Orchid

"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."