Orchid

Orchid glanced at him. 'Synergy Fund?'

'My day job,' he muttered. 'I'm the president and chief financial advisor.'

Strat-talents were supposed to be good businesspeople, she reminded herself. 'I see.'

Who would have guessed, she thought. Stranger and stranger.

She was aware of Rafe pacing along beside her. If one discounted the subtle aura of power he radiated, there was nothing extraordinary about him. He was of medium height and he appeared to be in excellent physical shape. He looked lean and sleekly muscled in his dark sweater and trousers. His near-black hair was cut a little too short for current fashion.

It was, perhaps, unfortunate, given the nature of his particular psychic talent, that he had been endowed with the blunt, hard features and the intense eyes of a predator, she thought.

'Do take a look at my wonderful new Inchman, for me, Rafe.' Elvira motioned toward a small volume. 'I love it, but I have a nasty suspicion that it may be a forgery. I suppose there would be some ironic justice in that. Nevertheless, I would like to get a second opinion and I can hardly ask a professional—'

She broke off abruptly, interrupted by a high-pitched. electronic wail that oscillated suddenly through the steel gallery. The sound was not especially loud but it struck

Orchid's nerves with an eerie intensity. She was abruptly dizzy.

An expression of acute dismay crossed Elvira's face. 'Oh, dear.'

Rafe winced as if in severe pain. He put his hands over his ears. 'Five hells. The new security system, I assume?'

'I'm afraid so.' Elvira closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead. 'The installer said there might be a few false alarms in the beginning. I'm afraid we have a problem.'

'Do something.' Orchid felt as if she were standing on the bow of a ship that was being tossed about by violent waves. She steadied herself with one hand against the wall. 'Turn it off.'

'That's the problem.' Elvira swayed on her feet and gave Orchid a deeply apologetic look. 'I can't. Not from in here. The lights will go next, unfortunately.'

Rafe took his hands away from his ears and moved swiftly toward the door at the far end of the gallery. She caught a glimpse of his grim face and knew that he was as uncomfortable as everyone else.

Perhaps he was actually in more distress she thought, not without a pang of genuine sympathy. He was a strat-talent, after all. His kind were believed to have more acute physical senses than other people, even when they were not employing their psychic energy. She could only imagine what the strange, disorienting wail of the siren was doing to his ears and his equilibrium.

'Why doesn't one of your household staff stop it?' Rafe called out to Elvira as he went toward the door.

'I gave them the night off when I heard you would be dropping by for a visit.' Elvira sounded weak. 'There's no one here but us.'

The lights over the bookcases winked out with startling abruptness, plunging the steel-lined room into stygian darkness.

'Just what we needed to make the evening perfect.'

'What is it about that siren?' Orchid shook her head, trying to clear it. 'For some reason it makes me feel as if I'm about to pass out.'

'It's designed to make you do just that. The sound waves it generates interfere with the natural synergy of ear-brain patterns to create a disorienting sensation.' Elvira's voice was whisper-thin now. 'In fact, I believe I'm about to faint, myself.'

'Elvira.' Rafe's voice sharpened. 'The door's locked from the outside. We're trapped in this damn gallery of yours.'

'The crypto-talent who installed the system designed it so that any thief who found his way inside would be locked in here and rendered unconscious.'

'Good grief, we're caught in a fancy bug trap for burglars.' Orchid massaged her forehead. At that moment unconsciousness held a distinct appeal. Anything was better than the feeling that she was going to be violently ill. 'I don't do well in dark, enclosed spaces.'

'Don't freak out on me,' Rafe ordered. His voice sounded closer now. 'I've got enough problems on my hands locating the other exit.'

In spite of her growing nausea, Orchid was offended. 'I never freak out.' A flicker of hope went through her as his words finally registered. 'What other exit?'

'There has to be one. Elvira?'

'Yes, dear?' She sounded half asleep.

'Pay attention. I know how crypto-talents think and I know how you think.'

'Yes, of course you do, dear. You're a strat-talent.'

'You and whoever designed the system must have planned for this kind of disaster. Where's the other exit?'

'You're right, there is one. Somewhere. Can't seem to think. So sorry, dear. This is very awkward. Quite embarrassing, in fact.'

With a soft sigh, she fell against Orchid, who staggered under the unexpected weight.

'Oomph. Rafe, I've got her. I think she's unconscious.'

'I'll take her.'

She did not hear him move but a second later he brushed against her arm. He took the weight of Elvira from her.

'I'll leave her here on the floor for now,' Rafe said.

Orchid's head was spinning faster in the endless night. 'You'd better not get too close to me. I'm feeling a little sick. My boss will never forgive me if I throw up on a client's shoes.'

'I won't be real thrilled either.' He moved again in the fathomless dark. 'Get a grip, Orchid.'

'Easy for you to say. I can't seem to grip anything. I think I'm going to faint.'

'If you do, I'll demand my money back from Clementine Malone. Come on, we've got to find that exit.'

'You're the big-time strat-talent. Got any ideas?'

'Yeah. I just need to think clearly for a minute.' There was raw pain in his voice now. 'Damn. That siren is really doing a number on my ears.'

An idea occurred to her. 'Link.'

'I'm not sure that's a good idea. No telling how that siren will affect a focus link.'

'What have we got to lose?' she demanded. 'I vote we try it.'

'Okay, okay. You're right. Not much to lose.'

When the questing tendril of raw power unfurled out on the psychic plane, Orchid greeted it with a great deal more enthusiasm than usual. Rafe's psychic energy burned, strong and steady, in the metaphysical realm where there was no day or night, no light or darkness.

The instant she projected the glittering crystal prism that could focus his power, everything steadied. The dreadful spinning ceased.

Strat-talent energy, a lot of it, more raw power, in fact, than she had ever focused in her entire career, slammed into the prism she had crafted.

'Better. Much, much better.' Rafe's voice was hoarse with relief. 'Definitely a good idea.'

'Thanks. All part of the package of exclusive services available from Psynergy, Inc.' Orchid let out the breath she had been holding. 'Don't forget to tell my boss about this. I may be able to use it to get a raise.'

The nausea faded as her sense of physical and spatial disorientation receded. She was still blinded by dense darkness and the obnoxious sound waves continued to assault her nerve endings but she found that she could now keep the nastier effects of the security system at bay by concentrating on holding the focus.

She studied the off-the-chart level of power pouring through the glittering crystal prism she had projected on the psychic plane.

'Class six, I believe your certification papers said,' she murmured very politely.

There was a short, tense pause.

'You don't appear to be having any trouble dealing with my talent,' Rafe pointed out dryly. 'That makes you something more than a full-spectrum. A lot more. In fact, now that I've had a chance to focus at this level with you, I can see that there's something different about the kind of prism you project. What is it?'