~ X ~ An estate in the suburbs surrounding Washington, DC

The stern visage of the man currently speaking looked like it belonged to a corporate CEO. That was exactly what he was. He gazed around the table. The people assembled were some of the leading Homo superiors in the country. "Our kind, we in particular, have never been in such jeopardy as we are now."

His mouth twitched with annoyance. "Hugh's ill-fated attempt to exterminate humanity may very well bring about our own extinction."

Helen shot him a speaking look. "Surely you're exaggerating the situation."

He returned look with look. "I am not prone to hysteria. I stick to facts. I expressed my concerns to your brother many times, but was overridden."

Helen opened her mouth, but her son interceded before she could speak. "What's done is done. Arguing over something that can't be changed is fruitless. We need to form an action plan to deal with the consequences."

He turned to Kevin Montague. "Where do we stand?"

The man sighed deeply. "Information is still sketchy, but Dr. Jedikiah Price appears to have made multiple preemptive strikes. He somehow wrangled a meeting with the top decision makers in the country. He presented indisputable proof that Hugh tried to exterminate Homo sapiens. The Price family, more specifically Jedikiah Price himself, has come out as the champion of humanity. He made a point of stressing that he had to kill his own brother in an attempt to save his species. His nephew actually defeated Hugh with help from Price's protégée."

Kevin once again looked around the table. "Since the men forming this cabal of power are human, you can imagine that our former allies now regard us as pariahs. Luckily, we have always worked through several layers. An immediate contact has already died in a tragic robbery gone bad."

"Price's work?" Delia asked.

Kevin shook his head. "It's not clear what is happening here. Fingerprints at the scene implicate a TP called—" the man paused while he flipped through notes he had "—Cara Coburn, but it doesn't make sense. She's a known TP. One of the rebel underground leaders and she most definitely can't kill. I would have assumed that the actual agent is—" he consulted his notes again "—either John Young or a human agent or Price himself. John Young was a survivor of the Annex project, and it's confirmed he can kill."

The man frowned, apparently puzzled. "I'm not sure what kind of game Price is playing here. We need more information."

He drummed his fingers on the table impatiently, looking like he had a nasty taste in his mouth. "We need to evaluate our individual risk." He sighed again. "I believe I am above suspicion. I took the unusual approach of allowing myself to lose a million dollars. I thought I was being tested and then with Hugh's crazy plan—" he shot a look of reproach at Helen "—I easily read a colleague's mind and could have saved myself the money, but I let it go. In hindsight, I chose wisely. That man will remember and vouch for me not being able to read minds."

One by one they went around the table.

A man of possibly mixed Asian ancestry spoke up. "There's only two layers between me and a cabal member. I'm a known associate of Hugh Bathory, conspicuously seen at his New York estate. I've often been the gatekeeper between Price and Bathory. I should probably distance myself from the rest of you."

Hugh frowned, looking at Kevin, who shrugged fatalistically. "Perhaps you should, James, until we see how far they are penetrating into our group."

James nodded. "I'm in contact with Reginald in New York. We'll want to try to use the TP that Hugh gave the killing ability to. If handled carefully they could give us an advantage for a while."

Delia's curiosity was aroused. "What do you mean for a while?"

"Hugh injected volunteers with a drug called Delphonium 6. It strips the prime barrier that prevents our kind from killing. The first generation, Delphonium 1, killed everyone they used it on except for two individuals – John Young and Killian McCrane. McCrane developed a psychosis and disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Hugh asked.

James's lips thinned. "Apparently Price struck a deal with Young to hunt down McCrane. From what I've been able to gather from hearsay and rumors Price tried to double-cross Young, but failed, and McCrane was never seen again. It's speculated that Young killed him."

"But that was six generations ago. I take it the drug no longer kills?" A harsh face blonde woman hazarded.

"Correct," James replied, "but there is evidence that the psychotic effects were never corrected."

"Are you saying that my Uncle created killing machines that are slowly going crazy?" Hugh's eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"Was my father crazy?" Delia asked.

James shrugged. "Your father wanted this world for our kind. He sacrificed your half-sister to that cause. I think he thought he could deal with the side effects later."

"So you're saying that we have the potential for exposure through psychotic killers?" Kevin asked, his voice expressing his outrage.

Helen looked down at the table.

Hugh shook his head in disgust. "How do we control them? How will we eliminate them if they go off the deep end?"

James shrugged. "Hopefully we can leave their ultimate elimination in Dr. Price's capable hands."

Disgusted grunts met this pronouncement.

Kevin idly remarked. "It's a shame that the protégée is human now. He would have been invaluable in dealing with them."

James held up a hand. "He might not be human."

Kevin's eyebrows rose. "The intel we received said he was human."

"He might be," James responded. "There's conflicting stories about this.

People started having sidebar conversations, offering their opinions.

"We need good information, not speculation." Helen's voice rose sharply above the buzz of conversation.

Kevin spoke up. "For once we're in agreement, Helen. Let's get back to our original discussion. Do you feel you're in jeopardy of being exposed?"

Helen's mouth twisted. "No, I was never in contact with the Price brothers and it's a well-known fact in TP circles, that if one twin is born TP, the other one is always born human."

Hugh smiled fondly at his mother. "You and Uncle being the only known exceptions."

She nodded sadly. "I won't be under suspicion. I can easily mask my powers."

Delia frowned. "If it's known I'm my father's daughter, I'll definitely be targeted."

"Don't feel so bad, cuz," Hugh offered. "I'm the spitting image of my Uncle. I can't deny the relationship. I'll be looked at under a microscope."

Kevin spoke up. "Your grandmother is one of the old guard in Washington society. Lillian Bathory will be above suspicion."

Helen agreed. "My mother is a respected political hostess and she's always been discreet. No one would ever suspect her of reading minds."

A man in his early thirties spoke up. "How are our finances?"

Kevin's face soured up as if he had sucked on a lemon. "All Ultra funds have disappeared.

Cries of outrage rose from the table.

"How is that possible?" The man who asked the original question responded.

"Sebastian, if I knew I would have prevented it or immediately tried to recover the money. The trail is impossible to follow." Kevin held up an admonitory hand. "Let me qualify that. There is a trail, but it leads back to Hugh Bathory. In addition to being a killer all evidence suggests that he absconded with the money from the Ultra organization."

The blonde woman asked, "How did they move so quickly?"

Kevin looked at his hands, folded on the table, shaking his head. "This was not any last minute move. The brains, and we believe it is Dr. Price, had these plans in place years ago. I researched him. The man is brilliant. Hugh had a tendency to treat him with contempt, but—" he looked around the table "—that ends here and now. This man laid down a complicated web of schemes to meet any eventuality maybe as long as fifteen years ago."

"It must have been the TP brother, Roger," Helen insisted.

"Mother, stop it!" Hugh slammed his hand down on the table. "You are blinded by the same prejudices as my Uncle. This kind of bigotry is what brought us into this situation. No one believes more firmly than me in our kind, in the fact that we are superior, but Roger Price is dead, and the human Jedikiah is alive. Not only alive, but in a position of real power."

Kevin openly applauded him. "Thank you for showing some common sense, Hugh!"

Helen opened her mouth to retort, but Delia reached over and patted her hand. "Sorry, Auntie. The evidence is there. The human Price is a formidable adversary and I, for one, will not underestimate him."

"I don't know that we've ever faced anyone tougher." Kevin's voice held reluctant admiration.

Everyone was silent for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

Finally Kevin shook himself and laid his hands out flat on the table. "We don't have enough information. We need to get Reg in from New York. We need to find out what files we have access to, and who is on what side. We might be able to leverage something out of this."

He looked around the table and was met with nods of agreement.

"We'll reconvene with the rest of our group when we have some facts."