Illusion Town

by Jayne Castle

  Elias was quiet for a moment.

  “You mentioned that you saw Barnett’s reaction to Virgil in the sleep lab,” he said eventually. “Weren’t you asleep?”

  Her weirdness was the last thing she wanted to talk about, she decided.

  “I was dreaming,” she said. “For me, dreaming can be complicated. Turn left at the next corner. It will lead us to a shortcut through the DZ. It’s a much faster route to the highway. We’ve wasted enough time as it is. Your poor team must be wondering if they’re going to be locked inside those ruins indefinitely.”

  She held her breath but Elias did not ask any more questions about her dreaming experience.

  “We’ll get the crew out.” He turned into the narrow lane. “The DZ really is a maze. No wonder Runner and his crew found a niche market just waiting to be exploited.”

  “The only people who really know their way around are the locals who have lived here most of their lives. None of the cabdrivers from the other zones will take passengers into the DZ. You have to switch to a local cab on Ruin Street the way we did this morning.”

  She gave a few more directions. Some of her tension started to ease.

  “Sorry about the scene back there on the street in front of my place,” she said after a while.

  “What scene? I come from a mining family, remember? Dad believed in raising his kids in the business. The result is that I grew up in quartz and hot-crystal camps scattered throughout the Underworld. Where I come from you don’t get to call a scene a scene until someone pulls out a knife or starts throwing broken beer bottles.”

  Chapter 13

  For some reason she suddenly felt a lot better. “I’m not fragile but Grady was right about one thing—I do have a few eccentricities that other people often find troubling.”

  “Such as?”

  She clasped her hands in her lap. “I sleep alone for a reason,” she said quietly.

  “The dream-walking thing?”

  “When I dream-walk, my aura gets very hot. It has a disturbing effect on anyone who happens to be sleeping nearby. It interferes with the other person’s aura. My out-of-body experience can induce something similar in anyone who is in close proximity. But unlike me, most people aren’t accustomed to such intense lucid dreaming. They wake up in the middle of a nightmare. Sometimes they think they’ve just died and that they’ve become a ghost. The sensation doesn’t last long but while it does, people tend to panic.”

  “You did a little dream-walking this morning just before you woke up, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I felt the shift of energy in the atmosphere. Didn’t bother me.”

  She glanced at his ring, which had gone dark. “Probably because you’re a strong talent yourself. But also because you were awake.”

  “Or maybe because it just didn’t bother me. You said you went to Grady to get a para-psych profile for that genealogist you’re working with?”

  “Yes. I’m trying to trace my family tree.”

  “No luck at all?” Elias said.

  “I hit a dead end when I tried to research my ancestors on my own. Couldn’t get past my mom, who evidently had the talent. Couldn’t find out anything about her parents, either. There were no leads on my father’s side. So, over the years, I’ve hired several genealogists. None of them were helpful. Found Paxton Wilcox a couple of months ago. He’s working at the leading edge of the field because he’s using the latest para-genetics techniques.”

  “That’s how you wound up at Grady Barnett’s lab.”

  “Unfortunately. What can I say? Barnett was the least expensive para-psych expert I could find. He gave me a discount because he was very intrigued by my particular version of dreamlight talent.”

  “Get what you pay for, I guess,” Elias said.

  “Gee, thanks for that insight.”

  “The bottom line here is that you still don’t have a complete para-psych profile.”

  “No. I fired Grady and walked out of the lab before he could finish testing me.”

  “Interesting.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “You paid for a profile that you never received and the next thing you know you’re being chased by a bunch of guys on motorcycles.”

  She was stunned by the implication. “You think what happened last night might be linked to Grady?”

  “Damned if I know. Any chance those psi-prints inside your shop are his?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m absolutely certain.”

  “I guess that would have been too easy.”

  “Yeah. Grady is obsessed but it’s with his research work. He wants to make his mark in the field of para-psych profiling. His goal is to publish very important, groundbreaking studies and get invited onto rez-screen talk shows. Turn right up there at the next corner.”

  Elias checked the rearview mirror and then returned his attention to his driving.

  “We’ve got company,” he said.

  He rezzed the accelerator so quickly that Virgil was thrown backward off his perch. Hannah heard him chortling in the small rear compartment. A few seconds later he bounced up to resume his position. He waved the Arizona Snow doll, encouraging Elias to go faster.

  Hannah turned around in her seat and peered through the rear window. She caught a glimpse of two helmeted figures on motorcycles.

  “Turn left,” she said. “They’ll never find us in Bone Street.”

  Elias whipped the Cadence around a corner and shot down a narrow lane lined with empty, boarded-up warehouses.

  “Looks like someone else knows about Bone Street,” he said very softly.

  He braked to a stop so suddenly that Virgil was thrown forward onto Hannah’s lap. She clutched him and then caught her breath when she saw the two motorcycles that had pulled out onto Bone Street a block in front of their position.

  “So much for hiding out on Bone Street,” Elias said. “They know exactly where we are. We’ll take cover in that warehouse. That will level the playing field somewhat. Go.”

  He opened the driver’s-side door, got out, and circled around the rear of the car. By the time he reached the passenger side, Hannah was out of the vehicle. Virgil clung to her shoulder, all four eyes and a lot of teeth showing. He gripped Arizona Snow as if the action figure were a weapon.

  The old warehouse door was unlocked. Elias pushed it open and assisted Hannah through the doorway with a firm shove. He followed and swiftly turned to close the door.

  “These guys don’t seem to want to take no for an answer,” he said.

  Hannah watched through a crack in one of the boards that covered the windows. Four motorcycles halted in the lane. The big Raleigh-Stark engines continued to thunder.

  “Your car,” Hannah whispered.

  Elias watched the lane through the same crack in the wooden panel.

  “I keep telling you, my car can take care of itself,” he said. He aimed the silencer through the crack. “And us, as well.”

  Hannah heard someone shouting over the roar of the idling motorcycles.

  “They’re both gone.”

  “Shit. Boss isn’t gonna like it if we lose them again—”

  The rider never finished the sentence.

  Hannah felt energy heighten in the shadowy space. The ring on Elias’s hand sparked with energy. He rezzed the remote.

  The Cadence seemed to glow as if lit from within by paranormal energy. Hannah realized she was watching it with her other senses. An instant later she felt the whisper of a paranormal shock wave. She knew it had come from the car.

  High-tech crystal energy, she thought.

  Outside, someone shouted a warning but the yell was cut off abruptly. A sudden silence descended on the narrow lane. The motorcycles no longer thundered. The four attackers were sprawled in the street. They did not mov
e.

  Virgil immediately lost interest in the proceedings. He was once again fully fluffed. He waved Arizona Snow in triumph.

  Hannah watched the very still men in the street. “Are they—?”

  “Alive.” Elias glanced at the device in his hand. “I think. Still working out a few bugs in the crystal-ware. I didn’t want to risk using it with us inside the car, not at that power level. Too much chance of blowback. Might have taken us out, as well.”

  She swallowed hard. “I see. Wow. Okay. Who needs a bodyguard when you’ve got an engineer handy?”

  Elias startled her with a crack of laughter. She realized he was riding a post-burn high.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said. “Fast. If the intention was to kidnap one or both of us, there will be a pickup crew following close behind. They may have more serious weaponry.”

  He got the warehouse door open again and moved outside. Hannah followed him.

  The scene in the street looked like the aftermath of a bad multivehicle crash. All four motorcyclists were on the ground, unconscious. Two of the big bikes had toppled over.

  Elias set about a quick search of the closest motorcycle rider. He confiscated some tech and a mag-rez pistol. Then he examined the back of the man’s leather vest. Hannah could see elaborate lettering done in acid green script.

  “What does it say?” she asked.

  “Soldiers of Fortune,” Elias said. “Looks like that’s the name of the gang. But it could be a cover.”

  He checked the rider’s heavily tattooed arm. Not satisfied, he peeled back the leather vest and looked at both bare shoulders.

  He moved to another rider and repeated the process.

  “What are you looking for?” Hannah asked.

  “A tattoo that looks like a small tornado. That would indicate these guys are connected to an outfit called Vortex. It caused us some trouble at the Rainshadow jobsite a while back. These bikers have had a lot of ink work done, but I don’t see a tornado.”

  “Is that good news or bad news?”

  “Not sure yet, but this is starting to have the feel of a pirate operation. This bunch has all the hallmarks of hired muscle—contract workers. The Vortex people we encountered were full-time staff, so to speak. Professionals. And their gear was a lot more sophisticated, more upmarket.”

  Hannah shuddered. “Looks like your first hunch was correct. This is probably a case of corporate espionage. Someone paid this bunch to grab me so that I couldn’t open the dreamlight gate at the Coppersmith jobsite.”

  “That’s how it looks.” Elias took out his phone and snapped off several photos of the scene and the faces of the bikers. “With luck there will be something here that will give Security a few leads.”

  Hannah got into the Cadence with Virgil. Elias dragged one of the unconscious men out of the way and got behind the wheel.

  “What’s the fastest route out of here?” he asked.

  “Depends. Are we going to go to the police or the portal jobsite?”

  “The portal jobsite. We can’t risk losing any more time. Also, if this is about keeping us from rescuing the team, the quickest way to end it is to get the job done.”

  “In that case, hang a right into that alley.”

  Elias rezzed the finely tuned engine and deftly guided the Cadence down a convoluted alley.

  “I’ll contact Coppersmith Security,” he said. “They can coordinate with the Illusion Town police. I just hope we’ll get cooperation from the locals.”

  “You will,” she said. “Like Aunt Clara said, the members of the Illusion Club won’t take kindly to an out-of-town gang thinking it can ride roughshod through the streets of our fair city.”

  “Good to know you’ve got the kind of city government that believes in keeping the streets safe.”

  Chapter 14

  The dreamlight gate wasn’t a roaring blaze of hot psi. It was a cold, senses-distorting, mind-numbing wall of paranormal nightmares. The barrier blocked the entire mouth of the great cavern.

  “Alien dreamlight,” Hannah said quietly. “Oddly enough, it’s a lot like human dreamlight. Weird to think that we have that in common with the ancients, isn’t it?”

  Elias looked at her. She was thrilled with the challenge of de-rezzing the dreamlight gate, he realized. There was a little heat in her eyes. Virgil appeared to be sharing her excitement. He was hunkered down on her shoulder like a furry gargoyle, his Arizona Snow figure clutched in one possessive paw.

  “The ruins and the portal to the Ghost City are on the other side of that gate,” Elias said. “We haven’t been able to find another way in.”

  They had made good time on the highway to the ruin site in the desert that was now serving as the aboveground headquarters of the Ghost City project. The descent into the catacombs had gone fairly smoothly, but once past the Rainforest gate, they had been faced with the two-hour trek through the paranormal-infused jungle to reach the portal cave.

  By the time they had arrived at the camp, an ominous twilight was descending on the eerie, underground jungle. Once full night fell, travel would be nearly impossible. There were too many risks. It wasn’t the wildlife that you had to worry about, Elias thought. Most of the problems were paranormal in nature—storms and rivers of energy that grew stronger and far more dangerous after dark.

  The rule in the Rainforest was that if you got caught out in the open at night, you stayed put until dawn. Like it or not, he and Hannah would be spending the night at the portal jobsite.

  The team’s tents and equipment had been set up in the large clearing at the entrance to the vast cave system that housed the portal. The members of the Coppersmith team who had not been trapped inside the cave were watching from a safe distance.

  Initially everyone had appeared greatly relieved when Elias and Hannah had arrived. But the team’s anxiety and outright skepticism was now a palpable force. A lot of people didn’t think the gate could be de-rezzed.

  “You know,” Hannah said, “it looks like the Aliens were trying to send a message with this security gate. Clearly, they didn’t want just anyone entering that cave.”

  “We assume the intention was to keep their people out of the Ghost City,” Elias said. “They couldn’t have known humans would show up a few thousand years later.”

  She smiled. “And they couldn’t have known that finding ways to go through forbidden gates is pretty much a working definition of human.”

  “It’s certainly the working definition of hot-rock mining,” Elias said.

  He watched Hannah examine the gate. She was intrigued but not particularly nervous. She could not take her eyes off the shimmering wall of energy. Her talent might be rare but it was the powerful and strong talents who were always compelled and fascinated by any and all forms of paranormal power.

  Not unlike how he was compelled and fascinated by Hannah. His gut tightened. She looked sleek and a little dangerous in her black jeans, black pullover, black vest, and black boots. Her hair was caught up in a neat, tight bun.

  She seemed unaware of the vibe between them. Either that or she was just very good at concealing her feelings. An orphan stuck with a high-end talent that made intimacy difficult and rendered long-term relationships problematic probably got a lot of practice hiding her emotions.

  Hank Richman, the director of Security at the portal, came up to stand next to Elias.

  “That damned gate slammed shut without warning,” he said. “Hell, we didn’t even realize there was a psi-gate at the entrance. We used a couple of talents to check for one but they didn’t pick up anything. Nothing pinged on the para-rad detectors but that’s not surprising. Down here in the Underworld we’re stuck using only the most basic tech. None of the advanced stuff works in the heavy paranormal atmosphere.”

  “I know,” Hannah said. “If it makes you feel any better, I don�
�t think your high-tech sensors would have picked up this gate even if it had been located aboveground. It’s very serious dreamlight from the deep end of the spectrum. Only another strong dreamlight talent would have detected the vibes.”

  Hank nodded. “I’ve got nine people on the other side of that gate. None of them are inclined to panic. They wouldn’t be on an advance team if they were. But that cave has got a lot of weird energy going on inside.”

  “Don’t worry,” Hannah said. “I’ll get them out. This is dreamlight—my kind of dreamlight. I can disrupt the currents. That should open the gate. But things are going to get hot for a while. Tell your people to stand farther back. There might be a riptide effect. I don’t want anyone caught in it.”

  Hank motioned to the small group of uneasy spectators.

  “Give the lady some space,” he said. “She says there might be a riptide effect.”

  No one argued. Everyone understood the dangers of a rip. The crew fell back several paces into the surrounding jungle. It dawned on Elias that the Rainforest had gone unnaturally quiet. No birds called in the heavy canopy overhead. There was no rustling in the undergrowth. Evidently the local fauna had opted to find safer sectors.

  Hannah looked at him. “Aren’t you going to move back, too?”

  “I thought we made a pretty good team last night.” He walked to stand beside her. “I might be able to give you a little extra juice if you need it.”

  She looked hesitant and then she held out her hand. “Hang on tight. We’re about to take a walk on the wild side. If things get too rough I can give you some protection with my aura.”

  He gripped her hand very tightly.

  He knew the instant Hannah went into her own talent. It hit him in a rush of sensation, stirring all his senses. He heard Virgil growl. The dust bunny was sleeked out, all four eyes focused on the gate.

  For a couple of beats nothing seemed to be happening. And then he felt Hannah acquire a focus on some of the hot quicksilver currents in the gate. He knew she was concentrating on certain core wavelengths, looking for a way to disrupt them. It was standard operating procedure for dealing with Alien energy.