"Yes, sir," Anne said. "Kyle and I went to school together longer ago than I'd care to admit."

Truman laughed. "Well, Mr. Teller is probably wondering how he comes to meet you again here. Why don't you tell him?"

Ravenheart turned to Kyle. "As you know, Mr. Truman is a good friend of Damien Knight, CEO of Ares Macro-technology. When Mr. Knight heard about the disappearance of Mitchell Truman, he ordered Knight Errant's assets placed at Mr. Truman's disposal.

"And I've been sent in to handle Knight Errant's investigation of who's responsible and what we might do to restore the boy to health."

Kyle hazarded a glance at Hanna Uljaken, whose eyes showed concern.

"Well, your assistance is certainly appreciated," Kyle said. "With Knight Errant helping out I'm sure we can-"

"They want to take over," Melissa said suddenly, her gaze darting between Kyle and the frown her father was giving her.

Ravenheart was also frowning. "As Mr. Truman and I were discussing when you arrived, Knight Errant would prefer to handle the investigation and security exclusively. To do otherwise might slow down critical communication and hinder the operation-regardless of the other talent involved." She gave Kyle a slight smile. "Nothing personal."'

He shrugged. "None taken. I agree it would be a good idea to combine forces, but I'd argue for your people to assist us." He let his gaze travel briefly around the assembled group. Things are already happening. I'd be reluctant to lose any time transferring command and information.”

"And, truthfully, I've been exploring some avenues that I'd rather not reveal due to the confidentiality of the sources. Knight Errant's assistance is certainly appreciated, but it seems to make more sense for them to support the existing structure than trying to rebuild it."

Ravenheart was about to protest, when Daniel Truman cut in. "I tend to agree with Mr. Teller. Ms. Uljaken tells me that the two of them have been making progress toward identifying the people responsible."

"People?" asked Ravenheart, turning back to Kyle. She seemed about to continue her line of thought, but a flick of her eyes at Mrs. Truman apparently decided her otherwise. Instead, she said, "That's good news. Whatever your decision, Mr. Truman, Knight Errant is at your disposal."

"Excellent," he said. "Mr. Teller is still looking into this for me and my family, and your prior acquaintance should make it all the easier for him to get what he needs from your team."

"I'm sure it will."

"For anything else," Truman told her, "please liaise through my assistant Ms. Uljaken, who is also working with Mr. Teller."

"I'll do that, sir. In the meantime would it be possible for Mr. Teller to brief us on his progress?"

"Now's as good a time as any." Daniel Truman motioned his family toward the doors leading back inside. They obediently followed his lead, though Melissa gave Kyle another strained look as she disappeared from view. This time Hanna saw it too, but he didn't react to the questioning on her face. Devress also stayed behind, but melted farther back from the discussion.

"First I'd like to apologize for not introducing the other two members of my team," Ravenheart said immediately. She gestured to the burly man, who Kyle was fairly certain was not a mage. "This is Sergeant Keith Vathoss," she said.

Vathoss nodded, and Kyle could almost hear the flat-motors and microhydraulics of his cyberware rev up as he did. His hair was buzz-cut and bright red, his chin square and neck bulky from the chemicals he was taking to boost whatever natural muscles his body still had. His eyes were dark and translucent, a protective shield grafted over what Kyle was sure were equally artificial vision and related sensory systems.

Vathoss smiled. "Sir," he said.

"And this is Lieutenant Paul Gersten." Ravenheart gestured to the other man. "My second in command."

Gersten stuck out his hand and Kyle shook it. “Pleased to meet you," he said, noting that Gersten's grip was strong, but cold.

Ravenheart turned back to Kyle. Her posture was formal and her eyes set while she spoke. "We've got a somewhat awkward situation here because we know each other." He nodded agreement. "But we're going to have to ignore that, even if it means things might ultimately get more awkward."

Kyle could see Hanna watching the exchange with intense interest.

"Now don't take this wrong," Ravenheart went on, "because I have the greatest respect for you and your talent, but you're way out of your league this time."

“Thank you for pointing that out," Kyle said.

She sighed. "I'm sorry to be so blunt, but you probably didn't know that Knight Errant has been conducting its own investigation concurrently with your own."

Kyle glanced at Hanna, who seemed surprised. Beyond her, Devress was expressionless.

"And we've turned up a few interesting things.” She turned to Gersten. "Lieutenant?"

Gersten cleared his throat and took a small step closer to them. "We know that we're dealing with a covert group of anima spirits operating in the guise of five women, Dierdre Reinmann, Karyn Moffit, Mary Hauser, Gwen Pitvorec, and Linda Hayward. They're a conspiratorial group whose motivations are unclear except that they are apparently directed toward the gain and advancement of the group."

"How does Mitchell Truman fit into this?" asked Kyle. "It sounds like some kind of women-only group, probably with pretty hard-line strictures. They couldn't have been trying to recruit him."

Ravenheart shook her head. "We believe they were trying to possess him," she said, "but slotted up royally."

"How could they hope to pull that off? If they're anima spirits, they've got pronounced 'female' characteristics. It would have been difficult for any of them to pretend to be Mitch Truman."

"The boy was bisexual," said Gersten, and Kyle saw Ravenheart wince.

Kyle glared at the man. "I won't even bother responding to that"

"I'm with you," Ravenheart said. "I think the Hayward-spirit targeted or stumbled across Mitchell, established a romantic connection, maybe through magic, and was going to use him." She paused. "And then something went wrong."

Kyle nodded. "Something in the relationship changed. Who knows? Maybe he found out something, and they had to act."

"What you don't know, Kyle, is that the night Mitchell Truman was found, his sister Melissa was on her way to meet with him."

"What?"

"She'd received a call from her brother earlier that evening and had sneaked off to meet him. We intercepted the call and so knew where to go when she shook off the two guards with her. She made it, but her brother never showed up."

"Do you think your people might have scared him off?"

Both Gersten and Vathoss seemed to bristle slightly, but Ravenheart just shrugged. "Hard to tell. Our team was pretty well concealed, but anything is possible. The point is simply that he called his sister and asked her to meet him secretly."

Kyle frowned. "You think they were switching targets and going for Melissa?"

Devress didn't flinch, but Hanna gasped. "It would make sense," Ravenheart said. "If they saw they were losing control over Mitchell, it would have been logical to try to get direct control over another member of the family."

"Through possession," said Kyle.

Raven nodded. "Through possession. In the same manner they control the bodies they now inhabit."

"So what do you recommend as our next step?"

"Maintain level one security on the whole Truman family and their immediate staff," Ravenheart said. "It's unlikely the group will try again, especially now that we're alerted, but we want to play it safe. Once we've got that in place, we continue our pursuit of the Desolation Angels."

"Got any leads?" Kyle asked.

Ravenheart smiled. "Oh yes, but our sources are confidential, so I can't reveal the status of any just yet."