Orchid

Orchid led the way to the door. She sensed the presence on the other side just as she opened it, but by then it was much too late.

A tall, ruggedly handsome man with sandy brown hair and sharp brown eyes smiled at her. He was dressed in a crisply pressed black uniform decorated with a great many epaulets, buttons, and snappy cargo pockets. His black boots gleamed.

He had a gun in his black-gloved hand.

'Hello, Orchid. It's been a while. I've missed you.'

Orchid bit back a scream. It was not the gun in Calvin Hyde's hand that aroused the primal fear in her. It was the hunger in his voice.

'If I were you I'd get a new tailor, Calvin. That uniform makes you look like something out of a comic book.'

He was unfazed. 'You'll be happy to know that after tonight I'll be able to afford the best tailor in New Seattle.'

'Now what?' Selby huddled in the shadows of the janitor's closet and struggled with the snaps of the blue uniform.

'Now we ask our friend here a few questions.' Rafe smiled at the bound man on the floor.

The janitor, dressed only in his briefs and a T-shirt, stirred nervously. 'Look, I just work here, okay? I don't know what you want, but I doubt if I can help you.'

'Have you got the keys to the mechanical equipment room down the hall?'

'Well, yeah, sure. I've got the keys to all the rooms in the buildings except those inside the restricted zones.'

'Then you can help me.'

The janitor stared at him, bewildered. 'But there's nothing in the mechanical room except a bunch of valves and switches. I don't even know what valve operates what kind of equipment.'

'Don't worry,' Rafe said. 'That's not your problem.' He glanced at Selby, who had just finished with the last snap on the blue uniform. 'I've got a tech-talent with me.'

Still smiling his feral smile, Calvin used the gleaming black steel pistol to wave Orchid and Briana back toward the gurneys. He caught sight of Gilbert's body on the floor.

'Well, well, well. You surprise me, Orchid. I thought you were much too meta-zen-syn for that kind of thing. How did you manage it?'

'Do you care?' Orchid asked.

'Not really.' Calvin leaned negligently against the long lab bench. He kept the gun trained on Orchid and Briana. 'I was going to have to get rid of old Two-Watt soon, anyway. He never was real stable, but he definitely went over the edge after Theo Willis told him about that damned artifact.'

Briana looked from Calvin to Orchid and back again. 'Who are you?'

'Allow me to introduce myself, Mrs. Culverthorpe.' Calvin inclined his head with mocking formality. 'Calvin Hyde. I'm the chief of security here at ParaSyn.'

Orchid stared at him. 'When did you get that job?'

'Shortly after you left. I convinced Bracewell that I could be of significant service to him. Made him see that he needed me.'

'What did you get out of the deal besides a steady job?'

Calvin chuckled. 'You know me so well, Orchid. The answer is that it was a very lucrative arrangement for me. I now own several thousand shares of ParaSyn stock, which I will, of course, sell first thing in the morning before anyone learns that the head of ParaSyn's research department is dead.'

'Smart move,' Orchid muttered.

'I'm a strat-talent, remember? We're good at making money.'

'So they say.'

Calvin glanced at Bracewell's body and shook his head. 'It was a good gig while it lasted, but I knew it couldn't go on much longer. Bracewell was getting nuttier by the day.'

'Nuttier?' Orchid repeated cautiously.

Calvin used one finger to circle his ear in the old gesture meant to indicate craziness. 'He actually believed that stupid artifact could give him heightened paranormal power. He thought he could turn himself into a genuine off-the-chart talent if he could just get a strong ice-prism to help him control it. What would you call that kind of thinking?'

'Definitely a wacko,' Orchid said quickly.

'The man was certainly crazy,' Briana agreed with an uneasy glance at the alien relic, which still lay on the floor.

Orchid decided it would not be wise to inform Calvin that Gilbert had been right about the relic. There would be no way to get past Calvin. Her only hope now was to buy time. It would not take Rafe long to figure out that something had happened.

'You've been involved in this from the beginning?' Orchid asked. Calvin had never been shy when it came to bragging.

'Unfortunately, no.' Calvin grimaced with disgust. 'If I had, things would have been handled much more efficiently. Bracewell was very secretive at first. He didn't want anyone, especially me, to know about the relic.'

'Especially you?'

Calvin grinned. 'Probably figured I'd steal it and become twice the man I am. As if I need any more talent than I've already got.'

'The only thing larger than your talent is your ego, Calvin.'

Briana's eyes widened in alarm.

Calvin merely laughed. 'Your sense of humor was one of the things I always liked best about you, Orchid.'

'Yeah, right. Go on with your story.'

'I didn't figure out what was going on until the night Bracewell killed that illusion-talent in Founders' Square.'

'How did you know Bracewell had shot him?'

'I was here when old Two-Watt returned that night. He was badly shaken because someone had very nearly caught him when he tried to shoot the prism. He knew he had lost control of the situation. He was terrified.' Calvin snickered. 'He said he felt as if he were being, and I quote, hunted.'

'You offered to take charge of the situation for him, is that it?'

'I promised him that, for a few thousand more shares of ParaSyn stock, I'd clean up the mess he'd made. He was desperate by then. He accepted the offer.'

Orchid gritted her teeth. 'So it was you who pushed Quentin Austen off that ferry.'

'Sure. I realized immediately that we had to get rid of Austen.'

'You're the one who tried to shoot Rafe in the woods outside of Northville, aren't you?'

'Yes. It was after I saw him move that day that I knew I was in a duel with another strat-talent.' Calvin's golden brown eyes glittered with cold anticipation. 'The only other hunter I've ever come across in my entire life. There are so very few of us, you know.'

'I know,' Orchid whispered.

'I've been looking forward to meeting up with him again.'

'Why would you want to do that?' Orchid asked.

'You could not possibly understand. Only another hunter could comprehend the challenge of going mano-a- mano with a man who is my equal. It will be a duel to remember. The ultimate test of my talent.'

Orchid blinked. 'You're looking forward to the challenge of hunting Rafe?'

'Why do you find that so surprising? I assure you, Stonebraker will enjoy the game as much as I will. It's in his blood.'

'How do you intend to set up a duel here at ParaSyn?'

Calvin gave her a mockingly pitying look. 'Don't you understand yet? The arrangements for the duel have already been made.'