The fire gate seethed with hot psi. The heavy storm of energy roiled and flared like a miniature sun.
“Oh, wow,” Gwen said, wide-eyed with wonder. “That is so high-rez.”
“Thanks,” Sedona said. “Am I good, or am I good?”
“You’re good, Aunt Sedona.”
Hannah shot a disgusted look at Sedona. “What you are is a real annoying bitch.”
“You’re the one who goes around killing folks for fun and profit.” Sedona smiled. “And you definitely aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. You actually believed that Dr. Frankenstein, here, could turn you into some kind of Super Assassin, didn’t you?”
Hannah hauled back the flamer and lashed out in a short, vicious arc designed to catch Sedona on the side of her face.
“Shut up,” Hannah shouted.
Gwen screamed.
Sedona managed to move in time to avoid the full impact of the blow but the weapon caught her along the jaw and cheek. She staggered to one side but she managed to hang on to Gwen’s hand.
Blood dripped on the green quartz floor. Gwen stared at Sedona as if she had never seen blood before.
Sedona wiped some blood from her face and shook her head. “You’re really losing it, aren’t you, Hannah? I’m told that impulse control is one of the first things to go when you’re on the drug.”
Hannah took a deep breath and seemed to steady somewhat. But her eyes were still unnaturally hot. “Close your damn mouth or I’ll use the flamer on your niece.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Blankenship pleaded. He was shaking. “We don’t have time for this.”
Hulk stirred anxiously. “The doc is right. Make her open the gate, Hannah.”
Sedona looked at Hannah. “I’ll need tuned amber.”
Hatred flashed in Hannah’s eyes but she reached into the pocket of her khaki shirt and took out a small chunk of amber. “Open the damn gate.”
“Sure, no problem,” Sedona said. She took the amber and drew a still-stunned Gwen forward until they stood in front of the gate. “You know, I usually charge a lot of money for this particular service. First lesson in the profession, Gwen. Nail down the terms of the contract before you sign on the dotted line.”
“Open the damn gate,” Hannah said. Her voice was fraying again.
Sedona considered her options. Unless Cyrus arrived in the next fifty or sixty seconds, she had no choice but to open the gate. Hannah, Hulk, and Blankenship were all exhibiting a lot of frantic desperation. With luck, once the chamber was open, they might temporarily forget about their hostages and rush inside to grab the extra vials of the formula and the stone. If that happened, there would be an opportunity to reseal the gate before they realized that she and Gwen were still outside in the corridor. True, without amber, they would be lost, but if they stayed put Cyrus and Lyle would eventually arrive.
Okay, she thought, it wasn’t much of a plan but it was a plan, which was better than having no plan at all.
Gwen gave her a sidelong glance, silently asking if there was hope. Sedona squeezed her fingers a couple of times.
“It will be all right,” Sedona said.
Gwen swallowed hard but she just nodded once, accepting the promise.
“Hurry, damn you,” Hannah snarled.
Sedona rezzed her talent, focused through the amber and set about unlocking the gate. It took just as much energy to unseal the chamber as it had to seal it in the first place. But she was much stronger tonight because she was not coming out of a waking dreamstate.
Just keep going, she thought. You and Gwen will either make it or you won’t but you can’t quit. Not an option.
The hot currents of the gate slowly started to falter and fade, revealing the psi-lit green chamber on the other side. The gleaming lab apparatus came into view. The glass-and-steel strongbox containing the Alien jewel still glowed with an eerie inner radiance.
Everything in the room looked exactly as Sedona remembered. Another chill of nightmare-fueled dread iced her blood. She knew she had shivered because Gwen squeezed her hand very tightly.
“Looks like something out of an old horror flick,” Gwen whispered.
“Good description,” Sedona said.
“The stone,” Dr. Blankenship whispered. “It’s still here.”
He rushed into the chamber, heading straight for the glass-and-steel box.
Sedona held her breath and waited, hoping against hope that Hannah and Hulk would follow Blankenship through the open gate. Instead, Hannah waved the flame gun impatiently, motioning Sedona and Gwen into the chamber.
“Give me the amber and go inside,” Hannah said. “I’m not leaving you out here.”
Evidently comprehending something had just gone wrong with Plan A, Gwen cast another quick, searching glance at Sedona.
That was the problem with a really good plan, Sedona thought. It never worked the way it was supposed to work.
She surrendered the amber and walked into the chamber with Gwen. They halted near a lab bench.
Blankenship ignored them. He stared at the glass-and-steel strongbox. Anger and fear shivered through him.
“No,” he said. “No, damn it.”
“What’s wrong?” Hannah demanded. “Open the box. Get the stone and the extra serum.”
Everyone’s attention was focused on the strongbox. But Sedona knew there was no way she and Gwen could make it to the doorway. Hulk was standing guard.
“I can’t open the box.” Blankenship stared at Sedona, fury heating his eyes. “You locked it.”
“Yes, I did,” Sedona said. “Try to open the box on your own and your senses will get zapped. You might survive but you’ll spend the rest of your days in a nice, comfy para-psych ward. No telling what the explosion will do to the crystal.”
Blankenship studied the glass-and-steel box with horrified fascination. “She’s right. She set a psi-lock. Make her open it.”
“De-rez the trap,” Hannah ordered. Her voice was tight with fury. She tossed the chunk of amber back to Sedona. “Do it.”
Sedona caught the amber. “Right. Stand back, everyone. I’ll open that box for you.”
Hannah, Blankenship, and Hulk gave her some space. Blankenship was all but wringing his hands now.
“Hurry,” he said.
Sedona looked at Gwen. “These little psi-locks are tricky. Watch and learn.”
“Okay,” Gwen said.
Sedona smiled. “You’re very cool under pressure. You’re going to make an excellent gatekeeper.”
Gwen managed a shaky grin. “Like you?”
“Why not? It’s in the blood, thanks to Arizona Snow.”
Sedona rezzed her talent.
Flames exploded in the atmosphere, forming a psi-hot firewall between Sedona and Gwen and the others.
Someone screamed on the other side of the flames. Hulk, maybe, Sedona decided. She thought she caught a glimpse of him running toward the door of the chamber.
Hannah and Blankenship retreated from the flames, shouting in panic and rage. But they could not bring themselves to leave their crystal and the stash of serum behind. They were still there a short time later when Cyrus came through the door with Lyle on his shoulder. Robert and half a dozen hunters followed him into the chamber. One of the Guild men had Hulk.
“Shit.” Hannah raised the flamer, aiming it at Cyrus.
But it was too late. Cyrus had already rezzed his talent, enveloping Hannah and Blankenship in a dead zone. For a moment or two, Sedona could have sworn that even the ever-radiant energy of the quartz walls dimmed.
Blankenship gasped and collapsed, unconscious.
Hannah dropped the gun and lurched to one side, trying in vain to keep her balance. The heat went out of her eyes. She fell to her knees and stared at Sedona.
“Bitch,” Hannah whispered.
She sprawled, unconscious on the floor of the chamber. One of the hunters moved forward to collect the flamer.
Sedona shut down the firewall.
Robert started across the room, “Gwen. Sedona. Are you both all right?”
“Yes, I think so,” Gwen said. She threw herself into Robert’s arms.
Lyle chortled, fully fluffed once more. He bounded off Cyrus’s shoulder and dashed across the chamber.
Sedona leaned down to scoop him up and tuck him into the crook of her arm. She watched Cyrus come toward her, aware of a sizzling sense of certainty. She smiled.
“I knew you’d come looking for us,” she said.
Cyrus’s eyes burned. “Yes. Always.”