desperately on creating the most compelling, most intriguing, most enthralling prism Duncan had ever seen. Last night she had brought Nick back from the edge of chaos with such a promising prism. Perhaps this evening she could push Duncan over that edge.
Duncan leaped for the prism with a wild crushing swath of raw power.
Zinnia screamed as the focus link was forged. Claws of colorless darkness seized the prism, imprisoning her on the metaphysical plane.
'Do what you did to me the first night in the casino, Zinnia.' Nick's voice came out of the night.
She wanted to tell him that she was frozen. She could not move, let alone struggle. But she could not get the words out.
'Damn it, Zinnia, do what you did to me.'
Nick wanted her to twist the focus. She could not fight Duncan now that he controlled the link, but she might be able to shift the focus just enough to distract him, maybe even hurt him.
'Damn, but you're good, Zinnia.' Duncan sounded altogether thrilled with himself. Perhaps even a little drunk. 'This is exquisite. I can only imagine how good the sex would be under such circumstances. No wonder you seduced her, Chastain. When we have finished our business with the journal I shall have to give her a try, myself.'
'Don't hold your breath,' Zinnia managed to say aloud.
'Yeah,' Nick echoed very softly. 'Don't hold your breath, Luttrell.'
Duncan ignored them both and hurled power savagely through the prism. 'Incredible. Absolutely incredible. I'm going to enjoy this even more than I had anticipated. But now I'm afraid that I must get rid of Chastain. I have you so I no longer need him, do I?'
She knew that it was crunch time. Duncan was preparing to shoot Nick. She had to do something and she had to do it now.
She threw every ounce of psychic energy she possessed into twisting the power of the focus. For an instant she feared that nothing had happened. Then she saw a slight skewing in the energy pattern.
'What's this?' Duncan was enraged. 'What are you doing? Stop it.'
Zinnia twisted harder.
'No,' Duncan shouted.
Zinnia opened her eyes. Duncan was swinging around toward her, raising the gun. The madness mingled with the fury in his eyes. She found herself looking down the barrel of the pistol. She was pouring so much power into fracturing the prism that she did not have enough strength left over to scream.
Nick's voice cut through the gathering darkness. 'Kill her and you'll never find another prism that can handle your talent, Luttrell. You'll never decode the journal.'
Duncan's mouth opened and closed. Rage and frustration and the effects of his tortured power paralyzed him for a few seconds.
Zinnia saw a dark shadow move soundlessly across the clearing.
It was Nick. He only needed a couple of heartbeats of time.
Duncan shook his head as if to clear it. He started to turn back to the real threat, but it was too late.
Nick smashed into Duncan. The impact sent both men sprawling onto the green moss. The gun flew out of Duncan's hand and landed in the pond with a small splash.
Duncan lost control of his psychic talent as his instinct for physical survival took over. Raw power cascaded aimlessly across the metaphysical plane. Zinnia seized the opportunity to shut down the prism in the blink of an eye.
The thud of fists against flesh made her flinch. Duncan reared up above Nick. She saw a blade gleam in his hand.
'He's got a knife,' she shouted.
'Damn Chastain bastard.' Duncan drove the blade downward toward Nick's throat.
Nick blocked the thrust with his arm. Duncan shouted in mindless rage and raised the knife a second time.
Nick rolled to the side. Thrown off balance, Duncan staggered.
Nick was already on his feet. He drove a fist into Duncan's chest, sending the other man reeling back against the rocks that surrounded the dark pond. Nick closed in quickly. He landed another savage punch.
Duncan groaned and collapsed against the rocks. Nick loomed over him.
The hulking shrubs trembled. A thick green frond unfurled and stretched lovingly toward Nick's leg. Zinnia saw the hidden spines.
'Nick, get away from the pond.'
He leaped back just as the frond struck with the speed of a twin-snake. The spines sank deep into Duncan's leg.
Duncan screamed.
More fronds lashed out, securing Duncan with their spines. He stopped screaming quite suddenly. He jerked. His head fell back. A great shudder went through the huge plant. The fronds convulsed once, hurling Duncan into the pond.
He landed facedown next to DeForest's body, quivered once, and then went still. The plants seemed to sigh as they reached for the new feast with hungry green tentacles.
'Oh, my God,' Zinnia whispered.
Nick pulled her into his arms, turning her away from the sight of Duncan's body. 'Are you all right?'
'Yes.' She buried her face against his elegant black shirt. 'Yes, I'm okay. What about you?'
'I'm fine but this tux will never be the same. Come on, let's get out of here.'
Zinnia raised her head. 'How are we going to do that? We're at the heart of the maze. We'll have to wait until someone figures out where we are and how to get us out of here.'
Nick grinned as he released her to scoop up the package that contained his father's journal. 'Give me a break, lady. I'm a matrix. I could find my way out of this maze with both eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back.'
Chapter 24
'I hope you know what you're doing.' Zinnia eyed a little blood-creeper that lurked in the shadows.
'Have faith.' Nick moved confidently down a shadowy green corridor. 'And don't touch anything.'
'Believe me, I won't.' Zinnia hastened past a wispy green leaf that seemed to want to play with her hair. 'How did you figure out the secret of the maze?'
'I picked up the pattern when I entered.' Nick turned a corner and chose a new avenue as if he held a map. 'No great trick to it. After all, it had to be simple enough that a non-matrix like DeForest could find his way in and out easily.'
'That's true, I suppose.' Zinnia scurried past some large blooms with red throats.
'The underlying design is based on the plants. The more innocuous ones are toward the front of the maze. The nastiest are in the center. I recognized most of them.'
'But these are hybrids.'
'Yes, but they were all hybridized from Western Islands jungle plants. I grew up in the islands, remember? One thing you learn real early is how to recognize the plant life.'
'Oh.' She hugged herself to avoid touching a trailing vine. 'I can hardly believe that Duncan was behind everything that happened.'
'I know.' Nick ducked under a web of leaves. 'He seemed like such a nice man.'
'Not funny. He did seem like a nice man.' Zinnia frowned. 'But it's no wonder he never let on that he was a matrix. One glimpse of his talent and I'd have known the truth. He was as evil as his father must have been.'
Nick looked at her over his shoulder. 'Evil?'
'I suppose the syn-psychs would say he was sick or insane, but I can tell you that from what I saw on the metaphysical plane a few minutes ago, Duncan was bad to the bone. The evil infected everything, even his
