Invasion

A sardonic half laugh escaped from Cassy. Under the circumstances she couldn't believe Beau would make such a ridiculous statement. "Yeah, sure," she intoned. "Three o'clock in the morning there's a neighborhood meeting on the environment."

Beau came over to the bed and sat on the edge. His expression was one of deep concern.

"Cassy, what is the matter?" he asked. "You're so upset again."

"Of course I'm upset," Cassy yelled.

"Calm down, dear, please," Beau said.

"Oh, come on, Beau. What do you take me for? What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Beau said. "I feel wonderful, things are going great."

"Don't you realize how strange you've been acting?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Beau said. "Maybe my value system is shifting, but hell, I'm young, I'm in college, I'm supposed to be learning."

"You haven't been yourself," Cassy persisted.

"Of course I have," Beau said. "I'm Beau Eric Stark. The same guy I was last week and the week before that. I was born in Brookline, Mass., to Tami and Ralph Stark. I have a sister named Jeanine, and I ... "

"Stop it, Beau!" Cassy cried. "I know your history isn't different, it's your behavior. Can't you tell?"

Beau shrugged his shoulders. "I can't. I'm sorry, but I'm the same person I've always been."

Cassy let out a sigh of exasperation. "Well, you're not, and I'm not the only person who's noticed it. So has your friend Pitt."

"Pitt?" Beau questioned. "Well, now that you mention it, he did say something about me doing some unexpected things."

"Exactly," Cassy said. "That's just what I'm talking about. Listen! I want you to see somebody professional. In fact we'll both go. How's that?" Cassy let out another short sarcastic laugh. "Hell, maybe it's me."

"Okay," Beau said agreeably.

"You'll see someone?" Cassy said. She'd expected an argument.

"If it will make you feel better, I'll see someone," Beau said. "But of course it will have to wait until I get back from meeting with the Nile people, and I don't know exactly when that will be."

"I thought you'd just be going for the day," Cassy said.

"It will be longer than that," Beau said. "But exactly how long I won't know until I get there."

10

9:50 a.m.

Nancy Sellers worked at home as much as she could. With her computer networked into the mainframe at Serotec Pharmaceuticals and with a superb group of technicians in her lab, she got more work done at home than in her office. The main reason was that the physical separation shielded her from the myriad administrative headaches involved in running a large research lab. The second reason was the tranquility of the silent house fostered her creativity.

Accustomed to absolute silence, the sound of the front door banging closed at ten minutes before ten got Nancy's attention immediately. Pessimistically thinking it could only be bad news, she exited from the program she was working on, and walked out of her home office.

She stopped at the balustrade in the hall and looked down into the front hall. Jonathan came into her line of sight.

"Why aren't you at school?" Nancy called down. Already she'd made a mental assessment of his health. He seemed to be walking okay, and his color was good.

Jonathan stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked up. "We need to talk with you."

"What do you mean, we?" Nancy asked. But no sooner had the question left her lips than she saw a young woman come up behind her son and tilt her head back.

"This is Candee Taylor, Mom," Jonathan said.

Nancy's mouth went dry. What she saw was a pixielike face on top of a well-developed female body. Her first thought was that she was pregnant. Being the mother of a teenager was like a high-wire act: disaster was always lurking around the corner.

"I'll be right down," Nancy said. "I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Nancy made a quick detour into the bathroom, more to get her emotions in check than to attend to her appearance. She'd been worried about Jonathan getting into this kind of a problem for the last year as his interest in girls skyrocketed, and he'd become uncommunicative and secretive.

When Nancy thought she was prepared, she met the kids in the kitchen. They had helped themselves to coffee that she kept on the stove. Nancy poured herself a cup and sat on one of the bar stools along the central island. The kids were sitting in the banquette.

"Okay," Nancy said, prepared for the worst. "Shoot."

Jonathan spoke first since Candee was obviously nervous. He described how Candee's parents were acting out of character. He said that he'd gone over there yesterday afternoon and had witnessed it himself.

"This is what you wanted to talk to me about?" Nancy asked. "About Candee's parents."

"Yes," Jonathan said. "You see, Candee's mom works at Serotec Pharmaceuticals in the accounting department."

"That must be Joy Taylor," Nancy said. She tried to keep the relief she felt out of her voice. "I've talked with her many times."