Touch Me by Tamara Hogan Page A

yes, and Jesus, do I have a lot of research to do,” she muttered. “But there has to be a reason you told me this now. What’s up?”
    “ I knew this wouldn’t knock you for a loop for very long.” Sasha shot a fake smile at Jack. “It took some people a lot longer.”
    Jack simply resumed his typing.
    “I’ll be honest, I have so many questions, and I don’t know where to start. But what do I need to know right now?” Bailey said. And why does Lukas look so wiped out?
    The conference room’s integrated projection screen lit up the wall behind Lukas, illuminating his face with its phosphorescent glow. He levered himself out of the chair, dimmed the lights, and stayed standing, leaning against the wall, in the shadows, behind Jack. For someone so large, the man moved like smoke.
    Bailey looked to the screen, where the familiar-looking Sebastiani Inc. website was displayed. Now they were talking. She’d regain her footing more quickly if she could analyze some data. Jack scrolled down to the bottom center of the page, to where a very small globe twirled and sparkled. He clicked on it, and then drew his index finger across a pad on his laptop. Then he lifted his head and winked.
    So, she was finally going to find out what was behind the damn firewall. She’d bumped up against it a couple of times, had circled around it like a wolf cornering prey, but she’d backed off. It had almost killed her, but she’d backed away, not just punched through the damn thing. Because it would have been so damn easy. Her fingers practically twitched as she watched Jack at his keyboard.
    “We need you to tighten this up,” Lukas said matter-of-factly.
    She nodded like this was a request she received every day, but her curiosity spiked like a pegged CPU. What was out here that needed more than strong passwords and fingerprint recognition?
    When the screen came back up, it displayed a website that looked very much like the site they’d just come from, except there were now several additional navigational controls presented at the left side of the screen. Jack cruised his mouse over an “Archives” link that hadn’t been there before, and then clicked on a link which now read “Council Members” instead of “Board Members.” She had to chuckle when Jack clicked again, displaying an org chart. Apparently even extraterrestrial beings couldn’t escape PowerPoint.
    “ The Underworld Council is our governing body,” Lukas said. “Each species is represented by one representative, and that representative chooses a backup—a second, if you will.”
    “ A term from the days of dueling,” Sasha added, extending her arm like she carried an epee. “‘Name your second.’ ‘En garde!’” She tilted her head. “We like to think that things are much more civilized these days.”
    “ Bullshit,” Lukas grumbled.
     
UNDERWORLD COUNCIL
INCUBUS—Elliott Sebastiani*       Second: Lukas Sebastiani (acting)
SIREN—Claudette Fontaine           Second: Annika Fontaine
WERE—Krispin Woolf                   Second: Jacoby Woolf
VAMPIRE—Valerian                      Second: Wyland
VALKYRIE—Alka Schlessinger     Second: Lorin Schlessinger
HUMANITY—(Vacant)                  Emeritus: Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
SEC/TECH—Lukas Sebastiani        Second: Jack Kirkland
*President
     
     
    Bailey could almost feel her synapses snap as she skimmed the information. Carl Sagan? Jack? She blinked, and then swallowed audibly. Yes, that was Jack’s name next to Lukas’s in its neat little box. Humans were members of the Underworld Council?
    “ The Underworld Council governs Earth’s non-human species. These are the current representatives,” Lukas said. He pointed to the bottom of the list. “As you can see, there have been some recent changes. After long deliberation, a human was asked to join the Council about twenty years ago. Unfortunately, Carl wasn’t with the