Deception Cove

Chapter 38

DRAKE MOVED AROUND THE CORNER AND SAW ZARA AND Egan. Egan looked very different without his disguise, remarkably unremarkable. Zara and Egan were hovering close to the entrance of the crystal pyramid, which was the size of a two-story house. He could feel the energy of the Chamber from where he stood.

Egan gripped the end of a long length of rope in one gloved hand. The cord was stretched taut. It disappeared into a deep darkness at the entrance of the Chamber. Drake was very sure that Alice was on the other end of the line.

He set Houdini free.

“Get him,” Drake whispered. He doubted that Houdini could understand, but with luck he would serve as a distraction.

As if he had sized up the situation and had recognized the primary source of danger in the room, Houdini dashed across the cavernous space, heading straight for Egan.

Sensing that they were no longer alone, Zara whirled around. When she saw Drake, alarm exploded into fury.

“Bastard,” she said. “Kill him, Egan.”

Egan dropped the end of the line he had been holding and yanked the Alien weapon out of his belt. He leveled it at Drake.

Houdini arrived at his target and scampered up Egan’s pant leg.

“Shit.” Egan reeled backward, frantically swiping at Houdini with the weapon.

Houdini bounded off Egan to evade the vicious swipes but he immediately circled to find another opening. Egan brought the weapon up again and fired it, aiming for Houdini. The ray missed Houdini’s tail by scant inches.

“Egan!” Zara screamed.

Egan finally realized he had been paying attention to the wrong threat, but it was too late. Jasper and Fletcher were already moving forward, initiating the strategy they had devised during the trek through the tunnels. Both conjured hot, powerful ghosts that closed in on Egan, driving him back toward a wall.

There was nothing like having a pair of energy storms chasing you to help concentrate your attention. Egan had spent time in the tunnels. He recognized lethal-sized ghosts when he saw them.

“Drop the gadget,” Fletcher ordered.

Egan came up against the wall. There was nowhere to run. He tossed the weapon aside. It rolled across the floor.

But Zara was running and she was not headed toward the nearest exit. She went toward the entrance of the pyramid. For a beat or two Drake thought she was going into the Chamber.

He was wrong.

When she reached the entrance, she bent low, scooped up the trailing end of the rope, and hurled it through the wall of energy that sealed the pyramid.

The line vanished into the darkness.

“Your little MC wife will never find her way out,” Zara said. “Neither will Pete. You can’t possibly come up with a way to rescue them or retrieve the crystals—not in time to keep this whole island from drowning in that damn fog. You and I are going to go together, my love. Isn’t that romantic?”