that you want to make an appointment. Use the senator’s wife’s name, if necessary.”
“If Hollings is watching the monitor, he’ll recognize me.”
“Odds are a guy running an upscale operation will have a receptionist working for him. Even if he does see you, he’s going to be damn curious to know why you’re here.”
“What about you?”
Davis shrugged. “Now you see me…”
“Now you don’t?” She didn’t look reassured. She looked worried.
“It will only take a few seconds to get through the door. I told you, I don’t get into trouble unless I go invisible for several minutes.”
She wasn’t entirely satisfied, but she picked up the phone. She listened for a moment and then responded, smooth and glib.
“I’d like to make an appointment for a consultation…How did I hear about Dr. Kennington? A close friend told me about him. She said he had done wonders for her. Her name? Jennifer. Jennifer Padbury. Yes, the senator’s wife.” There was another pause. “Thank you.”
There was a sharp snick. The door was unlocked. Celinda pushed it open and moved into a dimly lit lobby. Davis pulsed his own psi power through the amber in his watch, resonating with the dissonance-energy waves at the silver end of the spectrum.
Celinda had been right, he wasn’t fully recovered from the long period of invisibility in the old ruins, but he had sufficient juice to manipulate silver ghost light long enough to slip past the camera and through the door into the lobby.
He went invisible and followed her.
Chapter 35
DAVIS DISAPPEARED. SHE COULD FEEL HIS STRONGLY pulsing psi energy and knew that he was right beside her, but all she could see was a faint shimmer in the air. It was disconcerting, but it wasn’t terrifying. As long as her other senses assured her that he was nearby, she could handle the invisibility thing. If I were blind, I wouldn’t even know that he had vanished.
She closed the lobby door. Davis materialized beside her. She could see signs of strain at the corners of his eyes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked in a low voice.
“I’m fine. Stop worrying.” The hungry anticipation of the hunter laced the words.
She surveyed the small lobby. It was richly paneled and thickly carpeted. A long, low wooden table that looked like a genuine Colonial antique stood against one wall. On top of the table was an alien antiquity, a green quartz vase that contained a bouquet of elegant emerald roses.
There were two doors; one was unmarked. The other bore a small sign inviting clients to enter.
“That will be the receptionist’s office,” Davis said very quietly. “Go on inside and keep her busy for a few minutes.”
“What are you going to do?”
He looked at the second door. “That’s probably the private door to Hollings’s office.” He took the highly illegal lockpick out of his pocket. “I’m going to have a look around.”
“What if he’s in there?”
“So much the better.”
She wanted to tell him to be careful, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t listening. Davis was on the prowl.
She opened the door of the receptionist’s office and walked inside. An extremely polished, professional- looking woman sat at the desk. She was dressed in a conservative business suit. The sign on top of her desk said that her name was Miss Allonby
“Please sit down.” Miss Allonby’s tone was as crisply refined as her appearance. “I don’t believe I caught your name?”
“Susan Baker.” Celinda took a seat. “As I told you a moment ago, I was referred by Senator Padbury’s wife.”
“Yes, of course. You do understand that Dr. Kennington is extremely busy. He rarely takes new clients these days.”
“I’m hoping he’ll make an exception for me.”
Miss Allonby rezzed the computer on her desk and turned toward the screen. “I’m afraid the first available appointment isn’t until the end of next month.”
“That will be fine,” Celinda said.
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.
