Illusion Town

by Jayne Castle

  “Take a look.”

  Hannah cautiously rezzed her senses and focused on the interior of the tent. Hot, disturbed energy swirled on everything that the occupant had touched—the floor, the bed, the pack in the corner.

  She got a fix and looked down at the glowing prints on the bare ground outside the tent.

  “Richman was really jacked,” she said. “I think I can follow his trail, at least through the camp.”

  “All right.” Elias started to let the flap fall back over the entrance but he paused to give the interior another survey. “I don’t see the flamer or his jungle knife. He took both with him.”

  “It’s hard to determine specific emotions in psi-prints,” Hannah said. “But I’m pretty sure that Richman was scared and excited.”

  “Richman is a hunter-talent. Maybe he was able to sense the disturbance of the trance energy, just as we did, and used his talent to resist it. Probably got up to see what was wrong.”

  “Maybe.”

  She concentrated on Richman’s prints. It wasn’t easy because there were a lot of hot tracks on the ground. In the last twenty-four hours, Richman and several other members of the team had spent a great deal of time anxiously milling around the clearing, waiting for the rescue of their trapped colleagues. In the process they had laid down a lot of tracks.

  But tonight Richman’s fresh prints burned with something very close to panic.

  She was so intent on reading the dreamlight that she did not notice where she was until Elias caught her gently by the arm.

  “That’s far enough,” he said. “Take a look.”

  She caught her breath when she saw that they were standing in front of the de-rezzed dreamlight gate. Richman had gone through it and into the cave.

  “He’s in there,” she said. “And there’s no sign that he came back out.”

  Elias studied the glowing entrance of the cavern. “You’re sure he’s still inside?”

  “Positive. Why would he go in there?”

  “Good question.”

  “He may be in trouble,” Hannah said. She glanced at Elias. In the paranormal radiance of the cave energy his profile looked hard and grim. “You want to go inside and look for him, don’t you?”

  “Yes. But I don’t want to leave you alone, not until we figure out what happened out here.”

  She suppressed the flicker of dread that iced her insides. She hated doing missing-persons work. In her experience things never ended well. Either the missing person in question did not want to be found or the person commissioning the search did not like what awaited at the conclusion of the search.

  But Elias needed her help. And like it or not, she was good at this kind of search.

  “I’ll go with you,” she said. “You’re going to need my help finding him once you’re inside.”

  Elias hesitated. “Any indication that he followed someone else into the cave?”

  She stopped focusing on Richman’s prints and studied the layers of dreamlight tracks at the entrance of the cavern.

  “I don’t think so. There were nine people trapped in here for several hours and they were all very anxious, so there are a lot of hot prints scattered around. But the only fresh tracks I can make out heading directly into the cavern are Richman’s.”

  Elias gave the silent camp one last considering look. Then he turned back.

  “All right,” he said. “But stick close. There’s a lot we don’t know about the energy inside this cave or the Ghost City on the other side of the portal.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t plan to wander off on my own and get lost.”

  They walked through the open gate, following the path of psi-prints. Virgil was still sleeked out and uncharacteristically quiet.

  Once inside the vast cavern, the paranormal illumination seemed much more intense. The rocky walls glowed with a pale, grayish light. The floor seethed with energy, too, making it harder, but not impossible, to follow Richman’s prints.

  “He walked through the cavern,” she said. “Straight to that tunnel on the right.”

  “That leads to the portal ruins,” Elias said. “What the hell is he doing here tonight?”

  They walked deeper into the cavern, following the hot prints through a glowing tunnel. It seemed to Hannah that there was something ominous about the energy inside the cavern. It stirred her senses, but not in a good way. Unlike the Rainforest and the green-quartz catacombs, it didn’t give her a pleasant buzz. It was as if, with each step they took, they were being warned off.

  Automatically she reached up to touch Virgil. He muttered in her ear. It was clear he was still on high alert. Like Elias, she thought.

  “What is this place?” she asked softly.

  “At this point, all we know for certain is that it serves as an entrance to the Ghost City,” Elias said. “My brother discovered another portal a while back but it is red-hot because of a major psi-firestorm in the ruins. Rafe can get through it and a handful of very strong talents can navigate the storm. But there was no way we could take a working crew inside.”

  “How did you find this entrance?”

  “Rafe got me through the storm to the first portal. I was able to gather a fair amount of data. Armed with that information, the lab techs and I were able to come up with a way of detecting the unique energy of a portal. After that, we did things the old-fashioned way: we went prospecting.”

  “And you discovered this portal.”

  “Rafe happens to have a talent for prospecting,” Elias said.

  “But now he’s a private investigator?”

  “Turns out he’d rather hunt bad guys and find answers for people who need answers.”

  She smiled. “I get that. But you like the engineering side of the mining business.”

  “Like they say, it’s in the blood. But finding another portal was just the beginning. After that we had to go back to the drawing board to come up with a way to navigate the energy inside the Ghost City. Amber doesn’t work well in there.”

  “You discovered something that does work?”

  “Yes. There’s a certain kind of quartz that can be tuned to the energy in the city. But the quartz is rare. At the moment we’ve only got five prototype keys. The core mission of this current exploration team is to test those key stones and calibrate the frequencies.”

  “Got any theories about the Ghost City?”

  “None that hold water. Some of the experts on the team have suggested that it was an Alien burial ground.”

  Hannah shivered. “I can see how they might have come to that conclusion.”

  “If you think it’s weird here in the cavern, you should see what’s on the other side of the portal.”

  “Do you think it’s possible that you’re going to be conducting mining operations in a big Alien graveyard?”

  Elias hesitated. “Who knows? We haven’t had a chance to go very far into the city. Like I said, we’re still in the testing and calibration stages with the prototype keys.”

  “And now your director of Security has decided to go to the portal alone.”

  “That raises a hell of a lot of questions,” Elias said. “You know, it occurs to me that whatever put the rest of the team into a deep sleep might have had a different effect on Richman.”

  “What do you mean?” Hannah asked.

  “Think he might be sleepwalking or in some kind of hypnotic trance?”

  She studied the burning prints on the tunnel floor. “I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think that’s the case. There’s a lot of stress and tension in his prints. People who are in the grip of a trance don’t usually generate this kind of energy. Neither do sleepwalkers. They appear unnaturally calm. I think Richman is wide awake and he’s in a hurry.”

  “There’s the entrance to the portal chamber,” Elias said.

 
Hannah looked at the glowing opening in the cavern wall. The energy radiating from the inner chamber was much more intense than the currents emitted by the cavern walls. Instead of a murky gray light, the portal room glowed with a dazzling quicksilver energy. It was as if hundreds of small lightning bolts were snapping and crackling inside the chamber.

  Richman’s prints went through the opening.

  “He’s inside,” Hannah said. “No sign that he came out, at least not through this entrance.”

  “There is no other way out except through the portal,” Elias said. “He’d need one of the keys. He has no reason to go into the Ghost City, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be fool enough to try it without backup. Wait here.”

  When he started forward, Virgil rumbled.

  “Elias, stop,” Hannah said urgently.

  Elias paused and glanced back at Virgil. “Something you’re trying to tell me, pal?”

  Virgil muttered.

  “That’s not his warning growl,” Hannah said. “But I don’t think we’re going to like whatever is inside that chamber.”

  Elias readied the flamer and unsheathed his knife.

  “Richman,” he called. “This is Coppersmith. Can you hear me?”

  There was no response.

  Elias moved to the chamber doorway. He flattened his back against the wall and looked around the corner.

  “Damn,” he said. “He’s in there, all right. And he’s down.”

  He went swiftly through the doorway. Hannah followed him. The bright energy was disorienting. It was like walking into the middle of a lightning storm. The flashing sparks of energy made it almost impossible to focus with her normal vision. She had to rez a little talent to take in the scene.

  The first thing she saw was the circular, colonnaded ruin that dominated the center of the chamber. The columns were capped with a dome-shaped roof. Instead of the familiar green stone, the structure was made of a strange silvery quartz.

  A pool of dazzling energy shimmered in the floor of the ruin. A flight of steps led down into the pool and disappeared beneath the surface.

  The second thing she saw was Hank Richman’s body. It was crumpled on the floor of the ruin not far from the edge of the brilliant pool. A river of blood ran across the quartz floor and spilled over the edge.

  There was a knife on the floor near one of Richman’s hands. It was stained with blood.

  Elias crouched beside the body and felt for a pulse. He shook his head and got to his feet.

  “We’re too late,” he said.

  Hannah hugged herself and turned away from the sight of the body.

  “This is why I hate doing missing-persons work,” she whispered. “It always ends badly.”

  Elias did not seem to hear her. She realized he was busy sorting through facts and plausible scenarios.

  “There must have been another person in this chamber tonight,” he said. “That person murdered Richman. It’s the only possible explanation.”

  “But we didn’t pass anyone on the way in here,” Hannah pointed out. She looked around the sparking, flashing chamber. “Are you sure there’s no other exit?”

  “Positive. But that doesn’t change the facts on the ground. There must have been someone else in here. Hank hasn’t been dead very long. The blood is still fresh. See any recent prints besides his?”

  Hannah refocused her talent on the floor of the portal chamber. Hot psi-prints burned.

  “Yes,” she said. She took a breath. “The killer entered this chamber and left it the same way. He used the portal pool.”

  “Call me psychic but I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

  A whisper of familiar energy feathered Hannah’s senses. It wasn’t portal energy. It was another kind; energy that she recognized.

  She turned slowly, searching for the source. It wasn’t easy searching the chamber because the dazzling light made it difficult to focus. But she found what she was looking for behind one of the silver quartz columns.

  The relic was small, only a few inches across and shaped in a gentle curve. But the instant she touched it she knew that it had not been created for a human hand. It was made of a transparent crystal that was nearly invisible in the sparking, flashing room.

  “What did you find?” Elias asked.

  “It’s a relic,” she said. “Alien. I don’t know who murdered Hank Richman but I think I know what triggered the dreamlight gate. And I’m pretty sure why the entire camp went into a trance tonight.”

  Chapter 18

  Two of the five portal keys were missing from the equipment locker.

  The whispers began to circulate around the jobsite as soon as the initial shock of the murder wore off and people learned of the missing keys.

  The gossip gained strength, feeding on the incendiary fuel provided by fear and speculation. Elias knew that Hannah was aware of the low-voiced murmurs and the suspicious glances angled in her direction.

  “Your people think that I’m responsible for using that relic to put the camp into a trance last night,” she said quietly. “They figure I’m involved in the theft of the keys because I was the only stranger in their midst; the unknown quantity. They’re convinced I murdered Hank Richman.”

  He wanted to reassure her but there was no point lying. The rumors were spreading like wildfire.

  They were standing at the entrance of their tent, drinking coffee and pretending to ignore the veiled glances. Virgil was sticking close to Hannah, hovering protectively on her shoulder. Elias figured the dust bunny could sense the vibe in the atmosphere.

  The entire camp had been in the process of awakening from the trance by the time he and Hannah and Virgil emerged from the ruins with the relic and Hank Richman’s body.

  Aboveground, moving a body at a crime scene before a proper investigation had been conducted was a crime in itself. But the rules were different in the Underworld. Getting the body to a lab on the surface as quickly as possible was the primary goal. The natural paranormal forces belowground destroyed biological evidence very rapidly.

  A three-person team charged with the task of transporting Richman’s corpse to the surface had left an hour ago. They had taken the trance-inducing artifact with them. It was headed for the nearest Coppersmith vault.

  The theft of the two navigation keys had been discovered when Elias had ordered an inventory of the equipment vault. The log showed no record of the keys having been checked out.

  Hank Richman had been in charge of the log.

  Officially, Richman’s subordinate, Sylvia Thorpe, was now in charge of camp security and the murder investigation but everyone knew that when a Coppersmith was on site, he or she was ultimately the boss.

  “The hell with the gossip,” Elias said. “I’m your alibi.”

  But he knew that the vow—because that’s what it was, as far as he was concerned: a promise to protect her—wouldn’t be enough to reassure her. True, in the last forty-eight hours the two of them had faced danger together and shared the hottest sex he’d ever experienced, but the bottom line was that they had only met face-to-face a couple of days ago.

  Sure, they had been communicating online for a couple of months before their first encounter in Visions, but he doubted that Hannah considered what they had a real relationship. No smart, savvy woman would trust a man after such a short period of time, regardless of what they had been through.

  “No offense,” Hannah said, “but I don’t think the fact that we slept in the same tent is going to be enough to convince your people that I’m innocent. Some are speculating that I used the artifact to put you into a trance along with the others, lured Richman into the ruins, murdered him, and then returned to rouse you and pretend to help you discover the body.”

  “That’s not what happened.”

  She folded her arms very tightly and gave him a thin,
brittle smile. “See, here’s the thing everyone knows about a trance—the victim can’t recall what happened while he was in dreamland.”

  He drank some coffee while he searched for a logical rebuttal to the argument. He came up empty.

  “We need to find the killer,” he said.

  “Whoever it was escaped through the portal, remember?”

  Elias paused his mug halfway to his mouth. “Huh.”

  Hannah’s brows snapped together. “What?”

  “Hank found that trance weapon somewhere, most likely in the illegal Alien-tech market.”

  “I won’t be able to help you trace it to the original owner, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t deal in that market.”

  “I do,” he said.

  That caught her off-guard.

  “Really?” she asked, fascinated.

  “Illegal Alien tech, especially the weaponized version, is a major problem for businesses in the Underworld. Pirates are always trying to get their hands on anything that will increase their firepower. Same goes for that Vortex operation I mentioned. Alien tech is almost always based on quartz energy and I’m the company expert on hot rocks. So, yes, I keep tabs on the illegal market.”

  “I see. Okay, that makes sense.”

  “But I won’t be able to start an investigation until I get back to the surface.”

  He stopped talking because Sylvia Thorpe was coming toward them. She was in her thirties, a tall, athletically built woman with a preternatural talent for observing details and seeing patterns. If she had not joined the Coppersmith Security team, she would most likely have ended up on a big-city police force or become a Federal Bureau of Psi Investigation special agent. She gave Hannah a reserved, but polite nod and then turned to Elias.

  “My team finished searching the jobsite, sir,” she said. “No sign of the two missing keys.”

  “Well, it’s not like we expected to find them,” Elias said. “But we had to go through the formalities. Did you find anything else of interest?”