Sierra vaulted up into the passenger’s seat of the SUV and closed the door. She thought about the vibe she had picked up when she authenticated the crystal gun.
“Whatever you do, don’t try to fire that weapon,” she warned, “at least not without taking precautions. It’s genuine, but there’s something really off about it.”
“I know.” North cranked up the engine and pulled away from the curb. “The currents are out of sync. Whoever has been using it couldn’t resonate with the vibe of the weapon. Every time it was fired the crystal was damaged.”
“That explains why Loring was so eager to agree to the exchange.” Sierra put on her seat belt. “He realized the gun is no longer usable.”
“Yes, but he must have other weapons he thinks he can tune to the Rancourt vibe using that crystal I gave him tonight.”
“Are you certain you’ll be able to retune that night gun so you can use it?”
“Shortly before he was murdered, Griffin Chastain gave his wife, my grandmother, a package containing a crystal. It looks exactly like the two we’ve encountered in this case. He told her to keep it safe and above all to make sure it stayed within the family. She never knew what it was for but she understood it was valuable. She gave it to me when I moved into the Abyss. I knew it was important but I didn’t know why. Now I do.”
“There was a third tuning crystal?”
“Yes,” North said. “I’m pretty sure it’s the rock sitting on the mantel of my fireplace back in Vegas. If I’m right, I’ll be able to use it to retune the night gun.”
“Even if you’re successful, what makes you think you can use it to reverse your father’s condition?”
“As I keep reminding everyone, Griffin Chastain was a magician. He performed spectacular, death-defying stunts. He was also an engineer. He always built in an escape mechanism of some kind; a way to reverse the trick in the event that something went wrong. I’m hoping he did the same thing when he invented the night gun.”
“But it’s a weapon. It’s designed to cause harm or even kill. What makes you think he would have wanted to add a way to reverse the effects?”
“Two reasons,” North said. “The first is that building in a safety feature fits with his style of magic and engineering. He had to know there was a possibility the weapon might fall into the wrong hands.”
“And the second reason?”
“I’m not sure the gun is actually a weapon.”
Sierra looked at him, startled. “What else could it be?”
“I don’t know. Yet. But from what I have been able to learn about my grandfather, he was never interested in creating weapons.”
“Well, we know one thing for sure. Delbridge Loring now has a crystal tuned to Crocker Rancourt’s vibe. If he does have access to all the prototype weapons that disappeared from that lab at Fogg Lake, he’s going to try to use the crystal to tune them.”
“Loring got what he demanded—the crystal that was sealed inside the Fogg Lake lab. And yes, that crystal was originally tuned to Rancourt’s signature. But it doesn’t take much to tweak the tuning of a crystal that is designed to resonate with an individual’s aura. The smallest adjustment, done with finesse and skill by someone who knows a lot about engineering and magic, can render it useless.”
Sierra smiled. “You’re saying your grandfather tweaked Rancourt’s crystal?”
“Griffin Chastain was a master of the subtle magic arts. If I’m right, Loring won’t discover that the crystal is useless until he tries to use it to tune a weapon.”
“And when he does?”
“The crystal will shatter. In the process it will probably do some serious damage to the aura of whoever is in physical contact with it at the time.”
“In other words, Griffin Chastain made certain that Crocker Rancourt and his descendants would never be able to use those weapons. Your grandfather may have saved a lot of lives. He may even have saved the country. The Rancourts were powerful but their history with the Foundation is nothing compared to what would have happened if they had been able to access true paranormal weapons.”
Sierra sat back in the seat and watched the city streets. It was late. There was very little traffic. Next stop was the airport, where the Foundation jet was waiting. In a few minutes she would be waving goodbye to North, maybe for good.
“Hard to believe it’s over,” she said. “It seems like we’ve been on the move ever since you landed in Seattle.”
Except for those few thrilling hours in the basement of the Fogg Lake library, she thought. She would treasure that time—that night—for the rest of her life.
“It’s not over until I find out if I can unfreeze the paralyzed bands of my father’s aura with that crystal gun,” North said.
“Of course. Promise me you’ll let me know as soon as you find out if the gun works on your dad.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be one of the first to know.”
“You have my phone number.”
“Yes, but I won’t be needing it. You’re going with me to Vegas.”
“I am?” She straightened in her seat. Then she caught sight of a familiar sign. “Wait, you missed the on-ramp.”
“We’ve got time to stop at your place first so that you can pack a bag. Don’t worry about bringing a lot of stuff. You can buy anything you need in Vegas.”
Sierra tried—and failed—to suppress a little thrill of delight. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m anxious to see if the gun works on your dad, so I’m okay with a side trip to Las Vegas. Besides, my parents are still there. But technically speaking, you don’t need me anymore.”
“I know,” North said. “But you need the protection of the Foundation a little while longer. Security will be easier to handle in Vegas than it is here.”
She winced. So much for hoping that he wasn’t ready to end their very short relationship. Then again, one night of hot sex in a library basement didn’t actually amount to a relationship. She forced herself to consider the logic of the situation.
“You think Loring might send his Puppets after me?” she asked. “But I’m just the go-between.” She groaned. “Not that it seems to matter to some people.”
“Sooner or later the Foundation cleaners will pick up Loring and the Puppets and recover the cache of weapons, but until they get this thing wrapped up, you’re vulnerable.”
“Because I know too much?”
“Yes. And because when Loring finds out he can’t use that tuning crystal to activate the rest of the weapons, he’s going to be pissed. Enraged. And probably a little crazy. He’ll be out for revenge. It will be hard to get to me, but you’re an easy target.”
“I can take care of myself,” she muttered.
“You’ll be outgunned and outnumbered.”
She folded her arms. “Okay.”
North glanced at her. “I was sort of hoping you would want to come with me to Las Vegas.”
“Oh,” Sierra said. “Yeah. Well, I do.”
“We’re a team, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“The lack of enthusiasm is hard on my ego.”
“You want enthusiasm?”
North flexed his hands on the steering wheel. “Well, shit, I thought we were at the start of an affair. Was I wrong? Was last night just adrenaline sex?”
She went very still in her seat. “No. No, last night was not just adrenaline sex. I never sleep with clients.”
“But you slept with me.”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “Yes, I did.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Nope. Not one bit. But I should warn you that I’ve never actually had a successful long-term affair. My relationships tend to end quickly and badly.”
“So do mine. But the way I look at it, there’s always a first time for everything, including a successful relationship.”
Her spirits skyrocketed. “You’re right. Always a first time.”
“Good,” he said. “That settles it, then.”
She looked at him. “It does?”
“For now.”
So much for an intimate conversation. Well, this was hardly the time for one of those anyway. They had other priorities.
North drove down the alley behind her apartment tower and stopped in front of the heavy garage gate.
“Damn.” Sierra unbuckled her seat belt. “I just remembered I lost the remote opener when those Puppets firebombed my SUV. There’s a security box beside that door over there to the right of the gate. I’ll use my fob to open the door. Once I’m inside I can open the garage gate.”
She got the SUV door open, jumped down to the pavement and hurried toward the door. A swipe of her fob and she was inside. She went to the security panel next to the gate and punched in the code.
The big steel gate rumbled as it rolled up into the ceiling. North drove into the garage and stopped. She opened the passenger-side door and used a handhold to hoist herself onto the seat.
“My parking spot is number one-oh-three,” she said. “Second level.”
North waited until the gate closed before driving up the ramp. He turned the corner and cruised down an aisle created by two rows of vehicles.
A screech of tires on cement shattered the gloom-filled silence of the garage. The vehicle appeared at the far end of the aisle. It stopped, blocking the exit.
“We have a problem,” North said.
He threw the SUV into reverse and started to retreat swiftly back toward the opposite end of the aisle. He slammed to a halt when another set of headlights appeared, blocking that route.
“Out,” he said.
He unclipped his seat belt and leaped from behind the wheel. Sierra scrambled out of the passenger’s side.
“The elevator lobby and the emergency stairs are that way,” she said, pointing toward the center of the garage. “The lobby is locked. If we get inside we’ll be safe.”
“We don’t have enough time,” North said.
The doors of the cars blocking them slammed open. Two of Loring’s men charged out of one of the vehicles. The other two emerged from the second car. They raced toward the Foundation SUV. Sierra saw that three of them were clutching conventional handguns, not paranormal weapons. The fourth, Ralph, had a glass globe in one hand.
“They’ll head for the elevators,” Ralph shouted.
“They’ll never make it inside,” Joe said. “I disabled the security panel.” He raised his voice. “Hear that, Chastain? You and the bitch are trapped.”
North pushed Sierra down behind the protection of a car and crouched beside her. He slipped his gun out from under his leather jacket. She sensed energy rise in the atmosphere. They were both running hot now.
“Loring got the damn crystal,” North said, raising his voice to be heard in the echoing garage. “What do you want from us?”
“The boss says he wants to talk to you,” Ralph said. “He wants to do a deal with the Foundation.”
“What kind of a deal?”
“He’ll turn over the entire cache of weapons if Arganbright agrees to let him and the four of us leave the country,” Ralph said.
“I’ll deliver the message to Victor Arganbright,” North said. “You can go now.”
“Not quite that simple,” Ralph said. “We need a little leverage to make sure Arganbright doesn’t send his cleaners after us.”
“You mean you want us for hostages.”
“Just until we’re in the clear,” Ralph said.
“You really expect me to believe that story?” North said. “Loring sent you here to get rid of us. You might as well get on with the job.”
“Whatever,” Ralph said.
He lobbed the glass globe across a row of parked cars. The device shattered on the concrete floor.
In the next instant a dazzling light exploded. Currents of energy flooded the atmosphere. They struck Sierra like a giant ocean wave, making it impossible to breathe. A heavy weight settled on all of her senses, dragging her under.
She realized she was losing consciousness. Frantically she tried to fight her way back to the surface.
She felt North wrap one hand around her upper arm, pulling her into the protection of his aura. He hauled her upright and gripped her fingers.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go,” he said.
She felt his energy field flare, swallowing up all the light. The garage was plunged into an impossibly deep darkness. Bottom-of-the-ocean darkness. Monsters-under-the-bed darkness. Mind-shattering darkness.
And then she felt North’s energy resonating with her own aura. Suddenly she could see the night as she had never known it. Auroras shimmered and glowed. She realized that because of the physical contact, she was seeing the world as North saw it in that moment, his senses revved to the max.
That was when the screaming began.
“Welcome to the abyss,” North said.