The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) (22 page)

He came awake some time later, disoriented by the sudden rush of adrenaline that had kicked him out of a dream that had him chasing through dense fog, trying to find Sedona. It was a lot like getting lost in the tunnels without amber, he thought. Everywhere he turned in the dreamscape he was met with more fog. He knew she was there, somewhere, but he had no way to locate her.

He rezzed a little energy, pushing back the last fragments of the dreamscape, and lay still, listening with all of his senses. The first thing he saw were four eyes—two blue, two amber. Lyle was on the bed next to him, hunkered down on the pillow.

Sedona barely stirred but there was enough moonlight to see that her eyes were open, too. She looked at him across the short distance that separated them, silently asking him the question that he was asking himself. What had awakened them?

He heard it then, the faintest whisper of sound from the back porch. A moment later, a tiny draft of night air stirred the atmosphere. Someone had picked the lock on the kitchen door.

Lyle’s growl was so low it was doubtful that anyone who was not right next to him would have heard it. But Cyrus touched Sedona’s shoulder and shook his head. She must have gotten the message because she touched Lyle who immediately went silent.

Cyrus put his mouth on Sedona’s ear.

“Over the side,” he whispered. “On the floor.”

She did not argue. He should have known she wouldn’t, not in a situation like this.

She eased herself out from under the covers and over the edge of the bed. She lay prone on the floor.

He didn’t have much time, Cyrus thought. The cottage was small. The intruder would be jacked to the max and he had probably already figured out the layout. He would be coming down the hall any second and he would be armed.

Cyrus slipped off the edge of the bed and crouched on the floor. He reached back and whipped the covers up and over the pillows, creating small bulges that, for a few vital seconds, would give the illusion of two people sleeping.

Lyle got with the program. He scampered silently off the pillow and down to the floor on Cyrus’s side.

The figure of a man appeared at the end of the short hall, silhouetted against the moonlit living room. He moved forward swiftly, the barrel of the mag-rez glinting in the shadows.

Cyrus raised his talent, slamming a dead zone over the intruder’s aura just as he fired two shots into the bedding.

The intruder jerked and shuddered. He got off one more wild shot before the gun clattered on the floor. Then he seemed to fold in on himself. He fell beside the gun.

Cyrus waited a moment longer to make sure the intruder hadn’t brought someone else along for backup. Then he got to his feet and rezzed the light.

Sedona rose and reached for her robe. She came to stand next to the unconscious man.

“Well, this certainly explains a few things,” she said.

*   *   *

“His name is Pete Griffin,” Sedona said. “Everyone called him Griff. He was Kirk Morgan’s chief lieutenant, an old pal from their days in the tunnels. Folks said that Griff was the only man Kirk really trusted.”

“Obviously that proved to be a mistake,” Slade said.

Sedona shivered. “Yes.”

She looked at the two small darts that Cyrus had recovered from the pillows. Both contained little capsules containing an unknown drug. Griff had come to kidnap her, not kill her.

It was nearly four o’clock in the morning. Earlier Cyrus had helped Slade secure the unconscious Griff in Shadow Bay’s only remaining cell. Then the two men had returned to the cottage. A couple of phone calls had brought Harry and Rachel and Charlotte. Now they were all gathered in the living room of the cottage, drinking the coffee that Sedona had made.

Lyle had lost interest in the proceedings now that the action was over. He was fully fluffed once again and back in his corner, reorganizing his stash of Halloween candy.

“Rachel says Griffin is definitely on some heavy-duty drug,” Harry said.

“Something is disturbing the paranormal currents in his aura,” Rachel said. “It may be a chemically induced disturbance, but the damage I saw is quite different from the damage I viewed in Brock Prescott’s aura.”

“No two auras are identical,” Sedona said. “Maybe the drug affects different people in different ways.”

“I’m sure that’s true,” Rachel agreed. “Still, if I had to take a wild guess I’d say that Griffin and Brock were using two entirely different drugs. The one Griff is on is doing considerable damage. But I think Brock Prescott will survive.” She looked at Cyrus. “And not because you gave him the antidote. Whatever he was using isn’t nearly as toxic as whatever Griffin was taking.”

Slade looked thoughtful. “Maybe Blankenship has created more than one version of the formula.”

“Either way, we’ve got a problem,” Cyrus said.

They all looked at him.

“I only had one dose of the antidote,” he said. “I gave it to Prescott. If Griffin is also on the drug, we’ll probably lose him within twenty-four hours unless we let him have another injection.”

“We can get him to the mainland in the morning,” Slade said. “Your people can give him the antidote then.”

Cyrus shook his head. “That won’t do any good. Marlowe told me that it will be another forty-eight hours before the lab will have the next batch of the antidote ready.”

Harry gave him a knowing look. “It’s Griffin who could tell you what you want to know?”

“I think so, yes,” Cyrus said. “He would have been the one closest to Kirk Morgan, who must have been running the operation. They may have used Prescott for cash and connections but they wouldn’t have trusted him with all their secrets. I screwed up. I used the antidote on the wrong guy.”

“You had no way of knowing there would be another hopped-up killer on the island,” Sedona said.

Cyrus looked at her. “We need to keep Griffin alive at least long enough to wring some information out of him.”

“He was carrying two filled syringes in an inside pocket of his jacket,” Slade said. “I’ll give one back to him when he wakes up and make it clear that if he doesn’t talk, he won’t get another one.”

*   *   *

An hour later the phone rang just as Sedona put two slices of bread into the toaster. Cyrus pounced on the device.

“Attridge,” Cyrus said. “Griffin’s awake?”

“He awoke a few minutes ago,” Slade said, his tone grim. “I gave him one of the syringes. He seemed extremely relieved to get it. Gave himself an injection right away.”

“This isn’t going to end well, is it?”

“Griffin was dead within two minutes of the injection.”

“These guys on the drug, they’re not the suicidal type—not unless they are deprived of the formula,” Cyrus said. “Someone murdered Griffin. Must have filled his last two syringes with a lethal compound.”

“That’s how it looks to me,” Slade said.

“What about Brock Prescott?” Cyrus asked.

“He’s awake, stable, and mad as hell. He’s yelling for coffee and his lawyer. Says he doesn’t remember a thing about what happened last night. Harry and I are convinced he’s telling the truth.”

“There’s someone else involved in this thing and he’s snipping off loose ends,” Cyrus said. “He set up Prescott to take the fall for Kirk Morgan’s murder. Then he sent Griffin after Sedona. But he gave Griffin a bad dose of the drug just in case the second kidnap attempt failed.”

“No one left to tell us what’s going on,” Cyrus said. “Except the person who is now in charge.”

“I’m guessing that individual took off in a private boat last night when the plan failed,” Slade said.

Cyrus thought about that. “Maybe.”

He ended the connection and gave Sedona a quick rundown of events.

She looked oddly satisfied.

“In other words, Brock really did come here to try to convince me to marry him just so he could get his hands on my money,” she said.

“That’s Slade’s take on it.”

“For some reason, that makes me feel a little better. I didn’t want Brock to turn out to be pure evil. I mean, sure the guy was after my money, but somehow that’s not nearly as awful as plotting to kidnap me so that I could be forced to undergo some horrible experiments.”

Cyrus gave her a considering look. “You’ve got a real nuanced view of human nature, don’t you?”

“I can forgive Brock for coming after me when he discovered that I might have access to the Snow fortune. He did that for his family, after all.”

“That excuses him?”

“Well, you know how it is. When the chips are down you can’t turn your back on family.”

Cyrus hesitated. “Okay, I’ll give you that point. But there are ways—”

“What I can’t forgive,” Sedona concluded, “is the fact that he didn’t bother to look for me after I went missing.”

“You’re really nervous about this reception, aren’t you?” Cyrus said.

She met his eyes in the hotel room mirror. Her senses stirred at the sight of him. He looked shatteringly formidable in a black-and-white tux. The severe, clean lines of the jacket subtly underlined the power of the man, she thought—both the physical and the paranormal variety. When he walked into the reception tonight he would look as if he owned the room.

“Shows how much you know,” she said, slipping on a pair of amber earrings. “I’m not nervous. I’m flat-out panicked.”

He smiled. “Can’t be any worse than a really hot gate or a Wonderland full of dinosaurs.”

“See, there’s where you’re wrong. Tonight is going to be a lot scarier.”

She studied her image in the hotel room mirror. She had gone with simple and elegant—a sleek, black silk boat-necked dress with long sleeves and knee-length hem. Black heels, discreetly trimmed with amber, the amber earrings, and an amber-studded bracelet finished the outfit. There was more amber set into the catch of the little black clutch bag she planned to carry. And all of it was tuned.
You’d think I’m preparing for a job in the Underworld.
In addition to all of the amber, she had tucked the flicker into the clutch. Really, you couldn’t be too careful in the big city.

“You’re still not convinced that your grandfather is sincere about drawing you back into the family?” Cyrus asked.

She wrinkled her nose. “Call me skeptical.”

Cyrus watched her in the mirror, heat darkening his eyes. “You look spectacular, if that helps.”

She flushed. “Thank you. Yes, that helps. A lot.”

Lyle chortled approvingly.

She smiled. “Thanks, Lyle.”

Her suitcase was open on the bed. Lyle was sitting inside, guarding his stash of Halloween candy. It had been clear that morning when she had started to pack that Lyle would not leave the sack behind. She had been forced to find room for it.

The bag of candy was still full. As far as she could tell Lyle had not made any inroads into his precious hoard. Instead, he continued to arrange and rearrange the treats. She wondered why he was saving his treasure.

“You’re going to have to stay here by yourself tonight,” she warned him. “Don’t bite the maid when she comes to turn down the bed, okay? And don’t run off and get lost.”

Lyle bounced a little.

“He’s not going anywhere without his haul,” Cyrus said. “Which reminds me, I have something for you—both of you.”

He took a small box out of his pocket and walked across the room to where Sedona stood. She glanced at the box and saw the logo of Charlotte’s shop. A thrill of delight tingled through her from head to toe.

“A gift?” she said. “For me?”

“For you.”

Cyrus handed her the box. She thought she caught a trace of veiled hope in his eyes. Did he really think she might not like whatever it was that he had given her?

She undid the ribbon. Her fingers trembled a little when she took off the lid. She caught her breath at the sight of the blue amber stone suspended from the gold pendant. Next to the pendant was another piece of blue amber. It was set in a shorter necklace that looked too large to be a bracelet.

“Oh, Cyrus,” she whispered. “They’re beautiful.”

She felt tears gather in her eyes. She blinked hard. She must not cry, she told herself. If she did, she would have to redo her makeup. Besides, everyone knew that Guild bosses were notorious for giving pricey presents to their women.

Still, this wasn’t just any piece of jewelry. It was blue amber from the cave in Wonderland. It had meaning. She looked up and saw Cyrus watching her.

“There’s something I want you to know,” he said.

She realized she was holding her breath. “What’s that?”

“If you ever disappeared I would look for you and I would not stop until I found you.”

She knew from the heat in his eyes that he meant every word. Cyrus was the kind of man who kept his promises, she thought.

“Thank you,” she whispered, still fighting the tears.

He looked relieved; genuinely pleased.

“The regular-length necklace is for you,” he said. “The smaller one is for Lyle.”

Sedona smiled. “He will be so excited.”

She turned back to the bed and dangled the shorter necklace in front of Lyle. “Here, this is for you.”

Lyle hopped out of the suitcase, chortling madly. She draped the little necklace around his neck and then held him in front of the mirror so that he could admire himself. The chain and the amber all but disappeared in his fluffy gray fur but he didn’t seem to mind. He was ecstatic.

She kissed him somewhere in the vicinity of the top of his head and set him down on the bed.

“Don’t get into trouble while we’re gone,” she ordered.

Lyle chortled and resumed the task of organizing his treasures.

“Any idea what he’s going to do with all that candy once he’s satisfied with the filing system?” Cyrus asked.

“Not a clue,” Sedona said.

Cyrus opened the door for her. “It’s going to be okay, Sedona. You can do this. What’s more, you’re going to look fantastic doing it.”

She touched the blue amber pendant and suddenly felt a lot better. She would not be facing a ballroom full of hostile relatives alone tonight.

They took the elevator down to the hotel lobby. The same sleek black limo that had picked them up at the airport was waiting for them. In addition to the driver, there was another man in the front seat. Sedona knew that both were probably armed. The Guilds were changing but the old ways died hard.

“How classy,” she said. “The Guild-mobile matches our outfits.”