* * *
Fate seemed to be pushing Ty into his path.  Why had she come along now after all his years of searching?  Now when he had prior claims on his attention.  He couldn’t drop Berengi a second time.  His heartbeat quickened as he thought about what he’d overheard Vanessa tell Duke.  “Nibele,” Vanessa had said.  Victor decided that his dilemma called for an approach from the First Preemption—to strike from a state of suspension.  He must deal with the matter on his own terms before it completely distracted him.  He was attracted to Ty; he felt desire.  Therefore, using her to help him was only logical.  She would be close, while he completed his mission.
He used his cell phone to call Ty’s room.
“We need to talk,” he said as soon as she answered.
“Victor,”  she stated more than asked.
“Yes.  Can I come up to your room?”
“Now?  I… I don’t think that would be a very good idea. But we do need to meet.”
“Then my room, or the kitchen, or the garage.  That’s where I am now.  Somewhere.  And not on the phone.”
“I know.”  She sighed.  “Okay, I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes.”
* * *
The kitchen was a huge room full of metal pots hanging from overhead racks and gleaming steel counters and cabinets.  At this time of night, it was utterly deserted.  Victor turned on one overhead fluorescent panel near the refrigerator, pulled out two soft drinks then heard her footfall at the doorway.  He turned and felt his lungs squeeze.
Ty wore an oversized T-shirt and spandex running shorts, an outfit similar to the one she’d worn the morning he first met her.  But this time Victor was positive that she wasn’t wearing any underwear.  The certainty that there was nothing but smooth brown skin beneath the soft cotton of her T-shirt did something powerful to his libido.  He carefully kept his gaze on her face as he held out the plastic bottle.  She accepted it and followed his example by perching up on the counter.  The fluorescent panel cast a yellow pool of light at their feet, leaving their faces shadowed.
“What’s up?  Did you take care of Franklin?”
“Yeah.  I made sure he doesn’t feel like spreading the word about what happened.”
“Oh, Victor, thanks.”  She gave a shy half-smile.
“It’s nothing,” he said with a shrug.  They sipped on their sodas.
“How’s the girl—the maid?” he asked.
“She’ll survive.”  He sensed her hesitation as she asked the next question.  “I guess you’re wondering if it was necessary for me to knock him out.”
“No.”
She cocked her head to the side.  “No?”
“I only wish someone had done it before he attacked you like that.  I wish I had.”
A gurgle of laughter erupted from her chest.  She reached for his hand and squeezed it.  He felt electricity tingling up his arm.  They both jerked back.
She shifted a little.  “Well, if you don’t want to talk about Franklin, what?”
He recalled his planned questions with some difficulty.  “When you came out of the room this evening, the ladies seemed pretty worked up.  And Vanessa mentioned Nibele.”
Once more she tensed.  “It was a bunch of garbage.  A misunderstanding that was blown all out of proportion.”
“It may have seemed silly to you, but I want to know.  Tell me exactly what happened in that room with Vanessa.”
She regarded him suspiciously, but then shrugged.  “Well, Vanessa made a big entrance dressed in her ceremonial robes, I suppose.  She went into a spiel about calling on the spirits.  We were all drinking tea and waiting for her.”
“Tea?”
“Yes, some import of Kingston’s, she said.”
“Did you notice any changes in your perception after drinking the tea?”
“I felt sleepy. She drugged me?  I knew it!”  Ty slammed her fist into the other palm.
“There’s a drink used by the Nakisisi of San Berto.  It’s a mixture of herbs.  Everything is very pure and natural, it shouldn’t actually harm anyone.  But some of those herbs are mildly hallucinogenic and capable of rendering the drinker more open to suggestion.”
“So that’s it!”
“What?  Tell me what you think happened?”
“I felt like I dozed off, and the next thing I knew everyone was staring at me, insisting that I had been talking gibberish.  Except Vanessa said it wasn’t gibberish.  That it was Dogon.  Actually she… she seemed scared at first.”
“Dogon?” He twisted his body to face her more fully.  “Is that what she said?”
“She said that I said something about a daughter of fire or something like that.”
“Nibele,” he whispered.
Ty slammed her hand on the counter in frustration.  “Now you’re staring.  What does it mean?  What does this have to do with me?”