Silver Master

Chapter 36

THE LOCKPICK FOUND THE FREQUENCY. THERE WAS A soft click. Davis opened the door and walked into the room. A heavy dose of alien psi rezzed all his senses. He didn’t need to survey the room to know that there was a bolt-hole into the catacombs somewhere nearby.

The distinguished-looking man seated at a large desk near the window looked up, startled.

“You’ve got the wrong door,” he said, patrician features darkening in an irritated scowl.

“I don’t think so, Dr. Hollings.”

Recognition flashed across the face of the man who called himself Kennington. Alarm and something close to panic followed almost immediately. He leaped to his feet, staring at Davis as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Guild business. Among other things, I’ve come to collect the other ruby amber relic.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hollings had recovered some of his composure now. Very casually he started to reach toward the top drawer of the desk.

Davis took the mag-rez out of his pocket. “Hands in the air, Hollings.”

Hollings’s jaw clenched, but he raised his hands. Davis crossed the room, went behind the desk, and opened the drawer. A mag-rez gun gleamed dully inside. He scooped it out and ejected the cartridge.

“I assume this used to belong to Brinker?” he said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You should know better than to keep one of these things this close to a bolt-hole,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of alien psi floating around this room. No telling what might happen if you actually pulled the trigger.”

Fury leaped in Hollings’s face. “Listen, you son of a bitch, I don’t know what you think you’re doing—”

The door of the receptionist’s office opened directly behind Hollings. Davis saw a dark-haired woman in a severe suit. She stared, openmouthed, at the scene in the inner office. Celinda was directly behind her.

“What in the world is going on in here?” the receptionist gasped. “Doctor? Are you all right? Shall I call the police?”

Hollings did not reply. He launched himself at Davis, eyes wild. He seemed oblivious of the gun in Davis’s hand. Somehow you just don’t expect a sensible person to charge a man holding a mag-rez, Davis thought. But it only went to show how unpredictable things could get when the situation escalated into violence.

Miss Allonby screamed.

He didn’t dare fire the mag-rez. If he missed or if the alien psi warped the shot, he could easily hit one of the women.

He moved, trying to sidestep Hollings, but he came up hard against the desk chair, which spun away beneath his weight.

Hollings plowed into him. He was already off balance, thanks to the encounter with the chair. The force of the impact sent him sprawling.

Hollings did not seem interested in engaging in fancy hand-to-hand combat. He ran toward a door at the back of the room, yanked it open, and vanished into the unlit space behind it.

Davis rolled to his feet and went after him. The last thing he heard before he followed Hollings into the darkness was the receptionist. She was still screaming.