna. She was tightly curled into a she-ball of stress, jewel-bright eyes fastened on him.
    His conversation wasn’t as long as she would have thought, spoken in military jargon mostly. The guy on the other end grasped the speed talk apparently. Then Lore said something she did understand.
    “There is a note. They have more of the agent. This was a threat. Supposedly he has an airborne delivery system. The note was in the body of the bomb. He knew I’d be the one opening it. It was addressed to me.” Lore paused. “No, left it there. Could have been a trap.” Another pause as he listened. “Good. One of my men will be there to take the team to the device. Yes, thank you.” Lore hung up.
    Kenna had slowly uncurled and was sitting stiffly with her feet on the floor. “Are we still in danger?”
    “Yes.” Lore put down the phone and came straight to her. “The note mentioned you. Apparently this was an exercise to push you into revealing your talents,” Lore continued as he went down on one knee in front of her. He was physically closer than he could have been sitting beside her. His hands fisted on the cushions beside her as he surrounded her yet carefully didn’t touch her.
    “It threatens to detonate a second device if you do not get on the six forty-five flight to New York.”
    “Oh my God,” Kenna breathed. Her hands clutched tightly in her lap as his calmly delivered news blew up in her mind into jerky fragments of logic. Of course she would get on that plane. Why her? This really was a kidnapping. How would bad guy do it with so many people around? Bad guy had a plan. Look how intricate the beginning of his plan had been. Wait. If she weren’t as talented as bad guy thought, she’d be dead, along with everyone else in this country. Was that the real plan? To kill her? Why?
    “You are not getting on that plane,” Lore stated, his deep, confident tones cutting across her panic. “This is a terrorist.”
    “But…” Kenna struggled to keep up with the hope his words offered. Not getting on that plane sounded so good.
    “Listen to me, Kenna. You are what this guy wants. He went to a lot of expense and trouble to trigger your telepathy. You are an outstanding telepath, but it’s not like there aren’t others. Conclusion, there is something else. You have it. He wants it. He’s willing to kill millions to get it. He is not willing to kill you. Putting you on a plane gets you out of range for him to detonate and cover evidence he thinks he left here. As long as you’re on the ground, there will be no explosion.”
    Kenna concentrated on controlling the trembling. She wasn’t shaking in fear. Fear had fled the building an hour ago. Terror was the only emotion brave enough to hang around, except for the too-stupid-to-live ones.
    At this moment, the thing she wanted more than anything else was to slide forward into his arms, which would be the too-stupid-to-live part. As if his holding her would make her any safer.
    “Will your people find the other bomb?” Kenna wanted to know.
    “Eventually. Right now that’s not our problem. We need you visible in the middle of