Authors: Beyond Control
"Um," Dan acknowledged noncommittally, concentrating on his tea.
Willow slipped off her shoes, curled her feet up under her body, and leaned back into the cushions with an indolence that stopped just short of provocation.
"We've been impressed with your record in Washington," Sax continued. "And we hope you're thinking about a bid for the presidency in the next election."
"I haven't made that decision yet."
"We liked your message in the senatorial campaign two years ago. But you took a bit of a media beating—like those negative ads Governor Baker ran during primetime hours."
"Yes, well, he was drawing on a considerable family fortune, and his PR team was better."
"We know a very dynamic PR man you might want to consider."
Dan shifted in his seat. Saxon Trinity was talking like a political pro. His sister was communicating very effectively on a nonverbal level. "Thanks for the offer, but it's still very early in the process. I haven't even started fund-raising yet. But I know it would take a lot of money to pull off a run for the presidency."
"Would a million-dollar contribution from us help on that front?"
Despite Dan's resolve to play it cool, the amount of money made his teacup rattle in the saucer. A million dollars could buy a nice chunk of TV airtime.
"That's very generous of you," he allowed. "But, of course, legally there would be no way I could accept that much from you and your sister."
"Oh, we'll keep it strictly aboveboard. The contributions will be arranged through hundreds of our most trusted disciples."
Dan was impressed with the strategy. "You seem to have thought this through rather carefully."
"When an individual is deserving, we go out of our way to help him out." Saxon began a laudatory discussion of the senator's voting record.
Well, Dan thought, Trinity had done his homework and had a remarkable grasp of local and national issues. What's more, he understood the rules of the game.
Sax ended with a warm smile. "I believe our interests and yours match rather well, although I did notice you abstained on the vote last term on the Harwood-Gordon bill."
Ah, yes. Removing the tax-exempt status for questionable religious groups. So opposing the bill was what the Perfect Pair wanted in exchange for their money. The measure hadn't come close to passing.
Though it was due to be reintroduced, his vote probably wasn't going to make any difference. "I certainly feel that worthy groups shouldn't be excluded from favorable treatment," Dan answered. "Perhaps you could provide me with some more information about your organization."
"Certainly."
Willow reentered the conversation. "Dan. I hope we're on a first-name basis."
"Of course."
"Well, Dan, it sounds as though we'll be able to help each other out."
His eyes swung back to her. For just a moment the million dollars had made him forget her very beautiful presence. Once more, however, he was enthralled. "I'm looking forward to it."
"But I do have a small request to make."
"Yes?"
"My brother and I often ask for spiritual guidance in our daily decision-making process. It's a very private communication, and we rarely invite outsiders to join us. But tonight I have a strong feeling that the three of us should ask for counsel from the universal mind."
Dan studied her earnest expression, silently admitting he'd been fantasizing about something a bit less spiritual. But Willow Trinity was a religious leader. Despite her seductive appearance, she was probably as pure as Mother Teresa. She was so firmly in the spotlight that if she'd been seeing anyone, it would have made the front page of the National Enquirer.
"I'm a Christian, of course," he hedged.
"Our beliefs are in harmony with all religions of the world."
"All right," Dan agreed. He was feeling a bit adventuresome, as though the herbal tea might have contained something a little more potent than mulberry leaves. The sensation was far from unpleasant. He had the sudden premonition that what this woman could offer on a spiritual level might be very exciting.
The Trinitys had already gotten up. Saxon dimmed the lights and moved toward a small round table at the side of the room. After setting a cut-glass bowl in the center, he poured in a cup of clear liquid. "Water is for purity, and the circle is the symbol of the never-ending universe," he explained, as they all took seats.
Dan looked from one twin to the other. Though their faces were tranquil, there was a coiled expectancy in their posture.
"Let us share our energy," Willow suggested. Dipping her ringers into the bowl of water, she pressed them briefly against her lips, her tongue licking out to catch a drop. After she repeated the ritual with her brother, her fingers plunged into the bowl again and touched Dan's lips, stroking across them with a slow sensuality. He tasted the water but at the same time felt a spark of carnality that had nothing to do with worship.
"We will join together," Saxon decreed. "Give Willow your hand."
Dan tensed as she reached simultaneously for her brother's hand and also for his where it rested on his knee. As her strong, slender fingers closed around his, he felt a sharp surge almost like an electric current. The energy seemed to flow around the table in a circle from one twin to the other and back to him.
Fighting a jolt of uneasiness, he looked up. Neither Trinity acknowledged that anything out of the ordinary was happening.
He might have leaped up and fled the room. But his body felt too heavy to move. He didn't resist when he felt Sax's grasp on his hand tighten.
Willow gazed at her brother, her face a study in beatification as she began to chant in a minor key. The words were a hymn to the spiritual kinship of all things, and their rhythm seemed to weave themselves through his consciousness.
"Light commands all," she murmured. "Let our collective living force bring us to the Way of the Light."
Dan felt a calm in the room like the quiet before an electrical storm. Then a tiny spark popped in the bowl in the center of the table. Another spark followed and then another. Suddenly the liquid burst into shimmering flames.
Dan knew there was only water in the vessel. He had tasted it. Had the force of their energy really set it on fire? Or was it some elaborate trick? He tried to wrench himself away from the circle. Strong hands that might as well have been links of steel held him fast.
Smiling slightly, Willow turned his palm up, her fingers massaging a sensual pattern against the fleshy pad at the base of his thumb. His body relaxed; his mind swirled. Tendrils of pleasure snaked up his arm.
The delight increased as her fingers moved down his body to the tweed-covered expanse of his thigh.
His mind was floating in the sibilance of her words; his body vibrating to the touch of her fingers. Golden threads of arousal wound around and through his being, stripping away rational thought, binding him to Willow.
There was only her touch, her voice, her commands, and his need to join himself with her. The desire to give of himself was overwhelming. Mental fingers caressed the very core of his essence as her hand stroked over the swollen erection behind his fly.
"Please," he gasped.
What do you want? Her voice spoke in his mind.
"You."
When she unzipped his fly, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He would have reached for her, but he couldn't move. He could only sit there, praying she would give him what he craved.
She freed his swollen red cock, stroked him with delicate fingers. He needed to be inside her. Or if not that, he needed her hand to tighten around him.
Please, he begged again, although this time he wasn't capable of speaking aloud.
As she stroked him, she spoke.
"The three of us are going to be very warm and close," she said, her words filling his head. "There will be an openness, a sharing among us."
"Yes," he gasped.
"We are going to be much more than mere associates, more than friends. Just as your body craves me, your mind is open to me."
"Yes."
"We want you to keep on the alert for us. Be on the lookout for any incidents that seem strange, out of the ordinary, unexplainable by normal means."
"What incidents?"
"You'll know."
"I'll try."
"That's all we can ask. Come back to us with the information we need, and we will reward you."
"Yes," he answered. In his mind an image formed— Willow, naked and beautiful, holding out her arms.
The mental contact and her hand on his cock brought him deep pleasure, and the craving for more. He was like an addict who had gotten his first taste of an illicit drug and knew he would be back again and again. Because Willow Trinity—this woman who was like a goddess—could offer him more than any other female on earth. The longing for that ecstasy opened his mind more fully to her.
"In a few moments we will part."
Disappointment shot through him. "No! I need ..."
She squeezed his cock. "I know you want me. We can't do anything more until you come back with information. But you must not tell anyone about this meeting. And when you think about tonight, you will not remember any intimate sexual contact. You will remember only the pleasantries exchanged over the tea and your business conversation with Sax. Say it."
"I will remember only the pleasantries exchanged over the tea and my business conversations with Sax."
"You are impressed with our offer. You trust us. You want to come back so we can talk again."
"I will come back." The pledge was engraved on his mind like an inscription carved into a gravestone.
"And you will report any strange phenomena you hear about."
"What phenomena?" he asked again, desperate to understand.
"Anything out of the ordinary. Anything to do with national security. Anything you hear in the defense community—or outside of it."
"Can you be more specific?"
"No. Just do your best."
"All right. But please ..."
"Later. Much later."
He wanted to scream when she pressed his erection back into his pants, and zipped him back up, leaving him aching and unfulfilled.
Only her silent promise of more intimate contact in the days and weeks to come kept him from losing his sanity.
* * *
She was exhausted, and he stroked his lips against her cheek.
"Did he make you hot?"
She laughed. "Not hardly."
"Will he come through for us?" Sax asked.
"If he can. But we have to reinforce his resolve with campaign contributions."
"That will be the easy part," Sax answered, then sighed. "I just wish you could have been more specific about what we wanted."
"What you warned me of—it's still too vague?"
"Yes, but I think it has to do with other people like us. And national security."
"How?"
They had been over this territory before. All he could do was give her the same answers. "I wish to hell I could see the future better. Maybe I'll know more when the time gets closer."
"You said we were unique."
"I thought we were. But... I'm picking up ... vibrations."
She laughed nervously. "You sound like a New Age guru."
He joined in the laughter. "I am a New Age guru."
"If there are others like us ... they could be stronger."
"If anyone had gotten stronger ... I'd know it. I'd feel it," he said confidently. "What we have to do is find them and kill them before they can become a threat to us."
"Yes," she murmured. They had been poor and weak for fifteen years. Today they had everything they wanted. But the fear still nipped at her heels.
Together, they had the potency to hold it at bay. And only by keeping the power for themselves would they stay warm and safe and comfortable in the new life they had built together.
LINDSAY SAT AT her desk going over the Defense Department research reports. She had enough seniority to rate a small office to herself, but she could sense the buzz of tension around her.
The senator was due back any minute, and he would have notes for staffers demanding immediate answers to questions from constituents.
Although Lindsay couldn't see him from her room at the back of the complex, she knew the moment he arrived and marked his progress through the suite as he gave orders and exchanged greetings.
When he stepped into her office, she asked, "Did you have a good trip, Senator?"
"Very. Have you finished with the summaries of the weapons systems reports?"
"They're almost done."
"Anything unusual?"
"They're what you'd expect, if you expect the Defense Department to play fast and loose with the taxpayers' money."
"Uh-huh."
Lindsay looked up at Bridgewater. He was watching her, and for an instant she was caught by a strangely intent expression she'd never seen before in his gray eyes.
Then he no longer seemed to be focused on her. In fact, his features had turned flat and vacant, as if he'd stepped out of the room and left his body beside her desk.
"Senator?"
Bridgewater blinked, and his crisp demeanor returned. "Is there some problem, Lindsay?"
She swallowed. "Why, no."
"Then give the summaries to Margaret, and I'll get back to you in a couple of days."
He looked like he was about to leave. Lindsay cleared her throat. "If you have a minute, I had an inquiry about our chemical and biological weapons program."
She knew from his sudden sharp expression that she'd caught his attention. "What about it?"
"The information came from a confidential source worried that there might have been a flap at a secure research facility."
"Is the source credible?"
"Yes."
"Are we talking about Fort Derrick?"
"No. A place called Maple Creek."
He tipped his head to one side, watching her. "You ever heard of it before?"
"No, sir."
The look on his face made the skin on her arms prickle.