The constant din of birdcalls and mysterious rustlings in the undergrowth rattled his nerves. He was terrified of snakes and insects. While thus far no species down here had been identified as lethal to humans, that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Exploration of the jungle had barely begun. The Guilds were still in the process of trying to find the special kind of psi talents who could open gates to the rain forest. To date only a handful had been discovered.
The gate he used was not one that had been opened under the auspices of the Guild. It was not listed on any official chart. The six-foot-tall hole had been created for him by one of his street clinic patients who happened to possess the unusual type of para-rez talent needed to access the rain forest. The junkie had suffered a most unfortunate overdose once he had finished the job. But what could you expect of an addict?
He hurried through the opening, breathing easier once he was outside in the green quartz corridor. It always amazed him that nothing from the rain forest followed him through the gate. There was not so much as a stray leaf or twig or insect on the glowing green floor of the tunnel. The gates all seemed to generate invisible and, to most humans, undetectable energy barriers that kept the jungle contained.
He walked quickly toward a quartz staircase, adjusting the cuffs of his immaculately tailored white shirt. Even if the police did somehow manage to connect him to the shooting and even if they figured out that he had concealed the weapon in the rain forest, they would never be able to find it. There was no way it could ever be used as evidence against him in a court of law.
Of course, that still left the Cadence Guild. Alvis Shaw had warned him that Mercer Wyatt had hired an investigator to search for the relic. It was no secret that the Guilds did not always feel it necessary to honor the legal niceties when it came to hunting down those who stole from their vaults.
But he was safe. He had been careful. And he was infinitely more intelligent than any Guild man.
Nevertheless, he now had a serious problem. Things had gone terribly wrong last night. He was a brilliant para-psychiatrist, an expert on reading people, but for some reason he simply hadn’t expected a low-end, drug-addicted thief like Alvis Shaw to double-cross him. The bastard had actually threatened to set up an auction and sell the relic to the highest bidder. He’d had no choice but to kill Shaw. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t intended to get rid of him anyway, once he took possession of the relic.
The realization that he had a disaster on his hands had hit when he searched the dying man. Shaw hadn’t had the relic on him.
Even as Shaw lay dying, his blood running across the alley bricks, the bastard had laughed.
“Hid it in the antique shop last night. Seemed like the perfect place. Didn’t think anyone would notice it, not with all that other junk piled around it. But it’s gone. You’re screwed, man. You’ll never find it now.”
He had torn the antique shop apart, hoping that Shaw had lied to him when he had claimed that the relic was gone. But in the end he had been forced to conclude that the thief had told him the truth.
He had no choice now. Against his own professional judgment he would have to use another patient from the street clinic. The man he had in mind was a former ghost hunter who had been badly psi-burned and was now heavily medicated. The patient was extremely fragile, but that condition had the advantage of making him easier to control than Shaw had been.
He climbed the staircase, aware that he was still shivering. It was a perfectly normal reaction to a highly stressful situation, he assured himself. He was a doctor. He should know.
Chapter 5
ARAMINTA WAS WAITING FOR CELINDA WHEN SHE GOT back to her apartment. The dust bunny was sitting on the railing of the small balcony that overlooked the Old Quarter. She was fully fluffed, with only her innocent blue eyes showing. There was no sign of the red artifact.
Celinda yanked open the sliding glass door, scooped her up, and looked her in the eye.
“Where have you been? Are you all right? You scared the you know what out of me. You’ve never acted like that before.”
Araminta chattered cheerfully and hopped up onto her shoulder. Celinda reached up to pet her. “Don’t ever do that again, okay? It’s very hard on the nerves.”
Araminta muttered reassuringly.
“You hid that relic somewhere, didn’t you? I hope you realize that Davis Oakes isn’t going to leave us alone until he gets his hands on that thing.”
Araminta displayed a vast amount of unconcern. She made hopeful little noises. Celinda recognized them immediately.
“You’re hungry again, aren’t you? Well, this time I’m not surprised. No telling how long you’ve been running around. Probably worked off lunch. Let’s go see what’s left in the refrigerator.”
Dusk had begun to overtake the Old Quarter. The Dead City wall was starting to glow faintly. When darkness fell, the ambient luminescence would infuse the surrounding neighborhoods with a pale emerald radiance. Celinda thought of it as a permanent nightlight.
She gave Araminta another pat. Together they went back inside the apartment and into the little kitchen. Most of the apartments in the Old Quarter were small, and this one was no exception. The buildings had all been constructed during the Colonial era. The First Generation colonists had built their original structures in the shadows of the ancient walls that surrounded each of the four Dead Cities that had been discovered: Old Cadence, Old Resonance, Old Frequency, and Old Crystal.
Over the years, as the new human cities had grown and expanded into the surrounding countrysides the Old Quarter had fallen into decay and disrepair. Many of the neighborhoods with their tight, cramped streets and dark, looming buildings had become home to derelicts, prostitutes, and the down and out.
Although gentrification had begun in certain sections, you could still get a cheap apartment in the Quarter. That fact had figured heavily into Celinda’s decision to rent in the neighborhood. She had been on a very tight budget when she moved to Cadence to start over. But it wasn’t cost alone that had brought her to the Quarter. Like most strong para-rez talents, her senses responded pleasantly to the gentle ambient psi that leaked out of the ancient city.
She opened the door of the refrigerator. Together she and Araminta surveyed the contents. There was a large wedge of leftover lasagna, some salad greens, a carton of milk, and a half-empty bottle of wine.
Araminta displayed great interest in the lasagna.
“Well, I was going to have that for my dinner, but since it looks like I’m eating out tonight, whether I like it or not, you can have the lasagna,” Celinda said.
She spooned the lasagna into Araminta’s plate on the floor and then went into the bedroom and opened the closet. Her social life had been nonexistent since the debacle in Frequency. She hadn’t been inspired to shop for anything more interesting than extremely conservative business suits.
Her choices tonight were limited to two possibilities. The very pink dress sheathed in clear plastic did not count. She was quite certain that once she wore it for her sister’s wedding, she would never wear it again. Pink was not her color.
She contemplated instead the classic little black dress hanging at the back. It was long-sleeved and had a demure neckline. The last time it had been worn was at a funeral. She pondered it for a long moment. According to Ten Steps to a Covenant Marriage, black was always safe. Furthermore, on a first date elegant was the watchword, not provocative.
On the other hand, there was a fine line between elegant and dull, and as Davis had made clear, this wasn’t exactly the start of a Covenant Marriage courtship.