<strong>The Forest</strong><br/><br/>Enzo had spent the day planning, returning to the clinic only briefly to deal with a few administrative matters. He had not seen Olivia, but the island's network of subtle spies were now bringing him continuous reports of her movements. It was in many ways their greatest weapon. Few agents could conceive of the ubiquitous presence of transformed slaves and servants that permeated the island, nor the efficient network of insects and animals that conveyed the information quickly to the Xantelli's who needed to know. For modern humans trained in electronic warfare, this low-tech web of information was both invisible and impossible to avoid.<br/><br/>He stood in the woods now with two bodyguard slaves. Their forms had been shaped into superior combat machines. They appeared as normal humans, but their skins were as hard as steel, their reflexes hyped to human limits, and their senses sharpened to incredible levels. Three more of the tall muscular slaves were spread throughout the surrounding woods. All were cold-blooded, all the better to evade infrared detection, and the three in the woods had skin patterning of forest green camouflage. All were naked--they had no need of clothes--and only the two nearest him carried weapons, high powered pistols. Enzo wanted to make this interesting.<br/><br/>The trees whispered indications of his target's movement. She was not approaching the clearing. Too clever for that. She would no doubt see the decoy, though. Enzo had used him before. A young slave named Samuel, who now appeared as Enzo's duplicate, down to the gray shirt and trousers. Samuel stood in the center of the forest clearing, a perfect target with his hands clasped behind his back. Waiting.<br/><br/>The background investigation on Olivia had yielded very little, of course. The agencies that opposed his family did a good job, generally, of covering their tracks. Marco's extensive business and government contacts could root out more if necessary, but he didn't want to waste his father's time. It would have been nice to enter into the relationship with more of a psychological edge. He'd have to find what he needed to break her along the way. A challenge, certainly. The doctor smiled in anticipation.<br/><br/>