“Tell me, what do you expect to learn from this? What makes you any different from an ordinary monitor?”She gave him a telling look when he arched a mocking brow at her.“Besides the fabulous body I gave you, all right?”
“We can get into that later, Elena.”
She sighed.“You’re not good at answering questions, are you?”He had evaded every one that would have given her a hint about the Center’s final agenda.
He caressed the side of her face.“It’s easier my way, trust me.”
There went those words again.Trust me.So far he had done nothing to earn her trust. Sure, he was something else to behold. And probably had the smarts of a scientist. But for all she knew, he might just be some young Derek-type nerd asked to manipulate her.
You don’t believe that.
This time she glared.Stop it. You’re probably a fat geek, and gay.
He laughed.And what’s wrong with that? You created me to look like this.
She hadn’t heard him laugh before. She liked the sound of it.Don’t tempt me. I’ll turn you into a hairy Big Foot and give you lice.
You won’t enjoy lice on you when I kiss you.
Did he have a comeback for everything? Helen watched as he punched in the buttons to activate the biofeedback machine. All of this was virtual reality, but doing the same things that would happen in preparing for a real remote viewing session readied both their minds and added even more focus. Actually, she no longer needed to use a biofeedback machine when she worked by herself these days, but she was taking someone along this time, and since he’d been coordinating his brain waves with hers, their going “under” together added another layer to the “mind illusion.” A brain wave synchronization within a brain wave synchronization. She was getting a headache trying to analyze what was happening. A headache within a headache. Ow.
His hand came behind her neck suddenly and jerked her forward. He planted a brief hard kiss on her lips, driving away all thought and analysis. Which was what he wanted, the jerk. She frowned. He had on that expression again. Cool, with that hint of something else, in his eyes.What was he thinking? Planning?
He didn’t let her go, although it couldn’t have been comfortable to be bending over her like that. His hand felt hot. Her head fell back as they stared at each other, and as the minutes went by, she heard their breathing becoming more even, the beta wavelength humming in the background.
“You have it on at your end, too, don’t you?”she whispered.“You’re in sync with me out there and in here.”
“Yes.”
She could feel their chests expanding as they took in their breaths. The hard imprint of his body. The soft air of his expelled breath. As she focused inward, she could hear…
Is it my imagination or can I hear both our heartbeats?
His hand gave a light squeeze.It’s all in the mind. Believe it and you’ll see it.
It’s supposed to be the other way round. See it and you’ll believe it.She was strangely excited and restless as she tried to figure out what was happening in this strange environment. For some reason, it was hard to concentrate.
He stepped closer, inserting his leg between hers, forcing her thighs open.Your mind’s too busy analyzing what’s happening.
With her head against his chest, his heartbeat thumped louder. A lot louder than normal, as if she heard him through a microphone in her head.Why was it she could hear his heart beating?His hand slid under the front waistband of her pants and inside her panties. Without preliminaries, he cupped her intimately.
Helen jerked. All thought flew out of her head at his sudden invasion. Shocking heat. And total internal focus. Strapped in the chair, her face hidden against his chest, her feet parted, he had total access. And he was taking advantage of that fact, ruthlessly stopping her questioning mind. Her breathing involuntarily grew heavier. He slid one finger inside her.
She pulled at the straps that were attached to her right hand. It was all in the head, anyway. She wasn’t held down by him or anything. His finger glided upwards. Pleasure shot through her system. The sound waves from the machine mingled with her heartbeat. His heartbeat. His finger glided downwards. She forgot about fighting.
She should…kick…his…Her mind clouded as a slow heavy pleasure bloomed. His finger explored lazily, its slow movement shifting all her focus to her senses and the sensations he was causing. He pressed his body harder against her face, or maybe it was the other way round, she couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter; it just gave him better access to everything. Her body was his to control. Her eyes closed of their own volition. Sound waves and heartbeats mingled and merged, until she couldn’t differentiate his from hers. She opened her mouth and tasted his bare flesh. She forgot about questions and analysis.
He knew exactly how she wanted him to move. It was as if he was reading her mind, giving her what she wanted, and then doing exactly…the…opposite. She strained against his touch. She locked on to the sound waves; she could hear the tones changing to theta wavelength. Within seconds, she would feel weightless—no arms, no legs—that floating sensation of bilocation. Hades’ touch slowed, too, fragmenting her sense of self even more as her senses stretched outward while he brought her up and held her there. She couldn’t think anymore. Almost…almost…
“Not yet, sweet Elena. Checkered flag,” he whispered in her ear.
Her trigger code. Her mind was his, too. Bastard. She growled softly as her mind obeyed. She let go, tumbling into the ether like she’d never done before, her whole being singing with pleasure. She was so going to kick his ass.
Nine
There were two kinds of remote viewing. The most basic was coordinated RV, one in which beginners were disciplined. There was a viewer chair and the target was given in coordinates, and the beginner would then draw his or her impressions in an ideogram. This beginning phase gave the monitor a chance to see how the remote viewer was improving; as he or she took more control of “seeing,” the ideograms would change from basic cartoonish lines to detailed artwork.
During her training with the CIA, Helen had surprised her monitor at how quickly she had been able to view with remarkable detail. She had graduated into Phase Two at record speed.
