Deception Cove

Chapter 33

ALICE CAME AWAKE ON A SURGE OF PANICKY ENERGY AND the sound of a low, moaning litany infused with resigned despair.

“Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit.”

The voice was male, she decided.

She realized she was lying on what felt like a very hard cot. She opened her eyes and discovered that she was on her back looking up at a green quartz ceiling that glowed with the unmistakable radiance of Alien psi. The ambient, senses-ruffling currents of energy in the atmosphere confirmed that she was in a chamber that could only have been built by the ancients.

For a few tense seconds she listened for Houdini’s reassuring chortle. But all she got was the bleak, toneless litany.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

She sat up slowly and looked around. It came as no surprise to discover that there were no windows. The Aliens had avoided sunlight and fresh air as if both were poison. There was a door that was a heavy, manmade mag-steel gate fitted with prison-style bars. It was mounted on steel rails at the bottom and top so that it could be slid aside. Through the bars she could see a portion of a glowing green hallway.

She was not alone in the Chamber. A young man was huddled in the corner. He was visibly pulled in on himself, his arms locked around his knees. He rocked numbly. His long sandy-brown hair was dirty and unkempt. There was dull fear in his eyes, as if he had seen one too many ghosts. Alice was quite certain that he had not eaten or slept well in a long time.

“You must be Pete,” she said.

He stopped rocking. His eyes widened. “I’m officially whacked now, aren’t I? Flat-out crazy.”

“I doubt it.” She waved a hand to indicate their surroundings. “But I can certainly understand why you might think so. Living in this place would make anyone a little nuts. Karen Rosser told us that Tucker had probably sent you into the Chamber a few more times since you helped her escape. She says it’s a real nightmare trip.”

Disbelief flashed in Pete’s eyes. It was followed by a faint glimmer of hope.

“You saw Karen?” he whispered. “She’s okay? She made it to Shadow Bay?”

“She’s fine. We found her in Deception Cove. She’s safe in Shadow Bay now.”

“You’re for real?” Pete came out of his huddled position and got slowly to his feet. “You’re not a ghost?”

“What makes you think I’m a ghost?”

“You’ve been asleep ever since they brought you in here. I was waiting for you to wake up. But a minute ago you sort of disappeared and then you reappeared. I figured I was hallucinating.”

“Oh, yeah, the disappearing thing,” Alice said. “Sorry about that. Instinct, I guess. I woke up in a bit of a panic. I’m a light-talent, like you and Karen. But you know how it is with talent. No two people get the same version. Mine is only good for vanishing temporarily.”

“I’d give a lot to be able to disappear from this place, believe me. You’re sure Karen is okay?”

“You have my word, she’s safe. I can also assure you that no matter what you’ve been told, Zara Tucker’s operation is not an authorized Foundation excavation. But Foundation Security—the real deal—is here on the island. Just a matter of time before help arrives.”

She infused her words with all the confidence she could muster. But Pete wasn’t buying the act.

“If Foundation Security is on Rainshadow, what are you doing here?” he asked.

She winced. “That’s a little harder to explain. I managed to get myself kidnapped by a cult guy named Egan. Everyone in Shadow Bay believed he was harmless. Evidently we were wrong. He’s working with Dr. Tucker, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know anyone named Egan, but the witch does have one security guy left. The others bailed a while ago but the last one stuck around. He’s crazy about Tucker. I mean literally crazy about her.”

“Any idea why Tucker had Egan kidnap me?”

“You said you’re a light-talent, right?”

“Right.”

Pete grimaced. “She needs light-talents to go into that damned Chamber. I’m not strong enough to find the Keys. Neither was Karen. Maybe Tucker thinks you can do it. She’s desperate.”

Crisp footsteps echoed in the hallway. A woman appeared on the other side of the barred door. She was dainty and delicate, with fine bones and exquisite features. Her big blue eyes were shielded by a pair of very serious black-framed glasses that somehow made her appear absolutely adorable. Her blonde hair was pinned in a severe knot at the back of her head. She wore a camp shirt embroidered with the Sebastian, Inc. logo as well as khaki trousers and boots. The swashbuckling jungle gear only served to enhance her adorableness. She held a clipboard and a leather-bound volume in one hand.

“Let me take a wild guess here,” Alice said. “Dr. Zara Tucker, Professional Mad Scientist, I presume.”

The woman blinked, frowning ever so slightly as if she had not expected quite that reaction. Her expression smoothed out almost immediately. Probably afraid of getting frown lines, Alice thought.

“I’m Dr. Tucker and I assure you I’m not mad,” Zara said calmly. “I expect that Drake Sebastian has been feeding you that line. He’s the one who is unbalanced. His para-psych profile has been terribly unstable ever since the accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident. You attacked him with an Alien weapon.”

“Is that what he told you?” Zara sighed. “Well, I’m not surprised. He was furious because I wanted to end our relationship. He threatened to kill me. I had to defend myself. We were in one of the artifact labs when the argument occurred. I grabbed the laser device and fired it in self-defense.”

“Geez,” Alice said. “You’re not just a mad scientist, you’re also a pathological liar, aren’t you? Wow, talk about a warped para-psych profile. You’d make a terrific case study for the shrinks. And by the way, I’ll bet that’s my great-grandfather’s diary. It belongs to me.”

Something that looked a lot like rage burned in Zara’s eyes. But she got control of it quickly.

“I don’t have time for this,” she said. “The reason you are here is because there is a possibility that you are my ticket off this damn island.”

Alice got to her feet. “How am I supposed to get you off Rainshadow? I can’t even drive a boat. Not that anyone is going to be leaving by boat until that fog clears.”

“According to my calculations, the fog will clear as soon as the two crystals are removed from the Chamber.” Zara’s fine brows puckered briefly in another barely there frown. “I am convinced now that the problems began when the oscillation pattern became unstable. The effect was so subtle at first that the instruments missed it. The crystals did ignite the forces inside the Chamber, as your great-grandfather theorized in this diary, but the currents became unstable.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Alice said. “In other words, you screwed up. Mad scientists do that a lot. Ever hear about a guy named Dr. Frankenstein?”

Once again Zara’s eyes went hot with fury. Like the tiny frown lines, however, the fierce emotions were quickly veiled.

“You’re a real bitch, aren’t you?” Zara smiled. “And a not very bright bitch at that. For your information, that damn fog and everything else that has gone wrong here on Rainshadow is your fault.”

“How do you figure that?”

“You were supposed to marry Fulton Whitcomb, you stupid woman. Not just an MC, a full Covenant Marriage.”

“After which I was scheduled to suffer a lethal accident, leaving my Rainshadow inheritance to Fulton, right?”

“That was the original plan. Aldwin and I needed Whitcomb from the start because he was the one who had the kind of money it takes to underwrite a full-scale excavation of an Alien ruin. We also assumed that, with his looks and his social status, he would have no problem convincing you to marry him. Instead, you only agreed to an MC.”

“Lucky me, marrying up like that.”

“Still, he was sure he could get you pregnant and force you into a Covenant Marriage. Instead, the day you found those crystals, you told him you wanted a divorce. From then on, things kept going wrong.”

“Why did you murder Fulton? He returned from Rainshadow with the three crystals and you said you needed his money. Why get rid of him?”

“Whitcomb decided he didn’t need us any longer. He was planning to go to the Sebastians and offer to tell them what I had discovered on Rainshadow if they would agree to let him conduct the excavation. All Fulton cared about was having his name attached to the project.”

“So you killed him.”

“I didn’t kill him. The head of my security team took care of that aspect of things. No choice really. For a time everything was put on hold. But Aldwin managed to get enough money out of Ethel Whitcomb to finance my work. She thinks she’s building a new wing on her precious museum.”

“But the money has been going into your project here on Rainshadow,” Alice said.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t had the budget I needed to hire the kind of professionals I wanted, the kind I deserve to work with. I was forced to make do with low-rent talents like Pete, here, and Karen Rosser.”

“To summarize, you’ve been running an illegal, off-the-books operation here on Rainshadow and you’ve screwed it up so much the whole island is about to blow.” Alice nodded. “Nice work, Dr. Tucker. This should certainly earn you a place in the journals of para-archaeology, not to mention a nice long vacation in prison, assuming you survive.”

“Shut up.” Zara’s eyes were chips of ice. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then let’s cut to the chase. How am I supposed to rescue you?”

“You’re a light-talent, a strong one, evidently. We didn’t know just how strong you were back at the start.” Dr. Tucker clicked her teeth in mild disapproval. “You certainly kept your ability to bend light a secret from Fulton and the rest of us. I didn’t believe you were anything but a run-of-the-mill talent until you started doing your little magic tricks for the kids in Shadow Bay.”

Alice smiled.

Zara raised her brows. “No, you won’t try that magic act with me. For one thing, although I know that you can go invisible, it’s just a trick of the light. You certainly can’t walk through walls or the door of this cell. And just to make sure you don’t try anything clever, you will be handcuffed to Pete, who will be closely guarded by the head of my security team.”

“You are no doubt referring to your last remaining thug-for-hire,” Alice said. “That would be Egan.”

“Egan Quinton,” Zara said. “He has proved to be an extremely useful and versatile employee.”

“Okay, so I can’t escape. What do you expect me to accomplish?”

Zara’s hands clenched around the clipboard and the diary. Her eyes narrowed. “You are going to go into that overheated Chamber and retrieve the two crystals. Once they’re out, I’m certain that the Chamber will cool down. When the energy levels start to fall, the fog will recede and I will be able to get off the island.”

“What makes you think I can get the crystals out of the Chamber?”

“Only a light-talent can enter that Chamber now. But it’s going to take one with a lot of power to find the crystals and bring them out. Let’s hope you’re stronger than Pete or Ms. Rosser.”

“And if I refuse to give it a whirl?”

“In that case, Egan will start killing people in Shadow Bay. One by one.” Zara glanced at Pete. “But we’ll let him start with Pete so that you can be certain that I mean business. Egan?”

There were more footsteps in the glowing hall, heavy boots this time. Egan Quinton appeared on the other side of the steel bars. He was no longer in costume and he had removed his makeup. Minus the scraggly, long-haired wig, heavy eyebrows, and the facial prosthetics that had altered the lines of his face, he looked remarkably ordinary; remarkably unremarkable.

“How’s that enlightenment thing working out for you, Egan?” Alice asked. “Any insights into Zara, here?”

Egan gave her a brief, irritated look and then fixed his ghost-gaze on Pete.

“Want me to do him now?” he asked. There was no trace of emotion in the question. He might as well have been asking Zara if she wanted him to take out the trash.

Zara removed her geeky glasses. “That depends on Alice. It’s her decision.”

Pete watched Egan the way a small creature watches a cobra. “Please, don’t.”

Egan reached into his jacket and pulled out the Alien weapon he had used on Alice and Houdini.

“At full power it causes the heart to stop,” he explained.

“Forget it,” Alice said. “I’ll try to get those crystals for you but only if you leave Pete alone.”

Zara gave her an approving smile. “Excellent. I assure you, I have no wish to kill Pete or anyone else. I would prefer not to waste the time or the energy in the weapon. No telling how long it will last. My only goal now is to get off Rainshadow and disappear.”

“Probably a good idea,” Alice said. “Because it won’t be long before the Sebastians come looking for you.”

“I vanished once, quite successfully. I can do it again.” Zara turned away from the cell gate. “Egan, bring them both to the Chamber. Time is running out.”