The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) (6 page)

“Unpredictable.”

“Exactly,” Sedona said. “For a time it looked like we might lose some people and a lot of expensive equipment. But river energy is a lot like gate energy. I was able to redirect the flow of the currents long enough to get Morgan and everyone else to safety—everyone except me, that is.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I was supposed to be the last one to make the crossing. One minute I was dealing with the currents. In the next minute I felt someone come up behind me. At first I thought that I had lost count and that not every member of the team had made it to safety. I started to turn around to see who was there. I felt a small, stinging pain in my upper shoulder. I thought I’d been bitten by an insect. But someone clamped a thick cloth over my mouth and nose. I started to struggle and immediately lost control of the energy river. When I woke up I was in the underground lab, locked in a drug-induced waking dreamstate.”

“You’re saying you were kidnapped.” He kept his voice neutral.

Sedona exhaled slowly. “I’ll never be able to prove it, of course. There’s nothing like a Guild cover-up. So I am officially a burned-out gatekeeper. What made you run a private background check on me?”

“Nothing personal. I ran a check on a lot of folks here on the island before I took this job. And I looked extra hard at those who were believed to have some talent.”

“People like me,” Sedona said.

“People like you.”

“Well, just in case you’re tempted to send me away to a para-psych hospital, you should know that I’ve created a file of my own.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes,” she said. “It contains my version of what happened to me during the three weeks I vanished. It’s stored in a digital file that will automatically be made public all over the rez-net within twenty-four hours if anything happens to me.”

“I see.”

“I know that the Chamber will deny the existence of the lab and claim that I’m just another badly burned gatekeeper. But we both know that the online conspiracy freaks feed on stuff like my story. The media and the bloggers would go wild. I’m sure the Guilds would survive, but they don’t like that kind of bad press.” Sedona paused for emphasis. “They might tend to blame the boss who allowed the problem of Sedona Snow and her delusions to blow up in their faces.”

“The boss here being me.”

“You,” she agreed.

He whistled softly. “Blackmailing a Guild boss. I’m impressed. That takes guts.”

“Just thought you should know.”

“Your threat is duly noted. Now I’ve got a question for you. Can I count on you if we need a gatekeeper down below, here on the island?”

“What?” She stared at him, clearly stunned.

“You heard me. It’s a simple question. Are you open to a Guild contract in the event I need you when we start clearing the tunnels?”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m a Guild boss. Of course I’m serious.”

She hesitated. “Do you think you’re likely to need a gatekeeper?”

“Here’s what I know. This island is a very strong geothermal nexus. Energy gates and energy rivers are always a possibility underground at nexus points. In addition, just to add to the potential problems of the natural forces in the area, the reports indicate that the Aliens evidently used this island as a bioresearch lab. If that’s true, they probably conducted a lot of very dangerous, very desperate experiments with the local flora and fauna.”

“That’s what the experts from the Rainshadow Foundation have concluded, yes.”

“If that theory is correct,” Cyrus continued, “there is every reason to expect that the Aliens conducted some of their experiments underground as well as on the surface. No telling what we’ll run into down there.”

Sedona exhaled slowly. “True.”

“I’d like to know there’s a gatekeeper available if we need one.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“Why didn’t you bring a gatekeeper with you?” she asked finally.

She was wary but he could tell that she was also intrigued. Confronting her had been a risk but he had done his research on Sedona Snow. He knew a lot about her and he knew something else as well. Whether she admitted it or not he was very certain that she wanted to go back into the catacombs.

Once you had worked in the ancient, glowing tunnels, you always wanted to go back down. Everyone—even those with scant measureable talent—got a buzz from the strong paranormal currents that flowed through the maze. But for those who were extremely sensitive to Alien psi and were capable of controlling some of the powerful forces down below, the rush was like no other.

“I didn’t bring another gatekeeper because I knew you were here,” he said quietly. “You’re a Class Five, one of the best.”

“I
was
a Class Five.” She tightened her grip on the flashlight. “According to your damned file, I’m probably a certified whacko now.”

“All I care about is talent. Are you still one of the best?”

She was silent for a moment.

“Do you really think your men would want to work with me if they knew that I had been psi-burned?” she asked.

“I’ll handle my crew. All I want to know is if you’re willing to go back down into the catacombs to work gate energy.”

She got quiet again. He did not try to push her into an answer. The fog thickened around them. Something rustled in the bushes. Lyle’s second set of eyes popped open, gleaming amber-hot in the night. He made a soft rumbling noise, bounded down to the ground, and disappeared into the foliage.

“He goes out a lot at night,” Sedona explained. “There are other dust bunnies here on Rainshadow. I think they like to hunt together.”

“He seems to have bonded with you. Where did you find him?”

“He found me in that underground lab I told you about. If it hadn’t been for Lyle, I would still be there.”

He could hear the shudder in her voice. Whatever the truth of the situation, he did not doubt that she believed her version of events.

“This lab where you were held,” he said carefully. “Any idea of what happened to you while you were there?”

“I told you, I was drugged most of the time.”

“Any idea who ran the experiments on you?”

She hesitated, very wary now.

“He called himself Dr. Blankenship,” she said finally. “He had a couple of hulks for assistants. Big guys. Looked like they’d been using a lot of steroids.”

He pondered that for a moment. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where the lab was located?”

“No. They took all my amber. Lyle is the one who got me back to the surface. All I can tell you is that when I emerged from the Underworld I flagged down a truck on a highway near the Amber Crest Para-Psychiatric Hospital. Some of the lab equipment Dr. Blankenship used came from Amber Crest. I saw the tags on a few of the instruments.”

“Huh. Think Blankenship worked at Amber Crest?”

“I have no idea. It’s all I’ve got and we both know that’s not very much.” She watched him with great caution. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking it might be a good idea to track down Dr. Blankenship. Someone should have a chat with Kirk Morgan, too.”

“Trust me, they’ll both deny everything, and there will be no way to prove them wrong,” she said. “They’ve got the power of the Guilds behind them. They’re well-protected.”

“You don’t have a lot of faith in the ability of the Chamber to police the Guilds, do you?”

“Nope. I won’t trust anyone connected with the Guilds ever again.”

“You’re out here, alone in the dark, with me,” he pointed out.

“That’s different. I’m safe here on Rainshadow. The Foundation runs things on this island, not the Guilds.”

She wasn’t wrong on that score, he thought. The Rainshadow Foundation was controlled by the powerful Sebastian family. The Sebastians were a force to be reckoned with. They had invited the Guild in to clean up the Underworld but if they changed their minds, they could just as easily send the Guild away. In addition, the island’s police chief, Slade Attridge, was a former Federal Bureau of Psi Investigation agent with connections throughout law enforcement. All indications were that Chief Attridge took his responsibilities to the residents of Shadow Bay very seriously.

Cyrus smiled.

“Something amusing?” Sedona asked suspiciously.

“I was just thinking that you made a very good decision when you moved to Rainshadow,” he said.

“Works for me,” she said. “This is a town full of people who don’t fit in very well in mainstream society.”

“You consider yourself to be one of those misfits?”

“Since the day I was born.”

Sedona stopped in front of another cottage that was cheerfully decorated for Halloween. Orange and green lanterns were suspended from the porch ceiling. A hollowed-out pumpkin carved with ghoulish features sat near the front door. A skeleton draped in a flowing psi-green cape reclined on a rocker.

“I’ll bet you get a lot of trick-or-treaters here on Halloween night,” Cyrus said.

“I’m hoping for a crowd,” she said. “It’s my first Halloween on Rainshadow, though. I’m afraid the kids might skip my cottage, what with the graveyard nearby and all.”

“How could they resist a house near a cemetery on Halloween?”

“I’ve got my fingers crossed,” she admitted. She went up the steps to her front door. “Good luck hunting those Underworld monsters, Mr. Jones.”

He watched her from the bottom of the steps. “You never answered my question. Can I count on you if I need a gatekeeper down below?”

She turned back to face him. “My standard fees are high,” she warned. “And I’ll have to charge extra because of the unknowns here on Rainshadow.”

“Thanks,” he said. “That’s all I wanted to know.”

She pushed open the door and stepped into the small, dark space. She rezzed a lamp and paused to look at him once again.

“Aren’t you just a little bit concerned that I might not only be psi-burned but crazy?” she asked.

He smiled. “No.”

“Why not? I’ve got all the hallmarks. Three weeks I can’t account for in the Underworld. Tales of secret research labs and strange experiments. That kind of stuff is right up there with stories of Alien abductions and lost worlds underground.”

“I’ve met a few real crazies in my time,” Cyrus said. “I have what you might call a feel for them.”

“I don’t feel like one to you?”

“No,” he said.

“Why do you say that? Everyone knows the human monsters can hide in plain sight.”

“Trust me, Sedona Snow, you’re not crazy. An off-the-charts talent, probably, but not crazy.”

He turned and started to walk away into the night.

“Mr. Jones,” she called softly.

He stopped again and looked at her over his shoulder. “Cyrus.”

“Cyrus.” She sounded as if she was test-driving the name, waiting to see if it felt right to her. “What makes you think I’m an off-the-charts talent?”

“Got a feel for those, too. Lots of them in the Jones family. Our history makes us a little more open-minded when it comes to dealing with unconventional talents, conspiracy theories, and secret labs where strange experiments are conducted. Good night, Sedona Snow.”

He walked back to his cottage through the fog, unclipping his phone as he went through the front door. Marlowe answered on the second ring.

“Jones and Jones,” Marlowe said. “And for the record, cousin, it’s getting late here in Frequency City.”

“I found her,” Cyrus said. He shut the door, rezzed the light, and lowered himself onto the sagging sofa. “You were right, Sedona Snow is here on Rainshadow. Whatever happened to her during those three weeks, it was bad. She described a real nightmare experience to me.”

“Assuming her memories are accurate and not the by-product of a bad psi-burn.”

“Assuming that, yeah.”

There was a short, tight silence on the other end of the line.

“She’s still alive?”

“Alive and looking quite fit.”

“It’s been nearly a month now since she surfaced. Maybe she somehow managed to get hold of a fresh supply of the drug.”

Cyrus thought about his impressions of Sedona. “It’s possible. We don’t know much about the latest version of the formula. It might not show any outward indications at this stage.”

“But she’s still alive,” Marlowe repeated.

“And looking damn stable, as far as I can tell.”

“Any sign that she might be more powerful than she was before she was kidnapped? Any indication that she has acquired additional talents?”

“No, but give me a break here. I just met her this evening. Somehow asking her if she has become an unstable multi-talent didn’t seem like a good way to introduce myself. She did give me a brief rundown of what happened to her last month when she disappeared for a few weeks.”

“What’s her story?” Marlowe asked.

“She claims that she was kidnapped in the Rainforest while on a job for the Gold Creek Guild. She says she was held in a waking dreamstate somewhere in the catacombs where a Dr. Blankenship ran experiments on her.”

“What kind of experiments?”

“She didn’t describe them,” Cyrus said. “We haven’t had what you would call an extensive discussion of the subject. She’s a tad anti-Guild at the moment. Thinks Kirk Morgan, the boss of the Gold Creek operation, may have conspired with the kidnappers.”

“That’s not beyond the realm of possibility,” Marlowe said. “How did she escape?”

“I don’t have the details on that angle, either. But she did say that Lyle helped her get out of the Underworld.”

“Lyle?”

“Lyle is a dust bunny.”

“Really?” Marlowe’s voice brightened. “She’s got a dust bunny companion?”

“Yep, just like you.”

“That could be significant.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Marlowe said, “I can’t see a dust bunny bonding with one of the monsters.”

“That’s because you’ve got your own dust bunny sidekick. Marlowe, dust bunnies are cute and smart and some of them seem to enjoy human companionship, but that doesn’t mean they only bond with the good guys. Lots of bad guys have pet dogs.”

“Dust bunnies are more particular than dogs.”

There was no point arguing the subject with Marlowe, Cyrus told himself. His cousin adored her own dust bunny pal, Gibson. Time to get the discussion back on track.

“About this Dr. Blankenship,” he said.

“I’m already working on it. I’ll see what I can find.”

Cyrus heard the clicking of computer keys in the background. He pictured his cousin at home with her new husband, Adam Winters, the powerful CEO of the Frequency City Guild.

Cyrus got up and went to the window to look out at the view of the graveyard. He was aware of a wistful sensation. Marlowe and Adam were clearly very much in love. The bond between them was so strong, even those around them were aware of it. He knew his own odds of achieving that kind of long-term relationship were very slim, indeed. They called him Dead Zone Jones for a reason.

“I’ve got one other small piece of information for you,” he said. “Sedona remembers that some of the lab equipment she saw while she was being held was tagged as the property of Amber Crest Para-Psychiatric Hospital.”

“Amber Crest?”

There was more rapid clicking followed by a couple of pings.

“Hmm.” Marlowe sounded thoughtful now. “It’s a psi-burn hospital run by the Gold Creek Guild.”

“Kirk Morgan’s operation.”

“Right. Hang on. Nope, no Dr. Blankenship on the staff.”

“Keep looking,” Cyrus said.

“Don’t worry, I will. This is the first real break we’ve had since we heard those rumors awhile back. Every other lead has been a dead end.”

Cyrus was amused by the enthusiasm in Marlowe’s voice. “You’re really into this investigation, aren’t you?”

“Are you kidding? The possibility that someone has come up with another version of that old Arcane formula is huge. Jones and Jones hasn’t had a case involving the drug in the two hundred years that we’ve been on Harmony. That formula is a legend in the Arcane archives.”

“Don’t get too excited. The thing about legends is that there are always a lot of lies mixed in with the truth.”

“That’s what makes them legends. Speaking of which, how’s the monster-hunting going there on Rainshadow?”

“I haven’t even started. I arrived on the island two hours ago. I haven’t unpacked.”

“And already you have confirmed that one of Arizona Snow’s many-times great-nieces is there and that she was involved with some folks who sound like they have reformulated the drug. Nice work, cousin.”

“Gosh, thanks. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Lucky you. I’m going to be working all night on these new leads.”

There was a
click
as someone else came on the line.

“No, she is not going to work all night,” Adam Winters said. “We just found out she’s four weeks pregnant. She is going to get the sleep she needs.”

“Pregnant?” Cyrus said. “Hey, that’s great. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Marlowe said. “We’re excited. Don’t tell anyone else in the family, though, okay? We haven’t made the announcement.”

“I’m stuck here on Rainshadow,” Cyrus said. “Who am I going to tell? Good night, and let me know as soon as you find anything, Marlowe.”

“Will do,” Marlowe said. She paused. When she spoke again, her voice gentled. “Don’t worry, Cyrus. You’re going to find the right woman someday.”

“Tell that to Arcanematch, will you? Congratulations, again, and good night.”

He ended the connection before Marlowe could offer him any more crumbs of comfort and reassurance. Unlike legends, there were some things in life that were impossible to change. The nature of his talent was one of those things.

Arcanematch, the society’s exclusive matchmaking agency, didn’t give up on very many clients, but they had given up on him.