Chapter 13

For some reason she suddenly felt a lot better. “I’m not fragile but Grady was right about one thing—I do have a few eccentricities that other people often find troubling.”

“Such as?”

She clasped her hands in her lap. “I sleep alone for a reason,” she said quietly.

“The dream-walking thing?”

“When I dream-walk, my aura gets very hot. It has a disturbing effect on anyone who happens to be sleeping nearby. It interferes with the other person’s aura. My out-of-body experience can induce something similar in anyone who is in close proximity. But unlike me, most people aren’t accustomed to such intense lucid dreaming. They wake up in the middle of a nightmare. Sometimes they think they’ve just died and that they’ve become a ghost. The sensation doesn’t last long but while it does, people tend to panic.”

“You did a little dream-walking this morning just before you woke up, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I felt the shift of energy in the atmosphere. Didn’t bother me.”

She glanced at his ring, which had gone dark. “Probably because you’re a strong talent yourself. But also because you were awake.”

“Or maybe because it just didn’t bother me. You said you went to Grady to get a para-psych profile for that genealogist you’re working with?”

“Yes. I’m trying to trace my family tree.”

“No luck at all?” Elias said.

“I hit a dead end when I tried to research my ancestors on my own. Couldn’t get past my mom, who evidently had the talent. Couldn’t find out anything about her parents, either. There were no leads on my father’s side. So, over the years, I’ve hired several genealogists. None of them were helpful. Found Paxton Wilcox a couple of months ago. He’s working at the leading edge of the field because he’s using the latest para-genetics techniques.”

“That’s how you wound up at Grady Barnett’s lab.”

“Unfortunately. What can I say? Barnett was the least expensive para-psych expert I could find. He gave me a discount because he was very intrigued by my particular version of dreamlight talent.”

“Get what you pay for, I guess,” Elias said.

“Gee, thanks for that insight.”

“The bottom line here is that you still don’t have a complete para-psych profile.”

“No. I fired Grady and walked out of the lab before he could finish testing me.”

“Interesting.”

She frowned. “What?”

“You paid for a profile that you never received and the next thing you know you’re being chased by a bunch of guys on motorcycles.”

She was stunned by the implication. “You think what happened last night might be linked to Grady?”

“Damned if I know. Any chance those psi-prints inside your shop are his?”

“No,” she said. “I’m absolutely certain.”

“I guess that would have been too easy.”

“Yeah. Grady is obsessed but it’s with his research work. He wants to make his mark in the field of para-psych profiling. His goal is to publish very important, groundbreaking studies and get invited onto rez-screen talk shows. Turn right up there at the next corner.”

Elias checked the rearview mirror and then returned his attention to his driving.

“We’ve got company,” he said.

He rezzed the accelerator so quickly that Virgil was thrown backward off his perch. Hannah heard him chortling in the small rear compartment. A few seconds later he bounced up to resume his position. He waved the Arizona Snow doll, encouraging Elias to go faster.

Hannah turned around in her seat and peered through the rear window. She caught a glimpse of two helmeted figures on motorcycles.

“Turn left,” she said. “They’ll never find us in Bone Street.”

Elias whipped the Cadence around a corner and shot down a narrow lane lined with empty, boarded-up warehouses.

“Looks like someone else knows about Bone Street,” he said very softly.

He braked to a stop so suddenly that Virgil was thrown forward onto Hannah’s lap. She clutched him and then caught her breath when she saw the two motorcycles that had pulled out onto Bone Street a block in front of their position.

“So much for hiding out on Bone Street,” Elias said. “They know exactly where we are. We’ll take cover in that warehouse. That will level the playing field somewhat. Go.”

He opened the driver’s-side door, got out, and circled around the rear of the car. By the time he reached the passenger side, Hannah was out of the vehicle. Virgil clung to her shoulder, all four eyes and a lot of teeth showing. He gripped Arizona Snow as if the action figure were a weapon.

The old warehouse door was unlocked. Elias pushed it open and assisted Hannah through the doorway with a firm shove. He followed and swiftly turned to close the door.

“These guys don’t seem to want to take no for an answer,” he said.

Hannah watched through a crack in one of the boards that covered the windows. Four motorcycles halted in the lane. The big Raleigh-Stark engines continued to thunder.

“Your car,” Hannah whispered.

Elias watched the lane through the same crack in the wooden panel.

“I keep telling you, my car can take care of itself,” he said. He aimed the silencer through the crack. “And us, as well.”

Hannah heard someone shouting over the roar of the idling motorcycles.

“They’re both gone.”

“Shit. Boss isn’t gonna like it if we lose them again—”

The rider never finished the sentence.

Hannah felt energy heighten in the shadowy space. The ring on Elias’s hand sparked with energy. He rezzed the remote.

The Cadence seemed to glow as if lit from within by paranormal energy. Hannah realized she was watching it with her other senses. An instant later she felt the whisper of a paranormal shock wave. She knew it had come from the car.

High-tech crystal energy, she thought.

Outside, someone shouted a warning but the yell was cut off abruptly. A sudden silence descended on the narrow lane. The motorcycles no longer thundered. The four attackers were sprawled in the street. They did not move.

Virgil immediately lost interest in the proceedings. He was once again fully fluffed. He waved Arizona Snow in triumph.

Hannah watched the very still men in the street. “Are they—?”

“Alive.” Elias glanced at the device in his hand. “I think. Still working out a few bugs in the crystal-ware. I didn’t want to risk using it with us inside the car, not at that power level. Too much chance of blowback. Might have taken us out, as well.”

She swallowed hard. “I see. Wow. Okay. Who needs a bodyguard when you’ve got an engineer handy?”

Elias startled her with a crack of laughter. She realized he was riding a post-burn high.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said. “Fast. If the intention was to kidnap one or both of us, there will be a pickup crew following close behind. They may have more serious weaponry.”

He got the warehouse door open again and moved outside. Hannah followed him.

The scene in the street looked like the aftermath of a bad multivehicle crash. All four motorcyclists were on the ground, unconscious. Two of the big bikes had toppled over.

Elias set about a quick search of the closest motorcycle rider. He confiscated some tech and a mag-rez pistol. Then he examined the back of the man’s leather vest. Hannah could see elaborate lettering done in acid green script.

“What does it say?” she asked.

“Soldiers of Fortune,” Elias said. “Looks like that’s the name of the gang. But it could be a cover.”

He checked the rider’s heavily tattooed arm. Not satisfied, he peeled back the leather vest and looked at both bare shoulders.

He moved to another rider and repeated the process.

“What are you looking for?” Hannah asked.

“A tattoo that looks like a small tornado. That would indicate these guys are connected to an outfit called Vortex. It caused us some trouble at the Rainshadow jobsite a while back. These bikers have had a lot of ink work done, but I don’t see a tornado.”

“Is that good news or bad news?”

“Not sure yet, but this is starting to have the feel of a pirate operation. This bunch has all the hallmarks of hired muscle—contract workers. The Vortex people we encountered were full-time staff, so to speak. Professionals. And their gear was a lot more sophisticated, more upmarket.”

Hannah shuddered. “Looks like your first hunch was correct. This is probably a case of corporate espionage. Someone paid this bunch to grab me so that I couldn’t open the dreamlight gate at the Coppersmith jobsite.”

“That’s how it looks.” Elias took out his phone and snapped off several photos of the scene and the faces of the bikers. “With luck there will be something here that will give Security a few leads.”

Hannah got into the Cadence with Virgil. Elias dragged one of the unconscious men out of the way and got behind the wheel.

“What’s the fastest route out of here?” he asked.

“Depends. Are we going to go to the police or the portal jobsite?”

“The portal jobsite. We can’t risk losing any more time. Also, if this is about keeping us from rescuing the team, the quickest way to end it is to get the job done.”

“In that case, hang a right into that alley.”

Elias rezzed the finely tuned engine and deftly guided the Cadence down a convoluted alley.

“I’ll contact Coppersmith Security,” he said. “They can coordinate with the Illusion Town police. I just hope we’ll get cooperation from the locals.”

“You will,” she said. “Like Aunt Clara said, the members of the Illusion Club won’t take kindly to an out-of-town gang thinking it can ride roughshod through the streets of our fair city.”

“Good to know you’ve got the kind of city government that believes in keeping the streets safe.”