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X-Man:  The Nature of My Circuitry
Issue:  19
Date:   January 10, 1998
By:     Lee

Disclaimer

Nate Grey, aka X-Man, and Adam X, aka X-Treme, are owned by Marvel 
Comics.  No permission has been granted to use these characters.  
X-Writers is a non-profit organization.  All original characters are 
owned by Lee.

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     " ... Adam ... "

     " ... Adam ... "

     The voice would not leave him to the peace of the void, and 
reluctantly, very reluctantly, Adam X, aka X-Treme, aka Someone Who'd 
Rather Remain Unconscious, slowly came around.

     "Ah, Adam ...  So good of you to join us,"  the hollow voice 
greeted.  "Perhaps you'd care to stay around a few more minutes this 
time?"  Cold, metallic eyes stared down at him from a face devoid of 
expression -- devoid of humanity.

     Adam couldn't find a witty word in response as he felt his eyes roll 
back into their sockets.  So he simply fell, again, into blissful 
nothingness.

			    -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Nate Grey wasn't used to doing things on his own.

     Every since as long as he could remember, he'd been with someone.  A 
father figure, a friend, a confidant, a brother-in-arms -- someone had 
always been there with him.  

     While his earliest memories were only a blur thanks to the mad
geneticist known as Hank McCoy, once he had been taken in by Forge, he had
had as close to a family as any could have had in the world he really
belonged to.  The traveling performers had taught him how to appreciate
life and fight back against the establishment in their own, quiet ways.

     And then, later, when he arrived on this strange world, there had
been Madeline.  Despite the fact that she betrayed him, she had, in the
end, betrayed her newer allies and returned to him, even if only for a
little while.  Really, he didn't blame her -- it seemed to be in her
nature to betray whatever she was a part of.  It almost seemed as if she
knew no other way.

     After her, he still wasn't alone.  Adam had slowly become an
indispensible part of his life as they both realized they were in the same
straights.  Both abandoned and left without a sense of belonging to a
group identity, they'd latched on to each other as a means of forming even
the barest sense of connection with the world around them.  Humans are, by
nature, social creatures, and those without social ties were either too
insociable to desire them or cast out because they lacked them.

     So upon finding that Adam had gone and gotten himself knocked 
unconscious, Nate was distressed.  To say the least.

     "Where do you think he is?"  the young woman at his side asked.  His
attention returned to her, and he realized that he had to ammend his
self-pitying thoughts.  He wasn't alone physically, merely spiritually.
This woman was here, if no one else, and at least for the moment they
shared a common goal.  

     She was average in height and build, and if she wasn't fragile, she 
at least appeared delicate.  It didn't look as if she knew how to carry
the gun she kept in a shoulder holster, let alone how to use it.  Her
shoulder length hair, cut all one length, had been tied back into a tight
braid.  Few wisps escaped its tight hold.  But of all the little signs and
clues that gave away their owner's secrets, it was the fingernails which
said the most.  Cracked and worn down to the skin, they showed their owner
to be someone who didn't mind getting her hands dirty -- both literally
and figuratively.

     "I don't know!"  Nate responded with more force than he'd intended.
Taking a breath to steady himself, he walked away from the young woman.
"I don't know.  I don't know now like I didn't know five minutes ago.  So
stop asking.  Please,"  he added, reluctantly, social conditioning
preventing him from lashing out as much as he might like to at the moment.

     Frowning at the suddenly hostile turn the conversation had taken, the
young woman hobbled back to the couch.  Her leg still throbbed from the
bullet, though the pain had faded into the background thanks to the good
doctor and her wonder drugs.  "Alright.  Alright, then at least tell me
why you're acting freaked out all of a sudden,"  she started in a calm,
infinitely reasonable voice.  It was the same sort of voice she used on
hysterical women and children.  It was also the same sort of voice that
made her angry when it was used on her, but she hoped Nate didn't have her
same compunctions.

     Nate drew a hand through his hair and let out a quiet sigh.  He 
didn't want to waste any time, but it looked like he would have to have
some help, and she didn't seem that bad, after all. Looking at his track
record, he might've hesitated to trust her, but growing up under the
threat and reality of Apocalypse's rule hadn't done anything to mar his
trusting nature.  

     "Look, Nicci, you know Adam's a mutant, right?"  he asked, not
turning to face her.  Might as well get it all out now, he thought. 
"Well, the fact of the matter is, so am I."  It was silent behind him, so
he continued on.  "I'm telepathic, in a way.  Not much, but enough to keep
a psychic bond with people I know very well."  

     The bold faced lie shamed him, but knowing how uncomfortable she was
around mutants -- all mutants in general or those who just *looked* liked
mutants, he wondered -- he decided to downplay his abilities.  If she
needed to know more later, he would tell her then.

    "And now you've lost this ... whatever it is?  This psychic bond?"
The voice was so faint that Nate turned and looked at the woman on the
couch.  She was pale, but whether that was from the knowledge that Nate
was a mutant or the bullet wound she'd suffered, he couldn't tell.

     "Yeah.  He blacked out.  Disappeared.  Link cut.  And I can only
think that it had something to do with whoever's after your brother,"  he
said with conviction.

     "My brother?"  Her eyes widended in surprise.  "Why would your
fr-friend's abduction have anything to do with *my* brother?"

     "Because Adam said that he was going to check things out before he
left."  He saw her eyes narrow, now.  Suspicion.  He'd best tread
carefully.  "He told me through the bond we share.  He was worried and
didn't want to wait, and since it's what he does best -- well, there's no
changing things now."

     Nicci remained silent a moment.  "I see.  So he was trying to help."

     It wasn't a question, but Nate felt obliged to answer anyhow.  "Yes.
He was helping."

     "Then I suppose,"  she said with great deliberateness,  "that it's
only ... fair that we help in return.  Especially since helping him seems
to be the same as helping my brother at this moment."

     Not quite liking her reasoning, but not willing to make anything of
it, Nate nodded in agreement.  "Exactly.  So, any clue where this man is
based?"

     "No ... but if we can find my brother, we can find whoever is hunting
him.  And then we can put a stop to this once and for all."  Her eyes
glittered dangerously.

     "And rescue Adam,"  Nate added.

     She didn't look at him as she said, distracted,  "Yeah.  Right."

			    -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     The suburb was quieter than the city, but it wasn't a soothing sort
of quiet.  Rather, it was the stillness of a wild area that holds its
breath when a dangerous predator stalks within its bounds.  What predator
this suburb feared, Nate didn't know, but he didn't like the psychic aura
infused in the place.

     "I know,"  Nicci said.  "It feels strange here.  I don't like it,
either.  But that's no surprise.  I've never liked living out here."  She
spared the young man next to her a look before returning her attention to
the heavily occupied streets.  Her car -- which was old and used when she
bought it many years ago -- purred quietly as it made its way past stop
lights and intersections.

     "But you're sure your brother's here."  Nate couldn't keep the doubt
out of his voice.

     She nodded and flipped the turn signal on.  It would be ironic if
they were to be pulled over for a traffic violation now, of all times.   
"Yeah. It's our prearranged, unspoken meeting ground."  There was a dull
rattling in her jacket pocket as she fingered the small bottle with a free
hand.  The other straightened out the steering wheel as they came out of
the turn.  "I just hope he had enough sense to head for it.  Sometime's
he's a bit ... well, absentminded, I guess you could say."

     "Great,"  Nate responded wryly.  "Just the sort of thing we need to
lead an assault against a probably superior force."

     "Don't start,"  was all she would say to that.

     The rest of the trip was relatively quiet, and as the beat up old car
pulled into a strip mall parking lot, Nate took a moment to 'snoop'
around.  The limitations of his mind melted away under the force of his
will, and his awareness and sense of self spread out from the core of his
essence.  Telepathy was, to him, as much a part of his nature as breathing
or eating or loving, and returning to it was like opening his eyes to a
brilliant new dawn after so long spent in underground darkness.  The
thought triggered a sense of deja vu, or half remembered experience, but
like most things nowadays, he simply filed it away under the to-be-
examined-later column and continued on with his true purpose.

     The surroundings were busy with thoughts and emotions.  Each centered
around a pinpoint which acted like the focus of a vortex, and Nate knew
that each of these represented a person.  The vortex was muddy and unclear
unless he moved closer for a better look, but right now he just let the
eddies flow past him, letting him get a general sense of the area.  Once
he found what he needed, he would worry about tightening the search.

     Nicci had given him the address and told him the general area of the
meeting house before they'd started, and based on that information, Nate
sent his mind in the proper direction.  Swirls of energy -- different than
organic or psionic energy -- gave evidence of natural or artificial
psychic reserves.  Like pools on a sidewalk after a summer rainstorm,
these non-organism based energies could often be the result of continued 
interaction with the organic sort.  In the physical world, these would 
correspond to houses or businesses or anywhere people gathered for long
periods of time.

     By keeping careful track of the flow of vortexes and the psychic
sinks, Nate was able to traverse the astral plane and arrive at the area
which would correspond to the location they needed to be in in physical
world.  Now the real work would begin.  He strengthened his will and
focused his telepathy through its narrow lense.  What he needed now was to
detect anyone who thought in a particular way or about a particular
subject.  Someone who was, most likely, frightened or worried.

     He passed over a young teenage girl.  She had distracted him for a
moment.  Angsting about how unfair her parents were and how generally bad
life was, her presence was a mar on the astral plane.  A few others were
false leads as well;  many people, it seemed, were unhappy in this
neighborhood.  But while they might think it was unfair, he knew
differently.  They hadn't been through the pain and suffering he had, and
so their self-pity was, as far as he was concerned, the result of a lack
of a grip on reality.

     Pausing for a moment, he realized he was being unfair but also
realized that he could dredge up no sympathy for them.  Life was hard for
many people, but those with the strength to survive continued on and
didn't wallow in their own misery.  Besides, Adam was captured somewhere,
probably hurt and definitely threatened.  Very little mattered to him
until he had his friend with him, safe and sound.

     Nate finally found what -- or rather, who -- he was looking for a
short moment later.  Huddled within an energy sink was a pathetically
small psionic signature.  Matching up with the information he'd been given
by Nicci, he felt sure this was the brother they were here to retreive.
He took a mental baring and then focused closer, slowly inserting his mind
into the fringes of the other's.

     Content that nothing was amiss and that the man was in no immediate
danger, he withdrew.  It never occurred to him that he might use his
abilities to force the man to come to them -- he simply hadn't been taught
that way.

     As his psionic self once again limited itself to the physical
dimensions of his mind, Nate opened his eyes and glance at his
surroundings.  Barely five minutes had passed since he had gone under.
But in that time, Nicci had parked and taken the keys out of the ignition
and was now sitting in the drivers seat, staring at him with hesitancy and
burgeoning fear in her eyes.  His own opened wider in surprise.  He didn't
like how she looked -- as if he would, at any moment, sprout several
heads.  With a sense of disquiet, he began to realize just why Adam had
felt so uncomfortable in her presence.

     "What is it?"  he said quietly, trying not to startle her anymore.

     Nicci wouldn't answer for a moment and instead busied herself with
gathering her small pack from the backseat.  She checked the main pocket
and made sure it had what she needed, then checked the side pockets.  With
a satisfied nod to herself, she noted that everything was in place -- down
to the lock picks and flashlight, cellular phone and binoculars.  The car
keys slipped into a side pocket and disappeared as it was zipped shut.

     "You were out for awhile there,"  she finally replied, refusing to
meet his eyes.

     He opened his mouth and closed it again, unsure of what to say.  "I
... was looking around."  A sudden burst of anger came on the heels of his
words.  Why should he have to explain himself to her?  "We don't know what
we're headed in to.  We need as much information as we can, and we need to
use everything at our disposal.  So I can read minds.  So what?  It's just
another asset and one I'm glad to have.  Do you have a problem with that?"

     Head flying upwards, Nicci stared at him for a moment before quickly
saying, "No, no I don't.  But neither am I comfortable with it.  Do *you*
have a problem with *that*?"

     "Not at all,"  he said with a cold voice.  The situation was rapidly
degenerating.

     "Good.  Then let's just remember what we're here to do and go do it."

     "Fine."

     "Fine."

     They didn't say another word as they got out of the car.  The strip
mall around them housed a grocery store, several fast food joints, a
laundry mat, and a computer electronics store.  There were enough people
around that the arrival of two more wouldn't cause a stir.

     Nicci led the way, threading between the early afternoon shoppers.
If they'd had time, she would've preferred to wait until night, but she
didn't know what kind of condition she'd find Bradley in.  Time was
important.  If she'd been honest with herself, she would have realized
that much of her anger and fear towards Nate was actually directed at
herself and the situation.  She was supposed to watch after her little
brother.  Instead, he was gone, being chased by who-knows-what, and in
much bigger trouble than she could have dreamed he would get in.  She
still wasn't sure what was going on, in fact, and that in and of itself
irritated her to no end.

     They made their way past side streets and suburban alleys, and within
a few blocks had neared the house.  She was uneasy about Nate's telepathic
abilities, but she needed the extra intelligence it provided.  How much
power did he have, really?  'Not much' indeed.

     "I assume, since you're being so quiet over there, that either
everything's a-okay or you're not a powerful enough telepath to detect
anything wrong."  She almost winced as her words came out much harsher
than she intended.  The last thing she wanted to do was start a fight
before any action.  They were allies, now, and allies couldn't afford to
fight amongst themselves.

     "Everything's clear,"  was the terse response.

     The house they came up on was old and empty, though the 'For Sale'
sign in front of it looked brand new.  Well, that was good at least.  It
would be more difficult to extract Bradley from a hiding place that was
currently inhabited.  Nicci felt a brief pang of nostalgia as she looked
at her childhood home.  Those were simpler times.  Back when they were a
real family.

     "He's in there,"  Nate said, nodding with his head.  The white lock
of hair drifted into his face, and he brushed it back with an impatient
gesture.

     "Right.  We'll go around back.  No use upsetting the neighbors."

     The yard in back was overgrown, and the old rose hedge was badly in
need of pruning, but it provided them with extra cover, so neither one was
very upset with it.  The backdoor was easy to jimmy open as well, and
Nicci put her lock picks back into her pack as Nate opened the door.

     "Hello?"  he called in, wanting to announce his presence before he
entered the eerily quiet house.

     "Bradley?"  Nicci called out behind him.  She felt amazingly
vulnerable being so open, but she was sure no one else was around.

     They moved from the small nook into the main kitchen and looked
around.  Rather than waste time, Nicci asked her de facto partner,  "Can
you sense him?  Where is he?"

     Nate's eyes went distant for a moment, and she had to supress a
shudder.  For the greater good, she thought.  And then, Bradley's one too.
It's not so bad.  Just until this is done.

     "There."  Refocusing, Nate took the lead and moved into a narrow
hallway.  "Up those stairs."

     Nicci nodded.  "His old room, probably."  Her hand reached into her
pocket and took out a small bottle.  At Nate's questioning glance, she
relented and said, without hostility,  "His medication.  He needs them,
sometimes, to stay focused and in touch with reality."

     He nodded his understanding.

     At the top of the stairs, they stopped.  A faint shuffling was
approaching, and though both knew -- or thought they knew -- who it was,
their adrenaline still began to course through their veins a little
faster, a little stronger.  But the figure that approached them was so
strangely vulnerable that neither held the threatened feeling for very
long.

     "Nicci?  Is that you?"  the wraith-like figure asked in a quiet,
child like voice.

     "Oh, god, Bradley!"  She brushed past Nate and ran towards her
younger brother, wrapping him up in a tight hug.  "I've been so worried.
I don't know what kind of trouble you've gotten in to, but those men ... "
Her head shook back and forth, the strands of her hair brushing against
the sides of her face from the violent movement.  "Let's not worry about
that now.  Let's get you out of here.  Okay?"

     Nate watched impassively and felt a momentary sting of jealousy.  But
he contented himself with the thought that soon Adam would be the one
found.

     They made their way downstairs, Bradley popping two pills as he
walked next to his sister.  "I'm starved,"  he complained.  "You didn't
happen to bring a sub with you, did you?"  His expression was entirely too
earnest for Nate to stomach, but Nicci just laughed as if it were an old,
old joke they shared.

     "C'mon.  We'll get you something in a little bit.  The car's a few
blocks away, but everything seems to be clear."

     And as if her words tempted Fate too much, Nate felt a buzz in the
back of his mind.  Without wasting time or words, he disengaged a part of
his mind from his body and sent it searching the psionic vortexes around
him, moving from one to the other with blinding, danger driven speed.  He
finally found what he wanted three blocks away and rapidly approaching.

     "Someone's coming,"  he interrupted.  "Three people, in a car, two
blocks away, approaching from the East."

     Nicci started running.  As she dragged Bradley after her and ran out
of the back door, she moved without considering the validity or
acceptability of the intelligence or its method of retrieval.  Nate was on
her heels, keeping track of the men while masking their presence from any
nosey neighbors that might be looking their way.

     They jumped a couple of low fences and sped through other people's
yards.  Nate, from his position at the rear of the group, noticed that
Nicci had begun to limp severely.  Her leg was still healing, and even if
it was only a superficial wound, it would hold them up.  He quietly
reached into her mind and supressed the pain centers, allowing her to move
more freely.  Hurting her leg with the extra running wouldn't matter one
bit if they were caught by the others.

     As Nicci passed an oblivious couple making out in a fairly
secluded swimming pool, she paused to wonder why no one was yelling in
alarm.  The answer hit her with sudden clarity.  Nate was more powerful
than he let on.  That knowledge, the reality of it, created a shiver which
ran up the length of her spin and sent goose bumps down her arms.
Briefly, she thought of running, as fast and as hard as she could, from
Nate as well as whoever was chasing them, but that wouldn't help anything.
It wouldn't help her, it wouldn't help Bradley, and it sure wouldn't help
the delicate situation she'd found herself in.

     "I think we can slow down now,"  Nate called from the back.  "We're
far enough from the house, and it's getting more crowded.  I can't keep
masking us if we're creating this much of a disturbance."

     Nicci nodded and led them out of an alley and onto the street.  They
walked the half block in silence, none sharing any thoughts they might be
having.  The car was still in place -- unmoved, untouched -- and as they
piled inside, no one spared them a second glance.

     "Let's drive,"  she said, not waiting for a reply.

			    -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     She pulled the car out of the suburban strip mall and headed in the
opposite direction that of the house.  Merging with traffic, she followed
the surface streets until it led to an Expressway.  Her passengers were
quiet as she deftly maneuvered the car into the fast lane.  They drove
without speaking for several long minutes while miles passed beneath them.

     "Where are we headed?"  Bradley asked from the back seat.  He was
recovering quickly, she thought, his complexion not as pale as it had
been.

     "Doesn't matter,"  Nate responded.  "Anywhere's as good as anywhere
else right now."

     "Anyone on our tail?"  she asked.  A glance in the rearview mirror
showed her a normal Expressway scene, but they hadn't been driving long
enough for her to be able to pick anyone out.  So either no tail, or they
were good.  Or, she shivered again as she thought, they were tailing her
some other way.

     "Everything's clear.  Don't worry."  Nate smiled at her, and it held
just enough confidence and worry that she was able to smile back.  
"They're still back at the house, as far as I can sense, and I don't have
the feeling they knew we were there yet."

     A groan from the back caught both of their attentions.  "I knew I
shouldn't've gone there!"  Bradley held his head in his hands.  His
expression was cloudy, almost as if he were in pain.  "They've got all my
records, all my personnel files, and they would've known to look up old
residences, especially ones that are so close by."

     Nicci shook her head.  "Don't sweat it, Bradley.  We had to meet
there.  That's the only place we *knew* to meet.  And we beat them to it,
so no harm done."  Even now, with both of them well into the age that
qualified them as adults, she was placating and supporting him.  It was a
role she fell into without thought.  "Besides, thanks to Nate here, we've
got an early warning system.  We can stay one step ahead of them.
Hopefully."

     Nate looked at her with surprise.  "Right,"  he said, noncommital.

     "So you're a mutant?  Telepath, I'm guessing?"  Bradley leaned
forward, an elbow resting against Nicci's seat.  Nate glanced backwards
and just nodded, not commenting one way or the other.  He was still unsure
how far and how well Nicci would be able to take these abilities.  "Good.
That's very good.  I think we'll need your skills."

     "Let's not talk about that right now, Bradley,"  Nicci said, clearly
uncomfortable.

     "I think we should talk about it now, Nic.  You don't know what we're
up against.  I tried to tell you last night, but we didn't have time.  I
didn't know they'd find me so fast."

     "Obviously not,"  Nate commented.

     Nicci ignored the remark but spared her passenger a dark look.  "Hold
on,"  she said, deliberatly directing her words only to Bradley.  "Let me
get one thing straight.  This guy isn't going to leave you alone, right?"

     Bradley's hand moved to her shoulder and squeezed lightly.  "Right,
sis.  I've got something he needs, and he's not going to rest until he's
got it."

     "Wh-what's that?"  She hated the tremor in her voice, but Bradley had
sounded so certain it made her rethink her confidence.

     "Me."

     The city rolled by, and it seemed to capture Nate's interest like
nothing else.  But as he watched the cityscape slide past the window, he
asked,  "And you're a mutant, too, right?  With an ability this man --
your former employer -- needs to ... complete something?"  Nate knew he
was half guessing, but it felt right somehow.

     Bradley leaned back in his seat and half turned so that his back
rested against the passenger door.  His feet rested on the seat next to
him as he rubbed his temples, trying in vain to ease the pressure that had
begun to develop there.  "Yeah to both."  He shifted uneasily, the sound
of vinyl marking his movement for those in front.  "I'm a technopath.
Electronics, circuitry -- they're like tinker toys to me.  I can see them
... see how they interact and what fits and what doesn't.  Of course, I
went to school and got a PhD in it just to make sure I knew what I was
doing.  And I do now.  Mostly.  I still surprise myself sometimes."

     "And this guy?"  Nate asked again.  Bradley seemed to have a tendency
to ramble.

     He had the grace to look embarassed, but neither Nicci nor Nate were
looking his way.  The former was staring at the road like it contained the
great secret of Life, and the later was staring out the window like he
could speed them along by sheer will alone.  "He's a mechanical construct.
No, wait.  He's more like a person who can encorporate machinery into him.
Make them living.  Like a cyborg, but the parts he absorbs becomes almost
organic in a way.  I could explain the process but ... uh ... I'll just
skip to the short version,"  he said hastily, his words nearly tripping
over each other.  "He wanted help encorporating more into him.  He
wouldn't tell me why.  But he needed it to help him 'move to the next
level', or so he said.  An unfeeling bastard.  Some of the work we did had
to be tested, and he did the testing on people.  People with no say in it,
if you know what I mean."

     He took a deep breath and stopped so long that Nicci had to prompt
him again before he would continue.  "And what did he want you to do?"

     "I'm not sure,"  he admitted.  "But he said that I could feel what
was right or wrong about the circuits in a way no one else could, and he
wanted me to work on a special project he had going on.  That's when I
found out we were actually working on him ... him and the living test
tubes.  More than a few were killed in those ... experiments."  His
breathing came harder.  "I -- I didn't want to do it anymore, after that,
but he threatened me.  Said I'd already come this far, I was already
accessory to murder ... but he said it wasn't murder.  It was science.  I
was doing 'great work' he said!  It would benefit millions, he said.  So I
continued."  His voice dropped down to a mere whisper.  "I didn't want to,
but I did."

     Nate's expression tightened.  Neither noticed it as he was facing the
window.  Bradley's words, though, angered him, and reminded him of the
monsters he'd faced before, those others who had done grisly work in the
name of 'science'.  He owed his existance to one such monster, and his
continued survival to another, but he didn't like the type or any who
subscribed to that self-serving, God-playing, delusional role.

     "We were working on way to make things go faster in room
temperature,"  Bradley continued, making his words deliberately 
simplistic. "Parts had a way of heating up too fast and melting.  He
wouldn't tell me why we were working on it, but I finally got so ... got
so damn sick of it, of all the senseless deaths, that I told him I had to
leave.  And that's when he said it.  I worked for him or I didn't work for
anyone at all.  I was too valuable, he said, too necessary for him to just
let me go."  He took a deep shuddering breath.  "So one day I escaped, ran
out of the compound, and that's when I called you, Nicci."

     At least he had the sense to realize that he'd been wrong, Nate
acknowledged grudgingly.  He didn't like Bradley, but he could see it was
simply because the other man was weak.  Weak in will and unwilling to
stand up to a bully.  Nate's eye glowed softly as he considered that Adam
was in this situation because of Bradley's weakness.

     "Now he wants you back come hell or high water.  Right.  I think I
know the story from here."  Nicci glanced in the side and rear view
mirrors and then over her shoulder before changing lanes.  An exit was
coming up fast, and she manuevered towards that lane.  "Well, he's not
going to have you back."  The car decelerated down the offramp and slid
into a gentle turn as they made their way along the surface streets once
more.  "If I have to kill him myself,"  Nicci added under her breath.

     Nate cast her a sharp glance, and Nicci returned it steadily.

     "Well, are you in?"  she asked.

     "I'm in,"  he said quietly.  He turned his attention back to the city
outside the passenger window.

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