Orchid

Chapter 20

Orchid saw the wild glitter in Gilbert's eyes. He had already killed more than once. There was no reason to think he would hesitate to shoot Briana.

She felt the probing tendril of a low-range psychic power.

"Two ..." Gilbert tightened his grip on the pistol.

She answered the probe with a brilliant, crystal clear prism.

"Ah, yes." Gilbert's face relaxed into an expression of approval. "I knew you would be reasonable about this, my dear."

Unwholesome waves of power began to flow through the prism. Orchid fought the instinctive impulse to dissolve the focus. The only thing that made the experience tolerable was the fact that Gilbert Bracewell was not a strong talent.

"Okay, you've got your focus link, Two-Watt. Now, what?"

"Now, this, my dear." Gilbert tightened his grip on the relic. His face grew taut as though he strained to lift a great weight. "Now, you will understand—"

Without warning, his low-class hypno-talent surged. Out on the psychic plane, Orchid watched first in alarm and then in mounting horror as the power pouring through the prism intensified.

In a matter of seconds she found herself focusing a great, rushing, pounding psychic talent. Dark energy crashed through the prism in waves that grew stronger with every beat of her heart.

"The relic," she managed. "You're doing this with it."

"Indeed, I am." Gilbert's smile was tight and strained, but his eyes were bright with cheerful madness. "The artifact is some sort of mechanical device that can heighten the level of an individual's psychic power. But it only functions when that power is focused through a prism who can adapt to the odd wavelengths given off by the alien machine."

"An ice-prism."

"Yes, my dear. An ice-prism is the only kind of prism that can work with it. A very strong ice-prism. You see now why you are so important to me, Miss Adams?"

In the metaphysical realm the dark, unwholesome power surged to new levels. This time Orchid sensed that Gilbert was not simply exercising his new level of psychic talent. He was gathering it with a purpose.

Dread shafted through her. With the aid of the relic and her unique prism capabilities, Gilbert had become a hypno-talent of monstrous magnitude. A true psychic vampire.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I believe this is an excellent opportunity to conduct a small demonstration of my enhanced psychic powers. By the Curtain, no one will ever call me Two-Watt Bracewell again."

He kept the pistol trained on Briana as he opened a drawer beneath the lab bench. Orchid tensed.

"Gilly, you don't know anything about this relic. There's no way to test it safely under these conditions."

"Give me some credit, my dear Miss Adams. After all, I am the director of research here at ParaSyn. I know what I'm doing."

Gilbert turned slightly to reveal the object he had taken from the drawer. The cold lab lights glinted on a pair of heavy shears. Orchid recognized it as a tool used for cutting wire and other hard objects.

Carrying the shears in the same hand he used to clutch the relic, Gilbert walked across the room to where Briana sat on the edge of the gurney. He freed her hand from the plastic cuff with a single snip.

"Take these, Mrs. Culverthorpe." He slapped them into her hand. "And look into my eyes."

Understanding dawned on Orchid. "Don't do it, Briana. Don't look at him."

Still dazed from the effects of the gas that had been used to stun her, Briana stared uncomprehendingly down at the shears. Then she raised her confused gaze to meet Gilbert's eyes.

Hypno-talent slashed through the prism. Briana's gaze went from dazed to glassy-eyed.

"What do you want me to do?" she whispered in an emotionless voice.

"Very simple my dear." Gilbert stepped back several paces. He smiled broadly. "Take the shears and plunge them into your chest."

"No." Desperate now, Orchid tried to dissolve the prism.

Nothing happened. The prism was locked in Gilbert's enhanced psychic talons. She could not cut off his mechanically augmented power surge.

"Please be quick about it, Mrs. Culverthorpe. I don't have all night, you know. Miss Adams and I must leave here soon."

"Briana, no," Orchid shouted. "Don't do it. Look at me, Briana. Don't look at that stupid little elf. Look at me."

But Briana continued to gaze steadily at Gilbert, who smiled fondly back.

Dark psychic energy whirled and slammed through the prism, intensifying the hypnotic effect.

Briana raised the shears and aimed them at a point between her breasts.

"You bastard." Orchid stared at Gilbert. "Don't do this. I'll go with you. I'll help you conduct your experiments. But only if you stop this right now."

"You'll help me regardless, my dear. I have you in my power now."

Orchid saw a strange expression pass through Briana's eyes. It was as though some part of her understood what she was about to do and resisted. But her muscles tensed in preparation as she aimed the shears at her own heart.

Orchid no longer had the ability to dissolve the glittering ice-prism. But there was still the possibility that she could manipulate it.

There was no point struggling against the alien-tainted power. But meta-zen-syn taught that all power was dependent upon the endless struggle for balance.

She concentrated on the brilliant crystal facets of the prism. She would have only one chance to alter the synergistic balance. If she failed, Briana would die.

Gently she began to shift the focus. The raging power followed, realigning itself.

For an instant Gilbert did not realize what was happening. He was too busy concentrating on the results of his terrible experiment.

"Orchid?" Briana's eyes cleared slightly. She bunked and stared at the shears she had aimed at her own breast. "Orchid, what's going on?"

Orchid did not answer. She was wholly occupied with the task of altering the focus of the prism facets.

Gilbert suddenly realized that something was wrong. He was slamming more power than ever through the prism now, but Briana had begun to lower the shears. Rage screwed up his gnomelike face.

"What's this?" he screamed. "What's happening?"

Orchid continued to manipulate the focus. Mirrors, she reminded herself. The facets were tiny psychic mirrors fashioned to focus energy waves the way a laser focused light waves.

"Stop it," Gilbert shouted. "Stop this at once."

But he was too late. Orchid sensed the exact instant when he frantically tried to cut off the flow of talent. But nothing happened. Power slammed through the re-focused prism. Gilbert was as much a prisoner now as Orchid. The alien relic was out of control.

Slowly, inevitably, Gilbert turned the gun so that it no longer pointed at Briana. He aimed the barrel at his own chest.

His eyes no longer twinkled with evil glee. They widened in horror. More dark, raging hypno-talent surged through the refocused prism.

"No," Gilbert screamed. "No."

But it was too late. Overwhelmed by his own magnified hypno-talent turned back on himself, he squeezed the trigger of the pistol.

The blast echoed loudly in the cold, clean room. The gun clattered on the white tile floor. Gilbert toppled backward. Orchid watched, stunned, as blood welled in the center of his tailored lab coat.

On the psychic plane the flow of talent ceased with appalling suddenness. Orchid was free. She hastily dissolved the prism. There was no reason to think that the alien relic could function on its own without a talent to guide it, but there was no sense taking chances.

"Dear heaven," Briana stared at the fallen Bracewell. "He killed himself."

Orchid wrenched her attention away from the horrifying scene on the floor. "The shears. Give them to me so that I can cut off this restraint cuff."

Briana looked at her. "You made him do that, didn't you? Somehow you reversed the flow of his hypno-talent."

"Yes." Orchid pushed the gurney closer to Briana. "I'm an ice-prism." She reached for the shears.

Briana shook her head, dazed. "You saved my life."

"Least I could do under the circumstances." Orchid gently removed the shears from Briana's hand. "It's my fault you're here in the first place."

She snipped through the plastic restraint that bound her left wrist to the gurney rail. Then she freed Briana.

"What are we going to do now?" Briana slid off the gurney. She clung to Orchid to steady herself.

"Now we get out of here. Can you walk?"

"Yes." Briana made a visible effort to pull herself together. "Yes, I can walk if it means getting away from this place."

Orchid led the way to the door. She sensed the presence on the other side just as she opened it, but by then it was much too late.

A tall, ruggedly handsome man with sandy brown hair and sharp brown eyes smiled at her. He was dressed in a crisply pressed black uniform decorated with a great many epaulets, buttons, and snappy cargo pockets. His black boots gleamed.

He had a gun in his black-gloved hand.

"Hello, Orchid. It's been a while. I've missed you."

Orchid bit back a scream. It was not the gun in Calvin Hyde's hand that aroused the primal fear in her. It was the hunger in his voice.

"If I were you I'd get a new tailor, Calvin. That uniform makes you look like something out of a comic book."

He was unfazed. "You'll be happy to know that after tonight I'll be able to afford the best tailor in New Seattle."

"Now what?" Selby huddled in the shadows of the janitor's closet and struggled with the snaps of the blue uniform.

"Now we ask our friend here a few questions." Rafe smiled at the bound man on the floor.

The janitor, dressed only in his briefs and a T-shirt, stirred nervously. "Look, I just work here, okay? I don't know what you want, but I doubt if I can help you."

"Have you got the keys to the mechanical equipment room down the hall?"

"Well, yeah, sure. I've got the keys to all the rooms in the buildings except those inside the restricted zones."

"Then you can help me."

The janitor stared at him, bewildered. "But there's nothing in the mechanical room except a bunch of valves and switches. I don't even know what valve operates what kind of equipment."

"Don't worry," Rafe said. "That's not your problem." He glanced at Selby, who had just finished with the last snap on the blue uniform. "I've got a tech-talent with me."

Still smiling his feral smile, Calvin used the gleaming black steel pistol to wave Orchid and Briana back toward the gurneys. He caught sight of Gilbert's body on the floor.

"Well, well, well. You surprise me, Orchid. I thought you were much too meta-zen-syn for that kind of thing. How did you manage it?"

"Do you care?" Orchid asked.

"Not really." Calvin leaned negligently against the long lab bench. He kept the gun trained on Orchid and Briana. "I was going to have to get rid of old Two-Watt soon, anyway. He never was real stable, but he definitely went over the edge after Theo Willis told him about that damned artifact."

Briana looked from Calvin to Orchid and back again. "Who are you?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, Mrs. Culverthorpe." Calvin inclined his head with mocking formality. "Calvin Hyde. I'm the chief of security here at ParaSyn."

Orchid stared at him. "When did you get that job?"

"Shortly after you left. I convinced Bracewell that I could be of significant service to him. Made him see that he needed me."

"What did you get out of the deal besides a steady job?"

Calvin chuckled. "You know me so well, Orchid. The answer is that it was a very lucrative arrangement for me. I now own several thousand shares of ParaSyn stock, which I will, of course, sell first thing in the morning before anyone learns that the head of ParaSyn's research department is dead."

"Smart move," Orchid muttered.

"I'm a strat-talent, remember? We're good at making money."

"So they say."

Calvin glanced at Bracewell's body and shook his head. "It was a good gig while it lasted, but I knew it couldn't go on much longer. Bracewell was getting nuttier by the day."

"Nuttier?" Orchid repeated cautiously.

Calvin used one finger to circle his ear in the old gesture meant to indicate craziness. "He actually believed that stupid artifact could give him heightened paranormal power. He thought he could turn himself into a genuine off-the-chart talent if he could just get a strong ice-prism to help him control it. What would you call that kind of thinking?"

"Definitely a wacko," Orchid said quickly.

"The man was certainly crazy," Briana agreed with an uneasy glance at the alien relic, which still lay on the floor.

Orchid decided it would not be wise to inform Calvin that Gilbert had been right about the relic. There would be no way to get past Calvin. Her only hope now was to buy time. It would not take Rafe long to figure out that something had happened.

"You've been involved in this from the beginning?" Orchid asked. Calvin had never been shy when it came to bragging.

"Unfortunately, no." Calvin grimaced with disgust. "If I had, things would have been handled much more efficiently. Bracewell was very secretive at first. He didn't want anyone, especially me, to know about the relic."

"Especially you?"

Calvin grinned. "Probably figured I'd steal it and become twice the man I am. As if I need any more talent than I've already got."

"The only thing larger than your talent is your ego, Calvin."

Briana's eyes widened in alarm.

Calvin merely laughed. "Your sense of humor was one of the things I always liked best about you, Orchid."

"Yeah, right. Go on with your story."

"I didn't figure out what was going on until the night Bracewell killed that illusion-talent in Founders' Square."

"How did you know Bracewell had shot him?"

"I was here when old Two-Watt returned that night. He was badly shaken because someone had very nearly caught him when he tried to shoot the prism. He knew he had lost control of the situation. He was terrified." Calvin snickered. "He said he felt as if he were being, and I quote, hunted."

"You offered to take charge of the situation for him, is that it?"

"I promised him that, for a few thousand more shares of ParaSyn stock, I'd clean up the mess he'd made. He was desperate by then. He accepted the offer."

Orchid gritted her teeth. "So it was you who pushed Quentin Austen off that ferry."

"Sure. I realized immediately that we had to get rid of Austen."

"You're the one who tried to shoot Rafe in the woods outside of Northville, aren't you?"

"Yes. It was after I saw him move that day that I knew I was in a duel with another strat-talent." Calvin's golden brown eyes glittered with cold anticipation. "The only other hunter I've ever come across in my entire life. There are so very few of us, you know."

"I know," Orchid whispered.

"I've been looking forward to meeting up with him again."

"Why would you want to do that?" Orchid asked.

"You could not possibly understand. Only another hunter could comprehend the challenge of going mano-a-mano with a man who is my equal. It will be a duel to remember. The ultimate test of my talent."

Orchid blinked. "You're looking forward to the challenge of hunting Rafe?"

"Why do you find that so surprising? I assure you, Stonebraker will enjoy the game as much as I will. It's in his blood."

"How do you intend to set up a duel here at ParaSyn?"

Calvin gave her a mockingly pitying look. "Don't you understand yet? The arrangements for the duel have already been made."

"What are you saying?" Briana demanded.

Calvin gave her a brief, disinterested glance. "Stonebraker will follow Orchid here tonight because she is his mate. He will come alone because that is his nature. When he arrives, he will discover that he must do battle with me in order to reclaim Miss Adams."

"Talk about primitive thinking," Orchid muttered. "You know, Calvin, it's guys like you who give strat-talents a bad name."

"I told you, only another strat-talent can possibly savor the blood-rush of a life-or-death hunt when the quarry is as dangerous as the hunter." Calvin breathed deeply. "Only another strat-talent can know the primeval call of the wild. The exhilaration of the stalk. The elemental pleasure of the kill."

Orchid half expected to see steam jet out of his nostrils. She felt the invisible pulse of a deeply disturbed psychic talent. Energy hummed in the air around Calvin, unwholesome, monstrous, dangerous. He had definitely gotten worse during the past three years.

She was careful to keep her own psychic power securely battened down. She did not dare risk giving Calvin a prism to focus his talent. One experience with a psychic vampire tonight was enough.

Calvin smiled at her. It could have been a trick of the light, but she could have sworn she glimpsed fangs.

The hair on the nape of her neck stirred. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Briana tremble. She understood the involuntary reaction. They were, after all, in the presence of a very dangerous beast of prey.

"You know something, Calvin?" Orchid said. "I think you may have overestimated Rafe's interest in the sport of hunting."

Calvin's smile held no humor. There was a terrible excitement in his eyes. "Stonebraker and I have never met except for that day in the woods outside Northville. But I know him better than you or anyone else ever could. We were both born for the hunt and the kill. Only one of us will survive this night."

"Don't rush me, damn it." Selby concentrated on the array of valve handles in front of him. "This isn't easy, you know."

"You're supposed to be a high-class tech-talent." Rafe aimed the small flashlight at the instrument panel. "Figuring out what all those widgets do should be child's play for you."

"I'm working without a prism, remember? It fates longer this way. I have to go more on intuition and gut reaction. Now shut up and let me think."

Rafe shut up. While he held the flashlight steady, he tried another psychic probe, seeking contact with Orchid.

Still no response. But he knew she was here. He could feel it.

"Okay," Selby said after a while. "I think I've got most of these lines figured out. Fire suppressant, hot and cold water, and jelly-ice supply. But I don't recognize this red one." He tapped a valve. "It's a gas line, but I don't have any idea of what kind of gas it carries."

Rafe studied the symbols etched on the valve. "Chemistry is not my strong suit."

Selby frowned. "I can read the symbols. They just don't make any sense. Not in those proportions. If this were a hospital, they might indicate some type of anesthetic. But who would pump anesthetic gas throughout a big facility like this? There's no point in it."

Rafe recalled the security data he'd pulled from his computer. "I think it's an emergency system. Some kind of gas used to control the patients if they become violent. The stuff is piped everywhere throughout the facility. It's very subtle. Makes everyone euphoric and then puts them to sleep."

"That might make sense."

"Cousin Selby, I think you have just saved the day," Rafe said. "But before we use that stuff, we need to find out exactly where Bracewell and the other guy are and where they've got Orchid and Briana."

"Who's this other guy you keep talking about?"

"There's another strat-talent here somewhere."

Selby glanced at him sharply. "How do you know that?"

"I just know it, that's all."

"You used to say stuff like that when we were kids. It bugged me then, too."

"How do you think I felt when you always got your new some-assembly-required toys up and running before I could even get mine out of the box?"

Calvin nudged the alien relic with the toe of his shiny black boot. "You know, the really funny part is that this whole thing started because Bracewell actually believed this thing would give him some kind of super psychic power."

Orchid held her breath when he reached down to pick up the artifact. She glanced at Briana, who watched with agonized eyes as Calvin tossed the object lightly into the air and deftly caught it.

"Like you said," Orchid murmured. "Bracewell was crazy."

"Yeah. But I'm going to be a wealthy man because of the little bastard. Guess I owe him something." Calvin's mouth twisted slightly as he glanced at the body. "Too bad it's too late to repay him. But, hey, those are the breaks, right?"

"Right. Say, Calvin, have you given any thought to your own somewhat limited future?" Orchid asked.

"There won't be any limitations on my future after tonight. I just told you, I'm going to be very, very rich." He frowned at his watch. "Stonebraker should be inside by now."

Orchid chilled. "How do you know that?"

"Same way I know he'll come alone. Besides, I made it easy for him. I gave most of the security guards the night off. I left only a few on duty so that no one would be suspicious but the majority are assigned to B and C Labs."

"You're here in A Lab all alone?" Orchid said. "I don't believe it."

Calvin chuckled. "You do know me, don't you Orchid? You're right. I've got some backup. The two men who brought you and Mrs. Culverthorpe here tonight are still nearby. They're keeping an eye on the entrance to this lab. I gave them instructions to stay out of sight unless something goes wrong. I don't want them interfering in the evening's entertainment unless absolutely necessary, you see."

Full comprehension swept through Orchid. "You've set a trap for Rafe, haven't you? This whole thing was designed to lure him here so that you could hunt him down."

Calvin grinned. "You've got it, babe. I went along with Bracewell's plan to kidnap you because I knew that I could use you as bait to draw Stonebraker here where we could hunt on my turf. I know every hall, every underground tunnel, every nook and cranny in this facility. And I've got my two men waiting in the wings for backup if things go wrong. Stonebraker won't stand a chance."

"I thought this was supposed to be an equal battle between two strat-talents. Mano-a-mano. The blood-rush of the ultimate duel to the death between equals, etc., etc."

Calvin's laugh rang out. It bounced off the stainless steel lab bench and ricocheted off the white tile walls. "I'm a strat-talent, not a fool."

A frisson of awareness set up a tingle on Orchid's nerve endings. The questing probe of a clean, strong, strat-talent. Rafe was somewhere in the vicinity. The probe came and went but she knew he would seek her out again in a moment. She dared not give him a prism in case Calvin intercepted it.

"Don't be too sure of that," Orchid whispered.

Calvin continued to show his teeth in a cruel grin. "The only risk factor here is you, Orchid. I know you need to be in close proximity to a talent in order to focus for him. I intend to keep you out of Stonebraker's range. But if he gets near enough to use you for a prism, I'll have to take steps to prevent that from happening."

"Steps?" Orchid asked.

"The first step will be to shoot Mrs. Culverthorpe, here."

Briana groaned. "Not again."

"Step two will be to shoot you, Orchid. I really don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary. I've got plans for the two of us. We have some unfinished business, you and me. I'd really like to keep you alive for a while. I want Stonebraker to watch me take his woman on the floor in front of him."

Orchid braced herself against the sick hunger that swirled in the room. "Don't you think that's just a little bit on the primitive side, Calvin?"

"Primitive." Calvin savored the word. "Yeah. That's me."