Blood Sins

even if it takes us years or a lifetime to find them. Something created, on the other hand, something forged in the crucible of experiences may not have those kinds of limits. And the evolution of something like that could be consciously controlled, accelerated by will alone. Samuel could be growing stronger, literally, day by day.'

'Which is why you said this couldn't go on for weeks or months.'

He nodded. 'Yes. We have to stop him.'

'Even without evidence?'

'Even,' Bishop said, 'without evidence. And without evidence, we can't put him in a cage. We can't deal with him in a courtroom. Without evidence, we have to destroy him.'

* * * *

Tessa was frowning. 'Sarah was a Haven operative, not a fed. And the FBI investigation into the church wasn't authorized?'

'Not by the Director. He's not a big fan of the SCU. Or of Bishop. Things have been a little tense since his appointment.'

'Why not a fan? From everything I've been told, the SCU has been incredibly successful in their investigations, especially in comparison to some other FBI cases.'

'And it could be that. Bishop bends over backward to avoid publicizing our successes. And if we don't get credit'

'the FBI doesn't get credit. But does the Director really want to explain that the successes are due to a unit mostly made up of psychic agents?'

'I doubt it. Very much. So you could see how he'd have mixed emotions about us. Whatever other tensions are there, I don't know. But I know he's been watching the unit and Bishop very closely.'

A bit dryly, Tessa said, 'I doubt that going behind the Director's back to put agents inside a church would win any brownie points.'

'I never said SCU agents were inside the church,' Hollis said immediately. 'Look, Tessa, any suspected cult leader is automatically on the FBI's watch list, and the SCU's. Any suspected cult leader with even the possibility of psychic ability and we'd be nuts not to get eyes and ears on the inside, to gauge the danger, ASAP. A psychic cult leader suspected of murder calls for a full-scale investigation.'

'But not an official investigation.'

'If you're worried about the legalities, Haven is still officially working for Senator LeMott.'

Tessa was shaking her head. 'I'm not worried on that account. I know John and Maggie would never send one of us into any situation without legal cover.'

'Then what are you worried about?'

A little laugh escaped Tessa.

Hollis grimaced. 'Okay dumb question. I mean, what's bugging you about the Haven/SCU connection in all this?'

'I'm just not sure of the boundaries. The limits.'

'What do you mean?'

'We can watch. We can gather information. But we aren'tnone of us isauthorized to actually arrest or even detain anyone.'

'Well, that's debatable. But not the point. You want to take Chief Cavenaugh into our confidence, don't you?'

'Why not? He does have the authority, without question or debate, to openly investigate, to detain or arrest, even on suspicion. And he's certain Samuel and his church are involved in the murders.'

'He's also about as subtle as neon in his suspicions, according to what you told me.'

'Maybe that's not such a bad thing. Maybe Samuel and his church need to know someone's watching.'

Hollis studied the other woman for a beat or two, then said quietly, 'All that pain you felt. You believe we need to act quickly. To stop whatever is going on up there.'

'Don't you?'

'Stop it, yes. As soon as possible, yes. But, Tessa, even with the chief on our side in this, the law isn't, and Cavenaugh has to follow the law. We have no hard evidence, remember? No proof that Samuel or anyone in his church had anything to do with Sarah's death, or Ellen Hodges's death. Or any of the others'.'

'I know that. But at least the Chief can ask his questions directly; we're smiling and pretending.'

'It's just another way to investigate, and you know it. You also know, I hope, that nobody would blame you if you decided it isn't a way you want to be involved in this.'

Tessa shifted beneath the other woman's steady gaze. 'I'm not going to bail. It's justI guess that dream unsettled me even more than I thought.'

'I'm not surprised. What Samuel is doing, if we're right about any of this, is about as unnatural as it comes. And whether his motivation is the usualif more literalpower trip of a cult leader or something more, what we do know without question is that he's dangerous. And getting more so. Six of the eight known victims in this area died in the last two yearsand that doesn't even begin to count the women killed last summer in Boston, and last October in Venture, hideous murders we're convinced Samuel was ultimately responsible for.'

'And all we have are questions.'

'It's not all we have. We suspected he was a murderer. That he was killing with his mind, his abilities, if not with his own hands. This could be why he kills, this apparent need for energy. The hunger you sensed and saw in your dream. This could be one answer, or part of an answer. But it doesn't change anything. We have to find all the answers, like the critical one of how to stop him. Preferably before anyone else dies.'

That final sentence served to focus Tessa and stiffen her resolve, to remind her of her part in all this. Her job.

'So he gets at least some of what he needs from them, from his followers. The women. He uses his abilities to stimulate them to orgasm and then draws the energy out of them. That's just so hard to believe.'

'It was your dream,' Hollis noted.

'I don't have visions,' Tessa said immediately.

'I don't think what you had was a vision.'

'You don't believe what I saw was real?'

'Oh, I believe it was real. I believe it happened exactly as you saw it happen, probably when you saw it happen.'

'How is that possible? I was here. I never pick up impressions at a distance, much less anything that detailed.'

'Remember what I said about our abilities changing?'

Tessa nodded.

'Well, I believe yours have changed. Or are in the process of changing. In this case, at least. You connected to something while you were in that compound. Maybe a person, maybe an energy sourceI don't know. But you made a very real, tangible connection.'

'What makes you believe that?'

Hollis studied the multicolored aura surrounding the other woman, fainter now than it had been when Tessa had awakened her but still glittering here and there, almost sparking, as if with electricity. Not an unusual aura for a psychic, in Hollis's rather limited and very recent experience. But one thing about it was unusual.

A tendril of energy, shifting, almost writhing, snaked out from the aura, through the kitchen doorway, and disappeared toward the front of the house. And out the front door.

'Call it a hunch,' Hollis said.

* * * *

'The problem,' Special Agent Quentin Hayes said, 'is that it takes so damn long to get anybody inside. And once they are inside, they're lucky if they can be alone in the John for five minutes. That doesn't really lend itself to any kind of a thorough recon.'