Fearless Leader (Juxtapose City) Read Online Free PDF Page A

mouth twisting as he watched the empath peel off a tablet and slide it quickly beneath his tongue. The look that came over Starr's face was one of absolute relief. Of bliss. The odd thought shot through Black's head that this must be what the empath looked like when he was about to orgasm. Black quickly banished the stray thought.
    "Freak," Dickerson muttered, laughing quietly. He rejoined Black and led him outside into the hall. His expression was one of supreme satisfaction. "So what do you think of my little experiment? Impressive, wouldn't you say? We'll never have to worry about lying sacks of shit ever again. Not with him around."
    "He's a drug addict," Black replied, unable to hide his disgust. "How reliable can he be?"
    "I told you. He can't go back to the streets and we're giving him enough drugs to keep him sane. He has no choice. As screwed up in the head as psypaths are Calyx is street-smart. He knows what's up. He'll cooperate for as long as we need him to."
    Black didn't want to talk about the empath anymore. Seeing the blatant use of-- worse, the supplying of -- Bliss in his presence made him sick inside. "It's your show. You know what you're doing."
    Dickerson shook his head, a secretive smile upon his face. "No, this is your show. I'm assigning him to JC2."
    He should have known. The moment Dickerson had brought up the subject of an empath Black should have guessed something like this was up the captain's sleeve. Dickerson may have saved Black from an early death in Hangway, given him command of JC2 at the unheard-of age of 23, but he still had a twisted streak that compelled him to occasionally punish Black. Just small reminders that Black owed him big time. Of course, Black could never argue. He knew his debt as well as Dickerson did.
    That didn't mean he couldn't put up some resistance.
    "My team is in tatters right now," he argued, keeping his voice pitched low so Jake wouldn't overhear. "Besides dealing with the loss of two men my team will have to incorporate new members. Now you want to throw in an empath? JC2 is in the middle of a major transition. Don't make me have to deal with this on top of it."
    "But you can handle it," Dickerson replied confidently. A touch of pride-- not for Black, but for Dickerson's own decision-making skills -- came over the older man’s face. "Do you think you'd be leading JC2 right now if you couldn't cut it? Do you have any idea how much pressure I fended off when I gave you the team? But I dealt with it because there's no one better for the job, Black. Consider this one more way to prove that my faith in you is well-founded." He clapped a fatherly hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Calyx won't give you any problems, not if he wants his Bliss. And you know you have my backing should you require extra force to keep him in line."
    Black looked away from the meaning in the captain's eyes but the words followed him. "You can have your fun with him too, Black. He knows his place. He won't fight you. Might be a nice diversion from Cole every now and then, hmmm? The freak's got a talented mouth when you shut him up."
    Black didn't want to hear this. "I'll take him on but he won't be an active member," he bit out even though he knew he had no leverage in this fight.
    Dickerson shook his head. "You may start him off slow but I want him to be an active member of JC2 eventually." He raised a hand to fend off Black's protest. "He's from the street; he knows how to take care of himself. Right now we're allowing him a faze whip for personal protection but he's good enough with a gun to be rated if he were ever tested. I trust you to train him to the standards of the other agents."
    This was ridiculous. Black wanted to storm out right now. A nice fantasy but it would never happen. Black was as good as a dog on Dickerson's leash.
    "Fine," he grated out. "Starr and Sola. Thank you, sir."
    Dickerson ignored the hint of sarcasm. "Go speak to Sergeant Sola. I'll have Calyx waiting for you