After Dark

Chapter 27

LYDIA GAVE EMMETT a withering glare. He got the message. She thought he was being callous.

"For heaven's sake," she snapped, "this is no time to lecture your nephew about that stupid cabinet." She turned to Quinn. "Are you all right?"

Quinn looked slightly baffled by her interference. But he nodded quickly. "Yeah, sure. I'm okay."

"Quinn?" The young woman stirred and sat up slowly. "What's going on? Who are these people?"

"Meet Uncle Emmett, Sylvia. I told you he'd show up sooner or later." Quinn helped her to her feet. "Come on, we're getting out of here."

Lydia glanced around. "Anyone else in here besides you two?"

"No, not at this hour," Quinn exclaimed angrily. "They keep Sylvia and me locked up with traps when they're gone. But the others come and go on a schedule. They're really into the whole thing, y'know? Like to wear little chains with three wavy lines around their necks like scout badges or something. The idiots think they're going to get rich."

"What about guards?" Emmett asked.

"Couple of hunters right now. There was another one when I first got here, but he got fried and wandered off into a tunnel. Never saw him again. They haven't had much luck recruiting anyone else."

"Probably figured they didn't need to leave guards to watch us," Sylvia said, rubbing her arms. "The trap was more than enough to keep us inside that chamber while they were gone." She looked at Lydia. "You must be a very good tangler."

"The best," Emmett said before Lydia could respond. "What about your amber, Quinn?"

"Are you kidding? They take it away from us during rest periods. The main entrance is the only branch of the catacomb that's been pretty well cleared. You can't move ten feet down any of the side passages without amber."

"Where's the dreamstone?" Lydia asked curiously.

"Whenever they dig a piece out, they store it in a chamber located in one of the other passages," Sylvia said. "Except for a couple of places like this one that they use to trap this entrance and the one at the top of the stairs."

Emmett did not like the dangerous professional interest he saw in Lydia's eyes. "Forget the dreamstone. We don't have time to look at it now. We'll come back for it."

"Sure." She looked briefly wistful, but she did not argue.

Emmett turned back to Sylvia and Quinn. "Either of you know of another way out of here besides the stairs that lead up into the shelter office?"

Quinn shook his head. "No. Like I said, the side passages are clogged with traps and ghosts. They haven't bothered to clear any of the other passages, let alone explore them. All they care about is getting the dreamstone out."

Sylvia bit her lip. "They're almost finished. Quinn and I have been working as slowly as possible, but we weren't going to be able to stall much longer."

"Really glad to see you guys." Quinn sounded relieved. "We knew they wouldn't have any more use for us once we finished excavating the site."

Emmett put his hand on Quinn's arm. "You did good, kid. Come on, we're getting you out of here. Lydia, neither of them has amber, so we'll put them between us. I'll take the lead with Fuzz. Got it?"

"Got it." She moved into position behind Sylvia and Quinn. "If Fuzz seems to tense or if he sort of growls, be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll pay attention."

Emmett started back along the corridor, conscious of the weight of the dust-bunny on his shoulder. Ahead of him nothing moved in the dimly glowing quartz hallway. There were no inexplicable shadows or shimmers in the air. Fuzz seemed alert but not alarmed.

Emmett was starting to believe they just might make it out of the catacombs without incident when Fuzz froze. Simultaneously he felt the faint tingle of energy.

"Damn." He slapped his arm out to the side to make sure none of the other three blundered past him. Quinn stumbled, then caught his balance.

"What the…?" Quinn began.

There was no time to respond. Ahead of Emmett the corridor exploded with acid-green energy. The huge ghost flared high and wide, blocking the narrow tunnel. Sylvia gave a muffled cry. Everyone froze. Fuzz whined softly. A tremor went through his small body, but all six paws remained firmly planted on Emmett's shirt, facing the pulsing green specter.

"Just what we needed," Lydia said grimly.

"I don't understand," Sylvia whispered. "I thought they'd cleared this corridor. The others come through here all the time."

Emmett figured this wasn't the time to explain that this ghost had been deliberately summoned tonight. The unusual patterns of dissonance told him that it was really two smaller ghosts that had been melded into one.

Two hunters working together at the entrance of the corridor, he thought. But the one he'd singed last night couldn't possibly have recovered this fast. Besides, whoever was controlling this double ghost was no untrained novice. It took experience and talent to force two dissonant energy fields into one for any length of time.

Another hunter, then. Matthews?

The ghost started to drift down the corridor toward Emmett and the others.

"Uncle Emmett?" Quinn sounded uneasy.

"It's okay, Quinn. It's really a two-in-one. Got to handle it a little differently. Right now it's shielding us from the two hunters who are behind it. We can't see them, but they can't see us either. I'm going to try to take control of the ghost and send it back toward the two guys who summoned it. But if that doesn't work, I'll have to de-rez it. Either way, in the end we'll have to deal with the hunters. They may be armed."

"Right." Quinn eased Sylvia out of the way and moved up to stand next to Emmett. "But without my amber I'm not going to be much help."

"Trust me, at the rate they're using up psi energy, they won't be able to summon more than a couple of flickers by the time we get to them. But we'll have to move fast. As soon as the ghost disappears we take them."

Quinn nodded in understanding. "Hand to hand, huh?"

"Probably."

"Emmett?" Lydia spoke urgently from directly behind him.

"Take care of Sylvia," he ordered softly. "I'll handle the rest."

He probably came off sounding like one of those macho jerk Guild guys she was always complaining about, he thought. But he didn't have time to be diplomatic. Fortunately, she did not argue. He saw her fall back with Sylvia in tow.

He concentrated on the conflicting dissolution patterns in the double ghost. The mingled energy was both its strength and its greatest weakness. There was a lot of power in a ghost this size, but it was inherently unstable. That made it vulnerable to a takeover—if he could locate the two main frequencies.

The ghost picked up speed as it moved toward them, but it still wasn't moving fast. No green UDEM had ever been known to shift position at a pace that exceeded a man's moderate walking speed. Furthermore, the bigger the energy field, the more cumbersome it was. But if it backed you into a corner, you were fried meat.

Emmett searched for the frequency patterns. He found the weaker one first. As he had expected, whoever was driving it lacked firm control. The hunter wielding the dominant ghost had already interfered with the wave pattern to a great extent in order to complete the meld.

The ghost floated closer, flaring and pulsing with angry green light, herding Emmett and the others back down the passageway.

Emmett felt the fresh amber in his watch grow warm against the back of his wrist. He poured more psi energy through it.

The ghost slowed, struggling to maintain its internal rhythms, but it did not stop. Emmett knew the precise instant when his watch fogged. He switched his focus to the backup amber he wore on a chain around his neck.

The double ghost was in trouble now. It stopped, pulsing wildly. Emmett recognized the signs of imminent collapse.

"Got it," he said softly. "I'm going to try to reverse it, but if it fails, be ready, Quinn."

"Right."

Working with all the subtlety he could command, Emmett took control of the weakening ghost. He prodded it gently until it began to drift back the way it had come.

There was a shout of alarm from the vicinity of the quartz staircase.

"Shit! He's got it."

Quinn grinned. "You do good work, Uncle Emmett."

"Let's go." Emmett started forward. "Whoever put it together will try to de-rez it as soon as he realizes what's happening."

"I'm right behind you."

"So am I," Lydia said firmly. "And Sylvia's here too."

The woman did have a way of picking the worst possible times to disobey orders, Emmett thought. He opened his mouth to issue fresh instructions.

But at that instant the fading ghost pulsed one last time and winked out.

"Now, Quinn."

Two figures stood silhouetted in the green glow of the staircase. They were less than ten feet away. As Emmett and Quinn closed on them, they both turned and fled back toward the staircase.

Emmett recognized one of the two young hunters who had attacked Kelso in the alley behind the Green Wall Tavern. The other was Bob Matthews. If either had an illegal mag-rez gun, he was too psi-rezzed to use it.

The two pounded up the staircase, into the gloom of the unlit storage closet.

Emmett dashed through the opening after them. The young hunter had already vanished, fleeing out of the shelter office toward the safety of the street.

But Matthews moved more slowly. Emmett knew that the other man's senses were probably badly jangled from the experience of having had his own ghost turned against him. It hurt when that happened. Really hurt.

Emmett caught him, whirled him around, and slammed him up against the nearest file cabinet.

Matthews's face twisted with rage and fear. He made a fist and threw a wild punch. Emmett managed to shift barely enough to avoid taking the blow in the groin. It caught him on his side, however, and sent him reeling backward.

Matthews closed in quickly, carrying both of them to the floor.

"Sonofabitch," Matthews roared, straddling Emmett.

He shoved his hand into his jacket. When he pulled it out, a knife gleamed in his fist. "Sonofabitch, we almost had it all, you freaking SOB."

Emmett grabbed Matthews's knife arm at the wrist. Matthews yelled again and dropped the knife, point first, straight toward Emmett's left eye.

Emmett whipped his head to the side, heard the blade clatter to the floor beside his ear.

He jerked hard and forced Matthews off of him. There was a sharp thud. Emmett felt the jolt of the impact and realized that the other man had struck his head against the edge of a cabinet. Matthews slumped and went still.

Two figures dressed in stained rags that reeked of spilled alcohol materialized in the storage closet doorway that connected to the outer office. Emmett gave them a sour glance as he got to his feet.

"Where the hell have you two been?" he asked.

"Sorry we're a little late, boss," Ray Derveni said cheerfully. "We ran into a little trouble outside. The woman set an illusion trap at the front door after you and your lady friend went inside."

"Damnedest thing you ever saw," Harry Adier added. "Didn't think you could set one of those babies above-ground."

Emmett frowned. "How'd you get past it?"

"A kid came runnin' out a minute ago. Guess he didn't know about the trap. Ran straight into it. Got nailed. Once it had been sprung we were able to get around it."

"Emmett," Lydia said urgently, "we've got a problem."

"Sylvia," Quinn shouted. "She's got Sylvia."

Emmett swung around. He saw Lydia standing at the top of the staircase next to Quinn. Both were peering through the opening.

"Let her go," Lydia shouted.

Emmett went to where the others were gazing down the green staircase. He saw Helen Vickers at the bottom. She was not alone. She held a mag-rez gun to Sylvia's head. He wondered how she'd gotten her hands on one.

"Where the hell did she come from?" Emmett muttered.

"She was hiding in the shadows of the staircase," Lydia said quietly. "She grabbed Sylvia while you were dealing with Matthews."

"I'll kill her if anyone comes after me," Helen warned hoarsely. "I swear I will."

"No one will follow you," Lydia promised in a soft, coaxing tone. "You have my word."

"You think I believe that for one minute?" Helen's face was contorted with rage. "You've ruined everything, you stupid bitch. I'm the one who found that dreamstone. I de-rezzed the first traps. It's mine."

Emmett watched her move back another pace. Her foot brushed against what looked like a small heap of refuse.

"Please," Quinn said desperately, "let Sylvia go."

"Shut up. I should have gotten rid of you the day you walked through the front door. I thought I could use you if the Guild came around, but you've been nothing but trouble. I should have had one of the others fry you and dump you in the catacombs."

"Helen, be reasonable. You'll get lost in those tunnels," Lydia said. "You don't want to die underground, do you?"

"I won't get lost. There are other ways out of this branch. I've spent months down here. I know my way—"

She broke off on a shattering scream as the little heap of refuse she had nearly stepped on moved. Fuzz thinned himself into the sleek predator he was and scampered up the leg of Helen's trousers in the blink of an eye.

Helen shrieked and batted wildly with her free hand. "What is it? Get it off me! Get it off!"

Fuzz reached her throat. His small teeth gleamed just above her jugular.

Helen screamed again. With a convulsive movement she released Sylvia and dropped the gun to claw Fuzz away from her throat.

"Fuzz—" Lydia started down the staircase. "Jump!"

Fuzz leaped off Helen's neck and landed on all six paws. He raced toward Lydia, who reached down to scoop him up into her arms.

Sylvia grabbed the gun off the green floor and dashed toward the stairs. Quinn reached for her. She tumbled into his arms. Emmett discovered that the staircase doorway was suddenly clogged with people. He could hear footsteps as she fled down the corridor.

"Would everyone kindly get the hell out of the way so I can get her?" he snarled.

Quinn swung around to stare into the tunnel. "She's getting away."

"It's all right," Lydia said softly. "She won't get far."

"What are you talking about?" Quinn demanded. "You heard what she said. She knows her way around down there."

"It won't do her any good." Lydia caught hold of Emmett's arm. "Trust me."

Another scream echoed off the quartz walls, a cry that came from the heart of a nightmare. It reverberated for a long moment and then went deathly silent. Emmett decided he now understood the true meaning of the word "bloodcurdling." He looked at Lydia.

"I reset one of the little dreamstone traps while you were dealing with the ghost," she said quietly. "I left it in the corridor behind us, just in case. I thought it might give us some cover if we had to retreat."

He looked at her for a long moment. Then he smiled slowly. "Always nice to work with a pro."