Read Wild Cards [06] Ace in the Hole for Free Online Page B

yank them from the grasp of the other. Even as Gregg made that visualization, Puppetman scoffed. We're both the same person, you know. I'm just your ace, your power. I'm doing what we need to do to survive. Ellen's here. Use her.
    No! Not that way.
    She's just another damn puppet. More pliable than most, in fact. Her pain is as good as anyone else's.
    It's too risky. Not here, not now.
    If not here and now, you stand to lose everything anyway. Do it!
    Gregg felt his body take another stumbling step forward. His fist clenched and raised. There was definite fear in Ellen's eyes now. She closed the book, tried to struggle up from the bed. "Gregg, please, you're frightening me ..."
    Gregg let go all his holds on the body, as if he were exhausted by the battle. Puppetman shouted in victory. Then, as his arm lifted for the first blow and Puppetman relaxed in anticipation, Gregg grappled with the power again. Surprised by the renewed onslaught, Puppetman was stripped of control. Ignoring its struggling and cursing, Gregg wrestled it deep, deeper than it had been in years, slamming and locking the mental cage, and then burying it far back in his mind. When he could no longer hear it, he stopped and came back to himself.
    He was gasping alongside the bed. The hand was still upraised; Ellen cowering beneath. Gregg unclenched the fist, and brought it slowly down to her face as he sat next to her. He felt her draw back, then slowly relax as he began to stroke her hair.
    "You don't have anything to be afraid of, darling," he said. He tried to laugh and heard pain instead. "Hey, I wouldn't hurt you, you know that. Not the mother of my child. I'd never hurt you."
    "You looked so angry, so violent. For a second-"
    "I'm not feeling well. It's nothing; stomach cramps. Nerves-I've been thinking about the convention. I took some Maalox. It'll pass."
    "You scared me."
    "I'm sorry, Ellen," he said, soothingly. "Please ." . With Puppetman, it would have been easy; he could have made her believe him without effort. But that power wasn't safe, not now. Ellen stared at him, and he thought she was going to say more, then she slowly nodded. "Okay," she said. "Okay, Gregg."
    She snuggled against him. Gregg leaned back against the headboard. Through the faint tendrils of his ace ability, he could feel her relaxing, forgetting. Since she'd become pregnant, she'd become more inward focused; things outside were not as important. It was less threatening to accept his excuse, so she did. The realization eased his mind very little.
    My god, what am I going to do?
    He could hear Gimli's laughter. It pounded in his head. The phone by the bed rang. Gregg picked it up, thinking it might drive the dwarf away. "Hartmann."
    "Senator?" The voice on the other end was breathless, agitated. "Amy. Bad news. The word is that we're in for a big fight tonight over the California delegation's credentials ..." ,He barely heard her over Gimli's roaring amusement.
    Jack's hangover finally muted itself after two shots of vodka. He had spent the last hour in his suite, talking on his bank of telephones with Emil Rodriguez, his second-in-command, and trying to round up all his delegates and have them briefed for the platform fight that would come tomorrow. There was a knock. Jack told Rodriguez he'd call him back and opened the door. Amy Sorenson stood outside, carrying a pile of briefing papers in an envelope. Her chestnut hair was pinned up atop her head.
    "Hi, Amy* " Jack kissed her warmly, then drew her inside and tried to kiss her again. She turned her head away.
    "Not this time, Jack. This isn't like Buenos Aires. My husband's here."
    Jack sighed. "You're on business, then."
    Any stepped out of his arms and straightened her fetching blue suit. "Brace yourself," she said. "I've got bad news."
    "I'm braced. I've been braced for months."
    Amy's nose wrinkled at the appalling stench of tobacco, liquor, and the residue of perfume. She perched on the edge of a chair, then carefully