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That seemed to be a running theme with Lozaro, unfortunately. Not playing well with others who specialized in R&D. Always running into "creative differences," as he liked to put it.

Even with all he'd managed to provide, Jercash still sometimes wondered if he was worth the hassle.

But at least he wasn't psychic.

Jercash had gotten more than his fill of that type of support. The Weaver was lucky that Morgunov had gotten to her before Jercash did. If she wasn't under Gohvis' protection now, he would have hunted her down years ago and made her pay for her betrayal.

Through her, he'd been able to learn much about the nature of psychics and their terrible powers, but in the end, she hadn't been able to resist trying to bend him to her will.

And it didn't exactly help that she was one of his many ex-wives.

Mixing work with romance was rarely a good idea, of course, but it had taken him more than two centuries to learn that lesson.

He'd definitely learned it, though. He was not going to marry his personal secretary, this time. Never again. No. It didn't matter how much he liked her. Even if she seemed like prime wife material. It simply couldn't happen. Hell, Zenia probably wouldn't even want to, if he asked her.

Regardless, his marriage to Weaver--as brief and turbulent as it had been--had nonetheless proved rather useful in the long-term. It was thanks to her--and others, of course--that he'd developed his own psychic defenses.

One of which he'd picked up from Morgunov.

The deliberate locking away of memories. He always had to do that whenever preparing to meet Gohvis. As much as he enjoyed the big guy's company, Jercash knew only too well that their friendship was ultimately based more on convenience and amusement than anything else.

Which were serviceable enough foundations, sure, but he wasn't about to gamble everything on them.

There were some secrets that needed to remain secret, even from Gohvis.

Which, apparently, was yet another reason why Graves, the Pale Hawk, was such a bastard to deal with. Somehow, he seemed to have gotten wind of Jercash's plans--or some of them, at least. It was the only explanation.

Taking Vanderberk off the board in that particular manner had been an especially cunning move--one that even Gohvis had not fully recognized.

Because, of course, Jercash had never told him the truth about Vanderberk.