The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) Page 5

  He could tell from the way Sedona flinched and took a sharp little breath that she had been caught off guard by the zing of awareness. Her eyes widened but in the next heartbeat she got herself back under control.

  She stepped quickly back out of range, doing her best to make the retreat look like a normal action. But he knew better. She was not as oblivious to the currents that resonated between them as she wanted him to believe. Knowing that was enough to satisfy him—for now.

  “Come on, Lyle, time to go,” Sedona said. She scooped Lyle up off the floor and plopped him on her shoulder. She summoned up another cool smile. “See you in the morning, Mr. Jones.”

  “Call me Cyrus,” he said.

  “Whatever.” She headed for the door.

  “Hold on, I’ll walk you to your place,” he said.

  “Thanks, but that’s not necessary. I’ve got my flashlight.”

  “It’s night, the fog is rolling in, and I’m told that here there be monsters.”

  Her jaw tightened. “I thought I made it clear, they haven’t escaped the Preserve.”

  “Yet. I’ll walk you to your place.” He kept it polite but nonnegotiable.

  She watched him with a speculative expression, lips pursing a bit. “And just what, exactly, will you do if we are attacked by a monster?”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “But I will try to come up with something helpful.”

  “Is that your usual approach to problems?” For the first time she sounded genuinely amused.

  “It’s kept me alive in the Underworld until now,” he said.

  “Can’t argue with that.” She turned and went out onto the porch. “Okay, suit yourself, but as it happens, my place isn’t far from here.”

  “Someone waiting for you?” he asked.

  “Nope. I live alone, except for Lyle, of course.”

  She reached up to touch the dust bunny. Cyrus allowed himself to breathe again.

  He followed her outside, dimming the lights as he went through the door. Sedona had already rezzed her flashlight. He got his own going and then kicked up his senses again, not focusing on Sedona this time, but on the night around them.

  Rainshadow was an intriguing place, he decided. There was an ambient energy in the atmosphere. The fog coming in off the bay was getting heavier but it was normal fog, not the strange paranormal-infused mist that he had read about in the Foundation reports. The near-disaster that had come close to destroying Rainshadow a couple of months back had been averted. Everyone had breathed a sigh of relief—until the monsters started emerging from the catacombs.

  “Where, exactly, is your place?” he asked.

  “Not far,” Sedona said. “Number Twelve, Cemetery View Cottage. It’s the second hardest-to-rent room at the resort, which is the reason I got it.”

  “My cottage being the hardest to rent, I assume.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He considered the heavy darkness around them. “Please don’t tell me that you walk home alone every night.”

  “I don’t usually work nights. Knox handles that shift most of the time. He lives in the cottage nearest to the lobby and the tavern. But I’ve been helping him out in the evenings this week because we’re so busy.”

  “I’m surprised the Foundation hasn’t evacuated the island.”

  “That’s not a realistic option,” Sedona said. “The residents of Rainshadow tend to be a tad stubborn. Unless those critters start coming out of the Preserve and strolling down Main Street, I doubt that any of the locals could be convinced to leave. By the way, for future reference, I’m pretty sure there’s a rifle or a mag-rez pistol in just about every house on the island.”

  “Just about?”

  “I don’t have one. But I’ve got Lyle, here.”

  Lyle chortled contentedly on her shoulder.

  “And you have your talent,” Cyrus said quietly. “Think either will work against the monsters?”

  There was a short, highly charged beat of silence.

  Sedona halted and turned to face him, the beam of her light aimed at his feet. He pointed his flashlight downward as well. The light was reflected around them in the swirling fog.

  “You know who I am, don’t you?” Sedona said. “I thought you probably did.”

  “I do my homework,” he said. “I know you’re a gatekeeper and that you used to do regular contract work for the Guilds. I also know that you disappeared for nearly a month awhile back. When you reappeared you did not apply for any more work with the Guilds. You moved here, instead. According to the file, you were probably badly burned on your last job.”

  “And now you’re worried that I might be a problem, aren’t you? Who knows? Maybe you’re right. You want to know what really happened to me awhile back? Let me give you the short version. Kirk Morgan, the boss of the Gold Creek Guild, made it look as if I had been lost on that last job. The truth is, I was kidnapped and sent to a secret Underworld clinic that is probably run by Morgan’s Guild. I was held against my will and kept in a waking dreamstate while a mad scientist shot me full of drugs. I escaped with Lyle’s help. When I got home, I discovered that my MC husband had divorced me and that absolutely no one had bothered to search for me. I figured I had nothing left to lose, so I decided to start over again here on Rainshadow.” She paused. “And there you have it—absolute proof that I am a psi-burned, delusional gatekeeper who is living in a paranoid fantasy world.”

  He contemplated that briefly. “Sounds like your life has been interesting lately.”

  “Don’t pretend that the Guild file you read didn’t indicate that I’m in all probability a whacko.”

  “Yeah, that’s what it says in the official file,” he agreed. “But I also read another file, one that was given to me by a private investigation agency, Jones and Jones. Ever heard of it?”

  The question stopped her cold. Then she grew thoughtful. “No. Are you telling me that you had me investigated by a non-Guild security agency?”

  “I like to be thorough.”

  “Is that a way of saying that you didn’t trust the official file?”

  “I never trust the official file,” he said.

  “Very wise of you. We’re talking about the Guilds and the Chamber, after all.”

  “I’m getting the message that you don’t have any fond memories of your time with the Guilds.”

  “You know that old saying, that a Guild boss never leaves anyone behind?”

  “What about it?”

  “I am living proof that is a flat-out lie.” She took a breath. “Kirk Morgan follows another motto: When things go south, cut your losses.”

  “He left you behind?”

  “We were guiding a corporate exploration team through the Rainforest. It was a big contract. The corporation wanted the boss, himself, to take the lead that day. That was Morgan. He screwed up and led us straight into an energy river. You could say it wasn’t entirely his fault. The river shouldn’t have been where it was. The sector had been mapped. But you know how it is down below.”

  “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 strug
gle 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.

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nbsp; “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.”