Orchid

"Yes."

"And you actually believed him? Sheesh."

Gilbert gave her a disapproving frown, as if she had disappointed him. "He was under the influence of the medication, my dear. He told me the truth."

"What he believed to be the truth, maybe. Theo had a few syn-psych problems, if you'll recall."

"Rest assured, it's the truth." Gilbert chuckled. "At any rate, he explained that while working with one particular relic, he had sensed that it contained some form of energy. He wanted to conduct further tests before he wrote up his report. He wanted to be very certain, you see, because he was afraid his new associates would think he was crazy if he simply told them what he suspected to be true."

"Theo Willis didn't like you any better than I did. Mind telling me how you got him to steal the relic for you?" Orchid gave him a derisive look. "You're only a low-range hypno-therapist, after all. Class two at best."

The barb stung, as she had intended. Gilbert's hand clenched violently around his clipboard. But he quickly recovered his composure.

"It was quite simple, my dear. I worked through a much stronger hypno-therapist."

"Quentin Austen," Orchid whispered.

"Yes, indeed. Once I discovered the value of the relic, I knew I had to have it. But I could not risk having ParaSyn connected to the theft. With the assistance of my new hypnotic enhancement drug, I convinced Mr. Willis that he would benefit greatly from therapy. He agreed to allow himself to be referred to Austen."

"Austen used hypnosis to get Theo to steal the relic."

"You've already figured that out, have you? Quite right. What's more, with the aid of the same new medication I just mentioned, Dr. Austen was able to instill and enforce an especially strong hypnotic suggestion in Mr. Willis."

"Why would Austen help you?"

Gilbert beamed. "Because he was about to lose his license to practice due to a pending lawsuit from one of his ex-patients. He needed the support and influence that I wield with the disciplinary committee of the New Seattle Association of Synergistic Psychologists."

"You told him that if he helped you use Theo to steal the artifact, you'd see to it that he got to keep his license, is that it?"

"Precisely."

"Once you had the relic, you arranged for Theo to be murdered."

Gilbert's brow furrowed. "I really had no choice. I assumed that getting rid of Willis would erase any trace of a link between ParaSyn and the stolen relic. Besides, I intended to use another ice-prism, not Willis, for my work on the relic. Willis was much too erratic for serious research."

Orchid felt suddenly very queasy. "You intended to use me, didn't you? That's why you kept sending me those letters urging me to return to ParaSyn for follow-up studies."

"Yes. I had hoped the influence of your Northville academic background would persuade you to return to the lab. But, as always, you proved extremely stubborn and uncooperative." Gilbert smiled. "Ah, well, you're here now and that's all that matters."

Orchid ignored that. "You hired Mr. Amazing and his prism to murder Theo, didn't you?"

"Actually the illusion-talent who called himself Mr. Amazing handled the car crash on his own. He had no need of a prism for such a simple job."

"But things started to go wrong after that, didn't they?"

"Things began to grow untidy." Gilbert's plump fingers tapped nervously on the back of his clipboard. "The attempt to discourage Mr. Stonebraker failed. It was really most annoying. Then Austen came to me. He was extremely distraught. He said that just before he died, Willis had written a letter accusing him of hypnotizing him and forcing him to steal the relic. In the letter Willis claimed he had arranged to have another letter sent to a friend, instructing him to go to the police if anything happened to him."

"The letter to Morgan Lambert," Orchid said softly.

"I employed Mr. Amazing again to retrieve the letter and get rid of Lambert. He and his prism found the letter, but the fool made a copy. He had the temerity to try to blackmail me with it."

"So you killed him and tried to kill the prism who had helped him. But you screwed up, didn't you, Gilly? You didn't succeed in killing Crowder."

"Things got a bit out of control," Gilbert admitted.

"And you got desperate. You tried to make it look as though Quentin Austen was behind the theft and the murders. Then you killed him, too. You wanted everyone to think that he had finally gone over the edge and committed suicide."

"It wasn't quite like that, but you're very close, my dear. Very close, indeed. The plan should have worked." A troubled expression marred Gilbert's cheery features. "It will work. I have you now."

"Not for long. Stonebraker will come for me." Orchid deliberately slipped into melodramatic tones that were more appropriate to an actor in a late-night horror film. "He's a strat-talent, Gilly. Do you know what that means?"

Gilbert frowned. "They're rather primitive, I believe."

"Very primitive, Gilly. Some people call them hunters. Rafe will find me. And when he does, Gilly, he will hunt you down and he will rip out your throat."

Gilbert's eyes widened. He took an involuntary step back. She did not write psychic vampire romance novels for nothing, Orchid thought.

Briana stirred on the gurney. "My God. I hope he does exactly that, you nasty little worm."

Gilbert's face darkened. "Mr. Stonebraker is no longer a threat. If he appears, he will be dealt with. Everything is under control in terms of security here at ParaSyn."

"Uh huh." Orchid looked at him. "If you believe that, Gilly, I've got a nice bridge in the Western Islands I can sell to you."

"Shut up," Gilbert hissed. "Shut up this instant. And don't ever call me Gilly again. I have had enough of your scorn and disrespect. You don't know what you're up against."

"You're no different now than you were three years ago, Gilly. You're still envious of people who have more psychic power than you do, aren't you? You're well and truly wacko if you think that alien relic is going to help you increase your talent."

"Damn you. I will show you what this relic can do." Gilbert tightened his grip on the artifact. "Link."

"Fat chance, Gilly."

Gilbert lifted his chin. Very methodically he put the clipboard down on the lab bench, reached into his pocket, and brought out a small pistol.

"Link, you stupid little ice-prism, or I will kill Mrs. Culverthorpe. You have until the count of three to make up your mind."

"Orchid?" Briana struggled to sit up on the edge of the gurney. Fear twisted her face. "Orchid, I think he means it."

"One," Gilbert hissed.

Selby stared at the slumped form of the guard who had just dropped to the ground with a dull thud. "Did you kill him?"

"No. But he'll be out for a while." Rafe went down on one knee beside the ParaSyn guard.

Working swiftly, he stripped off the snappy black uniform and boots. He removed the plastic restraint cuffs from the black leather belt and clipped them around the guard's wrists. Then he retrieved the two-way radio.

Thus far things had been easy. Too easy, perhaps.

The layout of the ParaSyn physical plant that he had retrieved from his computer had been accurate. He hoped the data on the security system was also.

Rafe and Selby had left the leer parked on a side street and simply walked up to the front gate. Selby had distracted the guard with a string of questions about a friend who worked at ParaSyn. Rafe had taken care of the rest.

He got to his feet and tugged on the ParaSyn uniform. He attached the small radio to his belt.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Selby sounded both awed and shocked.

"Operate a two-way radio? It's not all that tricky. They're used a lot in Stonebraker warehouses and on the docks."

"I wasn't talking about the damned radio. Anyone can work a two-way. I meant what you did to the guard just now. The way you crept up behind him and put your arm around his throat. He didn't even make a sound. He just collapsed."