Obsidian Prey (21 page)

“I had to find a new entrance after I made the mistake of showing you the last one,” she explained, de-rezzing her own flashlight. “I figured you’d have it watched.”

That hurt. He’d promised, after all.

“No,” he said, determined to rise above the jab. “I didn’t have your old entrance watched. I never told anyone else about it. I gave you my word that I wouldn’t.”

“Well, that’s great, but given events at the time, I couldn’t be sure you’d keep your word, now, could I?”

“You really don’t trust me, do you?”

“Like I said, I trust you to do what you feel you must do, but that doesn’t mean that I can trust you to do what I want you to do. Nancy offered to let me use the entrance below her gallery, but I thought you might have someone watching that one, too.”

He reeled in his temper with an effort of raw willpower. Time to get a grip. There were priorities here. He had to stay focused. He de-rezzed the flashlight and started toward the gash in the quartz.

“Let’s go,” he said.

She must have picked up on his slightly savage frame of mind, because she gave him a startled, uneasy look. But she and Vincent followed him into the glowing green world.

They all paused just inside to run through the usual amber-rez locator checks and to verify that all the amber they were carrying was working properly. The safety precautions were overkill, but only idiots skipped them. Amber was the only way to navigate underground. If you got lost in the tunnels, you ended up wandering until you died from hunger or thirst or until you blundered into an energy ghost or an illusion trap.

“First left at the intersection,” Lyra said briskly.

The intersection in question was a disorienting rotunda that connected thirteen passageways. Each branching corridor seemed to vanish into infinity. Cruz knew that part of that impression was due to the optical illusions created by the maze and the fact that everything underground was relentlessly green. In addition, while the heavy currents of energy that flowed through the tunnels gave you a pleasant buzz, they also did weird things to the senses, altering perceptions in subtle ways.

Lyra knew where she was going, of course. He might have issues with her lack of trust and independent ways, but she was a pro underground. She had been working the tunnels since her teens, and more recently she had made several successful forays into the rain forest. Like him, she had an affinity not only for amber but for the alien underworld.

“Did your security people learn anything from those two men who attacked us?” she asked in a clear attempt to change the subject.

They had been forced to change subjects a lot lately, he thought.

“Nothing helpful,” he said. “They are just a couple of local street goons who got hired for their muscle, not their brains. They met their employer only once, in an alley behind a bar in the Quarter. Claimed they didn’t get a good look at his face.”

“Which is probably true,” Lyra said. “If I set out to hire a couple of thugs, I’d make sure they didn’t see my face, either.”

“You’ve got a point. But there was one unusual aspect to their story. I had intended to talk to you about it after you finished with Wilson Revere.”

“I think it’s safe to assume that particular consulting relationship has been permanently terminated,” she said glumly. “Too bad. I coulda been a contender.”

“A contender for what?”

“I have no idea. My grandfather used to say that a lot. He claimed it was a line from some Old World film. Never mind. Tell me about the thugs.”

“I told you, they met the guy in an alley at night. They could have said it was too dark to get a good look at him. But when they were pinned down, what they actually told the interrogators was that there was something strange about him.”

She frowned. “Physically, you mean?”

“They thought he was wearing some kind of mask, one that blurred and distorted his features.”

“I’ve seen rez-screen films where the villain wears one leg of a pair of hose over his face. It changes his face in a really creepy way.”

“They were asked about that possibility. They said it was more as if his face and his body were misshapen. And everything kept changing.”

“They said that sometimes it looked like the guy’s head and body appeared elongated. At other times he looked too wide and twisted.”

“Those two actually used a big word like
elongated
?”

“No, but you get my meaning. What they described was a man who managed to conceal his features by distorting them.”

She thought about that. “Do you think he was projecting some kind of rez-film image of himself against the alley wall? One that looked real enough to fool the two thugs?”

“I considered that possibility. Both men had come out of a tavern to meet the guy. No question but that they’d been drinking. They were probably high on some street drug, as well. But the more they were questioned, the more their description of the meeting with the client sounded like an experience out of a dream.” He paused deliberately. “What you might call a waking nightmare.”

Lyra slammed to a halt and whirled to face him with such speed that Vincent almost fell off her shoulder.

“Are you saying that the man who hired those two thugs may be causing my hallucinations?” she demanded. A mix of hope, shock, and comprehension lit her intelligent face.

He stopped, too. “I think it’s a possibility, yes.”

“But how? Why?”

“I can’t be positive about the how. Maybe the bastard found himself some handy-dandy bit of alien technology and figured out how to rez it to create hallucinations. Wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world. More and more artifacts are coming out of the jungle every week. The other possibility is that he has a talent for it. There are records of similar abilities in the Arcane Society files.”

“You mean like your talent for projecting that psi fog stuff?”

He did not like her lumping him in with the bastard, whoever he was. “A lot of talents came through the Curtain.”

“But why come after me?”

“Not sure yet, but I think we can assume it’s got something to do with the amethyst ruin.”

“Oh, geez.” She frowned. “The dreams have always taken place on one of the streets in my neighborhood. There are usually a few cars and other people around, but I’ve never noticed any one vehicle or person in particular.”

“If this guy is employing a gadget that can generate hallucinations, he may also be able to use it to make sure you don’t get a good look at him.”

“But what’s his goal?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s running some kind of experiment.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Makes more sense than your theory,” he said.

“The possibility that I’m going crazy? Well, of the two theories, I must admit I prefer yours. But I don’t know, Cruz. You’re getting pretty far out there.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. Look, we’re going to have to finish this conversation later. Right now we need to stay on task.”

“Okay.” She checked her locater again and then started forward once more. “The room is right around the corner.”

Vincent got excited when they approached the entrance to the small antechamber. He mumbled enthusiastically.

“He thinks we’ve come down here to play with the amber,” Lyra explained. “I told you, as far as he’s concerned, they’re my special toys.”

“Hell.”

“Brace yourself, Sweetwater. You’re not going to like this.”

She went through the vaulted doorway ahead of him. He halted briefly on the threshold, aware of the trickle of awareness that told him he was in the presence of a lot of powerful amber.

Three pyramids made of amethyst were arrayed on a cheap folding card table. Each relic was about a foot high and glowed gently with the latent energy trapped inside.

He whistled softly. “Son of a ghost.” He was reluctantly impressed by her daring. “Those aren’t like any of the others that we took out of the ruin.”

“I found the pyramids the first time I went into the ruin. It was obvious that they were the most powerful stones. I think they are also potentially quite dangerous, so I hid them immediately. I knew that once I started selling the other relics on the underground market, there would be a risk that one of the antiquities gangs or the Guild or AI might get wind of the chamber and come looking. I didn’t want them to discover these three artifacts.”

“How are they dangerous?”

“I’m not sure, to be perfectly honest.” She walked slowly around the card table and looked at him over the tops of the glowing pyramids. “But I can sense the power in them. Until I can figure out how to de-rez them, I don’t want to risk letting them fall into the wrong hands.”

“Meaning the hands of the Guild or the AI lab?”

“Or one of the underworld gangs. Power is just too seductive, Cruz. What if these pyramids turn out to be weapons of some kind? Everyone would want to control them: the Guilds, the government, criminals, the heads of large corporations like AI and RezStone.”

“Okay, I get the point.”

“I’ve come down here several times in the past three months and tried to find a way to safely neutralize the stones, but so far I haven’t been successful.”

“I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you that if you had cooperated with Amber Inc. we might have found a way to render them harmless?”

“Even if you agreed with me that these stones should be destroyed, you know as well as I do that the authorities and the Guilds and the other AI execs would never go along.”

He did not argue with her. She was right. Power was very seductive, and so was simple human curiosity. It was not hard to imagine what Big Jake and his brothers would have said if he had suggested that the stones be destroyed without first discovering their secrets.

He touched one of the pyramids very cautiously. Purple fire leaped under his fingers and flashed across his senses. His affinity for amber allowed him to sense the swirling currents of energy locked inside, but he knew at once that he could not rez them, let alone control them. He took his hand away from the stone. The waves of energy subsided.

“You told me that the relics in the ruin were nothing more than alien art objects,” he said.

“I think that’s all they are. But these three pyramids are different.”

“I can sure as hell see that.” He looked at her. “Have you told anyone else about them?”

“Nancy knows about them. I described them to her, but I didn’t tell her how powerful they are, and I didn’t tell her where I hid them. I trust her completely, but I thought it would be safer if no one knew their location.”

“I can’t blame you for keeping secrets, given your opinion of Amber Inc. But we need to find out what these pyramids can do. Maybe they aren’t weapons. Maybe they’re actually components of some kind of high-tech engine. For all we know, we’re looking at the power source of one of the excavating machines the aliens used to build the catacombs and the rain forest.”

“No,” she said, gravely certain. “I think they’re works of art, like the other relics. But who knows what the aliens considered art? All I am sure of is that the energy in these stones is potentially very powerful and very dangerous.”

“You said you’ve tried to run a few experiments on them.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “I could stir the energy, but every time I got close to aligning the currents, I got a really bad feeling and backed out fast.”

He did not question the decision. “You’re the only real expert on amethyst I’ve ever met. If you say the stones are dangerous, then we’ll go with that conclusion. The good news is that they are all here.”

“Yes. Which means that the energy I detected in Fairstead’s vault was coming from one of the other relics.”

“The one that was stolen from the lab.”

“What happens now?” she asked. “Will you make the cops get a warrant so you can force Fairstead to open the vault?”

“I hate to break this to you. Wouldn’t want to ruin your illusions about Amber Inc. But the company doesn’t have quite as much influence with the Frequency PD as you seem to think.”

She shrugged. “So you send in your own security people or you ask the Guild to do the job for you. Don’t tell me you can’t get into that vault.”

“I could get in,” he agreed. “But I’ve got a feeling it would be a lot more useful to have my people watch Fairstead and his gallery for a while before making any drastic moves. I’ll call Flagg as soon as we get aboveground and have him set it up.”

“Garrett Flagg? He was one of the people who was trapped in the chamber.”

“Flagg is in charge of lab security. The theft and the murder happened on his watch. You could say he took it personally. Feels responsible.”

She was intrigued now. “You want to find the connection between Fairstead’s gallery and your lab.”

“When I do, I’ll be a whole lot closer to finding out who killed the technician and stole the relic.”

“That’s all you’re going to do? Have your security people keep watch on Fairstead’s gallery?”

“Well, there is one other pressing item on my agenda at the moment.”

“What?”

“I’ve got a major family gig coming up at the end of the week. My grandfather’s birthday party. I could use a date.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded. “Me?”

“I’d consider it a huge favor.”

“For heaven’s sake, why?”

“Because everyone in the family is feeling sorry for me, and it’s a little embarrassing, to tell you the truth. They think I’m depressed.”

“Why?” she demanded a second time, suspicious now.

“Because you broke my heart three months ago.”

“Good grief, Cruz. You don’t expect me to believe that.”

“Believe what you want. In our family we take broken hearts seriously.”