In Too Deep

36

They sat side by side on the lumpy sofa, feet propped on the small coffee table, and drank some whiskey together.

"We're decompressing again," Fallon said.

"Yes."

"Twice in one week."

Isabella studied the contents of her glass. "It has been a very complicated week."

"It has," Fallon said.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that one of the remaining Nightshade circles decided to try to acquire some para-weapons. When they got into that market they encountered the broker, Orville Stone."

"Who, in turn, led them to Sylvia Tremont," Isabella said, "who was busily selling off para-weapons from the Arcane museum basement. It must have been obvious that if she was already willing to risk stealing from Arcane, she was ripe for recruitment. Someone in Nightshade made her an offer."

Fallon turned the glass between his palms. "Tremont was thrilled because her new business associate promised her a lab of her own and unlimited funding for her experiments in glass psi."

"Yep."

"Operating a state-of-the-art lab costs money. Sounds like at least one of the Nightshade circles is still going strong. We need to find it fast."

"Any idea where to look?" Isabella asked.

"Maybe."

"You never say maybe."

"A connection to Portland, Oregon, came up not long ago when Jack Winters and Chloe Harper nearly got themselves killed in Seattle. One of the Nightshade people who died, a guy named John Stillwell Nash, was the CEO of a vitamin and health supplements company named Cascadia Dawn."

"A company that sells supplements and vitamins would make an excellent cover for an illicit drug lab. Did you check it out?"

"I've had people watching it. A new CEO took over shortly after Nash died. She used another name, but I think she might have been Victoria Knight. Before that I think she was Niki Plumer."

"Who was Niki Plumer?"

"A Nightshade operative. Figured in the case in which Zack and Raine were involved. She wound up in a psychiatric hospital. Supposedly she committed suicide but I've had my doubts."

"You think she became Victoria Knight."

"If I'm right, she's the para-hypnotist who showed up in Las Vegas in the Burning Lamp case a few weeks ago. My talent tells me she was the new CEO of Cascadia Dawn. But the first thing she did was sell the company and disappear again."

"Why sell it?"

"She probably realized that we were aware of the company. Also, she needs money. I think she sold a very profitable business, pocketed the cash and went somewhere else to fire up another circle. I've been waiting for her to pop up again. I believe she may have done just that."

"That fits. I told you that Sylvia mentioned that her new business associate was a woman who thought I should be neutralized."

"I realize it would have been very hard to poison you," Fallon said. "You would have detected the bad energy in the vicinity of the stuff. But I am very grateful to Walker. I owe him."

"We all do."

"We lost Knight's trail, but we know one thing for certain," Fallon continued. "Like everything else that has happened in the Nightshade case, the weapons procurement operation was centered here on the West Coast. For whatever reason, the organization, or what's left of it, appears to be based on this side of the country."

"Maybe because this is where Craigmore established it?"

"That could be it," Fallon said. "But I'm starting to wonder if perhaps it has something to do with the natural energy grids that run from Washington down through Oregon, California and Arizona. There aren't many nexus points as strong as the Cove, at least not that have been mapped, but there are a number of vortex sites like those in Sedona. Maybe there's one in Portland that hasn't been charted."

"You think Dr. Hulsey is trying to use the power of the grid to enhance the formula?"

"That's how it feels. If I'm right, it narrows the scope of the search somewhat."

"Lot of country between Washington and Arizona."

"True. But over the years several of the hot spots have been mapped. And there are talents who are good at sensing nexus and vortex points. We might be able to construct a map of the most likely locations for a Nightshade lab."

Isabella sipped some more whiskey and lowered the glass.

"Something happened today, when I put Tremont into the trance," she said. "I don't know how I did it, but I think that, just for a second, I tapped into the nexus energy in this area. I'm strong, but I've never felt anything like that before in my life. It was very strange."

"It wouldn't be the first time that a strong talent managed to pull some nexus energy. But it's a very high-risk pastime. It's like picking up a live electrical wire. The currents could short out your senses or even kill you. Promise me you won't make a habit of it."

A chill went through her at the memory. "You have my word on it," she said. "What's our next step?"

"If someone was running a research lab out of Cascadia Dawn, there has to be some trace of it left in the building. I'm going to send an agent inside to take a look around."

"Who?"

"The same one who helped clean up things in Seattle a while back. He's an illusion-talent. The guy's as cold as ice, but he gets the job done. I've learned not to ask for details afterward, though."

She glanced at him and smiled. In spite of the exhausting day, he looked energized. Sherlock Holmes with a bunch of new clues and leads to sort out.

"What do you think is going on inside Nightshade at this very moment?" she asked.

"My gut tells me that things have changed drastically at the top of the organization. The command structure fell apart after the founder died, and it has not yet had time to reconstitute itself. I'm not sure it can. I am finally beginning to perceive the outlines of the new version of the organization."

"I take it that you're not envisioning a kinder, gentler Nightshade?"

"No, I think that, for the time being, we're going to find ourselves dealing with a handful of mini-Nightshades, each one operating independently."

"Like a bunch of criminal gangs instead of one single mob?"

"Right." Fallon took his feet off the coffee table. He leaned forward, forearms braced on his thighs and cradled his glass in both hands. His eyes gleamed with a familiar intensity. "Which means that there is a high probability of outright warfare between some of the gangs. We're talking the usual corporate politics. There will be shifting alliances. There will be power grabs. Backstabbings. Betrayals."

"You look like a kid who just got a big stack of birthday presents."

His eyes heated with a little psi. She could almost hear the spark and snap of energy in the atmosphere.

"The infighting will work in our favor," he said. "It will give us lots of cracks and fissures to exploit."

"What about the formula? From what you've told me, whoever controls it, controls Nightshade."

"The formula was being produced in a number of different locations before Craigmore was killed. From what we can tell, each lab functioned independently, conducting its own research on the original version of the drug."

"All in an effort to deal with the side effects?"

"Yes. We took down five of the labs, but there are a few more out there that we haven't found. We have to assume that the research is continuing and that new variations on the drug are in the pipeline. Some versions are no doubt more effective than others. Each drug producer will fight to keep its formula secret while trying to steal other, more effective versions."

"So, in addition to the infighting, betrayals and backstabbings, we'll be seeing some corporate espionage among the remaining circles."

"We can work with that," Fallon said. "Where there is espionage work to be had, there are any number of job openings available for double agents, traitors, thieves and spies."

"And killers?"

"Yes," Fallon said. He looked satisfied. "I think the illusion-talent in Seattle will fit right in."