by Jayne Castle
Using Fuzz as a directional indicator, Emmett had worked his way deeper into the Greenie compound, bypassing two more guard stations. But as they had worked their way through the sector it had become increasingly difficult to find corridors that were not teeming with guys in green robes. Camouflage had become a necessity.
Emmett had been obliged to let the first three prospects for a robe donation go by because they had all been too short.
When the fourth Greenie, a young man of twenty or twenty-one, had entered a chamber that had been converted into a laundry room, Emmett had decided the length of the robe was about right.
He had stepped out from behind the huge stack of folded towels and summoned a small ghost. The terrified Greenie had given up his robe without protest.
Emmett had left the robe donor securely bound and gagged in a closet, tucked away behind a large, industrial-size washing machine.
The corridor outside the laundry room was empty. Emmett paused at the first intersection and allowed Fuzz to poke his nose out through the opening in the robes.
"Well, buddy?"
Fuzz swiveled his head to the right and leaned heavily in that direction.
"Got it."
Lydia saw the newcomer arrive in the hallway outside her cell and immediately stopped her restless pacing. The man wore a green robe like the others. He had the cowl pulled up over his head and his back was to her as he went toward the three acolytes who were guarding her.
She felt a tingle of awareness. All of her senses had been functioning at high-rez for hours now and were no doubt over-sensitized. Nevertheless, there was something about the way this green-robed figure moved that was very familiar.
"Open the door," Emmett said in a cool, calm voice that rang with authority. "I've been ordered to move her to a different location."
Martin and Frances looked baffled. The third young guard frowned.
"Gee, I don't know," she said. "Maybe we better check with someone."
"Yeah." Martin started to get to his feet. "I'll get hold of the sector chief and just make sure—"
Ghost light flared violently in the passage. The three young people leaped to their feet and flattened themselves against the wall. They stared in shock at the wildly pulsing UDEM.
"Shit," Martin yelled.
Frances opened her mouth to scream.
"Nobody moves," Emmett said quietly. "And nobody gets singed. Give me the key to the cell."
Fuzz appeared from under Emmett's robes. He tumbled excitedly across the floor and slipped through the bars of Lydia's cell.
She scooped him up and kissed the top of his tatty little head. "About time you guys got here. What took you so long?"
Martin fumbled briefly under his robes and produced a rez-key. Emmett manipulated the ghost a little to one side and held up his hand.
"Toss it to me," he ordered.
Martin obeyed.
"You," Emmett said, looking at Frances. "Take off the robes."
Shaking visibly, Frances unfastened the garment, revealing the jeans and T-shirt she wore underneath. She wadded up the robe and hurled it at Emmett.
"You'll never make it out of here without getting caught," she snapped, voice quivering.
Emmett nodded. "You might want to keep in mind that this type of ghost is agitated by loud noises. One good scream, for example, will probably cause it to go wild."
Leaving the UDEM to keep the three pinned to the wall, he unlocked the cell door.
Clutching Fuzz, Lydia rushed out.
"Put this on." Emmett tossed the robe to her.
She swung the green gown around her shoulders and pulled up the hood.
"Let's go." Emmett turned and went swiftly away down the corridor. "The ghost will hold them until someone comes along to de-rez it."
She hurried after him, Fuzz tucked in one arm under the robe.
There was a small utility truck around the next bend.
"Right where I left it," Emmett said, leaping into the open cab and rezzing the engine. "Things are looking up."
Lydia scrambled up beside him. Fuzz poked his nose out from under the robes.
"Is that true what you told those three?" she asked. "About the ghost getting agitated by loud noises?"
"No, but with luck, they'll believe it long enough to give us a head start."
"How did you get hold of a truck?"
"I stole it off a bunch of Greenies who were having lunch."
"Nice going," she said.
Emmett checked the gages and dials on the dash and whipped the vehicle around a corner. "Fuzz got me in here but now we can use the locator to head for the nearest exit."
They passed another truck driven by a man in a green robe. The driver started to lift a hand in greeting and then did a double take and frowned.
"This place is crawling with security," Lydia warned.
"I got that impression." Emmett glanced at the locator and made another turn. "What the hell is going on down here?"
"The archaeological discovery of the century. Maybe of two centuries. The leader calls himself Master Herbert."
"That would be Herbert Slattery, Greenie boss, right?"
"Actually, I think he's really Troy Burgis."
"Yeah?"
"Listen to this. He claims he found an old map that was drawn by Vincent Lee Vance. He thinks it shows the location of Vance's second headquarters. He says that what Vance actually found was the tomb of this Amatheon character. Problem is, there's a huge wall of illusion shadow at the entrance."
"He really believes his own spiel about Amatheon?"
"I got that impression, but I have to tell you the guy is a good actor. I honestly can't say if he was putting me on or not. But he definitely wants to get into the chamber that Vance marked on the map."
"Did they grab you because Herb or Burgis or whatever his name is thinks you can de-rez the big trap?"
"It's a long story." Lydia clamped a hand around the side of the cab to hang on as Emmett sent the truck humming down another corridor. "But the punch line is that I did it once before during my Lost Weekend. That's why they wanted to get me back. Apparently I'm the only tangler who has been able to get into the chamber."
"And you've got amnesia about that whole forty-eight hour period," he concluded softly.
She smiled humorlessly. "Talk about your ironic twist, huh? I saw what no human has seen since the days of Vincent Lee Vance and I have no recollection of it. Just think, if things had gone a little differently seven months ago I'd probably be heading up the entire Department of Para-archaeology at the university today instead of working at Shrimp's."
"I take it you didn't offer to untangle this monster for Herb?"
"Nah. He promised me the sun, moon, and stars if I'd get him into that chamber but I told him I couldn't remember how I'd done it the first time. Then I explained that the knockout drug they used on me had given me a headache. I said I needed some rest before I made an attempt."
"That's why you were in the cell when I came looking? You were supposed to be resting up for the big event?"
"Actually, I was trying to buy some time. I had a hunch you would probably show up sooner or later."
He turned another corner and braked to a sharp halt. "Damn. Looks like the word is out that you're gone."
Lydia sucked in her breath at the sight of the big double ghost that blocked their path. Through the chaotic, pulsing green glare of psi energy, she saw two figures moving on the other side of the UDEM. Hunters, she thought, working in tandem to increase their power.
As she watched a third man appeared, adding his energy to the flaring, whirling firestorm.
"Forget that." Emmett threw the truck into reverse, braced one hand on the back of the seat, and turned slightly in the seat to check the corridor behind the vehicle. He stomped hard on the accelerator. "The first two are simple rez-patterns. I could handle them without any trouble. But the third guy is good. I'd have to burn amber to get rid of his ghost plus the othe
r two and we can't risk that yet."
She understood. Once Emmett used the kind of power that would melt amber the countdown would begin to the inevitable aftereffects. A bad case of lust would be the least of his problems. She knew that he could control that. But there was nothing he could do to hold off the desperate need for sleep that would soon overtake him. He could not afford such a severe expenditure of psi energy until they were in a location where it would be safe for him to crash.
At the next intersection, Emmett glanced at the locator, spun the wheel, and turned sharply to the right.
Alarmed shouts rang in the corridor. Greenies appeared. Two small ghosts flared. Emmett de-rezzed them, but instead of forcing the truck past the gathering crowd, he checked the gauges and made a left turn that took them down still another corridor.
They didn't get far. A fresh team was waiting in the next passage. Emmett slammed to a halt, reversed course again, and turned to the right.
This glowing corridor was empty but psi power surged in waves down the hall, flowing around them like the currents of an invisible river.
"Bad news," Lydia whispered. "This looks familiar."
"Yeah?"
"Herb brought me here." She turned her head, searching for reference points. "This is the corridor that leads to the chamber where that wall of illusion shadow is located. Once we're in there, we'll be trapped in more ways than one."
Emmett checked the rearview mirror. "Guess that explains a few things."
"Such as?"
"Why they left three kids to guard you instead of a couple of trained hunters. Hell, they're not trying to catch us. They're herding us in the direction they want you to go. Doubt if they were expecting me. I'm probably a complication they could have done without, but they wanted you to make an escape attempt."
She frowned. "Why would they do that?"
"So that they could block all the routes out of here except one," Emmett said.
Another memory shimmered and coalesced with startling clarity in her mind. "Just like last time."
"What?"
"Little creep."
"Who?"
"Herb." Fresh outrage flashed through her as more memories of her Lost Weekend came together. "I knew he was lying, I just wasn't sure which of the details he gave me were true and which were false. But now I recall that I didn't arrive in this sector by crashing through from Amatheon's tomb. I escaped that way."
"What the hell?"
"It's all coming back to me now. Never mind, I'll explain later. Keep going."
Someone yelled behind them.
Emmett checked the rearview mirror again. "Maybe it's time I gave those guys something else to think about."
He reached inside his robe and withdrew a dark, lethal-looking object.
She stared at the weapon in his hand. "That's a mag-rez gun. Where did you get it?"
"Supply cabinet."
"Oh, yeah? And just what supply cabinet contains illegal weapons like that?"
"The one Wyatt keeps in his office. Also known as his private wall safe."
"Guild bosses," she muttered. "What can you do with 'em?"
Emmett checked his mirror again. She saw his hand tighten on the gun. A new jolt of alarm went through her.
"Emmett, you can't use that thing in here. You know how dangerous it is to use any kind of firearms inside the catacombs. The bullets ricochet all over the place. What's more, the psi energy you use to rez the trigger is unpredictable inside the walls. It could easily summon a lot of wild ghost energy."
"All of which will cause some major distractions," he said coldly. "Which may be just what we need."
She heard a small rumble of protest and looked down to see that Fuzz was wriggling gently in her hands, trying to free himself. She realized that she was holding him very snugly. "Sorry, Fuzz. Guess I'm a little tense." She relaxed her grip.
Fuzz scrambled off her lap and perched on her shoulder. He was all sleeked out now, four eyes guttering with the ice and fire of a born predator. The same chilling heat burned in Emmett's eyes, she noticed.
By the time you see the teeth, it's too late.
She drew a deep breath. "Don't worry, we're going out of here the same way I did the last time. I'll untangle the trap that guards Vance's secret chamber."
"I thought you told Herb you couldn't remember how to de-rez that wall of shadow."
"He lied to me so I lied to him."
Chapter 29
Emmett drove through the doorway of the antechamber and braked hard. With a few deft movements, he succeeded in parking the big vehicle so that it blocked the entrance.
Ghost light flared wildly in the entrance they had just driven through. The pulsing energy was so close that Lydia flinched. Emmett had summoned a large UDEM.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Setting up a roadblock. It won't hold them for long but it will buy us some time." He motioned her to get out of the cab. "End of the line, let's get moving."
Lydia scrambled out of the vehicle, Fuzz on her shoulder. Emmett followed swiftly.
She heard shouts and yells in the long hall behind them. The ghost Emmett had set effectively blocked the entrance. It would take time and skill to de-rez it.
They ran toward the great, crashing waves of psi energy that spilled and roiled along the far wall. Lydia thought she was prepared for the monster trap this time but the sight of that endlessly shifting darkness nevertheless made her mouth go dry.
Emmett surveyed the scene and whistled softly. "Okay, I'm impressed."
Fuzz growled softly.
"Herb said there was no record of any other trap like it in the official excavation records and on that point, I'm inclined to believe him," Lydia said. "It would have been worth an entire graduate seminar course in P-A school."
Emmett reached out to pluck Fuzz from her shoulder. "I'll take care of my buddy here while you do what you have to do." He glanced toward the entrance. "But whatever it is, please do it fast."
"Don't worry, now that we're in here, the Greenies will keep their distance until I do something with this thing." She moved slowly toward the cascading night.
"Guess the thought of being caught in this monster's backlash is what you might call a major deterrent."
"Yes." She shivered and turned quickly toward him. "Emmett, if I'm wrong about this, if I can't untangle it again, I honestly don't think anyone standing this close will survive. It would be best if you moved into one of those alcoves along a side wall. The quartz will block some of the energy."
"Forget it; Fuzz and I know you can handle this. But it would be nice if you hurried things up a bit."
"Right."
She turned back to face the trap and concentrated on the silent waterfall of dark energy in front of her. She probed gently, feeling for the patterns within the patterns of pulsing, seething psi-power. There was no way a single tangler working alone could possibly summon enough energy to de-rez the entire trap at once. Herb had told her that the Greenies had attempted to use two tanglers in tandem in one desperate experiment but the results had been disastrous. The effort had provoked dangerous, unpredictable changes in the complex rez patterns.
The answer was obvious, once you saw it, she thought. If you could not tear down a wall or go around it, you had to tunnel through it.
She was vaguely aware that the shouts and cries at the entrance of the chamber had ceased. A great hush had fallen. She sensed the intensity of the observers. No doubt Master Herb was there somewhere among the watchers.
"A couple of them have guns," Emmett said quietly. "I think the idea is to wait until you de-rez this thing, then they'll take down my ghost and try to kill us both before you can reset the big trap."
"Sounds like a plan." If the Greenies managed to murder them both before she could reset the giant snare, they would achieve their goal of getting into the secret chamber.
"Lydia, listen to me, once the trap comes down, take Fuzz and run, as fast as you can. Don't s
top, no matter what happens, understand?"
She knew then that he intended to use the mag-rez gun to buy her some time. Once the bullets started ricocheting off the walls of the antechamber and wild, chaotic ghost energy started flying around, a lot of people, including Emmett, were going to get hurt, burned, or killed.
"The trap's not coming down, Emmett. Get ready to follow me."
He flashed her a quick, questioning look but he said nothing.
She chose the section of the energy wall that was directly in front of her and then set about coring through the dark rush of power.
She caught the pulse of the resonating energy pattern in one small spot and gently dampened it. Not the simplest work she had ever done, she thought, but in an odd sort of way, it wasn't the most complicated, either. The trick was to not think about the great mass of nightmarish energy that could be so easily triggered with one misstep.
A section of night opened, slowly at first and then widening more quickly. She caught a glimpse of familiar green light coming from the mysterious chamber on the other side of the barrier.
She worked carefully until she had a tunnel wide enough to accommodate the three of them. Then she cleared the section of flooring so that they could walk through the churning passage.
"Let's go," she said.
Emmett, who had been watching the crowd at the entrance, turned. "It's still there—" he started to say and then broke off, grinning with appreciation, when he saw the opening. "Well, damn, lady, that is one really good trick. I never knew an illusion trap could be handled that way."
"There's never been any reason to try such a technique until this monster came along. Ready?"
"Go," Emmett ordered.
She moved into the tunnel and was immediately enveloped in a strange, rushing silence. Dark energy crashed and rolled overhead and on every side except for the strip she had cleared along the floor. It was as if she were caught inside the hollow curl of a tremendous ocean wave. A great sense of exhilaration swept through her, making her almost giddy.
She glanced back and saw that Emmett had followed her into the passage. He was moving quickly but she could not hear his boots ring on the floor. His mouth opened and she knew that he was speaking to her but even though she was only a yard from him she could not hear a word. When he realized that the psi energy was cloaking all sound, he grimaced, shook his head, and closed his mouth.
