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."
Chapter 21
Everything was going far too well. No guards inside the building. A convenient janitor who carried a lot of keys. No demands for a check-in from the gate guard's two-way radio.
The situation was just too dandy for words.
Rafe could feel the trap closing around him, but there was nothing to do but keep moving ahead. Orchid was close. He was sure of it. Why didn't she respond?
He looked at Selby, who was still fiddling with some dials in the mechanical equipment room. "Wait here. Give me ten minutes to locate them and then turn on the gas in all of the lab rooms at once. Remember, no gas in the hallways. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Leave the gas on for three minutes and then shut it off."
Selby squinted at him. "You sure you know what you're doing?"
"I'm a strat-talent, remember? I'm good at this kind of thing. Hit the master switch for the building lights if anything goes wrong. Blink them once. Understand?"
"The lights? Why?"
"It's a nifty way of telling me that Plan A is no longer working."
"Is there a Plan B?"
"There is always a Plan B." Rafe retrieved the small pistol from his ankle holster. "I just have to figure it out, that's all."
"Great. How do you intend to avoid the effects of the gas, yourself? Some of it might seep into the hallways through the cracks around the doors."
Rafe frowned. "I'll put some cloth over my face or something."
"That sounds like a strat-talent sort of plan, all right. A little weak when it comes to the high-tech side of things." Selby reached for a triangular shaped device on an overhead shelf. He lifted it down and handed it to Rafe. "Maybe you ought to take one of these with you."
Rafe took the strange object from him. "What is it?"
"Gas mask," Selby said dryly.
Rafe grinned. "I always knew you tech-talents had your uses."
He opened the door and slipped out into the hall.
He tried once more for a prism, but again there was no response from Orchid. Alarm trickled through him. He had told himself that she was safe because Bracewell needed her alive. The same logic held true for the strat-talent, who no doubt viewed her as bait.
At the end of the hall, Rafe turned and started down another corridor. He used another small burst of talent to see if he could snag Orchid's prism. She was nearby. He knew it in his bones. He wondered if she was unconscious. Bracewell could easily have drugged her.
He rounded a corner, gun raised, and went along another passageway. He sent out a burst of strat-power. For a few seconds his senses opened wide.
Ice sleeted through his veins when he caught the unmistakable taint of blood and death. He knew that in that moment he was as close to losing control as he had ever been in his life. A searing rage howled through him.
But in the next second he knew that the blood was not Orchid's. A stranger lay dead somewhere up ahead.
Before the relief could set in, his jacked up senses caught the traces of two men.
Somewhere behind him.
It was almost reassuring. He had guessed right. This was a trap.
Rafe flattened himself against the wall at the end of the corridor and looked back down the long white hallway. There was no one in sight. But they were there. He could feel them. The strat-talent's backup team.
He tried another short rush of talent.
He caught a distant, fleeting sound. The clang of an object against a pipe.
The emergency equipment room.
"Damn."
He loped swiftly back down the hall. The overhead lights did not wink out. The guards had gotten to Selby before he could hit the master switch.
So much for Plan A.
Calvin was getting restless. Orchid was surprised. She was accustomed to Rafe's quiet ways and seemingly unlimited patience. But Calvin lacked that degree of self-control.
He no longer leaned negligently against the lab bench. He had begun to pace. Periodically Orchid caught the telltale whisper of his psychic energy and knew that he was testing the air, seeking a trace of Rafe.